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Open mike 15/12/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 15th, 2020 - 95 comments
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95 comments on “Open mike 15/12/2020 ”

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  1. Pat 1
    15 December 2020 at 6:27 am

    Thought experiment .

    If money wasnt an issue, what actions would you implement right now to improve NZ?

    • RosieLee 1.1
      15 December 2020 at 6:54 am

      Immediate large scale State house building and a complete restoration and revamp of our public health system. Obliterate the neoliberal elements in both.

      • Rosemary McDonald 1.1.2
        15 December 2020 at 9:28 am

        Obliterate the neoliberal elements in both.

        What kind of society allows, nay, encourages profiteering from illness and disability?

        When folks are living in cars, garages, or in mouldy homes while thousands are on the list for state housing, how come The Kindness can't deploy an iron fist and operate a state run non profit building and infrastructure team? It could be run by a brand new Ministry…perhaps "Ministry of Works"?

        Unfortunately change requires true commitment from Government and this Current Mob simply aren't there for those in need.

      • tc 1.1.3
        15 December 2020 at 10:51 am

        Ressurect our regional rail network, electrify it and move people as well as freight around the country with it.

    • millsy 1.2
      15 December 2020 at 7:45 am

      The People's Democratic Republic of New Zealand. A full market state socialist system in which the commanding heights of the economy are controlled by the State.

      There.

      • Andre 1.2.1
        15 December 2020 at 8:18 am

        Splitter!

        The Democratic People's Republic of Aotearoa is the one and only true path.

      • Adrian Thornton 1.2.2
        15 December 2020 at 9:25 am

        Liking the sound of that…"The People's Democratic Republic of New Zealand"..yeah it's got a nice ring to it.

    • Stuart Munro 1.3
      15 December 2020 at 9:17 am

      Free nurseries for riparian planting trees and native trees.

      Return universities to fully publicly funded model and rebuild their eroded reputations. International students admitted on merit, or as aid to Pacific neighbours. Develop reciprocal agreements with any high standard free universities for exchange students.

      Restore rail and coastal shipping – saves carbon and roading costs.

      Mass produce decent relocatable tiny homes for fruit/horticultural areas for pickers to live rent free during seasonal work – Queenstown should provide a few to workers too.

      Remedial oxygenators (solar pump & fountain or jets) for all degraded rivers so the microfauna can process excess nitrates and organic matter.

      Free return to workforce training for former National MPs and criminals.

      Proper pest control programs using frequently checked traps or bait stations – no more aerial 1080.

      Grant for all households eschewing fossil fueled vehicles and mowers.

      Fishery restoration project replants the kina barrens and reseeds scallops in all the heavily fished areas, restores grasses and small wetlands for inanga, supports snapper recruitment and other key species.

      Startup capital available for recirculating aquaculture or aquaponics and half a dozen preferred species imported and bred to stock startups. (Macquaria ambigua, Lates calcarifer, Huso huso, etc. ) (also Helix pomatia – not a fish but suitable for culture).

      Transition planning for hotter and drier climate – crops and animals and varieties developed and stocked to anticipate what's coming.

      Volunteer firefighting reserve of a couple of thousand trained to help in Oz or Pacific cyclone aftermath.

      Improved waste program with proper incineration of non-recyclables to reduce need for landfills.

      • Phillip ure 1.3.1
        15 December 2020 at 9:47 am

        yes..!..to eschewing mowing bloody lawns..

        the two most effective moves an individual can make/do..

        ..is to stop eating animals and their bye-products ..

        ..and stop insisting on number one cuts for bloody lawns…!

        ..the lawnmower is weight for weight one of the dirtiest pieces of machinery on the planet..

      • Janet 1.3.2
        15 December 2020 at 12:43 pm

        "Proper pest control programs using frequently checked traps or bait stations – no more aerial 1080."

        EnviroMate100TM is leading the way with this …… but the guys at the top are fixated on aerial 1080 at the moment.

      • Pat 1.3.3
        15 December 2020 at 9:27 pm

        Thats a big list…do we have the capacity?

    • Adrian Thornton 1.4
      15 December 2020 at 9:20 am

      If money were no object…start a serious main stream left media organization, because a we have seen quite clearly in the UK and the USA without one the Left will never get back into power it is as simple a that.

      • tc 1.4.1
        15 December 2020 at 10:58 am

        This left/right binary projection in media IMO is an issue in itself

        Truth, facts and proper 4th estate practices insulated by editorial management doesn't have an agenda. We need to go back to that which is a sea change for celebrity commercially focused TVNZ, less so for RNZ but work required there also.

