Open mike 02/01/2021

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 2nd, 2021 - 31 comments
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31 comments on “Open mike 02/01/2021 ”

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    • Phillip ure 1.1
      2 January 2021 at 9:58 am

      p.r. overdrive from big-grocery to try to lessen the impact of the current inquiry into their sweet sweet duopoly..

      (a good thing this govt has done…that will only stay good if they act on the findings..)

      I talk with quite a few tourists on my travels..

      and they are as one at how expensive food is here…

      we are being screwed every which way by this duopoly..

      calling in more competition could help..the arrival of the German company aldi in australia has put a crimp in the sails of their duopoly..

      so their arrival here would be welcomed..

      or the government could assist in the setting up of a cut-price chain here..

      seed-fund it..hire industry professionals to set up/run it…and then step back..it must be self-sustaining

      that would also deal to the duopolists..

      and of course it could be configured to plough all the profits back into the community..

      to complete the circle..as it were..

      we need some innovative thinking here..

      • Ed 1.1.1
        2 January 2021 at 10:12 am

        Thank you Phillip for your insight here.

        There is also the case of of how the supermarkets deal with their staff. When they were essential workers, they were treasured for a while.

        But now we are no longer in lockdown, are bad habits slipping back in and profit is being prioritised over people again?

        I was at my local supermarket this morning and the staff member who served me talked of how they were encouraging people to use the self serving check outs which was destroying their jobs.

        Have you seen these 2 excellent cartoons by Toby Morris? The script for the final image goes as follows.

        For Tasia, things are slowly going back to normal. Her 10% bonus is over, and it's back to earning just enough to survive. Back to living week to week.

        Back to empty shelves.

        Just like before.

        Phillip, what is your view on this?

        https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/27-04-2018/the-side-eye-empty-shelves/

        https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/the-side-eye/01-05-2020/the-side-eye-essential/

        • Phillip ure 1.1.1.1
          2 January 2021 at 10:53 am

          the profits made and the pittances paid..

          just underline that need for a major shake-up..

          any cut-price chain should be mandated to pay the living wage..

      • Phillip ure 1.1.2
        2 January 2021 at 10:26 am

        https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/117264163/wages-are-finally-up-but-is-it-the-last-flourish-of-this-economic-cycle

        it is also worth remembering that wage growth hasn't been so crash hot since that ten yr old receipt..

      • Jester 1.1.3
        2 January 2021 at 11:07 am

        I don't think the old receipt included meat or fruit & veges either that would make a difference.

      • Graeme 1.1.4
        2 January 2021 at 11:14 am

        Something definitely fishy about that piece. A Google search for 'Travel writer Stephan Huy', the supposed source of the article, doesn't bring up a hell of a lot, just the Stuff piece.

        The inquiry into our supermarket duopoly will be interesting, I suspect that the retail level will come out surprisingly well, it's a cut-throat game and there's nothing to stop a new entrant. Several have tried and come a spectacular gutsa, Warehouse being the most obvious, but there's a couple of Asian specialists that have had a go and haven't been able to make it happen. FMCG is more of an art than a science.

        Overseas comparisons, especially to Europe, US and Asia are difficult as those regions don't have our very long and very thin logistic chain. Australia, which we are a sub chain of, isn't much better. A bit fatter thanks to the larger cities, but just as long, and in some parts even longer. Try doing your weekly shop in rural WA where the logistics are similar to NZ, even more eye watering.

        What we change I don't know, can't do much about geography, apart from maybe having more people to spread the fixed costs wider. I suspect that is the main driver of the apparent reduction in that selective sample. The wine thing could be a bit different, 10 years ago $10 wine was a bit of a risk, now it's generally drinkable.

      • Cricklewood 1.1.5
        2 January 2021 at 5:01 pm

        I think its more complicated, supermarkets here make similar margins to those offshore.

        Lets face it, we dont have economies of scale on the supply or distribution side. Look at all those ships parked up in the gulf waiting on the port. That cost is passed on to the importer which is then passed onto the consumer in the end…

        Fruit n Veges again work out that per kilo price and then factor in the costs involved from cultivation to harvest… then land price… and again we dont have scale…

        If margins were so much higher here the likes of Aldi and Iceland would be here in force already.

