How not to win votes and influence people

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, June 13th, 2023 - 172 comments
Categories: brand key, Christopher Luxon, climate change, john key, national, same old national, science - Tags:

When Don Brash strode the country seeking to be its next Prime Minister he divided, abused minority groups, got caught trying to hop into

When John Key strode the country seeking to be its next Prime Minister he did the opposite, he brokered a deal to get the anti smacking legislation through, he took Aroha Hudson to Waitangi and he talked about dealing with the causes of poverty.  He was surprisingly for National a positive future looking leader, at least that is the impression that he created.

It is interesting to see who Chris Luxon models himself on.  And it is clearly Brash.

Yesterday’s incident where he was filmed describing New Zealand as a negative, wet, whiny, inward looking country that’s lost the plot displays a level of negativity about the country and its people that will present a real problem.

And he should be thinking about the attitude shown by his own MPs.

After all complaining bitterly about road signs in Te Reo suggests a fixation with stoking culture wars at a time when climate change should be dominating political discourse.

Not only are they negative, whiny and inward looking but they have recently displayed a remarkable ability for magical thinking.

In the midst of a global crisis they have decided to appease the farming lobby by delaying agriculture’s entry into the Emissions Trading Scheme.

And Luxon has accused the Government of blowing up the He Waka Eke Noa arrangement.  Think of Luxon saying that in a whiny voice for full effect.

Luxon’s statement is actually quite accurate.  As long as you replace “New Zealand” with “National”.

 

 

172 comments on “How not to win votes and influence people ”

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  1. roy cartland 1
    13 June 2023 at 8:53 am

    Is there an edit needed in that first sentence?

    [Oops now corrected – MS]

    • Tiger Mountain 1.1
      13 June 2023 at 9:40 am

      Might refer to Brash’s awkward attempt to step into a speedway car which was shown on media channels at the time.

      • georgecom 1.1.1
        13 June 2023 at 6:28 pm

        or when he tried to walk the plank to a boat. What he did hop into was a secret deal with the Exclusive Brethren to massively try and avoid election advertising rules and then hopped into a huge controversy as he tried to cover it up.

  2. PsyclingLeft.Always 2
    13 June 2023 at 8:57 am

    If Luxon's latest blurt doesnt gain any %, will Willis again jump in to say it was just jokes?

    He is desperate…(well thats a given), to claw back from Act. Desperation leads to error. He aint clever…or quick thinking. He will be tripped up by pressure from Green and Labour : )

  3. observer 3
    13 June 2023 at 8:59 am

    It's not even a slip of the tongue. Anybody can do the old "foot in mouth" gaffe and apologise afterwards but this is a deliberate, scripted line.

    We know this because he's said the very same words before. It is – without question – what he believes, and wants to say, about the people, to the people.

    https://twitter.com/StrayDogNZ/status/1668161896175009793

  4. tsmithfield 4
    13 June 2023 at 9:16 am

    If this statement is going to be commented on, it should be stated in its context. I suspect I would be banned if I used a quote that way.

    Here is the statement in its context.:

    "We have become a very negative, wet, whiney, inward-looking country and we have lost the plot and we have got to get our mojo back," Luxon said to one farmer.

    Notice, for a start, he used the inclusive word "We" meaning he was including himself in that description.

    And, I agree with him. The likes of Sir Ed would probably be ashamed of the way our society has become. We have become so needy, and so dependent on others to do things for us, and then complain if they don't.

    We need to regain some of that "can do" attitude that kiwis used to pride themselves on.

    • weka 4.1
      13 June 2023 at 9:27 am

      was he talking about farmers?

    • observer 4.2
      13 June 2023 at 9:30 am

      he used the inclusive word "We" meaning he was including himself in that description.

      Nice try, but clearly contradicted by Luxon's own words, quoted in my comment above yours.

      Was Luxon born 6 years ago?

    • Jack 4.3
      13 June 2023 at 9:33 am

      I suspect Luxon is quietly very pleased the left are getting themselves so off on this statement. It speaks directly to the divisive society created under Aderns leadership and ably carried on by Hipkins. Bit it also talks to the ability to bring back the kiwi can do on October 14.

      • tsmithfield 4.3.1
        13 June 2023 at 9:47 am

        I am thinking this also. I think there may be a plan to allow the media etc to froth at the mouth at these sort of statements, and show themselves as totally unhinged.

        Then, Willis steps in and counter-attacks like she did the other day.

        • Incognito 4.3.1.1
          13 June 2023 at 10:09 am

          So, let me get this straight.

          National’s ‘plan’ – strategy is too big a word here – is for Luxon to make a fool of himself at every opportunity and look like a detached idiot and then for Willis to take over and lead the party to a glorious victory on 14 October?

          Is Jack Tame in on it, because he played along with ‘the plan’ very effectively? Not that Luxon needs any help – he’s a natural natural, that even AI cannot improve.

          I think this is truly a Master Plan and a genuine stroke of genius and a sure-fire way of winning the election!

          • tsmithfield 4.3.1.1.1
            13 June 2023 at 10:32 am

            I am not sure if it is making a fool of himself.

            The sort of comments he has made have been blown way out of proportion and distorted by the media. Look at the headlines for this. They all place it way out of context, and try to display it as something shocking and terrible, likely to grab headlines.

            But the comments themselves have been throw-away comments of the type that most of us probably make every day in one way or another. And, I think the average person realises this.

            If the media are going to behave in this way, and examine the minutiae of everything said in order to manufacture scandals, then, it is probably good to have a strategy to counter it.

            Rather than snivel and apologise at every turn, it is probably better to fight back and point out how stupid and precious the media is being over this sort of stuff.

            Note, that trust in the media is continuing to decline. So, pointing this sort of stuff out probably has a lot of people nodding in agreement.

            https://www.aut.ac.nz/news/stories/trust-in-the-news-slips-further

            • Incognito 4.3.1.1.1.1
              13 June 2023 at 3:26 pm

              The sort of comments he has made have been blown way out of proportion and distorted by the media.

              Well, you argued this was all part of ‘the plan’, remember?

              I think there may be a plan to allow the media etc to froth at the mouth at these sort of statements, and show themselves as totally unhinged.

              I sense your desperation as Luxon apologist.

              But the comments themselves have been throw-away comments of the type that most of us probably make every day in one way or another.

              Have you watched Luxon’s interview with Jack Tame in full? Luxon doesn’t make ‘throw-away comments’ like most of us – he’s probably been instructed by his minders not to. His language is guarded, robotic, and he's nauseatingly repeating the same talking points, just like a chatbot.

              If the media are going to behave in this way, and examine the minutiae of everything said in order to manufacture scandals, then, it is probably good to have a strategy to counter it.

              Luxon has 16 million strategies that all failed [him]. It’s not the media’s doing; people find out for and by themselves on Social Media and can put 2 & 2 together. What’s the ‘strategy’ to counter it? The Willis excuse: ‘he didn’t mean it’, ‘he was joking’, ‘he wasn’t there but in Te Puke’, et cetera?

