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?!
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
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?!