Open mike 11/03/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 11th, 2025 - 50 comments
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50 comments on “Open mike 11/03/2025 ”

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  1. PsyclingLeft.Always 1
    11 March 2025 at 7:32 am

    Nothing obscene about this….much.

    ANZ defends $2.1b profit: 'Making a fair return for our shareholders'

    A big number. No shit. We do. We also think its way past time for change !

    "Our profitability is around about our cost of capital, and I think it's a very fair profit, but I can absolutely see why people think that's a big number."

    Playing the sympathy violin !? FFS.

    "Some of these regulatory requirements that we've complied with over the last few years have taken enormous amount of resources, and we've got the resources to be able to implement those well."

    And….Onya Chloe !

    Watson was later asked about the sustainability of lending and said "our business is lending money," to which Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick replied "and making money".

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/544370/anz-defends-2-point-1b-profit-making-a-fair-return-for-our-shareholders

    • Ad 1.1
      11 March 2025 at 8:33 am

      I'm guessing you're with Kiwibank?

    • AB 1.2
      11 March 2025 at 12:50 pm

      Watson was later asked about the sustainability of lending and said "our business is lending money,"

      I think Chloe's correction to this statement missed an important point. They are not really about just lending money. They do lend out depositors' money and pay a return to the depositor. But more importantly, they create new money then lend that at a profit as well.

      That is why any assessment of what constitutes an acceptable profit for a bank should differ from the assessment for a normal business. For a normal business, assets are a result of earnings, or of borrowing that will have to be paid for by earnings. For a bank, some of their 'assets' are new money created ex nihilo.

      Though it's important to note: the very idea that a notion of 'acceptable profit' can even exist, is based on some essentially moral assumptions about fairness and distribution. Those assumptions are increasingly not shared by the political right.

      • mikesh 1.2.1
        11 March 2025 at 1:51 pm

        That is why any assessment of what constitutes an acceptable profit for a bank should differ from the assessment for a normal business. For a normal business, assets are a result of earnings, or of borrowing that will have to be paid for by earnings. For a bank, some of their 'assets' are new money created ex nihilo.

        If the money was lent for the purpose of production then it would probably be performing a useful service; however most of seems to lent for the purchase of pre-existing houses, which is not good.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 1.2.2
        11 March 2025 at 8:18 pm

        AB.Yea that creating new money. Since banks began….Almost "miraculous". All the more insidious for us in NZ when they (the 4 NZ Australian banks) are an oligopoly, desperately fighting to keep their market share…theirs. And their huge profit heads away….

        And re …

        Though it's important to note: the very idea that a notion of 'acceptable profit' can even exist, is based on some essentially moral assumptions about fairness and distribution. Those assumptions are increasingly not shared by the political right.

        Moral ? NAct1, cronies and/or supporters, have been plumbing some dark depths….I dont hold out for any particular epiphany on this..or any other issues to do with fairness etc…

        There has been quite a lot of interminable discussion ( bit like with the duopoly supermarket )

        Banks can’t explain ‘persistently high profits’, says report

        The commissioners “are not convinced” by the banks’ explanations of their high profits, and says it’s really all about a lack of competition.

        The commission published its draft report on Thursday morning, amid calls to rein in the dominance of the four big Australian-owned banks. In a submission, consumer group Monopoly Watch calls for ANZ and ASB to be broken up into smaller banks. Open banking isn’t enough on its own, it says.

        The draft report finds that the top tier of NZ’s banking oligopoly – ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac – enjoys sustained high levels of profitability compared with their global peers. They face “no serious threats” from smaller competitors.

        “In a well-functioning banking market, we’d expect to see strong competition driving innovation and choice for customers, rather than the price-matching strategies we see here in NZ.”

        An actual NZ bank battling the NZ Australian Big 4

        Late last year, the smaller, NZ-listed Heartland Bank broke ranks to warn of the “barriers to competition” the big banks set in place.

        https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/03/21/commerce-commission-delivers-draft-report-on-personal-banking-competition/

        Plenty more reason why….but to my reading the following has the some answers already.

