David Seymour is all class

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, October 12th, 2021 - 71 comments
Categories: class, class war, covid-19, david seymour, poverty, the praiseworthy and the pitiful - Tags:

So yesterday David Seymour suggested that suburbs where the vaccination rate hit 90% should be allowed extra freedom.

From Bridie Witton at Stuff:

ACT Party leader David Seymour wants suburbs with Covid vaccination rates of 90 per cent or higher let out of lockdown and given a guarantee they won’t ever be put under stay-at-home orders again.

Many Aucklanders are reaching “boiling point” as the city enters its eighth week of lockdown and needed to see a “light at the end of the tunnel”, Seymour said on Monday. He said easing restrictions for highly-vaccinated suburbs would also encourage people in under-vaccinated areas to be jabbed.

“Why should a suburb who has done the right thing, and there’s many of those in central Auckland for example, continue to face the same sanctions as areas where vaccination rates are low?” he said.

“If they [the Government] made the commitment that they really won’t lock down suburbs that have reached 90 per cent vaccination, that creates a real impetus for those areas who tragically had low vaccination rates to start getting vaccinated.”

So which suburbs would they be?

In Auckland the data suggest that Herne Bay, Remuera, Takapuna, Howick and St Heliers would qualify first.  Out west the only area that would qualify is Henderson Heights and the part of Te Atatu Peninsular that has a view of Auckland Central.  Out south you can forget Mangere, Otara and Manurewa.  Can anyone see a pattern?

And the further away from the centre of the city the lower the vaccination rate.  Inner city suburbs have had great service.  Aotea, Waiheke, Rodney, the outskirts of Waitakere and Franklin are not doing so well.

This screenshot from Spinoff shows the disparity.  It is very clear to those that know the city that the wealthier the area the higher the vaccination rate.

The comment is badly camoflagued dog whistling.  It is also epidemiologically bonkers.  The virus does not respect the boundaries of wealthy suburbs.  But regrettably this sort of coarse class politics should be expected from Seymour.  He should have stuck with dancing with the stars.

71 comments on “David Seymour is all class ”

  1. Pingao 1

    I think that's a great idea. So just within those suburbs no one has too wear a mask or socially distance or any of those other awful restrictions. Same goes for anyone visiting those suburbs and their bars and shops and gyms and churches and what not. sarc.

    • lprent 1.1

      He hasn't thought about the servant problem. All of those cleaners coming over and miraculously being virus free as they cross the border of the suburb. Not to mention the deliveries that are required to keep the wealthy in the style that they wish to continue.

      It is questionable if Davy can think. The last time this could have been done in the manner he suggest would have been back in the 19th century when Auckland was more a set of villages and small towns. It appears that century is where Davy thinks we are.

      How did he manage to get through engineering school? The city operates as a ecosystem, as an entity, and not something that is possible to divide up.

      • alwyn 1.1.1

        "not something that is possible to divide up".

        Really? So that means that it is essential that Auckland be organised as a Supercity and everyone who says that creating that entity was a mistake were nuts? I have friends, currently locked up in Gomorrah on the Manakau, who say that Rodney Hide was wrong to push for the creation on the Supercity. Can I quote you as thinking that it is the only way the area can be organised was as he proposed?

        • logie97 1.1.1.1

          Supercity, or the original councils – just which would be appropriate in this instance? How could you possibly control movement around the super city as it now is or under the old councils. Seymour's idea is just fantasy… how on earth would you determine who is free to move about and freely associate against those not???

        • lprent 1.1.1.2

          Yes Really!

          Silly bugger – you're only looking at the taxation and services parts of the city and sound as simpleminded as Davy. Those have little to do with day to day life. The city is a whole lot more complex and layered than that.

          You both seem to think that an arbitrary political boundary (old city bounds or suburb) can constrain a disease.

          The problem here is (dials down explanation to 'talking to a dumbarse level') is that warm human bodies carry and spread the disease. Humans are required to such mundane things as serve coffee in cafes, clean drains, fix roads, etc…

          Personally I personally only have anything to do with the city politics and services when I have to pay rates, use roads and bike paths, deal with parking, and find potholes in local roads the hard way. I don't think I have had to deal with city servant or their contractors in person for more than a decade. I see them occasionally fixing the roads and inspecting cars to see where to place the ticket. No warm bodies carrying the disease within 10 metres of me – not really a problem.

