Off the topic of comment marvellosity, that same IP address thing from the other day has been background nagging at me. I've come across some info that talks about IPv4 running out of addresses, so some ISPs can implement ways of some users sharing the same public IP address. So unless lprent enlightens us to an alternate explanation, I'll go with that.
Superb brief comment. Many people are jealous, and for any number of reasons, but no one should be envious of your command of the English language.
"Methinks means “It seems to me.” Originally, it was spelled as two words. The me is an indirect object: “It seems to me.” Now it is spelled as one word, although some modern speakers, imagining that it means, “I think” spell it as two words."
"Note: Using methinks as if it meant, “I think” equates to such baby talk as “Me wants a cookie.”"
I always used to think that me thinks meant I seem to think to indicate that one wasn’t too sure of oneself, i.e. whether one was thinking something or whether one was in fact assuming that somebody else was thinking something that could be consistent and in fact quite similar to what one was thinking being that might be the case, in actual fact, presumably. In these situations, I usually praise the other for their sublime reasoning and clarity of communication, which is a precious rarity nowadays that I seldom encounter but highly value, nonetheless.
The main thing now is that the situation is contained, that it is established how it was and is transmitted and the resources required to test, contact trace and support on every level are available.
The options for the school need to be carefully considered. School holidays start on 28 September.
And how many people from Auckland meant to be at 2.5 left town and swanned about other parts of New Zealand and awarded themselves a level 2 to possibly spread it around. 2.5 should mean very limited inter regional travel.
Probably the next super spreader will be an MP or a candidate or their election support staff. I was for continuation of no regional travel into or out of Auckland at 2.5. I understand the reason for allowing regional travel at 2.5 was that it was too hard to enforce. People are not coming back into central Auckland and this is contributing to the final blow to businesses reliant on foot traffic. The rest of the country needs to return to 10 in a group and sport needs to be rethought.
Many sleepless nights are ahead for the government and a reset needs to take place after the weekend.
Nation wide transmission was always any day at anytime. The backstop is another level 4 lockdown and this might not be sustainable.
Certainly another 14 days at level 3 would have prevented this but I'm not sure it was an option given the pressure from business. I hope this isn't our Melbourne. As for the case and contacts, you canna help stupid. I'm reminded of Einstein – "Two things are infinite, the universe and stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe"
the pressure from business came simple from having no income and the government not allowing the wage subsidy for the full duration of level 3.
If the government wants to impose a lock down at the restriction set at Level 3 and up, then the government must provide legally binding rules that would allow for a rent break/bill break + food rations (yes, i can see rationing in our future) for the duration of the lock down at a bare minimum. Essentially it puts us in Home D with all the restrictions that come with it and sadly we still live in a capitalistic world and people thus must pay rent/ bills in order to survive really – and that will never work, not for the workers not for the businesses. I personally would have loved to see AKL go to L4 for 4 weeks on full pay, the rest of the country on 2 with access to aid for those that need it.
But here we are at 2.5 and we all wait for it to explode.
Duration of lockdown in Melbourne has been 6 weeks and another 2 week extention. Then a further review. Were Brisbane and Sydney to have a lockdown like in Melbourne Australia would take a big hit. The problem with Auckland is the size of the population and the hit to the economy.
Evidence is starting to come through that mask-wearing also reduces severity of infection as well as reducing likelihood of transmission.
For example, on an Argentinian cruise ship with an outbreak where masks were issued to everyone as soon as infection was detected, 81% of infections were asymptomatic. Compared to less than 20% asymptomatic on other plague ships where masks were not used.
Then there's a study on hamsters showing that masking reduced the likelihood of transmission, and reduced the severity of disease when it did happen.
Of course, increasing the proportion of asymptomatic cases has the minor downside of making it likelier an infection will pass through several generations undetected. Which makes contact tracing more difficult, so it increases the importance of the Covid app or some other means of movement tracking.
Couldn't anyone be the next super spreader based on the lack of mask wearing ?
Basics not being followed everywhere and Europes going off again with positive cases from elite sport, holiday making, gatherings in their many forms etc
Nice to be here but we've still got a lot of work to do. Did we ever trace that cluster origin ?
Matariki I’ve no issue with. It could replace Queens Birthday
Drop the anniversary day. Most anniversary day holidays are too close to another public holiday. Having an event in late June or in July during the coldest months of the year is ideal. From early June to late October there is no public holiday.
Yes, the concept of a Sabbath day that is sacrosanct to the extent possible from worldly concerns is an old one I'd like to see revived. It's meant to be a day of rest, not just physically, but mentally as well. A chance to restore and reconnect with what's important, family, community and one's own inner life.
Interestingly the Muslims do theirs on a Friday, the Jews on a Saturday, and the Christians of course on a Sunday. Therefore a truly multi denominational society could achieve a 3 day weekend no trouble .
It's meant to be a day of rest, not just physically, but mentally as well.
I always found working six days a week mentally and physically exhausting. 70 hours I could do – just so long as I had a full weekend to rest over and it wasn't every week.
Therefore a truly multi denominational society could achieve a 3 day weekend no trouble .
We only have one religion now – neo-liberal economics.
Christians don’t “of course” celebrate Sabbath on a Sunday. Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh-day Baptists celebrate Sabbath on a Saturday. Just FYI 🙂
Its starting to look like this evangelical church in Mt.Roskill, Auckland is one of the nut-job churches. If that is the case, then no doubt they're into conspiracy theories and denial.
I see Hipkins has put the police on the job. Good for him. I'm not one of the… we must treat these people gently mob. If they're dangerous and putting other people's lives at risk then come down hard on them. Make an example of them so that other nut-jobs think twice before behaving in the same way.
My first thought on reading the article was that it might have been the kind of behind-the-bike-shed close contact that wouldn't have received parental approval. Hence the failure to disclose.
Mt Roskill was always known as the Bible Belt in my youthful days. I have no quarrel with the main-stream churches. Indeed I was brought up in one of them. But I do have problems with the Johnny Come Lately bible bashing crowd who latch on to every bizarre theory they can lay their hands on. They're ignorant and dangerous and I'm not surprised the cluster numbers continue to increase.
Yeah, a bit more is coming out suggesting the church is kinda out there. But that doesn't negate the idea that the contact wasn't disclosed because of family dynamics, rather than, ahem, unorthodox views of the church group as a whole.
[Hipkins] said this sub-cluster has been a challenge to work with as some members do not understand the seriousness of the situation.
"There are certainly some within the cluster that perhaps don't accept or haven't previously accepted the science involved here."
They are now being educated on the gravity of the situation, he said.
