It's lovely when the National Party show themselves to be a) incompetent, or b) dishonest. Here they quote their new best friend, Rob Campbell, but get ministry and agency mixed up, by ineptitude or design. Those are the only two explanations.
Either way, it feeds into the narrative they can't be trusted.
I am going to a hospital (public) for a laparoscopy tomorrow – no desire to go to a private hospital even if I had the money for it. I am looking forward to practising suppressing my gag reflex (sort of)
The only people I know who think our health system is acceptable are people who don't need to use it!
I've spent the last three weeks in an out of ED and A and E in extreme internal pain but can't get a GP appointment for a bloody referral for a specialist.
My dad's life has been turned up side down for the last two years waiting on a surgery.
My mum was in a crash in July and broke bones in her neck and is in 24/7 constant agony and is on the waiting list for a surgery and can't get a GP appointment.
With average 6 week to 2 month gp waiting times honestly it's alarming how many people I know who are in the same boat and the stories I hear from friends in the health system is terrible.
Yes I know COVID was responsible for much chaos in the health system but you could still get an appointment in a week in 2020 and 2021.
Many people in the health system will tell you that centralizing the health system during a pandemic was ill thought out and far too much money was spent on management rather than end user results and quality of life for employees.
Also the new bosses are threatening all health it staff with their jobs being off-shored.
Right now I'm in constant paint, if we had the option I'd prefer my family be able to go private because we are never going to get sorted by the public sector which is totally falling apart despite amazing nurses and doctors.
I was given a doctor's appointment for the following day.
A visit came up for today's visit to the orthopediac specialist. As I left him, the nurse handed me a note to take to radiology. At radiology they handed me an appointed for spinal injection for the 4 April.
I am so lucky but really feel for those who have agonisingly long waits. Oh let's hope that the revised Health System does even out the patient access and treatment.
My SO is waiting for a quite complex procedure to fix an unfortunate outcome from an urgent surgery 3 years ago. Lots of ducks to line up for this so it's not really a set time, just when it happens it we will get a weeks notice.
One thing that is being stressed is, DON'T GET COVID. A positive test and you're not having a general anaesthetic for a couple of months. Doctors told us that it's playing merry hell with surgical waiting lists with some patients arriving for surgery and having to be sent home because of a positive covid test. So the theatre sits empty that day.
But in the real world without the national spin, I went to local A and E at 11 am, at 11.51 while at labtests the chemist called to tell me the pills the doctor had prescribed were ready to be picked up. Cost $19.50 for the Dr, $5 for the pills. I've had to go a few times lately with recurring infection the longest has been 2 hrs.
1st world prompt quality service. I'll go public everytime.
Meanwhile in the real world, ambulances with critically ill patients (you have to be to even get an ambulance in Auckland ATM) – were turned away from Auckland Hospital on Monday night.
I don't know where your A&E is – but it's clearly not in one of the large cities which are undergoing a constant crisis level of demand.
The hospital was so full, patients who needed a ward bed could not be admitted straight away and took up space in the emergency department.
Some were waiting there two and a half days, she said.
Please don't dismiss this as a one-off incident – this kind of crisis situation is a regular occurrence at all Auckland A&E departments – as has been reported multiple times in the media.
I am in near central Auckland, I think the local closes at 9pm . Shortages are world wide problem, blaming the current govt for political point scoring is not helping.
I would assume then, that your 'local' is one of the private clinics (e.g. White Cross). Because, I simply do not believe that anyone can walk in to Auckland Hospital A&E and be seen in 51 minutes. [Unless, of course, it's a life-and-death situation]
last time I went into a white cross(p.n.), I waited for over an hour to be seen,(short staffed ,surprise,surprise) and was finally seen in a dirty room with cracked plastic covering on the bed, no pillow protector. surprisingly rundown for a ten yr old building. the doctor was bemoaning his client numbers, went from owning his own practice with 1500 patients, into white cross(aus owned), now has 5000 clients on his list.
Apparently Bruce has a different experience (although he's yet to confirm which A&E he attended).
Last time I went to North Shore A&E – about 5 months ago – with my elderly mother after a serious fall – we waited 12 hours to be seen – on a very quiet evening, with little sign of obvious strain on the systems (waiting room wasn't full, etc.).
Ordinary demand is over-stressing the systems – let alone crisis periods.
[please fix the typo in your user name, thanks – Incognito]
I wasnt going to bother replying, your beliefs are your beliefs not my problem. The sign on the door says 'urgent care 8am to 8pm' its were we in this suburb go if you have had an accident or its an emergency. We are not high decile suburb , the premisis are being refurbished and I would consider them quite flash. Believe what you like.
Well you could read it that way.
However, someone with a critical health issue in an ambulance having to travel an extra 30 minutes – it would pretty much feel like "turned away"
Regardless of how it's phrased, it's not exactly a sign of a health system which is robust and able to cope with even every-day workloads – let alone high demand periods.
What do you think waiting for 2.5 days in emergency to be admitted to a ward feels like?
if you had a thousand bucks from any source, would you choose a [private] hospital now rather than having to go to a public hospital?
Some thoughts:
I would need a lot more that one thousand to be faced with that dilemma
If it was a non-routine (i.e. non cash-cowable) procedure, where the expertise is in public sphere, there would also be no dilemma
If I had the cash, it was a common procedure, and private promised shorter wait times and more comfortable surroundings, I would go private
I also care (in a general sense) about the experience of others, not just myself
However I do take your point, The Nats are putting in a decent effort at discrediting the public system. Obviously their primary aim is to harm the government. But one of their secondary aims is to do exactly what you ask – drive the public into the arms of private health providers and insurers.
Arguably National are in government already, having caused:
– killing off worker insurance
– killing off public media merger
– squashing 3 Waters and decapitating the Minister
– completely reversing transport policy and its funding including Waitemata Harbour Crossing and light rail, Wellington light rail, and most cycleway projects
… so now, not unreasonably, they are going for the health reforms, at least as effectively as Helen Clark did through 1997-98.
We are long past the point where Labour look identical to National.
In reality Labour are now just subbies to National.
If I had the cash, it was a common procedure, and private promised shorter wait times and more comfortable surroundings, I would go private
It's not just "shorter wait times" for many routine (but still life changing) operations and procedures – there effectively *is* no service offered at all.
By the time they have waited (often immobilized with pain) for months, they'll find themselves dropped off the list, or with others placed higher due to critical need.
This article was last year – when Covid was a factor – but hospital wait times for non-urgent surgery have not improved – and the deferred wait list just continues to grow.
The report from the task list outlined actions which should happen – but gave no timeframes. And basically acknowledged that workforce shortages are the key factor (anything else is pretty much re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic).
Nationals history on health funding is abysmal .Nationals last 9 yr stint under John Key cut funding per citizen by 20%.National make one health issue that happens to be in the limelight fund that issue ie breast cancer ,Fund that solution then starve the rest of the health sector.The problem is staff shortages exasperated by Covid .Every country is trying to fill the gap with migrants from poorer countries NZ no exception.Australia likewise but they can attract NZ health workers with better conditions and up to 40% higher wages.National and Labour cannot offer those wage rates or anything near that.National effectively froze healthcare workers wages for 9 years using migrants to keep wages down.Those poorer countries than us are now being targeted by wealthier countries than us to rebuild their health workforces.Only increasing wages and conditions can fix the problem.When has National ever increased wages of any sector!National are crying wolf hopefully one to many times
Lux'll fix it. He 'ran' a majority govt-owned airline; flips mean minimum wage patties – a handy skill when BBQing at one of his 7 houses. Man of the people!
Do you have any evidence to back up these claims, and in particular "Nationals last 9 yr stint under John Key cut funding per citizen by 20%"?
The last time I read something of yours it had the ridiculous claim that the big 4 banks in New Zealand paid no taxes. Have you anything to back this up or is it just another bit of fantasy?
Doesn't look like a drop to me. Is per capita per resident population, or per citizen? If per citizen, adding 500,000 extra migrants could account for a per head drop not seen on a per citizen basis.
moaners here should try rocking up to a private hospital and ask for immediate service. they will be told to go away and make an appointment, as private hospitals run on short staff, and the surgeons mostly work for public health and only moonlight at a private for 1-2 days a week.they arent like u.s. private hospitals on tv, with tons of staff standing around, waiting for you.
No one "rocks up" to a public hospital for non-urgent surgery (things like knee replacements), either.
You get a referral from your GP (assuming you can afford to go)
Wait months (if you're lucky) to get an appointment with a specialist in the public health system.
Many are turned back at this point – and the specialist won't even see them.
If the specialist thinks you qualify (i.e. your agony is sufficiently great), then you'll go on the waiting list for non-urgent surgery in the public health system.
At any time, you may drop off the waiting list – because the management have re-jigged the criteria (to reduce waiting lists), or just lost your paperwork.
Assuming that all of your cards to this point have turned up trumps, you'll get an appointment for surgery. Which can be (and very frequently is) cancelled at any point right up to the time you're prepped for surgery. Reasons for cancellation are mostly to do with understaffing, and hospitals cancelling 'routine' surgery to staff emergency care.
Contrast with the private system.
Your GP makes a referral to a specialist.
The specialist books you in for an appointment to review your case and decide on treatment (note, you will get the treatment, you're not going to be bounced back as 'not sick enough'). This may take a fortnight or so. Maybe up to a month or 6 weeks for a very busy specialist.
Your surgery is booked within a month (some variation due to the type of surgery and the specialist's workload) – but really rare for it to be longer than this.
It is incredibly uncommon for surgery to be postponed for any reason (apart from ill health of the surgeon).
So, to compare. Private system, you will have had your operation within 3 months (at the outside) of your GP referring you. Public system – you won't have even been seen by the specialist at that point; you may never qualify for an operation; and even if you do, you will have months (if not years) of pain on the waiting list.
