MONGREL MOB LEADER THREATENS PETERS WITH LEGAL ACTION
"Originally published by Māori Television
A Mongrel Mob leader accused of helping a Covid-positive sex worker obtain documentation to travel to Northland has lashed out at the allegations and threatened legal action.
…Hawke's Bay Mongrel Mob leader Harry Tam says the claims levelled by former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters are not true. "If Winston said it, he needs to prove it… If he's not going to apologise, we will need to look at legal action," Tam said.
Peters appeared on TV3's Newshub on Saturday morning levelling the allegations which had been circulating on social media and encrypted messaging app 'WhatsApp' on Friday night.
"This person came here with a gang member assigned essential worker status, falsified the reason she was coming," Peters said. "[She] engaged with people at a hotel in Whangārei… and went to a marae up North which hid her from the public and, dare I say it, the police. The police got a warrant to arrest her."
Peters claimed the Government found out about the situation "days and days ago".
"How he got up North, that is very difficult to understand in terms of the permit system, but he brought in, under false premises, this woman with him. The rest, sadly, is catastrophic," Peters said.
Tam told Te Ao Māori News that Peters was off the mark, while he had travelled to Tāmaki under a government exemption to support efforts to get gang members vaccinated, he travelled alone and had never been to Northland since arriving in Auckland.
…
Tam said mainstream media had been irresponsible in its coverage of the allegations first raised by a reporter at an impromptu press conference on Friday evening.
You missed out this paragraph while cutting around the photo; Gezza. It seems to be the core of the issue:
Tam told Te Ao Māori News, Peters was off the mark, while he had travelled to Tāmaki under a government exemption to support efforts to get gang members vaccinated, he travelled alone and had never been to Northland since arriving in Auckland.
“I didn’t bring anyone with me. Where did he get his information from? What is his source?’ he said.
Peters may be too used to having parliamentary privilege! But he was not speaking in parliament, and he's not even an MP anymore. A reminder why it is important to cite sources, and always use the term; allegedly (however sarcastically), in any potentially defamatory statement based on hearsay. Particularly onsite where unfounded speculation may sometimes put TS at legal risk and waste mod time.
The quote was the paragraph I was referring to; Gezza (the preceding paragraph was included for context – probably should have italicized for clarity). So your omission was intentional? I assumed that you had simply made a cut and paste typo.
Just watched the original Peters interview, which was a bit embarrassing really. But he certainly wasn't being taken out of context. Relevant section starts at 1:30 mark on video. The interviewer goes out of his way to offer Peters a lifeline at 2:13 "How do you know all this?…", but he'd rather drown:
"I am absolutely certain of my sources, otherwise I wouldn't be saying what I'm saying," said Peters, urging the media to verify the claims with officials.
"Let them deny it, and they won't. But when the press was told yesterday at 6:30pm by Minister Hipkins that he didn't, that simply wasn't true. Frankly, we will never get through this crisis if we aren't transparent and honest."
Yes, I just watched the whole interview. Peters seems to have dug himself into a hole over the claims Tam & the infected exemption letter cheat travelled together. It remains to be seen whether Peters subsequently issues a correction and/or Tam actually initiates Legal proceedings.
But, beyond that issue, Peters got in some solid body blows against the government for other shortcomings. In particular, that the Health Dept adopted completely the wrong strategy for prioritising Māori & Pasifika vaccinations in not involving Māori heath orgs in the rollout – a claim which is being made increasingly often in numerous media sources.
Also in the very slow vaccine supplies we had to start off with.
Winston Peters is, a "political pro." (Amanda Gillies). A "political predator" (Mark Richardson). An "opportunist" (Duncan Garner).
Peters is all these things.
"Whenever there's civil unrest, when anything's going down no matter how small the group might be, Winston is in there politically grandstanding." M.R.
The rough sleepers, drug users, sex workers, prisoners, the gangs, are the lowest and most alienated and marginalised sections of our New Zealand society.
It was always known, (and feared), that if the virus got into these marginalised communities that the virus would be hard to contain and would spread like wildfire.
I see the infections in the gangs as a symptom of the government's failure to control the virus, not the cause of it, as some like Peters are trying to make out.
It is notable that these groups were not singled out for blame and scapegoating, until after the drop in alert level, which just as predicted by some experts, infection numbers reversed their decline and started rising again.
Lockdowns are like herd immunity, the harder the Lockdown, the more people who practice it, even the few, who don't are protected.
It will be interesting to see, (from an epidemioligist modeling point of view), if the irresponsible actions of the two alleged sex workers who travelled illegally throughout Northland on their business, spark off a major outbreak.
In a time of national crisis scapegoating and blaming is dangerous and should have no place.
Whatever the eventual outcome. Let us hope that this is the end of Winston Peters predatory and opportunistic brand of politics.
DV @ 1.2
It's possible somebody was set up and it flowed from there. I commented along the lines yesterday that there were some nasty right-wing political buggers floating around the North in the past, and they're probably still there.
The lowest members are very poor, the leaders are not poor.
This may be true, it may not.
Whatever.
The fact is, even if Harry Tam is financially better placed than most of his gang's members, Tam would soon be reduced to absolute poverty in litigation with Winston Peters, who has far greater resources and the backing of some people with very deep pockets.
For this reason I think Harry Tam, though he may want to, would be ill advised to take a case against Winston Peters.
….It was John Kenneth Galbraith, the hyperliterate economic sage, who coined the phrase “conventional wisdom.” He did not consider it a compliment. “We associate truth with convenience,” he wrote,
….conventional wisdom in Galbraith’s view must be simple,
convenient, comfortable, and comforting—though not necessarily true.
….if you were to have spent a little time around the housing projects where crack was so often sold, you might have noticed something strange: not only did most of the crack dealers still live in the projects, but most of them still lived at home with their moms. And then you may have scratched your head and said, “Why is that?”
…the eminent poverty scholar William Julius Wilson, promptly sent Venkatesh into the field. His assignment: to visit Chicago’s poorest black neighborhoods with a clipboard and a seventy-question, multiple-choice survey. This was the first question on the survey:
How do you feel about being black and poor?
a. Very bad
b. Bad
c. Neither bad nor good
d. Somewhat good
e. Very good
…..In reality, he now knew, the answers should have looked like this:
a. Very bad
b. Bad
c. Neither bad nor good
d. Somewhat good
e. Very good
f. Fuck you
….Sometimes the gangsters were annoyed by his curiosity; more often they took advantage of his willingness to listen. “It’s a war out here, man,” one dealer told him. “I mean, every day people struggling to survive, so you know, we just do what we can. We ain’t got no choice, and if that means getting killed, well shit, it’s what niggers do around here to feed their family.”
……Over the years the gang endured bloody turf wars and, eventually, a federal indictment.
A member named Booty, who was one rank beneath J. T., came to Venkatesh with a story. Booty was being blamed
by the rest of the gang for bringing about the indictment, he told Venkatesh, and therefore suspected that he would soon be killed. (He was right.)
…..Booty was feeling guilty. He wanted to leave behind something that might somehow benefit the next generation. He handed Venkatesh a stack of well-worn spiral notebooks—blue and black, the gang’s colors. They represented a complete record of four years’ worth of the gang’s financial transactions. At J. T.’s direction, the ledgers had been rigorously compiled: sales, wages, dues, even the death benefits paid out to the families of murdered members.
……It would be the first time that such priceless financial data had fallen into an economist’s hands, affording an analysis of a heretofore uncharted criminal enterprise.
….Now, here’s what it cost J. T., excluding wages, to bring in that $32,000 per month:
Wholesale cost of drugs $ 5,000
Board of directors fee 5,000
Mercenary fighters 1,300
Weapons 300
Miscellaneous 2,400
Total monthly nonwage costs $14,000
…..the money the gang took in went to its members, starting with J. T. Here is the single line item in the gang’s budget that
made J. T. the happiest:
Net monthly profit accruing to leader $8,500
At $8,500 per month, J. T.’s annual salary was about $100,000—tax-free, of course…..
As Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was on $326,697 per year, and had to pay tax on that.
If I had to guess, I would guess that Harry Tam would be getting way less than his American counterparts. But assuming, (just for argument's sake), that a New Zealand gang leader like Harry Tam had an analogous business plan and salary to match that of his American soul mates. Then Harry Tam might be able to match Winston Peters, in meeting the costs of litigation. Except for one difference, unlike Winston Peters, Harry Tam does not have the backing of secret wealthy donors, prepared to hide their donations in trusts and slush funds.
New Zealand First Foundation scandal: Charged pair alleged to have deposited $740,000
8 Oct, 2020 12:08 PM
…..RNZ reported that the foundation collected donations of more than $500,000 from April 2017 to March 2019.
During that period, the foundation reportedly spent more than $425,000 on campaign advertising expenses, political consultants' fees, renting and setting up a campaign HQ in Wellington, and running the party's website….
……for the [monthly] wages that J. T. paid his gang members:
Combined wages paid to all three officers $2,100
Combined wages paid to all foot soldiers 7,400
Total monthly gang wages (excluding leader) $9,500
…..So J. T. paid his employees $9,500, a combined monthly salary that
was only $1,000 more than his own official salary. J. T.’s hourly wage
was $66. His three officers, meanwhile, each took home $700 a
month, which works out to about $7 an hour. And the foot soldiers earned just $3.30 an hour, less than the minimum wage. So the answer to the original question—if drug dealers make so much money, why are they still living with their mothers?—is that, except for the top cats, they don’t make much money. They had no choice but to live with their mothers. For every big earner, there were hundreds more
just scraping along.
It is clear to me that there is no way Harry Tam can afford the costs of litigation, to be able to take Winston Peters to court, not unless Tam received lots of small donations from thousands of ordinary New Zealanders.
If Tam goes down the path of litigation, for him to have a 'Give a Little' page would be a necessity. Whether it would get much support is another question.. But I would flick him a $20.
He was a social worker, back in the day. He took a not inconsiderable personal risk and approached the Dunedin chapter of the MM. Got them their welfare entitlements, found them housing. They stopped accepting prospects.
How did National “wreck all his work” exactly?
They found 'reasons' to back out of everything that he'd arranged.
who was committing the crime when it “went up”
Chiefly a new gang, ultra violent, forget their name but they lived near Ravensdown.
I don't know, but I doubt it. The US has very weak welfare provision compared to New Zealand. I would guess that Tam and his family have a state home. At least I hope so.
The point I was trying to make; Despite the 'conventional wisdom' gangs don't make a lot of money.
I am also guessing, that because of our welfare safety net, New Zealand gangs are not as viciously murderous and criminaly mercenary as they are in the U.S.
Count me in; if Harry Tam has to set up a 'Give a Little' page, for a legal case against Peters.
Yeah, nah. Harry won't be taking any legal action. He knows he'd be cross-examined and would almost certainly be asked what he had to do to earn his gang patch.
It's been reported that Harry is a convicted wife-beater. You can see why Winston won't be going to court anytime soon.
Tam was convicted in 1994 of assaulting his wife and was sentenced to three months' periodic detention and six months' supervision.
Mildon says she experienced abuse herself.
"One time Harry attacked me in the middle of the night while I was in bed asleep and tried to strangle me. The police have evidence and photographs," she told Newshub.
"Harry says I'm a liar and a violent, jealous woman, who beat him three times…. People accuse you of things they're actually doing themselves."
What the hell does the information you provided have to do with the legal action that has been proposed?
Unlike your proposition, the justice system is supposed to rely on evidence relevant to the case and to exclude the irrelevant history of the person who seeks a remedy for an alleged defamation.
