In any decent political climate, this should mean the end of the Natz party.
‘Dirty politics’ was always a rather nebulous term which never really resonated with the public because there seemed a paucity of evidence – ‘just those bloody politicians playing their games, don’t you know.’
Now the Natz have been exposed in a finite and very identifiable way at a time of national crisis. ‘Ordinary’ kiwis will feel the depravity of this.
Any half-way decent Natz voter (and there must be a few of them, surely) will be disgusted with the Natz under Muller’s leadership. They should (not wanting to give a vote to the left – heaven forbid) flock now to NZ First, with the more unbalanced going to Act. Sure, Seymour is a fuckwit, but he’s a relatively clean right-wing fuckwit.
In any self-respecting party there should be three resignations on the leader’s table by now – Woodlouse’s (for being party to the on-going MoH leaks etc.) Walker’s for his ‘error of judgement’) and Muller’s (for his lack of leadership.)
"In any decent political climate, this should mean the end of the Natz party"
unfortunately it is just not in a gNat's DNA, whether its the older gNat, such as the dripping Ms Shipley or the dripping Ms Boag who regard themselves as royalty – even though they talk of 'ordinary New Zealanders', or the newer :just "win at all cost, the trinkets will flow along the way" breed.
Probably time for the likes of a spud Bolger or a McKinnon to say something if they want their precious party to return to something verging on decent (not that I've ever voted for them)
Totally Dirty Politics, Boag supplies, Walker releases, Muller acts outraged. RNZ highlights Walkers different statements as to why he released the private information. Dodgy shit.
And yep, if Muller had integrity he would go, he’s the leader of this.
Yes, I agree with grey. You do come up with good points gsays – simple and easy to understand too.
But to be fair to Muller and co. its human nature when confronted with a major problem to spend time looking for a way to stem the flow of blood before it gets out of hand. I think that was what they were doing. In the end, they had to confront it head on.
Mullers job is to lead this party in all it's DP glory. He knew nothing as Matty n Michelle are not stupid, plausible deniability works best that way.
Medias already taken his 'bad judgement' line it seems rather than call it for what is actually is, no surprises there.
National party court date Friday over donations and now this saga. Hipkins will hopefully through the proverbial book at it….. they deserve no less as it was a calculated political action. What lovely humans the national party contain.
Does Hipkins have a proverbial book to look through? I wonder which one he would choose? I like the historic King James Version of the Bible. It's got some really good stuff in it! https://dailyverses.net/honesty/kjv
A froward man soweth strife:
and a whisperer separateth chief friends. Proverbs 16:28
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment,
and equity; yea, every good path. Proverbs 2:9
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
.
If it was stolen to order then shouldnt it have included information about the patients' country of origin – you know, the thing Walker was apparently trying to prove?
No that was taken out during the Helen Clark years, so from my understanding no crime now has the potential of being a capital offences Orr you I think it was sedition
The best argument for sustaining rural communities and towns is to enable more productive use of these massed and bulky commodities. Protect our sawmills, protect our furniture makers, protect our packaging processors, protect our carvers.
The same goes for our wools. Our coarse wools are now so cheap and unwanted that the entire wool processing industry for coarse wools is dead. Only Merino has a hope.
Covid19 + the commodities retreat will be a major outgoing tide for many small towns. Gisborne is in for a really tough time.
It's a shame about wool . Its biodegradable, renewable, fire proof . But yip it's dying ,I would go for a non shearing breed if it was my decision to make . Many are already .
How do you protect you local industries without wreaking free trade agreements?
How do you protect you local industries without wreaking free trade agreements?
And thus proving that FTAs are not about free-trade as protecting an industry is part of the under-lying philosophy of willing buyer – willing seller that is free-trade.
Why does anyone believe that crude and indirect financial instruments like the ETS will achieve what we want in any specific sense? It must be some lingering vestige of 1980's thinking, where the role of government was just to create the appropriate operating frameworks, and then the private sector deploys its god-like efficiency to deliver the results – which will always be optimal for everyone. Delusional.
bwaghorn noted this which seems to be an important fact.
On the East Coast, for instance, a landowner will be paid 10 times more [when under ETS, Emissions Trading Scheme] by year 5 for planting pine trees instead of native forest, and farmland is going under pine trees in many places. With wool prices at historic lows, and rising carbon prices, this trend will only accelerate.
The thing is that wool must go up eventually, it is such a valuable fibre, and the sheep is such a good, useful animal, we must not have our knowledgable sheep farmers pushed out by short-term climate advantage from small-minded pollies, tendentious reasoning and thoughtless pandering to the Mr Creosotes of this world.Note: The low wool price will I hope be temporary. It is largely because of the tensions between US-China and the trade war.
Especially when NZ had purchased millions of dollars worth fake Carbon Credits, NZ was 3rd down on the list of purchases in terms of the amount of money spent.
How serious this will be for the Nats hinges on whether the privacy breach is criminal. I hope Andrew Geddes issues his opinion on that. Meanwhile:
National MP Hamish Walker and former party president Michelle Boag are unlikely to face criminal charges for their roles in the leaking of Covid-19 patient data to the media, a privacy lawyer says.
Barrister Kathryn Dalziel, an expert in privacy law, said the pair appeared to have interfered in the privacy of patients, but it was unlikely to be a criminal offence.
MPs working in their official capacity were exempt from this aspect of privacy law – “[Walker’s] probably safe there,” Dalziel said.
There is a pressure point from which more information can come…
From that link: "But the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust could be liable for damages after Boag, the acting chief executive of the trust, admitted to breaching the privacy of patients."
I am curious as to how many other boards Boag troughs from? Whether they are reassessing her suitability.
Muller told Corin Dann that it will be up to the National Party board to decide whether to cut all ties with Boag or not. They have a meeting today. Can't recall exactly how he framed his personal response but did seem as though he prefers they do that.
Naughty boy again, got told off again. Muller was forthright in his responses to John Campbell on TVNZ just before 7am. And Ben Thomas (from the right wing) is also:
Instead, it is more likely the garrulous and popular Walker, an assiduous networker around parliament’s press gallery and other media, saw an opportunity to improve his relationships with journalists and with a senior figure from the party (Boag). Like a school child trusted with a secret, his first instinct was to tell people he knew it.
The privacy breach is appalling. There is absolutely no public interest in knowing the names and details of people with Covid-19 who are taking all the correct steps in quarantine.
Walker claimed in his apology that he had intended to “to expose the government’s shortcomings so they would be rectified”, apparently referring to the lack of password protection on the data. But the privacy breach was not caused by the government, it was caused by Boag.
Forthright? He had to be pressed by Campbell if he thought Walker should be sacked or not. Then couldn't make a call, so went with "lost confidence" in him.
Well he has demoted him to the lowest position in the Nat caucus and stripped him of his roles as spokesperson. I doubt Nat rules allow Muller to "sack" Walker. I think the closest to that would be the Nat hierarchy securing his deselection as candidate.
'There is absolutely no public interest in knowing the names…'
Acshually there is no right for anyone in the public to know the names…. because we have laws that prevent this. Or so I understand, I may of course be wrong, or it may be open to interpretation. But although sometimes the law is a bit odd, (as in withholding the name of Grace Mullane's killer – Prince A.drew?) I think there is an intention for privacy in the law and it should be upheld and exercised if breached.
So the initial line is not even a moot point, and shows a distressing lack of probity.
But then I lament the state of our public service (the middle/senior ranks at least, although in some cases – such as WINZ, the culture certainly trickles down).
There's just been another bloody good example of how its all hanging together on Morning Report and reform is long overdue
You can see it clearly with the disdain the public service has for the OIA; or the amount of spin and spin doctors they seem to think are necessary; or the reluctance of the SSC to do anything until things become really serious; or its sluggishness in an era when the world has become more dynamic; or among some public servants themselves who couldn't even tell you what a Code of Conduct was; or the excessive use of contractors and consultants. It does not serve us well
Yes OwT – very distressing for the Muslim women, and even more so for we in the public to hear who believed we still had some quality of protection for people under threat. And it underlines the sad reaction from Muslims to the ignorant cry from a NZer 'This is not us. We're not like that' or similar words. Get real ducky.
Sometimes I think we might either need a more activist judiciary, or at least an SSC experienced in judicial matters (like the current Ombudsman or Children's Commissioner) rather than the crop of former ps CEO/business oriented do nothing dipshits we seem to have been getting lately. A supposedly impressive CV does not necessarily make for a good SSC. Something's got to give or we'll be seeing more of the same.
And we are back to house price inflation despite having so many not able to afford a roof over their head. The Real Estate fraternity is already rubbing their hands to make money out of the returning Kiwis and putting affordability ever more out of reach. We will have to see whether world events will not set us further into a recession and more jobs are lost once the wage subsidy ends. Talk about irresponsibility.
Kim Hill interviewing the Privacy Commissioner on RNZ just now, it is becoming clear that Boag is extremely vulnerable to the prospect of prosecution. Edwards said he will be talking to Heron QC, but usually acts on the basis of a complaint from victims of privacy breaches.
Muller has done well so far. He is pointing to a values-based division between his vision of the Nats and the behaviour of the two "rogues".
Oh for God's sake DF, this whole stinking pile of effluent is just the next dump on top of Muller's successive encouragements of such unethical behaviour.