"It would certainly appear that they were sceptical at the beginning," Hipkins said. "I think that a lot of work has been done with them since then."
are not ALL religions 'nut jobs', ignorant and dangerous?
The main stream churches, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish are little different, praying to an invisible man who knows all and created all. And as for those holier than thou Buddhists, check out their prayer request pricelests. The ChCh Buddhist Temple in Riccarton Road charges from $50 to $300 for a mention in a prayer, as an example, exploiting peoples vulnerabilities.
political parties, organised religions, gangs. three sides of the same bad egg(does an egg have sides?answer ,yes, your either with us in the shell or against us out in the pan)..
And I will not be kind and accepting of those whose beliefs put the health of others at risk. In doing so they burden unwitting rate/tax payers. I do not feel kind to speeding drivers whose self belief of invincibility puts others at risk.
'Someone' needs to explain to this group about real Christianity ie New Testament stuff not doing to others rather than the hardline Old Testament stuff that many of these churches believe in (the church that Israel Folau attended has similar people hating views).
So we have to be kind and accepting of idiots and crack-pots who are denying reality and putting others at risk?
These people are selfish and self-centred. Anyone who disregards the rules as laid down during the pandemic crisis for whatever reason deserve punishment.
The reason for not disclosing the contact could be not thinking children can get Covid-19 or that they cannot transmit it. The student is not to blame in any way, the adult responsible needs educating. The contact tracing system needs to have a process for eliminating another undisclosed contact to reduce a positive case.
Chris Hipkins: "It’s been a challenging cluster …There are certainly some within the cluster that perhaps don’t accept, haven’t previously accepted, the science involved here …”
So there are some who don't believe stuff like social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks and so on is likely to help stop the spread of the virus. The science.
They need educating because they're dumb. All the while we hear complaints about Ardern speaking to us as if we were kids, we were dumb. Some are.
Then again there are those who think they're not dumb who rubbish advice around the safety measures. Smart arses, they know best. Those two groups put everyone at risk, put all the hardship and effort at risk and are prepared to flush it all down the toilet.
Of course there are religious nutters here like in some places in the USA too who think God will protect them. All in the three groups should have to sign "Don't waste medical attention on me if I get Covid-19" waivers. Trouble is they'd happily infect innocent others along the way.
It's the result of Individualism and the idea hat all opinions are valid.. Both have been spread and encouraged over the last few decades across the globe and now we're seeing the result as stupid people act as if they know better than the scientists.
I plan to start with myself first when it comes to being educated about Covid – 19. How to avoid it and how to not transmit it.
Even the school does not allow people in the grounds to collect children. I have a marker for collecting gran kids and supervise hand washing after school.
Single biggest thing – get everyone to wear masks. Not only does it protect you and your whanau, the more mask-wearing gets normalised the better protection for everyone and the less risk we'll have to go back into lockdowns.
I really don't get why the government is so shy about introducing a mask mandate for all public places, especially indoors.
What will it take for a person to wear a mask when they leave their home?
Well, the government could get really brave (or suicidal) and mandate it like they have for masks on public transport.
Or if enough people start doing it, it will just get normalised as the right thing to do. Education and official encouragement could certainly help.
When I was a teenager, nobody wore helmets when skiing or biking. Helmet wearing kinda got normalised over the 90s and noughties, so now it's rare to not see them. Masks were quite normalised in a lot of Asian cities before the pandemic, because of pollution, but that almost certainly gave them a head start on controlling it at lower levels of coercion.
I would like to know how much it costs to produce a disposable mask?
I do not expect you to know the answer.
Some people might not like soaking and washing a material mask.
Distribution of material, elastic and cotton thread would help people with a sewing machine and some people would be prepared to sew for community groups.
Efeso Collins was on the radio addressing this issue this afternoon. He had the point that while some congregations may hold beliefs that are not mainstream, we still need to take them along with us.
When engaging with them, the messenger is more important than the message. So if the police are used with these people, then hopefully they are able to speak Samoan or Tongan.
I accept all of that gsays but it doesn't alter the fact that people who allow themselves to be sucked into following disinformation and so-called alternative belief systems which deny realities… have to be brought into line one way or another.
Climate change deniers were some such group and one of the reasons we have not addressed this increasingly deadly problem is because of them – aided and abetted by an idiotic media equivalence notion which saw them have too much influence on ignorant and naive peoples.
Seems to me that National has limited room for movement during this campaign. They are occupying a thin slice of ground:
They have fallen into line with the elimination strategy on Covid – the mumblings back in March-May about an alternative of 'living with the virus' are pretty much gone. They are left with insinuating that they would somehow do elimination 'better' and allow a greater degree of opening. This has little credibility – their flailing around on things like getting foreign students back in earlier, suggests they lack commitment to the elimination task, and in any case they would be working with the same health bureaucracy
They agree with Government borrowing to get through the crisis. Again the dubious insinuation is that they would borrow more effectively by directing money to the 'job creators' in business. This ignores the obvious – that if demand has tanked, then no business is going to create jobs to produce more goods and services. Borrowing has to be directed (as it has been) to support incomes at the bottom end of the economy – this money then trickles up – or in government-funded infrastructure.
They insist that the borrowing must be paid pack more quickly than can be achieved by letting economic growth wash it away over an extended period. They are setting an arbitrary 30% of GDP as the ceiling for Government debt. We know they are ideologically opposed to CGT, wealth tax, inheritance tax, higher top marginal income tax, and financial transaction tax. With those off the table – what tools are they left with? GST increases (which they prefer as it is regressive) or reductions in Government spending/services – the English/Joyce slow strangulation.
The reasons for voting National are now to do with culture/culture wars – or a matter of brand loyalty. The question is how big this bloc is – can it break through 35 or 40%?
good post. think brand loyalty in todays electorate is around 30%. its the swingers that decide elections, and expecting them to swing in behind a party that has swung in the wind over policies and leaders recently is a big ask.
September 17 has the NZ GDP 2quarter release. I thought it was already out, but that was an artifact of misreading the OECD chart. lol, my bad (we still look pretty good compared to the rest of the OECD in the march quarter).
So if we've got like a 20% hit to the economy, the planBleaters will make hay with their fortunate tragedy, and this might help the nats.
Otherwise, a couple of random clusters moght do it for JuCo, otherwise the nats are screwed.
The bigger problem for Natinal is that they have shown through this Covid episode that they are profoundly unfit to govern.
Their former health spokesperson making shit up about homeless in isolation and his toilet seat bullying, the then and current leaders refusing to ask hard questions of their senior MPs and, as you point out, their many and varied approaches to dealing with the crisis.
That is without looking at the likes of Brownlee, leading CERA and failing to dupe earthquake victims and a former defence minister who can 'forget' the murder of children by our elite forces.