Since we are bringing up the past criminal outrages, as apparently relevant to this case: Winston Peters is a politician who has, at various times in his career, opportunistically appealed to the worst racist views and paranoia of Pakeha New Zealand against Asians and even Maori to gain increased electoral support.
At the height of Peters Asian bashing campaign, inflamed by Peters racist rhetoric, there were a number of unprovoked physical attacks and bashings of Asian New Zealanders one of the most notorious occuring in Queen Street.
It was and is a perfectly valid linguistic technique. The only reason it became a story is that lazy and incompetent reporters figured they had a stick they could use to beat the Left. Little may have many faults, but being motivated by racism to express concern about the out of control property speculation which has pushed housing out of reach of 60% of New Zealanders isn't one of them.
It has no more credibility than the antisemitism slur used on Corbyn – a political vehicle for the unelectable Starmer, and a way for Israeli intelligence to negate one of the few informed voices on the Palestinian question.
What an effective strategy to get a vax-reluctant community in a particular region, to get vaxxed, pronto, would claims of an invasion by a busy, Covid-infected sex-worker be.
For nearly a decade, the vanguard of the transgender-rights movement — doctors, activists, celebrities and transgender influencers — has defined the boundaries of the new orthodoxy surrounding transgender medical care: What’s true, what’s false, which questions can and cannot be asked.
They said it was perfectly safe to give children as young as nine puberty blockers and insisted that the effects of those blockers were “fully reversible.” They said that it was the job of medical professionals to help minors to transition. They said it was not their job to question the wisdom of transitioning, and that anyone who did — including parents — was probably transphobic. They said that any worries about a social contagion among teen girls was nonsense. And they never said anything about the distinct possibility that blocking puberty, coupled with cross-sex hormones, could inhibit a normal sex life.
Their allies in the media and Hollywood reported stories and created content that reaffirmed this orthodoxy. Anyone who dared disagree or depart from any of its core tenets, including young women who publicly detransitioned, were inevitably smeared as hateful and accused of harming children.
But that new orthodoxy has gone too far, according to two of the most prominent providers in the field of transgender medicine: Dr. Marci Bowers, a world-renowned vaginoplasty specialist who operated on reality-television star Jazz Jennings; and Erica Anderson, a clinical psychologist at the University of California San Francisco’s Child and Adolescent Gender Clinic.
In the course of their careers, both have seen thousands of patients. Both are board members of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the organization that sets the standards worldwide for transgender medical care. And both are transgender women.
Earlier this month, Anderson told me she submitted a co-authored op-ed to The New York Times warning that many transgender healthcare providers were treating kids recklessly. The Times passed, explaining it was “outside our coverage priorities right now.”
This is the US, where healthcare is not standardise, but the approach seems to be consistent.
The Herald online has very regular stories about broadcasters. I don't click on them. Some I know are broadcasters even though I've never heard or seen them broadcast.
Important stories: "Why I never eat bread," or "Shock over my cat," or "Worst time of the year for…"
Kim Hill is a voice on the radio. I don't need to know what she eats for breakfast or some personal tragedy she went through just before her 4th birthday.
Seymour has a carefully cultivated pretense of being harmless, non-scary and well-intentioned. But before he appeared on the programme, Q&A did us the service of a tiki tour through the various gruesome far-right ghouls who have been his predecessors as former ACT's leaders. I had to leave the room, there is only so much loathing one person can process.
Sorry but that is funny. In so many ways it is unbelievable. You managed to both exagerate seeming opinions of Seymour while belittling the actual affect the far right nut jobs have on the rest of the worlds vulnerable at the same time.
A pretty fair definition of "far right" would be "somebody who undermines the vaccination programme by attacking a service which encourages those we most need to reach and get vaccinated, and he does so simply because of their race".
Just out of interest do you think Labour are far right from their "Asian sounding surnames" of house buyers and Winston is fro his "Two Wongs don't make a white" stuff.
Well,, I think the Labour thing is more tory narrative than accuracy (after all, probabilistic linkage is a key feature of the IDI), but Winston stood by Ron "keep Muslims off planes" Prosser. So definite far right tendencies in that regard.
But ACT are pretty far right compared to most other parties (although juco is trying to nab their territory).
There are many possible grounds for comparing Seymour to Key. In disingenuousness they are probably about equal – but in terms of efficacy in achieving their nefarious objectives, Key rates highly, but Seymour doesn't rate at all.
Yeah. It hasn't been mentioned in media much, but would be interesting to know how many, not only breast cancer screenings, but also other cancer screenings have been turfed over Covid and how many mean it makes it too late.
While idiot journalists still ask "How many deaths from Covid are acceptable?"
Probably never will know.
It is a stupid question given the circumstances whether it is asked to any party.
Seymour basically just answered with "How many others are acceptable to avoid your imaginary number of Covid deaths?"
Yeah I don't like that line of questioning either.
Like if the government lowered the speed limit on all roads to 10kms we'd probably have fewer deaths but we are all ok with (or at least accept) that certain numbers of people are going to die each year
I'm sure all the politicians have a number to be under but I'm of the view that all the information is out there so get vaccinated or don't, mask up or don't, self isolate as much as possible or don't and lets all open up
I find it a bit weird that people think the govt and opposition parties don't take into account different loss of life acceptable or unacceptable into consideration every day.
If they didn't they would be a bit shit considering their resources.
Ardern will have a nightmare figure, an acceptable figure and a easy win next election figure.
I see no evidence for that conclusion. While she is not stupid, she is mostly only concentrating on ONE thing – Covid. And she is voluble in deflecting & refusing to acknowledge any shortcomings in the strategies to date.
By now she SHOULD be well-versed in the numbers and the strategies, & she & Robertson have somehow got out of sync a time or two. Her other areas of responsibility she seems less familiar with & less on top of. Child povidy, anyone?
Jacinda Ardern is well versed in what is needed going forward. She is acknowledged as an inspirational Leader, and our covid stats and GDP bear this out. You may not like her style, but to say "only covid" does not flatter you.
Child poverty is worse everywhere because.. Covid. Our biggest issue currently. You are doing what JK used to do.. attacking strength. I C U.
Child povidy had got worse on her watch BEFORE Covid, Patricia.
Being “inspirational” is not the same thing as being “a brainy chick”.
I know she’s from the Wycaddo ruralities, so she’s got that lazy rural central Cow cocky diction, but God I wish she’d stop saying sumpthink, anythink, & nuthink, & would also learn to pronounce t’s as t’s & not d’s. Also not the hallmarks of “a brainy chick”.
Somebody has smartened up her te reo Māori pronunciation. Surely someine can take her aside now & smarten up her English pronunciation.
The thing about the speed limit is that it won't save lives if people start to ignore it.
For all of those causes of death mentioned, the government spends literally millions every year to try to stop people dying from them. But with covid's infection rate, it's not like we can half arse it and just have an "acceptable" number of dead. That shit spreads. Even with moderate controls, we need absurdedly high vax rates across the board to avoid literally thousands of deaths a year.
Sure, number of people dying directly from covid under different circumstances is part of the decision-making matrix, but it's definitely not the only number. Turns out a healthy society is better for the economy than being a plagueland, even if the tory narrative doesn't agree.
And the last couple of years raises the wider question about whether maybe we've been accepting preventable deaths because we were used to them and they were lower than 50 years ago, but actually we can do a lot better if we did things like border tests for influenza, rsv, and maybe a few others.
Stuff Comments continues to be the sewer of conspiracy theories and flat out fibs. Of course that is commonplace on social media (and blogs!) but Stuff is supposed to be a professional media outlet with moderation on their comments threads (as they claim). Sadly, they barely bother.
Example: Tracy Watkins' column (itself bad enough) is open for lies comments. So we get rubbish like this –
why was the prime minister a last minute cancellation on Friday for the press conference? No one was informed least of all the press gallery. She then surfaced in Rotorua only to once again disappear without informing anyone of her movements
Yes, the PM of New Zealand mysteriously disappears and hides because it's a Conspiracy!11!!
Anybody with Google (i.e anybody at all) could fact-check in 5 seconds and see where the PM has been. Then you chuck the pork pies in the bin. That is literally the job of the moderators employed by Stuff. Or rather, it should be. But they can't be arsed.
You did exceptionally well to find a Stuff article they were allowing comments on. These days they’re rarer than hens’ teeth.
I don’t really understand your apparent apoplexy about the comments on Watkins column (tho I’d put her in the Sir John Key fangirl club) because from my perspective most Stuff journos have been afflicted by Jacindamania since she first rescued Labour from electoral oblivion & only a few of the opinion writers generally dare to criticise her.
(I don't agree with Watkins much either, but op-eds are like that, always gonna vary. Obviously not the issue here).
The comment I quoted appears to have been removed now, after several hours, which illustrates how hopeless their system is. They only remove the lies after they are challenged – as I did in this case and I expect many others did too. Other misinformation remains and who has the time to spend their Sunday cleaning up the Stuff website? It is their job.
They are legally and ethically the publisher, and moderating is a minimum requirement. "Opinion" is not a defence: "Ardern eats kittens" is an opinion, and also defamation.
This woman claims people are changing the bulbs in streetlights with black lights, and they're going to use the black lights to tell who's vaccinated or not. pic.twitter.com/oDTS86r1K2
“A man brutally attacked while walked home in Flaxmere says he felt a blow on his neck and ran and fell, not realising he had been stabbed. The man was then stabbed three more times on the back before he was able to get up and run again to an area with houses, where his calls for help were answered.
Police and the man’s family are now appealing for help to find the alleged attacker behind the stabbing, which occured bout 5am on Saturday on Chatham Rd, near Chatham Park.
The victim, a man in his 20s, told Hawke’s Bay Today he was walking home from a nightclub at the time.
Hmmm. Now that you've raised this matter, it does sound like a prison shanking-type of attack. Wonder if it was random or the victim was specifically targeted – wearing the wrong colours in the wrongvend of town, or whatever?
Wrong place at wrong time, wrong colours, looked at his girl in the bar, a girl looked at him in the bar, owes him money, mistaken identity, said something on the way home…
Best explanation yet to why the government changed tack.
The likely net result is countries such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand will see less suffering and tragedy than Europe or the US saw last year. Exposing a vaccinated population to the virus is different because vaccines protect people from the most harmful effect of COVID-19 infections.
Singapore, for example, has recorded 46,637 new cases in the last four weeks, but on Thursday only 297 required oxygen and 40 people were so sick they had to be in intensive care.
Some people still die. Last week, Singapore recorded its 100th death related to COVID-19. As of Thursday, fatalities had reached 136. As those tents outside hospitals show, the surge in cases has put the health system under pressure.
[…]
On Thursday, Singapore reported 3483 new infections. Teo believes the true number is likely twice that, or even more. People who don’t feel ill don’t get tested, he notes.
Some 98.4 per cent of those who tested positive in the last 28 days had no, or mild, symptoms. But for 18 months people have been living in fear. Now policymakers have to change that messaging.
“Australia and Singapore share many common experiences.” Teo says. “Since the pandemic began, our countries have done so well telling people that ‘you don’t want to be affected; it affects you, your household, the whole community’.
“Now we’re saying, ‘even if you are infected, it’s OK, stay at home, stay isolated, recover and that will be all right for you’.
It is about time we had this. I don't care what you say or who you vote for. I don't care if you would never vote for another party out of some seird nutty principle I don't get.
Rate the leaders NOW. (purely personal opinion)
Ardern – 6/10
Let's face it. She was a bit shit Monday and Tuesday getting the message across, when tcomunication has always been her greatest asset. Maybe her annoyed boyfriend will stop tweeting about it . And no matter how much you try to justify it, your vaccine roll out was one of the shittest in the world. And targets aren't bad.