          However to stop 'sanctions' as Davey the dimwit puts it would require that hairdressers, cafes, shops, and the whole business and socialising regime would be open. That the electricians, builders, plumbers and all sorts of trades people could as well. Not to mention the courier drivers, trucks to deliver goods – etc etc..

          So the roads in and out of the suburb would be as well – because how else can you get the people in to to all of those things? The people who do most of those tasks don't live in the effluent areas that Davy the thick engineer lives in. They live where the housing costs are cheaper.

          Remember that the current vaccines for Covid-19 are not 'sterilising' vaccines. They don't stop people from getting the diseases, don't stop the infection growing and spreading. They merely reduce the level of damage that the disease and the immune system does to those getting infected to the disease. They also tend to cause the immune systems to reduce the time that someone can be infectious for.

          And there have been people going to hospital who are partially and even fully vaccinated in places with higher background infection levels. These are the breakthrough infections, largely caused by a high background infection rate often coupled with a reduction in immune response (ie like getting a cold).

          So that means the even with a 90% vaccination rate, there can and will be infections with the vaccinated within those suburbs unless they lock everyone else out, prevent the unvaccinated from moving around, and constrain the movement of even the vaccinated in case they are currently infectious. ie similar to level 3 restrictions.

          If the blind twits lock all of the nurses, electricians service staff, and everyone else out – it looks to me like they'd sanction themselves. Not to mention that in a city, that is damn near impossible. Too many roads, bikeways, footpaths…

          Then of course you'd expect your average self-involved Act supporter in Epsom to act like the selfish idiots that they always are and self-detirmine that their hairdresser / cleaner / plumber couldn't possibly have a covid-19 and it was alright for them to bring their cheap and possibly diseased body through the quarantine.

          You may quote me as saying that I'm always amazed at how dumb Act supporters generally are. They are usually so involved in expressing how they'd like the world to be, that they forget to look at how the world actually operates.

  2. tc 2

    Such crass elitism/canine calling on show from rimmer willingly published by granny.

  3. Gezza 3

    Smug bugger’s getting too cocky for his own good.

    That suggestion is not going to go down well with the general public, imo. Smacks of elitism. Probably scored himself an own goal there.

    HE might be safe, himself, in his Epsom seat, but his other party MPs probably rely to a greater extent on a certain amount of good will from the voting public. He could squander that if he doesn’t take great care not to look & sound entitled & snobby.

    • dv 3.1

      Is he even aware that the vaccine doesn't stop transfer!!!!!

      (And how will he stop movement of the unvaced into those areas!!)

      • Gezza 3.1.1

        Hard to say. This is, as already noted in the post, an awfully blatant dog whistle to the less discerning elements of the voting public. He’s not a phool, so I reckon he does know the virus will still get in, but he’s appealing to those who think it doesn’t matter because those who’re vaccinated tend not to suffer severe Covid symptoms.

  4. Tiger Mountain 4

    His “Dickdom” and whiteness run deep, and it seems Mr Seymour gets largely uncritical main media channel coverage not seen since Sirkey was PM. He has enablers from those suburbs, and unfortunately supporters in all sorts of places now that ACT has adopted populism and gun lovers.

    The sooner ACT is properly challenged on the right wing Chicago school platform it actually stands for behind the media free ride the better. ACT is anti union, anti working class and anti Māori.

    • tc 4.1

      The charter school party values align with the Heralds.

      He gets to publish whatever he's given as semi-literate copy and granny feeds off the clickbait.

      • Tiger Mountain 4.1.1

        Don’t get me started on Charter Schools…commendably the NZ Teacher Unions and many teachers held the line against Charters during Nationals last reign, which was not easy as many younger teachers have only experienced the time of private sector penetration of public education.

    • Gezza 4.2

      I still think some of their current support will revert back to National when Collins is rolled. Provided her replacement is credible & has a coherent policy platform.

      • tc 4.2.1

        Yup but JC isn't going anywhere soon and policy isn't a national party strength.

        Where's those bagmen when you need them eh.

      • Gosman 4.2.2

        Can you give me an example of a coherent policy platform that would attract new ACT party supporters away to National?

        • Gezza 4.2.2.1

          No.

          Would have to be a policy platform that was advanced regularly, in lieu of the endless silly sideswipes & potshots Collins keeps taking at Labour & their “friends”, barking at every passing car. Making her look petty, negative, & lacking in substantive alternative policies.

          Sort of, you’ll know it when you see it, kind of thing.