But we now know Muller wasn't briefed by the young dude. Got blindsided. So Muller's doing damage control. No evidence he encouraged "unethical behaviour". Muller is trying to tread a fine line, and I'm watching to see if he's authentic about being a better leader for the Nats. Intentions aren't enough.
His silence around Woodhouse's antics : Covid cuddle couple, homeless man in isolation and latterly the toilet seat bullying, is closer to condoning than criticising.
Yes, all good points. But he does have to read his room, eh? To survive as leader. So there's a kind of shepherding involved. A moral compass is often deflected by practical politics – we see enough of that in the Labour, Greens & other politicians to know that the system makes it happen.
Come come Dennis, methinks you're being disingenuous. If, in your opinion, "the system" is the "makes it happen" problem, then how to explain the absence of "The Hollow Men" and "Dirty Politics" style books that might hold up a mirror to the left's equivalent misdeeds?
This latest 'misdemenor' re-exposes an inconvenient truth about how the NZ National party does its 'business' – they are dirty to their DNA, and much more so than most. Dirty in power, and out of it.
I agree – the right have always been more inclined to misbehaviour. I emerged into adulthood as a staunch anti-fascist. I'm just trying to encourage a more balanced view of the National Party. If their more human faction consolidates, the more rabid faction will wither. To me it's important to be fair to political opponents since human nature is the common ground. 😇
think you are being fooled by the "big tent" tag, that conservative parties try to sell. your hope sounds like the hope that millions of repub voters have expressed, while holding their noses, and staying in the tent(yuk!)
Kim Hill (God Bless Her), interviewing Shane Jones on, initially, the new port report, moved to links NZ 1st has with UK spin doctors.
Jones on his high horse had already trotted out a couple of choice quotes when he essentially called his interviewer a "feral animal". For a fleeting moment I felt sympathy for the man as he quickly graunched his gearbox getting into reverse.
Sorry, can't find link yet. I am sure it will be up on RNZ site soon.
Heard that gsays …it was hilarious…..Hill retorted immediately…"who are you calling feral" (or something similar) ….after this Jones' famous eloquence turned to gobbledegook
Splitting the vote will see National struggle in the election
NZF are on a very low polling in the Colmar Brunton Poll, a few more votes for them from Nats is probably a good thing.
I don't like to predict the outcome of the upcoming election, but there is every possibility that Labour could possibly win outright and not require any partners.
I'm not sure they would go that way, I think they would still bring the Greens in to include a broader range of policies for a broader range of interests
If Labour were to win outright, it would be the first time any political party had won outright with a majority since before Muldoon.
Muldoon and National over the yrs have goverened with a minority on multiple occasions, the worst was Muldoon on 42.5% of the total vote count, but won on seats won, Gerry Mandering much.
That was the turning point where another fairer voting system considered, MMP was determined by referendum
I think we need five or more parties in parliament for our population to be represented properly. dont agree with most of act's or nationals philosphies, but they have a place in parliament.
I agree, democracy is about Representation, which is why I don't complain about the current situation with NZF and the Greens, more view points are being recognized in this Coalition than any other time in our history, compromise is the important feature, accepting we need to respect others needs and wants.
I also favour more parties in parliament and government. The problem with NZF is that they actively work against parties whose policies they don't support and they do this in ways that undermine MMP and representation. They're not good at sharing power. I put most of that on Peters, although I would expect similar from Jones. Martin is good value.
The ability of centrist parties to wield far more power than their vote should give them is a failing of MMP. I hope NZF are out of parliament the next term, or at least out of government, so that we can have a break from that dynamic.
Agreed, And, I'd like to see a Labour Green Coalition, even if Labour could Govern alone, the increase in representation would be very good for Democracy.
We will wait and see what voters decide, but I'm optimistic.
Somebody at the Herald has gone rogue. The headline reads “Hamish Walker reveals Covid patients detail to prove he isn’t racist “. This could be straight out of the Civilian or the Betoota Advocate, I couldn’t find anywhere in the story where this quote could have come from.
You couldn’t make this shit up, now please pass the popcorn, this is going to get ugly.
The problem for walker is that according to interviews on Morning Report it proved nothing of the sorry i.e. the names are not Indian Pakistani or Korean
According to the Department of Internal Affairs, the most common surname for babies born in New Zealand last year was Singh. Smith comes in a close second, while another Indian name Kaur is the third most common, ahead of Wilson, Williams and Brown.
(Stats Labour was attempting to mine to get some evidence of National's invasion of the asians into housing in Auckland. Leaving many houses not lived in much. Remember that and the hoo hah.)
Surely RNZ and other media will not have Michelle Boag on any more political panels. What an odious human being she is. She's been skulking round for years and it is surely time she was removed from any boards and organisations. She's untrustworthy.
I guess if Nikki Kay keeps Boag on her re-election team, we will learn just how upset the NP is with her. Just the fact that Nikki employed her in the first place shows how entrenched Boag and her dirty politics is with the party.
Even when she's uncritically retailing officially sanctioned state propaganda and giving soft-soap, fawning interviews to the likes of Luke Harding and Jonathan Freedland?
Maybe not “a hundred of you” (shudder ), but at least one. Like you, I don't agree with everything Kim Hill says/does on RNZ, but "A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good." Look for 'the good' Morrissey, it's easier to discern in Hill's ability and deeds than it is in some of your other targets, IMHO.
I agree with you, and I have indeed heaped praise on Ms Hill for the many fine things she has achieved in broadcasting—including her reading out my occasional emails live on air.
Her propensity to recycle the most absurd propaganda is a concern, however. I expect better of her.
I wouldn't mind hearing you as a guest on RNZ "Saturday" with Kim Hill. Perhaps discussing the meaning of life and the Universe, or the male ego. All txt feedback to be read out in full. That'd be worth a listen
HEEEEELP! Mozza. I take it all back! Did/Are you listening to today's Walruss' "The Panel".
It's fucking excruciating darling – but I'll persevere . Put a drizzle of Olive Oil and a bit of Sour Cream on it, shove it in the fridge till Sunday and call it a National Party Brunch
I heard it, Tim. Most of it was pretty good, I thought, with the only bum note coming from the mouth of ex-Hong Kong resident Jack Yang toward the end of the program. He rightly made a negative assessment of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam—but then he said this: "She makes Trump look like Obama!" That comment would suggest that he is ignorant of, or has chosen to ignore, the fact that President Obama presided over an empire of oppression, illegal surveillance and state suppression—including assassination—of dissenters.
Yang showed the same crass mis-judgment as those pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong who are so foolish and ignorant as to wave the Union Jack as if it is anything other than a symbol of imperialism—especially in China.
Perhaps the worst aspect of it, though, was that none of the Panelists—neither Wallace Chapman, nor Phil O’Reilly, nor Catherine Robertson—saw fit to comment on, let alone challenge, Yang’s spectacularly foolish comment.
I think I probably meant that "'prePanel" where someone was discussing their cooking prowess. It wasn't Wallace Chapman, Phil O’Reilly, or Catherine Robertson. I had to turn it off after that.
That was Robert Kelly. He's a pretty bright fellow, I think. I agree with you about that cooking drivel, though—it was nothing more than riffing on some airheaded article from the Grauniad.
Still, we should be glad that at least they weren't using the pre-Panel show to sneer at the suffering of political prisoners. Not today anyway.
Some years ago the polluters sacked Sir Kerry Burke from the Canterbury Regional Council and succeeded in abolishing all democratic input into water regulation. They're at it again. No surprise to see one Michael Laws wielding the axe for them.
How long Noone lasts will be seen, this isn't making the problem go away. Being anointed ORC chieftain / chieftainess is the ultimate hospital pass in New Zealand local government at present. You are highly unlikely to be able to please anyone, let alone get consensus or even a majority. The problems the council has around the old water permits from the mining era are close to insurmountable.
edit
She stood bravely against the attack of the bovines, don't know if she had a cape or not, but it sounded a classy show. About Marion Hobbs on Radionz earlier. Was having Michael Laws behind her a good move or not?
I wouldn’t go that far at all, the water permit issue is going to break ORC, and it’s chair, no matter who is in charge.
This was an intractable issue 30 years ago which is why the deemed permits were extinguished by the RMA in 1991, to expire this year. The council and permit holders have had 30 years (in reality more like 50 or 60) to work out a solution and really aren’t even started. All the ‘solutions’ have fallen to bits pretty quickly and council has ended up in positions that were always going to end up being vigorously challenged.
Expect the big stick, either commissioners or a legislated solution, to come out early next year.
[FFS! Do you realise how unbelievably insensitive this comment is? What’s worse is that you have form making comments that are way off the mark and/or insulting. You have been warned before. Take the rest of the week off – Incognito]
I agree with Incog and lfd here. Even if there is less than zero compassion for GM, there are other suicidal people to think about or the families of suicidal people or those who have killed themselves. People reading on TS.
Also the chair of Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, Simon Tompkins, had this to say:
As an administrative resource, Ms Boag has never had access to any clinical or patient data held by ARHT. ARHT is an integral part of the health system and we are entrusted with information about our patients which is properly protected by protocols which only enable access to those who need this data to care for the patient. We have reviewed these protocols and are confident that none of this patient information has been subject to any privacy breach
Walker admitted to Muller on Monday midday he was behind the private details of active Covid-19 cases being leaked to media, sparking a Government inquiry.
Muller told the Clutha-Southland MP he needed to own up publicly.