Collins 2/10
Give it up love. Mate Your writing is on the wall so likely you might as well be holding the piece of chalk
Seymour 9/10
Would never vote for the dude, but winner on every day so far.. The fact he is even mentioned is interesting. Also did a good interview with one dumb journalist.
Ardern – 7/10 While I agree with your rating that she still manages to convince a helluva lot of people that she knows what shes doing and is in control of the situation means she gets a higher rating from me
Collins – 1/10 The media hate her and won't give her the time of day (the fix is in) but National still shouldn't roll her
Seymour – 8/10 Is doing very well but just needs a little more polishing
The Greens – Conspicuous by their absence so no rating, would probably recommend that JAG never be interviewed on live tv ever again
Careful now Puckish, there's some you don't want to provoke.
Marama Davidson turned up for a photo op at the opening of a bus door, which reflects the Greens' full and enthusiastic support of the vaccination campaign.
Yes, but pointing out cancer patients and other patients are being screwed because their appointments are being put off because of covid is frankly not opposition moaning.
Seymour started the interview with that goofy-looking grin. He shouldn't try to smile for the cameras when it doesn't come naturally. There's nothing wrong with just having an 'interested' look on one's face when the cameras start rolling for a tv interview.
Ok. Jack Tame I rate as probably TVNZ's worst political interviewer. He wasted far too much time trying to get Seymour to name an acceptable number of Covid deaths, when no political leader is going to go there.
He should have been thinking on his arse & asking Seymour questions related to ACT's strategic Covid plan. Like, HOW does he propose to get MOH to work with private industry over rapid antigen testing, vaccine rollouts, exactly what additional capacity for ICU has he calculated would become available & where from, & where would it go into place. That sort of thing.
Corin Dann would leave Jack Tame in the dust. Q+A is rooted with Tame. That's why I've given up watching it altogether. They've send an overgrown boy to do an adult's job.
Ratings:
Ardern – 5/10. This week's announcements were a thoroughly confusing omnishambles. Not at all like the start of the Covid campaign last year when stuff was dropped in all our letterboxes & the messaging was expressly simple,comprehensive, & clear – at least in the English language versions. I think Ardern's credibility/ believability has taken a hit last week.
Collins – 0/10. Dead woman walking. There is nothing Collins can do or say that will persuade anywhere near enuf voters that she would be an acceptable PM of this country. She's an unmitigated disaster for National, & everyone with a functioning brain knows it. Best thing Ardern & Labour have going for them.
Seymour – 7/10. Actually currently probably IS the leader of the Opposition. Sounds credible, is able to make his plan sound sensible, is a good, clear communicator, handled Tame well – in fact he ended up owning the lad.
He's a p***k Gezza. He dismembers the truth to the point where he doesn't even try to hide it because he knows the media will let him get away with it. I despair at the idiots out there in voter-land who seem unable to see through the shallow little toad.
A lot of that support is most likely waiting to rush back to National when Collins is rolled. As long as their next choice isn’t Bridges, or another loon.
At the Public Health blog yesterday Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Jennifer Summers and Prof Michael Baker advocate for more and stricter regional borders including blocking minor roads with containers. They suggest regional areas of elimination and for now suppression in Auckland but perhaps back to elimination later.
Taiwan's big outbreak wasn't Delta – it was alpha. Also significant is which community the virus infects. Even Michael Baker thoughr that the level of compliance in South Auckland's most deprived wouldn't have improved if Auckland had stayed at level 4 any longer. Note that Victoria locked down hard and fast as well but has failed to quash the nasty virus because of significant lack of compliance and is now at the 1800 to 1900 cases per day level. Having said that, Singapore is getting over 3000 cases a day but hardly any serious illness or deaths with over 80% full vaccination and generally compliant population. It's not a great time to be in government and have to make such difficult decisions.
And note that Taiwan seem to have achieved this without extensive lockdowns. The really smart thing they seem to have done is ramp up their own domestic production of comfortable and effective facemasks.
By paying attention to details, like non-scratchy materials, design to minimise fogging of eye glasses and loops that go around the back of the head rather than irritating the ears – plus of course high grade filtration – they've made it far easier for people to use them routinely and effectively.
"Taiwan's big outbreak wasn't Delta – it was alpha"
So far, it seems it seems they same tools have worked to both prevent the delta transmission as well as suppress the alpha outbreak.
Taiwan has now had five brushes with Delta, including two sizeable outbreaks. Thus far it has prevailed, and in a sense, I’m breathing easier with that knowledge. But I’m still haunted by our lapse earlier this year and hope we don’t fall prey to our complacency once again.
His seven-year-long inquiry into the conflict ruined the reputation of Tony Blair, Labour’s most successful leader since Clement Attlee, by exposing his subservient relationship with the US president, George W Bush, and confirming that the UK and the US had not exhausted the peace process when they went to war to topple the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
That decision cost 179 British lives, and the death of around 150,000 Iraqis. The wrecked country subsequently saw the rise, and later fall, of the terrorist group Islamic State, and is still suffering from the impact of the war today.
Collins puts the boot in to Ardern…
……………………………………..
“National Party leader Judith Collins is calling on the Prime Minister to “come out from the shadows” after several days of no-shows at previously daily press conferences.
Collins says for neither Jacinda Ardern or any of her ministers being forced to front – especially today when the Ministry of Health announced 60 new Covid cases in a written statement – is poor timing as the outbreak slowly spreads around the North Island.
“New Zealanders will be unsettled by the news – delivered via written statement – that we have 60 new community cases today and yet our Prime Minister did not even get one of her senior ministers to stand in for her at the podium.
“National have been critical at times about the unnecessary press conferences that were held when case numbers were very low, but if Jacinda Ardern thought it necessary to speak directly to the media then, why now with 60 cases is she missing in action?
“It is clear there are questions that Prime Minister Ardern does not want to be asked.”
If Judith thinks Rotorua, Hawke's Bay, Gisborne etc are "the shadows", no wonder National lost so many seats in the provinces. Again, it's all performative, role play with no meaning … the alternative whinge is "why doesn't the PM get out of Wellington and meet real Kiwis?". Yawn.
I suppose the next page in the tired old playbook is to claim that tomorrow's post-Cab only happens because National boldly demanded it, never mind that it happens every week.
So true observer, and I have not heard one word of criticism about her christian buddy the apostle from the apparently devout Collins. Those 60 cases dovetail with his protest.
The stupid thing is that not long ago Collins et al. were complaining about the daily 1 pm updates were purely political stunts and now after Ardern has been out doing great work in the provinces getting people to buy into vaccination she's accused of not fronting.
This opposition for opposition's sake, this contrarian mood, this exaggeration and dramatics has not not worked to convince the centre. The contrarian Right will not see National back into power. Now we read that National MPs are financially illiterate.
I knew that when a National MP grumped about high country stations selling for good prices because it would put up the local body rates on farms…………..
Where the f is the government ? no real contact with us for since Thursday, and look at what as happened since then. There are people moving thru boarders, how does someone cross the boarder on multi occasions, I thought that there would be only the actual move? This lack of govt contact is leaving opportunity for people to fill the void left open, which imo is reducing confidence in the govts efforts.
Auckland's rapidly heading for 90% first shot so Ardern and team are taking the show to the provinces and boonies where the resisters are. Makes good sense to me.
We are approaching 150 cases since Thursday. Case in Katikati, A very close contact to the Northland person with Covid and there where abouts is unknown. Should those in Northland be concerned or is the MIA understood to be within Auckland? So the PM is in the East Cape taking the show to the provinces, what of a plan for those other areas that need a boost, what are the plans for them ? Is our government only 1 person and the rest are surplus, IMO the governments should have sufficient talent to cover the PM's absence ? Or are the current events beyond the govt ?
There has been little development previously that that still warranted government announcements at 1:00, yet now nothing?
Collins and Seymour can hardly complain about rising case numbers. They want to 'learn to iive with the virus'. It's here in all its glory. They should enjoy its presence.
It was always going to spread here and so far the government's measures have protected us from an overloaded hospital system and the threat of social conflict due to the disproportionate effect of covid on the underclass, elderly, Maori and Pasifika.
The early Māori & Pasifika vaccine rollout inadequacies were becoming a potential source of real anger & potential conflict but thank goodness sane heads have prevailed on all sides & things are looking much improved with some innovative approaches to getting vaccines to the actual communities concerned, after MOH finally started really listening to – and properly talking with – whanau/aiga/community leaders.
Put the entire North Island in level 4 for a fortnight, and cut off the South Island. It's not going to stop the gang muppets, but it'll keep everyone else safe.
This par from Hooton's latest Patreon post ($) is pretty damning of the economic literacy of National MPs. This stuff is supposed to be their bread and butter as the 'Party of Business'.https://t.co/TML4yd5tYcpic.twitter.com/CuSvdhG4sR
I had a National candidate come in the shop one election trying to tell me how great their proposed tax cuts were going to be for me. I replied that it it would be nice to be paying tax. After a bit of bluster implying that I was some weirdo that actually enjoyed paying tax the penny dropped and he departed, very swiftly. But the expression at moment of comprehension was unforgettable.
This post is a response to a request from Peter Baillie. I don’t know him from Adam and I suspect he was attempting sarcasm but I offered to give him a response. I would welcome any comments or discussion he could add – but that is up to him. ...
In the wake of an otherwise unremarkable New Zealand Budget, I was not expecting to supply much in the way of political commentary. Why would I? The most notable aspect was Grant Robertson throwing a one-off $350 at anyone who earns less than $70,000 a year and who doesn’t ...
Finland, Sweden, Novorossiya, and Incorrect AnalysesSince Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin has made much of NATO's supposed expansion to the east. As I wrote on 1 April:Much has been made of Putin's apparent anger that Ukraine was on the verge of joining NATO.However, this has been over-stated by both Western ...
Hoopla And Razzamatazz: Putting the country into debt allows a Minister of Finance to keep the lights on and the ATMs working without raising taxes. That option may become unavoidable at some future time, for some future government, but that is not the present government’s concern – not in the ...
Speaking Truth To Power: Greta Thunberg argues that the fine sounding phrases of well-meaning politicians changes nothing. The promises made, the targets set – and then re-set – are all too familiar to the younger generations she has encouraged to pay attention. They have heard it all before. Accordingly, she ...
The Spiral of Silence Problem As climate communicator John Cook cleverly illustrates below, a big obstacle to raising awareness about climate change is the "spiral of silence," a reluctance to talk about it. There are many reasons for this reluctance we can speculate about. Perhaps people don't want to be ...
The informed discussion on the next steps in tax policy is about improving the income tax base, not about taxing wealth directly.David Parker, the Minister for Inland Revenue, gave a clear indication that his talk on tax was to be ‘pointy-headed’ by choosing a university venue for his presentation. As ...
A couple of weeks ago, Newsroom reported that the government was failing to meet its proactive release obligations, with Ministers releasing less than a quarter of cabinet papers and in many cases failing to keep records. But Chris Hipkins was already on the case, and in a recent cabinet paper ...
Why are the New Zealand media so hostile to the government – not just this government, but any government? The media I have in mind are not NZME-owned outlets like the Herald or Newstalk ZB, whose bias is overtly political and directed at getting rid of the current Labour government. ...
In this week’s “A View from Afar” podcast Selwyn Manning and I speculate on how the Ruso-Ukrainian War will shape future regional security dynamics. We start with NATO and work our way East to the Northern Pacific. It is not comprehensive but we outline some potential ramifications with regard to ...
