Open mike 05/03/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, March 5th, 2019 - 122 comments
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For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step up to the mike …

122 comments on “Open mike 05/03/2019 ”

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  1. Jenny - How to get there? 1
    5 March 2019 at 7:17 am

    The Labour Government that abjures state housing.

    There are 600 families Identified to be in housing need in the Lakes District, 120 families in Wanaka itself. The scandal is that ‘Kiwi Build’ houses are being built to stand empty.
     If ‘Kiwi build’ homes are standing empty because families in real housing need can’t afford to buy them.

    It is pretty obvious what the answer is.

    ‘RENT THEM OUT’

    I mean it is not rocket science

    Why doesn’t the government want to do this anymore?

    It seems that the Labour Government is wary of becoming a landlord again, so wary, that rather renting out these houses to the low income working families that need them, empty, or sell them off to people who can afford them. These private buyers will then rent them out at market rents, gouging the very people these houses were supposedly built for.

    If this continues the main people to benefit from ‘Kiwi Build’ will be the landlords and the developers. 

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383723/wanaka-kiwibuild-homes-facing-tough-competition-to-be-sold

    Wanaka’s housing market is booming and affordable housing is in high demand, so why are five out of 10 KiwiBuild homes are sitting empty?….

    ,,,,..Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust executive officer Julie Scott said a $600,000 house was not affordable and the five empty homes were a testament to that.

    The trust’s clients have an average gross household income of about $70,000 and, on average, have a first home deposit of $30,000.

    When I look at our waiting list of close to 600 households, around 120 of those are based in Wanaka so you do the maths and you can see quite clearly that the average household on our waiting list simply can’t afford to buy a $500,000 or even $600,000 on their own,” Ms Scott said.

    The trust was trying to help by offering anassisted ownership programme, which reduced struggling families’ deposits and mortgage repayments by providing a leasehold agreement between the trust and the household, she said.

    But Wanaka Community Board member Rachel Brown said KiwiBuild had missed its mark and those families were still being left out in the cold.

    “I think the big hole in Wanaka is people that can’t afford a home of any sort. They have not got enough income to get into KiwiBuild, they haven’t even got enough income to get into the community housing scheme,” Ms Brown said.

    “There’s nothing available to rent at a decent value and there certainly isn’t anything they can get a deposit down on.”

    People who could actually afford KiwiBuild were more likely to try their luck on the open market, and on top of that, speculators were moving in to make a profit, she said.

    “I think the situation in Wanaka, if you look around, to me it looks like a gold rush. There’s a huge property market, there’s a huge market in speculation and people are arriving in droves to make money out of it.”

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/383859/what-does-the-crown-underwrite-of-kiwibuild-homes-mean-for-taxpayers

    Ministers agreed the homes would be available for purchase by eligible KiwiBuild buyers for at least 10 to 34 months after the developer started marketing them.

    After that they could either be offered on the open market (at the set KiwiBuild price or at a discount), or to eligible buyers at a discount…..

    John A. Lee, John A. Lee, John A. Lee, John A. Lee.

    https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/we-call-it-home/the-state-steps-in-and-out

    Under the dynamic leadership of the under-secretary for housing, John A. Lee, the government soon initiated the largest housing construction scheme in the nation’s history, securing hundreds of hectares of suburban land across New Zealand, upon which private builders erected thousands of high-quality modern state houses……

    Then came the Nats.

    In 1950 the National government introduced legislation that allowed state tenants to buy their homes. This measure was based on its conviction that private home ownership provided greater personal freedom than renting……

    • Gosman 1.1
      5 March 2019 at 8:33 am

      Except the Government did not allocate funding to buy these houses on a long term basis. They allocated funds to act as a middleman so they purchase from the developer and then on-sell them. You are suggesting a significant increase in costs.

      • KJT 1.1.1
        5 March 2019 at 9:34 am

        Yes Gosman.

        All the people that helped cause the problem, by pushing house prices and rents up, may have to pay taxes, on their earnings from causing the problem, to fix it.

        Horrors.

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 1.2
      5 March 2019 at 9:28 am

      Like National, Labour remains obsessed with the idea that private markets must be involved (or simulated) in every undertaking.

      They have not yet recanted Roger Douglas’s toxic lies.

      • greywarshark 1.2.1
        5 March 2019 at 10:16 am

        I think you are right – the evidence indicates this as true UncSela. Lovely name I must look it up on google.

      • Skunk Weed 1.2.2
        5 March 2019 at 6:04 pm

        Labour still following the Neoliberal Model

    • Gabby 1.3
      5 March 2019 at 9:39 am

      What nice young lawyer couple is going to want to buy a house that has been occupied by yucky workers? That’s not the kiwi way.

    • David Mac 1.4
      5 March 2019 at 10:25 am

      It’s the wrong sort of housing. Cheesy swank European appliances and fixtures are not called for. A light commercial dishwasher and corridors wide enough for a wheelchair is what we need.

      I think we should just get stuck in and build community housing whilst acknowledging that the type of community we all want to live in extends far beyond 4 walls and a roof.

      A complex housing 20 wheelchair bound folk can amorise costs and go far beyond ramps and wide hallways. eg: A van with a lift, room for 2 chairs and a driver. A pool with a crane etc. Plans like this can cost the taxpayer less than what we’re doing currently.

      Community housing can incubate a healthy community spirit. 30 family houses could share a 2 acre back lawn.

      • Gabby 1.4.1
        5 March 2019 at 10:53 am

        I’m surprised that the employers who are crying out for workers haven’t thought of this. Are they waiting for a signal from the market on giltedged perfumed paper with a big fancy seal?

