Daily review 02/07/2020

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, July 2nd, 2020 - 59 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

59 comments on “Daily review 02/07/2020 ”

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  2. Peter chch 2
    2 July 2020 at 5:57 pm

    Team NZ always pressuring for decades for massive public handouts, yet now have grown so arrogant they think they are above public scrutiny.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12345068

    The reports of a refusal to cooperate with MBIE may or may not be accurate, but going down the route of suppression orders just adds fuel to the fire.

    And is Grant Dalton ever able to communicate in a way anyone else can understand? His excessive use of jargon and mangled grammar in itself raises a few red flags with me.

    • gsays 2.1
      2 July 2020 at 7:15 pm

      "And is Grant Dalton ever able to communicate in a way anyone else can understand? His excessive use of jargon and mangled grammar in itself raises a few red flags with me."

      When I heard him on the radio, he seemed keen for us to have the impression that it was independent contarctors that are at fault.

      Time will tell if that is the case.

  3. Dennis Frank 3
    2 July 2020 at 6:11 pm

    Interesting. Tova's report just now on 3News juxtaposed two video recordings: one of the PM saying David Clark resigned yesterday and the other of David Clark saying he resigned this morning. I wonder who was telling the truth? They're both Labour MPs…

  4. observer 4
    2 July 2020 at 6:40 pm

    Divisions in the National Party, episode 374:

    1) This is the view of the National candidate for Invercargill:

    Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds said Queenstown was the logical place for a quarantine site for international students. … Queenstown has got the hotels free, it's got the space free, it's got an international airport – it's a logical site to be bringing international students into for quarantine."

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/121830812/queenstown-pitched-as-a-quarantine-town-for-international-students

    2) And this is the view of the local National MP, Hamish Walker:

    Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker said it was “disgraceful” thousands of people could eventually be quarantined in southern centres without community consultation.

    “These people are possibly heading for Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown from India, Pakistan and Korea. “I’ve already had many calls, texts and emails from residents who do not want people in quarantine in Queenstown.”.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122019916/coronavirus-unease-at-expanded-covid19-isolation-plans-for-south-island

    So to sum up … Jacinda, bring them in! Jacinda, but not here!

    Foreigners in, foreigners out, shake it all about …

    • Muttonbird 4.1
      2 July 2020 at 6:56 pm

      Certainly the rest of New Zealand should be sharing the quarantine burden. Auckland and now other centres have done the service which benefits the regions so the regions should do their bit too.

      I must say it would be torture, particularly as a young person, being quarantined in Queenstown. To be confined to barracks with those spectacular views.

      • mac1 4.1.1
        2 July 2020 at 7:04 pm

        Since when have young people allowed themselves to be confined to barracks, with views, brews and 'who's he/she" to entice?

        • weka 4.1.1.1
          2 July 2020 at 7:24 pm

          threat of deportation and never being allowed back should mean something. Plus adequate security.

          • mac1 4.1.1.1.1
            2 July 2020 at 7:38 pm

            There was a sanction against smoking dope- ignored by most. There was a law about the age you could legally drink in a pub. There was a law against putting substances up your arm with a needle, against driving while drunk, against speeding, against sex with minors.

            They meant something, too………

          • Incognito 4.1.1.1.2
            2 July 2020 at 10:29 pm

            Nah, deport the whole cohort if they break the rules. It often is peer pressure that gets them into trouble so let’s reverse this and use peer pressure to keep them on the straight and narrow. It’s only for a fortnight FFS.

        • Muttonbird 4.1.1.2
          2 July 2020 at 7:31 pm

          Fair point and that is a big danger. The inventiveness and exuberance of youth.

          Quarantining 2K, 5K, 11K students anywhere sounds like a massive exercise.

      • observer 4.1.2
        2 July 2020 at 7:17 pm

        Hamish Walker's statement and tweet have now been deleted. He's very lucky it's a busy news day.

        And just to emphasise the point: the message is that a National MP does not want people who are NZ citizens/residents (the only arrivals that are coming in now), if they are of the wrong ethnicity.