If they only hold an nz passport then yes we take them . If they have a passport to another country that they had before their nz residency then na they can stay where they are
but what about kiwis? there are quite a few dual pass port holders that are actually born and bred kiwis? They too get a place on the boat to where ever they came from ? 🙂
The dial has literally gone back to zero in terms of immigration, in sharp contrast to the previous year when the overall numbers and net gain were New Zealand’s highest ever. What is unclear is what the country’s immigration management system or migrant flows will look like as we emerge from a pandemic. Will there be a major reset or will the old normal return?
Equilibrium, I hope. In nature, ecosystems attain that via the cancelling effect of negative feedback. Here, collusion by govts of the left & right has produced people pollution due to cramming them into Auckland without providing infrastructure to ameliorate negative consequences.
Enhancing cultural diversity is good, but I'm glad the pandemic pulled the plug on left/right mass insanity.
In March 2020, the immigration tap was all but turned off as New Zealand, and many other countries, closed their borders. But few countries have experienced quite the immigration arrival and net gain story that New Zealand has over the last two decades.
At this point, the drop in arrivals, apart from returning New Zealanders, is of such a magnitude it raises some fundamental questions: when will international mobility, both temporary and permanent migration, restart? And what will – or should – the new normal look like?
Sustainable, I hope! Wanting to present as a conventional academic, Spoonley carefully avoids answering his own questions. Must get readers thinking for themselves! Not to suggest he lacks credibility, mind you:
Spoonley is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University… a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand… and a Research Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity… a Board member of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology and is the current Chair of the TEC PBRF Panel for Social Sciences and Other Cultural/Social Studies.
An inverted population pyramid and a smaller prime working age population are going to provide us with significant challenges. Immigration is one of the options to address these major demographic shifts. It will be interesting to see whether our politicians and policy communities see it this way and construct an appropriate immigration model for a future New Zealand.
The politicians have been aware of those challenges for some time. It's pretty much why we've had almost unrestricted immigration for three decades as well as why we have short term workers being abused.
The law places responsibility on the gatekeeping/refereeing of our democracy to our independent Electoral Commission. They decide which parties meet the criteria to be registered and legal, and which are legitimate enough to receive significant public funding. The purpose of the Electoral Commission is to administer our electoral system “to provide an effective and impartial electoral system that New Zealanders understand and trust”.
Part of that role requires the Electoral Commission to determine how much funding different parties should receive to broadcast their message to the public. This independent assessment carried out by the country’s actual electoral referee should carry far more weight – and the media have a duty to respect that assessment.
In this case, the commission ranked TOP in Category 4. That is the same category as ACT and the Māori Party. There is no justification for treating us differently to them, and thereby giving more broadcast time to other parties in the same category. The TVNZ and TV3 decision undermines the intention of the law -–that is, to give the commission oversight over broadcast time – not the media.
The TVNZ and TV3 criteria mean that they are providing a significantly louder voice to two parties who were given the same level of broadcast funding as TOP – even though that classification signals that the Electoral Commission has determined we should be treated equally. It also means that TVNZ and TV3 are giving a far greater platform to one party that was ranked at Category 5 – below TOP – by the independent Electoral Commission process.
Simmons seems to have made a robust case. Both msm media corps have adopted arbitrary rules that defy the spirit of democracy exemplified by the EC decisions.
Good point. ACT shouldn't be on at all, the Maori Party has a position as part of our bi-cultural status, and if ACT is allowed on then TOP should be too. It seems a decision of grace and favour with these television luvvies at the top of the tree.
"The The, Pro-truth, pledge.incorporates 12 countermeasures to the psychological factors that foster misinformation. Signers pledge their earnest efforts to make it a practice to:
Share truth
Verify: fact-check information to confirm it is true before accepting and sharing it
Balance: share the whole truth, even if some aspects do not support my opinion
Cite: share my sources so that others can verify my information
NEW DELHI — India and China accused each other Tuesday of firing warning shots during a confrontation the day before at their disputed border in a marked escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Yeah, just the final turd garnish this shit sandwich of a 2020 needs. A third of the world's population, armed with nukes, to start shooting at each other.
Looks like China is pushing for an actual war there:
Such protocols did not prevent the two countries from engaging in their deadliest violence in more than 50 years in June, when Chinese soldiers armed with clubs studded with nails and metal rods clashed with Indian troops in a remote area of the western Himalayas.
More of their aggressive territorial grabbing similar to what they're doing in the South China Sea.
“These are serious military provocations of a terrible nature,” Zhang said. China demanded that India restrain its troops and punish the soldiers who fired their weapons.
Looks to me like its China doing the provoking.
Xi has said that the country will never give up an inch of territory, and Beijing has become more strident in asserting such claims in recent years, Glaser said, whether in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait.
And China has extended that to areas that were never under its control.
All indications are that China is making a massive land grab.
So disappointed that the Children commissioner is using old folks pension as an excuse for child neglect and poverty.
So we now will just have the old folks die of cold/hunger as we take their earned money (most have paid taxes all their lives) from them Its like taking from Peter to pay Paul.
And lets not forget that the Government gets millions of overseas pensions paid into the coffers.
To play one vulnerable group against the other is disgusting.
FFS Robertson is displaying lack of understanding tax. Increase the top rate whilst keeping other rates e.g. Coy and trusts at the same level. Just watch those at the very top end manipulate their affairs to reduce the tax. We deserve better, and Labour SHOULD be deliver better than this.🤬But to divert attention lets talk about National.
"Labour will not implement any new taxes or make any further increases to income tax next term," Robertson promised this morning."
Fairly shrewd. Targets the 1%. Then also targets the 1% below that. Can't say that's not socialist, eh?
Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Grant Robertson has unveiled the party’s long-awaited tax policy, announcing a return of the 39 per cent tax bracket. But Robertson sweetened what would otherwise be a bitter pill by saying the top rate would only apply to income earned above $180,000 – meaning that only 2 per cent of taxpayers would actually pay it.
"The proposed new tax rate would cost $23 a week for someone earning $200,000 a year, but would make it easier for the Government to help the economy “bounce back” from Covid-10, while leaving income tax levels unchanged for about 98 percent of people."
No kidding! A pittance. Still, the `victims' will feel it as a tiny prick, as of a gnat, and will decide neoliberal Grant ain't so bad after all. Win/win all around?
The tax is on an individual's income so as he points out a couple earning $120,000 each have no change.
Compare that kind and fair attitude to the beneficiary who is friendly with a male, earning or not, and is dubbed in a relationship 'in the nature of marriage' and has her already straitened benefit and allowances cut back.