[please fix the typo in your user name, thanks – Incognito]
When you say it is incredibly uncommon for surgery to be postponed I assume you're referring to urgent or acute surgery because elective surgery is postponed routinely for the slightest excuse.
That's an interesting 'compare and contrast' of "non-urgent surgery" in NZ public and private health systems – as someone who's never 'gone private', I'd be interested to know and understand the reason(s) for any differences.
What's Dr Coleman up to these days?
Private equity paid $746m for hospital group [19 Sept 2022]
Evolution had taken Acurity Health Group private in 2014 in a deal valuing the company at $112m. Former health minister Jonathan Coleman became chief executive of Evolution in 2018 and is still on its board.
In her harrowing new book, Ethically Challenged: Private Equity Storms US Health Care, political scientist Laura Katz Olson documents how private equity firms are reshaping health care in the U.S., circling in to buy dentist offices, mental health facilities, autism treatment centers, rehab facilities, physician staffing services, and myriad other providers, forcing them into bare-bones, bottom-lined focused “care”.
…
In a nutshell, PE seeks to invest or acquire equity ownership in companies and flip them fast for a higher price. They’ll get that higher price by any means necessary – chopping staff, cutting corners, and loading the company with debt along the way. The idea is to buy, squeeze, dump, repeat. Private equity is now a major player in the health care sector, with investments accelerated in recent years at a mind-blowing pace ($100 billion in capital invested in 2018 alone).
LP: It’s interesting that PE players and firms don’t tend to be household names. They’ve really managed to fly under the radar. Can you mention a few that came up a lot in your research? Folks to look out for?
LKO: Bain Capital, the PE company that Mitt Romney still profits from, is one. The Carlyle Group has really been involved in recruiting high-ranking people from the government – one of its co-founders, David Rubenstein, served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Carter administration. George H.W. Bush became a senior member of its Asia advisory, and so on. KKR, of course, is one of the biggest. They control a lot in health care.
The primary reason for difference in the experience between public and private is (obviously) demand.
Screening out (through price) a large chunk of the demand for surgery, allows private operators to structure their operations to meet the need within acceptable timeframes.
If there are more people in need, who can afford the services, then there will be more private health providers offering these surgical operations.
In the old days (1980s) going private was more around quality of post-op care (nicer food, better environment, etc.), and a bit around being able to schedule ops to the patient's convenience. These days, it's more about getting the operation at all – so weighing up quality of life.
My familiarity with the time-frames is with my Mum, who urgently needed eye surgery (high risk of blindness if no quick intervention) – 3 weeks to go private, 9 months (minimum, and no guarantee of the surgery actually going ahead) if she relied on the public system. We all chipped in to get her private surgery.
Note, that the DHBs (and I'm sure the new National Health Agency will continue the practice) have historically paid private hospitals to carry out non-urgent surgery on public list patients (as a way of reducing the public health waitlist backlog).
[last couple of paras in this article, refers to the practice as standard]
Whether you think this is a good practice or not, probably depends on whether you or a family member benefitted from getting the surgery actually done.
I'm not quite sure where you're going with your referencing of the US system over private equity.
The point of private, is that you can just go elsewhere, if the service quality drops.
I'd say that many of these in your US example would be services offered under the US Medicaid umbrella.
Pretty sure that the Mayo Clinic isn't going to suddenly start offering low-quality, bare-bones services.
And, in any case, if you think that public health is so great in NZ – why would you care about the quality of private provision!
I'm not quite sure where you're going with your referencing of the US system over private equity.
My point? That the purpose of PE companies that own private health systems is profit. That's PE's reason for being.
The primary reason for difference in the experience between public and private is (obviously) demand.
So (obviously), the (in)ability to pay – iniquitous 2-tier health 'care' systems offend my sense of decency. Some may see/have no problem with them, but I favour expanding the capacity of Aotearoa NZ's public health system cf. for-profit health systems that exacerbate inequality. It’s a lefty thing.
No prizes for guessing the countries with healthy public health systems.
Switzerland is an interesting example (actually in lots of ways) – but in this case in health. I have a friend of Swiss extraction – though now a long-time Kiwi citizen – and we've had many dinner-table conversations over the differences between the social systems in NZ and Switzerland.
I was surprised to hear from him that all hospitals in Switzerland are privately run and health care is funded through private (mandatory) insurance (though the Govt does top up for the very lowest incomes)
Sad. Aotearoa NZ ranks only 11th overall (sandwiched between Denmark/Netherlands), which is not so great for a remote little multicultural island. Still, some don't know how lucky we are, or were.
Delving into the rankings, our "Well-developed public health system" score is 63.6, far behind Denmark (100), Germany (94.6), Sweden (94.2), Norway (90.2), Canada (89.4), Switzerland (84.7), U.K. (80.4), Netherlands (79.1), Finland (76.6) and Belgium (73.4).
So there's certainly room for improvement, but at least we're on a par with Japan and Australia (63.3), and France (60.4).
And well ahead of the USA (35.0), so best not to go (any further) down that (private equity/health) road, imho. Just one ranking, of course.
I note that you've made no comment on their very different style of public health provision – combined with their (much higher than NZ) public health ranking.
Looks like a good health care system, if expensive compared to neighboring EU countries. As long as all Kiwis could access quality health care in a timely fashion then why not.
Or we could try Denmark's health care system, since that country has the highest ranking. Nothing's ever perfect. There's always something to grizzle about – inconvenience abounds. Just as long as it's not life-threatening.
Nothing to say?
Under a basic healthcare plan, between 80–90% of your medical costs should be covered. For a more comprehensive list, please see the Swiss government’s website.
Switzerland is renowned for its expense, but many expats are still surprised by how expensive healthcare is, especially when compared to neighboring EU countries. Switzerland’s healthcare system is known as one of the best in the world, but also one of the most expensive.
… On average, Swiss residents spend nearly 10% of their salary on health insurance costs.
Pros
Because basic healthcare is mandatory, every resident in Switzerland is entitled to the same coverage and standard of care. This means that even if you have a pre-existing condition, a Swiss health insurance company cannot deny you coverage, nor can they charge you exorbitant amounts when compared to someone who does not have a pre-existing condition.
Depending on your age and the insurance package that you choose, you will pay this same fee for as long as you are in Switzerland. If you get sick or injured, your insurance rate will not increase.
Healthcare standards across the country are high, and expats will have no problem receiving excellent care no matter where in Switzerland they require treatment.
Cons
Healthcare in Switzerland is expensive, and you will pay for most treatment out-of-pocket and be reimbursed later.
Any stay in Switzerland exceeding 90 days requires health insurance. Even if you are only moving to Switzerland for half a year, and feel that you are generally healthy, you are legally required to get private health insurance.
Medical insurance companies are not allowed to profit off of basic healthcare plans. Instead, their money comes from what they make off of other schemes.
Reading the other day that, if not covered by reasonable workplace health insurance, middle-class Americans are now paying up to $15k per year each for adequate health cover. Wouldn’t you rather pay $5k of tax?
"if you had a thousand bucks from any source, would you choose a public hospital rather than (fixed before lunch) a private hospital?". dont know what planet you are on(planet key?), but the room rate for most nz private hospitals is around $2500 a day, thats without any meds, operations, aneithetists,etc. let me know what you think you are going to get for a grand at a private hospital, getting a mole cut out?
First Campbell (Adams for chair), then Pharmac (Maharey) then ACC (Dyson)
They waited for any sort of public comment from Campbell for the play, because he supports the Maori Health Authority (NACT ending) and the principles of co-governance.
On a more serious note, that’s Stonewall UK, a large, well funded and incredibly influential gender identity lobby group advocating for the erasure of lesbians. If there is no common word for female homosexuals, how do we know lesbians exist?
this sits along side the coerced girl dick movement, where lesbians are pressure to sleep with trans identified males. That’s trans women who are male heterosexuals (some TW are male homosexuals). Lesbians get banned from dating apps for saying female only.
in Tasmania, there’s a fight between lesbians and the human rights organisation over whether lesbians are allowed to run female only events that exclude TW who say they are lesbians (ie het males).
I’m seeing lesbians online talking about having to meet in secret so they avoid all of the above. That’s lesbians being pushed back in the closet.
It's alarming the degree to which body hate/dissociation is driving the big cultural shift. Genital preferences are transphobic can only come from people with no respect for our physical selves or nature.
Lesbians have been at the forefront of pushing back against gender ideology (for a very long time). Gay men are increasingly pushing back now too, because they're being told they should have sex with female bodied people (trans men), and if they don't want to they're transphobic.
It's utterly bizarre.
Liberal genderists will say, oh, no, that doesn't happen, what we mean is that if you have a blanket ban on sleeping with trans people then you are transphobic. But if a male TW is heterosexual, self IDs as a lesbian, only wants to sleep with lesbians, and advocates for that socially and politically, then how is this anything other than telling lesbians to sleep with men?
There is this idea that TW who have surgically and hormonally transitioned are akin to women, but this isn't true either (they have altered male bodies, not female bodies). But self-ID means any man can say they are a woman and they are to be believed, and not many of the much larger group under the trans umbrella bother with surgery, or even hormones.
All of that could have been avoided if the genderists had coined new terms and had respected women's boundaries. But that wouldn't work because AGP males in particular have a need to be validated as women, and there is a strong colonising vibe to the whole thing.
Not all TW obviously, plenty of TW who aren't arseholes and who respect women's boundaries. This is about the political movement of gender ideology.
They think gay men are transphobic if they say that they are not interested in "mangina".
As there are more and more young women who think that they can identify their way out of their oppression and away from today's pornified version of femaleness, and as many of these young women are not same sex attracted, they identify as Gay men.