        Look across the ditch as ABC Chair Ita Buttrose is serving it back to the comm's minister and the liberals over political interference.

        • Adrian Thornton 1.4.1.1
          15 December 2020 at 12:38 pm

          There is no Left media perspective in NZ…only centre (neoliberal) and centre right (the other neoliberals)…

    • Sabine 1.5
      15 December 2020 at 9:35 am

      increase the benefits of everyone to min wage level.

    • Janet 1.6
      15 December 2020 at 12:37 pm

      Shut the door on immigration.-in all its nebulous forms.

      • Pat 1.6.1
        15 December 2020 at 9:28 pm

        all immigration?

        • Janet 1.6.1.1
          16 December 2020 at 9:52 am

          Most immigration and especially this one:

          ex NZ Herald "An official agency has floated the possibility of letting 500 overseas students into New Zealand every month from January."

          Politicians really tricked NZ,ers with quietly allowing students after completing their courses . to then flow on to get work then residency in NZ , then bring in their immediate families, whether their English standard was up to the mark or not ……. Most NZers had no idea that this was going on and is still going on. You really don,t need to wonder about how Auckland got in such an infrastructure mess.

    • Nic the NZer 1.7
      15 December 2020 at 6:46 pm

      So if I was partitioning the government on policy it would be to implement a job guarantee paying the living wage. But thats obviously affordable so…

      Lets nationalise home ownership. The government will buy every residential property in the country (for about the RV). At the same time they will perpetually rent them back to present occupants at rates normalized against a reasonable fraction of incomes across the country. They will also pay councils the equivalent of rates. At the same time they will eliminate residential property titles as privately owned assets. Voila housing crisis permanently fixed.

      • Pat 1.7.1
        15 December 2020 at 9:24 pm

        The government may well end up buying a significant number of private residences….I doubt however all….and yes they have the capacity to solve the housing crisis should they so choose…permanently? thats an unknown.

        • Nic the NZer 1.7.1.1
          15 December 2020 at 9:57 pm

          The housing crisis would be permanently fixed, as in housing now costs a well regulated fraction of incomes.

          On the other hand its clearly a pretty dodgy idea. I don't know how your going to get people either swapping dwellings or contributing to housing improvements under such a system. I also expect some odd injustices to be inflicted by the transition as some rent and some owners have high equity. You would also expect some pretty screwy changes in other prices, and a few professions would disappear.

          • Pat 1.7.1.1.1
            15 December 2020 at 10:05 pm

            Dont know you could say permanently….its a political decision and they can change.

            There would be substantial pushback to total nationalisation….limited however may be acceptable…and I dont think many would lament the loss of real estate agencies or property managers, but i may be wrong.

  2. Herodotus 2
    15 December 2020 at 6:31 am

    so because a medical service is too popular it is to close, leaving Middlemore as the only option from11:00pm to 7:00 am. I feel for the staff who have been burnt out – as 1/3 of the area has been serviced by this service what now for those staff at Middlemore? So more pressure is now transferred to them.
    https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300183549/auckland-medical-centre-ends-247-service-over-safety-issues-staff-burnout

    • Treetop 2.1
      15 December 2020 at 7:32 am

      This cannot go ahead due to demand and people will be at risk of delaying medical treatment. People require transport to get to Middlemore.

      Clinical safety could have been worked through and funding made available through the Ministry of Health.

    • Sabine 2.2
      15 December 2020 at 7:36 am

      this is the most important line in the whole article.

      East and south Auckland’s only private 24-hour medical clinic is scrapping its overnight service after more than 20 years due to fears for staff and patient safety.

      next

      the service initially got off the ground with no district health board or external funding, but in 2014 Counties Manukau Health agreed to help support the service as part of a regional initiative, Armstrong said.

      The closure means those in south and east Auckland will only be able to seek after-hours medical care at Middlemore Hospital.
      However, the DHB “reversed course” in 2018, and East Care continued to run the overnight clinic “as long as it reasonably could”.

      “We took the attitude that our patients need us, so we had to keep sucking it up,” Armstrong said.

      It is a private clinic that can open and do what it wants in order to achieve safety for patients and staff.

      The issue you have with Middlemore not being equipped and staffed to pick up the slack is the governments inactions, and obvious lack of public medical care in Auckland – all of the previous and the current ones – that for reasons unknown still believe in the Market please fix it Fairy.