        So get with it and implement to get Fairer banking for NZ….

        How to make NZ banking more competitive

        https://www.aut.ac.nz/news/stories/how-to-make-nz-banking-more-competitive

    • KJT 1.3
      11 March 2025 at 4:03 pm

      Gotta look after National MP's post politics sinecure's!

    • Belladonna 1.4
      11 March 2025 at 5:18 pm

      If Swarbrick thinks anyone is in business for any other reason apart from making money, she's naive. However, it's more likely to be a quick clapback, than a reasoned opinion.

      There is nothing 'wrong' with the ANZ desire to maximize profits for their shareholders, from a business perspective. If NZ wants to tax some of those profits en route, then that's a political decision – and will be part of the cost of doing business for the ANZ (and any other banks) in NZ.

  2. Tiger Mountain 2
    11 March 2025 at 7:49 am

    Today's “Wait…what…” moment regards an online gambling Govt. License auction for offshore operators. Local operators do have some standards, Lotto online for instance closes over night, and has various measures to make gambling safer for those into it. This will undermine years of work by Problem Gambling Foundation etc. RNZ link is good, based on OIA documents.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/544373/offshore-operators-poised-to-dominate-new-online-gambling-market

    This Govt. really is a trendsetter (not in a good way)–Supporting Tobacco industry, Mining, Firearms, defunding NGOs, despoiling Conservation Estate.

    • Phillip ure 2.1
      11 March 2025 at 8:36 am

      They were trump…before trump 2.0.

    • tWig 2.2
      11 March 2025 at 10:28 am

      Why your feeds are flooded with betting ads. The TAB, under Labour's watch, was sold to UK giant betting firm Entain, associated with alleged Australian money-laundering. UK betting firms were recently shown to have shared illegally-scraped private user data with Meta.

      And you can bet your bottom dollar the same is happening here. Microtargetting heaven.

      • I Feel Love 2.2.1
        11 March 2025 at 3:51 pm

        Went to the movies the other night, 2 ads for TAB before the feature (& you don't realise until the end of the ads). My 20 year old stepson lost $20,000 online gambling before he was discovered & his mum got him some help. Amazing we have these casinos on our phones, gambling apps, utterly insidious.

        Some good news though, the boy finally got a job! A decent one too & he's so happy & grateful (& a little humbled finally), he's on a 90 day trial but he should be ok. We went & saw him the other night & he was almost crying with joy to have been given a chance, he had been searching for a year (chef work).

        • Belladonna 2.2.1.1
          11 March 2025 at 5:26 pm

          I've got a similar 'feel good' story relating to the son of a friend. He was expelled from school partway through Y13 – for entirely justified reasons (his parents agreed, and subsequently, so did he) – and was unwilling to engage in any other schooling, training or education.

          His Mum got him to apply for every unskilled job going in the local area – and one of the local restaurants was prepared to give him a go as a kitchen hand (basically dishwashing). The chef noticed that he was a hard worker, and interested in the kitchen environment, and gave him a chance to step up to food prep, and begin working to gain some quals. So, major props to the restaurant for giving him a chance, and the chef for taking an interest, and helping him begin a career.

          • I Feel Love 2.2.1.1.1
            11 March 2025 at 8:57 pm

            That's brilliant, they just gotta get their foot in the door somehow. I still got a couple teens finishing school in the next few years fingers crossed for them (& their peers). Some of the saddest stories at the moment are young job seekers on Reddit, in my early job seeking days (late 80s/1990s) I could just walk into a business & ask "gizza job" & they'd find me something, now it's all online where you're lucky if you even get a rejection reply.

            • Belladonna 2.2.1.1.1.1
              12 March 2025 at 12:13 pm

              Yeah. Teen in my family, who's been applying for part-time jobs right throughout the summer (supplement to school, not replacement). Even though he's got a good CV (been working since he was 14 – and his previous job went through downsizing due to the economy, rather than through anything to do with his performance) – he wasn't getting a lot of responses.