The "Cotton Ceiling" has its companion – the "Boxer Ceiling". Trans men insist that a "strap on" is just as good – and not only that – they come with a "bonus hole". Gay men who react to that concept with the same mix of derision and repulsion as lesbians do to the suggestion of "girldick" are met with similar abuse, but not in quite the same volume or intensity.
Stonewall has no interest in the continuing existence of Lesbians, except as a concept for the sexual interest of the heterosexual autogynephiliac men who make up the majority of Stonewall supporters and beneficiaries.
Stonewall's chair – Nancy Kelley has described Lesbians who are not interested in "ladydick" as "sexual racists" on UK television. Stonewall's representative giving evidence in a British courtroom compared Lesbians who objected to being pressured into sex with male bodied people who uttered the magical incantation "I identify as" to white South Africans trying to hang on to their privileges after the fall of Apartheid.
Stonewall has been completely captured by the big $$$$$ behind Gender Ideology and has turned its back on the same sex attracted people by and for whom it was founded.
Stonewall is an irrelevant homophobic organization that is far too buddy buddy with big pharma. We don’t call ourselves gay or lesbians anymore we call ourselves homosexuals, because an authoritarian ideology has highjacked and changed the meaning of the terms. They even tried to change same sex attraction and same sex relationships to same gender attraction stone wall has gone from saying you can’t change your sexuality and that calling homosexuality a preference is homophobic to saying that sexuality is a mere preference and you’re a bigot if you exclude opposite sexes from your dating pool.
I obviously didn't get the memo, Corey. I'm happy to refer to myself as Gay / Homosexual or part of the Rainbow Community. What "we" are not is a single group called We. I wont speak for you if you don't speak for me.
no-one can call themselves progressive on this issue if supporting organisations and movements that are pressuring gay and lesbian people to be bisexual. That's conversion. If you are ok with that personally, that's for you. We're talking about politics at the societal level.
Where in my comment Weka did I say I support any organisations on this thread. An apology is in order from you. Corey used the term "We" call ourselves Homosexual. I pointed out "We" don't all call ourselves one thing or another. I just believe in live and let live. I'm a bit tired of you riding shot gun on this site on your pet issue. Before you get your Moderators Pen out, maybe due to your passionate beliefs on this issue you should consider not moderating on just this topic due to conflict of interest.
You are quite right in that there is no single group in the "Rainbow Community. What we have is same sex attracted people force teamed with a bunch of straight people. Straight people with medical conditions, straight people with fetishes and paraphyllia, straight people who want to be thought of as "progressive" or "trendy". They are all speaking instead of or for same sex attracted people to the extent that our voices are swamped.
I think perhaps you have missed the point a bit RBO.
Corey was not commenting at a singular level but at a societal level.
The waves of changing terms that are nominally to include all within the ambit turn out to have very specific and non inclusive definitions around them.
Very telling is the reference to 1984 with the echoes of 'better' for those who fit the made-up (oops who said that) definitions
Full on 1984 stuff .
The 'we' is all of us having the right/ability to define ourselves in our own ways. especially important in terms of sexuality. But with the important caveat that our definitions and pride in ourselves should not be at the expense of anyone else and their own lived in experiences.
This is why women for instance are saying born women need to have protections and why women/women attraction also is a fact of life and needs recognition and protection as well.
These words by AB below sum up the beauty, souls and hurt we are potentially talking about
“Nobody can command that other people be attracted to them. It is an entirely private, internal and mysterious process. Therefore all attempts to coerce attraction (by physical, emotional or social means) are illegitimate.
Conversely, nobody can denigrate, insult, express disgust at, or call for the elimination of people (or classes of people) they are not attracted to. That is because their own lack of attraction to them contains no objective information about those other people.”
Raising visibility for lesbians by surrounding them with non-lesbians…
About the term “lesbian”
Our aim is to have an inclusive European and Central Asian lesbian network. We insist on calling it a lesbian although we recognize that, as with any category or label, it may be contested and insufficient to describe the diversity of our communities. We are aware that many previous lesbian gatherings have struggled with issues about who should or should not be included at the conference. However, using the word “lesbian” is part of the political struggle for visibility, empowerment and representation. We therefore use “lesbian*” in our name with an asterisk, so as to include anyone who identifies as lesbian, feminist, bi, trans or queer, and all those who feel connected to lesbian activism.
Raising visibility for lesbians by surrounding them with non-lesbians…
THIS.
The way language is being used in that quote has a kind of sly manipulation that sets my hackled up. It's a form of colonisation while pretending to be about diversity and sweetness and light. It looks exactly like neoliberalism.
The inclusion of bisexual females is hardly problematic, nor the non binary females who call themselves gender queer, nor transsexuals (who seek legal status as "transgender" women and who have a peference for female partners).
This is an organisation working together in feminist solidarity.
Sure calling transsexuals, legally recognised as transgender women, males, is your choice. They did say they would rather work together to realise solidarity.
So a transsexual who prefers women partners you would regard as a heterosexual and male?
Assuming you are talking about someone who was born male and transitioned to be a trans woman, then yes, they are transexual/TW (gender), male (biological sex), and heterosexual (sexual orientation).
It becomes really obvious when considering two people having sex. If one of those people is a lesbian, she is attracted to other women, not men who have transitioned.
There are also bisexual women who are attracted to both male and female bodies. Some of those women identify as lesbian.
Is supporting transsexuals getting recognition as women, an including them (if they want someone identifying as a woman as a partner) a threat to women?
Is including non binary born females, gender queer who have female partners?
I realise that gender identity is becoming problematic, but what this group is doing is not.
Is supporting transsexuals getting recognition as women, an including them (if they want someone identifying as a woman as a partner) a threat to women?
Yes, it is. Most women don't identify as a woman, they just are one. I've already explained some of the reasons why TW saying they are lesbians is a problem for women.
Nobody can command that other people be attracted to them. It is an entirely private, internal and mysterious process. Therefore all attempts to coerce attraction (by physical, emotional or social means) are illegitimate.
Conversely, nobody can denigrate, insult, express disgust at, or call for the elimination of people (or classes of people) they are not attracted to. That is because their own lack of attraction to them contains no objective information about those other people.
Seems to me that these principles are universal and could be invoked without any reference to the contemporary obsessions with identity and gender, or to the rather mad 'cult of the self' more generally.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — St. John Paul II knew about sexual abuse of children by priests under his authority and sought to conceal it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland, a television news report has alleged.
In a story that aired late Monday, Polish channel TVN24 named three priests whom the future pope then known as Archbishop Karol Wojtyla had moved among parishes or sent to a cloister during the 1970s, including one who was sent to Austria, after they were accused of abusing minors.
Peter Murnane lays out several centuries of Catholic hierarchy sexual abuse and defense in vivid and toxic detail in his book from last year: "Clerical Errors", and has a go at both causes and conditions. Notable focus on Australasia.
Coincidentally, I came across these articles about a 14th C Inquisitor sent to France to root out Jews, Cathars, and unorthodox beliefs.
Peter Murnane would've made his list.
The Inquisition was a long campaign by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate unorthodox beliefs and practices in Europe by use of interrogation, torture, and even execution. The purge continued sporadically for more than 600 years with the purpose of securing Roman Catholic religious and political control over the continent.
Part 2 in a three-part series of the transcribed interrogation transcripts of nonbelievers caught in the Inquisition. These are the words not of celebrated writers or famous philosophers but of three villagers in 14th-century southern France, as well as the man who interrogated them for unorthodox thinking—Bishop Jacques Fournier.
Catholicism in Poland formed an important counter to anti-clerical Soviet rule, and became closely linked with national identity as a result. In Soviet times, the last thing the local Church wanted was a hostile State poking its nose into what were viewed as internal matters. Hence, in part, the burying of events that could be used to discredit the Church.
Wojtyla was a Catholic conservative, not much into happy-clappy reforms and women playing a greater role. And he must have been a consumate politico, to swing breaking the tradition of Italian popes. Getting to be Pope cemented Woytyla's position as a neo-nationalist saint in Poland.
After the fall of communism, the Church lost ground, as it was no longer needed to support national identity. More recently, it has lost members to more modern Christian sects. But in the last few years, conservative rightist politicians in government have struck a strong alliance with the catholic Church, promoting hard anti-LGBT and anti-abortion positions, and throttling media freedom.
Last week, according to the Guardian, the 15 yo son of an opposition MP killed himself, following the disclosure in the government-controlled press that he had been abused by a paedophile involved in LGBT activism (along with others). Complicating the story was information about the abuse had also been suppressed, presumably to not discredit the LGBT movement. Complicated.
However, the wrongs of the neo-nationalist saint and his organisational decisions are finally, rightly, being called out in Poland, which is really only just now dealing with this history of institutional abuse.
Gee imagine if the Minister of Health had a tough reputable Board chair to protect her from National eviscerating her all week and continuing to election.
Labour cabinet failing to understand what Boards are for, and paying a big price.
Aided and abetted by not picking up on or clarifying the definition that MSM & the Nats are using for a public servant.
I worked as a public servant for around 42 years and this year is the very first time I am being bombarded with shXt to try to convince me that board chairs and members of boards entities appointed by the Govt that is in power are public servants. During this time I was at various stages working as an advisor within the process of putting up names for various boards.
Usually these people we nominated, who were uniformly 'best for the job', were appointed while at other times some of the names of other people, known to the Ministers etc were appointed. Mostly these fitted the criteria of being 'best for a job' and in a minimum of times they were probably 'political' appointments. Though political appointments were often those to HC (US, UK etc) roles by MFAT.