      If only we had a government that had a such a mandate that they could actually get shit done, but sadly the government is Labour led and getting more hospital capacity or funding for more staff will eat into that all important surplus that the Leader of the government needs on her CV for her next job somewhere else.

      • RosieLee 2.2.1
        15 December 2020 at 7:38 am

        What I said.

      • Herodotus 2.2.2
        15 December 2020 at 8:57 am

        Sabine, you should write professionally.

        Alternative view, if there are no services then there is no need 😉

        • Sabine 2.2.2.1
          15 December 2020 at 9:41 am

          If only we had a caring, kinder, gentler and 'social' Government with 50% plus of the vote and a single majority. If only.

          oh well……..

          • Phillip ure 2.2.2.1.1
            15 December 2020 at 9:57 am

            it really is fucking up my head that we have that 'left' govt…

            ..who seem to be doing s.f.a. to fix what ails us..

            if not them..?..fucken who..?

            • Adrian Thornton 2.2.2.1.1.1
              15 December 2020 at 1:22 pm

              @Philllp ure.."it really is fucking up my head that we have that 'left' govt…" no we have a free market liberal…sometimes referred to as centrist…recently being labelled correctly as the 'extreme centre'….the Left are nowhere in sight that I can see in NZ..David Graeber on the Extreme 'Centre'

              • Phillip ure …
                15 December 2020 at 3:25 pm

                yeah..my problem there is that i believed those promises made by j.ardern back in 2016..

                and tho’ it is now year four of her rule..and fuck all has been done..I am still deluding myself that she wasn't just bullshitting..

                • Adrian Thornton …
                  15 December 2020 at 4:46 pm

                  Yeah, I don't think you are alone there pal, sounds a lot like what many Americans feel about Obama now…disappointment and frustration…which is of course fully justified.

                  The '84 Labour govt cured me of any political illusions I had and turned me into the cynical bastard I am today..which is just as well as nothing has really come along in NZ politics to make me feel all that positive about it..except a few glimmers here and there I suppose..Helen Kelly and Sue Bradford being high among those glimmers of hope.

      • tc 2.2.3
        15 December 2020 at 11:08 am

        I'd focus on the clusterf*k that is the DHB structures and all the NGO's fiefdoms and clubs across the health system that do sfa toward improving clinical effectiveness.

        Pretty clear from reading it they're disadvantaged by DHB funding.

        Treetop is correct that it should have been worked through and funding made available through the Ministry of Health but that's not how it works, DHB's appear to do as they please.

        • Treetop 2.2.3.1
          15 December 2020 at 1:01 pm

          When those who supply health are not supplying it or rationing the supply, it is going to cost more in the end.

          • tc 2.2.3.1.1
            15 December 2020 at 2:12 pm

            We pay now through a DHB system which is begging for rationalisation/ flattening in a country of less than 10mil

  3. Ad 3
    15 December 2020 at 7:51 am

    This US electoral college vote is taking an eternity.

    Wonder what Trump and his supporters will do today. Something with guns probably.

  4. Adrian Thornton 4
    15 December 2020 at 9:27 am

    In Leaked Audio, Biden SHOCKINGLY Similar To Trump

    Inside Biden’s Meeting With Civil Rights Leaders

    https://theintercept.com/2020/12/10/biden-audio-meeting-civil-rights-leaders/

    • Phillip ure 4.1
      15 December 2020 at 10:20 am

      my expectations are so low re biden..

      ..he won't have to do much to pleasantly surprise..

      • aj 4.1.1
        15 December 2020 at 6:45 pm

        In Leaked Audio, Biden SHOCKINGLY Similar To Trump

        Briahna Joy Gray & Katie Halper do an impromptu stream to talk about the leaked video of Biden talking to Civil Rights leaders in the condescending, entitled, indignant, offensive, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing and incoherent way, we've all seen from him before.

        I found this unsurprising but still very discouraging.

    • Andre 4.2
      15 December 2020 at 10:27 am

      Some people just aren't happy until they're whining about something. And others are happy to feed and stoke that grievance addiction. Looks like it’s easy to grift a good living from the addicts.

      https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/12/trump-grievance-addiction-444570

      • Adrian Thornton 4.2.1
        15 December 2020 at 1:30 pm

        Some people…like yourself there Andre, are just so pleased to accept the crumbs and/or happily lay down and be gently sprinkled on as the powers that be trickle down something on to you, it's embarrassing to watch….

        • WeTheBleeple 4.2.1.1
          15 December 2020 at 4:21 pm

          My goodness your posting is a repetitive bore. How many Biden fans are here? It's as painful as those vague and earnest twats who approach me at parties to inform me climate change is real.