              Rather than snivel and apologise at every turn, it is probably better to fight back and point out how stupid and precious the media is being over this sort of stuff.

              Fight back against your own ‘plan’!? Only a diehard Nat would buy this kind of gaslighting and sing its praises online.

              Note, that trust in the media is continuing to decline. So, pointing this sort of stuff out probably has a lot of people nodding in agreement.

              Who on Earth would want trust in media to decline? Only truly Trumpian minds would applaud such a thing. People are nodding because they’re falling asleep reading your simplistic & contradictory comments here.

              • tsmithfield …
                13 June 2023 at 4:42 pm

                I heard HDPA saying virtually the same as me on the way home tonight, because, it appears that Luxon had doubled-down on his comments rather than walking away from them, and used it as an opportunity to launch an attack on Labour.

                "I'm calling the Labour Government wet and whiny," Luxon replied. "There's nothing wrong with New Zealand or New Zealanders. It's the best country on planet Earth and we have endless potential."

                The National leader said New Zealand had gone backwards under the current Government and it would be "positive" under an "ambitious" National Government.

                Contrast that with the snivelling apologising that was going on last year.

                • Incognito …
                  13 June 2023 at 5:11 pm

                  Phew! So, according to Luxon there are only 27 wet & whiny Kiwis in NZ? And the people who vote for Labour? Are they not a tiny bit wet & whiny too?

                  But hang on! Hasn’t Luxon gone off-plan – after all, he did run an airline? Wasn’t Willis meant to do the counter-attack?

                  With HDPA you’re in good company – lots of nodding there.

                  FYI, snivelling is common in winter.

                  Luxon’s ‘attack’ resembles that of Monty Python’s Black Knight with this plot twist: the knight chopped off his own limbs and then stabbed himself in the back with his own sword (quite a feat).

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmInkxbvlCs

                • Louis …
                  13 June 2023 at 6:11 pm

                  Luxon has not doubled down, he is desperately trying to walk back from "We have become a very negative, wet, whiny, inward-looking "country" Clearly he wasn't referring to Labour at the time, unless he sees Labour and the country as one, and the same.

              • Louis …
                13 June 2023 at 6:13 pm

                yes Incognito.

        • Louis 4.3.1.2
          13 June 2023 at 11:24 am

          IMO you and Jack are in denial, others are not to blame for Luxon's constant foot-in-mouth syndrome. How long before this gaffe is 'clarified' and walked back?

          The media defended another Luxon gaffe just recently.

          "Jack Tame: Luxon wasn't seriously urging us to have babies"

          https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/06/09/jack-tame-luxon-wasnt-seriously-urging-us-to-have-babies/

          • tsmithfield 4.3.1.2.1
            13 June 2023 at 11:43 am

            "Jack Tame: Luxon wasn't seriously urging us to have babies"

            That is true. And Jack Tame is one of the more sane ones. But, Cushla Norman equating Luxon's views with Nazi experiments?

            This is the sort of unhinged, frothing at the mouth sort of stuff I am referring to. I don't think anyone should complain about ratonal media investigation. But, beat-ups like the one mentioned above, shouldn't be tolerated, and should be pushed back on as hard as possible. And the people asking such stupid questions need to be publicly shamed.

            • joe90 4.3.1.2.1.1
              13 June 2023 at 12:16 pm

              Let's do ehrenarier and unnütze esser. They fit.

              /

              • tsmithfield …
                13 June 2023 at 1:05 pm

                Again, comments that are blown out of proportion by the media in the context they were given. But from early last year.

                It looks like Luxon had a different strategy back then, focusing on explaining or justifying, which just made him look weak.

                It looks to me that the strategy has changed. Had that same line of questioning been given today, I expect the response would be more along the lines of:

                "Stop deliberately blowing things out of proportion to make an issue out of a non-issue. Most kiwis would understand exactly what I meant. If you can't, then I really can't help you."

                • Louis …
                  13 June 2023 at 1:19 pm

                  Luxon has not said that though and his strategy hasn't changed, he keeps putting both feet firmly in his mouth.

                  • tsmithfield …
                    13 June 2023 at 1:31 pm

                    I think his inexperience as a politician is showing through a bit. But, also, I think the media is continually shreiking about various inconsequential statements and trying to paint some sort of picture they want to represent, rather than reporting reality.

                    Ask Chat GPT why the trust in media is declining. One of the reasons given is:

                    Sensationalism and clickbait: Some media outlets prioritize sensational stories and headlines to attract attention and increase viewership or readership. This emphasis on generating attention-grabbing content can create a perception that media organizations prioritize entertainment value over accuracy and in-depth reporting, which can erode trust.

                • joe90 …
                  13 June 2023 at 1:43 pm

                  in the context they were given.

                  The nature of the audiences he was addressing made it pretty damn clear what the context was; to the party faithful high calibre Māori were deserving folk like you and I and to McIvor's rabid listeners bottom feeders were undeserving folk not like and you and I.

                  • In Vino …
                    13 June 2023 at 8:30 pm

                    My tuppence: correct English is "like you and me."

                    "Like you and I" is utterly wrong when 'like' is a preposition.

                    Looks like he needs to spend some of his huge election funds on some grammar consultants. (In that sentence, "like" is a conjunction, not a preposition.)

                    Just saying.

            • Louis 4.3.1.2.1.2
              13 June 2023 at 12:32 pm

              The media often ask dumb, inflammatory questions over something that has been said or done. If memory serves, Cushla Norman, like several reporters, is highly critical of the Labour govt.

              Luxon, who makes way too many gaffes and flip-flops, should consider thinking first before opening his mouth.

              • Tony Veitch …
                13 June 2023 at 3:04 pm

                As someone said, there needs to be a couple of speed bumps between his brain and his mouth!

        • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.3.1.3
          13 June 2023 at 12:36 pm

          tsmithfield # 4.3.1

          ” think there may be a plan”

          Lol….you are taking the piss?. Except… its a plan…so cunning

          "I have a cunning plan"

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldrick#Character

          Just lmao : )

          • tsmithfield 4.3.1.3.1
            13 June 2023 at 12:58 pm

            I think there is a plan to deal with media misrepresentation. That is by pushing back strongly against that nonsense rather than wimpering and apologising.

            Not a plan around deliberately making gaffs or any such thing.

            • Louis 4.3.1.3.1.1
              13 June 2023 at 1:27 pm

              If there is a plan, the National Party doesn't appear to be following it. Do you feel the same when the media misrepresents govt or any other party that is not National?

              • tsmithfield …
                13 June 2023 at 1:43 pm

                Yeah, I do, actually. It all gets a bit tiresome, and it is never clear if it is just a media beat-up or not.

                Oh for the days of true investigative and balanced reporting.