At no stage ever, ever, ever were these appointees considered to be public servants. Often they had their own legislation or fell within other government forms of terms/conditions/remuneration eg there used to be information from Treasury as to what daily rate etc they were to be placed on. As a Board or company secretary to these entities we had all sorts of registers such as Conflict of Interest etc that these entity appointments had to sign/update, etc
So by letting the Nats define
what a public servant is,
not forcefully rebutting the Nats wrong presumption, and,
then not defending the ability of a person appointed as a member to one of these entities to have a life outside this appointment ie making them into political eunuchs
The two parties Nats/Labour have set us on the slippery slope where all appointees are presumed to be political ie because they are people during a time when a vacancy came up and the Labour or Nat govt was in power.
We have embarked on the slippery slope that will end with the expectation that all appointees will be expected to hand over their memberships when a new Govt is appointed a la the US system. We might also set ourselves up for another import from the US where we vote on the membership of our local Conservation boards, entities, at the time of the General Election.
There are two important points:
members of statutory boards are not public servants within the common statutory definition
members of statutory boards are not all political appointments unless you use a ninny-ish definition that anyone appointed to a board during the term of a Govt is deemed to be a political appointee holding a party political view.*
* my experience is that on boards the members set to with a will to do the functions of the board with the best endeavours that they can. having served as a board/company secretary to at least 3 of these I can say, hand on heart, that party politics did not come into it.
I did come across several Nats later who had a view that everyone appointed a was a party political appointment including one very sad case where a former apolitical appointee, the health sector also, found out they were not going to be reappointed at the expiry of their term by reading a Press Release. No letter of thanks was ever forthcoming from the Govt (Nat at the time) for the years of service this person had put in on various boards etc in what was his very specialist field.
I am very sad that the Labour Govt seems to have gone down this route as well.
They had an opportunity to educate the public about the nuances and separations of power that we work to in NZ. They had a chance also support the very great number of people on Boards/entities and whose political persuasion was/is not a factor in their appointment. But no.
So busy agreeing that the Nats had a point that I wonder if they are wanting to be Nat-lite as others have said.
We have people who were politicians and who retired and were appointed to boards/commissions. usually these people are pretty clued up and public focussed, a factor in wanting to stand for parliament in the first place.
The name of the late Chester Borrows springs to mind. Hekia Parata is another.
Why are they so ignorant of the way the world works around these board/entities/appointees?
Dorks indeed.
Who is advising? Have we got some of the Nats people acting as advisors you know the ones who did not have the wit to prevent the "am I in Hawaii or Te Puke' skirmish.
Have they thrown out all the ones who knew how the PS works and imported those who are party politically astute but dumb in other ways or jumping at so called shadows as they are at the moment?
For questions these would go through the Minister of Health’s office to the Ministry and usually, well when I worked at either end of the process the ministry would ask for input into questions by asking the entity for input.
If you did not then you were on a hiding to nothing really as Ministries did not have all the info and the entities did not have the political process nous or experience.
I wonder if the safe hands in the Ministry have gone and perhaps there are those with not much experience there.
This code is dated 2020 and, based on a throwaway line in an RNZ comment I heard this am, may have been updated to add the political impartiality clause recently, catching out long-time board members
"We are politically impartial
We act in a politically impartial manner. Irrespective of our political interests, we conduct ourselves in a way that enables us to act effectively under current and future governments. We do not make political statements or engage in political activity in relation to the functions of the Crown entity."
That does say in relation to the functions of 'the Crown entity', which should not preclude personal opinions expressed on other topic areas. So Campbell is in breech, while the other 2 scrape by.
Campbell's comments were in relation to co-governance, not Health. He was also involved with the Environment portfolio. he has lost both of these.
I think any lawyer worth their salt could easily argue that the sentences you have bolded add to or explain (by limiting its metes and bounds) what "we are politically impartial' means aided by the the last sentence 'in relation to the functions of the Crown Entity'. So it is explanatory.
Now if it had been just left at 'We are politically impartial' it would be a different argument.
If this has changed since 2020 and Campbell is being judged on something new/different then that is greatly concerning to me.
Up until now I would venture that many/most thought nothing political in relation to the entity and be careful with other expressions.
It has never been, in my view, something that nobbles a person from saying anything for fear that some dill brain might see it as not being impartial. People should not have to resign from doing things of value in the Govt sector.
The line has traditionally been drawn in the PS, the real PS, that should you wish to stand for parliament or local authority or say something publically that may be Govt related that you would seek guidance and may have to seek LWOP. Most PS know this.
Entities are different in my view. The clause above is a step away from what guides the PS.
Two points: social media micro-messaging is very cheap to get wide coverage of a pre-identfied target audience; and it is not made of one message, but a bundle of potential hot topics that rapidly evolves in response to clicks, generating the most effective message packages.
The EU has identified political micro-messaging as a threat to fair elections, and wants to manage it to protect democratic process.
It looks as though things have changed under the 2020 Public Service Act, which explicitly mandates that Crown Agents (Those Crown Entities which are responsible for delivering serives – clearly the Health Authority) – including boards – are included in the Public Service (in some respects)
Crown agents, the type of Crown entity closest to ministers, are also included in the legal definition of the Public Service for the purposes of shared principles, values, spirit of service and standards of integrity and conduct in Part 1 (subparts two and four) of the Public Service Act 2020. This is because Crown agents deliver by far the greatest number of services to New Zealanders and are the ʻface of governmentʼ to many New Zealanders and how people experience these important government services.
The second paragraph under the section that tWiggle quoted is also relevant –
When acting in our private capacity, we avoid any political activity that could jeopardise our ability to perform our role or which could erode the public’s trust in the entity. We discuss with the Chair any proposal to make political comment or to undertake any significant political activity.
This is expanded upon in the direction from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in relation to Integrity and conduct throughout the State Sector.
Generally, public servants acting in a private capacity have the same rights of free speech and conduct of their private affairs as other members of the public. They should, however, ensure that their personal contribution to public discussion, including any on social media, maintains a level of discretion appropriate to the position they hold. Senior public servants, or those working closely with Ministers, need to exercise particular care.
One of the very explicit reasons for this neutrality is to ensure that "public servants" (whatever their actual job title) – have the capality to remain in their role following a change in government.
Did anyone (even Rob Campbell) think that he could have remained as Board Chair under a National Government, following his very forthright criticism of their policies?
“Right now, across the motu, there are too many sick and injured people, and not enough resources – including hospital beds and community care … ” – Then why accept the reduction in the capabilities for the replacement hospital in Dunedin all to save a $200m – This is a VERY BAD decision ?? – How we are being totally undersold in the health being delivered to Kiwis, and we have a minister why has no feel "I spend a lot of time going and talking to them to understand the true picture and I'm disappointed that didn't come across,” she said." Perhaps Ayesha Verrall you need to LISTEN and not talk ?? then you would know to question the numbers you used !!!
PET scanner will now not be available at the time of opening (but presumably will become so later)
450 non-clinical spaces will not be included (meaning they will be housed in other buildings, reducing convenience).
To me, the biggie is reduction in operating capacity. The other options do not greatly affect the overall service provision to the community. So this is not a 30% downsize of core hospital services, as suggested by the article title. The cuts will not only reduce cost blowout, but also reduce build time, bringing the hospital online earlier, surely a plus.
It is larger than the hospital it is replacing. There is space being built to almost the original specs but won't be fully fitted out in the short term. There is a lot more hot air floating about than facts.
I notice a lot of medical people being upset on the radio and in the press but it's hard for non-med people to tell whether they legitimately represent their fields, or come from ginger groups.
For example, I would expect the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners to be the industry voice for GPs criticising the government, but am not aware of any press releases from them regarding funding pressures on GPs. They do have an ongoing push for an equitable and transparent funding policy for GP practices, and also meet directly with Ayesha Verral.
One problem with election year is that groups like this know it's their last chance to improve things before a potential regime change. With a NACT government, any noise like this will be rapidly squashed, and will also be ignored politically, as happened in their previous stretch. "Move on. Nothing to see here, no social problems or sinking-lid funding on our watch…".
Also in the mix there will need to be a surgical hospital in Central Otago very soon. I'd expect an announcement on this before the election with a facility to serve 100,000 being built within 10 years. Current population here is 50,000 and growing around 10% pa with huge seasonal peaks. Cromwell / Wanaka is about 3 -4 hours by road from Dunedin, Queenstown 2 hours to Invercargill, 4 hours to Dunedin.
This will take a lot of demand off Dunedin and it's apparent that the new Dunedin facility is being developed with an eye to demand in 10 -20 years time when Dunedin is still around 130,000 people, the same as it has been for the last 30 years. If current trends continue, in 30 years Central Otago will probably be larger than Dunedin. Not going down well in Dunedin, but they have to learn to accept that their city is going backwards, and there centres that are growing are sick of propping them up.
So currently if we need surgery, or urgent care, it's off to town for patient and support. No popping into the hospital to visit after work, they won't let you in after 8, so you're off to town for the week and in a motel. Manageable for people without commitments, but most people really struggle around this. Have seen some absolutely tragic outcomes because of the distance and separation.
That is a bit sad – Please point out where any climate denial has been posted by me. Certainly some questions which have resulted in some good and lengthy replies from a couple of others that have been very informative. What is it that you disagree with?
[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.]
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
It's lovely when the National Party show themselves to be a) incompetent, or b) dishonest. Here they quote their new best friend, Rob Campbell, but get ministry and agency mixed up, by ineptitude or design. Those are the only two explanations.
Either way, it feeds into the narrative they can't be trusted.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/485593/national-mps-follow-luxon-s-line-of-attack-on-public-service-contractors
National have finally found their vector into the election, and it's health.
Not tax, race, property, wealth, transport, defence, education or anything else. Call it weird.
Test is simple: if you had a thousand bucks from any source, would you choose a public hospital now rather than having to go to a public hospital?
Labour's Verrall is getting her lunch handed to her.
" would you choose a public hospital now rather than having to go to a public hospital?"
Is that really what you meant to ask? If so what does it mean?