    • Sacha 1.5
      5 March 2019 at 6:50 pm

      Kiwibuild does not have the same purpose as state housing. This govt are building those as well, just doing a bad job of telling the public. However the neediest people in NZ do not live in Wanaka so I wouldn’t hold your breath there.

    • Chris 1.6
      5 March 2019 at 9:40 pm

      Ardern can talk about the need for a compassionate government and compassionate society all she likes. Until she and her government acts they’re no better than the selfish idiots they replaced. If the saying you can judge a government by the way it treats its poor is still good today, this government’s passing of National’s Social Security Act 2018 tells us that hatred of the poor is still very much alive amongst Ardern’s mob.

  2. gsays 2
    5 March 2019 at 7:28 am

    Yes, rent them out, and/or… raise wages.

  3. WeTheBleeple 3
    5 March 2019 at 7:34 am

    “If there truly was a ‘marketplace of ideas’, right now the Labour-led Government would be the Camden Markets and National would be an old drunk who walks past and spits on the stalls.”

    Nice descriptive lead in to this article by David Cormack:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209321

    I disagree with his theory that you are either for or against CGT based on ideology. I am for it based on pragmatism – we’re all in this together, we should all pay taxes. Those avoiding taxes are in effect stealing from those who do.

    This is common sense, basic arithmetic, 1 + 1 stuff. I don’t need to read socialist doctrine or liberal manifestos to take a position on this at all. Counting the eggs in my dozen and finding there to be 12, I consider myself highly qualified to work this stuff out.

    If I pay tax and you do not it is unfair and will breed resentment.

    The right like to complain that the left are a nasty bunch because of name calling. I posit these complainants readily endure the suffering of any but themselves.

    Yesterday also ran an article with Bridges wife claiming he was a dirty little street fighter. This makes little sense till you break it down.

    ‘Little street’.

    Simon fights in a cul de sac.

    ‘dirty’

    We know.

    • Rapunzel 3.1
      5 March 2019 at 8:14 am

      That was first featured on Saturday but the Herald was still fronting with it yesterday, talk about the last dances of the desperate.
      As for street fighting Andrew Little would leave him for dead on finesse alone.

      • WeTheBleeple 3.1.1
        5 March 2019 at 8:41 am

        I lived on the streets for several years. If I saw Bridges out there I’d be inclined to advise him he was in danger as he’s an obvious soft target.

    • Antony 3.2
      5 March 2019 at 9:00 pm

      A CGT could be unpopular and could cost Labour the next election. They should put CGT to a referendum. If the majority support it, then they will be safe in implementing it.

  4. Skunk Weed 4
    5 March 2019 at 7:35 am

    Rape complaints to the Police go unanswered WTF ?

    We definitely have a Rape Culture here in NZ IMHO.

    • greywarshark 4.1
      5 March 2019 at 10:12 am

      We have a careless, manipulated society that doesn’t respect people, that goes for the quick buzz, or self-satisfying pleasure and rape is one behaviour within it.

  5. Skunk Weed 5
    5 March 2019 at 7:40 am

    Rape is a tool and drugs are tools used in the breakdown of a society.

    Here in NZ we have had the systemic breakdown of our society over the last 40 years by the State, we had the Exclusive Bretheren Keith Holyoake, Mad Dog Muldoon, Linguistic Lange, Billy Bolger, the list goes on. One after another useless PM’s more interested in their Ultra Ego’s and their back pockets.

  6. Siobhan 6
    5 March 2019 at 8:10 am

    A slowly developing story that the msm seem determined to sideline, but which has interesting parallels to the current msm narrative around Venezuela….though even the Guardian can’t entirely spin this one…

    “UN says Israel’s killings at Gaza protests may amount to war crimes
    The panel said in a statement that it had found “reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognisable as such    ”

    and from Democracy Now, Mar 4, 2019

    “Israeli forces have killed 183 Palestinians since weekly Great March of Return demonstrations began in Gaza nearly a year ago targeting Israel’s heavily militarized separation barrier. That’s according to a new United Nations inquiry that found Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by targeting unarmed children, journalists and the disabled in Gaza. The report was released by the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday. We speak with Norman Finkelstein, scholar and author of “Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom,” and Sara Hossain, a member of the U.N. independent commission that led the Gaza investigation”

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

    Just as well this wasn’t the Maduro Government ordering these daylight executions of “journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities” but one of our ‘civilized’* friends otherwise we might have had to send in a US intervention that certain people on The Standard are so fond of.

    *according to Advantage.

    • Ad 6.1
      5 March 2019 at 9:02 am

      Not sure what you are on about there.

      Here’s the chart with every death in Gaza since 2000.

      https://israelpalestinetimeline.org/charts/

      With the evidence, take everyone responsible to court.

    • Skunk Weed 6.2
      5 March 2019 at 6:09 pm

      Looking forward to seeing the Orange Orangatuan’s little boys from the Mid West take on the Cuban & Russian Special Forces, hopefully we will get live coverage, will be some great footage.

  7. mosa 7
    5 March 2019 at 9:59 am

    This topic needs more debate.
    Maybe it is time to review this allowance while we are arguing about people paying their fair share of tax.
    A review of how public money is spent for retiring politicians and their families should be undertaken.
    Is it good value for money ?
    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/03/05/guest-blog-bryan-bruce-pms-privilege-and-poverty/#comment-454344

  8. Muttonbird 8
    5 March 2019 at 10:08 am

    Hawkesbury asks: How can child sex offender be granted a real estate licence?

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209479

    I’ll tell you why. Because being a real estate agent (and Uber driver) requires very, very little in the way of conscience, moral strength, and integrity. In fact these qualities are actively frowned upon by the real estate industry.