                • Louis …
                  13 June 2023 at 2:05 pm

                  I haven't seen any comment from you in defence of Labour and the Greens.

                  • In Vino …
                    13 June 2023 at 8:38 pm

                    And please, tsmithfield, the word is 'gaffe', not gaff, which is a nautical term basically for a pole with a hook on the end.

                    Mind you, you could have been deliberately making a gaffe, couldn't you?

              • Mark Craig …
                17 June 2023 at 1:12 pm

                This plan trope is getting tired.It is a Crosby Textor, very old card trick.Sheesh I cannot believe right wing numbskulls are still paying for this low rent electioneering.It first blew up on Campbell Newman here in Queensland years ago,he lost the premiership in a landslide after just one term.The Tories tried it,look at the local body elections there.Keep asking for details,you will flummox him.

        • bwaghorn 4.3.1.4
          13 June 2023 at 1:34 pm

          Couner attacks!!!???

          Is that what they call clean up in aisle 7 these days.

          How long since your say willis standing next to luxon?

          They ain't no team

      • Louis 4.3.2
        13 June 2023 at 11:29 am

        Disagree with you, Jack. NZ was divided long before the global pandemic.

    • joe90 4.4
      13 June 2023 at 9:55 am

      We need to regain some of that "can do" attitude that kiwis used to pride themselves on.

      Number 8 wire and that "can do" attitude meant settling for on the cheap fixes, short-termism, shitty, poorly designed houses fit for neither purpose nor climate, shoddy, over priced consumer goods, Thames-assembled motorcars, and the Trekka.

      Because that was all there was.

      • mike 4.4.1
        13 June 2023 at 11:03 am

        'We need to regain some of that "can do" attitude that kiwis used to pride themselves on.'

        You mean like 'Make NZ Great Again' ?

      • Stuart Munro 4.4.2
        13 June 2023 at 7:55 pm

        I have a bit of time for number 8 wire.

        Back in the day. I had a Cockies' Roller – a Triumph 2.5 – lovely ride. But low-slung. Nearly every time I did a dirt road the muffler would cop it – $50 – $100 for a new shitmetal bracket. One day, a mate & I (a Coaster) drove up to Lake Onslow, where the ridged road did the usual. Dave was off out the door and back from a strainer post with a bit of spare wire in minutes. He did a Spanish Windlass around the muffler with it, and not only were we good to go, but I never had to buy another shitmetal bracket.

        We caught a few fish too – 'twas a bloody good outing, right down to the cold roast ducks I'd brought along for lunch. If you're ever at Onslow, and the wind is annoying – try the Teviot River – used to be a lot of hungry browns in it.

        • joe90 4.4.2.1
          13 June 2023 at 9:00 pm

          During development of the central north island's SWER system #8 wire was routinely used as an overhead high/low voltage conductor. And often as not it was carried on railway track poles. Encountering either was the stuff of nightmares for a distribution liney. Bouncy, brittle, and terrifying.

          So no, I don't share your fondness for #8 wire and the "can do" attitudes that once prevailed.

    • AB 4.5
      13 June 2023 at 11:15 am

      We have become so needy, and so dependent on others to do things for us, and then complain if they don't.

      I see it more this way – some of us have become so corrupted by an ideology that insists we are not all mutually dependent, that they scream and fight like rats in a hole whenever they are reminded of the fact.

    • Drowsy M. Kram 4.6
      13 June 2023 at 2:02 pm

      Notice, for a start, he used the inclusive word "We" meaning he was including himself in that description.

      You could be right – maybe would-be PM Luxon feels that he himself has "become a very negative, wet, whiney, inward-looking" person who has "lost the plot", and that he needs to get his "mojo back."

      This would make sense, given he isn't a particularly positive political figure – but Luxon/Luxoff will no doubt clarify his comments in due course.

      Luxon's polls 'abysmal' but National leadership change unlikely
      [21 May 2023]

      Kiwis unsure on Luxon five months out from NZ election – poll
      [15 May 2023]
      Newshub also polled on whether the leaders were seen as "in touch or out of touch with the issues facing New Zealanders today".
      …
      Despite his protestations, Luxon was 9.8% in the negative, with 37.2% in touch and 47% out of touch.

  5. Dennis Frank 5
    13 June 2023 at 9:21 am

    I've lived in alternative Aotearoa since I first became averse to the neocolonial ambience of the 1950s as a child. Everyone assumed being part of the empire was normal. They got a scared look in their eyes when I talked to them, so I realised I wasn't normal.

    Our electorate contains a tertiary independent component: folks who transcend the ancient binary. While left-wingers & right-wingers remain attached to NZ, the positive alternative to that antiquated pile of shit grows steadily stronger by including all those who are neither left nor right in their political stance.

    Luxon's reluctance to acknowledge National's role in perpetuating historical crap probably just indicates his lack of interest in learning from history. Nonetheless, trashing one's home country is a political tactic unlikely to impress other neanderthals. Also, crucial swing-voters will likely see his display as a pathetic attempt to blame the people for how they feel about things currently. Blaming humans for human nature seems irrational.

    I saw a gallup poll recently which measured the US electorate as 40% independent, with 30% each self-identifying as either left or right. The disaffected are trending towards a majority. The traditional political terrain has been morphed by neoliberalism, producing a challenging context for political operatives; how to market to this emerging group? Brand psychology suggests that a nifty label usually works. Watch this space!

  6. Incognito 6
    13 June 2023 at 9:28 am

    Does it rain a lot in Te Puke?

  7. Mac1 7
    13 June 2023 at 9:47 am

    https://teara.govt.nz/en/political-values/print

    Googling views on New Zealanders by politicians I found the above article by Stephen Levine. It looks at how we Kiwis see ourselves from colonial times onwards uptil 2012 when the article was written.

    Luxon's 'losing the plot' remarks are not in line with Levine's historical findings which were positive about our values of being 'good neighbours', equality and inclusiveness.

    Have we changed and is Luxon tapping into some well of despair, or is this more like his version of MAGA Trump wanting to make NZ great again?

    First describe our society as destroyed and then propound yourself as the one who wants to rebuild. Is this Luxon the redeeming prophet, the one to lead us from the wilderness, who will part the waters and lead us to better pastures?

    I believe that there is a fundamentalist side to Luxon and that his way of searching for enough votes to take power will part the social waters and leave them divided.

  8. Peter 8
    13 June 2023 at 10:30 am

    A mass are whiny. About anything, everything. If there was nothing to whine about they’d whine about that.

    All Luxon has to do is harness that to the serious Act mob and he’s PM. Actual polls which have him not riding high are how important? I’m sure many will overlook Doofus in the rapture of their whinefests.

  9. psych nurse 9
    13 June 2023 at 10:32 am

    I think he's still preoccupied with making babies and has been misquoted, he actually said " wet and winey" not giving a thought to foetal alcohol syndrome in the coming generation.