Has Robertson got any children? How close can he be to the basic circumstances of an ordinary person in a relationship?
I think for it to be described as 'shrewd' it would have to have a good chance of convincing enough voters that it will have a positive impact…..so no win in that respect IMO
And if you belief this will achieve its Headline Stealing aims will be, then you are far too innocent to be blogging on a political site. 😉.
Those at the very top that have the ability to "Manage" their affairs 0.1% will not be inconvenience at all they will reintroduce what was in place when the top rate was well out of step with the coy and trust rates or income splitting with family members.
"If you want a fairer New Zealand, you need to vote for people who actually support one. And based on current policy, the only party who fits that criteria is the Greens. As for Labour, they are the problem, not the solution – a complete waste of politicla space. Don't vote for them."
Pricing is flexible but conforms to market demand.
It's more a question of if BMW will forgo selling those cars and getting the profit or not. Personally, I think that they'll still want the profit.
And then there's the questions:
Are all of the doctors going to leave or will enough stay?
How many doctors is India training up?
An article I read a few years back was about the established lawyers in the US complaining that the universities were producing too many lawyers and they were thus having to drop their fees. We could probably do the same here with doctors.
Just watch those at the very top end manipulate their affairs to reduce the tax.
Yep, Watch as the highest net wealth individuals have their declared incomes stay at 70,000 while having actual incomes significantly higher than that. That estimated $7 billion in tax fraud isn't about to get any lower.
And this is why i would rather see a an untaxed income of say first 25.000 NZD a year (based on average rent) as that would actually benefit society. (even the rich would benefit)
They will never pay the tax increase because they are already not paying taxes currently levied at them. This is just a load of hogwash.
And this is why i would rather see a an untaxed income of say first 25.000 NZD a year (based on average rent) as that would actually benefit society. (even the rich would benefit)
Although I agree with the sentiment all it would do is have the rich put prices up so that they catch the all the extra money that the poor would have available.
well they already do that anyways, so no harm done.
secondly, if we ever get a government with guts (and no the centrist greens of today i don't think have what is needed) we might actually get some legislation as to when and how much a rental can be increased, we might get a rent mirror, etc etc all legal and binding.
But this charade is just mind numbing dumb and uninspired.
That is is for the election 2020 – the year of the global pandemic, we try even less then we did last election. Here have a token tax increase that non of the rich will ever pay, now shut up peasants…you see we are all in the boat that you poor suckers get to row while we the rich get to set the speed banging on the drums.
After watching "The Salisbury Poisoning" and how washout Tracy Daszkiewicz the( Director of Public Health and Safety for the county of Wiltshire) was portrayed, it just reinforces to me what our skilled medical and government officials are going thru currently. The pressure they are under. I hope that there are means for the country to display our gratitude to many of them. As the toll on these people and their families are huge, perhaps many of the high end Titular Honours are appropriate?
Well Tracy had to cope with disinformation coming from her own prime minister
‘Three children fell ill after feeding ducks there’, she is quoted saying, referring to the hospitalisation of children who had been in the park where Mr Skripal was found. ‘Yes, it’s horrible and disgusting’, Mr Trump agreed. ‘The US and the UK must stand together on this’, Mrs May said, according to the notes.”
April last year Tracy corrected this
Asked by the Guardian to comment on the New York Times report, Tracy Daszkiewicz, the director of public health at Wiltshire council, said: “There were no other casualties other than those previously stated. No wildlife were impacted by the incident and no children were exposed to or became ill as a result of either incident.”
Which when you consider was pretty remarkable considering the bread came straight from the freshly contaminated hand of Sergei, and one of the boys ate a piece
Later vast portions of Salisbury that the Skripals had passed through post the duck feeding ,were shut down and deep decontaminated ,such was the lethality of the nerve agent on the Skripal's hands, fresh from the doorknob
This duck feeding incident is fondly known as the Salisbury miracle, whereby God(Salisbury after all being a cathedral town )protected the innocent children and ducks from the most lethal nerve agent known to mankind
Hmm. Interesting! So half the Green voters of yore are rabid leftists willing to stab the others in the back, and opposed to teaching sustainability. I suspected they were that flaky, but this proof is provisional. I will await the next msm poll…
"UMR polls are private polls (paid for by Labour and corporate clients) but have been more often leaked when they have been favourable to Labour and bad for National"
The practice may not be legal, but that hasn't stopped seven Wellington electoral candidates, including a minister, a deputy and a co-leader, admitting to smoking weed
Refreshing honesty from the Nat contender. When high, did she see the big picture? Did she later forget that? Counter-culture gnosis accepted marijuana as the truth drug half a century ago. Doug Sahm did a cool song about that at the time.
I remember back to the early days in California,
When everybody spent their days in Golden Gate Park,
And I look for that smile on my friends today,
And I wonder, I wonder how it has slipped away.
Stoned faces don't lie, baby when you're high,
Stoned faces don't lie, baby when you're high.
Kim Dotcom (KDC) back on the Twitter wire again (last 24 hours) on Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and D J Trump.
A fail in relation to reliance on the NZ court system to permit disclosure of security and intelligence material in a (seemingly, but perhaps not) "fishing expedition", but I am sure that KDC would have considered this to almost be a foregone conclusion ahead of the decision in any case, even by a New Zealand court, perhaps more especially by a New Zealand court.
The nation and it's system infrastructure aren't THAT "open and friendly" when it comes to such matters as the material he sought, nor many "commercially sensitive" matters pertaining to assets and even land property holdings.
Many believed that whatever material he had accrued might have been likened to an "Aucktoberfest" of disclosure. Hope still springs eternal for him and his, I guess.
However, (or in any case), Hollywood certainly sounds like an interesting path to follow in relation to various enterprises and pathways leading to "enlightenment".
Just reflect, (for a few minutes even) and it will be worth your while.
Hollywood and what it produces has a massive influence on people all around the globe, and has done for around a century.
Do not discard the power of mainstream media, and both the film and entertainment industry and the impact they can have on political decision making and decisions made by certain facets of industry and commerce.
Look at the power or radio alone as it was prior to television sets being a standard domestic living room item.
Orson Welles and the fictionalized "invasion by Martians" (1938) as a piece leading to mass hysteria. On the other side of the coin, real time reporting by by foreign correspondents not just in a war zone, but actually reporting as the bullets whizzed past their heads.
Maybe he (KDC) is or was onto something here in relation to power base utilization of Hollywood to serve their own and various personal agenda as opposed to the simple and generally accepted national interest ramifications historically evidenced throughout the decades.
Yes Hanna Barbera had an affect on our politics with their cartoon "Reds under the Beds" Dancing Cossacks… anyone remember those? In Bill Rollings time.