    • Puckish Rogue 8.1
      5 March 2019 at 10:35 am

      Well ok then maybe a list needs to be put out saying what jobs they’re allowed to have

      • Muttonbird 8.1.1
        5 March 2019 at 10:41 am

        Preferably jobs that require zero contact with minors.

      • McFlock 8.1.2
        5 March 2019 at 1:28 pm

        No, authorities that are supposed to judge whether someone is a “fit and proper person” should consider whether sexual offending against customers (let alone a child) means that the person is a “fit and proper person” to become acquainted with the homes of a large number of customers and their families.

    • mac1 8.2
      5 March 2019 at 11:06 am

      Muttonbird, from the fact that a family member, who has conscience, moral strength and integrity, is a successful real estate agent I could generalise the opposite.

      That’s the problem with generalisations. They can be sweeping, false and even a tad offensive.

      All generalisations are wrong! 🙂

    • Anne 9.1
      5 March 2019 at 11:03 am

      I agree with Andrew Little. He is a NZ citizen. We can’t stop him re-entering the country. But what will happen if and when he does return is another matter. He must be so f****d up in the brain I imagine it will take years to unravel the knots.

      A long rehabilitation inside a secure institution is the humane course to take but of course the ‘lock em up and throw away the key’ neanderthal brigade (which includes Hosking) will scream their lungs out at such a prospect.

      • Puckish Rogue 9.1.1
        5 March 2019 at 11:11 am

        On that I’d like to see NZ reopen some hospitals on the lines of UKs Broodmoor (in the south and north island)

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1QQD7MVehY

        Secure, stand alone facilities (not tacked onto existing hospitals) where the mentally ill prisoners, the alcoholic prisoners, the drug addicted prisoners can get proper treatments, rehabilitation and therapy away from the general population and it would mean most prisoners could be transported there for doctors or dentists visits rather than going to public hospitals (or bring back mobile dentists visits…)

        Will never happen though unfortunately

        • greywarshark 9.1.1.1
          5 March 2019 at 11:51 am

          PR
          If we start thinking practically instead of historically mixed with ideology, and mix it with kindness, your idea will be one that gets chosen. There is such hypocrisy in the way we deal with criminals today and consider ourselves to be modern and appropriate for the situation. We are going back to the dark ages of prison conditions and treatment.

          Also of course there need to be a place where violent and very deranged prisoners can be held permanently, Where they can have a reasonable sort of life and enable society to feel they are being treated well, but they have no freedom to continue their awful behaviour.

          I am not saying how. They might have conjugal visits, they might have family visits under supervision. It would be well run, with room for interests, and also have periods of solitary confinement for thoe intractable types.

          • Puckish Rogue 9.1.1.1.1
            5 March 2019 at 12:41 pm

            Unfortunately it would take quite a bit of moolah and I can’t see any party going for it because of that

            • Graeme 9.1.1.1.1.1
              5 March 2019 at 1:40 pm

              it’s a bugger because we had the facilities once. But most of them got sold or torn down. Unfortunately the needs that they addressed in the way of the time didn’t go away.

              Now we have to start from scratch rather than adapting / progressing existing facilities and services.

              • Puckish Rogue …
                5 March 2019 at 1:57 pm

                To be fair I’d rather they started from scratch but its a pipe dream as I could just imagine what would happen if a political party said lets raise taxes to build it or we’re cutting back *insert whatever here* to build it

              • Skunk Weed …
                5 March 2019 at 6:13 pm

                Neoliberal Ideology free market B/S, they brought in a Pommie C%#t especially for the job, evidently the market was going to look after the Nutters ?

            • greywarshark 9.1.1.1.1.2
              5 March 2019 at 3:49 pm

              It would require a Party that had faith in the public to back it in making
              sensible decisions to invest in projects now which would deliver great advantages some time ahead; whether the investment was in physical non-sensate things or in sensitive humans.

              I think you are right that no Party could go ahead at present with those as there is so little concern about the country and our fellow citizens from the voting populace. The non-voters have given up or can’t see where their POV will register. The drive has been to grow individuals who want to use what is around them but don’t want to acknowledge others as provider,
              and that has successfully broken down the co-operative society that we were getting to. The freemarket and no regulations are reducing us back to the coarse society we had before we brought improving regulations in.

      • mac1 9.1.2
        5 March 2019 at 11:13 am

        I’d agree, Anne. An individual who condones slavery, sexual ownership and who brandishes ferocious killing weapons is a severely damaged individual.

        And then I consider NZ society and see the same things here, too. Another made in NZ Kiwi?

        • Anne 9.1.2.1
          5 March 2019 at 12:57 pm

          Well said mac1.

          The so-called corruption-free, generous, friendly, humane NZ society is one great big lie perpetuated by those who have the most to gain by the subterfuge.

        • Skunk Weed 9.1.2.2
          5 March 2019 at 6:15 pm

          More dangerous terrorists here in NZ, Rebels, Headhunters, Mongrel Mob, Hells Angels, Filthy Few or are these just friendly community orientated motorcycle clubs ?

      • gsays 9.1.3
        5 March 2019 at 5:16 pm

        So long as you don’t call them education camps, you should get a tick.

  10. Kat 10
    5 March 2019 at 10:53 am

    The Hosk asks whats the PM is going to do about Mark Taylor, “jihadist and traitor”

    “You know that Ardern would let him in, you know she’s driven by UN-type doctrines. She’d probably put him on the job-seeker benefit and tell him to take his time looking for work…………..”.

    This is what has the National poodle from the fish wrap flummoxed, he just doesn’t get Jacinda Ardern’s message of kindness. He wans her to become a hard nut, a bigot and a one dimensional nodding follower of right wing ideology.