It's understood later that afternoon – after the Government announced the inquiry – Muller received a legal letter on Walker's behalf.
It asked the National Party leadership not to out Walker citing concerns about his privacy.
“Rachel Bird, the National Party’s Southern Regional Chair, has received a letter from Hamish confirming he will withdraw as the National Party candidate for Southland,” Muller said. “There was a clear breach of trust, which goes against the values National holds as a party.”
“The National Party Board will still meet today to discuss the selection of a new candidate. Walker’s seat, soon to be named “Southland”, is an extremely safe seat for the National Party, meaning whoever wins the nomination is likely to win the seat.
A 32-year-old man will be charged after briefly absconding from a managed isolation facility in Auckland yesterday evening.
The man has this morning tested positive for Covid-19 and has been moved to the Jet Park quarantine facility.
Around 6.50pm the man escaped through a fenced area at the Stamford Plaza when he was out smoking, as a section of external fencing was being replaced. Security attempted to follow the man but were unsuccessful in locating him.
Police were called immediately, and enquiries were underway to locate the man including reviewing CCTV footage and undertaking substantial area searches, before he returned to the facility where he was then interviewed by Police.
Enquiries have established the man went to Countdown on Victoria Street West on foot and purchased items at a self-service checkout, before returning to the hotel around 8pm.
Unbelievable. Throw everything at him including a criminal conviction and loss of residency status if applicable? No wonder towns don't want them. But more seriously is it time to put quarantine into prefabs/camper vans at large green field sites at where the local population is low? . Uncomfortable yes – but lacking any exterior attractions and people to infect.
Our largest cities can't keep going through this roller coaster of potential exposure
Yep was just about to come on and say the same thing re: residency status. If you are not willing to follow the rules when coming back to NZ then you deserve the kitchen sink thrown at you.
Campervans in Waiouru or Ohakea. Don’t like it? Don’t come.
Ohakea might work – it's got a decent runway and a fair walk to the sin city of Palmy.
But seriously the actual cost and chilling effect of these breaches on major population centers (without the disease even getting out) plus the stress and personal costs on anyone this brushed past is pretty high.
The risk of it of a huge out break must be exponentially higher if the breach takes place in a city. Must say Melbourne must be tempted to look at putting it's returnees somewhere out of town.
“There was a clear breach of trust, which goes against the values National holds as a party.”
Snort. As in, he broke the trust between himself as an MP and the leadership (and probably the DP maestros). National don't hold values around breaching the public's trust. Shall we make a list?
It would be helpful if Wayne could elucidate the trust issue. Precisely how is it defined? Is there a relevant clause in whatever a candidate signs up to? Or is there one in the code of conduct?
Rhetorical questions, perhaps. Someone may point out that MPs are not constrained by any such code of ethics.
The report said there were a small number of MPs widely known to be serial offenders, but who are protected by the system.
If Labour wanted to reform the system, they would have adopted the report, I presume. And then announced pending legislation. And then put that to parliament. Unless someone can produce evidence that any of this happened, then it is simply more evidence of the Labour `pretend to be progressive' sham.
The Public: "Michelle, you have some questions to answer."
Michelle: “I've already refused to speak to your reporters and it's no good trying to hang outside waiting for me, because I'm staying here and I'm not going out, so don't bother wasting your time.”
Every person who has come into work today has mentioned how disgusted they are with the nat party dirty politics. Some have also mentioned the lack of leadership from muller concerning his loose and leaking party.
Dennis, I don't know if polls on this Topic are really indicative of the public mood, given the nature of the referendum and the fact that it's use is prohibited
There is 9% undecided, could just easily be those who don't wish to disclose their position.
Read through this article in the NZHerald on the latest escapee from managed isolation. I think the reporter copy and pasted all his notes without proofreading anything. Double-ups and random topic changes mid-page. It's a bit disorientating, to say the least.
Shoppers turned away
Hungry Aucklanders are being turned away from Countdown Victoria St West in the CBD today.
The store is closed for cleaning after the country's latest case of Covid-19 visited the store yesterday, with a security guard standing in the doorway turning people away.
The security guard said he had been told it will be closed for "at least a couple of hours" but wasn't sure when it would reopen.
Dozens of people have been turned away from the supermarket, which's lights are on but it's roller doors are down, and told to visit other grocery stores nearby. Most people seem unaware of the recent news the latest Covid-19 case visited the story yesterday.
Hipkins wouldn't be drawn on details of the leaked privacy details of Covid-19 patients, saying that he awaited the outcome of the Heron inquiry, which would also look at who had the information and why they had that information.
There is no community transmission. It has been 68 days since the last case of community transmission.
Asked if Hamish Walker and Michelle Boag should foot the bill for the Heron investigation, Hipkins wouldn't say, adding only that he thought their behaviour was "unethical and unacceptable".
"We do want to lift our game," he said when asked about the low use of the NZ Covid Tracker app scanning QR codes.
"We want everybody to play their part, download the app and scan the codes."
Good to see the government support for our pacific neighbours – poor sods have to go through our winter after all. And I do hope we continue to facilitate returning those who want to go home. Same as we did for Vanuatu. And they had better be paid decent wages.
I also wonder if we should be doing a bit more direct aid. Tonga passed a budget with it’s largest deficit ever at around $23m less than that dreadful flag referendum
Jul.3/20 The elections revealed surging support for the Green party and underlined Macron's troubles with left-leaning voters. The only bright spot for Macron was Philippe's own victory in the northern port city of Le Havre. (Philippe Prime Minister [former investment banker] who has stood down at present.)
Updated: There are a couple of changes to the comment editor today. You can find out what they are by hovering your mouse over them.
Don't abuse them. Especially the images one. I will land hard on perps if I find large images anywhere. And then I'll write the code to prevent a future size issues.
Spelling: It turns out that there is a way to correct comment spelling within the comment editor. If you see a spelling error highlighted by your browser, then hold down the Ctrl and right click on the word. You will get your browsers normal context menu.
This probably doesn't help the person who brought the issue up as they specified that they're disabled. But it does provide me a string to find out how to make this the normal behaviour on a right click.
The comment area is hardwired at 600px wide, and effectively diminishes to around 500px after indenting down 10 levels. It won't go past the 600px horizontally. But will go to infinite height – which is what I will be looking for.
I don't. eg how to download an image off a google search so that it is within certain limits. Get caught on this with posts every so often, and it's a pain with the square ones for the FP.
lol yeah I'm guilty of that on the trailing end of some comments – if I edit and rephrase a lot, sometimes there are lots of spaces at the end that aren't obvious when submitting with the wysiwyg, and sometimes I don't spot them if the comment was near the bottom of the scroll. Result: big empty space.
I know you've had to trim some of mine, I seem to recall – soz
That is pretty elegant because it will fix all existing comments. It effectively makes all comments trailing lines empty whitespace. Even it it has paragraphs because HTML treats empty or whitespace only paragraphs as being nondisplayable..
The latest person jumping the fence in an isolation facility was in the dedicated smoking area. This person may not be a smoker but why can't they issue smokers who come into the hotels with a standard package of Quitline patches for the duration of their stay. I believe the prisons did this to ease inmates off the nicotine when they stopped smoking in the prisons. They are only staying there for 14 days for goodness sake and I know from a family member that these patches work. There are also lozenges that can be used while using the patches as an additional relief.
To me it seems such a simple solution to an ongoing serious problem. This latest escapee may have been able to infect a lot of people in the 70 mins they were awol. We will have another Melbourne at this rate and what a terrible thing to happen just over an ungrateful person who felt entitled to get out of Dodge just because he/she felt like it.
I think I will email Chris Hipkins himself. Apparently he is a very capable Cabinet Minister and has the Health Portfolio and gets things done. I just wondered if the Humans Rights Commission would say its a no no and abuse of their rights. Prisoners don't seem to have many rights so its okay for them (sarc).
Will get onto it. I did email Jacinda Adern once to her personal Parliamentary email and she never acknowledged it. I was a bit upset by it put it down to her being very busy etc etc. I still think she's the best we have right now though.
I got an automatic reply and later a thank you from the office. But that was early on. I think she looks thinner round the face now, sort of lean like a hard-running marathon runner, and probably hasn't even got time to do up her shoe laces. Nobody does it better I think.
Well Grey I have mailed the Hon.Chris Hipkins at the Cabinet Office and put forward this suggestion. I have explained about prisoners having the patches issued etc and that the five million would appreciate it if he would seriously consider this. I explained that this escapee who was asymptomatic but positive could set of a community transmission and we could end up like Melbourne and in lockdown again.
We shall see. If patches start to be issued well that will be really great. I am not holding my breath. Chris Hipkins apparently does get things done and is highly capable so fingers crossed.
That could do a lot of good. They are getting worried. I heard Megan Woods talking about bracelets and apps and so on so might reduce that need with a patch!
But I was just listening to The Detail on Radionz and it was about P and meth, and don't know much about them though I have heard that they are just a phone call away in China and it's all laid on like ordering groceries from the supermarket. But the journalist and treatment helpers say the country is riddled with it. People like that apparently lose all their reasoning control and ability to delay action and thinking of outcomes. So we haven't faced up to the problem here and it's got bad. Apparently terribly addictive. The right wing don't care of course, being so fucking superior they immediately label anyone who has fallen on the way as useless losers, lesser people and not worth helping, so tend to treat too little and too late. Of course it is a bit different if it is one of their own, but never mind.