          • Gosman 4.2.2.1.1

            But that is why your analysis is flawed. You can't think of a policy that would pull people away from ACT towards National because of your ideological blinkers. ACT has been successfully positioning itself as a viable alternative to both Labour AND National which is why Labour has lost votes to ACT rather than National. That is going to be very difficult for National to claw back even with a more competent leader in charge. There is not one set of policies that would do it but more a range plus a dose of political good fortune for them.

            • McFlock 4.2.2.1.1.1

              ACT has been successfully positioning itself as a viable alternative to both Labour AND National which is why Labour has lost votes to ACT rather than National.

              ACT has always been an alternative to Labour and National. The only thing that makes it "viable" at the moment is National's complete disfunction.

              Has Labour lost votes, in any appreciable quantity, to ACT? Sure, I'm not saying there's no Lab4 diehard who's finally bit the bullet and officially gone over to the tory side, but seems to me Labour would lose more votes to greens or no-response than straight to ACT. Hell of a values shift by any voter who does that, is all I'm saying.

              • Gosman

                You can't argue with the data. National (aside from the last poll) hasn't really changed much from it's performance at the last election. It hovers somewhere in the mid 20's. Labour has fallen in support and The Greens have stayed the same. ACT on the other hand has basically doubled it's support since this time last year. Given National hasn't fallen by this much your view would require former Labour voters deciding to support National at around the same rate that former National voters start supporting ACT. While possible it is highly unlikely.

                • McFlock

                  lol

                  Where in the data does it show that individuals who chose to answer the survey for Labour have subsequently answered the next survey for ACT?

                  You're treating disparate random samples with unreported "fuckoff" survey rates as the same individuals.

                  Maybe some Labour supporters went to "I am making dinner", and the nats who were making dinner are now just outright going ACT because there's no difference between those two parties so they might as well go for the one that currently looks like a winner.

                  • Gosman

                    I love how left wingers such as yourself underestimate the ability of ACT to appeal to former Labour supporters. I suspect you are in for an unpleasant surprise in the next two years.

                    • Craig Hall

                      Agree, there are certainly swing voters who vote for either Labour or National based on vibe (for want of a better term) or occasionally a few specific issues, and also a fair few more who swing between Labour and Greens or National and Act on the preference of how much influence they want the smaller party to have in that coalition, but it's not like there are voters who never move preference elsewhere.

                      Act was a spinoff from Labour, so I'm sure there are social liberals who wouldn't want a bar of National on social policies but have changed their fiscal views to be more about smaller government and lower taxes, and for that matter, blue-green Nats who have decided the only way to give the environment more support politically is to vote Green.

            • Gezza 4.2.2.1.1.2

              Gosman said: “But that is why your analysis is flawed. You can’t think of a policy that would pull people away from ACT towards National because of your ideological blinkers.”
              …………………………

              I’d hardly call my comment an “analysis”. More like an observation. An analysis I’d put more time & thought & words into.

              Also I don’t know what you think my “ideological blinkers” are. I am not politically tribal & have not been since the Lange/Douglas administration. I make my mind up at each new election which candidate & which party I am going to vote for this time.

              In 2017, I was expecting a 4th National Maori Party ACT Party government & would not have been disappointed by that. In the event, Winston Peters handed the election to Jacinda Ardern & Labour, which was also worth giving a go, for a change.

              Both Labour & National are now centrist parties. Labour leans towards the union/socially liberal/progressive end of the centre spectrum, & National leans towards the personal responsibility & “lawn order” end.

              A new National leader could still manage to do some kind of reset back towards the party’s revised principles set out in the link below. At present they seem a bit rootless.

              https://teara.govt.nz/en/national-party/page-4

    • weston 4.3

      Why exacerbate ANY divides TM ?.By consistently using terms like 'gun lovers'you are lumping all gun owners into an imaginary camp to create the impression ALL gun users are some sort of right wing losers sitting around caressing their favorite weapon !!NZis not america and 99percent of the gun users in nz have a few guns the same as they have a few fishing rods !Why give Seymour any extra votes by alienating legitimate law abiding gun users by the careless and clueless use of language designed to divide ?

      personally i have no idea who the fuck the Gun women and i dont wanna know
      i support the other things you have been saying by the way

    • Nic the NZer 4.4

      David Seymour has Maori descent on his mothers side apparently. My current working theory is that he suffered physical harm as a child (according to Oranga Tamariki) because he wasn't actually raised as Maori. Unfortunately I'm having difficulty squaring that idea off against my own Scottish descent while being discouraged as a child from boozing, heroin use and fanatically supporting Diego Maradona and any other country facing England.

