Daily review 16/06/2023

29 comments on “Daily review 16/06/2023 ”

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1. Dennis Frank 1

   16 June 2023 at 6:45 pm

   Oliver Hartwich wrote in The Australian recently about how New Zealand has descended over recent decades into “mediocrity”, pointing to declines in healthcare, education, housing, investment, etc. He blames poor political leadership and slothful policy-making processes: “Regardless of how pressing the challenges are, the immediate response is always to do nothing. Grudgingly followed by a working group. Then garnished with small armies of consultants. Eventually culminating in planning delays and finished with a grand centralisation plan – and even then, rounded off with a botched implementation, a few decades later.”

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/political-roundup-its-true-that-new-zealand-has-lost-its-mojo/MLJT2FUATNCQVDCZQ4QRLRLKDM/

   https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/about-us/our-people/oliver-hartwich/

   He's showing some initiative, I guess, in pointing out the effects of the neoliberal agenda, and the solidarity between Labour and National over those decades.

   The 2023 Winter of Discontent: There is a noticeable gloominess around at the moment. Among opinion leaders and the public, the dominant sentiment is things are going wrong, the country is broken, and mediocrity pervades national life. This gloom is new.

   Dr Bryce's expert academic assessment shows how good academics are at discerning social trends outside the ivory towers. Yet the technical recession may not be the cause. Growth addiction is a phenomenon evident usually only in those who wear suits.

   The terms “polycrisis” and “permacrisis” are increasingly being used to denote that everything seems to be going wrong at the same time.

   By who? Oh, academics, I presume. New words are fun to small minds.

   Polling out in December of last year showed 64 per cent of the public thought that New Zealand society is becoming more divided, while only 16 per cent thought NZ has become more united.

   Divide & rule is how states have always operated though. We must expect that even slow-learning mainstreamers eventually notice. It's part of the prescription of democracy.

   Political polarisation, declining public trust in authority, and reduced cohesiveness led Sir Peter Gluckman to call this week for a debate on how to bolster the political system to help deal with the decline.

   Not reported in the media until now, I suspect. If he issued a press release that got ignored, he may need to hire a pr specialist. Does issuing calls in the political wilderness actually work?? Or does it sound like a tree falling in the forest when nobody's there?

   This was the focus last month of a landmark essay in the Listener by Danyl McLauchlan, titled “State of inertia”, in which various explanations are proposed for why New Zealand is broken and in decline. A large part of the problem, according to McLauchlan, is that politics has been hollowed out and devoid of real public participation. Instead of the public being at the heart of the political process, they have been replaced by vested interests and opportunistic political professionals.

   He's just being mean to Labour & National. If they didn't maintain the traditional state of inertia folks would become disoriented & degenerate into uncertainty & paranoia.

   The public service gets a particularly strong critique from McLauchlan, as it has become preoccupied with itself – constantly rebranding, restructuring, renaming, creating new entities and reports – and less focused on the needs of the public

   Well of course. It's the neoliberal prescription. It will remain the status quo until everyone agrees enough of this shit already.
   • bwaghorn 1.1

     16 June 2023 at 7:01 pm

     An 86 year old I know went to whanganui hospital in an ambulance the other night, got transferred to a chair in a and e till the the next day!!

     It's fucking broken alright
   • Jack 1.2

     16 June 2023 at 7:10 pm

     Yep, health system is totally screwed.

     Last week somewhere in NZ experienced by my wife in a low decile secondary school. Student collapsed in class, unresponsive, can’t communicate. Call 111. Ambulance triage her and determine she is not a priority. Wait 2.5 hours for an ambulance. Nothing happens. Staff in desperation bundle her in to a car and take her to A and E by private vehicle.

     F Labour. I’m totally over you.
     • bwaghorn 1.2.1

       16 June 2023 at 7:29 pm

       Been buggered a bit longer than this government, and you better be able to afford private if act get near the rains.
       • Patricia 2 1.2.1.1

         17 June 2023 at 12:07 pm

         Getting to see a private specialist is not so easy these days. I was referred to specialist late January and finally got to see him last week. Operation planned late July. Apparently there's a lot of outsourcing by the public system.
       • Sabine 1.2.1.2

         17 June 2023 at 8:07 pm

         Act runs on cutting services.

         Labour ran on fixing things and funding it. If this is what fixing and funding looks like, cutting can't be that much worse.

         And private is not gonna do much if you can't find a doctor.
     • bwaghorn 1.2.2

       16 June 2023 at 7:31 pm

       More tax on the Uber rich but instead of ubis etc fix health and education, housing
       • Jack 1.2.2.1

         16 June 2023 at 7:36 pm

         Frankly, I got an ambulance in under 15 minutes when I needed one under the Key government. We are a registered teacher and a registered nurse. We have so many stories in our two professions in how desperate people are under this government. For the first time we will both vote right of centre this election. Not sure which party. We’re desperate. We need change. Things can’t get worse. We need to live in the hope they may get better under a different government.
         • observer 1.2.2.1.1

           16 June 2023 at 7:48 pm

           We need change. Things can’t get worse.

           The voice of countless fools who voted for Johnson, Brexit and Trump. Things most certainly can get worse … we know, because they did.