So the Covid-19 need to have something sorted for when one of them comes along.
People in quarantine are not prisoners and there should be no state capacity to compel them to give up smoking or force them to use nicotine patches. This is most definitely a human rights issue.
By all means offer people in Q nicotine patches and support for giving up smoking, for those that want it.
But smoking isn't solely a nicotine addiction, it's also habituated stress and mood management from the physical act. We want people in Q to feel safe, secure and as stress-free as possible, not push them into a mental health crisis.
I know everyone is hating on the walkabout dude, but has anyone asked him why he did that? Was he hungry? Bored? Stressed? Confused?
Maybe putting in more supports rather than pillorying people would be a better approach. I still think he should be charged but I think the sentence should be proportionate to what he did. eg putting him in prison for 6 months would be excessive and set a really bad precedent.
Really interesting to see all the inner authoritarians come out over this.
Whispering Kate I heard talk about Nicotine patches this morning. So your email may have either prompted that or reinforced a thought to do this.
weka I think you are taking an impractical line. People in quarantine are virtual prisoners, they have to be for their own safety and that of others. And if they won’t comply then the virtual situation will become a real imprisonment.
But I agree talking about six months jail is just the same stupid knee-jerk response that ineffective boobs default to. We are second to the USA for the quick way we throw people into prison and thinkers have been calling for different methods for decades. I think the reaction from Gnats I think it was Judith Collins, or was it Anne Tolley, was to put two to a cell, leading to sexual and violent crime so being complicit in creating a continuing vicious climate for prisoners.
Jun.29/20 Patients who were in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator for weeks will need to spend extensive time in rehab to regain mobility and strength. "It can take up to seven days for every one day that you're hospitalized to recover that type of strength," Khan said. "It's harder the older you are, and you may never get back to the same level of function."…
While much of the focus has been on the minority of patients who experience severe disease, doctors increasingly are looking to the needs of patients who were not sick enough to require hospitalization, but are still suffering months after first becoming infected…
Dr Igor Koralnik, chief of neuro-infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, reviewed current scientific literature and found about half of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 had neurological complications, such as dizziness, decreased alertness, difficulty concentrating, disorders of smell and taste, seizures, strokes, weakness and muscle pain.
Who is the guy with a huge black beard? It doesn't look right in a political sphere, looks like a bandit with this face half covered. Not the open honest look we hope for from pollies which will be followed by the same style in action! And if it is a minder, he's an in-your-face one.
The beard's so big that the item could be headed bodyguard-is-fantail-base – bird has hatched two eggs in cunningly built nest woven with Parliamentary document shreddings.
I'll just make a warning here. There are peculiar ways our minds work and we will have often noticed that but will forget and go on and normalise stuff and not really learn.
If we were too triumphant and talked in too demoralising a way against Muller, various right wingers wavering on National, who have no interest in how the country or the poor or the young or anyone but themselves, is getting on – they might feel sorry for the poor guy and vote for him. You are being so nasty to him blah blah.
There is still time for flip flops. Some might remember Citizens for Rowling, an attempt to get people to think rationally for the Labour Party but the voters did not go the path that was expected. Think about the irrational in us all. People who have squashed ordinary citizens like ants, will get very hurt at being called useless or served cold tea, or their dedicated supporters will.
Quarantine and managed isolation are in hotels, not prisons – putting secure 6 foot fences around them all is a huge expense which should have not been necessary. The idiot that got out will be charged, and the episode will be reviewed, but it was the sort of risk that the government has been warning us about from the start. It is sad that this one incident will probably cost a huge amount of money to ensure it never happens again; but that is less important than the hope that nobody else gets infected.
Suppose one answer is to lock everyone in rooms with no out of room experiences at all. Guard each floor with guards armed with tasers. The hotels are not prisons but depend on a measure of trust, unless you are one hoping to support the Opposition plan to undermine Government.
I listened to someone under that regime ianmac. There was a guard on each floor. They were well provided for.
In The Melbourne housing towers they were suddenly locked down and were not allowed to go down for food deliveries which had to stay outside a circle. Drones good for this use I think. And the lifts often break down. Dreadful conditions. Vertical virtual prisons.
"Chippy and Megan had better get their shit together, they need to make an example of this bastard."
Fortunately they won't, and can't. His fate will be decided by an independent court.
I imagine if he gets fined but not jailed the opposition will be calling our justice system "shambolic" and demanding the government take charge of sentencing.
I don't follow surface politics, I follow the ocean currents. I'm thankful for a National leader who was schooled with majority Maori. Thankful for our Right, who aren't crazy, for the rich's rule.
You're all surface details people above.
The task we face now is more or less impossible but we must face it full on. Climate change extinguishment of all of us.
The Left are the thoroughly rational side of politics. This decade is the 1939 of our time. Why are we concentrating on surface pond weed?!
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
In any decent political climate, this should mean the end of the Natz party.
‘Dirty politics’ was always a rather nebulous term which never really resonated with the public because there seemed a paucity of evidence – ‘just those bloody politicians playing their games, don’t you know.’
Now the Natz have been exposed in a finite and very identifiable way at a time of national crisis. ‘Ordinary’ kiwis will feel the depravity of this.
Any half-way decent Natz voter (and there must be a few of them, surely) will be disgusted with the Natz under Muller’s leadership. They should (not wanting to give a vote to the left – heaven forbid) flock now to NZ First, with the more unbalanced going to Act. Sure, Seymour is a fuckwit, but he’s a relatively clean right-wing fuckwit.
In any self-respecting party there should be three resignations on the leader’s table by now – Woodlouse’s (for being party to the on-going MoH leaks etc.) Walker’s for his ‘error of judgement’) and Muller’s (for his lack of leadership.)
As for Covid 1-18 Boag, don’t get me started!
/agreed
"In any decent political climate, this should mean the end of the Natz party"
unfortunately it is just not in a gNat's DNA, whether its the older gNat, such as the dripping Ms Shipley or the dripping Ms Boag who regard themselves as royalty – even though they talk of 'ordinary New Zealanders', or the newer :just "win at all cost, the trinkets will flow along the way" breed.
Probably time for the likes of a spud Bolger or a McKinnon to say something if they want their precious party to return to something verging on decent (not that I've ever voted for them)
https://amp.rnz.co.nz/article/aeaf5a3f-0d52-47b6-8909-2ca39987b953?__twitter_impression=true
Totally Dirty Politics, Boag supplies, Walker releases, Muller acts outraged. RNZ highlights Walkers different statements as to why he released the private information. Dodgy shit.
And yep, if Muller had integrity he would go, he’s the leader of this.
So Muller knew on Monday lunch-time.
Muller says he had to check if his lawyer was better than Walker's lawyer, before forming an opinion or to act.
The cynic in me wonders if it was polling that was the hold up rather than awaiting another legal opinion.
gsays great analysis. You come up with good points which I enjoy reading.
Chur.
Yes, I agree with grey. You do come up with good points gsays – simple and easy to understand too.
But to be fair to Muller and co. its human nature when confronted with a major problem to spend time looking for a way to stem the flow of blood before it gets out of hand. I think that was what they were doing. In the end, they had to confront it head on.
🙂
They are going to need to widen the doors here if I am to get this swollen head outside.
Mullers job is to lead this party in all it's DP glory. He knew nothing as Matty n Michelle are not stupid, plausible deniability works best that way.
Medias already taken his 'bad judgement' line it seems rather than call it for what is actually is, no surprises there.
National party court date Friday over donations and now this saga. Hipkins will hopefully through the proverbial book at it….. they deserve no less as it was a calculated political action. What lovely humans the national party contain.
Does Hipkins have a proverbial book to look through? I wonder which one he would choose? I like the historic King James Version of the Bible. It's got some really good stuff in it! https://dailyverses.net/honesty/kjv
A froward man soweth strife:
and a whisperer separateth chief friends. Proverbs 16:28
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment,
and equity; yea, every good path. Proverbs 2:9
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
.
Yeah, Walker is shifting his story under direction from the National Party because they are terrified of losing their source within the MoH.
He initially said he used the info to back up his claim Indians, Pakistanis and Koreans were coming to Queenstown. Dark people!
This then means the info was stolen to order by Boag using the National Party plant in the Ministry. The Nats are terrified of losing that source.
forensic traceback off boags email should be interesting.even burner phones leave a footprint.
If it was stolen to order then shouldnt it have included information about the patients' country of origin – you know, the thing Walker was apparently trying to prove?
Perhaps the leaker didn't have time to complete the work, or it was too dangerous to try.
Is treason still a capital offence in this country?
No that was taken out during the Helen Clark years, so from my understanding no crime now has the potential of being a capital offences Orr you I think it was sedition
I think it was sedition not treason that was removed from being a capital offence. 🤭
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/122046242/let-them-eat-wood
Turns out pines are shit .
I recall posting on this in May last year.
The best argument for sustaining rural communities and towns is to enable more productive use of these massed and bulky commodities. Protect our sawmills, protect our furniture makers, protect our packaging processors, protect our carvers.
The same goes for our wools. Our coarse wools are now so cheap and unwanted that the entire wool processing industry for coarse wools is dead. Only Merino has a hope.
Covid19 + the commodities retreat will be a major outgoing tide for many small towns. Gisborne is in for a really tough time.
