Open mike 01/03/2023
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The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about Budget 2025 with:Vic Uni political scientist Lara Greaves;CTU Economist ; and,Tax commentator Terry Baucher.The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over ...2 hours ago - Danger Is Literally Their Middle Name
Hi,This week was another week of the “students identifying as cats and shitting kitty litter trays” story being spouted as fact by idiots with platforms.It’s frustrating to see. As I wrote way back in 2022:“If you’re even slightly savvy you’ll know the cat article is an implicit attack of trans ...4 hours ago - Operatunity Knocks
All the things that you needed from meAll the things that you wanted for meAll the things that I should've given but I didn'tOh, darling, make it go awayJust make it go away nowSongwriter: Kate Bush Read more ...13 hours ago - Budget 2025: Nicola Willis Delivers More Austerity
The National-led government’s 2025 Budget, unveiled today by Finance Minister Nicola Willis, dressed up as a “Growth Budget” is gambling with our future and delivering nothing but austerity for the vast majority of New Zealanders.Willis promised a disciplined, growth-oriented plan, but the numbers tell a grim story of cuts, broken ...13 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #21 2025
Open access notables Shifting Gears in a Shifting Climate: Birds Adjust Migration Speed in Response to Spring Vegetation Green-Up, Amaral et al., Diversity and Distributions Our results have direct implications for the conservation of migratory bird diversity in Eastern North America. While birds show some plasticity in adjusting migration pace, this ...14 hours ago - Taiwan, a leader in public health, should be in the WHO
Taiwan urges the World Health Organization and all relevant parties to recognise Taiwan’s considerable contributions to global health. We view health as a fundamental human right and universal value. Improved health results in greater well-being ...14 hours ago - Trump’s theatre of the absurd.
I know that it is undiplomatic to say so, but I sure wish that some foreign leader would interrupt one of Trump’s Oval Office public humiliation stunts to tell him to his face in front of the media that he is an adolescent bullying imbecile who seems to think that ...15 hours ago - Reverse Robin Hood Budget steals from working people
Budget 2025 takes $12.8bn from low-income, female dominated workforces to prop up the Government’s failed economic policies, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The Government has promised this would be a growth budget, yet it has effectively cut the wages of low-income women workers. We know that one ...15 hours ago - A few short thoughts about the budget
Thought oneTurns out Andrea Vance was understating it.You're substantially and unfairly and unreasonably handicapping the pay equity process, everyone told Nicola Willis,Wrong, she said.This is likely to deprive women who do some of the hardest shittiest unappreciated work of decent pay, they told her.Wrong, wrong wrong, she said.You don't care; ...15 hours ago - ‘Deterrence’—an agreeable word that obscures strategic debate
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Get more from Bernard Hickey in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app Read more ...16 hours ago - The (deeply underwhelming) Budget
16 hours ago - Drawn
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Just briefly in Budget 2025 around the areas of housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy:The Government said Budget 2025 was about ‘Going for Growth,’ but the Budget forecast slower growth, higher Government borrowing, less housing spending, lower KiwiSaver contributions and a net fiscal contraction of three percentage points ...16 hours ago - $13 billion
That's how much Nicola Willis thinks she stole from New Zealand women by repealing pay equity: A tax incentive for businesses, boosts to health and education spending, and Crown funding for new gas fields are among new Budget initiatives made viable by nearly $13 billion in cuts to the ...17 hours ago
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- Pay Equity – what did New Zealand women lose under the cover of darkness and without any prior war...
The law on pay equity was changed without any prior warning during the election campaign, without any select committee process. It has shocked New Zealand women and gutted fundamental rights Come and hear from pay equity experts including women whose claims have been cancelled and what the plan is from ...20 hours ago - Budget 2025: delivering for whom?
On 22 May, the coalition government will release its budget for 2025, which it says will focus on "boosting economic growth, improving social outcomes, controlling government spending, and investing in long-term infrastructure.” But who, really, is this budget designed to serve? What values and visions for Aotearoa New Zealand lie ...20 hours ago
- Is David Seymour Encouraging NZ Civil War?