        Switzerland is an interesting country to look at esp realting to meat and dairy…

        • James Thrace 1.1.5.1
          2 January 2021 at 5:43 pm

          Multinationals often see NZ and Australia as one market.

          That is, 30 million people. That's a lot of people to spread the cost of shipping and distribution amongst.

          Instead, NZ is heavily penalised on the "last mile" shipping between AU and NZ. Our 5 million people pay disproportionately more for that last mile, rather than having the cost spread over 30 million people if we were to say, have a common economic system.

  2. aom 2
    2 January 2021 at 9:52 am

    What the hell are Kelvin Davis, Corrections and the Government up to? How come they can so blatantly deprive the protesting prisoners of their basic human rights to food and drinkable water as they draw the country's attention to the long recognised sewer for humans that is Waikeria? If the Minister can't deal to the inadequacies of his Department, perhaps he should show some empathy with the prisoners by drinking his own urine outside the fence, just as they are having to do inside it.

    • WeTheBleeple 2.1
      2 January 2021 at 10:53 am

      "The prisoners are revolting, Sire"

      "Err, no, that's just their conditions."

    • Craig H 2.2
      2 January 2021 at 10:58 am

      The prison is being replaced, but the prison population is too large to close the old prison until the new one is operational. The minister has already pushed a lot of initiatives to get Corrections releasing as many people safely as legally possible, so he and the government have done their bit to reduce the population and rectify the prison being terrible. Not sure how it's the minister's fault that the department can't maintain basic services – if they haven't told him, how is he supposed to know? Even if they have told him, beyond a demand to sort it out, what is he supposed to do?

      • aom 2.2.1
        2 January 2021 at 11:40 am

        Craig, the problem is systemic and goes way beyond just creating more and larger prisons. However, the beef in the previous comment was the deliberate failure of the Minister, the department he is responsible for and the Government. Human rights are supposed to be universal and inalienable, not something granted on the whims of politicians and those who are accountable to them.

        • Craig H 2.2.1.1
          2 January 2021 at 3:28 pm

          How is this the "deliberate fault of the minister"? Our system is generally set up to separate departmental operational matters from the ministers – while I'm sure he's aware now, what evidence is there that he knew anything more than the prison needs replacing and some specifics about that from the business case, which the government is doing, or why he should know more than that? Why is that not the job of the department and its CE?

      • Forget now 2.2.2
        2 January 2021 at 11:51 am

        The water has been foul for several years apparently.

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/433938/waikeria-prison-stand-off-now-in-its-fifth-day

        Ministers don't have to blindly believe what departments tell them, there are other sources of information if they care to investigate.

        What is Davis supposed to do? His job.

        BTW does anyone find it strange that their are two news results for; NZ riot, at the moment? It's a broad word that can encompass both; the apolitical trashing of a cafe, and the sustained occupation of a government facility!

      • Sacha 2.2.3
        2 January 2021 at 2:01 pm

        Not sure how it's the minister's fault that the department can't maintain basic services – if they haven't told him, how is he supposed to know?

        The two official reports into Waikeria in 2016 and 2020 might have been a clue.

        If the department is unable to do its job, the Minister can express his lack of confidence in its CEO to their employer, the State Services Commission. Same applies to Oranga Tamariki. Let's see what Kelvin Davis is made of.

      • Morrissey 2.2.4
        2 January 2021 at 2:23 pm

        …to get Corrections releasing as many people safely as legally possible….

        TRANSLATION: "to get Corrections releasing as many people as possible without inciting endless reactionary ranting from the likes of the S.S. Trust, Ruth Money, Peter Williams, Sean Plunket, Kerre ohoWmad Rovcim, the National Party, and the ACT cult.”

        That mean and merciless sub-section of the community means more to the minister and this government than safety or humanity.