[Fixed error in user name]
It's a shame about wool . Its biodegradable, renewable, fire proof . But yip it's dying ,I would go for a non shearing breed if it was my decision to make . Many are already .
How do you protect you local industries without wreaking free trade agreements?
I agree with you about wool and the shamefully low price it commands.
We need to invest in wool, technology and research because it's fossil fuel replacement has got to go out of fashion.
No, really, its not.
Wool is one of the more fire-resistant of the natural fibres but it will still burn.
And thus proving that FTAs are not about free-trade as protecting an industry is part of the under-lying philosophy of willing buyer – willing seller that is free-trade.
Why does anyone believe that crude and indirect financial instruments like the ETS will achieve what we want in any specific sense? It must be some lingering vestige of 1980's thinking, where the role of government was just to create the appropriate operating frameworks, and then the private sector deploys its god-like efficiency to deliver the results – which will always be optimal for everyone. Delusional.
bwaghorn noted this which seems to be an important fact.
On the East Coast, for instance, a landowner will be paid 10 times more [when under ETS, Emissions Trading Scheme] by year 5 for planting pine trees instead of native forest, and farmland is going under pine trees in many places. With wool prices at historic lows, and rising carbon prices, this trend will only accelerate.
The thing is that wool must go up eventually, it is such a valuable fibre, and the sheep is such a good, useful animal, we must not have our knowledgable sheep farmers pushed out by short-term climate advantage from small-minded pollies, tendentious reasoning and thoughtless pandering to the Mr Creosotes of this world.Note: The low wool price will I hope be temporary. It is largely because of the tensions between US-China and the trade war.
In a previous time when there was a war we made lots from selling our wool.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-15/wool-growers-suffer-as-crashing-prices-drought-bite/11416230
With oil so cheap wool doesn't stand a chance imho. It's only hope is as a insulation product but even farm buy the cheaper glass insulation.
Trading carbon will not reduce carbon emmisions on a global scale, all it does is allow the guilt to be shifted to pooer countries and people.
Especially when NZ had purchased millions of dollars worth fake Carbon Credits, NZ was 3rd down on the list of purchases in terms of the amount of money spent.
No prizes for guessing who the culprit was
How serious this will be for the Nats hinges on whether the privacy breach is criminal. I hope Andrew Geddes issues his opinion on that. Meanwhile:
There is a pressure point from which more information can come…
From that link: "But the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust could be liable for damages after Boag, the acting chief executive of the trust, admitted to breaching the privacy of patients."
I am curious as to how many other boards Boag troughs from? Whether they are reassessing her suitability.
Muller told Corin Dann that it will be up to the National Party board to decide whether to cut all ties with Boag or not. They have a meeting today. Can't recall exactly how he framed his personal response but did seem as though he prefers they do that.
Hamish Walker has decided not to stand in his electorate this year . . .
Todd Muller has accepted Walkers decision – interesting since that is before the National Party Board have made any decisions.
Letting Walker down easily?
Naughty boy again, got told off again. Muller was forthright in his responses to John Campbell on TVNZ just before 7am. And Ben Thomas (from the right wing) is also:
Forthright? He had to be pressed by Campbell if he thought Walker should be sacked or not. Then couldn't make a call, so went with "lost confidence" in him.
Well he has demoted him to the lowest position in the Nat caucus and stripped him of his roles as spokesperson. I doubt Nat rules allow Muller to "sack" Walker. I think the closest to that would be the Nat hierarchy securing his deselection as candidate.
Has been argued that Boag was specifically assigned by Senior Nats to act as his mentor … Walker simply doing her bidding.
And Boag, in turn, doing … whose ? … bidding.
'There is absolutely no public interest in knowing the names…'
Acshually there is no right for anyone in the public to know the names…. because we have laws that prevent this. Or so I understand, I may of course be wrong, or it may be open to interpretation. But although sometimes the law is a bit odd, (as in withholding the name of Grace Mullane's killer – Prince A.drew?) I think there is an intention for privacy in the law and it should be upheld and exercised if breached.
So the initial line is not even a moot point, and shows a distressing lack of probity.
Here's my take on the privacy breach:
There's a Natz mole deep in the MoH who has been, for some time, leaking details to the Natz.
How did Bishop get information about the 2 women driving to Wellington?
How did Woodlouse get the info on the 'homeless' man?
To my way of thinking, the conduit is Covid-1-18 Boag, who passed the information on to where she thought it would do the most damage.
This enquiry still has some way to go, and more revelations to surface.
Popcorn anyone?
A double serving the SFO donation case kicks off Friday – you would assume that pleading not guilty will result in some issues raised as a defence
/agreed once again.
But then I lament the state of our public service (the middle/senior ranks at least, although in some cases – such as WINZ, the culture certainly trickles down).
There's just been another bloody good example of how its all hanging together on Morning Report and reform is long overdue
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018753980/islamic-women-s-council-releases-submission-on-mosque-attacks
You can see it clearly with the disdain the public service has for the OIA; or the amount of spin and spin doctors they seem to think are necessary; or the reluctance of the SSC to do anything until things become really serious; or its sluggishness in an era when the world has become more dynamic; or among some public servants themselves who couldn't even tell you what a Code of Conduct was; or the excessive use of contractors and consultants. It does not serve us well
Yes OwT – very distressing for the Muslim women, and even more so for we in the public to hear who believed we still had some quality of protection for people under threat. And it underlines the sad reaction from Muslims to the ignorant cry from a NZer 'This is not us. We're not like that' or similar words. Get real ducky.
Sometimes I think we might either need a more activist judiciary, or at least an SSC experienced in judicial matters (like the current Ombudsman or Children's Commissioner) rather than the crop of former ps CEO/business oriented do nothing dipshits we seem to have been getting lately. A supposedly impressive CV does not necessarily make for a good SSC. Something's got to give or we'll be seeing more of the same.
And that means madness! Or have we already stepped over that line in the sand?
And we are back to house price inflation despite having so many not able to afford a roof over their head. The Real Estate fraternity is already rubbing their hands to make money out of the returning Kiwis and putting affordability ever more out of reach. We will have to see whether world events will not set us further into a recession and more jobs are lost once the wage subsidy ends. Talk about irresponsibility.
Kim Hill interviewing the Privacy Commissioner on RNZ just now, it is becoming clear that Boag is extremely vulnerable to the prospect of prosecution. Edwards said he will be talking to Heron QC, but usually acts on the basis of a complaint from victims of privacy breaches.
Muller has done well so far. He is pointing to a values-based division between his vision of the Nats and the behaviour of the two "rogues".
likely doing what Matty tells him to. A solid strategy as nat voters have shown no real concern over these tactics in the past so it’s not going away
Oh for God's sake DF, this whole stinking pile of effluent is just the next dump on top of Muller's successive encouragements of such unethical behaviour.
But we now know Muller wasn't briefed by the young dude. Got blindsided. So Muller's doing damage control. No evidence he encouraged "unethical behaviour". Muller is trying to tread a fine line, and I'm watching to see if he's authentic about being a better leader for the Nats. Intentions aren't enough.
His silence around Woodhouse's antics : Covid cuddle couple, homeless man in isolation and latterly the toilet seat bullying, is closer to condoning than criticising.
None of those three episodes blindsided him…
Yes, all good points. But he does have to read his room, eh? To survive as leader. So there's a kind of shepherding involved. A moral compass is often deflected by practical politics – we see enough of that in the Labour, Greens & other politicians to know that the system makes it happen.
I think you are describing a manager, not a leader.
What we need is a manger, and then we might get a leader!
Or has the door been opened, and the one stepped through? Are we as humanly close as we can get to what we need? I'm Gollum looking for my precious.
Come come Dennis, methinks you're being disingenuous. If, in your opinion, "the system" is the "makes it happen" problem, then how to explain the absence of "The Hollow Men" and "Dirty Politics" style books that might hold up a mirror to the left's equivalent misdeeds?
This latest 'misdemenor' re-exposes an inconvenient truth about how the NZ National party does its 'business' – they are dirty to their DNA, and much more so than most. Dirty in power, and out of it.
I agree – the right have always been more inclined to misbehaviour. I emerged into adulthood as a staunch anti-fascist. I'm just trying to encourage a more balanced view of the National Party. If their more human faction consolidates, the more rabid faction will wither. To me it's important to be fair to political opponents since human nature is the common ground. 😇
think you are being fooled by the "big tent" tag, that conservative parties try to sell. your hope sounds like the hope that millions of repub voters have expressed, while holding their noses, and staying in the tent(yuk!)
"I'm just trying to encourage a more balanced view of the National Party."
IMHO the solution lies in the hands of National party politicians, but I'm sure they will welcome any and all assistance.
What a time for political junkies.
Kim Hill (God Bless Her), interviewing Shane Jones on, initially, the new port report, moved to links NZ 1st has with UK spin doctors.
Jones on his high horse had already trotted out a couple of choice quotes when he essentially called his interviewer a "feral animal". For a fleeting moment I felt sympathy for the man as he quickly graunched his gearbox getting into reverse.
Sorry, can't find link yet. I am sure it will be up on RNZ site soon.
Heard that gsays …it was hilarious…..Hill retorted immediately…"who are you calling feral" (or something similar) ….after this Jones' famous eloquence turned to gobbledegook
Unfortunately NZF are likely to be benefactors from this latest round of National Party subterfuge.
Why do think that's a bad thing?