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- Food banks pray for Budget help before July 1
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Today will see an unprecedented moment in Parliament. A racist government whose leader opposes the "Maorification" of New Zealand is using its parliamentary majority to suspend opposition MPs from the House for being Māori, silencing them and the people they represent for up to 21 days. It is outrageous and ...3 days ago- Federalism could torpedo AUKUS
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Last night, I put up a video where Luxon said he would not back down on the 21 day penalty for Te Pāti Māori MPs.Then came the pitchforks:“Boot them out. No compromise.”“Why debate....boot them....rules are rules!!!!”There were outwardly racist comments too.It’s hard to explain to an angry mob that there ...3 days ago- Monday 19 May
The PSA says mediation has failed to resolve its conflict with the government over working from home, with the case now heading to the ERA. Food prices have risen at their fastest pace in more than a year driven by more expensive dairy products, hinting that inflation pressures are gathering ...3 days ago- May AMA (+ Webworm Updates)
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3 days ago- ‘Weaponise rates to drive housing intensification’
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Catch catch the horror taxiI fell in love with a video nastyCatch catch the horror trainFreeze frame gonna drive you insaneWriters: Raymond Burns, Christopher John Millar, David Vanian, Roman Paul Jug, Bryn Merrick.Speak English.Yesterday, the Prime Minister of our country appeared on the Mike Hosking show to beat the anti-woke ...3 days ago- Nasty
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So, a funny thing happened last Friday. I had just dropped a couple of tabs and I was lining up side four of Tales from Topographic Oceans when out of nowhere I had this incredible vision.It got me so damn excited I wrote the whole thing down and put it ...4 days ago- From customer to catalyst: anchoring Australia’s northern marine industry through government procu...
To turn northern Australia’s marine potential into performance, the Australian government must stop acting as a passive regulator and start acting as an active customer. Procurement is power, and in thin, undercapitalised markets such as ...4 days ago- Chipping away at National’s gang-patch ban
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The majority of the 23,000 submissions for the Regulatory Standards Bill consultation weren’t even read.According to Marc Daalder1 David Seymour said ‘there just weren’t that many’ worthwhile ideas in the submissions.But how does he know when his new $76 million Ministry, with some of the highest paid public servants in ...4 days ago- National’s Blogger David Farrar Smears Senior Doctors
4 days ago- Climate Change: Now what?
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Not that long ago, New Zealand’s fiscal balances looked pretty good by advanced country standards. Sure, the fiscal pressures from longer life expectancies were beginning to build – as they were in most of the advanced world – but in absolute and relative terms New Zealand still looked in pretty ...4 days ago- Jack Tame vs. Chlöe Swarbrick: Q+A’s Double Standards
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Australia’s defence thinking is based on outdated grand strategies. Adopting a complex interdependence grand strategy could create robust connections with many countries, enhancing national resilience to strategic, economic, technological and societal shocks. Specifically, Defence would ...4 days ago- Govt announces fixing mess it probably created…
..Yesterday (18 May), Ministers Simeon Brown and Matt Doocey released statements announcing $164 million over four years to “expand” urgent and after-hours healthcare services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.Minister Brown said:“This means 98 per cent of New Zealanders will be able to receive in-person urgent care within one hour’s drive of ...4 days ago - Pay Equity Explainers
- Budget 2025 delivers little to nothing for our youngest
The Government’s Budget offers little more than crumbs for our tamariki, while real issues in the ECE system are ignored. ...13 hours ago - Minister for the Environment missing in action in Budget 2025
Budget 2025 makes it crystal clear that this Government has no interest in protecting nature or securing a liveable future for our tamariki. ...15 hours ago
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The Government has failed Māori and ignored its Te Tiriti obligations with its Budget, says Te Mātāwaka, the Green Party’s Māori and Pasifika Caucus. ...15 hours ago
- Housing crisis will rage on with Budget 2025
Budget 2025 makes clear that the Coalition Government has no long-term plan to help communities most in need of public housing. ...15 hours ago
- Government pours gas on the climate crisis fire