           If you want a right-wing government, then vote for right-wing parties. But voting for vacuous "change", regardless of what it means, is frankly idiotic.
           • Jack 1.2.2.1.1.1

             16 June 2023 at 7:54 pm

             You can call us idiots. Your prerogative.

             For us, we need to look after ourselves and the desperate people we meet each and every day. Champagne socialism has not served us or them well.

             Enjoy your evening.
             • Dennis Frank …

               16 June 2023 at 8:01 pm

               Champagne socialism, huh? Sounds good, but I suspect if you did a random poll at the entrance to any supermarket, shoppers would all tell you they didn't actually get any…
             • observer …

               16 June 2023 at 8:02 pm

               So what are the reasons to vote for National/ACT?

               You mention working as teacher and nurse. What have National promised about increasing pay, improving conditions, and generally investing more in the education and health sectors? Anything at all?

               Those are really basic questions that anybody working in those areas would surely want answered, before voting them in.
           • Sabine 1.2.2.1.1.2

             17 June 2023 at 8:08 pm

             Vote for us cause the others are gonna be even worse is not an real option.
             And insulting or belittling people who have lost faith in the current lot in government is not gonna change anything.
         • bwaghorn 1.2.2.1.2

           17 June 2023 at 7:41 am

           I've had a we poke around you comments thus far, I get the feeling that you are disingenuous in painting the illusion you have or ever would vote labour,

           Just a gut feeling
           • In Vino 1.2.2.1.2.1

             17 June 2023 at 10:09 am

             Good point there, bw. My suspicions are similar…
             • Drowsy M. Kram …

               17 June 2023 at 12:55 pm

               Not another jack-up?
               • In Vino …

                 17 June 2023 at 7:13 pm

                 The last thing one would expect.
     • joe90 1.2.3

       16 June 2023 at 8:10 pm

       An here's me a couple of years after an hereditary cardiac arrhythmia announced it's arrival at 3 on a Saturday morning. Four ED visits, three admissions, one to CC, three echocardiograms, a full suite of nuclear imaging, two cardioversions, numerous consultant appointments and a shitty struggle with medication, gastroscopy included, later and all is well.

       Funny old world, eh.
       • bwaghorn 1.2.3.1

         17 June 2023 at 6:01 am

         Glad to here , still doesn't change the fact that our health system is close to falling down round our ears.
         • joe90 1.2.3.1.1

           17 June 2023 at 12:38 pm

           Other than the usual falling off shit, stitches, knees, etc, I'd never been crook in my life.

           So being sick and navigating my way around the health system was a fucking ordeal but I disagree that the system is close to falling down round our ears. I had to spend time sitting in a chair, the after hours cot in ED alongside some very ill people was worse, the waits seemed interminable and at times the pace was glacial but in the end it served me well as it does tens of thousands of other New Zealanders.
           • bwaghorn 1.2.3.1.1.1

             18 June 2023 at 4:46 pm

             Rural GPS are rarer than hens teeth,
       • Patricia Bremner 1.2.3.2

         17 June 2023 at 10:19 am

         Keep well Joe90. Health is wealth
         • joe90 1.2.3.2.1

           17 June 2023 at 12:39 pm

           Indeed it is, Patricia. Thanks.
     • Nic181 1.2.4

       17 June 2023 at 12:09 pm

       I have a very different story. Prostate monitoring for years, PSA rise, biopsy, scans, surgery. All in HB Hospital. On going monitoring by Urologist. More recently, hands swell, Dr refers to Hospital Rheumatologist, x-Rays, scans, hand therapist, Specialist prescription medication for Rheumatoid Arthritis. I can’t find fault with the system. Sure nothing happens very fast but once in the system the treatment has been wonderful.

       [Please fix the typo in your e-mail address in your next comment, thanks – Incognito]
       • Incognito 1.2.4.1

         17 June 2023 at 12:33 pm

         Mod note
2. Belladonna 2

   16 June 2023 at 8:21 pm

   Meng Foon has resigned as race relations Commissioner – due to an undeclared conflict of interest.

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/race-relations-commissioner-meng-foon-resigns-over-undisclosed-conflict-of-interest/PRAMDLKPZ5FAJDQQFRWQQ4WY7Q/

   Disappointed that this was needed – from the reporting it seems like a technical issue, rather than anything approaching corruption.
   • bwaghorn 2.1

     17 June 2023 at 5:58 am

     The witch finders are about at the moment, sniffing and pocking, must be election year,
     • Anne 2.1.1

       17 June 2023 at 11:09 am

       Well said bwaghorn. Certain political parties are loaded with cash and can afford to hire those with 'investigative knowledge and experience' to hunt down minor transgressions from those on the other side of the political spectrum. Wonder who is next on the list?
3. tWiggle 3

   16 June 2023 at 11:09 pm

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018894707/race-relations-commissioner-resigns-over-conflict-of-interest

   In this clip, a short statement from Ming Foon says the $2 mi accomodation subsidy for emergency housing was received before his appointment and was declared when he became HR Commissioner in 2019.
   He was asked to sit in on the Emergency Housing Committee in a kind of observer role, was not a main member. Seems like you have to keep on registering potential conflicts of interest each time you sit on something.

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