Splitting the vote will see National struggle in the election
NZF are on a very low polling in the Colmar Brunton Poll, a few more votes for them from Nats is probably a good thing.
I don't like to predict the outcome of the upcoming election, but there is every possibility that Labour could possibly win outright and not require any partners.
I'm not sure they would go that way, I think they would still bring the Greens in to include a broader range of policies for a broader range of interests
If Labour were to win outright, it would be the first time any political party had won outright with a majority since before Muldoon.
Maybe "The Times they are a Changing"
A Bob Dylan classic
Do what ?
The last time a single Party won a majority of seats was at the 1993 Election (many years after Muldoon).
The last time a single Party won more than 50% of the vote, on the other hand, was at the1951 Snap Election.
Muldoon and National over the yrs have goverened with a minority on multiple occasions, the worst was Muldoon on 42.5% of the total vote count, but won on seats won, Gerry Mandering much.
That was the turning point where another fairer voting system considered, MMP was determined by referendum
I think we need five or more parties in parliament for our population to be represented properly. dont agree with most of act's or nationals philosphies, but they have a place in parliament.
I agree, democracy is about Representation, which is why I don't complain about the current situation with NZF and the Greens, more view points are being recognized in this Coalition than any other time in our history, compromise is the important feature, accepting we need to respect others needs and wants.
I also favour more parties in parliament and government. The problem with NZF is that they actively work against parties whose policies they don't support and they do this in ways that undermine MMP and representation. They're not good at sharing power. I put most of that on Peters, although I would expect similar from Jones. Martin is good value.
The ability of centrist parties to wield far more power than their vote should give them is a failing of MMP. I hope NZF are out of parliament the next term, or at least out of government, so that we can have a break from that dynamic.
Agreed, And, I'd like to see a Labour Green Coalition, even if Labour could Govern alone, the increase in representation would be very good for Democracy.
We will wait and see what voters decide, but I'm optimistic.
Somebody at the Herald has gone rogue. The headline reads “Hamish Walker reveals Covid patients detail to prove he isn’t racist “. This could be straight out of the Civilian or the Betoota Advocate, I couldn’t find anywhere in the story where this quote could have come from.
You couldn’t make this shit up, now please pass the popcorn, this is going to get ugly.
Maybe the media are sick of being used, they all seem to be distancing themselves from National at the moment. RNZ were quick to.
The problem for walker is that according to interviews on Morning Report it proved nothing of the sorry i.e. the names are not Indian Pakistani or Korean
He could claim that everyone's looking at names – it isn't racist it's just simply research about ethnicity. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/406281/top-baby-surname-reflects-new-zealand-s-changing-demographics
According to the Department of Internal Affairs, the most common surname for babies born in New Zealand last year was Singh. Smith comes in a close second, while another Indian name Kaur is the third most common, ahead of Wilson, Williams and Brown.
(Stats Labour was attempting to mine to get some evidence of National's invasion of the asians into housing in Auckland. Leaving many houses not lived in much. Remember that and the hoo hah.)
It's in micky's post. Young reports that her journo colleague was given the list, and the colleague understood the rationale was the racism defence.
NZH also just stuck the knife into Boag.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12346383
Keisha Lance Bottoms tests positive for Coronavirus.
That would mean she is unable to get within a football field of Biden.
I'm presuming this hands the VP slot to Kamala Harris (Duckworth is a bit late).
Surely RNZ and other media will not have Michelle Boag on any more political panels. What an odious human being she is. She's been skulking round for years and it is surely time she was removed from any boards and organisations. She's untrustworthy.
Reality, are there any members in the National Party that are Trustworthy?
I'm unable to name anyone.
I guess if Nikki Kay keeps Boag on her re-election team, we will learn just how upset the NP is with her. Just the fact that Nikki employed her in the first place shows how entrenched Boag and her dirty politics is with the party.
Wow that was quick. Her resignation just announced.
Kay has resigned? At least someone in the National Party front bench has a sense of honour.
Yes, and indicative just how corrupt the whole party is.
Rotten to the Core
There has been an Elworthy in the Gnats for a long time. Perhaps that was as close to to T for trustworthy as they could get.
Farrar watch:
‘Muller strong, blah, blah, Walker lone agent, blah, blah, National innocent, blah, blah.’
Muller Strong.
NZs still waiting to see him exibit that characteristic.
Keep up the good work Muttonbird. I've been locked out from that sewer since last year.
This might be a better point of DPF's had the campaign chair for the deputy lead and ex-PRESIDENT OF THE PARTY not directly aided and abetted Hamish.
Uh-oh. "MediaWorks boss Michael Anderson resigns."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12346381
Mediaworks lurching from crisis to crisis. Whatever next?
Other than the death of the world's worst sports station, Radio Sport, this is the best news to come out about New Zealand media for a long time.
Next up: Richard Harman chokes to death on scampi at a dinner hosted by Luke Harding for him and Tova O'Brien and Dame Kim Hill.
Morrissey hold back your evil eye from Dame Kim Hill – she is worth a hundred of you.
Even when she's uncritically retailing officially sanctioned state propaganda and giving soft-soap, fawning interviews to the likes of Luke Harding and Jonathan Freedland?
Maybe not “a hundred of you” (shudder ), but at least one. Like you, I don't agree with everything Kim Hill says/does on RNZ, but "A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good." Look for 'the good' Morrissey, it's easier to discern in Hill's ability and deeds than it is in some of your other targets, IMHO.
I agree with you, and I have indeed heaped praise on Ms Hill for the many fine things she has achieved in broadcasting—including her reading out my occasional emails live on air.
Her propensity to recycle the most absurd propaganda is a concern, however. I expect better of her.
I wouldn't mind hearing you as a guest on RNZ "Saturday" with Kim Hill. Perhaps discussing the meaning of life and the Universe, or the male ego. All txt feedback to be read out in full. That'd be worth a listen
That's not fair!
What has Kim Hill done to deserve that ordeal?
Sorry Mozza, I couldn't resist.
Sorry Mozza, I couldn't resist.
Ouch! Ya got me, and ya got me good.
HEEEEELP! Mozza. I take it all back! Did/Are you listening to today's Walruss' "The Panel".
It's fucking excruciating darling – but I'll persevere . Put a drizzle of Olive Oil and a bit of Sour Cream on it, shove it in the fridge till Sunday and call it a National Party Brunch
I heard it, Tim. Most of it was pretty good, I thought, with the only bum note coming from the mouth of ex-Hong Kong resident Jack Yang toward the end of the program. He rightly made a negative assessment of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam—but then he said this: "She makes Trump look like Obama!" That comment would suggest that he is ignorant of, or has chosen to ignore, the fact that President Obama presided over an empire of oppression, illegal surveillance and state suppression—including assassination—of dissenters.
Yang showed the same crass mis-judgment as those pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong who are so foolish and ignorant as to wave the Union Jack as if it is anything other than a symbol of imperialism—especially in China.
Perhaps the worst aspect of it, though, was that none of the Panelists—neither Wallace Chapman, nor Phil O’Reilly, nor Catherine Robertson—saw fit to comment on, let alone challenge, Yang’s spectacularly foolish comment.
I think I probably meant that "'prePanel" where someone was discussing their cooking prowess. It wasn't Wallace Chapman, Phil O’Reilly, or Catherine Robertson. I had to turn it off after that.
That was Robert Kelly. He's a pretty bright fellow, I think. I agree with you about that cooking drivel, though—it was nothing more than riffing on some airheaded article from the Grauniad.
Still, we should be glad that at least they weren't using the pre-Panel show to sneer at the suffering of political prisoners. Not today anyway.
Lets hope Insolvency
Boag-gone.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12346418
What about Kaye resigning? Does she have a sense of honour or not?
Was that a typo? Did you mean to put a 'sense of humour'?
https://twitter.com/jo_moir/status/1280630326276927488
Why is Kaye still there?
Federated Filthy Farmers strikes again
Some years ago the polluters sacked Sir Kerry Burke from the Canterbury Regional Council and succeeded in abolishing all democratic input into water regulation. They're at it again. No surprise to see one Michael Laws wielding the axe for them.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/otago/121838296/selfish-otago-regional-council-chair-slammed-for-forcing-threeweek-stasis
Well she's gone and a farmer is back in charge
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/hobbs-ousted-noone-takes-over-orc
How long Noone lasts will be seen, this isn't making the problem go away. Being anointed ORC chieftain / chieftainess is the ultimate hospital pass in New Zealand local government at present. You are highly unlikely to be able to please anyone, let alone get consensus or even a majority. The problems the council has around the old water permits from the mining era are close to insurmountable.
edit
She stood bravely against the attack of the bovines, don't know if she had a cape or not, but it sounded a classy show. About Marion Hobbs on Radionz earlier. Was having Michael Laws behind her a good move or not?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018753992/otago-regional-council-to-vote-on-chair-s-fate
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/04-07-2020/clare-curran-interview-donna-chisholm/
Dunedin and blue toilet seats? They are at 'it' again with Labour and women, down there in Conservative and Mean Dunedin!
They weren’t provide hospital birthing facilities in the south earlier on. I hope that this anti-woman thing is more apparent than real.
I wouldn’t go that far at all, the water permit issue is going to break ORC, and it’s chair, no matter who is in charge.