    • Gosman 4.5

      What do you mean "properly challenged"? The media has attempted to do this and ACT has avoided their traps quite easily.

  5. Tricledrown 5

    Many of those wealthy suburbs are populated by much older people who even with vaccination are more susceptible to Covid infection.

    National won't be happy with this blatant power grab.

  6. Peter 6

    Let Epsom be in Level 0 or whatever some drongo wants.

    Send in the army to keep outsiders out. Will I be allowed to transit through? Border patrols on Manukau Road?

    The joy, the freedom to be able to go shopping to be served by people who've come in from the polluted areas.

    Seymour is saying it not because he's necessarily serious but because he knows the notion will appeal to those who fancy themselves to be elite all over the country.

  7. Byd0nz 7

    I want to Seeless of Seymour, including on here, why give him attention, The best thing to give him, is voiceless detention.

    • Tiger Mountain 7.1

      Too late, he is out of his Incel chatroom and into public consciousness, what his party stands for needs to be challenged–Electronic Income Management for beneficiaries and all–freedom of the individual unless you are poor!

      ACT remains the rotten party of the libertarian elite it always has been since Roger Douglas and his motley crew formed it. Current ACT policies are in link, as slippery as the proverbial.

      https://www.act.org.nz/a_hand_up

  8. Ad 8

    Is this not what the government is doing already on a regional scale?

    • AB 8.1

      It is – but it's a fallacy to believe that because something sort of works at one scale it will also work at a different scale. If for instance, Seymour had suggested having different streets at different levels, or different houses in the same street at different levels, everyone would think it was a bit nuts.

      Seems to me that suburbs are too physically contiguous and too tightly linked in terms of flows for this idea to make sense – and it would take several armies to enforce any boundaries. Partial versions of it might be possible though, e.g. a government might not open schools in South Auckland, but open them in the rest of Auckland – though they would have to be brazen enough to fight off accusations that they were exacerbating existing educational disadvantage.

      Seymour most likely understands this – he's just voicing what he knows a solid chunk of his 15% support actually think. He's keeping them loyal and close.

      • Ad 8.1.1

        The lines they have set up are arbitrary DHB lines. May as well be Police command regions. They are just making it up.

        May as well have been Rugby franchise territories.

        The published mesh block data simply invites politicians to expand or contract infection defenses. NZHerald has already made town comparisons into a competition.

        Sorry about people's feels and all that, but there needs to be more competition between us, not less.

    • Patricia Bremner 8.2

      The South Island elite were annoyed not to have their position of L2 visited during yesterdays stand-up. They obviously felt impatient about the poorer areas of Auckland keeping them at this level. Self interest being displayed.

      This is the same thing, but I wonder if … a "Look over here"…. by Seeless, so what is happening in Act we are not to notice?

  9. Reality 9

    Seymour has brought in a number of MPs this election cycle but mostly they seem to have taken (or been instructed to) a vow of silence, apart from the gun woman who is let out occasionally and the deputy leader whose names most people don't know. Seymour is still a one man band and is lapping up his new found attention. Time for more scrutiny and publicity of his party and policies.

    • Gezza 9.1

      Agreed. And I think that scrutiny will start happening now that he’s gone & foot-shot himself with this absurd proposition.

    • Tiger Mountain 9.2

      The “gun woman” Nicole McKee, is a right piece of work from COLFO (NZ Council of Licensed Fire Arms Owners). The organisation presents as grass roots shooters, but is embedded with the firearms industry. Pre the ACT hook up their www site had links to the American NRA, which even then they tried to obscure by being Affiliates of international sports shootings organisations rather than direct affiliates, such links long gone from public view now.

      And yes the ACT numpties need to be scrutinised, and perhaps given the treatment that say Ms Wiles got from Cameron Slater recently and see how they shake out. I am not seriously advocating that!, but Seymour and new friends are not just harmless “other players” in the Parliamentary scene. They advocate attacking the minimum wage, abolishing Māori seats and much more.

      • Tricledrown 9.2.1

        If Maori seats were abolished National would loose rural guaranteed seats.

        Leaving National struggling to maintain a strong presence that electorate seats give them.

    • Anne 9.3

      Of course his MPs have been instructed to stay silent. He knows that if they opened their mouths everyone would see what a bunch of no-hopers they were.

      I am reminded of Peter Dunne when he brought a whole bunch of his supporters into parliament – United Front was it called? Oh no, that was the Monty Python crowd. 😉 Dunne did the same thing. Kept their mouths shut because half of them were nut-balls. In the end it showed and Dunne's party disappeared down the gurgler.