At base, the political biffo back and forth on the merits of Budget 2022 comes down to only one thing. Who is the better manager of the economy and better steward of social wellbeing – National or Labour? In its own quiet way, the Treasury has buried a fascinating answer ...
by Don Franks Poverty in New Zealand today has new ugly features. Adequate housing is beyond the reach of thousands. More and more people full time workers must beg food parcels from charities. Having no attainable prospects, young people lash out and steal. A response to poverty from The Daily ...
Drought: the past is no longer prologue Drought management in the United States (and elsewhere) is highly informed by events of the past, employing records extending 60 years or longer in order to plan for and cope with newly emerging meterorological water deficits. Water resource managers and agricultural concerns use ...
The government announced its budget today, with Finance Minister Grant Robertson giving the usual long speech about how much money they're spending. The big stuff was climate change and health, with the former being pre-announced, and most of the latter being writing off DHB's entirely fictional "debt" to the the ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has delivered a Budget that will many asking “Is that all there is?” There is a myriad of initiatives and there is increased spending, but strangely it doesn’t really add up to much at all for those hoping for a more traditional Labour-style Budget. The headline ...
Last year, Cook Islands Deputy Prime Minister Robert Tapaitau stood down as a minister after being charged with conspiracy to defraud after an investigation into corruption in Infrastructure Cook Islands and the National Environment Service. He hasn't been tried yet, but this week he has been reinstated: The seven-month ...
A ballot for three member's bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Repeal of Good Friday and Easter Sunday as Restricted Trading Days (Shop Trading and Sale of Alcohol) Amendment Bill (Chris Baillie) Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill (Golriz Ghahraman) Increased Penalties for ...
No Jesus Here.She rises, unrested, and stepsOnto the narrow balconyTo find the day. To greetThe Sunday God she sings to.But this morning His face is clouded.Grey and wet as a corpseWashed by tears.Behind her, in the tangled bedding,the children bicker and whine.Worrying the cheap furnitureLike hungry puppies.They clutch at her ...
After two years of Corona-induced online meetings in 2020 and 2021, this year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from May 23 to 27. To take hybrid and necessary hygiene restrictions into account, there (unfortunately) will be no ...
“Māori star lore was, and still remains, a blending together of both astronomy and astrology, and while there is undoubtedly robust science within the Māori study of the night sky, the spiritual component has always been of equal importance” writes Professor Rangi Matamua in his book Matariki – Te whetū tapu ...
The foibles of the Aussie electoral system are pretty well-known. The Lucky Country doesn’t have proportional representation. Voting for everyone over 18 is compulsory, but within a preferential system. This means that in the relatively few key seats that decide the final result, it can be the voters’ second, third ...
Julia Steinberger is an ecological economist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She first posted this piece at Medium.com, and it was reposted on Yale Climate Connections with her permission. Today I went to give a climate talk at my old high school in Geneva – and was given a ...
A/Prof Ben Gray* Gray B. Government funding of interpreters in Primary Care is needed to ensure quality care. Public Health Expert Blog.17 May 2022. The pandemic has highlighted many problems in the NZ health system. This blog will address the question of availability of interpreters for people with limited English ...
I have suggested previously that sometimes Tolkien’s writer-instincts get the better of him. Sometimes he departs from his own cherished metaphysics, in favour of the demands of story – and I dare say, that is a good thing. Laws and Customs of the Eldar might be an interesting insight ...
One of the key planks of yesterday's Emissions Reduction Plan is a $650 million fund to help decarbonise industry by subsidising replacement of dirty technologies with clean ones. But National leader Chris Luxon derides this as "corporate welfare". Which probably sounds great to the business ideologues in the Koru club. ...
Poisonous! From a very early age New Zealanders are warned to give small black spiders with a red blotch on their abdomens a wide berth. The Katipo, we are told, is venomous: and while its bite may not kill you, it can make you very unwell. That said, isn’t the ...
“The truth prevails, but it’s a chore.” – Jan Masaryk: The intensification of ideological pressures is bearable for only so-long before ordinary men and women reassert the virtues of tolerance and common sense.ON 10 MARCH 1948, Jan Masaryk, the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, was found dead below his bathroom window. ...
Clearly, the attempt to take the politics out of climate change has itself been a political decision, and one meant to remove much of the heat from the global warming issue before next year’s election. What we got from yesterday’s $2.9 billion Emissions Reduction Plan was a largely aspirational multi-party ...
Michelle Uriarau (Mana Wāhine Kōrero) talks to Dane Giraud of the Free Speech Union LISTEN HERE Michelle Uriarau is a founding member of Mana Wāhine Kōrero – an advocacy group of and for Māori women who took strong positions against the ‘Self ID’ and ‘Conversion Practises Bills’. One of the ...
If we needed any confirmation, we have it in spades in today’s edition of the Herald; our supposedly leading daily newspaper is determined to do what it can to decide the outcome of the next election – to act, that is, not as a newspaper but as the mouthpiece for ...
Sean Plunkett, founding editor of the new media outlet, The Platform, was interviewed on RNZ's highly regarded flagship programme "Mediawatch".Mr Plunkett has made much about "cancel culture" and "de-platforming". On his website promoting The Platform, he outlines his mission statement thusly:The Platform is for everyone; we’re not into cancelling or ...
“That’s a C- for History, Kelvin!”While it is certainly understandable that Māori-Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis was not anxious to castigate every Pakeha member of the House of Representatives for the crimes committed against his people by their ancestors; crimes from which his Labour colleagues continue to draw enormous benefits; the ...
The Government promised a major reform of New Zealand’s immigration system, but when it was announced this week, many asked “is that it?” Over the last two years Covid has turned the immigration tap off, and the Government argued this produced the perfect opportunity to reassess decades of “unbalanced immigration”. ...
While the new fiscal rules may not be contentious, what they mean for macroeconomic management is not explained.In a pre-budget speech on 3 May 2022, the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, made some policy announcements which will frame both this budget and future ones. (The Treasury advice underpinning them is ...
Under MMP, Parliament was meant to look like New Zealand. And, in a lot of ways, it does now, with better representation for Māori, tangata moana, women, and the rainbow community replacing the old dictatorship of dead white males. But there's one area where "our" parliament remains completely unrepresentative: housing: ...
Justice Denied: At the heart of the “Pro-Life” cause was something much darker than conservative religious dogma, or even the oppressive designs of “The Patriarchy”. The enduring motivation – which dares not declare itself openly – is the paranoid conviction of male white supremacists that if “their” women are given ...
In case of emergency break glass— but glass can cut Fire extinguishers, safety belts, first aid kits, insurance policies, geoengineering: we never enjoy using them. But given our demonstrated, deep empirical record of proclivity for creating hazards and risk we'd obviously be foolish not to include emergency responses in our inventory. ...
After a brief hiatus, the “A View from Afar” podcast is back on air with Selwyn Manning leading the Q&A with me. This week is a grab bag of topics: Russian V-Day celebrations, Asian and European elections, and the impact of the PRC-Solomon Islands on the regional strategic balance. Plus ...
Last year, Vanuatu passed a "cyber-libel" law. And predictably, its first targets are those trying to hold the government to account: A police crackdown in Vanuatu that has seen people arrested for allegedly posting comments on social media speculating politicians were responsible for the country’s current Covid outbreak has ...
Could it be a case of not appreciating what you’ve got until it’s gone? The National Party lost Simon Bridges last week, which has reinforced the notion that the party still has some serious deficits of talent and diversity. The major factor in Bridges’ decision to leave was his failed ...
Who’s Missing From This Picture? The re-birth of the co-governance concept cannot be attributed to the institutions of Pakeha rule, at least, not in the sense that the massive constitutional revisions it entails have been presented to and endorsed by the House of Representatives, and then ratified by the citizens of New ...
Fiji signed onto China’s Belt and Road initiative in 2018, along with a separate agreement on economic co-operation and aid. Yet it took the recent security deal between China and the Solomon Islands to get the belated attention of the US and its helpmates in Canberra and Wellington, and the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Lexi Smith and Bud Ward “CRA” It’s one of those acronyms even many-a-veteran environmental policy geek may not recognize. Amidst the scores and scores of acronyms in the field – CERCLA, IPCC, SARA, LUST, NPDES, NDCs, FIFRA, NEPA and scores more – ...
In a nice bit of news in a World Gone Mad, I can report that Of Tin and Tintagel, my 5,800-word story about tin (and political scheming), is now out as part of the Spring 2022 edition of New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). As noted previously, this one owes a ...
Dr Jennifer Summers, Professor Michael Baker, Professor Nick Wilson* Summers J, Baker M, Wilson N. Covid-19 Case-Fatality Risk & Infection-Fatality Risk: important measures to help guide the pandemic response. Public Health Expert Blog. 11 May 2022. In this blog we explore two useful mortality indicators: Case-Fatality Risk (CFR) and Infection-Fatality ...
In the depths of winter, most people from southern New Zealand head to warmer climes for a much-needed dose of Vitamin D. Yet during the height of the last Ice Age, one species of moa did just the opposite. I’m reminded of Bill Bailey’s En Route to Normal tour that visited ...
In the lead-up to the Budget, the Government has been on an offensive to promote the efficiency and quality of its $74 billion Covid Response and Recovery Fund -especially the Wage Subsidy Scheme component. This comes after criticisms and concerns from across the political spectrum over poor-quality spending, and suggestions ...
Elizabeth Elliot Noe, Lincoln University, New Zealand; Andrew D. Barnes, University of Waikato; Bruce Clarkson, University of Waikato, and John Innes, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare ResearchUrbanisation, and the destruction of habitat it entails, is a major threat to native bird populations. But as our new research shows, restored ...
Unfinished: Always, gnawing away at this government’s confidence and empathy, is the dictum that seriously challenging the economic and social status-quo is the surest route to electoral death. Labour’s colouring-in book, and National’s, have to look the same. All that matters is which party is better at staying inside the lines.DOES ...
Radical As: Māori healers recall a time when “words had power”. The words that give substance to ideas, no matter how radical, still do. If our representatives rediscover the courage to speak them out loud.THERE ARE RULES for radicalism. Or, at least, there are rules for the presentation of radical ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A brutal, record-intensity heat wave that has engulfed much of India and Pakistan since March eased somewhat this week, but is poised to roar back in the coming week with inferno-like temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122°F). The ...
The good people at the Reading Tolkien podcast have put out a new piece, which spends some time comparing the underlying moral positions of George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien: (The relevant discussion starts about twenty-seven minutes in. It’s a long podcast). In the interests of fairness, ...
Crime is becoming a key debate between Labour and National. This week they are both keen to show that they are tough on law and order. It’s an issue that National has a traditional advantage on, and is one that they’re currently getting good traction from. In response, Labour is ...
So far, the excited media response to the spike in “ram-raid” incidents is being countered by evidence that in reality, youth crime is steeply in decline, and has been so for much of the past decade. Who knew? Perhaps that’s the real issue here. Why on earth wasn’t the latest ...
In the past 10 years or so – and that’s how quickly it has happened – all our comfortable convictions about the unassailability of free speech have been turned on their heads. Suddenly we find ourselves fighting again for rights we assumed were settled. Click here to watch the video ...
Enforced Fertility: The imminent overturning of Roe versus Wade by the US Supreme Court is certain to raise echoes here that are no less evocative of the dystopia envisioned by Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid’s Tale. Gilead can happen here.WITH THE UNITED STATES seemingly on the brink of becoming “Gilead”, ...