        But National DO want people who are NOT citizens/residents, because they bring the cash.

          • weka 4.1.2.1.1
            2 July 2020 at 7:32 pm

            It does make me wonder how political parties work. Can MPs just issues statements like that without talking to anyone? Or did he talk to someone and it's only in hindsight that they realise he will get slammed for it?

            • observer 4.1.2.1.1.1
              2 July 2020 at 7:36 pm

              Yeah, it's the "thinking time" that makes it so bad.

              I'm more forgiving of a comment in conversation, using the wrong word, realizing it, apologising in real time. People can slip up. Or be misquoted.

              But this is a prepared statement. It's deliberate. No excuse, it says exactly what he wanted – and meant.

              • ianmac …
                2 July 2020 at 8:02 pm

                Sounds familiar?

                Walker told the Herald he had information Kiwis coming from India, Pakistan and Korea had higher infection results.

                He declined to say where he got this information given the Herald has been given data showing the most imported cases had come from the UK, US, Australia and Europe.

                "I'm not going to reveal my source," he said.

                https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12345104

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  2 July 2020 at 8:35 pm

                  "I'm not going to reveal my source," he said.

                  We can probably be thankful for that. After all, we really don't want another political brown-eye.

                • Anne …
                  2 July 2020 at 11:38 pm

                  So the twerp had to be told by a source what the rest of us with a brain inside our heads knew because its been splattered all over the news for the past fortnight.

                  I refer to the fact that people returning from the US, UK, India, Pakistan and Korea are at a higher risk of testing positive because of the high rates of Covid in those countries.

            • Sabine 4.1.2.1.1.2
              2 July 2020 at 8:07 pm

              a bit like what is done in the US. One underling goes out and is out and out racist, sexist, ageist, ableist, etc etc etc. It rails up all the wrong people, then when public outcry gets to big it is deleted. But the message was delivered and those for whom it was intended are now informed of the imminent arrival of Kiwis who are not enough Kiwi in the eyes of many.

              rinse repeat.

              but yeah, racist gonna racist.

            • Graeme 4.1.2.1.1.3
              2 July 2020 at 8:37 pm

              Compost is a fuckwit. Some of his squarks are that far out there you'd think he was some fringe lefty community board candidate. This isn't that far outside his normal behaviour, except this one hit the front page nationally.

              And still on ODT, and getting return serve from Megan Woods.

              https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/southern-national-mp-slated-over-racist-statement

              Couldn't happen to a more deserving person.

            • indiana 4.1.2.1.1.4
              2 July 2020 at 9:04 pm

              Well it looks like that the Nat MP took a leaf out of a Labour MP's playbook IMHO.

              https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/70155168/labours-half-baked-property-data-turns-chinese-buyers-into-scapegoats

    • SPC 4.2
      2 July 2020 at 7:39 pm

      A safe seat and Barclay and Walker are the ones the electorate committee select, the other candidates must have been either ordinary or still in shock at the lack of judgment.

      • Graeme 4.2.1
        2 July 2020 at 8:47 pm

        One of the other candidates, twice, Simon Flood, was a potential PM, but may have been from the wrong faction / background. Walker was challenged this year too, but it wasn't revealed by who, just Queenstown interests being behind it.

    • observer 4.3
      2 July 2020 at 8:18 pm

      Walker makes it worse …

      “The minister should come clean and tell the people of Southland and Otago how many of the 18 current Covid cases originate from Asia, which is a region of great risk.

      (and where the f**k does he think international students come from?)

      “My focus is on keeping New Zealanders safe,” Walker said. “The minister is not going to justify her failure to keep New Zealanders safe by attacking me for identifying where those risks are coming from.

      (New Zealanders … but not the New Zealanders coming home)

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300047988/national-mp-hamish-walker-defends-remarks-dubbed-racist-by-labour

      • SPC 4.3.1
        2 July 2020 at 8:54 pm

        Someone not capable of working out that those with symptoms stay at the quarantine hotel in Auckland, the ones going south into managed isolation are probably from Oz.