In short, the notion that the War of the Worlds program sent untold thousands of people into the streets in panic is a media-driven myth that offers a deceptive message about the power radio wielded over listeners in its early days and, more broadly, about the media’s potential to sow fright, panic, and alarm.
Misinformation is a serious issue and. as I say, needs to be made illegal.
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Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
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Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
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Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
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The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
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Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
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Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
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This would appear to be a serious concern.
A school in west Auckland has closed because a student tested positive for COVID 19.
I saw Treetop expressed the same feeling late yesterday evening on Open Mike.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425568/auckland-school-closed-after-student-tests-positive-for-covid-19
Thank you Ed, another superb comment.
An interesting/informative comment, possibly even a good comment, but "superb"?
Wonderful, wonderful comment.
Sublime comment!
Off the topic of comment marvellosity, that same IP address thing from the other day has been background nagging at me. I've come across some info that talks about IPv4 running out of addresses, so some ISPs can implement ways of some users sharing the same public IP address. So unless lprent enlightens us to an alternate explanation, I'll go with that.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/10/europol-calls-internet-providers-end-cgnat-ip-address-sharing.html
Haven’t heard back from Lprent but he’s been busy.
Someone is jealous me thinks…
Superb brief comment. Many people are jealous, and for any number of reasons, but no one should be envious of your command of the English language.
I always used to think that me thinks meant I seem to think to indicate that one wasn’t too sure of oneself, i.e. whether one was thinking something or whether one was in fact assuming that somebody else was thinking something that could be consistent and in fact quite similar to what one was thinking being that might be the case, in actual fact, presumably. In these situations, I usually praise the other for their sublime reasoning and clarity of communication, which is a precious rarity nowadays that I seldom encounter but highly value, nonetheless.
But me does want a cookie !
Least ways, that's how I sees it, says I.
As me does, but their bad for I.
The main thing now is that the situation is contained, that it is established how it was and is transmitted and the resources required to test, contact trace and support on every level are available.
The options for the school need to be carefully considered. School holidays start on 28 September.
No school on Saturday 26 September. Holidays don't start the next Monday in reality.
And how many people from Auckland meant to be at 2.5 left town and swanned about other parts of New Zealand and awarded themselves a level 2 to possibly spread it around. 2.5 should mean very limited inter regional travel.
then you need to leave it at level 3.
Probably the next super spreader will be an MP or a candidate or their election support staff. I was for continuation of no regional travel into or out of Auckland at 2.5. I understand the reason for allowing regional travel at 2.5 was that it was too hard to enforce. People are not coming back into central Auckland and this is contributing to the final blow to businesses reliant on foot traffic. The rest of the country needs to return to 10 in a group and sport needs to be rethought.
Many sleepless nights are ahead for the government and a reset needs to take place after the weekend.
Nation wide transmission was always any day at anytime. The backstop is another level 4 lockdown and this might not be sustainable.
Certainly another 14 days at level 3 would have prevented this but I'm not sure it was an option given the pressure from business. I hope this isn't our Melbourne. As for the case and contacts, you canna help stupid. I'm reminded of Einstein – "Two things are infinite, the universe and stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe"
the pressure from business came simple from having no income and the government not allowing the wage subsidy for the full duration of level 3.
If the government wants to impose a lock down at the restriction set at Level 3 and up, then the government must provide legally binding rules that would allow for a rent break/bill break + food rations (yes, i can see rationing in our future) for the duration of the lock down at a bare minimum. Essentially it puts us in Home D with all the restrictions that come with it and sadly we still live in a capitalistic world and people thus must pay rent/ bills in order to survive really – and that will never work, not for the workers not for the businesses. I personally would have loved to see AKL go to L4 for 4 weeks on full pay, the rest of the country on 2 with access to aid for those that need it.
But here we are at 2.5 and we all wait for it to explode.
Duration of lockdown in Melbourne has been 6 weeks and another 2 week extention. Then a further review. Were Brisbane and Sydney to have a lockdown like in Melbourne Australia would take a big hit. The problem with Auckland is the size of the population and the hit to the economy.
Wear your masks, people.
Evidence is starting to come through that mask-wearing also reduces severity of infection as well as reducing likelihood of transmission.
For example, on an Argentinian cruise ship with an outbreak where masks were issued to everyone as soon as infection was detected, 81% of infections were asymptomatic. Compared to less than 20% asymptomatic on other plague ships where masks were not used.
Then there's a study on hamsters showing that masking reduced the likelihood of transmission, and reduced the severity of disease when it did happen.
Of course, increasing the proportion of asymptomatic cases has the minor downside of making it likelier an infection will pass through several generations undetected. Which makes contact tracing more difficult, so it increases the importance of the Covid app or some other means of movement tracking.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2026913
The evidence has been there for a long time.
Couldn't anyone be the next super spreader based on the lack of mask wearing ?
Basics not being followed everywhere and Europes going off again with positive cases from elite sport, holiday making, gatherings in their many forms etc
Nice to be here but we've still got a lot of work to do. Did we ever trace that cluster origin ?
Matariki I’ve no issue with. It could replace Queens Birthday
Drop the anniversary day. Most anniversary day holidays are too close to another public holiday. Having an event in late June or in July during the coldest months of the year is ideal. From early June to late October there is no public holiday.
On Matiriki.
As retail employers have already turned weekends into working days, they can hardly complain about holidays.
Yes, the concept of a Sabbath day that is sacrosanct to the extent possible from worldly concerns is an old one I'd like to see revived. It's meant to be a day of rest, not just physically, but mentally as well. A chance to restore and reconnect with what's important, family, community and one's own inner life.
Interestingly the Muslims do theirs on a Friday, the Jews on a Saturday, and the Christians of course on a Sunday. Therefore a truly multi denominational society could achieve a 3 day weekend no trouble .
I always found working six days a week mentally and physically exhausting. 70 hours I could do – just so long as I had a full weekend to rest over and it wasn't every week.
We only have one religion now – neo-liberal economics.
Christians don’t “of course” celebrate Sabbath on a Sunday. Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh-day Baptists celebrate Sabbath on a Saturday. Just FYI 🙂
Its starting to look like this evangelical church in Mt.Roskill, Auckland is one of the nut-job churches. If that is the case, then no doubt they're into conspiracy theories and denial.
I see Hipkins has put the police on the job. Good for him. I'm not one of the… we must treat these people gently mob. If they're dangerous and putting other people's lives at risk then come down hard on them. Make an example of them so that other nut-jobs think twice before behaving in the same way.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425580/covid-19-student-who-tested-positive-an-undisclosed-contact-hipkins-says
My first thought on reading the article was that it might have been the kind of behind-the-bike-shed close contact that wouldn't have received parental approval. Hence the failure to disclose.