Not Wanted On Grounds Of Political Rejuvenation: Winston Peters did nothing more than visit the protest encampment erected by anti-vaxxers on the parliamentary lawn. A great many New Zealanders applauded him for meeting with the protesters and wondered why the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition could not do ...
May The Force Be With Us: With New Zealanders under 40, nostalgia for a time when politics worked gains little purchase. Politics hasn’t swerved to any noticeable degree since the 1980s, becoming in the Twenty-First Century a battle between marketing strategies, not ideologies. Young New Zealanders critique political advertisements in ...
Dane Giraud reflects on his working class upbringing and how campaigning for free speech radicalised him Evidence to support censorship as a tool for social cohesion is paltry. I Read the NZ Human Rights Commission website, and 99% of their ‘evidence’ is anecdotal. When asked why we need hate speech ...
As you may have noticed, I have been slowly working my way through the works of Agatha Christie. At the time of writing, I have read some thirty-eight of her books – less than half her total output, but arguably enough to get a reasonable handle on it. It ...
Population growth has some effect on economic growth, but it is complicated especially where infrastructure is involved. We need to think more about it. In an opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald, John Gascoigne claimed that New Zealand was a ‘tragic tale of economic decline’. He gave no evidence ...
The Greens have been almost invisible since the 2020 election. Despite massive crises impacting on people’s lives, such as climate change, housing, inequality, and the cost of living, they’ve had very little to say. On this week’s highly contentious issue of politicians being banned from Parliament by Trevor Mallard, the ...
The government has announced it will be replacing all coal boilers in schools by 2025: All remaining coal boilers in New Zealand schools will be replaced with cleaner wood burners or electric heating by 2025, at a cost of $10 million, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced. The coal ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Mr Speaker, It has taken four-and-a-half years to even start to turn the legacy of inaction and neglect from the last time they were in Government together. And we have a long journey in front of us! ...
Today Greens Te Mātāwaka Chair and Health Spokesperson, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, said “The Greens have long campaigned for an independent Māori Health Authority and pathways for Takatāpui and Rainbow healthcare. “We welcome the substantial funding going into the new health system, Pae Ora, particularly for the Māori Health Authority, Iwi-Partnership ...
Budget 2022 shows progress on conservation commitments in the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Green Party achievements in the last Government continue to drive investment in nature protection Urgent action needed on nature-based solutions to climate change Future budget decisions must reflect the role nature plays in helping reduce emissions ...
Landmark week for climate action concludes with climate budget Largest ever investment in climate action one of many Green Party wins throughout Budget 2022 Budget 2022 delivers progress on every part of the cooperation agreement with Labour Budget 2022 is a climate budget that caps a landmark week ...
Green Party welcomes extension to half price fares Permanent half price fares for Community Services Card holders includes many students, which helps implement a Green Party policy Work to reduce public transport fares for Community Services Card holders started by Greens in the last Government Budget 2022 should be ...
New cost of living payment closely aligned to Green Party policy to expand the Winter Energy Payment Extension and improvement of Warmer Kiwi Homes builds on Green Party progress in Government Community energy fund welcomed The Green Party welcomes the investment in Budget 2022 to expand Warmer Kiwi ...
Budget 2022 support to reduce homelessness delivers on the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Bespoke support for rangatahi with higher, more complex needs The Green Party welcomes the additional investment in Budget 2022 for kaupapa Māori support services, homelessness outreach services, the expansion of transitional housing, and a new ...
Green Party reaffirms call for liveable incomes and wealth tax Calls on Government to cancel debt owed to MSD for hardship assistance such as benefit advances, and for over-payments The Green Party welcomes the support for people on low incomes Budget 2022 but says more must be done ...
Our Government has just released this year’s Budget, which sets out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. It’s full of initiatives that speed up our economic recovery and ease cost pressures for ...
A stronger democracy is on the horizon, as Golriz Ghahraman’s Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill was pulled from the biscuit tin today. ...
Tomorrow, the Government will release this year’s Budget, setting out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. While the full details will be kept under wraps until Thursday afternoon, we’ve announced a few ...
As a Government, we made it clear to New Zealanders that we’d take meaningful action on climate change, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Earlier today, we released our next steps with our Emissions Reduction Plan – which will meet the Climate Commission’s independent science-based emissions reduction targets, and new ...
Emissions Reduction Plan prepares New Zealand for the future, ensuring country is on track to meet first emissions budget, securing jobs, and unlocking new investment ...
The Greens are calling for the Government to reconsider the immigration reset so that it better reflects our relationship with our Pacific neighbours. ...
Hamilton City Council and Whanganui District Council have both joined a growing list of Local Authorities to pass a motion in support of Green Party Drug Reform Spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick’s Members’ bill to minimise alcohol harm. ...
Today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a major package of reforms to address the immediate skill shortages in New Zealand and speed up our economic growth. These include an early reopening to the world, a major milestone for international education, and a simplification of immigration settings to ensure New Zealand ...
Proposed immigration changes by the Government fail to guarantee pathways to residency to workers in the types of jobs deemed essential throughout the pandemic, by prioritising high income earners - instead of focusing on the wellbeing of workers and enabling migrants to put down roots. ...
Ehara taku toa i te toa takatahi, engari taku toa he toa takimano – my strength is not mine alone but the strength of many (working together to ensure safe, caring respectful responses). We are striving for change. We want all people in Aotearoa New Zealand thriving; their wellbeing enhanced ...
The Green Party is throwing its support behind the 10,000 allied health workers taking work-to-rule industrial action today because of unfair pay and working conditions. ...
Since the day we came into Government, we’ve worked hard to lift wages and reduce cost pressures facing New Zealanders. But we know the rising cost of living, driven by worldwide inflation and the war in Ukraine, is making things particularly tough right now. That’s why we’ve stepped up our ...
An independent review of New Zealand’s detention regime for asylum seekers has found arbitrary and abusive practices in Aotearoa’s immigration law, policy, and practice. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party on winning the Australian Federal election, and has acknowledged outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison. "I spoke to Anthony Albanese early this morning as he was preparing to address his supporters. It was a warm conversation and I’m ...
Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Matariki Tapuapua, He roimata ua, he roimata tangata. He roimata e wairurutu nei, e wairurutu nei. Te Māreikura mārohirohi o Ihoa o ngā Mano, takoto Te ringa mākohakoha o Rongo, takoto. Te mātauranga o Tūāhuriri o Ngai Tahu ...
Three core networks within the tourism sector are receiving new investment to gear up for the return of international tourists and business travellers, as the country fully reconnects to the world. “Our wider tourism sector is on the way to recovery. As visitor numbers scale up, our established tourism networks ...
The Government is contributing $100,000 to a Mayoral Relief Fund to help the Levin community following this morning’s tornado, Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan says. “My thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by severe weather events in Levin and across the country. “I know the tornado has ...
The Quintet of Attorneys General have issued the following statement of support for the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and investigations and prosecutions for crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “The Attorneys General of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand join in ...
Morena tatou katoa. Kua tae mai i runga i te kaupapa o te rā. Thank you all for being here today. Yesterday my colleague, the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson, delivered the Wellbeing Budget 2022 – for a secure future for New Zealand. I’m the Minister of Health, and this was ...
Urgent Budget night legislation to stop major supermarkets blocking competitors from accessing land for new stores has been introduced today, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The Commerce (Grocery Sector Covenants) Amendment Bill amends the Commerce Act 1986, banning restrictive covenants on land, and exclusive covenants ...
It is a pleasure to speak to this Budget. The 5th we have had the privilege of delivering, and in no less extraordinary circumstances. Mr Speaker, the business and cycle of Government is, in some ways, no different to life itself. Navigating difficult times, while also making necessary progress. Dealing ...
Budget 2022 provides funding to implement the new resource management system, building on progress made since the reform was announced just over a year ago. The inadequate funding for the implementation of the Resource Management Act in 1992 almost guaranteed its failure. There was a lack of national direction about ...
The Government is substantially increasing the amount of funding for public media to ensure New Zealanders can continue to access quality local content and trusted news. “Our decision to create a new independent and future-focused public media entity is about achieving this objective, and we will support it with a ...
$662.5 million to maintain existing defence capabilities NZDF lower-paid staff will receive a salary increase to help meet cost-of living pressures. Budget 2022 sees significant resources made available for the Defence Force to maintain existing defence capabilities as it looks to the future delivery of these new investments. “Since ...
More than $185 million to help build a resilient cultural sector as it continues to adapt to the challenges coming out of COVID-19. Support cultural sector agencies to continue to offer their important services to New Zealanders. Strengthen support for Māori arts, culture and heritage. The Government is investing in a ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
Four new permanent Coroners to be appointed Seven Coronial Registrar roles and four Clinical Advisor roles are planned to ease workload pressures Budget 2022 delivers a package of investment to improve the coronial system and reduce delays for grieving families and whānau. “Operating funding of $28.5 million over four ...
Establishment of Ministry for Disabled People Progressing the rollout of the Enabling Good Lives approach to Disability Support Services to provide self-determination for disabled people Extra funding for disability support services “Budget 2022 demonstrates the Government’s commitment to deliver change for the disability community with the establishment of a ...
Fairer Equity Funding system to replace school deciles The largest step yet towards Pay Parity in early learning Local support for schools to improve teaching and learning A unified funding system to underpin the Reform of Vocational Education Boost for schools and early learning centres to help with cost ...
$118.4 million for advisory services to support farmers, foresters, growers and whenua Māori owners to accelerate sustainable land use changes and lift productivity $40 million to help transformation in the forestry, wood processing, food and beverage and fisheries sectors $31.6 million to help maintain and lift animal welfare practices across Aotearoa New Zealand A total food and ...
House price caps for First Home Grants increased in many parts of the country House price caps for First Home Loans removed entirely Kāinga Whenua Loan cap will also be increased from $200,000 to $500,000 The Affordable Housing Fund to initially provide support for not-for-profit rental providers Significant additional ...
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MONGREL MOB LEADER THREATENS PETERS WITH LEGAL ACTION
"Originally published by Māori Television
A Mongrel Mob leader accused of helping a Covid-positive sex worker obtain documentation to travel to Northland has lashed out at the allegations and threatened legal action.
…Hawke's Bay Mongrel Mob leader Harry Tam says the claims levelled by former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters are not true. "If Winston said it, he needs to prove it… If he's not going to apologise, we will need to look at legal action," Tam said.
Peters appeared on TV3's Newshub on Saturday morning levelling the allegations which had been circulating on social media and encrypted messaging app 'WhatsApp' on Friday night.
"This person came here with a gang member assigned essential worker status, falsified the reason she was coming," Peters said. "[She] engaged with people at a hotel in Whangārei… and went to a marae up North which hid her from the public and, dare I say it, the police. The police got a warrant to arrest her."
Peters claimed the Government found out about the situation "days and days ago".
"How he got up North, that is very difficult to understand in terms of the permit system, but he brought in, under false premises, this woman with him. The rest, sadly, is catastrophic," Peters said.
Tam told Te Ao Māori News that Peters was off the mark, while he had travelled to Tāmaki under a government exemption to support efforts to get gang members vaccinated, he travelled alone and had never been to Northland since arriving in Auckland.
…
Tam said mainstream media had been irresponsible in its coverage of the allegations first raised by a reporter at an impromptu press conference on Friday evening.
'It's the media's job to check these things.'"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-mongrel-mob-hit-back-at-winston-peters-over-northland-claims/63YJXDDR3A7PLZDK7O4XHVKZQQ/
…………………..
What a hoot. Will be interesting to see where this goes, if anywhere. Tam must not be short of money for lawyers….