    This isn’t so much a test for Jacinda Ardern more just another test for how much stinking fish guts the wrap can cover.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209508

    • Puckish Rogue 10.1
      5 March 2019 at 10:56 am

      Well each to their own but I feel this guy has given up any rights to NZ citizenship

      • Gabby 10.1.1
        5 March 2019 at 10:58 am

        Your feelz don’t trump the law just yet puckers.

      • Kat 10.1.2
        5 March 2019 at 12:06 pm

        My comment was more about the Hosk turning this story around and portraying it as yet “another” negative for Jacinda Ardern. To show her as being weak, again and again and again.

        The “test” is really for the citizens of New Zealand. The fish wrap has a monopoly in the media and this opinion commentary by the Hosk is yet another in a continuing and ramped up series that attack Jacinda Ardern while promoting the values and expectations of the poodles puppeteers. The thin veil of free speech has well and truly disappeared.

        As for Mark Taylor, the tale or parable of the prodigal son springs to mind.

        • Puckish Rogue 10.1.2.1
          5 March 2019 at 12:53 pm

          I’m not going to say what she does ia wrong because this is one of those situations where no one wins, so Hoskings is wrong on this

          Also to me ref Mark Taylor: something about making your bed and lying in it springs to mind

          • Kat 10.1.2.1.1
            5 March 2019 at 1:36 pm

            Yes I can imagine Mr Taylor doing a lot of tossing and turning in his bed for some time.

      • OnceWasTim 10.1.3
        5 March 2019 at 1:59 pm

        The guy is really just a bit fick mate. There are far worse cases of people who should give up their ‘right’ to citizenship.
        Some even sit in Parliament, supposedly as people’s representatives.
        Others, aided and abetted by them.
        (Based on a societal and economic richter scale)

    • Psycho Milt 10.2
      5 March 2019 at 2:01 pm

      “You know that Ardern would let him in, you know she’s driven by UN-type doctrines. She’d probably put him on the job-seeker benefit and tell him to take his time looking for work…………..”.

      It’s a pity the job description of PM doesn’t really feature “absolutist despot” in the roles and responsibilities part, the way Hosking apparently believes it does. If it did, Ardern could have his passport revoked when he’s overseas and refuse to let him back in the country, just to show him that yes she would do it if the candidate is enough of an arsehole.

      • Peter 10.2.1
        5 March 2019 at 2:51 pm

        If Taylor has to come back maybe it can be wangled that we do a ‘prisoner swap’ type thing – we take Taylor, we give them Hosking. Hosking seems to find so much undesirable about living in New Zealand and can’t control things to make them how he thinks they should be, he’d probably love to leave. I would certainly love him to leave.

        • Psycho Milt 10.2.1.1
          5 March 2019 at 3:01 pm

          I expect it wouldn’t work because the Kurds would opt to keep Taylor instead, once they’d done a bit of due diligence on Hosking.

          • Andre 10.2.1.1.1
            5 March 2019 at 3:53 pm

            What if we sent his car over with him? They could mount a bigass machine gun on the back and have themselves the fastest technical in town.

            • AB 10.2.1.1.1.1
              5 March 2019 at 4:55 pm

              Ground clearance on a Ferrari is about 5cm. Not much use in a desert full of rocks. And the vain wee dandy probably bought a red one – sticks out like a baboons a*se and is about as endearing.

        • KJT 10.2.1.2
          5 March 2019 at 5:03 pm

          What have the Kurds ever done to us, that deserves, Hosking?

      • AB 10.2.2
        5 March 2019 at 3:37 pm

        The Husk would be happy at such treatment. He could kip down in some swanky store at Changi airport for the rest of his natural life and buy lots of torn jeans every day. It would be the ultimate form of self-realisation for him.

    • Gabby 10.3
      5 March 2019 at 2:51 pm

      It’s cute that Horeskin thinks she decides who gets a benefit.

  11. greywarshark 11
    5 March 2019 at 11:34 am

    The Resident Doctors Association deserve and need, to have their concerns attended to fairly.

    Chris Trotter on Bowalley Road is looking at this – the strikes and what role the CTU has these days.

    … It is, therefore, unsurprising that the PSA (with 70,000 members, New Zealand’s largest union) has, since the CTU’s inception in 1987, exerted a powerful restraining influence over the whole trade union movement.

    Its influence has only grown stronger as the percentage of the private sector workforce belonging to a trade union has declined to the point where, today, fewer than 10 percent of private sector workers are unionised….

    Well-supplied with both members and money, …state unions have been willing to take a stand in defence of their own workers. Tragically, however, they have consistently declined to campaign for the rebuilding of trade unionism in the private sector.

    • Puckish Rogue 12.1
      5 March 2019 at 12:43 pm

      I’m very big on free speech but I’d be lying if the anti-vaxers didn’t want to make me bring out my ban hammer…

    • McFlock 12.2
      5 March 2019 at 1:32 pm

      Should be “yet another major study finds”.

      Ever since that bastard Wakefield, so much money has been spent replicating what we knew before simply to hold ground against those morons. Shit, a couple of diseases could possibly have been eliminated with that cash.

    • Stunned Mullet 12.3
      5 March 2019 at 3:31 pm

      oh dear… I’ll let you just sit and have a think about it shall I ?

  13. Andre 13
    5 March 2019 at 12:43 pm

    Doesn’t say whether he’s made himself fully eligible for a Darwin Award.

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-anthony-jones-penis-shooting_n_5c7d9493e4b0129e36bdd2bc

  15. Andre 15
    5 March 2019 at 1:08 pm

    I’ve finally found out what “hamberders” are. A bunch of budget range fast-food burgers left to go cold and wilted, then stacked in a pile, is a hamberder.