This was an intractable issue 30 years ago which is why the deemed permits were extinguished by the RMA in 1991, to expire this year. The council and permit holders have had 30 years (in reality more like 50 or 60) to work out a solution and really aren’t even started. All the ‘solutions’ have fallen to bits pretty quickly and council has ended up in positions that were always going to end up being vigorously challenged.
Expect the big stick, either commissioners or a legislated solution, to come out early next year.
Ghislaine Maxwell suicide bets are now open.
I'm calling 2 weeks.
Good luck.
[FFS! Do you realise how unbelievably insensitive this comment is? What’s worse is that you have form making comments that are way off the mark and/or insulting. You have been warned before. Take the rest of the week off – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 12:19 PM.
You disapoint me again Adam,call yourself a christian,so-called I'd say. She may well be the worst person about but take stock man.Alex
I agree with Incog and lfd here. Even if there is less than zero compassion for GM, there are other suicidal people to think about or the families of suicidal people or those who have killed themselves. People reading on TS.
Walker off to London. Oops, can't do that anymore!
Walker also tried to gag Muller on Monday!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12346451
Also the chair of Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, Simon Tompkins, had this to say:
Interestinger and interestinger.
WTF (my bold)
Youngster must've got the inside word from the hierarchy: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300052102/covid19-leak-national-mp-hamish-walker-to-step-down-at-election-over-leak-saga
Nikki Kaye might need an “extremely safe seat”.
Auckland central not being a safe place.
A 32-year-old man will be charged after briefly absconding from a managed isolation facility in Auckland yesterday evening.
The man has this morning tested positive for Covid-19 and has been moved to the Jet Park quarantine facility.
Around 6.50pm the man escaped through a fenced area at the Stamford Plaza when he was out smoking, as a section of external fencing was being replaced. Security attempted to follow the man but were unsuccessful in locating him.
Police were called immediately, and enquiries were underway to locate the man including reviewing CCTV footage and undertaking substantial area searches, before he returned to the facility where he was then interviewed by Police.
Enquiries have established the man went to Countdown on Victoria Street West on foot and purchased items at a self-service checkout, before returning to the hotel around 8pm.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300052160/coronavirus-health-minister-chris-hipkins-covid19-update
Unbelievable. Throw everything at him including a criminal conviction and loss of residency status if applicable? No wonder towns don't want them. But more seriously is it time to put quarantine into prefabs/camper vans at large green field sites at where the local population is low? . Uncomfortable yes – but lacking any exterior attractions and people to infect.
Our largest cities can't keep going through this roller coaster of potential exposure
Yep was just about to come on and say the same thing re: residency status. If you are not willing to follow the rules when coming back to NZ then you deserve the kitchen sink thrown at you.
Campervans in Waiouru or Ohakea. Don’t like it? Don’t come.
Ohakea might work – it's got a decent runway and a fair walk to the sin city of Palmy.
But seriously the actual cost and chilling effect of these breaches on major population centers (without the disease even getting out) plus the stress and personal costs on anyone this brushed past is pretty high.
The risk of it of a huge out break must be exponentially higher if the breach takes place in a city. Must say Melbourne must be tempted to look at putting it's returnees somewhere out of town.
Think it’ll be a good scrap, they’ll all be after it, tooth and claw with vigorous hissing.
How ‘safe’ the seat is now, anyone’s guess. Some pretty pissed off people around, and that’s just the National members I’ve run into today.
Have no illusions, it's in the bank. Plenty of Hamie's voters won't even think it's a big deal. Break out another blue turnip.
“There was a clear breach of trust, which goes against the values National holds as a party.”
Snort. As in, he broke the trust between himself as an MP and the leadership (and probably the DP maestros). National don't hold values around breaching the public's trust. Shall we make a list?
It would be helpful if Wayne could elucidate the trust issue. Precisely how is it defined? Is there a relevant clause in whatever a candidate signs up to? Or is there one in the code of conduct?
Rhetorical questions, perhaps. Someone may point out that MPs are not constrained by any such code of ethics.
Won't that be in an online document?
Well, seems to me left/right collusion to defend the privilege system is still unchallenged, since my google look merely found this:
If Labour wanted to reform the system, they would have adopted the report, I presume. And then announced pending legislation. And then put that to parliament. Unless someone can produce evidence that any of this happened, then it is simply more evidence of the Labour `pretend to be progressive' sham.
The Public: "Michelle, you have some questions to answer."
Michelle: “I've already refused to speak to your reporters and it's no good trying to hang outside waiting for me, because I'm staying here and I'm not going out, so don't bother wasting your time.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300052035/michelle-boag-resigns-from-roles-with-nikki-kaye-refuses-to-comment-on-leak
By going at the election I assume Walker gets the three month payout for those who don't return.
So us poor bloody taxpayers are gong to be fronting his "redundancy"?
I imagine by resigning he is in a very tricky way trying to do one final rip off of the system for his own benefit supported by the Nat party.
They just can't help themselves can they.
Neither ethical or moral.
I would imagine we paid for both Walker and Muller's advice. Unless you can get a QC through legal aid…
Well party funds should have done that- but as you say quite possibly not. Perhaps our media should tote up the taxpayer subsidy for this stuff.
Every person who has come into work today has mentioned how disgusted they are with the nat party dirty politics. Some have also mentioned the lack of leadership from muller concerning his loose and leaking party.
"Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says cannabis won't make your teeth fall out or turn your hair green". Lotsa folk will be so relieved by that.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Dennis, I don't know if polls on this Topic are really indicative of the public mood, given the nature of the referendum and the fact that it's use is prohibited
There is 9% undecided, could just easily be those who don't wish to disclose their position.
To the moderator: Please shift this to OM where I thought I was putting it! Sorry 😢
Read through this article in the NZHerald on the latest escapee from managed isolation. I think the reporter copy and pasted all his notes without proofreading anything. Double-ups and random topic changes mid-page. It's a bit disorientating, to say the least.
Shambolic I call it.
Good to see the government support for our pacific neighbours – poor sods have to go through our winter after all. And I do hope we continue to facilitate returning those who want to go home. Same as we did for Vanuatu. And they had better be paid decent wages.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122071281/government-visa-changes-for-thousands-of-stranded-seasonal-workers
I also wonder if we should be doing a bit more direct aid. Tonga passed a budget with it’s largest deficit ever at around $23m less than that dreadful flag referendum
Trending good in France. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/420473/french-pm-edouard-philippe-resigns
Jul.3/20 The elections revealed surging support for the Green party and underlined Macron's troubles with left-leaning voters. The only bright spot for Macron was Philippe's own victory in the northern port city of Le Havre. (Philippe Prime Minister [former investment banker] who has stood down at present.)
New flu found in China.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/420174/new-flu-virus-with-pandemic-potential-found-in-china
It emerged recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say.
The researchers are concerned the virus could mutate further to spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak…
The new virus strain, which the researchers call G4 EA H1N1, can grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.
They found evidence of recent infection starting in people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China.
Updated: There are a couple of changes to the comment editor today. You can find out what they are by hovering your mouse over them.
Don't abuse them. Especially the images one. I will land hard on perps if I find large images anywhere. And then I'll write the code to prevent a future size issues.
Spelling: It turns out that there is a way to correct comment spelling within the comment editor. If you see a spelling error highlighted by your browser, then hold down the Ctrl and right click on the word. You will get your browsers normal context menu.
This probably doesn't help the person who brought the issue up as they specified that they're disabled. But it does provide me a string to find out how to make this the normal behaviour on a right click.
Marvellous!
Do you have a rough guide for size limit of images?
550px wide is a good bet. 600px is the max – but that will only work on level 1 indented comments.
Leave the sizes alone and the aspect ratio won't be disturbed..
Background colours and colours for text – what could go wrong?
Heaps. But generally I find most commenters just use things in limited emphasis.
And it does allow me to identify idiots when given a idiot detection tool.
Nice!
The above image is 500x333px so I'm picking the desktop format allows for about 550px wide max otherwise it is clipped and you can’t see half of it.
Happy to provide notes on how to resize and post if anyone is interested.
The comment area is hardwired at 600px wide, and effectively diminishes to around 500px after indenting down 10 levels. It won't go past the 600px horizontally. But will go to infinite height – which is what I will be looking for.
Please tell me gifs aren't enabled.
Lots of people don't understand image size (I've removed quite a few in recent months and replaced them with the URLs). Just saying.
So true!
I don't. eg how to download an image off a google search so that it is within certain limits. Get caught on this with posts every so often, and it's a pain with the square ones for the FP.
I don’t either, it is beyond mere mortals with only rudimentary computer skills.
But I do like the idea of having an excuse for banning people 😉
I propose we include the indiscriminate use of non-breaking space too; it should become policy 😀
haha, right there with you on all that matey.
Some potential for moderator crayons too 😈
(we're only joking folks).
That one is more a filter problem. It is an artifact of the editor.
Same with trailing paragraphs as well.
lol yeah I'm guilty of that on the trailing end of some comments – if I edit and rephrase a lot, sometimes there are lots of spaces at the end that aren't obvious when submitting with the wysiwyg, and sometimes I don't spot them if the comment was near the bottom of the scroll. Result: big empty space.
I know you've had to trim some of mine, I seem to recall – soz
Solution 1: display level
function substitute_nbsp($content)
{
return str_replace( ' ', ' ', $content );
}
add_filter( 'get_comment_text', 'substitute_nbsp', 98 );
That is pretty elegant because it will fix all existing comments. It effectively makes all comments trailing lines empty whitespace. Even it it has paragraphs because HTML treats empty or whitespace only paragraphs as being nondisplayable..