Budget 2025 has put our climate targets in serious jeopardy, says the Green Party. ...15 hours ago
- Budget 2025 leaves future of school lunches uncertain
The future of the Ka Ora | Ka Ako school lunch programme looks to be uncertain with Budget 2025 failing to provide any funding beyond 2026. ...15 hours ago
- Budget to increase energy hardship
Budget 2025 delays our transition to a low emissions and low-cost energy network, this will put even more pressure on households, businesses and the climate. ...15 hours ago
- ‘Growth Budget’ = growth in poverty
The Government’s Budget is failing families in poverty by pulling the rug on young people receiving income support and allowing more children to go without enough food on the table. ...17 hours ago
- Release: National failing on the cost of living
Despite all the promises, Kiwis are still going backwards in Budget 2025. ...17 hours ago - Release: The Austerity Budget that leaves women out
Today’s Budget is a masterclass in making the wrong decisions for New Zealanders. ...17 hours ago
- Release: Bills increase transparency of money transfers and ports
Two Labour bills drawn from the Member’s Ballot today would require greater transparency of international money transfers, and bring more public accountability and transparency to port companies. ...17 hours ago
- ‘Growth Budget’ growing inequality and fuelling climate crisis
Budget 2025 represents a significant step backwards for Aotearoa, with the Government adding fuel to the fire when it comes to the climate and inequality crises, says the Green Party. ...18 hours ago
- Release: Half a billion dollar tax break for tech giants
The Government is taking the Digital Services Tax off their books, effectively handing a $479 million tax break to global tech giants, like Facebook and Google. ...2 days ago
- Release: Govt helps banks dodge repayment claims for Kiwis
The Government is moving to let two of the country’s most profitable banks off the hook for money owed to their customers. ...2 days ago
- Release: Search begins for rare family receiving $250
The Government can’t say if even a single family has received the $250 a fortnight they were promised. ...3 days ago
- Release: Govt risks hospice care by cutting women’s pay
The Government’s decision to cut women’s pay could result in an exodus of palliative care nurses from the profession. ...3 days ago
- Release: Govt leaves sexual abuse survivors out in the cold
The Government is quietly cutting more services for women, this time it’s ACC support for survivors of sexual abuse and pausing the expansion of a major sexual violence prevention programme. ...3 days ago
- Report shows Govt’s callous lack of support for system at breaking point
A new report from Aotearoa Educators’ Collective, released today, has confirmed what teachers, students, and whanau have been calling out for years–our learning support system is overstretched, underfunded, and simply not working. ...3 days ago
- Prime Minister must scrap the Regulatory Standards Bill
The Green Party is urging the Prime Minister to get rid of the Regulatory Standards Bill after the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Bill breaches the Crown’s Tiriti o Waitangi obligations. ...4 days ago
- Release: Women in funded sector unlikely to get pay equity
The Government is unlikely to fund pay equity for hospice and Plunket nurses, care and support workers and other workforces made up of mostly women. ...4 days ago
- Chris Hipkins Speech Auckland regional conference
Tēnā koutou katoa. It’s fantastic to be here with you all—grassroots campaigners, organisers, union members, councillors, MPs, and Labour whānau. ...6 days ago
- Release: Minister’s rash orders fail frontline providers
The Auditor-General has found serious failings in the Government’s review of frontline providers such as counselling and prevention services. ...7 days ago
- Release: Prices keep rising while National cuts women’s pay
Prices for essentials, like milk, butter and electricity continue to get more expensive under National, at the same time as the Government takes money from women’s pockets to save their budget. ...7 days ago
- Te Pāti Māori Condemns Fast-Track Approval of Seabed Mining
Te Pāti Māori is gravely concerned by the Government’s approval of the Trans-Tasman Resources (Taranaki VTM) seabed mining project under its fast-track regime. This marks the first time a commercial shallow seabed mining operation has been approved anywhere in the world- pushed through with no transparency, no public input, and ...7 days ago
- Social Security Amendment Bill pushes poverty on people
The Government’s just-passed Social Security Amendment Bill is set to create more benefit sanctions that will push families deeper into poverty. ...1 week ago
- Report exposes damage of rushed cuts to Oranga Tamariki
Today’s report into last year’s Oranga Tamariki contract procurement process confirms the Government’s brutal cuts were rushed, poorly managed, and made with no concern for the impact on tamariki. ...1 week ago
- 210,000 Māori Silenced: Committee Delivers Harshest Punishment in Parliament History