      • Pingao 4.3.2
        2 July 2020 at 11:16 pm

        … erm …. if he wants to know where the current cases come from he should try googling "covid 19 nz" and then tap on the ministry of health website …

    • aj 4.4
      2 July 2020 at 8:30 pm

      Where's Todd? (Barclay) – probably trying to bail back to NZ as well…

    • Graeme 4.5
      2 July 2020 at 9:27 pm

      A speculative explanation for this could be an act of political self immolation to vacate the very safe seat for a current, more senior list MP who might be out of a job on Sept 20. But could be a bit close to the election for that now.

    • Fireblade 4.6
      2 July 2020 at 11:02 pm

      The National Party is a shambolic shambles and a National disgrace.

  5. SPC 5
    2 July 2020 at 7:49 pm

    Grant Robertson has said that its likely to be 2021 before international students come in.

    They have the hostel capacity to manage isolation and then house less than 1/3rd (usually the accomodation of the first year ones), for mine the doctorate and masters students have priority – so the capacity in hostels should be used to quarantine them first. Then come the year three students who want to finish their degree (we owe it to them to get them to the finish).

    The ultimate question about numbers beyond this is over the accommodation availability and employment right we currently allow – given pandemic economics.

    Just taking in this number (about 1/3rd) and to restrict them largely to the hostels eases accomodation pressure and limits impact on employment.

    Ultimately whether we need to restrict numbers depends on capacity to house returning Kiwis which is still an unknown.

    • Incognito 5.1
      2 July 2020 at 10:42 pm

      FYI, international PhD students are not good cash cows as they pay the same fees as domestic students.

      • SPC 5.1.1
        2 July 2020 at 11:03 pm

        They add more value to the institution and potentially the economy (even without factoring in retaining them afterward) without any numerical pressure on our infrastructure (housing/employment).

        The universities may cite the cash, but that comes with a wider cost – higher rents and more locals unemployed during a pandemic economy.

  6. RedLogix 6
    2 July 2020 at 9:38 pm

    Two weeks may not be long enough.

    Two men, who both spent two weeks in hotel quarantine in Melbourne, have tested positive for coronavirus after returning home to New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

    • SPC 6.1
      2 July 2020 at 10:19 pm

      Not if infected during the two week stay … how they could manage that with room isolation … well it would indicate they need a change of management regime.

      We've been lucky, given our regime is not as restrictive.

      • In Vino 6.1.1
        2 July 2020 at 10:33 pm

        I seem to remember stories of some people testing positive after a month or so.. This is a really stand-out, weird virus, and I would agree that we may well have been lucky.

        Two weeks may well not be enough for certainty.

      • RedLogix 6.1.2
        2 July 2020 at 11:57 pm

        I agree, it does call into question the quality of the isolation regime. Daniel Andrews state govt in Victoria seems to have made a particular hash of it.

        A Melbourne security guard has revealed even more unsettling allegations about the misconduct that occurred at Victorian hotels being used to quarantine returned travellers.

        In a series of bold allegations, the security guard told Nine he believes the workers were actually “spreading the virus” instead of controlling it.

        These allegations follow claims from other whistleblowers that guards were given only “five minutes” training and some had sex with infected guests while they were in quarantine.

  7. Fireblade 7
    3 July 2020 at 12:46 am

    Todd Muller's token reshuffle still leaves the National Party front bench looking very pale and bland.

    With regard to Hamish Walker, Todd should exercise his self-proclaimed leadership ability and publicity denounce Hamish's racist nimby ramblings, but I dout he will. After all, Muller is very proud of his MAGA cap which has become a symbol of racist ideology. Hamish Walker might even get a promotion for his latest racist ramblings.

    It's very obvious now that Todd is an uncharismatic gaffe prone mudder who can't control his MPs. Todd will be a great asset to the Labour Party election campaign.

  8. Fireblade 8
    3 July 2020 at 1:23 am

    Elsa sat on Trevor Mallard's lap during the televised Speakers Briefing today. What a beautiful animal.

    https://www.twitter.com/SpeakerTrevor/status/1278483460412149765