          Here's a challenge, find something positive to think about, every day. Rant for the rest of it if you must but just try get a grip.

          • Adrian Thornton 4.2.1.1.1
            15 December 2020 at 5:32 pm

            Well if I am a twat and a bore for ranting about liberalism, an ideology that Biden is the figurehead of and Ardern governs with in New Zealand then so be it.

            I guess it's everyday when I ride or drive to work and see all the fellow citizens living in their vehicles, see all the motels booked out with fellow citizens and their children who also have no home…talk to my own children who are keep poor from paying outrageous rents and crippling student debts…or after spending quite a period of time in the local hospital last year and seeing that is crumbling and unkept like some late period Soviet satellite state…then hear just yesterday that there are 151 Landrover Discoverys on back order around here, I guess it is that sort of repetitive shit that keeps me repetitive, if that's boring to you.. well sorry but I guess then I just don't give a fuck what you think….but hey you just get on with your life, and don't read my posts…I am sure you are all good, cosy, warm and secure.

            BTW, maybe it is you who should get a grip, maybe it is because good people like you are not seething with righteous outrage and indignation at the moral and ethical black hole that we have allowed to become normalized in this country, maybe that is a big part of the problem….not me ranting..but you not ranting.

            • Phillip ure 4.2.1.1.1.1
              15 December 2020 at 6:05 pm

              bleeple be bleeped..

            • Peter 1 4.2.1.1.1.2
              15 December 2020 at 6:10 pm

              Fuck him and the rest of the Chardonnay Socialist, you keep ranting

              say what you believe.

            • WeTheBleeple 4.2.1.1.1.3
              15 December 2020 at 6:23 pm

              Actually, I called out your posts, not you. I'm sure you have more to say than fuck you to everyone who isn't as permanently outraged as you, martyr that you are, are.

              • Adrian Thornton …
                15 December 2020 at 7:09 pm

                My post are me, they usually express exactly what I believe to be true or right with the information I have, though I can sometimes be convinced otherwise by a sound argument (but not about liberal capitalism) which is why I have no problem using my real name.

                • WeTheBleeple …
                  16 December 2020 at 8:20 am

                  Fair enough. It is merely my opinion you'd have more to offer, and more engagement, with more balance. I've been wrong before, and I've spoken out of turn plenty.

                  And I bet I sound repetitive at times too.

                  Have a great day, and if you must, stick it to em.

  5. ianmac 5
    15 December 2020 at 9:54 am

    ANZ New Zealand has upped the ante for residential property investors increasing the minimum deposit to 40 per cent.

    The country's largest bank said the change would be effective immediately and was being undertaken to try and bring balance back to the housing market.

    If this does what I think it does then whoopee!

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/anz-wants-40pc-deposit-from-property-investors/3GGS3U7YFACKVJP4BXJPJMEH7I/

    • Phillip ure 5.1
      15 December 2020 at 10:02 am

      good on anz for doing that…

      ..all lefties should switch to anz…

      ..and tell them why you are doing it..

      ..show them some love…

      and how fucked is this govt…?

      ..banksters having to do their job for them..

      ..bah..!

      • gsays 5.1.1
        15 December 2020 at 12:43 pm

        Phillip, please! Lefties switch to ANZ…

        How about holding the door open for them and the other three, so it doesn't hit their backside on the way out?

        Switch to Kiwibank or one of the other NZ owned Building Societies.

        • Phillip ure 5.1.1.1
          15 December 2020 at 2:44 pm

          don't tell them I said so..

          ..but I would nationalise the whole bloody lot of them…

          ..and reconfigure them to work in the interests of this country..and it's people ..

          ..and providing financial support for housing for all..

          ..would be high on the list of to-do's..

          ..we used to do it before..where young people could capitalise on the child support for their deposit…

          ..we need to get back there again..(as just one example..)

      • aj 5.1.2
        15 December 2020 at 7:40 pm

        It's banking greed and insatiable desire to enslave people in debt that got us where we are.

      • Andre 5.1.3
        15 December 2020 at 7:47 pm

        I'm so confused.

        It was only a year or two ago that lefties were supposed to boycott ANZ because of the outrageous pay packets of their head honchos and the atrocious way they treated their frontline staff. And the featherbed they installed for Slur John, of course.

        But now they're heroes?

        • weka 5.1.3.1
          15 December 2020 at 8:42 pm

          Snort, hardly. It's bloody interesting to see the captains of capitalism saying it's time to drop house prices though. Also bloody interesting that Labour are leaving it up to them to sort out the housing crisis.