Today the Privileges Committee handed down a severe punishment. Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have been suspended for 21 days, and MP for Hauraki-Waikato Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been suspended for 7 days. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt finally admits 180,000 in line for a pay cut
The Government finally admitted late last night that roughly 180,000 people will be affected by its decision to halt pay equity claims. ...1 week ago
- Release: Admin nearly a quarter of entire FamilyBoost spend
Nearly a quarter of the money spent on the Government’s flagship FamilyBoost policy has gone to administration, not to families to help with childcare. ...1 week ago
- Green Budget for a country worth fighting for
The Green Budget shows how much better our lives could be under a Green Government, instead of one dominated by corporate greed. ...1 week ago
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The Green Party has unveiled its new plan to make Early Childhood Education (ECE) free. ...1 week ago
- Green Budget delivers for Māori
The Green Party is delivering for Māori with its Green Budget. ...1 week ago
- Green Budget: Free GPs for all
The Green Party has launched its plan for Free GPs as part of its Green Budget. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins: Pre-Budget speech
Tēnā koutou katoa. Good morning. I read recently that one of the keys to success in life is to do the hard stuff first thing in the morning. ...1 week ago
- Release; Budget should not be paid for by working women
The Government must do three things in Budget 2025 if it is genuinely going to turn things around for New Zealanders. ...1 week ago
- Release: Peeni Henare takes over foreign affairs
Labour’s Peeni Henare will pick up the foreign affairs portfolio, following David Parker’s departure from Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt better at crushing women’s rights than cars
Rehashing old laws around boy racers is not going to make our communities safer, or distract New Zealanders from the appalling decision to cut women’s pay. ...2 weeks ago
- No Justice for State Abuse Survivors- Kapa-Kingi
Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau calls out the government’s decision to keep funding state abuse, turning their backs on justice and real change for abuse in care survivors. “The government has committed to throwing $744 million down the drain, reinforcing a violent regime of disrespect against the ...2 weeks ago
- Govt’s War on Te Tiriti Continues as Review of Treaty Act Announced
Te Pāti Māori is absolutely disgusted by the Government’s announcement to review the Waitangi Tribunal- a deliberate and dangerous escalation in its ongoing campaign to undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi and silence tangata whenua. “The Government’s onslaught against Te Tiriti continues with this latest move to review the Treaty of ...2 weeks ago
- Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...2 weeks ago
- Stepping up in a changing global environment
Good evening. Thank you to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs for organising this event, and for your efforts to foster New Zealand’s understanding of international affairs. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak here today. As keen observers and practitioners of international relations, you will all ...2 weeks ago - New High Commissioner to Kiribati announced
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- Changes to improve pay equity process
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- Proposals to strengthen biodiversity released
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- Celebrating New Zealand Sign Language
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- Post-Cabinet Press Conference: Monday 5 May 2025
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- New helicopters a commitment to global security
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- Prime Minister congratulates Albanese and Wong
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- Hunting and Fishing Minister joins game bird season opening hunt
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- Attendance dashboard shows early insights into term 2
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- Govt’s ‘Think Big’ Investment Boost: There. Is. No. Limit.
Go now, says Nicola Willis. “It starts today.” The economic growth minister has waved the start flag on a race to the stars for commercial building developers, oil and gas exploration firms, dam builders and right down to the smallest sole traders.Ahead of the Budget, Newsroom had reported the Government ...39 minutes ago - Rabbits, switch-ups and highway robbery: Politicians, economists react to Budget 25
Everyone had their own nickname for the document dubbed the 'Growth Budget' by the government. ...2 hours ago - This week’s bestselling books – May 23
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- Echo Chamber, Budget 2025 edition: Who is Mr Bo-Jandals?