Mt Roskill was always known as the Bible Belt in my youthful days. I have no quarrel with the main-stream churches. Indeed I was brought up in one of them. But I do have problems with the Johnny Come Lately bible bashing crowd who latch on to every bizarre theory they can lay their hands on. They're ignorant and dangerous and I'm not surprised the cluster numbers continue to increase.
Yeah, a bit more is coming out suggesting the church is kinda out there. But that doesn't negate the idea that the contact wasn't disclosed because of family dynamics, rather than, ahem, unorthodox views of the church group as a whole.
A couple of deaths probably helped bring the matter into perspective, sadly.
are not ALL religions 'nut jobs', ignorant and dangerous?
The main stream churches, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish are little different, praying to an invisible man who knows all and created all. And as for those holier than thou Buddhists, check out their prayer request pricelests. The ChCh Buddhist Temple in Riccarton Road charges from $50 to $300 for a mention in a prayer, as an example, exploiting peoples vulnerabilities.
political parties, organised religions, gangs. three sides of the same bad egg(does an egg have sides?answer ,yes, your either with us in the shell or against us out in the pan)..
Well, yes, any faith system that requires belief without evidence is nutjob, ignorant and dangerous.
Some are worse than others, though, sometimes also requiring belief in the face of very conclusive evidence contradicting that belief.
That is WHAT faith is . Thanks for being so kind and accepting of others. Your comment is so telling.
I'm certainly not going to be kind and accepting of people who continue to believe things that are contradicted by evidence. Why should I?
And I will not be kind and accepting of those whose beliefs put the health of others at risk. In doing so they burden unwitting rate/tax payers. I do not feel kind to speeding drivers whose self belief of invincibility puts others at risk.
'Someone' needs to explain to this group about real Christianity ie New Testament stuff not doing to others rather than the hardline Old Testament stuff that many of these churches believe in (the church that Israel Folau attended has similar people hating views).
So we have to be kind and accepting of idiots and crack-pots who are denying reality and putting others at risk?
These people are selfish and self-centred. Anyone who disregards the rules as laid down during the pandemic crisis for whatever reason deserve punishment.
The reason for not disclosing the contact could be not thinking children can get Covid-19 or that they cannot transmit it. The student is not to blame in any way, the adult responsible needs educating. The contact tracing system needs to have a process for eliminating another undisclosed contact to reduce a positive case.
I'm talking about the adults not the children.
I knew you were raising adults.
The adult(s) needs educating?
Chris Hipkins: "It’s been a challenging cluster …There are certainly some within the cluster that perhaps don’t accept, haven’t previously accepted, the science involved here …”
So there are some who don't believe stuff like social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks and so on is likely to help stop the spread of the virus. The science.
They need educating because they're dumb. All the while we hear complaints about Ardern speaking to us as if we were kids, we were dumb. Some are.
Then again there are those who think they're not dumb who rubbish advice around the safety measures. Smart arses, they know best. Those two groups put everyone at risk, put all the hardship and effort at risk and are prepared to flush it all down the toilet.
Of course there are religious nutters here like in some places in the USA too who think God will protect them. All in the three groups should have to sign "Don't waste medical attention on me if I get Covid-19" waivers. Trouble is they'd happily infect innocent others along the way.
It's the result of Individualism and the idea hat all opinions are valid.. Both have been spread and encouraged over the last few decades across the globe and now we're seeing the result as stupid people act as if they know better than the scientists.
And now that BS is coming back to bite.
I plan to start with myself first when it comes to being educated about Covid – 19. How to avoid it and how to not transmit it.
Even the school does not allow people in the grounds to collect children. I have a marker for collecting gran kids and supervise hand washing after school.
Single biggest thing – get everyone to wear masks. Not only does it protect you and your whanau, the more mask-wearing gets normalised the better protection for everyone and the less risk we'll have to go back into lockdowns.
I really don't get why the government is so shy about introducing a mask mandate for all public places, especially indoors.
Masks are important. I have both disposable and material ones.
What will it take for a person to wear a mask when they leave their home?
What will it take for a person to wear a mask when they leave their home?
Well, the government could get really brave (or suicidal) and mandate it like they have for masks on public transport.
Or if enough people start doing it, it will just get normalised as the right thing to do. Education and official encouragement could certainly help.
When I was a teenager, nobody wore helmets when skiing or biking. Helmet wearing kinda got normalised over the 90s and noughties, so now it's rare to not see them. Masks were quite normalised in a lot of Asian cities before the pandemic, because of pollution, but that almost certainly gave them a head start on controlling it at lower levels of coercion.
Cost is a factor as well.
I would like to know how much it costs to produce a disposable mask?
I do not expect you to know the answer.
Some people might not like soaking and washing a material mask.
Distribution of material, elastic and cotton thread would help people with a sewing machine and some people would be prepared to sew for community groups.
I have been sewing material masks.
Efeso Collins was on the radio addressing this issue this afternoon. He had the point that while some congregations may hold beliefs that are not mainstream, we still need to take them along with us.
When engaging with them, the messenger is more important than the message. So if the police are used with these people, then hopefully they are able to speak Samoan or Tongan.
I accept all of that gsays but it doesn't alter the fact that people who allow themselves to be sucked into following disinformation and so-called alternative belief systems which deny realities… have to be brought into line one way or another.
Climate change deniers were some such group and one of the reasons we have not addressed this increasingly deadly problem is because of them – aided and abetted by an idiotic media equivalence notion which saw them have too much influence on ignorant and naive peoples.
Seems to me that National has limited room for movement during this campaign. They are occupying a thin slice of ground:
The reasons for voting National are now to do with culture/culture wars – or a matter of brand loyalty. The question is how big this bloc is – can it break through 35 or 40%?
good post. think brand loyalty in todays electorate is around 30%. its the swingers that decide elections, and expecting them to swing in behind a party that has swung in the wind over policies and leaders recently is a big ask.
September 17 has the NZ GDP 2quarter release. I thought it was already out, but that was an artifact of misreading the OECD chart. lol, my bad (we still look pretty good compared to the rest of the OECD in the march quarter).
So if we've got like a 20% hit to the economy, the planBleaters will make hay with their fortunate tragedy, and this might help the nats.
Otherwise, a couple of random clusters moght do it for JuCo, otherwise the nats are screwed.
The bigger problem for Natinal is that they have shown through this Covid episode that they are profoundly unfit to govern.
Their former health spokesperson making shit up about homeless in isolation and his toilet seat bullying, the then and current leaders refusing to ask hard questions of their senior MPs and, as you point out, their many and varied approaches to dealing with the crisis.