And solution 2 just stops the saving of junk lines in comments for the most comment variants.
I'll have a think about forcing max dimensions.
testing the spell chck, still doesn't work on Firefox mac.
But it does work in the Edit Comment box (had to use the contextual menu to turn spell check off and then back on).
Try command right / two finger click, that brought it up on Chrome mac for me
Choice having a spell checker again, but probably there all the time
perfect, thank-you! I don't use the multiple fingers thing so didn't even think of that.
Yep. Pays to raise issues because I usually don't see them myself.
While I can't deal with them in a timely fashion. You often find that others can.
weka and others will post them into the backend system in case I don't see them myslef.
The latest person jumping the fence in an isolation facility was in the dedicated smoking area. This person may not be a smoker but why can't they issue smokers who come into the hotels with a standard package of Quitline patches for the duration of their stay. I believe the prisons did this to ease inmates off the nicotine when they stopped smoking in the prisons. They are only staying there for 14 days for goodness sake and I know from a family member that these patches work. There are also lozenges that can be used while using the patches as an additional relief.
To me it seems such a simple solution to an ongoing serious problem. This latest escapee may have been able to infect a lot of people in the 70 mins they were awol. We will have another Melbourne at this rate and what a terrible thing to happen just over an ungrateful person who felt entitled to get out of Dodge just because he/she felt like it.
Good one – send an email? – something in print with your idea to some body doing covid watch. Practical and good.
I think I will email Chris Hipkins himself. Apparently he is a very capable Cabinet Minister and has the Health Portfolio and gets things done. I just wondered if the Humans Rights Commission would say its a no no and abuse of their rights. Prisoners don't seem to have many rights so its okay for them (sarc).
Will get onto it. I did email Jacinda Adern once to her personal Parliamentary email and she never acknowledged it. I was a bit upset by it put it down to her being very busy etc etc. I still think she's the best we have right now though.
I got an automatic reply and later a thank you from the office. But that was early on. I think she looks thinner round the face now, sort of lean like a hard-running marathon runner, and probably hasn't even got time to do up her shoe laces. Nobody does it better I think.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaV-6qerkqI
She probably sings too!
Well Grey I have mailed the Hon.Chris Hipkins at the Cabinet Office and put forward this suggestion. I have explained about prisoners having the patches issued etc and that the five million would appreciate it if he would seriously consider this. I explained that this escapee who was asymptomatic but positive could set of a community transmission and we could end up like Melbourne and in lockdown again.
We shall see. If patches start to be issued well that will be really great. I am not holding my breath. Chris Hipkins apparently does get things done and is highly capable so fingers crossed.
That could do a lot of good. They are getting worried. I heard Megan Woods talking about bracelets and apps and so on so might reduce that need with a patch!
But I was just listening to The Detail on Radionz and it was about P and meth, and don't know much about them though I have heard that they are just a phone call away in China and it's all laid on like ordering groceries from the supermarket. But the journalist and treatment helpers say the country is riddled with it. People like that apparently lose all their reasoning control and ability to delay action and thinking of outcomes. So we haven't faced up to the problem here and it's got bad. Apparently terribly addictive. The right wing don't care of course, being so fucking superior they immediately label anyone who has fallen on the way as useless losers, lesser people and not worth helping, so tend to treat too little and too late. Of course it is a bit different if it is one of their own, but never mind.
So the Covid-19 need to have something sorted for when one of them comes along.
People in quarantine are not prisoners and there should be no state capacity to compel them to give up smoking or force them to use nicotine patches. This is most definitely a human rights issue.
By all means offer people in Q nicotine patches and support for giving up smoking, for those that want it.
But smoking isn't solely a nicotine addiction, it's also habituated stress and mood management from the physical act. We want people in Q to feel safe, secure and as stress-free as possible, not push them into a mental health crisis.
I know everyone is hating on the walkabout dude, but has anyone asked him why he did that? Was he hungry? Bored? Stressed? Confused?
Maybe putting in more supports rather than pillorying people would be a better approach. I still think he should be charged but I think the sentence should be proportionate to what he did. eg putting him in prison for 6 months would be excessive and set a really bad precedent.
Really interesting to see all the inner authoritarians come out over this.
Time to enforce a much stricter regime for the quarantine process.
Whispering Kate I heard talk about Nicotine patches this morning. So your email may have either prompted that or reinforced a thought to do this.
weka I think you are taking an impractical line. People in quarantine are virtual prisoners, they have to be for their own safety and that of others. And if they won’t comply then the virtual situation will become a real imprisonment.
But I agree talking about six months jail is just the same stupid knee-jerk response that ineffective boobs default to. We are second to the USA for the quick way we throw people into prison and thinkers have been calling for different methods for decades. I think the reaction from Gnats I think it was Judith Collins, or was it Anne Tolley, was to put two to a cell, leading to sexual and violent crime so being complicit in creating a continuing vicious climate for prisoners.
Just reading about ongoing from covid.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/420116/covid-19-evidence-of-effects-on-many-organ-systems-long-term-damage
Jun.29/20 Patients who were in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator for weeks will need to spend extensive time in rehab to regain mobility and strength. "It can take up to seven days for every one day that you're hospitalized to recover that type of strength," Khan said. "It's harder the older you are, and you may never get back to the same level of function."…
While much of the focus has been on the minority of patients who experience severe disease, doctors increasingly are looking to the needs of patients who were not sick enough to require hospitalization, but are still suffering months after first becoming infected…
Dr Igor Koralnik, chief of neuro-infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, reviewed current scientific literature and found about half of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 had neurological complications, such as dizziness, decreased alertness, difficulty concentrating, disorders of smell and taste, seizures, strokes, weakness and muscle pain.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/420769/government-announces-32m-in-funding-for-drug-and-alcohol-addiction-services
Who is the guy with a huge black beard? It doesn't look right in a political sphere, looks like a bandit with this face half covered. Not the open honest look we hope for from pollies which will be followed by the same style in action! And if it is a minder, he's an in-your-face one.
Probably one of her security people.
This guy is quite famous.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/jacinda-ardern-s-bodyguard-s-beard-amasses-fan-base.html
The beard's so big that the item could be headed bodyguard-is-fantail-base – bird has hatched two eggs in cunningly built nest woven with Parliamentary document shreddings.
I'll just make a warning here. There are peculiar ways our minds work and we will have often noticed that but will forget and go on and normalise stuff and not really learn.
If we were too triumphant and talked in too demoralising a way against Muller, various right wingers wavering on National, who have no interest in how the country or the poor or the young or anyone but themselves, is getting on – they might feel sorry for the poor guy and vote for him. You are being so nasty to him blah blah.
There is still time for flip flops. Some might remember Citizens for Rowling, an attempt to get people to think rationally for the Labour Party but the voters did not go the path that was expected. Think about the irrational in us all. People who have squashed ordinary citizens like ants, will get very hurt at being called useless or served cold tea, or their dedicated supporters will.
I see we have another scumbag wandering off from quarantine, the second in a week,
this time he had covid 19. Bad luck in you we downtown Auckland.
Chippy and Megan had better get their shit together, they need to make an example of this bastard.
Bring back the pillory, I say.
That would certainly be effective to stop them wandering.
That is a good idea, but only for the escapee.
Quarantine and managed isolation are in hotels, not prisons – putting secure 6 foot fences around them all is a huge expense which should have not been necessary. The idiot that got out will be charged, and the episode will be reviewed, but it was the sort of risk that the government has been warning us about from the start. It is sad that this one incident will probably cost a huge amount of money to ensure it never happens again; but that is less important than the hope that nobody else gets infected.
Suppose one answer is to lock everyone in rooms with no out of room experiences at all. Guard each floor with guards armed with tasers. The hotels are not prisons but depend on a measure of trust, unless you are one hoping to support the Opposition plan to undermine Government.
I listened to someone under that regime ianmac. There was a guard on each floor. They were well provided for.
In The Melbourne housing towers they were suddenly locked down and were not allowed to go down for food deliveries which had to stay outside a circle. Drones good for this use I think. And the lifts often break down. Dreadful conditions. Vertical virtual prisons.
"It is sad that this one incident " It's not one incident it's the second time in a week.
He should be paying a $10,000 fine minimum,
"Chippy and Megan had better get their shit together, they need to make an example of this bastard."
Fortunately they won't, and can't. His fate will be decided by an independent court.
I imagine if he gets fined but not jailed the opposition will be calling our justice system "shambolic" and demanding the government take charge of sentencing.
No – this 'scumbag' 'bastard' is risking all our lives!
Bring back throwing from the Tarpeian Rocks! Effective and economical, and never shambolic! Less trouble than hanging or guillotining…
What about the low-life who cynically publish private stuff, Naki-man?
But Odd Mullet is so good at this, where is he when you need him! 😆
I don't follow surface politics, I follow the ocean currents. I'm thankful for a National leader who was schooled with majority Maori. Thankful for our Right, who aren't crazy, for the rich's rule.
You're all surface details people above.
The task we face now is more or less impossible but we must face it full on. Climate change extinguishment of all of us.
The Left are the thoroughly rational side of politics. This decade is the 1939 of our time. Why are we concentrating on surface pond weed?!