        • lprent 9.3.1.1

          I just looked at the first and last one, because they are in my daily news reading list. There was a reason that I’d ignored them. They didn’t say anything of any interest. They were space fillers for the page.

          Nicola McKee – two small quotations and slightly less than the Maori party spokesperson immediately above. Incredibly anodyne wish-washy general statements with no particular value and no statement of act policy. Compared to the Maori and Green party spokespeople statements above it – who were talking about their own personal experiences, you just get the impression that she would have been better off not saying anything rather than being a vacuous hole saying boilerplate statements of concern..

          Simon Court – got 3 paragraphs as they were obviously the only contacts that had anything bad to say about the delay. He wasted it on being sounding off with boilerplate sneers, not a thing about Act policy, and at the end was a hypocrite because he was pushing a faster response to the Emissions Reduction Plan – which from my understanding is opposed by Act anyway.

          It was then followed by a number of paragraphs of industry people praising a "sensible decision".

          Yeah – I can see that Act MPs apart from Davey are making a impact in the media. They are coming to epitomise people that you can rely on to say nothing of any note. The kinds of people you need to work on policy based on their deep commitment, concern, and personal experience for what they are doing.

          /sarc

          BTW: I guess that they don’t get asked by the NZ Herald or BusinessDesk at all. I can’t recall seeing any of then in those at all. Someone might want to review the other froth links for our entertainment… I don’t have time.

          • Gosman 9.3.1.1.1

            Nicole McKee has had a Private Members bill pulled from the biscuit tin on Gangs and has been interviewed on that.

          • Gosman 9.3.1.1.2

            I am confident you find anything ANY right wing MP is pretty much how you frame the comments from Nicole and Simon however the point I was countering was that the new ACT MP's were being kept quiet. That is obviously not the case.

            • William 9.3.1.1.2.1

              I'm flicking back & forwards between this thread & making a submission to Wellington City Council regarding the completion of the Evans Bay Cycle Lane. While looking at recent comments made by others I came across this gem posted this morning:

              —————————

              Nicole McKee MP ,

              You need to fix our pipes. This plan removes access to recreational water activities. You're spending money on the wrong thing and taking away recreational activities. Your being blind with arrogance and its sad because you're not listening to the people. You're on your own agenda with blinkers on. You're not a deity, your funded by us – open your ears and listen to the people.

              7 hours ago

              —————————

              Surely she could have run it past someone in the office to avoid the "Ratepayer of Hataitai" vibe and correct the grammar. It's a good example of why they're being kept on a short leash.

          • Higherstandard 9.3.1.1.3

            'They are coming to epitomise people that you can rely on to say nothing of any note. '

            Perhaps they should join the current government ? Although to be fair then they'd also need to become expert in non-delivery of various warbling.

    • Gosman 9.4

      There have been a range of policies and statements from the new ACT MP's

      • Brigid 9.4.1

        Do us a favour and teach Nicole McKee the difference between 'your' and 'you're'

        She seems confused.

  10. Chris T 10

    Brooke van Velden is also fairly spotlighted.

    She asks lots of questions in parliament and has been in the media quite a bit

  11. Stuart Munro 11

    I guess he figures there are a few votes to be squeezed out of Auckland frustration – and it's probably true. Chaos benefits minor parties – hence Winston's sudden reappearance. But chaos isn't particularly good policy – though it may appeal to NRA affiliated enthusiasts.

    Seymour might become a threat if he tended to avoid cheap shots like this, and nutted out plausibly superior policy – but the long habit of being a poodle is hard to break. The worst of the toxic media vermin may even throw him a few treats.

  12. Ad 12

    Act for 20%, that puts the political Ebola into National.

  13. bwaghorn 13

    The main flaw is it could never work , short of walling them off , of course the wealthy probably would like that.

    • Visubversa 13.1

      Until they had to mow their own lawns. clean their own houses, do their own laundry and fill their own swimming pools. Until they realise that their gym is on the other side of the wall, and that they can't drive their 4WD monsters up and down Ponsonby Rd.

  14. DukeEll 14

    "It is also epidemiologically bonkers. The virus does not respect the boundaries of wealthy suburbs. "

    But it does respect 90% vaccination rates. Which could also be seymours point, and would also make it epidemiologically sound

  15. It really sucks that a tiny minority of Aucklanders is holding the rest of us to ransom. We are suffering and paying for their selfishness and total disregard for the wellbeing of others. They are bludgers who do nothing but make life harder for everyone else, they only exist to rip off others and rort the system.