              Literacy is a major in this area. Not just writing your CV/cover letter – which you can get help with – but many of the larger employers have online questionnaires to be filled out, before they even consider the application.

              He has now got a great PT job – by being available to work late evenings, and weekends (not attractive hours for those who want a lifestyle, or have family commitments). So being flexible – pays benefits in getting your foot in the door.

              I do know of people who've got jobs through (effectively) door knocking – especially in the hands-on industries – where literacy isn't as important as hands on ability (and attitude, of course).

              But, equally, a couple of years ago we were advertising for warehouse staff (totally entry-level – basically just being fit and able to lift boxes) – and getting people applying and then not turning up for interviews (which is WINZ requirements to keep applying for jobs you don't want, if you want to keep your benefit).

              • weka …
                12 March 2025 at 12:15 pm

                and getting people applying and then not turning up for interviews (which is WINZ requirements to keep applying for jobs you don't want, if you want to keep your benefit).

                I wonder how much of that is WINZ policy sending people to apply for jobs they don't actually want. Do you report back to WINZ?

                • Belladonna …
                  12 March 2025 at 12:22 pm

                  We don't. Privacy laws.
                  As a (potential) employer we don't have any legal relationship with WINZ, only with the (potential) employee. We'd be breaching their privacy if we notified WINZ (or anyone else) about their application or interview behaviour.

                  WINZ appear to have a very broad brush approach to job applications – if you're qualified, you need to apply.

                  And, to be fair, lots of people don't get the perfect job right out of school. You take the job that pays the bills, while you figure out what you really want to do.

                  • weka …
                    12 March 2025 at 1:14 pm

                    that's good to know. I wonder how WINZ track whether people are turning up or not.

                    And, to be fair, lots of people don't get the perfect job right out of school. You take the job that pays the bills, while you figure out what you really want to do.

                    I think there are problems all round. Some kids don't have good motivation or work ethic or confidence. Not sure what can be done about that. I don't think boot camps are the answer. When I left school in the mid 80s I jumped around different jobs until I figured out what I was doing, but it seemed easier then even with the incoming neolib layoffs.

                    • weka …
                      12 March 2025 at 1:14 pm

                      cool stories in this thread though. Kids probably need to hear more of those.

                    • Belladonna …
                      12 March 2025 at 2:16 pm

                      The job hopping is still going strong (well, actually, even stronger).
                      When employing people in their 20s and early 30s, I'm finding that the majority have a maximum of 2-3 years in any one job. And some of the jobs have been in wildly different areas.

                      Career progression looks really different than it did when I was in my 30s.

                      Mind you, my first professional jobs were the beginning of the 90s – when the economy was seriously suffering, and jobs were thin on the ground (and seriously competitive against people who'd been laid off).

          • joe90 2.2.1.1.2
            11 March 2025 at 9:55 pm

            A mates problem child was chucked out of school so his mum marched him off to a job interview with a structural/sheet metal fabricator. He had no qualifications but he was keen and his response to being asked when could he start prompted his potential employer offer him a trial. Mum dropped the kid off in town to borrow some money from his father, he bought a pair boots, hoofed it 10 kilometres or so back to the workshop and started after lunch.

            The kid who had been written off as a semi-illiterate fuck-up with an attitude excelled, passed every exam and assessment that came his way and >10 years later he's his employer's top man.

            • Belladonna 2.2.1.1.2.1
              12 March 2025 at 12:16 pm

              Yes. School isn't for everyone. Having early pathways into apprenticeships is an equally valid career/life pathway. And attitude is important.

              Lots of teens regard school as a penance – whereas the 'job' is paying you to be there and deliver 🙂 Money is a great motivator. As is the self-respect you get from doing a great job.

  3. Mac1 3
    11 March 2025 at 9:05 am

    At last it has been explained- what is 'wokeness'?

    Winston Peters is the king of vibe-based politics. Back in 2003, he claimed the government had caused “an epidemic of political correctness”. Two decades on, he’s trotting out the same old complaint with a new lick of paint: “wokeness”.