"…a private hospital rather than …"
Thank you.
I am going to a hospital (public) for a laparoscopy tomorrow – no desire to go to a private hospital even if I had the money for it. I am looking forward to practising suppressing my gag reflex (sort of)
Good wishes Barfly. We use the Public. We have had good service at Lakes.
The only people I know who think our health system is acceptable are people who don't need to use it!
I've spent the last three weeks in an out of ED and A and E in extreme internal pain but can't get a GP appointment for a bloody referral for a specialist.
My dad's life has been turned up side down for the last two years waiting on a surgery.
My mum was in a crash in July and broke bones in her neck and is in 24/7 constant agony and is on the waiting list for a surgery and can't get a GP appointment.
With average 6 week to 2 month gp waiting times honestly it's alarming how many people I know who are in the same boat and the stories I hear from friends in the health system is terrible.
Yes I know COVID was responsible for much chaos in the health system but you could still get an appointment in a week in 2020 and 2021.
Many people in the health system will tell you that centralizing the health system during a pandemic was ill thought out and far too much money was spent on management rather than end user results and quality of life for employees.
Also the new bosses are threatening all health it staff with their jobs being off-shored.
Right now I'm in constant paint, if we had the option I'd prefer my family be able to go private because we are never going to get sorted by the public sector which is totally falling apart despite amazing nurses and doctors.
I was given a doctor's appointment for the following day.
A visit came up for today's visit to the orthopediac specialist. As I left him, the nurse handed me a note to take to radiology. At radiology they handed me an appointed for spinal injection for the 4 April.
I am so lucky but really feel for those who have agonisingly long waits. Oh let's hope that the revised Health System does even out the patient access and treatment.
Where are you Corey?
My SO is waiting for a quite complex procedure to fix an unfortunate outcome from an urgent surgery 3 years ago. Lots of ducks to line up for this so it's not really a set time, just when it happens it we will get a weeks notice.
One thing that is being stressed is, DON'T GET COVID. A positive test and you're not having a general anaesthetic for a couple of months. Doctors told us that it's playing merry hell with surgical waiting lists with some patients arriving for surgery and having to be sent home because of a positive covid test. So the theatre sits empty that day.
But in the real world without the national spin, I went to local A and E at 11 am, at 11.51 while at labtests the chemist called to tell me the pills the doctor had prescribed were ready to be picked up. Cost $19.50 for the Dr, $5 for the pills. I've had to go a few times lately with recurring infection the longest has been 2 hrs.
1st world prompt quality service. I'll go public everytime.
Meanwhile in the real world, ambulances with critically ill patients (you have to be to even get an ambulance in Auckland ATM) – were turned away from Auckland Hospital on Monday night.
I don't know where your A&E is – but it's clearly not in one of the large cities which are undergoing a constant crisis level of demand.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/485506/ambulances-turned-away-from-auckland-hospital-s-full-emergency-department
Please don't dismiss this as a one-off incident – this kind of crisis situation is a regular occurrence at all Auckland A&E departments – as has been reported multiple times in the media.
I am in near central Auckland, I think the local closes at 9pm . Shortages are world wide problem, blaming the current govt for political point scoring is not helping.
I would assume then, that your 'local' is one of the private clinics (e.g. White Cross). Because, I simply do not believe that anyone can walk in to Auckland Hospital A&E and be seen in 51 minutes. [Unless, of course, it's a life-and-death situation]
last time I went into a white cross(p.n.), I waited for over an hour to be seen,(short staffed ,surprise,surprise) and was finally seen in a dirty room with cracked plastic covering on the bed, no pillow protector. surprisingly rundown for a ten yr old building. the doctor was bemoaning his client numbers, went from owning his own practice with 1500 patients, into white cross(aus owned), now has 5000 clients on his list.
Apparently Bruce has a different experience (although he's yet to confirm which A&E he attended).
Last time I went to North Shore A&E – about 5 months ago – with my elderly mother after a serious fall – we waited 12 hours to be seen – on a very quiet evening, with little sign of obvious strain on the systems (waiting room wasn't full, etc.).
Ordinary demand is over-stressing the systems – let alone crisis periods.
[please fix the typo in your user name, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
I wasnt going to bother replying, your beliefs are your beliefs not my problem. The sign on the door says 'urgent care 8am to 8pm' its were we in this suburb go if you have had an accident or its an emergency. We are not high decile suburb , the premisis are being refurbished and I would consider them quite flash. Believe what you like.
Belladona .."were turned away from Auckland Hospital "
Should read …"were redirected to other hospitals."
Well you could read it that way.
However, someone with a critical health issue in an ambulance having to travel an extra 30 minutes – it would pretty much feel like "turned away"
Regardless of how it's phrased, it's not exactly a sign of a health system which is robust and able to cope with even every-day workloads – let alone high demand periods.
What do you think waiting for 2.5 days in emergency to be admitted to a ward feels like?
Some thoughts:
However I do take your point, The Nats are putting in a decent effort at discrediting the public system. Obviously their primary aim is to harm the government. But one of their secondary aims is to do exactly what you ask – drive the public into the arms of private health providers and insurers.
Arguably National are in government already, having caused:
– killing off worker insurance
– killing off public media merger
– squashing 3 Waters and decapitating the Minister
– completely reversing transport policy and its funding including Waitemata Harbour Crossing and light rail, Wellington light rail, and most cycleway projects
… so now, not unreasonably, they are going for the health reforms, at least as effectively as Helen Clark did through 1997-98.
We are long past the point where Labour look identical to National.
In reality Labour are now just subbies to National.
It's not just "shorter wait times" for many routine (but still life changing) operations and procedures – there effectively *is* no service offered at all.
By the time they have waited (often immobilized with pain) for months, they'll find themselves dropped off the list, or with others placed higher due to critical need.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/129209277/surgical-waiting-list-soars-as-patients-languishing-in-pain-say-they-feel-like-the-living-dead
This article was last year – when Covid was a factor – but hospital wait times for non-urgent surgery have not improved – and the deferred wait list just continues to grow.
The report from the task list outlined actions which should happen – but gave no timeframes. And basically acknowledged that workforce shortages are the key factor (anything else is pretty much re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/477334/more-than-100-recommendations-to-cut-surgery-wait-times-but-some-could-take-years-to-implement
Nationals history on health funding is abysmal .Nationals last 9 yr stint under John Key cut funding per citizen by 20%.National make one health issue that happens to be in the limelight fund that issue ie breast cancer ,Fund that solution then starve the rest of the health sector.The problem is staff shortages exasperated by Covid .Every country is trying to fill the gap with migrants from poorer countries NZ no exception.Australia likewise but they can attract NZ health workers with better conditions and up to 40% higher wages.National and Labour cannot offer those wage rates or anything near that.National effectively froze healthcare workers wages for 9 years using migrants to keep wages down.Those poorer countries than us are now being targeted by wealthier countries than us to rebuild their health workforces.Only increasing wages and conditions can fix the problem.When has National ever increased wages of any sector!National are crying wolf hopefully one to many times
In case you hadn't noticed – National is not in government, Labour is (with an absolute majority).
Nurses are still waiting for the government to come to the party in settling their pay equity case.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nurse-unions-take-te-whatu-ora-to-court-over-pay-equity-settlement/PEROT2BW5JCHLN4RJ7W3ANA5YU/
Are you really supporting Labour's record here? Or damning them with the faint praise, that, 'At least they're not National'?
Lux'll fix it. He 'ran' a majority govt-owned airline; flips mean minimum wage patties – a handy skill when BBQing at one of his 7 houses. Man of the people!
Do you have any evidence to back up these claims, and in particular "Nationals last 9 yr stint under John Key cut funding per citizen by 20%"?
The last time I read something of yours it had the ridiculous claim that the big 4 banks in New Zealand paid no taxes. Have you anything to back this up or is it just another bit of fantasy?
macrotrends per capita and per gdp spend NZ 2000-2020
Doesn't look like a drop to me. Is per capita per resident population, or per citizen? If per citizen, adding 500,000 extra migrants could account for a per head drop not seen on a per citizen basis.
moaners here should try rocking up to a private hospital and ask for immediate service. they will be told to go away and make an appointment, as private hospitals run on short staff, and the surgeons mostly work for public health and only moonlight at a private for 1-2 days a week.they arent like u.s. private hospitals on tv, with tons of staff standing around, waiting for you.
No one "rocks up" to a public hospital for non-urgent surgery (things like knee replacements), either.
You get a referral from your GP (assuming you can afford to go)
Wait months (if you're lucky) to get an appointment with a specialist in the public health system.
Many are turned back at this point – and the specialist won't even see them.
If the specialist thinks you qualify (i.e. your agony is sufficiently great), then you'll go on the waiting list for non-urgent surgery in the public health system.
At any time, you may drop off the waiting list – because the management have re-jigged the criteria (to reduce waiting lists), or just lost your paperwork.
Assuming that all of your cards to this point have turned up trumps, you'll get an appointment for surgery. Which can be (and very frequently is) cancelled at any point right up to the time you're prepped for surgery. Reasons for cancellation are mostly to do with understaffing, and hospitals cancelling 'routine' surgery to staff emergency care.
Contrast with the private system.
Your GP makes a referral to a specialist.
The specialist books you in for an appointment to review your case and decide on treatment (note, you will get the treatment, you're not going to be bounced back as 'not sick enough'). This may take a fortnight or so. Maybe up to a month or 6 weeks for a very busy specialist.
Your surgery is booked within a month (some variation due to the type of surgery and the specialist's workload) – but really rare for it to be longer than this.
It is incredibly uncommon for surgery to be postponed for any reason (apart from ill health of the surgeon).
So, to compare. Private system, you will have had your operation within 3 months (at the outside) of your GP referring you. Public system – you won't have even been seen by the specialist at that point; you may never qualify for an operation; and even if you do, you will have months (if not years) of pain on the waiting list.