  10. Shanreagh 10
    13 June 2023 at 10:35 am

    "We have become a very negative, wet, whiney, inward-looking country and we have lost the plot and we have got to get our mojo back," Luxon said to one farmer.

    Well before we throw everything out because it is said by someone from the right ie kneejerk then let's look.

    I, for one, have long said that NZ as a nation seems to have turned into a nation of whiners. Though I have called them 'Moaning Minnies' and have long pondered (tongue in cheek) if this trait came in with Covid and it was a little known component called the 'Moaning Minnie virus'.

    Now of course we are fiercely trying to backtrack on the Covid measures that were taken too much, too soon, not enough, took away rights, etc etc. We lived for a time when there was no vaccine. So we moaned all the way through about measures to save lives. We moan about Maori issues, we moan about water issues.

    Inward looking goes part & parcel with moaning.

    'Wet' is the piece I think he has got wrong. Having worked through the late 1980s 1990s neo lib restructuring, in comparison with Drys of that era such as David Caygill, Richard Prebble and Ruth Richardson we are 'wettish'. We had a phrase 'she is so dry she is almost combustible'. I don't think we have anyone on the left that is the opposite of that.

    I think the Nats/Labour are clustered around the middle in the 'Damps' category. Act is probably the 'cold damps' (the type of washing you need to bring inside and warm them up before you can work out if it is dry or damp'

    We have been drawn into dark places by issues that were imported and not pressing ie the self ID, no debate. Some of the rhetoric around Covid falls into this category.

    Our politicans seem dour even Hipkins has passed his powerful 'man of the people' sausage roll lover/spreading your legs twinkle' peak and has become an anonymous man in a suit. He has entered the dreaded charisma-free zone.

    Our lack of mojo is apparent with Labour seemingly timidly squandering a large majority and goodwill by tinkering. How are we to make NZ a better place if we don't spend some 'capital' to do it? Our capital is for the people stuff.

    Relative to the world we are a poor country $$$$$. Our citizens are poorly paid and some of organs of state don't work well for us eg tax rates. We have built up wide disparities of income/wealth.

    We are rich in landscape, fresh air & water but we cannot live on them. In fact we have let some of our citizens squander even those benefits to enrich themselves eg industrial dairying on sensitive soils, leaching nitrates into aquifers etc.

    So let us have a look at what Luxon has said. We surely have more integrity and self knowledge not to rail at someone who may be telling the truth as he seees it and whose words/thoughts may actually be correct or partly correct.

    Surely we are not so tribal?

    • observer 10.1
      13 June 2023 at 10:56 am

      But Luxon's claim is …

      It's only happened in the last six years.

      And the issues you mention ("wide disparities of income/wealth", "rich in landscape, fresh air & water but we cannot live on them", etc) are the very opposite of what Luxon cares about, or wants to do something about.

      • Shanreagh 10.1.1
        13 June 2023 at 11:21 am

        Well the Moaning Minnie stuff definitely started for me in the last 6 years. Now in our backtracking we are in full moan about the measures that were taken to keep us from dying prior to the vaccine being widely available. PM Ardern is still a handy moan/whine starter if we run out of something current.

        Some of the policies that have been shelved are because as part of an election build-up people would be moaning/whining about them and we might lose the election.

        Let us see if we can glean something that we can use, out of this perhaps off the cuff, porhaps not, comment by Luxon.

        • Patricia Bremner 10.1.1.1
          13 June 2023 at 1:09 pm

          Luxon is tapping into the latent frustration of worldwide after effects of covid for his personal and political gain… nothing else.

          He is shark like, wanting to hunt bargains in the fire economy. He belongs to the same evangelical marketing school as Morrison.imo

    • Patricia Bremner 10.2
      13 June 2023 at 1:14 pm

      Perhaps Hipkins more serious side is a result of knowing how NZ will be buffeted by International events, where Luxon seems to blame us, without any warmth or assurance about our future. Have you not noticed that lack?

    • Incognito 10.3
      13 June 2023 at 2:57 pm

      So let us have a look at what Luxon has said.

      […]

      Surely we are not so tribal?

      Sure, here’s my short non-tribal take on what Luxon said & meant:

      You suck, vote National

      • Shanreagh 10.3.1
        13 June 2023 at 6:27 pm

        Goodness me election snarling has come early to a blog near me.

        He said it to a farmer and the Nats are traditionally the farmers' friend. Anyway no matter who he said it too, whether he meant the poor farmer he was talking to or NZ as a place, surely we could look at it and learn from it if need be. So you like your medicine from Nanny state's left teaspoon, others might be willing to take a look at the teaspoon in Nanny's right hand.

        If the Nats are going to run a campaign on sunshine and sprinkles my pick, on the amount of fed-upness and grumpiness about at the mo', is that could be a sure fire winner. So he may be giving us a head's up on a part of their campaign to set out how down we are so Sprinkles Nats can bring our smiles & $$$$ back. At least I hope the people running the campaign for Labour are looking at this possibly inadvertent look into a campaign strategy.

        In one of those tiresome Stuff polls I saw earlier today (but now cannot find) sadabout 62% felt he had got the mood of the country about right.
        Anne also linked to it
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300903899/yeah-nah-is-nz-a-negative-wet-whiny-inwardlooking-country

        I do not resile from using the word tribal. When you follow the leader through thick and thin through good and bad places without thinking, without being able to see that someone else might have a point then we have become a very sorry place to be. We were so tied up in the Moaning Minnie virus that came in, in my view with Covid, that some moaned at restrictions designed to save our lives……

        Real whiny +++++++ and squared.

        'Jees Wayne' as they say.

        • Incognito 10.3.1.1
          13 June 2023 at 7:50 pm

          Your thin skin is showing again.

          Your word salad is a bit of a mess.

          How do you know the farmer was poor?

          Hardly anything that comes out of the National talking points factory is worth taking seriously. The real brain activity is coming from ACT and Luxn knows it judging by his stress responses.

          Appearing on Newshub Nation’s political panel, NZ Herald senior writer Simon Wilson said he believes the reason National isn’t polling higher is due to its fellow right-bloc party ACT, warning it could steal the party’s right-wing voters.

          https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/06/election-2023-act-stealing-right-wing-voters-poses-risk-to-national-senior-journalist.html

          • Shanreagh 10.3.1.1.1
            14 June 2023 at 11:25 am

            How do you know the farmer was poor?

            Solely on the basis that a earbashing from Luxon would put you on the back foot. Also not all farmers are lining up to vote National……

            I like to see for myself and make my mind up about uttterances, hence the reference to 'tribal', earlier on. I don't have the mind that says something from a right wingers BAD, anything from a left winger GOOD. Both are able to supply a good thought just as they boith are able to supply a nutty thought.

            And the fact that I have a view that whining is fast becoming or has become, a noticeable trait goes back to the very start of the Covid response.

            Nice deflection though about ACT. Not my point at all.

            My point was that perhaps the idea of naming the problem – whining and moaning – and then making sure that subsequent utterances are about solutions that would put a smile on the dial could be worth looking at.