    Good opinion piece here that this explanation comes from. https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360608533/jehan-casinader-problem-winstons-war-woke

    In the days of 'political correctness' I always understood that to mean 'the sort of thing you should be doing but don't want to'- it's the same with 'wokeness'. People who do the 'right thing' now are vilified as 'virtue-signalling'.

    Used by politicians it's nothing but a dogwhistle to bigotry in all its racist, ageist, sexist, misogynist, intolerant forms.

    Its alternative is being fair-minded, tolerant, empathetic, caring, kind, concerned, outward looking, helpful, gifting, merciful.

    The Sermon on the Mount would translate now in part as "Blessed are the Woke, for they already know God".

    Here endeth the lesson from a wee mound.

  4. Incognito 4
    11 March 2025 at 9:56 am

    If there ever was a good big nail in the coffin of the centrists’ wet dream of a grand-coalition between Labour and National then Rob Campbell has presented it here.

    https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/10/real-politics-is-about-persuasion-and-power-not-centre-ground-consensus/

    Mr Campbell is an independent non-partisan thinker who doesn’t favour the vanilla blend and beige colouring of NZ politics that’s so strikingly similar to the school lunches dished out by the Coalition: a mesh of unidentifiable ingredients of low nutritional value that have no substance and provide no sustenance.

    Still, the dreamers will dream on because of the persuasion of the wet dream, which is what politics has become: a branding and marketing exercise to sell ‘ideas’ to customer-voters to profit the capitalist ruling class and their shareholder-donors who’re based anywhere in the world because power and money don’t need passports.

    • Bearded Git 4.1
      11 March 2025 at 11:14 am

      +1000 Incog

      I hate Centrists….the TOP party comes to mind….Peter Dunne ..

      • Incognito 4.1.1
        11 March 2025 at 11:29 am

        Hate is too strong; centrists are easily sucked in by the persuasion of the political wet dream and their political taste is bland, boring, and beige. When they get a kick up the butt with a bit of spice and variety, they usually love it.

        I skip Peter Dunne’s opinion pieces in Newsroom 😉

    • Incognito 4.2
      11 March 2025 at 8:33 pm

      Interestingly, shortly after I commented here arguing against a grand coalition, as was Rob Campbell doing implicitly, I believe, a contradictory comment appeared:

      This feels incredibly sad but true. […] Maybe it’s near time that the centre stood up for itself and formed a grand coalition to get things bedded in.

      https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/10/real-politics-is-about-persuasion-and-power-not-centre-ground-consensus/#comment-327340

      I want to write a Post about this because I think that a grand coalition is not the answer to NZ’s political woes.

  5. Ed1 5
    11 March 2025 at 11:05 am

    From another forum:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/listen-live-christopher-luxon-speaks-to-mike-hosking-after-labour-overtake-nats-in-latest-poll/266V2SSJ25E75L7NOBSAHLAHCM/

    Listen around 7:20; and Luxon is asked about Prebble reigning from the
    Waitangi Tribunal, and replies that they need to talk about the role
    of the Tribunal in a post-Treaty world.

    So there he is, talking about ending a Treaty with the indigenous
    people of New Zealand, while trying to negotiate a treaty with India
    on trade. Why would anyone want to believe what he says?

  6. Tiger Mountain 6
    11 March 2025 at 11:39 am

    “Boynie” Sanders leading the Trump fight back as only he could. AOC about to join in.

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/03/10/bernie-sanders-steps-into-leadership-of-anti-trump-resistance/

  7. joe90 7
    11 March 2025 at 12:27 pm

    Anti-science loons are in charge.

    /

    President Donald Trump has long rejected climate science.

    Now, his administration is grappling with how to assemble a body of federal climate research to show a warming world is benefiting humanity.

    The claims would be highly misleading and ignore decades of scientific research that shows climate change will have increasingly dire effects.

    But a federal report downplaying or denying the threat of climate change would become a cornerstone of Trump’s efforts to end or weaken climate regulations while expanding executive authority. It also would mark an escalation of Trump’s own climate disinformation from rhetoric to federal action.