You missed out this paragraph while cutting around the photo; Gezza. It seems to be the core of the issue:
Peters may be too used to having parliamentary privilege! But he was not speaking in parliament, and he's not even an MP anymore. A reminder why it is important to cite sources, and always use the term; allegedly (however sarcastically), in any potentially defamatory statement based on hearsay. Particularly onsite where unfounded speculation may sometimes put TS at legal risk and waste mod time.
I think you skimmed over my post too quickly, Forget now?
That paragraph is in there. The only bit that isn’t is your quotation:
“I didn’t bring anyone with me. Where did he get his information from? What is his source?’ he said.”
which I figured readers could see when they clicked on the article link.
The quote was the paragraph I was referring to; Gezza (the preceding paragraph was included for context – probably should have italicized for clarity). So your omission was intentional? I assumed that you had simply made a cut and paste typo.
Just watched the original Peters interview, which was a bit embarrassing really. But he certainly wasn't being taken out of context. Relevant section starts at 1:30 mark on video. The interviewer goes out of his way to offer Peters a lifeline at 2:13 "How do you know all this?…", but he'd rather drown:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/10/gang-leader-harry-tam-denies-winston-peters-claims-he-helped-infected-woman-breach-covid-boundary-sparking-northland-lockdown.html
Yes, I just watched the whole interview. Peters seems to have dug himself into a hole over the claims Tam & the infected exemption letter cheat travelled together. It remains to be seen whether Peters subsequently issues a correction and/or Tam actually initiates Legal proceedings.
But, beyond that issue, Peters got in some solid body blows against the government for other shortcomings. In particular, that the Health Dept adopted completely the wrong strategy for prioritising Māori & Pasifika vaccinations in not involving Māori heath orgs in the rollout – a claim which is being made increasingly often in numerous media sources.
Also in the very slow vaccine supplies we had to start off with.
‘
From the Left and the Right, and the Centre;
Winston Peters is, a "political pro." (Amanda Gillies). A "political predator" (Mark Richardson). An "opportunist" (Duncan Garner).
Peters is all these things.
"Whenever there's civil unrest, when anything's going down no matter how small the group might be, Winston is in there politically grandstanding." M.R.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/07/winston-peters-a-political-predator-mark-richardson.html
The rough sleepers, drug users, sex workers, prisoners, the gangs, are the lowest and most alienated and marginalised sections of our New Zealand society.
It was always known, (and feared), that if the virus got into these marginalised communities that the virus would be hard to contain and would spread like wildfire.
I see the infections in the gangs as a symptom of the government's failure to control the virus, not the cause of it, as some like Peters are trying to make out.
It is notable that these groups were not singled out for blame and scapegoating, until after the drop in alert level, which just as predicted by some experts, infection numbers reversed their decline and started rising again.
Lockdowns are like herd immunity, the harder the Lockdown, the more people who practice it, even the few, who don't are protected.
It will be interesting to see, (from an epidemioligist modeling point of view), if the irresponsible actions of the two alleged sex workers who travelled illegally throughout Northland on their business, spark off a major outbreak.
In a time of national crisis scapegoating and blaming is dangerous and should have no place.
Whatever the eventual outcome. Let us hope that this is the end of Winston Peters predatory and opportunistic brand of politics.
Do you think Peters has been set up?
Dunno. He’s a wily old fox. One would think he normally has his radar on for signs of that ?
I am looking forward to the court case.
Me too. Peters has form for allegations that aren’t subsequently backed up by him. But he usually makes them within the protection of the House.
Must say that while I wasn't happy with the last election result it was the best result out of all the bad options
Winston is a blight and I'd rather see National/Act stay in opposition if it meant Winston got back in
DV @ 1.2
It's possible somebody was set up and it flowed from there. I commented along the lines yesterday that there were some nasty right-wing political buggers floating around the North in the past, and they're probably still there.
In my (limited) recent interaction with the gangs, what struck me most forcefully about them was their poverty.
Count me in; if Harry Tam has to set up a 'Give a Little' page, for a legal case against Peters.
The lowest members are very poor, the leaders are not poor.
This may be true, it may not.
Whatever.
The fact is, even if Harry Tam is financially better placed than most of his gang's members, Tam would soon be reduced to absolute poverty in litigation with Winston Peters, who has far greater resources and the backing of some people with very deep pockets.
For this reason I think Harry Tam, though he may want to, would be ill advised to take a case against Winston Peters.
No it is true, no maybe about it.
As far as I'm concerned I'd love to see these duke it out in court and, best case scenario, financially cripple both of them
‘
Jenny how to get there
10 October 2021 at 8:29 am
…..Count me in; if Harry Tam has to set up a 'Give a Little' page, for a legal case against Peters.
Jenny how to get there
10 October 2021 at 10:18 am
This may be true, it may not.
Whatever…..
Really?
From the States:
As Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was on $326,697 per year, and had to pay tax on that.
If I had to guess, I would guess that Harry Tam would be getting way less than his American counterparts. But assuming, (just for argument's sake), that a New Zealand gang leader like Harry Tam had an analogous business plan and salary to match that of his American soul mates. Then Harry Tam might be able to match Winston Peters, in meeting the costs of litigation. Except for one difference, unlike Winston Peters, Harry Tam does not have the backing of secret wealthy donors, prepared to hide their donations in trusts and slush funds.
To the States again:
It is clear to me that there is no way Harry Tam can afford the costs of litigation, to be able to take Winston Peters to court, not unless Tam received lots of small donations from thousands of ordinary New Zealanders.
If Tam goes down the path of litigation, for him to have a 'Give a Little' page would be a necessity. Whether it would get much support is another question.. But I would flick him a $20.
Me too. I remember how he settled the MM in Dunedin – got them calmed down and stable and helping out their neighbours in South Dunedin.
Then the Gnats wrecked all his work so they could pretend to be 'tough on crime'. Crime went up.
Tam got the MM “calmed down” from what?
How did National “wreck all his work” exactly?
And who was committing the crime when it “went up”.
He was a social worker, back in the day. He took a not inconsiderable personal risk and approached the Dunedin chapter of the MM. Got them their welfare entitlements, found them housing. They stopped accepting prospects.
How did National “wreck all his work” exactly?
They found 'reasons' to back out of everything that he'd arranged.
who was committing the crime when it “went up”
Chiefly a new gang, ultra violent, forget their name but they lived near Ravensdown.
Is Harry Tam still living with his mum, Jenny?
I don't know, but I doubt it. The US has very weak welfare provision compared to New Zealand. I would guess that Tam and his family have a state home. At least I hope so.
The point I was trying to make; Despite the 'conventional wisdom' gangs don't make a lot of money.
I am also guessing, that because of our welfare safety net, New Zealand gangs are not as viciously murderous and criminaly mercenary as they are in the U.S.
Thank goodness.
That's your choice but maybe consider flicking the money to a charity instead
Count me in; if Harry Tam has to set up a 'Give a Little' page, for a legal case against Peters.
Yeah, nah. Harry won't be taking any legal action. He knows he'd be cross-examined and would almost certainly be asked what he had to do to earn his gang patch.
It's been reported that Harry is a convicted wife-beater. You can see why Winston won't be going to court anytime soon.
Tam was convicted in 1994 of assaulting his wife and was sentenced to three months' periodic detention and six months' supervision.
Mildon says she experienced abuse herself.
"One time Harry attacked me in the middle of the night while I was in bed asleep and tried to strangle me. The police have evidence and photographs," she told Newshub.
"Harry says I'm a liar and a violent, jealous woman, who beat him three times…. People accuse you of things they're actually doing themselves."
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/08/harry-tam-s-ex-on-alleged-abuse-intimidation-and-how-mongrel-mob-linked-rehab-funding-is-conflict-of-interest.html
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ex-con-gets-corrections-department-policy-job/MIZR5J4QSBIJESQ3KIWOGNHXI4/
What the hell does the information you provided have to do with the legal action that has been proposed?
Unlike your proposition, the justice system is supposed to rely on evidence relevant to the case and to exclude the irrelevant history of the person who seeks a remedy for an alleged defamation.
You find it irrelevant and all cool. Others don't and all cool with that as well.
Since we are bringing up the past criminal outrages, as apparently relevant to this case: Winston Peters is a politician who has, at various times in his career, opportunistically appealed to the worst racist views and paranoia of Pakeha New Zealand against Asians and even Maori to gain increased electoral support.
At the height of Peters Asian bashing campaign, inflamed by Peters racist rhetoric, there were a number of unprovoked physical attacks and bashings of Asian New Zealanders one of the most notorious occuring in Queen Street.
Are you cool with that as well?
Past drink driving charges for example amongst others don't count. They get included in hearings.
I don't have an issue either way, but the pick and chose which can be brought up I find interesting.
Lets not go down that particular road again
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/70225493/could-the-chinese-sounding-names-stunt-be-labours-orewa
'Leader Andrew Little has admitted he knew use of the figures would lead to calls of racism and that the analysis is crude.'
This again?
It was and is a perfectly valid linguistic technique. The only reason it became a story is that lazy and incompetent reporters figured they had a stick they could use to beat the Left. Little may have many faults, but being motivated by racism to express concern about the out of control property speculation which has pushed housing out of reach of 60% of New Zealanders isn't one of them.
It has no more credibility than the antisemitism slur used on Corbyn – a political vehicle for the unelectable Starmer, and a way for Israeli intelligence to negate one of the few informed voices on the Palestinian question.
Tam is a Vietnamese name. So I guess Harry Tam triggers at least two of Winston Peters hates, Asians and gangs.
To earn a gang patch especially at the time he got his usually included rape of some description
Not that I'm saying he did of course just that it was an accepted part of the culture he willingly chose to join.
A rape culture one could say.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/gangs/page-4
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2838209/What-the-gang-patch-means
Do you really believe the respondent's previous criminal history will counter any definitive proof that Peters made shit up?
.
What an effective strategy to get a vax-reluctant community in a particular region, to get vaxxed, pronto, would claims of an invasion by a busy, Covid-infected sex-worker be.
More effective if you got sex as a reward for your second jab.
One good prick deserves another.
Maybe that's what the Northland case was doing? "Vaccination Incentive Contractor" sounds like "essential work" to me.
Concern raised (and ignored) regarding the current treatment path for children and young people with gender dysphoria:
Top Trans Doctors Blow the Whistle on ‘Sloppy’ Care
This is the US, where healthcare is not standardise, but the approach seems to be consistent.
Interesting read.
There certainly does seem to be an insistence on only reporting one side of the issue.
I follow Blaire White on youtube and she brings up issues like this all the time and why shes for transitioning at 18 not younger.
Her video on being pushed to do sex work was also eye opening:
Interesting video. Thanks, PR.
A slight diversion but this guy is a former mma fighter, is a trainer, manager, cornerman, referee and commentates so he knows his stuff
(A really good voice as well)
This is his take on the latest trans fight, from a knowledgeable, insiders perspective.
Homegrown weekend entertainment, thread:
The Herald online has very regular stories about broadcasters. I don't click on them. Some I know are broadcasters even though I've never heard or seen them broadcast.
Important stories: "Why I never eat bread," or "Shock over my cat," or "Worst time of the year for…"
Kim Hill is a voice on the radio. I don't need to know what she eats for breakfast or some personal tragedy she went through just before her 4th birthday.
Yes agreed or some personality does a clap back or something and its the most amazing thing ever, apparantly.
Would never vote for the dude, but Seymour did a good job on Q and A there with an obviously biased Jack Tame.