    Yes, the Cheeto Benito welcomes another champion sports team with another all-class spread of hamberders.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/04/politics/trump-fast-food-white-house/index.html

    • AB 15.1
      5 March 2019 at 4:00 pm

      It could be deliberate trolling of affluent liberals who sneer at fast food yet expect the working class to vote for them.
      But I doubt that Trump is that smart – he probably just really likes this crap.

  16. greywarshark 16
    5 March 2019 at 1:16 pm

    NZ
    A comment on how NZ sewers are getting on as they try to get work here and food and housing.

    And the idiocy of Rogernomics comes back once again to haunt NZ. No tariffs, no training , no industry support what a brilliant economic idea. Young people will learn by osmosis will they?Just another bunch of skills in a valuable high employment industry which have been lost on the altar of the pseudo science economics.

    Meanwhile young kiwis can’t get jobs. The jobs there are are low paid and insecure and there is no training. Smart move NZ.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103705385/nz-fashion-industry-manufacturing-clothes-from-peoples-homes

    • McFlock 16.1
      5 March 2019 at 1:40 pm

      Oh, people who SEW! not the drains lol

      Bit worried about piecemeal work, though. Shades of dark days past. But the general argument is sound – we’ve buggered our skills development over the last thirty years, and it’s biting us hard, now.

      • KJT 16.1.1
        5 March 2019 at 5:06 pm

        Basically employers, and successive Governments, decided skilled workers were not worth paying to train, and paying wages commensurate with the skills.

        So, We voted with our feet!

        • McFlock 16.1.1.1
          5 March 2019 at 5:12 pm

          and now the employers bitch that nobody wants to work for a sub-living wage, while the government do special visas to import fruit pickers to work for a sub-living wage.

          • KJT 16.1.1.1.1
            5 March 2019 at 5:19 pm

            Yep. The option of bleating to the immigration department, instead of learning to run a business properly, has been available for far too long.

  17. adam 17
    5 March 2019 at 3:49 pm

    I know I’m out of step supporting more democracy, not less on this site. But here is a good example of it, and who I’ve been supporting in Syria all along. Not the ISIS front freeSyria mob.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-05/after-islamic-state-raqqa-survivors-empowered-by-democracy/10865548

  18. ScottGN 18
    5 March 2019 at 4:05 pm

    Justin Trudeau’s travails just got a whole lot worse. His best minister, Jane Philpott just followed Jody Wilson-Raybould and quit Cabinet in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/philpott-resignation-trudeau-snc-lavalin-1.5042411

  19. greywarshark 19
    5 March 2019 at 4:08 pm

    It’s my impression that the media are featuring images of Ms Ardern looking serious, frowning, etc. With the image systems they have i should think taking continuous shots, there would be many to choose from so they are choosing ones where she is not looking happy, or even sour. I remember one of Helen Clark that was against a blue background casting a purple light on her face and making her look sick.
    So is this a start of a campaign against our PM. Jonkey was always jokey wasn’t he or being blokey drinking from a bottle, bashing the barbeque, our airb’nb potentate.

    Here Jacinda is just looking thoughtful.
    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/383987/pm-rules-out-change-to-mmp-threshold-before-next-election

    • AB 19.1
      5 March 2019 at 4:18 pm

      “So is this a start of a campaign against our PM?”
      No – it’s be going on for some time. The female person in this household has been fuming about it for months.
      To be expected though. And even the most flattering pictures of Key couldn’t make him look like someone you’d by a used car from.

      • greywarshark 19.1.1
        5 March 2019 at 4:29 pm

        I’m used to seeing her with her teeth showing, and the photos show her in happy mode. I can understand her looking thoughtful more now. Didn’t realise it had been noticeable for a while.

        She wouldn’t try to sell a use car would she? It would be a hybrid or starting a new travel by rail campaign with try one, buy one tickets to launch it. It would be good for NZ Rail to get a boost for a new initiative from the PM. We’d all be electrified by that.

        Actually to hop about a bit.
        I put a comment below about trial periods. I actually think that to be flexible for workers and employers, they would be useful for a 30 day period, just travel money paid though, and a small sheet giving brief set details – tick? – of how the employee had done, with employee giving tick as to choice of why things had not gone right. Also it would be helpful if the employer each week gave some feedback and what the worker should try to improve.

        I think at present there is nothing required. If you are getting a free worker who is a bit useless, then tell them how to do it, help them, it isn’t costing.

        And I think small employers should have free workshops on how to direct staff, organise the workplace, set up a good atmosphere in which people put work and customers first and show how the employer would demonstrate respect and method.

  20. greywarshark 20
    5 March 2019 at 4:14 pm

    Trial periods have had their trial and been found unsatisfactory – should be let go.
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1903/S00039/tens-of-thousands-of-kiwi-workers-sacked.htm
    “Based on MBIE research 80,070 employers used trial periods during the year. That is a minimum of 80,070 employees on trial periods, but we suspect many more Kiwi workers were on trial periods.

    20,300 employers dismissed an employee during or at the end of the trial period. That is a minimum of 20,300 employees dismissed on trial periods, but once again we suspect many more Kiwi workers have been sacked by their employers.

    Another shocking component in the story is that these questions were asked in 2014/15 and the figures then were 57,600 and 13,600 respectively.”

  21. James 21
    5 March 2019 at 4:54 pm

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/03/the-scandal-that-could-end-justin-trudeau-s-time-as-canada-s-prime-minister.html

    The scandal that could end Justin Trudeau’s time as Canada’s Prime Minister.

    Good riddance.

    • AB 21.1
      5 March 2019 at 5:01 pm

      “Good riddance”
      Well he only ever looked good (actually stunningly brilliant) in comparison to a far-right loon like Harper.