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- A budget for machines, not midwives
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- Daily crossword, Friday 23 May
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- Govt’s climate aid reduction ‘betrayal’ of Pacific, NGOs say
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- Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 23 May
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 23 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Providers say KiwiSaver ‘switcheroo’ will hit low-income workers and women hardest
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- There’s something wrong with NZ’s youth suicide stats
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- Politicians are disconnected from the people they represent
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- Farmers’ M. bovis compensation claims could cost MPI up to $125m
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- Parliament left speechless as Winston walks, Māori leaders absent
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- School lunches dominate Budget’s fiscal cliff landscape
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- Gas industry could get far more than $200m if deals keep flowing – Jones
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- KiwiSaver just changed – what should I do with my money now?
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- Punitive criminal libel charge against Samoan journalist draws flurry of criticism
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- Grattan on Friday: if Ley and Littleproud find a way to cohabit, it will be a tense household
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- Budget Day 2025 – as it happened
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- Gone By Lunchtime x When The Facts Change: A Budget special
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/the-whole-truth/131299529/the-whole-truth-how-our-farms-contribute-to-climate-change
Biogenic Methane explained .
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
https://twitter.com/WRNGuernsey/status/1630660848791199761
Woah, I didn't realise they'd sacked Campbell.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/485047/sacking-of-health-new-zealand-chair-leads-to-claims-government-overreacted
Does anyone have a link to his article?
a copy as it looks like it's been removed from his Linkedin page
Not for that article but this is the horses mouth, so to speak.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018879909/sacked-health-nz-chair-stands-by-comments-that-led-to-firing
Campbell has been on various platforms this morning making an important point. To paraphrase: it is that National's response to 3-waters will serve to undermine the principle of co-governance everywhere and anywhere. And that includes health, where Campbell has specific responsibilities, and where he believes that Maori involvement in policy design and execution is vital to getting better Maori health outcomes.
I agree with that. So it's a shame he didn't express it in a more generalised and temperate manner that didn't fall foul of the requirement for impartiality. The only upside is that his opinion has had a decent airing today.
Rob Campbell was an exceptionally well paid Board Chair appointed by the government to oversee health reforms. His job is not to make political comment which makes the government a target for the RW, which is what happened. Rob Campbell is a professional governance appointee and has made a lucrative living out of it. He has had plenty of chances to speak out ; eg the POAL lockout when he was on the Board, or as Chair of Skycity when workers went on strike. Now he is free of encumbrance, he can say what he likes, but this man is not some down trodden worker.
A letter to the latest issue of the NZ Listener (4-10 March; can't find an on-line link, sorry) compares the effects of "slash" displacement, after Cyclone Giselle, to the 1966 Aberfan disaster. Very different events in most respects (especially the number of fatalities), but they have in common an extractive industry demonstrating the same cavalier attitude to its leavings.
It's so simple; forestry shareholder profits need to be annexed by govt and used for cleanup. How many would disagree with that, and why?
I would disagree but only because you don't go far enough.
All that you said plus I would like to see the Directors of the company in the dock. The flesh and blood representatives of the Company.
Fair enough, we'll add them to the list of people who profited off the 'good' times, and annex their wealth as well. No issues with that here.
Have they broken any laws?
If not it's the government and council's who are liable, I'm not keen on nz running kangaroo courts.
what was Aberfan?
Someone who enjoyed Dancing Queen. Super Trooper and Money Money Money….
(Insert thigh slapping emoticon).
Ha, ha you're a very naughty boy!
ROFLNUI!!!
Colliery spill tip engulfed a school and houses in Wales in 1966 – 116 children and 28 adults killed. I still remember hearing the awful news.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster
A coal slag heap gave way and engulfed a Welsh village, killing many people, including, as I recall, children.
Snap – Matiri
There was an excellent episode of The Crown, 3:3 with Olivia Coleman about it.
Sorry, Weka, I should have provided a link. I just assumed everybody knew about it.
This
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster
To be fair, the updated rain data shows that in places the hills copped 250,000 liters per hectare of rain.