            As I said the Stuff silly poll does seem to indicate that he has struck some sort of recognition.

            Then we have Luke Malpass in Stuff today

            https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132308266/why-christopher-luxon-may-ride-the-whinging-wave-all-the-way-to-the-beehive

            The gloom and pessimism is something Labour needs to counter. Altough you may not believe this needs to happen, I am sure/hopeful that those working on the campaign from the Labout side will be following this.

            Finally can you actually respond to what I am saying rather than barely hidden ad homs and criticism of a writing style. Thanks.

    • ianmac 10.4
      13 June 2023 at 3:31 pm

      A good question on Morning Report a day or so ago. "Who are the very negative, wet, whiney, inward-looking people?" (Apart from Luxon and team of course.)

  11. Sanctuary 11
    13 June 2023 at 11:26 am

    Luxon represents a significant strand of Pakeha settler thinking that really hasn't moved on from the days of the 19th century pastoralists, kauri harvesters and gold miners. Go to the far flung colony, extract as much wealth as you can, and then retire to a more bucolic and civilised corner of the world.

    These are the people who don't like Maori language, who think NZ was "prison" during the covid lockdowns and long to live in a village in Provence.

    In any event – this comment fails the most important test of anyone who aspires to lead us. Like Caesars wife, the PMs loyalty must be above question. As it stands you suspect that if Russia ever invaded NZ, Luxon and his mates would be the ones Googling flights out of here, not how to make Molotov cocktails.

  12. Anne 12
    13 June 2023 at 11:26 am

    Well, the red-necked retired boomers are getting on to Luxon's nonsensical bandwagon boots' n all:

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300903899/yeah-nah-is-nz-a-negative-wet-whiny-inwardlooking-country

    Currently 60% for Luxon, 40% against.

    • Jack 12.1
      13 June 2023 at 12:28 pm

      Good numbers. He only needs to resonate with 51% of the country. To resonate with 60% is great. Rather that than having to be a PM explaining why gangs in rural towns can dictate when kids can go to school or why 10000 complaints about antisocial behaviour in state houses results in only 3 evictions.

      • Louis 12.1.1
        13 June 2023 at 1:07 pm

        What about the anti-social behaviour of tenants in private rentals? Why are state housing tenants singled out when the majority are not a problem?

        "gangs in rural towns can dictate when kids can go to school" Do you have a link please?

        Those polls on Stuff and Newshub are easily rigged. People can vote as many times as they like by deleting their browsing history after each vote.

        • Belladonna 12.1.1.1
          13 June 2023 at 3:05 pm

          I think you can pretty much guarantee that anti-social behaviour of tenants in private rentals will result in swift eviction.
          That kind of behaviour is likely to result in damage to the house (about which the landlord cares a great deal) and/or a high administrative burden for the letting agent in dealing with complaints (about which the agency cares a great deal).

          While a great number of state housing tenants are great tenants – the minority who are not, are not being effectively dealt with by HNZ/KO.

            • Belladonna 12.1.1.1.1.1
              13 June 2023 at 4:05 pm

              I'm unable to read your link – since it requires a subscription.
              Although, if the landlord is putting the property on the Air BnB market – they’ve clearly already got rid of the problem tenants.

              Problem tenants, will never get another open-market tenancy ever.

              If you're not aware that there is a massive shortage of rental property, and that tenants are bending over backwards to be seen as good tenants to retain the tenancy or get a new one – then you've clearly not been living in NZ for the last 5 years.

              • Louis …
                13 June 2023 at 6:35 pm

                Only some are choosing to put their rentals on the holiday rental market. For many years landlords have often complained about how difficult it can be to get rid of problematic tenants. National broke NZ's housing market and left a housing crisis, so of course I am well aware of the consequences of that, but badly behaving tenants, which includes the private rental market is not new and certainly predates this govt. It's as though you weren't living in NZ prior to the 2017 election.

                • Belladonna …
                  13 June 2023 at 7:31 pm

                  Yes, of course there are badly behaved tenants in both private and state rentals. The difference is that the private landlords take action to remove the tenants, the state…. not so much…..

                  We have had story after story in the media of appalling behaviour, intimidation, threats, and making life unendurable for neighbours of problem KO tenants.

                  We've even had IRL examples provided on TS.

                  Yes, of course, it's only the worst examples that make the news. But it's also the worst examples which should spur KO into effective action.

                  Don't hold your breath.

                  After thousands of documented complaints (and we also have evidence that 'documentation' requires some considerable effort from the complainant) – a grand total of 3 have been removed from the KO tenancy (and no doubt, relocated to make someone else's life a misery).

                  • Louis …
                    13 June 2023 at 9:29 pm

                    Media single out Kāinga Ora, it makes good clickbait, much like benebashing, when the same kind of instances that you have described occur in the private rental sector as well. Media do not report on the complaints private landlords and property managers receive. This is not a new issue that has suddenly occurred in the last 5 and half years like you seem to think.

                    “One of the provisions in particular will enable Kāinga Ora to implement a warnings process, allowing us to apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to end a tenancy should there be three separate, and evidenced, incidents of a serious nature within a 90 day period.

                    “Of course, it is important to note that this course of action will only be used for the very small number of cases where severe and persistent disruptive behaviour is apparent.

                    “We also do not want to make a customer homeless; we will move them to another Kāinga Ora home and continue to provide them with the intensive support they need to address the causes behind their behaviour. Making people and whānau homeless creates a revolving door for housing which only sees problems compound and perpetuate.”

                    https://kaingaora.govt.nz/news/kainga-ora-implements-new-tools-to-manage-disruptive-behaviour/

                    • Belladonna …
                      13 June 2023 at 9:51 pm

                      Nope. I think that any private landlord who persistently ignored "severe and persistent disruptive behaviour" would also be 'featured' in the media.

                      Can you give a single example of this happening? I sincerely doubt it, since private landlords have an incentive to only retain 'good' tenants; and private tenants have an incentive not to be seen as troublemaking – as pointed out above.

                      There are literally dozens of KO ones in the last year. Like this one.

                      90 callouts by police over the last 5 years.

                      And, to actually get the police to turn up – you're talking a serious incident – they're not going to to show up because you're squabbling over the back fence.

                      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hamilton-mums-battle-with-kainga-ora-over-neighbours-from-hell/VPZMZV6EWRCVDE6O5PPSVHQ5EU/

                      It makes you wonder just what the criteria for "severe and disruptive behaviour" is for KO. What does it take? A murder?

                      It's noteworthy that the number of reported issues (which the rest of the community would regard as 'serious') – for KO haven't diminished significantly in the last year – which indicates that their vaunted tools for managing disruptive behaviour just aren't working.

                    • Louis …
                      13 June 2023 at 10:27 pm

                      That is your opinion. Already gave you a link where private landlords have struggled to have tenants removed. It can be a complicated process. Landlords can and do remove 'good' tenants' if it means they could charge a higher rent to someone else.