[please fix the typo in your user name, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
When you say it is incredibly uncommon for surgery to be postponed I assume you're referring to urgent or acute surgery because elective surgery is postponed routinely for the slightest excuse.
Not in private hospitals.
You are quite correct that it's routinely postponed in the public system.
That's an interesting 'compare and contrast' of "non-urgent surgery" in NZ public and private health systems – as someone who's never 'gone private', I'd be interested to know and understand the reason(s) for any differences.
What's Dr Coleman up to these days?
The primary reason for difference in the experience between public and private is (obviously) demand.
Screening out (through price) a large chunk of the demand for surgery, allows private operators to structure their operations to meet the need within acceptable timeframes.
If there are more people in need, who can afford the services, then there will be more private health providers offering these surgical operations.
In the old days (1980s) going private was more around quality of post-op care (nicer food, better environment, etc.), and a bit around being able to schedule ops to the patient's convenience. These days, it's more about getting the operation at all – so weighing up quality of life.
My familiarity with the time-frames is with my Mum, who urgently needed eye surgery (high risk of blindness if no quick intervention) – 3 weeks to go private, 9 months (minimum, and no guarantee of the surgery actually going ahead) if she relied on the public system. We all chipped in to get her private surgery.
Note, that the DHBs (and I'm sure the new National Health Agency will continue the practice) have historically paid private hospitals to carry out non-urgent surgery on public list patients (as a way of reducing the public health waitlist backlog).
[last couple of paras in this article, refers to the practice as standard]
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/126955421/christchurch-surgery-patients-turned-away-due-to-unmanageable-waitlist
Whether you think this is a good practice or not, probably depends on whether you or a family member benefitted from getting the surgery actually done.
I'm not quite sure where you're going with your referencing of the US system over private equity.
The point of private, is that you can just go elsewhere, if the service quality drops.
I'd say that many of these in your US example would be services offered under the US Medicaid umbrella.
Pretty sure that the Mayo Clinic isn't going to suddenly start offering low-quality, bare-bones services.
And, in any case, if you think that public health is so great in NZ – why would you care about the quality of private provision!
My point? That the purpose of PE companies that own private health systems is profit. That's PE's reason for being.
So (obviously), the (in)ability to pay – iniquitous 2-tier health 'care' systems offend my sense of decency. Some may see/have no problem with them, but I favour expanding the capacity of Aotearoa NZ's public health system cf. for-profit health systems that exacerbate inequality. It’s a lefty thing.
No prizes for guessing the countries with healthy public health systems.
Sadly NZ appears nowhere on the list.
Switzerland is an interesting example (actually in lots of ways) – but in this case in health. I have a friend of Swiss extraction – though now a long-time Kiwi citizen – and we've had many dinner-table conversations over the differences between the social systems in NZ and Switzerland.
I was surprised to hear from him that all hospitals in Switzerland are privately run and health care is funded through private (mandatory) insurance (though the Govt does top up for the very lowest incomes)
https://www.internationalinsurance.com/health/systems/switzerland.php
Sad. Aotearoa NZ ranks only 11th overall (sandwiched between Denmark/Netherlands), which is not so great for a remote little multicultural island. Still, some don't know how lucky we are, or were.
Delving into the rankings, our "Well-developed public health system" score is 63.6, far behind Denmark (100), Germany (94.6), Sweden (94.2), Norway (90.2), Canada (89.4), Switzerland (84.7), U.K. (80.4), Netherlands (79.1), Finland (76.6) and Belgium (73.4).
So there's certainly room for improvement, but at least we're on a par with Japan and Australia (63.3), and France (60.4).
And well ahead of the USA (35.0), so best not to go (any further) down that (private equity/health) road, imho. Just one ranking, of course.
Yeah, about Switzerland then.
I note that you've made no comment on their very different style of public health provision – combined with their (much higher than NZ) public health ranking.
Nothing to say?
Looks like a good health care system, if expensive compared to neighboring EU countries. As long as all Kiwis could access quality health care in a timely fashion then why not.
Or we could try Denmark's health care system, since that country has the highest ranking. Nothing's ever perfect. There's always something to grizzle about – inconvenience abounds. Just as long as it's not life-threatening.
Switzerland Healthcare System Pros and Cons
Why is Switzerland’s Healthcare so Expensive?
Switzerland is renowned for its expense, but many expats are still surprised by how expensive healthcare is, especially when compared to neighboring EU countries. Switzerland’s healthcare system is known as one of the best in the world, but also one of the most expensive.
…
On average, Swiss residents spend nearly 10% of their salary on health insurance costs.
Pros
Cons
Medical insurance companies are not allowed to profit off of basic healthcare plans. Instead, their money comes from what they make off of other schemes.
Reading the other day that, if not covered by reasonable workplace health insurance, middle-class Americans are now paying up to $15k per year each for adequate health cover. Wouldn’t you rather pay $5k of tax?
The problem with your calculation is assuming that it will only be $5K in tax.
I suspect that you'd be paying the $5K+ and then topping up with insurance in any case. Medical costs in the US are frightening.
"if you had a thousand bucks from any source, would you choose a public hospital rather than (fixed before lunch) a private hospital?". dont know what planet you are on(planet key?), but the room rate for most nz private hospitals is around $2500 a day, thats without any meds, operations, aneithetists,etc. let me know what you think you are going to get for a grand at a private hospital, getting a mole cut out?
Agree. Specialist surgery is around 20K a pop.
[please fix the typo in your user name, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
Ooops
Apologies Incog – looks like an accidental typo through using a laptop without a mouse, that then persisted.
Hopefully corrected now.
2020 payback
First Campbell (Adams for chair), then Pharmac (Maharey) then ACC (Dyson)
They waited for any sort of public comment from Campbell for the play, because he supports the Maori Health Authority (NACT ending) and the principles of co-governance.
Dudes, you too can be a lesbian if you want! Just self ID as non binary and you’re all set to go. Don’t even have to bother IDing as a woman.
https://twitter.com/stonewalluk/status/1633394567327170563
On a more serious note, that’s Stonewall UK, a large, well funded and incredibly influential gender identity lobby group advocating for the erasure of lesbians. If there is no common word for female homosexuals, how do we know lesbians exist?
this sits along side the coerced girl dick movement, where lesbians are pressure to sleep with trans identified males. That’s trans women who are male heterosexuals (some TW are male homosexuals). Lesbians get banned from dating apps for saying female only.
in Tasmania, there’s a fight between lesbians and the human rights organisation over whether lesbians are allowed to run female only events that exclude TW who say they are lesbians (ie het males).
I’m seeing lesbians online talking about having to meet in secret so they avoid all of the above. That’s lesbians being pushed back in the closet.
This is misogynist horse shit.
Bullying culture writ large.
yep.
It's alarming the degree to which body hate/dissociation is driving the big cultural shift. Genital preferences are transphobic can only come from people with no respect for our physical selves or nature.
Completely bizarre for activists to conflate sexual preferences with transphobia. Do these people also think that gay men are misogynist?
Lesbians have been at the forefront of pushing back against gender ideology (for a very long time). Gay men are increasingly pushing back now too, because they're being told they should have sex with female bodied people (trans men), and if they don't want to they're transphobic.
It's utterly bizarre.
Liberal genderists will say, oh, no, that doesn't happen, what we mean is that if you have a blanket ban on sleeping with trans people then you are transphobic. But if a male TW is heterosexual, self IDs as a lesbian, only wants to sleep with lesbians, and advocates for that socially and politically, then how is this anything other than telling lesbians to sleep with men?
There is this idea that TW who have surgically and hormonally transitioned are akin to women, but this isn't true either (they have altered male bodies, not female bodies). But self-ID means any man can say they are a woman and they are to be believed, and not many of the much larger group under the trans umbrella bother with surgery, or even hormones.
All of that could have been avoided if the genderists had coined new terms and had respected women's boundaries. But that wouldn't work because AGP males in particular have a need to be validated as women, and there is a strong colonising vibe to the whole thing.
Not all TW obviously, plenty of TW who aren't arseholes and who respect women's boundaries. This is about the political movement of gender ideology.
They think gay men are transphobic if they say that they are not interested in "mangina".
As there are more and more young women who think that they can identify their way out of their oppression and away from today's pornified version of femaleness, and as many of these young women are not same sex attracted, they identify as Gay men.
The "Cotton Ceiling" has its companion – the "Boxer Ceiling". Trans men insist that a "strap on" is just as good – and not only that – they come with a "bonus hole". Gay men who react to that concept with the same mix of derision and repulsion as lesbians do to the suggestion of "girldick" are met with similar abuse, but not in quite the same volume or intensity.
Stonewall has no interest in the continuing existence of Lesbians, except as a concept for the sexual interest of the heterosexual autogynephiliac men who make up the majority of Stonewall supporters and beneficiaries.
Stonewall's chair – Nancy Kelley has described Lesbians who are not interested in "ladydick" as "sexual racists" on UK television. Stonewall's representative giving evidence in a British courtroom compared Lesbians who objected to being pressured into sex with male bodied people who uttered the magical incantation "I identify as" to white South Africans trying to hang on to their privileges after the fall of Apartheid.
Stonewall has been completely captured by the big $$$$$ behind Gender Ideology and has turned its back on the same sex attracted people by and for whom it was founded.
more money in TW than lesbians, I wonder why that might be?
Stonewall is an irrelevant homophobic organization that is far too buddy buddy with big pharma. We don’t call ourselves gay or lesbians anymore we call ourselves homosexuals, because an authoritarian ideology has highjacked and changed the meaning of the terms. They even tried to change same sex attraction and same sex relationships to same gender attraction stone wall has gone from saying you can’t change your sexuality and that calling homosexuality a preference is homophobic to saying that sexuality is a mere preference and you’re a bigot if you exclude opposite sexes from your dating pool.