That means nothing until you covert to the standard measurement of Olympic swimming pools!
Which is 2.5 million liters so unless I’m mistaken (very possible when it comes to math) it’s 10% of an Olympic pool.
Westport's annual rainfall is around 2000 mm per year (2,000,000 L/hectare) and Franz Josef glacier's is 5500 mm. So in 24 hours, parts of the East Coast/Hawkes Bay got 240 mm of rain, or between 1/10 and 1/20th of that falling on the West Coast over the entire year, in one day.
https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/New-Zealand/precipitation-annual-average.php
You may want to check your calculations again.
It may be sad politics but sacking Rob Campbell is exactly the publicity Labour needs right now to pull back the anti-Maori sentiment from the hash they made of 3 Waters.
It will of course piss off most of the Wellington public service who have laboured towards co-governance under both National and Labour over more than a decade, and entrenched it across many major arms of state.
The silence from Labour's Maori caucus and indeed from the Maori Party right now about Campbell being targeted is just fucking weak.
Admiral Byng is having a little chuckle. His doubling down on RNZ this morning in a masterful interview by Kim Hill where he dug himself into a bigger hole would have been the icing on the cake for the government. Rob Campbell came across as the elderly juror who has never met 11 such obtuse people in his life.
I think Campbell makes a good case for himself, if you listen to the latter part of the interview. The telling point is that he had personal calls of support from those who are on boards as directors and from those he has worked with over Māori health partnership.
The first group are worried about clamping down on personal opinions by company owners, including government, with a consequent throttling of diversity of views on boards. The second group support strongly Māori driving aspects of health reform, as they have been working towards under both National and Labour led governments.
And I completely do agree with his initial ‘offending’ statement, that the National and Act party position over 3waters is a 'dog-whistle', targetted especially as a racist, anti-Māori sub-text to those primed to hear it. Getting close to those good ol' Muldoon electioneering practices, appealing to the nasty.
I knew it would happen and sure enough:
"Brian Tamaki blames porn use in Gisborne and Hastings for Cyclone Gabrielle disaster."
We hear all the time "New Zealanders aren't that dumb," and "Stop treating us like dumb children." Brian Tamaki getting to be a guru is sign of dumbness.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/01-03-2023/brian-tamaki-blames-porn-use-in-gisborne-and-hastings-for-cyclone-gabrielle-disaster?utm_source=spinoff-share-button&utm_medium=spinoff-app
And a fellow traveller….
"…That city in there, Hastings and Gisborne, has the highest number of porn watchers in the country and it’s one of the biggest averages per capita in the world, he said.
And they’re the biggest watchers on the porn site of gay porn…"
Quite a lot to unpack there. Clearly the East coast is seething mass of repressed sexuality and possibly the high number of recent stock deaths may be due to many nervous sheep taking the opportunity to end the nightmare.
Poor beasties, unable or unwilling to wether the storm….
God doesn't sound very nice.
Kim Hill's phone guest this AM on folk picking through road side piles of flood damaged goods – there's ferals coming into the neighbourhood and taking that stuff…
(@3.00' )
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018879924
Don't wish to minimise their fears, I am sure the anxiety is through the roof. But in the old days of inorganic rubbish collections at the kerbside, this happened all the time. That's why Auckland Council stopped it and you now have to book a collection and keep the pile on your own property. There were a few ferals – usually affluent neighbours who took my old stuff and stuck it on Trademe – our mistake, we should have offered it to charities. But most of the people picking over the pile looked dirt poor.
There's a lesson for the Govt though: never, never minimise crime by an appeal to statistics, back people up in the short term and try to persuade them towards rational solutions in the long term.
In these parts if it's useful, firewood, garden-worthy, or has any value, it's gone.
Yep. I commented on the old inorganic collections here a few days ago.
If I happened to be in the garden, the so-called 'ferals' used to ask me if I minded if they took something. I told them to go for it. If they were prepared to repair and spruce something up to use for themselves or on-sell they were entitled to it.
Many of them were unemployed and this was a way to make some money. Yet somehow they are perceived as criminals. The real criminals were rich pricks who made loads of money overcharging the rest of us and bleeding people dry. But apparently that is okay.