                      Do you think troublesome tenancies never occurred before the Labour govt? Do you also think there has never been a police call out to a private rental? If so, that's pretty deluded.

                      How many complaints turn out to be a case of nimbyism? Kainga Ora has a better grasp on what's going on than you do.

        • observer 12.1.1.2
          13 June 2023 at 3:47 pm

          Jack seriously believes that the local election turnout was 71%! Must be true, because an online Stuff thingy said so.

          https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-body-elections/300702148/yeah-nah-will-you-vote-in-this-years-local-body-elections

          The actual turnout was 36%.

          There's a good reason why there are constant complaints against these "polls" to the Media Council. They are not polls, they are bot-fests. You can literally watch them being rigged in real time.

          But you don't have to believe me, just ask woke leftie David Farrar, who complained to Stuff about these polls that poor old Jack is fool enough to believe.

          Mr Farrar says the statement that only one vote per computer was allowed is factually wrong and that it is “trivial” for internet users to get past restrictions.

          https://www.mediacouncil.org.nz/rulings/david-farrar-against-the-dominion-post/

          • Incognito 12.1.1.2.1
            13 June 2023 at 3:57 pm

            Trolls cling to BS like shit sticks to a blanket. It fits the narrative.

          • Jack 12.1.1.2.2
            13 June 2023 at 5:51 pm

            Yesterday I asked if you where thick when you completely misquoted my post.

            Today I ask the same question again, given your understanding of statistics seems equally astray. Turnout relates to a population, a poll to a sample. Ask 100 people in my local area if they like pizza and 70% say yes. It doesn’t mean the local pizza shop is going to sell 0.7 times the population in pizzas tonight!

            • observer 12.1.1.2.2.1
              13 June 2023 at 6:16 pm

              I'll back a professional pollster's understanding of psephology stats over your deliberate misunderstanding.

              Troll less, read more. I already provided the links for you.

              • Jack …
                13 June 2023 at 6:39 pm

                You provided a link to a complaint that was declined. Bit like your mis-quote yesterday. Keep up the good work. You add great comedic value to this site. You’re one of my favourites.

                • observer …
                  13 June 2023 at 6:50 pm

                  Are you Christopher Luxon? Same MO … every time you get caught out you resort to bluster.

                  Let's try once more. Yesterday you said (incorrectly) that National had announced its tax policy for the election.

                  I asked you to link to it. You didn't (because there has been no such announcement).

                  Can you link to it now?

                  (or just say "I got it wrong", a much better answer than Luxony bluster, but that's up to you).

                  • newsense …
                    13 June 2023 at 9:53 pm

                    Now, now observer- you are beginning to take up sword to dispatch small fry. Not very quaker of you!

                • Incognito …
                  13 June 2023 at 7:27 pm

                  Why was the complaint declined, Jack, and on what grounds? Was there no substance at all to the complaint or was there a little more to it?

            • Incognito 12.1.1.2.2.2
              13 June 2023 at 6:20 pm

              Jack, do you know the difference between a random sample and a self-selecting sample?

              Do you understand that, for example, polling 1,000 random people in main street of Ōtara is not representative of the whole NZ population?

              Do you understand that polling people who are visiting a website and who can be bothered to take part in a self-selecting poll is not representative of the whole NZ population?

              Do you understand that if people and bots can vote multiple times in a self-selecting online poll therefore the result is essentially meaningless?

              Are you thick, Jack, or a troll?

    • Patricia Bremner 12.2
      13 June 2023 at 12:56 pm

      Yes Anne, sad isn't it. Again people want to align themselves with the "Top Table" not realising they will get only the trickle down crumbs.

      To have lived long enough to see the pattern repeated three times in 82 years.

    • Kat 12.3
      13 June 2023 at 2:01 pm

      Not necessarily boomers, rednecks or not…..could be a new "Answer Bot" in action generating numerous ISP IPA's.

      Luxon and Willis are fond of AI remember……

    • That_guy 12.4
      13 June 2023 at 2:26 pm

      Yeah, that's your opinion on what that survey means, and it's a stretch to come to the conclusion you've come to, for two reasons.

      1) It's a totally unrepresentative stuff survey and

      2) You have no idea how many people are saying that NZ is "negative, wet, whiny, etc" because they think the Nats and CL are "negative, wet, whiny, etc"

  13. Hunter Thompson II 13
    13 June 2023 at 11:49 am

    Labour ministers seem to be doing a great job of not winning votes: Stuart Nash, Jan Tinetti, Michael Wood …

    Chris Hipkins must be fearful that more bumblers will emerge pre-election.

  14. Reality 14
    13 June 2023 at 12:15 pm

    Hunter, you may need a wee reminder of National's recent history with their some of their dubious MPs, candidates and a person called Michelle Boag, and their fake talk back callers. People in glasshouses…. Humans are not perfect, even in National's ranks.

  15. Stuart Munro 15
    13 June 2023 at 12:34 pm

    I'm sure the sentiments went down well with the crowd he addressed them to – the privileged minority that imagine the Key years were something other than an epic clusterfuck mislabeling property inflation as growth while overall wealth and productivity declined.

  16. Patricia Bremner 16
    13 June 2023 at 12:37 pm

    I think Chris Luxon lacks emotional and social intelligence.

    He does not keep agreements where they impinge on his interests regardless of impacts.

    He has no time for people's fears or anxieties, and all of his suggestions would trample others rights and stand to enrich him and his supporters.

    He has regularly dismissed his teams short comings while pouncing on left slips.

    NZ has been hit by extreme weather recognised as part of climate change effects. His answer, to call us "wet moaners". Wow!! Unfeeling clod.

    Further, does he have a plan to meet climate change? No no!! Let's kick that can down the road for another 5 years.

    As the right ever have, investing in short term return, rather than develop resilience, then blame the very people who live with the resulting fallout. "The wet moaners", while the "Dry right are insulated by their wealth and choices.

    Chris Hipkins fired back, "Well he badmouthed us overseas, now he is now doing it at home.'

    It is worse than that. He has promised to walk back all things bought in by the Labour and Greens, supported by Act to do that.

    What does that mean? No wage rises apart from an occasional 50cents an hour. Charges instituted under the old user pays (or goes without). The $5 on prescriptions just the beginning.

    The Policies produced appear rather ad hoc and no explanation of costs. That might be to avoid budget booboos which affected their past efforts. But believe money is their centre, not us.

    While our PM and the Trade delegation are “Hustling” in China he is moaning to farmers we are doing nothing.

    He is so like Trump Johnson and Morrison in his "I have the answers to making Kiwi can do come back" it really worked for them didn't it?
    Simple solutions for complex problems offered by buffoons.sad

  17. Ad 17
    13 June 2023 at 1:20 pm

    Sounds a chunk more real than Chippie's perpetual hedging and shuffling.