    • Muttonbird 21.2
      5 March 2019 at 5:25 pm

      But why, James? What possible difference to your life could Canadian politics make?

      Or is it just that Trudeau not Bolsonaro enough for you?

      • James 21.2.1
        5 March 2019 at 5:43 pm

        Muttonbird the supporter of racism and homophobia cannot work out why someone would comment on politics on a political blog.

        Go on muttonbird- you can work it out

        • The Al1en 21.2.1.1
          5 March 2019 at 5:51 pm

          As an impartial observer, I’m wondering whether it’s just another poor attempt at a troll on James, or whether MB wants to offer a defence of Trudeau against political meddling to shield engineering firm SNC-Lavalin from a bribery trial.

          One is marginally sadder than the other, but which one?

        • Skunk Weed 21.2.1.2
          5 March 2019 at 6:18 pm

          James the demented troll back in action this afternoon.

        • Muttonbird 21.2.1.3
          5 March 2019 at 7:19 pm

          But, “good riddance”?

          Seems like there’s a bit of hatred for Trudeau built up over a long time.

          The Alien – I didn’t think it was possible to troll James and he is the master…🤣

          • The Al1en 21.2.1.3.1
            5 March 2019 at 7:28 pm

            I honestly wouldn’t waste my time trying to compete in a race to the bottom.
            I much prefer a good argument and discussion instead.

            • Muttonbird 21.2.1.3.1.1
              5 March 2019 at 7:34 pm

              Impossible with that particular commenter which is why he gets so much flack.

              We’ve been through long months and years of this and know the routine well. James is a man of apparently quite basic education, and hasn’t ever been willing to participate in “good argument and discussion”.

  22. joe90 22
    5 March 2019 at 6:43 pm

    Mobster in Chief.

    However, in the late summer of 2017, a few months before the Justice Department filed suit, Trump ordered Gary Cohn, then the director of the National Economic Council, to pressure the Justice Department to intervene. According to a well-informed source, Trump called Cohn into the Oval Office along with John Kelly, who had just become the chief of staff, and said in exasperation to Kelly, “I’ve been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing’s happened! I’ve mentioned it fifty times. And nothing’s happened. I want to make sure it’s filed. I want that deal blocked!”

    Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs, evidently understood that it would be highly improper for a President to use the Justice Department to undermine two of the most powerful companies in the country as punishment for unfavorable news coverage, and as a reward for a competing news organization that boosted him. According to the source, as Cohn walked out of the meeting he told Kelly, “Don’t you fucking dare call the Justice Department. We are not going to do business that way.”

    A spokesperson for Cohn declined to comment, and Kelly did not respond to inquiries from The New Yorker, but a former White House official confirmed that Trump often “vented” in “frustration” about wanting to block the A. T. & T.-Time Warner merger. “The President does not understand the nuances of antitrust law or policy,” the former official says. “But he wanted to bring down the hammer.” (Last month, a federal court ruled against the Justice Department.)

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house

  23. Observer Tokoroa 23
    5 March 2019 at 9:06 pm

    It isn’t just their Low IQ … it’s much worse

    The Hosking and his Trolls, Herald rubbish scribblers; and Crooked Real Estate firms have a total hatred of normal people. They sell NZ out to Foreigners. All of them.

    You see, Hosking and Co, their Trolls – and their Women, do not want any NZ Worker to earn a real Wage.

    Why ? Because that NZ worker might be able to own a house – if he had a true wage. And the women on Hoskings ‘ Herald will scream blue Murder. It will ruin their tennis games.

    Not only that, it may encourage the Scum Landlords to lower Rental fees – thereby enabling workers to buy adequate Food. And perhaps get ten minutes at a dentist. The lousy women will hate that.

    To understand Hosking and the Herald – you have to understand HATRED. The Trolls of Hosking are about destruction of the true people of New Zealand.

    Never forget that !

  24. Observer Tokoroa 24
    5 March 2019 at 9:46 pm

    Lol James

    You seem particularly smug . Tonight.

    You might be able to persuade your Trollees to look at their aim in Life. Destroying low wage people – ala your Hosking God – marks you out as a sort of Blog Wastrel.

    Tough assignment. Hosking has come to believe in his own importance. It is something he stores in his very own backside. His women like that James.

    Oh – and be careful up at the Net – Very exposed up there.

    Thanks for your nice words.

  25. James 25
    5 March 2019 at 9:51 pm

    Sorry tokes – I have no trollees.

  26. Observer Tokoroa 26
    5 March 2019 at 10:22 pm

    Trollees are a sort of Droid. A collection of brainless bits and bobs.
    So I don’t blame you disowning them.

    How long do you think the stupid Normal people on Low Wages – will survive? I mean they own no houses now – and their rentals are Excessive – and they are short on food.

    How long will they last in Gods own Country James ? Will you have them cleaned up and burnt to ashes – in two years ? (please don’t urinate on them James. some of them are my rellies. Had World War II badges. Nearly all gone. )

    They have had it too good for too long James- haven’t they ?

    Is Hosking assigned to getting rid of the Babies? What have you guys and girls planned ? We never know what you are upto. Hosking probably hates Babies if they are living and breathing. Doesn’t show any interest in them. The Herald just blithely lets all go crazy. No harm in loosing Thousands of Babies.