    Crime does pay, especially for Epsom one percenters

    (This is extreme sarcasm FYI: the landlords, banksters and property spruikers of Epsom and Parnell are engaging in class warfare. And Seymour is throwing bones to them)

    • gsays 15.1

      Thanks for clarifying the sarcasm.

      I had a diatribe of epic proportions and I was gonna come from a long run up, a'la Hadlee in his prime.

      • logie97 15.1.1

        Just to correct you there for future reference. Hadlee went as a raw talent to Nottinghamshire cricket owning a long run-up. He had to play (John Player) Sunday league in his first year with a maximum of 20 pace run-ups. As a result of modifying his approach he turned from an average bowler to become the champion he was, off a shortened run.

        • gsays 15.1.1.1

          Thanks for the elucidation (gonna have to sit down after using that word).

        • Macro 15.1.1.2

          Exactly. Says it all in his book "Rhythm and Swing". He had a much shorter run up than a lot of other fast bowlers.

          Maybe Dennis Lillee would have been a better example.

        • Patricia Bremner 15.1.1.3

          Yes, was in Rotorua for a game where Hadley and Howarth had obvious words about his run up at Smallbone Park.

      • Craig Hall 15.1.2

        Michael Holding aka Whispering Death if you want a fast bowler with a very long run up in his prime.

  16. georgecom 16

    Another health gem from the leader of the opposition.

    how about unrestricted travel overseas for people from those suburbs as well, that's a grand idea

  17. barry 17

    Seymour clearly knows something about the virus that has escaped the epidemiologists and microbiologists. There is nothing magic about 90% vaccination rate. It is not a goal, but an aspiration. Anything less than 100% is not going to stop the virus, although the higher the percent vaccinated the lower the number of hospitalisations.

    The people who want to suddenly open up when the percentage hits a certain value (like in NSW and Victoria) are indulging in wishful thinking.

    The virus is what is setting the rules. The government is just discovering them. Luckily the government found the rules for the first strains, but the rules for delta are different, and the government hasn't found them yet. Seymour and the like are making up rules without consulting the virus at all.

  18. logie97 18

    Why hasn't he suggested that the South Island (Christchurch/Queenstown) be opened up for the thousands of overseas citizens to return home to. Do their mandatory 14 days down there and then allow them to go to all points north, including back into lockdowns in Auckland.

  19. coreyjhumm 19

    If the govt listened to him he'd be attacking the govt for abandoning low vaccinated suburbs. This opposition and media have become full on contrarians. Jacindas doing too many press conferences she loves the attention, Jacindas not doing enough press conferences she's afraid of the questions.

    Labour has no plan. Open us up. Labours opening us up and throwing us in harm's way.

    The right can't make up their minds

    This is a stupid idea but in saying that I don't get why commentors above me have judged this as racist when the govt and businesses are already telling the unvaccinated they can't go to bars or events or festivals without a vaccine, the vaccine is free to all regardless of your race or ethnicity, it'd only be classism or racism if the vax was only available to rich white people, the vast vast majority of nz is getting vaxxed regardless of their wealth or ethnicity, some need extra help absolutely but they better hurry up because the clock is ticking and people aren't going to wait for them they have till about mid November to get vaxxed, it's going to be impossible to restrict people who are vaxxed as the vaxxed population increases and people demand their lives back the team of five million idea dies and becomes the team of vaccinated and the team of unvaccinated and team of unvaccinated.

    The problem indeed with this is that people who work and study in suburbs don't always live there so you'd have unvaxed people traveling to vaxxed areas where the unvaxed person is likely to get sick. It's a dumb idea.

    There are loads of restrictions coming these aren't racist or classist when the jab is freely available to all. We will eventually be a no jab no service society, so get vaccinated or you'll be a social pariah or worse dead.

    The publics patience with the unvaccinated is wearing thin but having suburbs that have high vaccination rates go to level one is dumb.

    Seymour isnt racist but he is classist and always will be a tosser and a hypoctical contrarian career politician whose been running for office since he turned 18 yet insults career politicians.

    Book your vaccine appointment today. Delta is coming and it's going to kill a lot of unvaccinated people.

  20. Gezza 20

    It just randomly occurred to me that a better title for this post might have been:

    David Seymour is all [cl] ass

    😕

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    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    9 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    23 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
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