    • adam 17.1
      13 June 2023 at 1:33 pm

      Does feel like it is on a loop

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io4fxdBEApc

    • James Simpson 17.2
      13 June 2023 at 3:14 pm

      I don't think this is the gotcha that MS thinks it is.

      There are many disgruntled kiwis out there frustrated with the lack of progress under this government. The lofty ambitions of 2017 have never come close to being realised.

      Luxo is tapping into that sentiment.

      His prescription is not the answer, but I completely understand where he is coming from.

      The Green Party has the best policies to move this country ahead.

    • Patricia Bremner 17.3
      13 June 2023 at 4:44 pm

      Donate Ad, so we can publish what we are doing. I noticed back page treatment for your mate Robertson when he and Shaw had a meeting in Australia with their counter parts. More "clicks" in Luxon bad mouthing. Working Government is ho-hum to our media, so donate so we can show our "hustle".

  18. observer 18
    13 June 2023 at 3:22 pm

    As predicted (because Luxon is very predictable), today he has "clarified" his comments and pretends that he didn't say what he said.

    So, we're actually a great country, but wet and whiny, thanks for clearing that up Chris.

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/06/13/i-am-a-big-patriotic-kiwi-luxon-clarifies-whiny-comments/

  19. Louis 19
    13 June 2023 at 3:33 pm

    That was quick. Luxon has 'clarified' and walked back on his negative comment. He now claims he was referring to Labour, despite initially saying "very negative, wet, whiny, inward looking "country"

    https://twitter.com/rugbyintel/status/1668440018556420097

    • Anne 19.1
      13 June 2023 at 5:23 pm

      So, he's either "clarifying" what he meant or he's claiming "I was only joking". How are we supposed to know which is which?

    • tsmithfield 19.2
      13 June 2023 at 8:50 pm

      It was walking back by attacking. Much more effective than whimpering apologies over minor transgressions.

      • Incognito 19.2.1
        13 June 2023 at 9:10 pm

        Most people flap their arms & legs and open their mouth making a loud noise when falling backwards. It only shows that Luxon is human.

      • Louis 19.2.2
        13 June 2023 at 9:44 pm

        That lie is cold comfort to you, tsmithfield.

      • newsense 19.2.3
        13 June 2023 at 9:59 pm

        People don’t like him because he’s a BS artist who has made it very difficult to know what he’s genuinely about.

        Religion isn’t normally the sort of thing people can dispense with in NZ for the convenience of a political campaign. Bill was a sincere Catholic who didn’t want to talk about it and the others said they didn’t believe in a God and no one really was that fussed.

        But someone who can’t be understood at any time because he’s all over the map, well who the bloody hell is he?

  20. observer 20
    13 June 2023 at 4:37 pm

    But wait, there's more … Luxon walk-back story number 479:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/tesla-recoil-christopher-luxon-ordered-then-cancelled-taxpayer-funded-tesla-while-criticising-tesla-subsidies/D6BMKILVY5DTNBYS6E7YHISKR4/

    Quote:

    “The episode has led to some raised eyebrows in the National Party at Luxon’s inability to see an obvious political risk.”

    When will Nicola insert the knife?

  21. Charlotte Rust 21
    13 June 2023 at 4:45 pm

    Let’s face it, the guy is a fucking idiot and too rich to care.

  22. tsmithfield 22
    13 June 2023 at 5:15 pm

    According to a Stuff poll 62% of respondents actually agree with Luxon on the Wet, Whiny comment.

    • Anne 22.1
      13 June 2023 at 5:21 pm

      We've already talked about that nonsensical unscientific so-called polling where bots and browsers can distort the outcomes.

      • tsmithfield 22.1.1
        13 June 2023 at 5:25 pm

        It is what it is, I guess. But 28000 responses according to the poll.

        • observer 22.1.1.1
          13 June 2023 at 5:33 pm

          Or you could read the comment at 12.1.1.2.

          Farrar is a professional pollster. He knows bot BS, you should learn about it too.

      • Muttonbird 22.1.2
        13 June 2023 at 6:10 pm

        It doesn’t even need to be bots. Just 100s of white boomer nut jobs with nothing better to do than, like Luxon, complain about the country.

    • Incognito 22.2
      13 June 2023 at 5:28 pm

      Pop the champagne! We have already won the Election!

      I can already feel the warm glow of positivity and hear the drum of positive vibes. In fact, I’ve turned down my heater because of too much hot air and positivity that’s causing static electricity that makes my skin go itchy and my hairs stand up not to mention those painful sparks when I touch things – the cat is not amused.

      One question for you: how many times did you vote?

  23. Mike the Lefty 23
    13 June 2023 at 6:14 pm

    If anyone has lost the plot it is National.

    They are so busy sucking up to the rich old pricks and the farming lobby that they have ignored their other potential supporters – rich yuppies – who now go to someone that acknowledges their imagined suffering.

    David Seymour.

    • Belladonna 23.1
      13 June 2023 at 7:39 pm

      Possibly yes. However, that is not necessarily good news for people who would like a left wing coalition government.
      ACT with a greater degree of the vote share, taken from National, is only beneficial if National are not also poaching a chunk of central voters from Labour.

      If the centre-right has the numbers – ACT with a stronger position is seriously bad news for centre-left voters. The greater your vote share, in the government, the greater your bargaining power.

      • Mike the Lefty 23.1.1
        14 June 2023 at 8:13 am

        That's what frightens me.

        If the NACT coalition wins this year, and to be frank I think they will, it will be ACT in charge. Luxon (or his successor if he panics and bails out shortly) will nominally be PM but Seymour will be the real PM. The new government's policies will largely be driven by ACT's war on the poor and disadvantaged.

        Inflation at 15%, home mortgage rates at 16% – this is what we had when the founders of what would become the ACT Party were last in government.

        New Zealanders need to be made aware of this, but Labour won't mention it because it makes them look stupid because it happened when THEY were in government but allowed the free market wankers to take control.

        • Shanreagh 23.1.1.1
          14 June 2023 at 11:41 am

          These are thoughtful and realistic responses from Belladonna and Mike the Lefty. For all the failings of the Stuff poll it does seem that the concern about the fragile and grumpy NZ psyche made, possibly inadvertently, by the Bumbler in Chief Luxon, may have struck a chord.

          We on the left have to hope that the chord does not morph into an orchestra of negativity. We also have to hope that we don't fall intot the trap as Labour has done before of ascribing more discernment and knowledge to the electorate than it actually has. We saw this happen, in my view, in the Three Waters debacle. We left the electorate behind and that left a gap in which others made mischief.

  24. Muttonbird 24
    13 June 2023 at 6:28 pm

    Pretty sure the repeated ‘inward-looking’ comment from Luxon references the embracing of Te Ao Māori. It’s all navel gazing mumbo-jumbo to them who would rather an identityless homogenised society indistiguishable from any other society (see the racist David Seymour’s crusade to abolish cultural acknowledgement and support).

    it’s the road signs and Wanaka Kotahi and all that inward looking useless stuff. Be more like America!