That is without looking at the likes of Brownlee, leading CERA and failing to dupe earthquake victims and a former defence minister who can 'forget' the murder of children by our elite forces.
Time for a heavy prune and rebuild for nats.
I think it would also be wise , and economic , to not allow people to come in from countries where covid is out of control. Like India right now.
Racist Much
And Brasil.
No commonsense, would probably still include USA right now too.
Only probably? America has had 50% more cases then India while only having 11% more recovered cases.
Anyway, we can't close out boarders to NZ citizens and their dependents.
And Pommyrania.
No, just cautious.
I'd include the USA as well and probably England.
It's not that great anywhere. Some countries are at least going in the right direction again.
http://shorturl.at/pyJPZ
Your URL doesn't work.
try this
http://shorturl.at/dhjKQ
(I'm not sure why it didn't work. I did test it before posting. Now I've tested it in chrome, opera and firefox.)
If they only hold an nz passport then yes we take them . If they have a passport to another country that they had before their nz residency then na they can stay where they are
hard to enforce.
Do you want their families to be exiled as well? And on what grounds?
If they are have been living oversea then yip.
Why should some have the luxury of dual citizenship?? When for most it's not possible.
I bet alot of double passport holders had no intention of living here till covid.
could be very well true,
but what about kiwis? there are quite a few dual pass port holders that are actually born and bred kiwis? They too get a place on the boat to where ever they came from ? 🙂
Pretty much every other country on the planet right now, especially if we include transit hubs.
And frankly, fair enough.
It's not just us – we're a gateway to the pacific. We slaughtered Samoans with the Spanish flu, we mustn't repeat that crime.
Prof Spoonley examines the dramatic halt to immigration: https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/07-09-2020/when-nzs-great-immigration-tap-suddenly-turned-off/
Equilibrium, I hope. In nature, ecosystems attain that via the cancelling effect of negative feedback. Here, collusion by govts of the left & right has produced people pollution due to cramming them into Auckland without providing infrastructure to ameliorate negative consequences.
Enhancing cultural diversity is good, but I'm glad the pandemic pulled the plug on left/right mass insanity.
Sustainable, I hope! Wanting to present as a conventional academic, Spoonley carefully avoids answering his own questions. Must get readers thinking for themselves! Not to suggest he lacks credibility, mind you:
The politicians have been aware of those challenges for some time. It's pretty much why we've had almost unrestricted immigration for three decades as well as why we have short term workers being abused.
The TOP leader seems to have a valid complaint:
Simmons seems to have made a robust case. Both msm media corps have adopted arbitrary rules that defy the spirit of democracy exemplified by the EC decisions.
Good point. ACT shouldn't be on at all, the Maori Party has a position as part of our bi-cultural status, and if ACT is allowed on then TOP should be too. It seems a decision of grace and favour with these television luvvies at the top of the tree.
"The The, Pro-truth, pledge.incorporates 12 countermeasures to the psychological factors that foster misinformation. Signers pledge their earnest efforts to make it a practice to:
Share truth
Honor truth
Encourage truth
Wonder if any one in the MSM would be willing to sign on to that.
And one of the signers is the Guardian and yet they spent a hell of a lot of time spreading misinformation about Corbyn.
why not.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/shots-fired-on-the-india-china-border-for-the-first-time-in-decades-as-tensions-flare/2020/09/08/d8c5a020-f195-11ea-8025-5d3489768ac8_story.html.
Yeah, just the final turd garnish this shit sandwich of a 2020 needs. A third of the world's population, armed with nukes, to start shooting at each other.
i hear we live in interesting times?
Looks like China is pushing for an actual war there:
More of their aggressive territorial grabbing similar to what they're doing in the South China Sea.
Looks to me like its China doing the provoking.
And China has extended that to areas that were never under its control.
All indications are that China is making a massive land grab.
Meanwhile, these tools are whining because their decision to ditch the JPCOA is a spectacular failure
https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1303367064892116998
Is that where it all went from Killary's Uranium One deal? I'm soooooo confused …
So disappointed that the Children commissioner is using old folks pension as an excuse for child neglect and poverty.
So we now will just have the old folks die of cold/hunger as we take their earned money (most have paid taxes all their lives) from them Its like taking from Peter to pay Paul.
And lets not forget that the Government gets millions of overseas pensions paid into the coffers.
To play one vulnerable group against the other is disgusting.
whodunwotnow?
I'd be very surprised if that was what he said. Seems quite out of the usual line.
FFS Robertson is displaying lack of understanding tax. Increase the top rate whilst keeping other rates e.g. Coy and trusts at the same level. Just watch those at the very top end manipulate their affairs to reduce the tax. We deserve better, and Labour SHOULD be deliver better than this.🤬But to divert attention lets talk about National.
"Labour will not implement any new taxes or make any further increases to income tax next term," Robertson promised this morning."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12363383
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300102796/election-2020-labour-to-bring-back-top-39-per-cent-income-tax-rate
Fairly shrewd. Targets the 1%. Then also targets the 1% below that. Can't say that's not socialist, eh?
Shrewd…or tokenism?
"The proposed new tax rate would cost $23 a week for someone earning $200,000 a year, but would make it easier for the Government to help the economy “bounce back” from Covid-10, while leaving income tax levels unchanged for about 98 percent of people."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/labour-proposes-new-tax-rate-for-top-two-percent
No kidding! A pittance. Still, the `victims' will feel it as a tiny prick, as of a gnat, and will decide neoliberal Grant ain't so bad after all. Win/win all around?
The tax is on an individual's income so as he points out a couple earning $120,000 each have no change.
Compare that kind and fair attitude to the beneficiary who is friendly with a male, earning or not, and is dubbed in a relationship 'in the nature of marriage' and has her already straitened benefit and allowances cut back.
Has Robertson got any children? How close can he be to the basic circumstances of an ordinary person in a relationship?
I think for it to be described as 'shrewd' it would have to have a good chance of convincing enough voters that it will have a positive impact…..so no win in that respect IMO
And if you belief this will achieve its Headline Stealing aims will be, then you are far too innocent to be blogging on a political site. 😉.
Those at the very top that have the ability to "Manage" their affairs 0.1% will not be inconvenience at all they will reintroduce what was in place when the top rate was well out of step with the coy and trust rates or income splitting with family members.
Yeah, excuse my momentary naivety – this too shall pass. Could be an effective headline stealer tonight tho eh?
"If you want a fairer New Zealand, you need to vote for people who actually support one. And based on current policy, the only party who fits that criteria is the Greens. As for Labour, they are the problem, not the solution – a complete waste of politicla space. Don't vote for them."