It's the Louise Parsons of this world that are "feral". What a stain on humanity. A quick google says she's part of Sensible Sentencing Trust. They must be so proud of her.
The dog ate Wayne Brown’s diary.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/485061/auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-s-diary-almost-empty-day-of-the-flood
I hope Wayne is not feeling over-worked and under-paid like so many …
I used to be a big fan of Izzard's. Both his comedy and his pushing of gender non-conformity. Now that he's trans instead of a crossing dressing man, it's problematic in that he seems utterly unaware of women's politics. Here he displays an ignorance remarkable for someone who wanted to be an MP (a really good reason for not considering trans identified males as women MPs on party lists).
The reason animals aren't obsessed with gender is because they can't conceptualise and talk about sex in ways that humans understand. But anyone that's spent time with animals reproducing knows how hard it is on female animals' bodies. Just like with women. Yes, material reality exists, and women have their own needs within that. His implied dismissal of biological sex, by talking about gender as if sex doesn't exist, reminds me of the every day sexism that women have to deal with all the time. We know that many men don't understand there is a women's reality let alone what it is. Here Izzard exemplifies that.
Izzard is a cross dressing, heterosexual male. If he wants to wear dresses and get his nails done, all power to him. But he's not a woman and he shouldn't be in women's spaces.
We also have to be real about the possibility that he is AGP, a male sexual fetish where arousal comes with thinking of oneself as a woman and acting on that. This is a driver of the need for others to see AGPs as women, but different from gender dysphoria. Again, this is a male issue and shouldn't be resolved by expecting women to sacrifice women's spaces and culture.
https://twitter.com/_K_F_P_/status/1630348097929854977
Celebrity <==> narcissistic personality disorders <==> Politics
Eddie Izzard was born male and he will die male.
To his credit, he doesn't share the irrational JK Rowling-phobia of his fellow travellers. But his insistence on appropriating women's toilets and demands for pronoun rituals are an unreasonable imposition on the freedom and safety of others.
If you're born with boy's bits you're a boy. If you're born with girl's bits you're a girl. Who you form relationships with a an adult is nobody else's business and it doesn't need to be an opportunity for virtue signalling. I'm sick of it.
Yes absolutely.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/rob-campbells-health-nz-sacking-an-opportunity-to-gain-better-leadership-says-ex-dhb-member/BDX2JVHVGRFWNN3RZ2ZTENM6ZI/
Hutt Valley Specialist says someone with a health background should lead NZ health and they have seen no vision or change or an increase in staffing levels over several months
Just a short shuffle from wild reservoirs to domestic animals. Charming.
https://twitter.com/AmeshAA/status/1630701776134340610
Re the second census form posted out
If you have done the first, I assume you don't do the second?
Are the access codes the same on both letters? Mine are different both both relate to the same address.
My codes are different too.
I am not going to complete the second one, as I read somewhere it is a back up one.
I like many LGBT+ am boycotting the census because the government has no right to ask me my sexuality.
I usually have no issue answering the census but not this question. The state is overstepping.
Get out of our god damn bedrooms.
I'm not comfortable with the state, which used to bash and arrest people for being gay having a list of who is gay and where they live… What if in the unlikely but possible event an authoritarian right wing govt that hates LGBT people gets elected, they now have a list of names and where they live…
Absolutely not.
I'm openly gay but I refuse to answer that question and I don't see how asking people their sexuality is going to provide information on how many houses , hospitals, roads, infrastructure needs to be built.
It's just nosey bullshit masquerading as woke representation.
Keep the god damned state out of the god-damned bedroom.
The govt can take me to court and I'll tell them that the govt has no right to know my god damned sexuality.
The census turn out is gonna be lower than the local govt elections turn outs lmfao.
Next they'll be asking if you're a top or bottom, what sexual positions you like and what are your turn ons.
Hell nah. It gives me the creeps.
It's also a breach of the human rights act for government departments to ask me about my sexuality according to the privacy commissioner so bring it on Chris.