Full on 1984 stuff .
I obviously didn't get the memo, Corey. I'm happy to refer to myself as Gay / Homosexual or part of the Rainbow Community. What "we" are not is a single group called We. I wont speak for you if you don't speak for me.
no-one can call themselves progressive on this issue if supporting organisations and movements that are pressuring gay and lesbian people to be bisexual. That's conversion. If you are ok with that personally, that's for you. We're talking about politics at the societal level.
Where in my comment Weka did I say I support any organisations on this thread. An apology is in order from you. Corey used the term "We" call ourselves Homosexual. I pointed out "We" don't all call ourselves one thing or another. I just believe in live and let live. I'm a bit tired of you riding shot gun on this site on your pet issue. Before you get your Moderators Pen out, maybe due to your passionate beliefs on this issue you should consider not moderating on just this topic due to conflict of interest.
You are quite right in that there is no single group in the "Rainbow Community. What we have is same sex attracted people force teamed with a bunch of straight people. Straight people with medical conditions, straight people with fetishes and paraphyllia, straight people who want to be thought of as "progressive" or "trendy". They are all speaking instead of or for same sex attracted people to the extent that our voices are swamped.
and if none of them are breaking any laws then I'll try not to judge them.
I think perhaps you have missed the point a bit RBO.
Corey was not commenting at a singular level but at a societal level.
The waves of changing terms that are nominally to include all within the ambit turn out to have very specific and non inclusive definitions around them.
Very telling is the reference to 1984 with the echoes of 'better' for those who fit the made-up (oops who said that) definitions
The 'we' is all of us having the right/ability to define ourselves in our own ways. especially important in terms of sexuality. But with the important caveat that our definitions and pride in ourselves should not be at the expense of anyone else and their own lived in experiences.
This is why women for instance are saying born women need to have protections and why women/women attraction also is a fact of life and needs recognition and protection as well.
These words by AB below sum up the beauty, souls and hurt we are potentially talking about
“Nobody can command that other people be attracted to them. It is an entirely private, internal and mysterious process. Therefore all attempts to coerce attraction (by physical, emotional or social means) are illegitimate.
Conversely, nobody can denigrate, insult, express disgust at, or call for the elimination of people (or classes of people) they are not attracted to. That is because their own lack of attraction to them contains no objective information about those other people.”
Their About page is as offensive and logic free as this video.
https://europeanlesbianconference.org/about-elc/
Raising visibility for lesbians by surrounding them with non-lesbians…
THIS.
The way language is being used in that quote has a kind of sly manipulation that sets my hackled up. It's a form of colonisation while pretending to be about diversity and sweetness and light. It looks exactly like neoliberalism.
The inclusion of bisexual females is hardly problematic, nor the non binary females who call themselves gender queer, nor transsexuals (who seek legal status as "transgender" women and who have a peference for female partners).
This is an organisation working together in feminist solidarity.
they include males in their definition of lesbian. This isn't working in feminist solidarity, it's undermining women's rights.
Sure calling transsexuals, legally recognised as transgender women, males, is your choice. They did say they would rather work together to realise solidarity.
are you saying that you believe TW can be lesbian?
Two can play at the game, do you regard males who become transsexuals as repressed homosexuals if they then prefer male partners?
no. I consider them transexual women who are homosexual and male. . Don't know where you get the repressed bit from.
That they are male probably only comes up in relation to women's rights and sexuality issues.
So a transsexual who prefers women partners you would regard as a heterosexual and male?
"gay men internalised their homophobia and "transed away the Gay"
Open Mike 6 March thread 7.
Link please if you are going to quote.
Assuming you are talking about someone who was born male and transitioned to be a trans woman, then yes, they are transexual/TW (gender), male (biological sex), and heterosexual (sexual orientation).
It becomes really obvious when considering two people having sex. If one of those people is a lesbian, she is attracted to other women, not men who have transitioned.
There are also bisexual women who are attracted to both male and female bodies. Some of those women identify as lesbian.
To (half) answer the question
1. two transgender women marry, is it same sex or same gender?
2. a transgender woman marries someone born female, is it same sex or same gender?
We call same sex relationships between females, lesbian ones.
atm there are only same sex, or heterosexual marriages.
That would be a good thing. But not when it is at the expense of lesbians and other women. It's unnecessary to do that.
Is supporting transsexuals getting recognition as women, an including them (if they want someone identifying as a woman as a partner) a threat to women?
Is including non binary born females, gender queer who have female partners?
I realise that gender identity is becoming problematic, but what this group is doing is not.
It’s common cause not a social group.
Yes, it is. Most women don't identify as a woman, they just are one. I've already explained some of the reasons why TW saying they are lesbians is a problem for women.
Here https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09-03-2023/#comment-1938235
and here https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09-03-2023/#comment-1938251
what makes you think they are talking about only NB females, and not NB males as well?
Nobody can command that other people be attracted to them. It is an entirely private, internal and mysterious process. Therefore all attempts to coerce attraction (by physical, emotional or social means) are illegitimate.
Conversely, nobody can denigrate, insult, express disgust at, or call for the elimination of people (or classes of people) they are not attracted to. That is because their own lack of attraction to them contains no objective information about those other people.
Seems to me that these principles are universal and could be invoked without any reference to the contemporary obsessions with identity and gender, or to the rather mad 'cult of the self' more generally.
Well put AB.
Sinead O'Connor was right.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — St. John Paul II knew about sexual abuse of children by priests under his authority and sought to conceal it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland, a television news report has alleged.
In a story that aired late Monday, Polish channel TVN24 named three priests whom the future pope then known as Archbishop Karol Wojtyla had moved among parishes or sent to a cloister during the 1970s, including one who was sent to Austria, after they were accused of abusing minors.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-paul-ii-covered-up-sexual-abuse_n_64078f27e4b018d7c56d4f0e
well ahead of her time and totally able to see the truth.
Peter Murnane lays out several centuries of Catholic hierarchy sexual abuse and defense in vivid and toxic detail in his book from last year: "Clerical Errors", and has a go at both causes and conditions. Notable focus on Australasia.
One of the hardest books I have ever read.
Worse than Dostoyevsky or Solhestynyn.
Coincidentally, I came across these articles about a 14th C Inquisitor sent to France to root out Jews, Cathars, and unorthodox beliefs.
Peter Murnane would've made his list.
The Inquisition was a long campaign by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate unorthodox beliefs and practices in Europe by use of interrogation, torture, and even execution. The purge continued sporadically for more than 600 years with the purpose of securing Roman Catholic religious and political control over the continent.
https://onlysky.media/dale/an-accidental-atheist-in-the-inquisitors-net/
Part 2 in a three-part series of the transcribed interrogation transcripts of nonbelievers caught in the Inquisition. These are the words not of celebrated writers or famous philosophers but of three villagers in 14th-century southern France, as well as the man who interrogated them for unorthodox thinking—Bishop Jacques Fournier.
https://onlysky.media/dale/i-thought-it-over-and-believed-it-by-myself-sharing-doubts-with-the-inquisition/
Brother Murnane is well known for attacking the Waihopai Spy Base and being convicted for it.
He's been censured by his Order but is long past giving a flying fuck about that.
He and the others were acquitted.
Catholicism in Poland formed an important counter to anti-clerical Soviet rule, and became closely linked with national identity as a result. In Soviet times, the last thing the local Church wanted was a hostile State poking its nose into what were viewed as internal matters. Hence, in part, the burying of events that could be used to discredit the Church.
Wojtyla was a Catholic conservative, not much into happy-clappy reforms and women playing a greater role. And he must have been a consumate politico, to swing breaking the tradition of Italian popes. Getting to be Pope cemented Woytyla's position as a neo-nationalist saint in Poland.
After the fall of communism, the Church lost ground, as it was no longer needed to support national identity. More recently, it has lost members to more modern Christian sects. But in the last few years, conservative rightist politicians in government have struck a strong alliance with the catholic Church, promoting hard anti-LGBT and anti-abortion positions, and throttling media freedom.
Last week, according to the Guardian, the 15 yo son of an opposition MP killed himself, following the disclosure in the government-controlled press that he had been abused by a paedophile involved in LGBT activism (along with others). Complicating the story was information about the abuse had also been suppressed, presumably to not discredit the LGBT movement. Complicated.
However, the wrongs of the neo-nationalist saint and his organisational decisions are finally, rightly, being called out in Poland, which is really only just now dealing with this history of institutional abuse.
Gee imagine if the Minister of Health had a tough reputable Board chair to protect her from National eviscerating her all week and continuing to election.
Labour cabinet failing to understand what Boards are for, and paying a big price.
Dorks.
Basically the ministers been hung out to dry… Given bullshit numbers to use in the house.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/te-whatu-ora-admits-figures-used-by-health-minister-are-not-accurate/DUWF6PAUDBC3XACYPZQEIIE5TI/
Going to be a shit show if they can’t get accurate numbers together and only say so when caught out.
All state Board chairs and Ministerial office staff can now repeat back to Hipkins the old maxim of power:
First they came for the Board Chairs,
then they came for the staff,
then they came for me.
Reap what you sow Hipkins.
I agree Ad.
Aided and abetted by not picking up on or clarifying the definition that MSM & the Nats are using for a public servant.
I worked as a public servant for around 42 years and this year is the very first time I am being bombarded with shXt to try to convince me that board chairs and members of boards entities appointed by the Govt that is in power are public servants. During this time I was at various stages working as an advisor within the process of putting up names for various boards.
Usually these people we nominated, who were uniformly 'best for the job', were appointed while at other times some of the names of other people, known to the Ministers etc were appointed. Mostly these fitted the criteria of being 'best for a job' and in a minimum of times they were probably 'political' appointments. Though political appointments were often those to HC (US, UK etc) roles by MFAT.