    The Trump assault on climate science has begun in earnest. In its first weeks, the Trump administration fired climate scientists and removed climate-related government web pages while Cabinet officials made false climate claims.

    https://www.eenews.net/articles/trumps-next-climate-move-show-global-warming-benefits-humanity/

  8. Descendant Of Smith 8
    11 March 2025 at 12:36 pm

    So even with economies of scale and moving the cleanup costs to the schools Seymour's shitty lunch scheme acolytes still can't survive. I suspect transport costs play a large part. Making local makes so much more sense.

    Libelle Group – one of the providers of the government’s free school lunch programme – has gone into liquidation.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360608676/free-school-lunch-provider-goes-liquidation

    • Pb 8.1
      11 March 2025 at 2:22 pm

      Libelle looked after the school I was principal at. They did an ok job, food on time, reasonable, nutritious. They were generous too with little extras and acts of kindness. But of course this was still largely local. The bottom line is you simply cannot provide school lunches for $4 per head that anyone would be proud of and, when it simply becomes doing it on the cheap everything about the goodwill and relationships that enable schools in NZ to operate disappear.

    • AB 8.2
      11 March 2025 at 2:26 pm

      Local provision is also more resilient. If one provider goes down it takes out only a few schools at most – and that's much more easily covered by existing adjacent providers for an interim period. Just a much better system design. But no surprises that Seymour is clueless about such things – or doesn't care.

      • Descendant Of Smith 8.2.1
        11 March 2025 at 3:14 pm

        " If one provider goes down it takes out only a few schools at most "

        Aussie found this out when their largest childcare provider collapsed some years back. (We run some similar risks with childcare provision and residential villages).

        Privatisation and the race to the bottom so often leads to monopolies or just a few players.

        These national developments were given extra urgency by the spectacular collapse of the corporate giant ABC Learning in November 2008, amidst accusations of poor financial management by its one-time chief executive Eddy Groves and others involved with the company (including his ex-wife).

        ABC Learning ran over 1,000 centres in Australia, as well as having investments in a number of other countries, including the UK (it owned the UK chain Busy Bees). The ABC share of the Australian market was so substantial that the Government could not let the centres themselves go under – too many nurseries faced closure.

        It has taken the receivers over a year to sort through the business and to decide about the future of the nurseries. The government has bailed out well over A$100m to keep the nurseries open while the mess is being unravelled.

        https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news/analysis-australia-childcare-reformed-in-wake-of-abc-collapse/

    • gsays 8.3
      11 March 2025 at 4:44 pm

      Well said.

      I've just listened to Boyd Swinburn, Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health and Chairperson Health Coalition Aotearoa on Checkpoint on RNZ. Sorry no linky yet,

      Seymour shared with Stanford that Libelle was in trouble a month ago but not how far in trouble they were.

      In a measured, quiet and succinct way he tells us why we must go back to the model that was being used before Seymour had his Dickensian way. He mentioned when Seymour spoke of this initiative he mentioned taxpayers and efficiencies several times and health and education once.

      Libelle and Compass were part of the lunch scheme previously and lost 1/3 and 1/4 of the schools they were involved with.

      He goes on to suggest that the funding for this should be in the base education budget and increased to feed 50% of youth. I would go one further and feed all children. Not just in respect to poverty but elevating the status of kai. So important and rare for food to be taken in a respectful, communal way.

    • Incognito 8.4
      11 March 2025 at 9:05 pm

      I just wonder if this was an ill-fated contract to begin with and Libelle Group were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. The result is less competition for Compass.

      • Phillip ure 8.4.1
        11 March 2025 at 9:32 pm

        Going on the reporting on rnz today..the collective is actually a three way ..

        LaBelle and collective do the cooking..

        ..and the third partner..gilmours ..takes care of the deliveries…

        ..so they aren't really competitors…more business partners..

  9. observer 9
    11 March 2025 at 4:11 pm

    Usual caveats, it's only Roy Morgan, but still … the same story in every poll now:

    https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9863-nz-national-voting-intention-february-2025

    Trend down for Luxon & co.