        • Craig H 2.2.4.1
          2 January 2021 at 4:06 pm

          Early releases are decisions for the Parole Board, so the minister and department have no discretion there. In general, there is limited discretion other than for the judge at sentencing, so Sensible Sentencing et al have no real quarrel with the minister or department, nor will anyone pay attention to them. A lot of the work was around preparing people for bail hearings better to reduce remand prisoners, but he pushed the department to do it, and it has had quite an impact.

        • millsy 2.2.4.2
          2 January 2021 at 4:18 pm

          Our prison system went to shit as soon as governments started giving Garth McVicar veto over penal policy and started importing US prison designs and culture, which is bascially throw a bunch of convicts in a cage, stand back and let them kill each other.

          It doesnt help that most prisoners are heavily addicted to meth, some of them from childhood, and others have mental illnesses that have gone untreated thanks to gaps in the healthcare system, the closure of our big mental hospitals have had a big impact here.

    • Jester 2.3
      2 January 2021 at 4:29 pm

      Its probably about time that Kelvin Davis at least made an appearance, or even spoke to media on what they were doing about the situation.

    • Gerald 2.4
      3 January 2021 at 10:15 am

      "We are not rioting.

      We are protesting.

      We have showed no violence towards Corrections officers – none whatsoever – yet they show up here in force armed with guns and dogs to intimidate us.

      We are the ones that are making a stand on this matter for our future people. Showing intimidation to us will only fuel the fire of future violence. We will not tolerate being intimidated any more.

      Our drinking water in prison is brown. We have used our towels for three straight weeks now. Some of us have not had our bedding changed in five months. We have not received clean uniforms to wear for three months – we wear the samer dirty clothes day in and day out. We have to wash our clothes in our dirty shower water and dry them on the concrete floor. We have no toilet seats: we eat our kai out of paper bags right next to our open, shared toilets.

      These are only very few of the reasons for the uprising.

      We are tangata whenua of this land. We are Māori people forced into a European system. Prisons do not work! Prisons have not worked for the generations before! Prisons just do not work. They keep doing this to our people, and we have had enough! There is no support in prison, all the system does is put our people in jail with no support, no rehabilitation, nothing. We have had enough.

      This is for the greater cause.

      We are not rioting.

      We are protesting.

      We have showed no violence towards Corrections officers – none whatsoever – yet they show up here in force armed with guns and dogs to intimidate us.

      We are the ones that are making a stand on this matter for our future people. Showing intimidation to us will only fuel the fire of future violence. We will not tolerate being intimidated any more.

      Our drinking water in prison is brown. We have used our towels for three straight weeks now. Some of us have not had our bedding changed in five months. We have not received clean uniforms to wear for three months – we wear the same dirty clothes day in and day out. We have to wash our clothes in our dirty shower water and dry them on the concrete floor. We have no toilet seats: we eat our kai out of paper bags right next to our open, shared toilets.

      These are only very few of the reasons for the uprising.

      We are tangata whenua of this land. We are Māori people forced into a European system. Prisons do not work! Prisons have not worked for the generations before! Prisons just do not work. They keep doing this to our people, and we have had enough! There is no support in prison, all the system does is put our people in jail with no support, no rehabilitation, nothing. We have had enough.

      This is for the greater cause."

      Anyone know if there is a Corrections rebuttal to those claims?

      The original appears to be this twitter link.
      https://twitter.com/againstprisons/status/1344453290839326720

      [lprent: added the link – please don’t just drop unlinked and/or outsourced quotations on this site. What is your comment and what is the quoted material needs to be clearly identified.

      I have fixed this comment for you. Please read the policy about why it isn’t a good to waste moderator time.

      My changes are in bold italic ]

  3. Ad 3
    2 January 2021 at 2:09 pm

    Huge thanks to the Guytons for their hospitality and communitarian vigour.

    Make sure you visit Riverton good TS people.

    • Robert Guyton 3.1
      2 January 2021 at 2:12 pm

      It was a pleasure meeting with you (both) 🙂

    • millsy 3.2
      2 January 2021 at 4:21 pm

      Really good that online communities like The Standard can facilitate real life connections.

      This used to be the norm back before Facebook/Instagram etc swallowed everything and it was all about the likes.