At no stage ever, ever, ever were these appointees considered to be public servants. Often they had their own legislation or fell within other government forms of terms/conditions/remuneration eg there used to be information from Treasury as to what daily rate etc they were to be placed on. As a Board or company secretary to these entities we had all sorts of registers such as Conflict of Interest etc that these entity appointments had to sign/update, etc
So by letting the Nats define
The two parties Nats/Labour have set us on the slippery slope where all appointees are presumed to be political ie because they are people during a time when a vacancy came up and the Labour or Nat govt was in power.
We have embarked on the slippery slope that will end with the expectation that all appointees will be expected to hand over their memberships when a new Govt is appointed a la the US system. We might also set ourselves up for another import from the US where we vote on the membership of our local Conservation boards, entities, at the time of the General Election.
There are two important points:
members of statutory boards are not public servants within the common statutory definition
members of statutory boards are not all political appointments unless you use a ninny-ish definition that anyone appointed to a board during the term of a Govt is deemed to be a political appointee holding a party political view.*
* my experience is that on boards the members set to with a will to do the functions of the board with the best endeavours that they can. having served as a board/company secretary to at least 3 of these I can say, hand on heart, that party politics did not come into it.
I did come across several Nats later who had a view that everyone appointed a was a party political appointment including one very sad case where a former apolitical appointee, the health sector also, found out they were not going to be reappointed at the expiry of their term by reading a Press Release. No letter of thanks was ever forthcoming from the Govt (Nat at the time) for the years of service this person had put in on various boards etc in what was his very specialist field.
I am very sad that the Labour Govt seems to have gone down this route as well.
They had an opportunity to educate the public about the nuances and separations of power that we work to in NZ. They had a chance also support the very great number of people on Boards/entities and whose political persuasion was/is not a factor in their appointment. But no.
So busy agreeing that the Nats had a point that I wonder if they are wanting to be Nat-lite as others have said.
We have people who were politicians and who retired and were appointed to boards/commissions. usually these people are pretty clued up and public focussed, a factor in wanting to stand for parliament in the first place.
The name of the late Chester Borrows springs to mind. Hekia Parata is another.
The National Party focus was adopted in lockstep with the GOP on Capitol Hill.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3884493-house-republicans-inauspicious-start-to-benghazi-2-0/
It begs the question of just how reliable any of their data is.
Rather, begs the question of how much is simply made up … and who is making it up.
Agree Ad.
Why are they so ignorant of the way the world works around these board/entities/appointees?
Dorks indeed.
Who is advising? Have we got some of the Nats people acting as advisors you know the ones who did not have the wit to prevent the "am I in Hawaii or Te Puke' skirmish.
Have they thrown out all the ones who knew how the PS works and imported those who are party politically astute but dumb in other ways or jumping at so called shadows as they are at the moment?
For questions these would go through the Minister of Health’s office to the Ministry and usually, well when I worked at either end of the process the ministry would ask for input into questions by asking the entity for input.
If you did not then you were on a hiding to nothing really as Ministries did not have all the info and the entities did not have the political process nous or experience.
I wonder if the safe hands in the Ministry have gone and perhaps there are those with not much experience there.
In the https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/guidance/code-of-conduct-for-crown-entity-board-members/
This code is dated 2020 and, based on a throwaway line in an RNZ comment I heard this am, may have been updated to add the political impartiality clause recently, catching out long-time board members
"We are politically impartial
We act in a politically impartial manner. Irrespective of our political interests, we conduct ourselves in a way that enables us to act effectively under current and future governments. We do not make political statements or engage in political activity in relation to the functions of the Crown entity."
That does say in relation to the functions of 'the Crown entity', which should not preclude personal opinions expressed on other topic areas. So Campbell is in breech, while the other 2 scrape by.
Campbell's comments were in relation to co-governance, not Health. He was also involved with the Environment portfolio. he has lost both of these.
I think any lawyer worth their salt could easily argue that the sentences you have bolded add to or explain (by limiting its metes and bounds) what "we are politically impartial' means aided by the the last sentence 'in relation to the functions of the Crown Entity'. So it is explanatory.
Now if it had been just left at 'We are politically impartial' it would be a different argument.
If this has changed since 2020 and Campbell is being judged on something new/different then that is greatly concerning to me.
Up until now I would venture that many/most thought nothing political in relation to the entity and be careful with other expressions.
It has never been, in my view, something that nobbles a person from saying anything for fear that some dill brain might see it as not being impartial. People should not have to resign from doing things of value in the Govt sector.
The line has traditionally been drawn in the PS, the real PS, that should you wish to stand for parliament or local authority or say something publically that may be Govt related that you would seek guidance and may have to seek LWOP. Most PS know this.
Entities are different in my view. The clause above is a step away from what guides the PS.
Sorry, meant to be a new topic, not a reply. This topic of serious concern, apart from the mainstream messaging and alt-media pushing political ideas.
newshub opinion piece on danger of microtargetting in NZ election messaging
Two points: social media micro-messaging is very cheap to get wide coverage of a pre-identfied target audience; and it is not made of one message, but a bundle of potential hot topics that rapidly evolves in response to clicks, generating the most effective message packages.
The EU has identified political micro-messaging as a threat to fair elections, and wants to manage it to protect democratic process.
It looks as though things have changed under the 2020 Public Service Act, which explicitly mandates that Crown Agents (Those Crown Entities which are responsible for delivering serives – clearly the Health Authority) – including boards – are included in the Public Service (in some respects)
https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/guidance/guide-for-ministers-statutory-crown-entities/overview/
The second paragraph under the section that tWiggle quoted is also relevant –
This is expanded upon in the direction from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in relation to Integrity and conduct throughout the State Sector.
https://dpmc.govt.nz/our-business-units/cabinet-office/supporting-work-cabinet/cabinet-manual/3-ministers-crown-and-5
One of the very explicit reasons for this neutrality is to ensure that "public servants" (whatever their actual job title) – have the capality to remain in their role following a change in government.
Did anyone (even Rob Campbell) think that he could have remained as Board Chair under a National Government, following his very forthright criticism of their policies?
please start paying attention to when one of the moderators replies to you. And please fix you username. This is the fourth time you’ve been asked.
Yes. I have just logged on again and seen the messages.
Hopefully fixed now.
Breech in the sense that co-governance has meaning in all areas, health (NACT want to eliminate any Maori Health Authority) environment …
And he did not want to be silenced on such wider debate …
“Right now, across the motu, there are too many sick and injured people, and not enough resources – including hospital beds and community care … ” – Then why accept the reduction in the capabilities for the replacement hospital in Dunedin all to save a $200m – This is a VERY BAD decision ?? – How we are being totally undersold in the health being delivered to Kiwis, and we have a minister why has no feel "I spend a lot of time going and talking to them to understand the true picture and I'm disappointed that didn't come across,” she said." Perhaps Ayesha Verrall you need to LISTEN and not talk ?? then you would know to question the numbers you used !!!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131450139/te-whatu-ora-reviewing-all-health-data-after-ed-mistake
According to https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/12/21/major-cuts-to-new-dunedin-hospital-design-as-budget-blows-out/
To me, the biggie is reduction in operating capacity. The other options do not greatly affect the overall service provision to the community. So this is not a 30% downsize of core hospital services, as suggested by the article title. The cuts will not only reduce cost blowout, but also reduce build time, bringing the hospital online earlier, surely a plus.
It's a reduction from 15 to 13 operating theatres, so not as serious as it could have been.
https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/our-health-system/infrastructure-and-investment/new-dunedin-hospital/
It is larger than the hospital it is replacing. There is space being built to almost the original specs but won't be fully fitted out in the short term. There is a lot more hot air floating about than facts.
I notice a lot of medical people being upset on the radio and in the press but it's hard for non-med people to tell whether they legitimately represent their fields, or come from ginger groups.
For example, I would expect the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners to be the industry voice for GPs criticising the government, but am not aware of any press releases from them regarding funding pressures on GPs. They do have an ongoing push for an equitable and transparent funding policy for GP practices, and also meet directly with Ayesha Verral.
One problem with election year is that groups like this know it's their last chance to improve things before a potential regime change. With a NACT government, any noise like this will be rapidly squashed, and will also be ignored politically, as happened in their previous stretch. "Move on. Nothing to see here, no social problems or sinking-lid funding on our watch…".
Yeah, it's still a top class facility.
Also in the mix there will need to be a surgical hospital in Central Otago very soon. I'd expect an announcement on this before the election with a facility to serve 100,000 being built within 10 years. Current population here is 50,000 and growing around 10% pa with huge seasonal peaks. Cromwell / Wanaka is about 3 -4 hours by road from Dunedin, Queenstown 2 hours to Invercargill, 4 hours to Dunedin.
This will take a lot of demand off Dunedin and it's apparent that the new Dunedin facility is being developed with an eye to demand in 10 -20 years time when Dunedin is still around 130,000 people, the same as it has been for the last 30 years. If current trends continue, in 30 years Central Otago will probably be larger than Dunedin. Not going down well in Dunedin, but they have to learn to accept that their city is going backwards, and there centres that are growing are sick of propping them up.
So currently if we need surgery, or urgent care, it's off to town for patient and support. No popping into the hospital to visit after work, they won't let you in after 8, so you're off to town for the week and in a motel. Manageable for people without commitments, but most people really struggle around this. Have seen some absolutely tragic outcomes because of the distance and separation.
That is a bit sad – Please point out where any climate denial has been posted by me. Certainly some questions which have resulted in some good and lengthy replies from a couple of others that have been very informative. What is it that you disagree with?
[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.]
I already provided you with a link to the previous conversation.
Went back and had a look at that. Is the subject so delicate that my seeking and questioning upsets the subject?