  27. Eco Maori 27
    6 March 2019 at 10:46 am

    Global Warming is putting huge pressers on heaps of our creatures on land sea and the air the deiners will be happy if we the common person eats crap from a petry dish lab growen protein . One story about our Toheroa surf clams tryed to blame the species not recovering from over exploitation ON MAORI YEA RIGHT
    New Zealand native species under threat due to marine heatwaves
    An increase in marine heatwaves, like the one currently affecting New Zealand waters, is putting some marine species at serious risk.
    A new study, co-authored by University of Canterbury scientist Mads Thomsen, and published in Nature Climate Change uncovered a prominent link between the strength of these heatwaves and the negative impact on marine organisms.
    “Globally critical species, like seagrass, kelp and corals will be increasingly stressed. This will have flow-on negative effects on all the species that depend on these critical organisms,” Thomsen said.
    The increased frequency of these heatwaves – there were 54 per cent more per year from 1987 to 2016 than between 1925 and 1954 – can be linked to New Zealand’s weather, which produced the hottest summer on record in 2018.
    Earlier this year, sea-surface temperatures in the Tasman were recorded to be up 4 degrees Celsius warmer than the average, which places off Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough and Canterbury experienced 3C increases.
    “There are always winners and losers when ecosystems changes. Potential winners in New Zealand may be tropical fish that move south into warming waters, or invasive weedy species that take advantage of native cold-adapted species that are increasingly stressed by heat”, Thomsen said.
    Species with narrow latitudinal ranges and small population sizes, or that are too slow to move poleward when temperature increases are the most likely to be at risk of extinction.
    Previous studies have focused on how slow increases in the global mean temperature (global warming) can result in slow changes to biological systems, but this is the first look into the effects the fluctuating temperatures will have on our marine life and ecosystems.
    The study included research from around the world, with a total of seven countries involved, including New Zealand. Human impact, overlapping levels of high biodiversity and discovery of species near their warm-thermal limits were found to be attributing factors to the varied temperatures all around the world.
    Ka kite ano P.S Can not just blame the Maoris for climate change all tho some would love to put that on US Links Below

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/111033420/new-zealand-native-species-under-threat-due-to-marine-heatwaves

  28. Eco Maori 28
    6 March 2019 at 12:24 pm

    Here you go whanau more evedince of climate change the debate should be happening on all forms of media .Thanks to social media the truth is still getting out through the oil barron suppresion $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    Italy sees 57% drop in olive harvest as result of climate change, scientist says
    Extreme weather blamed for plunge in country’s olive harvest – the worst in 25 years – that could leave the country dependent on imports by April
    Extreme weather events have been the “main driver” of an olive harvest collapse that could leave Italy dependent on imports from April, a leading climate scientist has warned.
    A 57% plunge in the country’s olive harvest – the worst in 25 years – sparked protests by thousands of Italian farmers wearing gilet arancioni – orange vests – in Rome earlier this month.

    Italy’s farmers turn to cow dung to save beloved olive trees
    Read more

    Olive trees across the Mediterranean have been hit by freak events that mirror climate change predictions – erratic rainfalls, early spring frosts, strong winds and summer droughts.
    Prof Riccardo Valentini, a director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center for climate change, said: “There are clear observational patterns that point to these types of weather extremes as the main drivers of [lower] food productivity.”
    He added: “Freezing temperatures in the Mediterranean are anomalous for us. In any direction the extremes are important and indeed, they are predicted by climate change scenarios.”
    Several reports by the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) “all point to these climatic extremes as one of the major impacts of climate change”, he said. “We know there will be more extremes and anomalies in the future.”
    In the past 18 months, Italy has experienced summer droughts, autumn floods and spring ice waves.
    Olive trees are weakened by these kinds of weather shocks and, even if they recover, are left more vulnerable to outbreaks of the xylella fastidiosa bacterium and olive fly infestations, which have hit farmers in Italy and Greece, Valentini said.
    Italy’s Coldiretti farmers’ union estimates that the cost of the olive oil collapse this year has already reached €1bn.
    “The government promised a solution but it has not given any more resources for the olive farmers,” a Coldiretti spokesman said, adding there was “no plan for [addressing] climate change and olive oil production either.”
    He said: “We have had demonstrations in front of parliament already and we are waiting for government action.” The spokesman added that if it did not materialise, “there could be more protests”.
    Beyond Italy, the European commission has projected 2018-19 olive harvests to drop by 20% in Portugal and 42% in Greece, although industry sources said final figures there could be significantly worse. Ka kite ano link below P.S 3 diffrent devices give 3 diffrent searches ph laptop tablet I had a hard time finding this story on my laptop Eco Maori knows why the oil barrons suppresing climate change

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/05/italy-may-depend-on-olive-imports-from-april-scientist-says

  29. Eco Maori 29
    6 March 2019 at 2:01 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.

  30. Eco Maori 30
    6 March 2019 at 6:47 pm

    Kia ora Newshub big fire at A car wrecking yard it was good no one was hurt.
    How’s the Neck Paddy hope it’s fixed I get quite a few pains in my—- Ka kite ano.
    I say Mcdonald did not think it was going to snap the wind wond sculpture it must have been a good fright when it snapped
    I seen that a lost fishing boat drifting from Sydney to Aotearoa cover in marine life and it just needs a clean up new motor a Bobs your auntie must have been made good.
    If the CookIslands wants to change their name so be it. That was a loss of control in Britain the digger drive wrecking those brand new houses. Ka kite ano.