        • Phillip ure 5.1.3.2
          15 December 2020 at 9:48 pm

          no..they are not 'heros'…

          any good they do is involuntary…as they are acting out of self-interest..

          as the biggest lender in that area they are most exposed of all the banks to a chaotic market ending in a crash ..

          .they can see that they have to act…

          'cos the gummint sure isn't gonna do the job..are they..?

    • KSaysHi 5.2
      15 December 2020 at 10:59 am

      Yeah, good job. Even better than I expected (since ASB and …was it BNZ? increased their deposit requirement to 30% a couple of weeks back).
      The action is driven out of self interest, but whatever works.

    • tc 5.3
      15 December 2020 at 11:15 am

      It needs to be 80% IMO so it washes through and rebalances the market.

      Banks are probably doing this as a hedge for a hot market, reducing their exposure, rather than helping first home buyers.

      • Phillip ure 5.3.1
        15 December 2020 at 3:04 pm

        understandable…it doesn't take a genius to work out that what is happening now is utter madness..

        ..that if left to continue..will blow up/back on those banks .i.e..a crash..

        (the government is just helplessly flapping it's hands ..

        ..a study in ineffectuality..)

        ..so they decided to damp it down..

        ..to save their own skins..

        (and I agree re 80%..)

      • Treetop 5.3.2
        15 December 2020 at 9:44 pm

        I would like to see 75% for the next year and then to stay at 50% deposit for home investors not a first home.

  6. RobbieWgtn 6
    15 December 2020 at 12:49 pm

    Sir Bob Jones is apparently still awaiting Ricardos apology for his "alternative facts" in his maiden speech https://nopunchespulled.com/2020/12/14/a-horrible-green-party-little-turd/

    • WeTheBleeple 6.1
      15 December 2020 at 4:23 pm

      While I'm still waiting for you to post something that isn't hateful ignorance.

      • Phillip ure 6.1.1
        15 December 2020 at 6:09 pm

        whatever you do…don't read the comments..

        I did..they are kinda even worse..

      • RobbieWgtn 6.1.2
        15 December 2020 at 7:06 pm

        Ricardo is the definition of hateful ignorance.

        • Phillip ure 6.1.2.1
          15 December 2020 at 8:05 pm

          I think that is more jones..

          and the vile pond-scum chorus in his comments thread…

          more 'hateful ignorance' there than you can poke a stick at…

  7. arkie 7
    15 December 2020 at 2:44 pm

    Very interesting to see MBIE pop our smug reverie about climate change responsiveness, and the cost of our lack of action over the last decade:

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/432886/climate-change-new-zealand-not-on-track-to-meet-paris-obligations-mbie

    MBIE thinks this government will have to spend more on international carbon trading while also saying any delay in action will result in more abrupt and costly interventions.

  8. arkie 8
    15 December 2020 at 2:52 pm

    Very interesting to see transport officials have delivered a scathing rebuke to current government transport policies to reduce emissions:

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300184111/government-policy-not-enough-to-curb-rising-transport-emissions-officials-say

    Officials said that current policies would “stem some growth in transport emissions”.

    “However, stopping the growth, and starting decarbonisation, is likely to depend on placing a higher priority on investment, policies and innovation that allow New Zealanders to make sustainable transport choices,”

  9. arkie 9
    15 December 2020 at 3:02 pm

    Very interesting to see the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet pop our smug reverie about meeting our child poverty targets, highlighting that rates of children in material hardship should be expected to rise strongly, and then Jacinda Arden had to plead ignorance:

    “Its very hard for us to tell the impact we are having on the ground,” Ardern told stuff.

    “I want to know if we are going into the right direction … we don't know that yet.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/123709248/jacinda-ardern-warned-child-poverty-will-rise-due-to-covid19-in-government-briefing

    This government sure could do with more pressure to do something about material hardship:

    ‘material hardship’ or ‘material deprivation’ is expected to worsen. According to Stats NZ, “material deprivation refers to a person or family lacking essential consumption items because they cannot afford them.”

  10. Phillip ure 10
    15 December 2020 at 4:52 pm

    'the panel'…on rnz…is boredom on a stick..

    the host is the issue…not the format..

    he is pretty much anti-intellectual..

  11. DS 11
    15 December 2020 at 9:32 pm

    A look at Labour's terrible election result on the West Coast:

    Don't Take Me Home, Country Roads: Labour's 2020 West Coast Problem

    Which really begs the question… what the hell caused this?