Was quite funny
Seymour has a carefully cultivated pretense of being harmless, non-scary and well-intentioned. But before he appeared on the programme, Q&A did us the service of a tiki tour through the various gruesome far-right ghouls who have been his predecessors as former ACT's leaders. I had to leave the room, there is only so much loathing one person can process.
Did you just call ACT far right?
Lol
Sorry but that is funny. In so many ways it is unbelievable. You managed to both exagerate seeming opinions of Seymour while belittling the actual affect the far right nut jobs have on the rest of the worlds vulnerable at the same time.
Let me guess. You think Ardern is far left?
A pretty fair definition of "far right" would be "somebody who undermines the vaccination programme by attacking a service which encourages those we most need to reach and get vaccinated, and he does so simply because of their race".
No
As much as you seemingly want it to be so. That isn't the definition of far right.
Get back to me when you read the actual one.
If it helps and Wikipedia is a bit shit, so wouldn’t go with all of this, this might help your understanding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics
Just out of interest do you think Labour are far right from their "Asian sounding surnames" of house buyers and Winston is fro his "Two Wongs don't make a white" stuff.
Or is that just conveniently ignored?
Well,, I think the Labour thing is more tory narrative than accuracy (after all, probabilistic linkage is a key feature of the IDI), but Winston stood by Ron "keep Muslims off planes" Prosser. So definite far right tendencies in that regard.
But ACT are pretty far right compared to most other parties (although juco is trying to nab their territory).
TBF, Nazis like them.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/10/act-backed-by-nazis.html
Vladimir Putin loves ABBA. ABBA band members must be evil assassinating scum
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/06/vladimir-putin-russia-abba-tribute-concert
No, it just means that ABBA's music appeals to Putin.
Just as ACT's politics appeals to some people in the NZ political far right.
I think comparing Seymour to Key is a bit silly.
Seymour is good, but not Key popularity
Admit has the easy going thing on his side. But a bit
There are many possible grounds for comparing Seymour to Key. In disingenuousness they are probably about equal – but in terms of efficacy in achieving their nefarious objectives, Key rates highly, but Seymour doesn't rate at all.
Just watched it and yes he had a slow start but finished strongly and did well, a nice touch to talk about breast cancer as well
Yeah. It hasn't been mentioned in media much, but would be interesting to know how many, not only breast cancer screenings, but also other cancer screenings have been turfed over Covid and how many mean it makes it too late.
While idiot journalists still ask "How many deaths from Covid are acceptable?"
Probably never will know.
It is a stupid question given the circumstances whether it is asked to any party.
Seymour basically just answered with "How many others are acceptable to avoid your imaginary number of Covid deaths?"
Yeah I don't like that line of questioning either.
Like if the government lowered the speed limit on all roads to 10kms we'd probably have fewer deaths but we are all ok with (or at least accept) that certain numbers of people are going to die each year
It is quite ugly and I admit I am probably being an arsehole. But we were talking about it at work the other day.
I actually went for 650ish. (Would never say that as a politician as you would be screwed)
Just an easy flu + car crash deaths a year.
You could add all the cancer numbers of deaths on, but makes it too complicated.
Obviously zero is better, but it is what it is and we have to accept/deal with the hand we are dealt
Edit:And suicides
I'm sure all the politicians have a number to be under but I'm of the view that all the information is out there so get vaccinated or don't, mask up or don't, self isolate as much as possible or don't and lets all open up
I find it a bit weird that people think the govt and opposition parties don't take into account different loss of life acceptable or unacceptable into consideration every day.
If they didn't they would be a bit shit considering their resources.
Ardern will have a nightmare figure, an acceptable figure and a easy win next election figure.
She is a brainy chick
“She is a brainy chick”
…………………………………
I see no evidence for that conclusion. While she is not stupid, she is mostly only concentrating on ONE thing – Covid. And she is voluble in deflecting & refusing to acknowledge any shortcomings in the strategies to date.
By now she SHOULD be well-versed in the numbers and the strategies, & she & Robertson have somehow got out of sync a time or two. Her other areas of responsibility she seems less familiar with & less on top of. Child povidy, anyone?
Jacinda Ardern is well versed in what is needed going forward. She is acknowledged as an inspirational Leader, and our covid stats and GDP bear this out. You may not like her style, but to say "only covid" does not flatter you.
Child poverty is worse everywhere because.. Covid. Our biggest issue currently. You are doing what JK used to do.. attacking strength. I C U.
Somebody has smartened up her te reo Māori pronunciation. Surely someine can take her aside now & smarten up her English pronunciation.
🙄 *Someine = someone
The thing about the speed limit is that it won't save lives if people start to ignore it.
For all of those causes of death mentioned, the government spends literally millions every year to try to stop people dying from them. But with covid's infection rate, it's not like we can half arse it and just have an "acceptable" number of dead. That shit spreads. Even with moderate controls, we need absurdedly high vax rates across the board to avoid literally thousands of deaths a year.
Sure, number of people dying directly from covid under different circumstances is part of the decision-making matrix, but it's definitely not the only number. Turns out a healthy society is better for the economy than being a plagueland, even if the tory narrative doesn't agree.
And the last couple of years raises the wider question about whether maybe we've been accepting preventable deaths because we were used to them and they were lower than 50 years ago, but actually we can do a lot better if we did things like border tests for influenza, rsv, and maybe a few others.
A reminder of how our media are doing with COVID.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/7/8/how-new-zealands-media-endangered-public-health
Stuff Comments continues to be the sewer of conspiracy theories and flat out fibs. Of course that is commonplace on social media (and blogs!) but Stuff is supposed to be a professional media outlet with moderation on their comments threads (as they claim). Sadly, they barely bother.
Example: Tracy Watkins' column (itself bad enough) is open for
liescomments. So we get rubbish like this –why was the prime minister a last minute cancellation on Friday for the press conference? No one was informed least of all the press gallery. She then surfaced in Rotorua only to once again disappear without informing anyone of her movements
Yes, the PM of New Zealand mysteriously disappears and hides because it's a Conspiracy!11!!
Anybody with Google (i.e anybody at all) could fact-check in 5 seconds and see where the PM has been. Then you chuck the pork pies in the bin. That is literally the job of the moderators employed by Stuff. Or rather, it should be. But they can't be arsed.
You did exceptionally well to find a Stuff article they were allowing comments on. These days they’re rarer than hens’ teeth.
I don’t really understand your apparent apoplexy about the comments on Watkins column (tho I’d put her in the Sir John Key fangirl club) because from my perspective most Stuff journos have been afflicted by Jacindamania since she first rescued Labour from electoral oblivion & only a few of the opinion writers generally dare to criticise her.
The comments are not the column.
(I don't agree with Watkins much either, but op-eds are like that, always gonna vary. Obviously not the issue here).
The comment I quoted appears to have been removed now, after several hours, which illustrates how hopeless their system is. They only remove the lies after they are challenged – as I did in this case and I expect many others did too. Other misinformation remains and who has the time to spend their Sunday cleaning up the Stuff website? It is their job.
They are legally and ethically the publisher, and moderating is a minimum requirement. "Opinion" is not a defence: "Ardern eats kittens" is an opinion, and also defamation.
The sprinkler lady has competition.
😮 I’d never heard of the crazy sprinkler lady before. OMG. What an embarrassment to her county. Has to be a US Southerner, I suppose, from the accent.
Amerika has the best out & out wackos in the world. And probably the most of them of any country, too.
Barry knew.
Soper?
“A man brutally attacked while walked home in Flaxmere says he felt a blow on his neck and ran and fell, not realising he had been stabbed. The man was then stabbed three more times on the back before he was able to get up and run again to an area with houses, where his calls for help were answered.
Police and the man’s family are now appealing for help to find the alleged attacker behind the stabbing, which occured bout 5am on Saturday on Chatham Rd, near Chatham Park.
The victim, a man in his 20s, told Hawke’s Bay Today he was walking home from a nightclub at the time.
“I’m not too sure where he came from [the attacker], I just remembered seeing him by a truck and felt myself being hit,” he said. ‘I didn’t realise I was stabbed but I ran and fell – I think that’s when he stabbed my back up.'”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hastings-man-stabbed-four-times-while-walking-home-in-flaxmere-tried-to-run-from-attacker/SNLRAVYNSCRCH225CDMU2INKCI/
…………………………………….
The police have a description & and are asking for any witnesses or those who might know something about this to contact them.
Man, wtf is wrong with our little paradise bubble in the South Pacific? How do so many whackos or haters end up walking our streets?
Probably just a coincidence:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300163523/prisoner-numbers-fall-1089-over-last-12-months-largest-drop-in-over-20-years
Hmmm. Now that you've raised this matter, it does sound like a prison shanking-type of attack. Wonder if it was random or the victim was specifically targeted – wearing the wrong colours in the wrongvend of town, or whatever?
FkniPad!
*wrong end
Yeah could be anything.
Wrong place at wrong time, wrong colours, looked at his girl in the bar, a girl looked at him in the bar, owes him money, mistaken identity, said something on the way home…
Lots of gang activity in Flaxmere
Or this: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-motorway-road-rage-shooters-jail-term-thrown-out-gets-home-detention-instead/YGIOSDMJMCVV3WQTFV2HGXBIYI/#
Best explanation yet to why the government changed tack.
The likely net result is countries such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand will see less suffering and tragedy than Europe or the US saw last year. Exposing a vaccinated population to the virus is different because vaccines protect people from the most harmful effect of COVID-19 infections.
Singapore, for example, has recorded 46,637 new cases in the last four weeks, but on Thursday only 297 required oxygen and 40 people were so sick they had to be in intensive care.
Some people still die. Last week, Singapore recorded its 100th death related to COVID-19. As of Thursday, fatalities had reached 136. As those tents outside hospitals show, the surge in cases has put the health system under pressure.
[…]
On Thursday, Singapore reported 3483 new infections. Teo believes the true number is likely twice that, or even more. People who don’t feel ill don’t get tested, he notes.
Some 98.4 per cent of those who tested positive in the last 28 days had no, or mild, symptoms. But for 18 months people have been living in fear. Now policymakers have to change that messaging.
“Australia and Singapore share many common experiences.” Teo says. “Since the pandemic began, our countries have done so well telling people that ‘you don’t want to be affected; it affects you, your household, the whole community’.
“Now we’re saying, ‘even if you are infected, it’s OK, stay at home, stay isolated, recover and that will be all right for you’.
https://www.afr.com/world/asia/singapore-s-immunity-trap-a-lesson-for-australia-20211007-p58y2y
60 cases today. All but 3 in Auckland.
How many are because of the "protest" a week ago? Throw the book at the "Apostle" and his mate because they are supposed to be planning another.
The government should bring in the $4000 instant fines.. that caused a sudden drop in takers for protests in QLD and NSW.
It may give our tractor friends food for thought about Novembers planned repeat.
OK truth.
It is about time we had this. I don't care what you say or who you vote for. I don't care if you would never vote for another party out of some seird nutty principle I don't get.
Rate the leaders NOW. (purely personal opinion)
Ardern – 6/10
Let's face it. She was a bit shit Monday and Tuesday getting the message across, when tcomunication has always been her greatest asset. Maybe her annoyed boyfriend will stop tweeting about it . And no matter how much you try to justify it, your vaccine roll out was one of the shittest in the world. And targets aren't bad.
Collins 2/10
Give it up love. Mate Your writing is on the wall so likely you might as well be holding the piece of chalk
Seymour 9/10
Would never vote for the dude, but winner on every day so far.. The fact he is even mentioned is interesting. Also did a good interview with one dumb journalist.