  31. Eco Maori 31
    6 March 2019 at 7:17 pm

    Kia ora Teao Maori News I,, The health system is letting down Maori big time I have witnessed it myself with the way my Mokopunas has been treated they won’t even test her for food disorder.
    Maori TV deserves to be funded with enough funding to function and do what the Waitangi ruling said I say the last nine years it has gone back Wards under shonky rule he is a true redneck who just wants Maori to go away.
    That charity box at the Kura in Whakatane is cool tangata can drop donated food off and some can get kai if they need it. Its also cool that we have a few programs on Maori TV in courageing tangata to grow their own kai I grow some but not as much as I want to. Ka kite ano

  32. Eco Maori 32
    7 March 2019 at 7:48 am

    Kia ora The AM Show Its cool that the santa parade is going to be on this year in Auckland with the loss of sponsors the council has picked up the bill duncan you just had to have a kick dick about the Maori Santa.
    It’s good to see the – – – – – machine in motion I say we have the best Advertising from our Sports Stars if it ain’t broken don’t fix it?????????? I SAY the changes to Rugby is designed so that Americans and Europeens can domanate it you will need 2 teams and only big nation have enough players for that with all the extra tests. I say all Pacific Islands nations should protest this new format that excluding there teams the don’t like Pacific people getting Mana from Rugby. But they want our players in their team and to wave their flags
    Lloyd did you see it that distraction behind your back.
    Yes there is a big pool of money going into the propergander/media machine putting down all cultures that do not have a – – – Base I see that clearly.
    There is discrimination in the health system Pharmac is included in that discrimination. What is it hiding if it does not collect data on the service it provides NZ. Ka kite ano P.S whanau mahi

  33. Eco Maori 33
    7 March 2019 at 12:17 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOFvJVroAJE
    They think I,m A fool they best look in the mirror to find there fools

  34. Eco Maori 34
    7 March 2019 at 2:14 pm

    Students strikeing for climate change will get the pollies to listen Kai kaha tamariki
    Students who strike for climate change will be marked as truants, principals say
    Schools are threatening to mark students as truants if they strike for climate change, with one principal calling it “wagging” that won’t make a difference.
    Thousands of students plan to strike across New Zealand next week as part of a global campaign urging politicians to treat climate change as a crisis, and act now to protect students’ futures from its effects.
    Christchurch strike organiser Lucy Gray, 12, said students were striking for their future.
    “Teachers, they strike all the time to get what they want and that’s just money. We want our future; I think that should be allowed.”
    [[[[[But Secondary Principals Association president and Pakuranga College principal Michael Williams said students’ impact on climate change would be “probably zero”.}}}}mIchael is a neanderthal he thinks that old mens opionion is the only one that counts But what are the pollies going to say to there tamariki/children or Mokopunas grandchildren when they as them WHY ARE YOU MAKING A MESS OF MY FUTURE .O grandchild we just need to make some more money off buring cardon and your enviroment your futures don,t COUNT of couse when the CHILDREN TALK THERE PEARENTS WILL HAVE TO LISTEN FOOL.
    In an earlier interview with Stuff, she said the strike was a way for students who weren’t able to vote to have a voice on issues that mattered to them.
    Canterbury West Coast Secondary Principals’ Association president Phil Holstein said schools supported students’ commitment to the cause Ka kite ano links below.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/111013724/students-who-strike-for-climate-change-will-be-marked-as-truants-principals-say

  35. Eco Maori 35
    7 March 2019 at 4:05 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.

  36. Eco Maori 36
    7 March 2019 at 4:54 pm

    I would watch fox ruped merdick media fox spin and I could only stand it for about 30 seconds and click next channel I can see they use every trick in there book to minuplate people into berleving trumps lies music ect. Most news outlets have a bit of positive and negitive comm on issues but the alt right fox shit makes me want to throw up bunch of REDNECK.s like ruped this prick should be stripped of his media busness for all the bad shit he has caused, ANA TO KAI ruped
    Democrats bar Fox News from 2020 debates over ‘inappropriate’ Trump ties
    DNC chairman says New Yorker exposé on Trump ties to Fox News cast doubt on network’s ability to hold ‘fair and neutral’ debates.
    The Democratic party’s governing body has announced it will not ask Fox News to host any of its televised primary debates during the 2020 US presidential race, citing a recent report detailing the conservative network’s close rapport with Donald Trump.
    Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez said a New Yorker exposé on the depth of the Trump administration’s ties to Fox News cast doubt on the network’s capacity to hold a “fair and neutral” debate on the Democratic primaries. The decision was first reported by the Washington Post.
    “I believe that a key pathway to victory is to continue to expand our electorate and reach all voters,” Perez said. “That is why I have made it a priority to talk to a broad array of potential media partners, including Fox News.”
    But he added: “Recent reporting in the New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and Fox News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates. Therefore, Fox News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates.”
    The presidential debates are typically televised by networks who secure exclusive rights to do so. There are 12 Democratic primary debates currently scheduled and set to begin in June. Fox was among the networks to send proposals to the DNC to air one of the debates. The network had partnered with the DNC on a primary debate in 2016 that was later canceled.
    Responding to the DNC’s decision, Trump threatened to “do the same thing with the Fake News Networks and the Radical Left Democrats” in the presidential debates next year. Ka kite ano links below P.S trump is going to lose in 2020 he is old news but to the lefties keep fighting the FOOL.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/mar/06/democrats-bar-fox-news-from-2020-debates-after-reported-trump-ties

  37. Eco Maori 37
    7 March 2019 at 6:50 pm

    Kia ora Teao Maori News I,, There is a huge need for people of the Papatuanukue to give Wahine the respect they deserve and equality in pay.
    Ka pai Darren and Dora Farrows for looking after all those tamariki it is not a easy task your whare look prepared for a few tamariki. But not all Sips carers are as good as yous are. I hope the league is good.
    I agree Maori need to revive our old traditions some old European no more about our culture than we do and they are keeping it hidden in their VAULTS because it shows how GREAT Maori culture is and they can not have Maori Mana become Great. Ka kite ano P.S Im trying to get a book East Coast Maori myths and legends by Cornel William Porter he was Ropata right hand man

  38. Eco Maori 38
    7 March 2019 at 7:45 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKopy74weus
    Ma te wa