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/
QFT
We need a change, a massive change. One that's needed is a maximum income set at, as a good discussion starter, that $180,000.
We cannot afford for people to have too much.
" One that's needed is a maximum income set at, as a good discussion starter, that $180,000. "
Practicality – As a highly skilled surgeon, I stay in NZ I can only top out at 180K but can make 300K in Aus or the US…
I see a flaw in your argument.
What would the Purchasing Power Parity be though?
Remember that the market will adjust so you should still be able to buy a BMW. It'd just have half the nominal value that it would be in Aus.
Think of it this way: You could go to Zimbabwe and have an income in the multiple millions every week.
So BMW are just going to drop their pricing?
You could go to Zimbabwe and have an income in the multiple millions every week.
Yet still be unable to buy bread.
Fact remains… As a highly skilled surgeon, I stay in NZ I can only top out at 180K but can make 300K in Aus or the US…
I don't think you have thought this through.
Pricing is flexible but conforms to market demand.
It's more a question of if BMW will forgo selling those cars and getting the profit or not. Personally, I think that they'll still want the profit.
And then there's the questions:
An article I read a few years back was about the established lawyers in the US complaining that the universities were producing too many lawyers and they were thus having to drop their fees. We could probably do the same here with doctors.
Why on earth would Grant Robertson increase HIS tax burden?
The nobility of spirit evident in his martyrdom? Just guessing – don't quote me…
Yep, Watch as the highest net wealth individuals have their declared incomes stay at 70,000 while having actual incomes significantly higher than that. That estimated $7 billion in tax fraud isn't about to get any lower.
And this is why i would rather see a an untaxed income of say first 25.000 NZD a year (based on average rent) as that would actually benefit society. (even the rich would benefit)
They will never pay the tax increase because they are already not paying taxes currently levied at them. This is just a load of hogwash.
Although I agree with the sentiment all it would do is have the rich put prices up so that they catch the all the extra money that the poor would have available.
well they already do that anyways, so no harm done.
secondly, if we ever get a government with guts (and no the centrist greens of today i don't think have what is needed) we might actually get some legislation as to when and how much a rental can be increased, we might get a rent mirror, etc etc all legal and binding.
But this charade is just mind numbing dumb and uninspired.
That is is for the election 2020 – the year of the global pandemic, we try even less then we did last election. Here have a token tax increase that non of the rich will ever pay, now shut up peasants…you see we are all in the boat that you poor suckers get to row while we the rich get to set the speed banging on the drums.
After watching "The Salisbury Poisoning" and how washout Tracy Daszkiewicz the( Director of Public Health and Safety for the county of Wiltshire) was portrayed, it just reinforces to me what our skilled medical and government officials are going thru currently. The pressure they are under. I hope that there are means for the country to display our gratitude to many of them. As the toll on these people and their families are huge, perhaps many of the high end Titular Honours are appropriate?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Daszkiewicz
Herodotus
Well Tracy had to cope with disinformation coming from her own prime minister
Hmm. Interesting! So half the Green voters of yore are rabid leftists willing to stab the others in the back, and opposed to teaching sustainability. I suspected they were that flaky, but this proof is provisional. I will await the next msm poll…
nah, they're the teal crowd who jumped over to act lol.
Or maybe a point observation is often vulnerable to systemic issues within the polling organisation's methodology.
What does 'corporate poll' figures mean? Is this a business response?
no idea.
But it seems to be a bit skewed, much toward the lower end of the spread for the greens.
"UMR polls are private polls (paid for by Labour and corporate clients) but have been more often leaked when they have been favourable to Labour and bad for National"
Pete George
lol but does that mean Labour's leaking them or is it some disgruntled nat supporters who want another leadership change 😉
Outlaws, competing, speaking truth to power, score 7 out of 7 in consensus politics! https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/cannabis-referendum/122703050/cannabis-referendum-election-debate-sees-leaders-minister-confess-to-smoking-weed
Refreshing honesty from the Nat contender. When high, did she see the big picture? Did she later forget that? Counter-culture gnosis accepted marijuana as the truth drug half a century ago. Doug Sahm did a cool song about that at the time.
2020 getting weirder by the day.
https://twitter.com/36th_Parallel/status/1303251240378195968
https://twitter.com/Te_Taipo/status/1303282069418590210
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhYmsWkUMAArwQB?format=jpg&name=900×900
Fuck it, I'm all in.
We'd probably end up with good government simply because, apparently, the most evil thing he could do is eliminate capitalism.
Back in February the largest wildfires in the southern hemisphere and the deaths of millions of animals was going to be 2020's worst story.
Now …..
One of the funny bits in the legal letter is the bit about stopping Te Kahika getting into Parliament.
The Oxford vaccine has hit a wee stumble. It's why safety trials take place. Hopefully it's unrelated, and the trial can restart.
Kim Dotcom (KDC) back on the Twitter wire again (last 24 hours) on Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and D J Trump.
A fail in relation to reliance on the NZ court system to permit disclosure of security and intelligence material in a (seemingly, but perhaps not) "fishing expedition", but I am sure that KDC would have considered this to almost be a foregone conclusion ahead of the decision in any case, even by a New Zealand court, perhaps more especially by a New Zealand court.
The nation and it's system infrastructure aren't THAT "open and friendly" when it comes to such matters as the material he sought, nor many "commercially sensitive" matters pertaining to assets and even land property holdings.
Many believed that whatever material he had accrued might have been likened to an "Aucktoberfest" of disclosure. Hope still springs eternal for him and his, I guess.
However, (or in any case), Hollywood certainly sounds like an interesting path to follow in relation to various enterprises and pathways leading to "enlightenment".
Just reflect, (for a few minutes even) and it will be worth your while.
Hollywood and what it produces has a massive influence on people all around the globe, and has done for around a century.
Do not discard the power of mainstream media, and both the film and entertainment industry and the impact they can have on political decision making and decisions made by certain facets of industry and commerce.
Look at the power or radio alone as it was prior to television sets being a standard domestic living room item.
Orson Welles and the fictionalized "invasion by Martians" (1938) as a piece leading to mass hysteria. On the other side of the coin, real time reporting by by foreign correspondents not just in a war zone, but actually reporting as the bullets whizzed past their heads.
Maybe he (KDC) is or was onto something here in relation to power base utilization of Hollywood to serve their own and various personal agenda as opposed to the simple and generally accepted national interest ramifications historically evidenced throughout the decades.
Yes Hanna Barbera had an affect on our politics with their cartoon "Reds under the Beds" Dancing Cossacks… anyone remember those? In Bill Rollings time.
Yeah, Ok, I'll look:
Misinformation is a serious issue and. as I say, needs to be made illegal.