Ardern – 7/10 While I agree with your rating that she still manages to convince a helluva lot of people that she knows what shes doing and is in control of the situation means she gets a higher rating from me
Collins – 1/10 The media hate her and won't give her the time of day (the fix is in) but National still shouldn't roll her
Seymour – 8/10 Is doing very well but just needs a little more polishing
The Greens – Conspicuous by their absence so no rating, would probably recommend that JAG never be interviewed on live tv ever again
It is actually weird that.
I didn't even consider putting in the Greens, as as you say they seem absent as.
Heard that JAG's interview turned a bit ugly. Can't find atm
A bit ugly is one way of putting it:
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/10/genter_walks_out_of_interview_about_bill_she_introduced.html
Far out
Thanks man
Train wreck. And we are paying them shitloads to remember what bills they want.
And that is a senior one. Imagine how shit the other list lot are.
Conspicuous by their absence…
Careful now Puckish, there's some you don't want to provoke.
Marama Davidson turned up for a photo op at the opening of a bus door, which reflects the Greens' full and enthusiastic support of the vaccination campaign.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-new-vaccination-bus-shot-cuzz-hits-auckland-streets/JZMDL3PD6S7CDWOFAOREV2TWMY/
I'm sure they're doing very important things, behind the scenes
Just a point seymour doesnt have to do anything .
In opposition you can say anything you like of course however you have to be careful otherwise you find yourself in a kiwibuild situation
Yes, but pointing out cancer patients and other patients are being screwed because their appointments are being put off because of covid is frankly not opposition moaning.
It is basic fact.
Giving points rating MPs in handling Covid?
Rating Collins and Seymour is like rating players for a rugby test who didn't even get picked in the squad.
I'll have to watch Seymour on Q+A before I rate any of them.
Seymour started the interview with that goofy-looking grin. He shouldn't try to smile for the cameras when it doesn't come naturally. There's nothing wrong with just having an 'interested' look on one's face when the cameras start rolling for a tv interview.
Ok. Jack Tame I rate as probably TVNZ's worst political interviewer. He wasted far too much time trying to get Seymour to name an acceptable number of Covid deaths, when no political leader is going to go there.
He should have been thinking on his arse & asking Seymour questions related to ACT's strategic Covid plan. Like, HOW does he propose to get MOH to work with private industry over rapid antigen testing, vaccine rollouts, exactly what additional capacity for ICU has he calculated would become available & where from, & where would it go into place. That sort of thing.
Corin Dann would leave Jack Tame in the dust. Q+A is rooted with Tame. That's why I've given up watching it altogether. They've send an overgrown boy to do an adult's job.
Ratings:
Ardern – 5/10. This week's announcements were a thoroughly confusing omnishambles. Not at all like the start of the Covid campaign last year when stuff was dropped in all our letterboxes & the messaging was expressly simple,comprehensive, & clear – at least in the English language versions. I think Ardern's credibility/ believability has taken a hit last week.
Collins – 0/10. Dead woman walking. There is nothing Collins can do or say that will persuade anywhere near enuf voters that she would be an acceptable PM of this country. She's an unmitigated disaster for National, & everyone with a functioning brain knows it. Best thing Ardern & Labour have going for them.
Seymour – 7/10. Actually currently probably IS the leader of the Opposition. Sounds credible, is able to make his plan sound sensible, is a good, clear communicator, handled Tame well – in fact he ended up owning the lad.
He's a p***k Gezza. He dismembers the truth to the point where he doesn't even try to hide it because he knows the media will let him get away with it. I despair at the idiots out there in voter-land who seem unable to see through the shallow little toad.
A lot of that support is most likely waiting to rush back to National when Collins is rolled. As long as their next choice isn’t Bridges, or another loon.
Your problem is with that is the last couple of polls show the nats are pretty much on their election numbers and it is Labour leaking the numbers.
@ Chris T
Not how it looks to me:
At the Public Health blog yesterday Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Jennifer Summers and Prof Michael Baker advocate for more and stricter regional borders including blocking minor roads with containers. They suggest regional areas of elimination and for now suppression in Auckland but perhaps back to elimination later.
https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/the-need-for-an-updated-strategic-approach-to-covid-19-control-in-aotearoa-nz/
I agree with Rod Jackson. If we all follow the rules, DELTA can be eliminated.
"If you follow the rules, it works … the reason we didn't stamp this outbreak out was people didn't follow the rules," he said.
Not mentioned is the undermining of public solidarity by the chattering classes, the Media and the Opposition.
Don't believe Rod Jackson – Taiwan just did it.
How?
The Long Road Back to Zero — Taiwan’s Covid Recovery
Taiwan's big outbreak wasn't Delta – it was alpha. Also significant is which community the virus infects. Even Michael Baker thoughr that the level of compliance in South Auckland's most deprived wouldn't have improved if Auckland had stayed at level 4 any longer. Note that Victoria locked down hard and fast as well but has failed to quash the nasty virus because of significant lack of compliance and is now at the 1800 to 1900 cases per day level. Having said that, Singapore is getting over 3000 cases a day but hardly any serious illness or deaths with over 80% full vaccination and generally compliant population. It's not a great time to be in government and have to make such difficult decisions.
Very true Koff – good to see the stats behind the info. Thanks.
And note that Taiwan seem to have achieved this without extensive lockdowns. The really smart thing they seem to have done is ramp up their own domestic production of comfortable and effective facemasks.
By paying attention to details, like non-scratchy materials, design to minimise fogging of eye glasses and loops that go around the back of the head rather than irritating the ears – plus of course high grade filtration – they've made it far easier for people to use them routinely and effectively.
"Taiwan's big outbreak wasn't Delta – it was alpha"
So far, it seems it seems they same tools have worked to both prevent the delta transmission as well as suppress the alpha outbreak.
UK public servant showed how to be true to the task. Chilcot looked into Tony Blair and saw right through him. But it took seven years.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/05/sir-john-chilcot-obituary
His seven-year-long inquiry into the conflict ruined the reputation of Tony Blair, Labour’s most successful leader since Clement Attlee, by exposing his subservient relationship with the US president, George W Bush, and confirming that the UK and the US had not exhausted the peace process when they went to war to topple the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
That decision cost 179 British lives, and the death of around 150,000 Iraqis. The wrecked country subsequently saw the rise, and later fall, of the terrorist group Islamic State, and is still suffering from the impact of the war today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chilcot
https://www.ft.com/stream/e563944f-58ae-46f6-ac21-c4a2b9c9a4e1
Collins puts the boot in to Ardern…
……………………………………..
“National Party leader Judith Collins is calling on the Prime Minister to “come out from the shadows” after several days of no-shows at previously daily press conferences.
Collins says for neither Jacinda Ardern or any of her ministers being forced to front – especially today when the Ministry of Health announced 60 new Covid cases in a written statement – is poor timing as the outbreak slowly spreads around the North Island.
“New Zealanders will be unsettled by the news – delivered via written statement – that we have 60 new community cases today and yet our Prime Minister did not even get one of her senior ministers to stand in for her at the podium.
“National have been critical at times about the unnecessary press conferences that were held when case numbers were very low, but if Jacinda Ardern thought it necessary to speak directly to the media then, why now with 60 cases is she missing in action?
“It is clear there are questions that Prime Minister Ardern does not want to be asked.”
Collins said the Government needed to front foot the role of gangs in spreading Covid around New Zealand.”
More…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-judith-collins-calls-on-jacinda-ardern-to-front-clearly-questions-pm-does-not-want-to-be-asked/C47MHT564MFYNSPU5XNSK4JF4E/
If Judith thinks Rotorua, Hawke's Bay, Gisborne etc are "the shadows", no wonder National lost so many seats in the provinces. Again, it's all performative, role play with no meaning … the alternative whinge is "why doesn't the PM get out of Wellington and meet real Kiwis?". Yawn.
I suppose the next page in the tired old playbook is to claim that tomorrow's post-Cab only happens because National boldly demanded it, never mind that it happens every week.
Well, at least it gives Granny Herald’s churnalists something to write about on a slow Sunday afternoon.
Wonder if Newshub and/or One News at 6 will give Collins any coverage of this tonite?
Her leadership rivals will be hoping they do.
The public tuned out long ago.
Tru dat.
So true observer, and I have not heard one word of criticism about her christian buddy the apostle from the apparently devout Collins. Those 60 cases dovetail with his protest.
Maybe you should spend more time looking
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/10/national-leader-judith-collins-would-not-have-allowed-brian-tamaki-s-anti-lockdown-protest-in-auckland.html
That link perfectly sums up Collins.
First, the bluster, the bravado. Then when pressed she admits …
"Clearly you can't have the ministers interfering in police actions or inaction"
So she agrees entirely with Ardern. Everything else is for show.
The stupid thing is that not long ago Collins et al. were complaining about the daily 1 pm updates were purely political stunts and now after Ardern has been out doing great work in the provinces getting people to buy into vaccination she's accused of not fronting.
This opposition for opposition's sake, this contrarian mood, this exaggeration and dramatics has not not worked to convince the centre. The contrarian Right will not see National back into power. Now we read that National MPs are financially illiterate.
I knew that when a National MP grumped about high country stations selling for good prices because it would put up the local body rates on farms…………..
Amazing to hear so many people complain about our "loose border", after so many businesses begged us to open up again.
Looks like 60 is going to rocket up through the hundreds though.
Hold tight Auckland.
Where the f is the government ? no real contact with us for since Thursday, and look at what as happened since then. There are people moving thru boarders, how does someone cross the boarder on multi occasions, I thought that there would be only the actual move? This lack of govt contact is leaving opportunity for people to fill the void left open, which imo is reducing confidence in the govts efforts.
Auckland's rapidly heading for 90% first shot so Ardern and team are taking the show to the provinces and boonies where the resisters are. Makes good sense to me.
We are approaching 150 cases since Thursday. Case in Katikati, A very close contact to the Northland person with Covid and there where abouts is unknown. Should those in Northland be concerned or is the MIA understood to be within Auckland? So the PM is in the East Cape taking the show to the provinces, what of a plan for those other areas that need a boost, what are the plans for them ? Is our government only 1 person and the rest are surplus, IMO the governments should have sufficient talent to cover the PM's absence ? Or are the current events beyond the govt ?
There has been little development previously that that still warranted government announcements at 1:00, yet now nothing?
Collins and Seymour can hardly complain about rising case numbers. They want to 'learn to iive with the virus'. It's here in all its glory. They should enjoy its presence.
Good.
https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/chilean-president-sebastian-pinera-to-be-criminally-investigated-due-to-pandora-papers-revelations/
It was always going to spread here and so far the government's measures have protected us from an overloaded hospital system and the threat of social conflict due to the disproportionate effect of covid on the underclass, elderly, Maori and Pasifika.
I think that’s a fair assessment.
The early Māori & Pasifika vaccine rollout inadequacies were becoming a potential source of real anger & potential conflict but thank goodness sane heads have prevailed on all sides & things are looking much improved with some innovative approaches to getting vaccines to the actual communities concerned, after MOH finally started really listening to – and properly talking with – whanau/aiga/community leaders.
Put the entire North Island in level 4 for a fortnight, and cut off the South Island. It's not going to stop the gang muppets, but it'll keep everyone else safe.
Einsteins.
Yep, parr for the course…
I had a National candidate come in the shop one election trying to tell me how great their proposed tax cuts were going to be for me. I replied that it it would be nice to be paying tax. After a bit of bluster implying that I was some weirdo that actually enjoyed paying tax the penny dropped and he departed, very swiftly. But the expression at moment of comprehension was unforgettable.