  25. tsmithfield 25
    13 June 2023 at 10:06 pm

    It is almost comical that the media chooses to put a microscope on every throw-away comment Luxon makes, misrepresent the statement, and then shriek in faux outrage at the implication they choose to put on it. All this, when there is so much meatier stuff they could be focussing on such as inflation, cost of living, crime etc.

    So, good on Luxon if he starts to counter-attack rather than whimper and apologise for offences that were never intended in the first place. A lot of voters like to see a bit of mongrel in politicians.

    I predict his popularity will have a boost after all this has washed through.

    • Incognito 25.1
      13 June 2023 at 10:08 pm

      Yawnzzzz …

    • observer 25.2
      13 June 2023 at 10:30 pm

      Even if that is the right tactic, the problem is … he's still Luxon.

      A “mongrel” Luxon "counter attack" would be him no longer saying "look, what I"m saying to you, let me be clear, [and same old empty waffle …].

      It would be him saying "screw all this hiding, screw my advisers telling me to say nothing and follow the small target strategy, I'm done with that … so listen, this is what I really believe."

      And if he does that, he's toast.

      Labour and the Greens would be thrilled if he finally took off the mask. It's slipped occasionally, but sure, let him rip it off completely. Game over.

    • Charlotte Rust 25.3
      14 June 2023 at 3:16 pm

      Luxon is the biggest whiniest bitch of them all, must be drawing energy from whom he is surrounded by, like attracts like as they say. I can’t think of another politician that has publicly spouted so much negative drivel about his fellow country/people, apart from his fellow journeyman in the wet and of the whiny, Chris Bishop.

  26. Corey 26
    13 June 2023 at 11:05 pm

    He's not wrong though. NZ is a negative place. Though none of his policies will make us less negative.

    We chased out one of the most optimistic positive leaders we've ever had because we're so negative.

    Us kiwis love nothing more to bitch and moan and whinge and cut people down to size.

    This is a great country, it's people from the biggest cities to the smallest towns throughout the north and south, are all some of the most kindest, tolerant, innovative, down to earth people on the planet, but boy can we act like a negative backwater sometimes.

    And we love nothing more than to run down people who try to do something, be they artists, athletes, scientists or even leaders (of all political persuasions) anyone who tries to do something, is in for a world of negativity.

    I'm guilty of it. We all are

    NZ can be unbearably negative sometimes.

    Luxons not going to change any of that

    • Patricia Bremner 26.1
      14 June 2023 at 2:29 am

      I think Givealittle shows us. Generous caring and pretty good folk. (Always exceptions)

      People like Luxon should not moan, after all he is secure whether he wins or not. He won't lose his home car or furniture.

      People who label others want them to be belittled.

      When Luxon said "We don't want bottom feeders" I thought "Which group are they in his mind".?

      Now he is Labelling again…in quite general terms, then back tracking on the unfortunate bits.

      If he is ever Leader, imagine him back tracking on something he blurted overseas!

      He is not suitable.

      • Mike the Lefty 26.1.1
        14 June 2023 at 8:20 am

        Luxon doesn't appear to mind top feeders though.

        Like Steven Joyce, pocketing upwards of $600,000 for doing "various roles" for Massey University.

        Another way of saying "consultant"'

        Something National rail against except when it is one of their old cronies.

      • Shanreagh 26.1.2
        14 June 2023 at 11:54 am

        Of course he is not suitable. We know this. We don't want the Nats etc to ride in on something that the electorate may identify with.

        FWIW I thought the PM was weak in his response, bad mouthing us/unpatriotic…..played into yet another NZ trait of sticking up for the person who has been misstated. I am sure the 62% who felt that there was a kernel of truth in what Luxon said are not going to be convinced that Luxon was bad mouthing.

        Surely the PM is not going to say anyone who is actually concerned with the negativity is bad mouthing or unpatriotic. Some of us are concerned that it might lead to a ride to govern by the Nats.

    • Charlotte Rust 26.2
      14 June 2023 at 8:19 am

      Agree and it appears to me the rw are among the guiltiest of this. The news is full of the opposition whining, negative business leaders, farmers, teachers, nurses, you name it. National have actively pursued this route during and after covid and I became increasingly depressed about what I was hearing. NZers are increasingly what Luxon has described because as a party they have encouraged it, pushing their rhetoric during some of our hardest years whilst the Labour Party tried their hardest to support us and be positive. Jacinda barely said a negative word except for her accurate comment about David Seymour. Luxon may have been somewhat accurate but as a politician aspiring to lead the country he should have the intelligence and decorum not to have said it, but he has neither. Also incredibly on the nose to say wet as many are suffering the fallout and trauma of recent weather events. On the subject of inward looking, why not? We live here, why shouldn’t we focus on our immediate environs and situation. He is wrong anyway, much of our trade is very outward looking and global – to our detriment in many cases. Many of us travel and live overseas at some point, rely on importing/exporting for an income. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, he is an idiot and just a figurehead, he’s in it for his ego full stop. No desire for an egalitarian society or better environment. We won’t need to be like Australia but we could be more akin to the Scandinavian countries. Unfortunately many here think like him and cannot rise above their own interests.

      On another note this Bill Bailey skit is pretty accurate when applied to NZ:

      https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/bill-bailey-limboland/videos/22110/in-britain-we-process-happiness-differently/

    • Shanreagh 26.3
      14 June 2023 at 11:44 am

      Good points Corey.

      By stating it Luxon is not necessarily going to do anything about it. But I think Labour tacticians ignore this thought/idea, now brought to light, at their peril.

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  • Let Them Eat Sausage Rolls: Hipkins Tries to Kill Labour Again
    Sometimes you despair. You really do. Fresh off leading Labour to its ugliest election result since 1990,* Chris Hipkins has decided to misdiagnose matters, because the Government he led cannot possibly have been wrong about anything. *In 2011 and 2014, people were willing to save Labour’s electorate ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    3 hours ago

  • Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “But, that’s the thing, mate, isn’t it? We showed ourselves to be nothing more useful than a bunch of angry old men, shaking our fists at the sky. Were we really that angry at Labour and the Greens? Or was it just the inescapable fact of our own growing irrelevancy ...
    Bowalley Road
    9 hours ago

  • JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...
    Jerry Coyne writes –  This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland,  the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    12 hours ago

  • Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
    Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    17 hours ago

  • Speaking for the future
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    17 hours ago

  • How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
    Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 day ago

  • Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...
    Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisation
    The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes –  Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
    Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    2 days ago

  • “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago

  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;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:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago

  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago

  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago

  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago

  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    Bowalley Road
    5 days ago

  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    6 days ago

  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    6 days ago

  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    6 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    Skeptical Science
    7 days ago

  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
    New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.  At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Post-Cabinet press conference
    Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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