Open Mike 20/06/2017

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 20th, 2017 - 52 comments
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52 comments on “Open Mike 20/06/2017 ”

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  1. Ed 1
    20 June 2017 at 6:22 am

    ‘Official London Grenfell fire toll at 79, say police.’

    It will go up.
    We are not being told the truth according to locals and residents.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnIXJSxdICI

    [stop spamming Ed. If you don’t know what I mean by that then ask. Count this as a warning – weka]

  2. Ed 2
    20 June 2017 at 6:44 am

    The brighter future………

    Landlords neglect govt insulation offer.

    italic; write Thousands of low-income families are enduring cold damp homes because their landlords are not taking up a government subsidy to help insulate their properties.

    The government hoped its two-year $18 million programme would lead to 20,000 more homes being made warm and dry. One year in, only 3700 homes have been insulated using the subsidy.

    The ‘Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes’ programme splits the cost of providing ceiling and underfloor insulation in rentals occupied by low-income New Zealanders between landlords and the government – typically they pay about $1500 each.

    Andrew Caseley is the chief executive for the agency that runs Healthy Homes, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. He said he suspected many landlords believed their rental properties were already insulation compliant and they might be in for a nasty surprise.

    “Well, we’d certainly like them to take it up – we’d like to be able to give out those grants just as soon as we can,” Mr Caseley said.

    “There are a lot of rental properties, so 20,000 is actually not a great proportion of the total, so you would think it is an achievable one – and we are doing everything we can to do that.”

    Green MP Gareth Hughes said the programme was shaping up to be a massive failure and the government should be doing more to promote it.

    “There are slumlords out there and it’s a tragedy, the conditions that some people live in … the government needs to be so much more proactive making sure all New Zealand homes are warm and safe.” ‘‘

    New Zealand’s rich are just like the landlords of Kensington.
    Greedy , selfish to the point of not caring about the lives of the poor who lives in tehir houses.

    We need to get rid of neoliberalism.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/333390/landlords-neglect-govt-insulation-offer

    • Cinny 2.1
      20 June 2017 at 6:53 am

      It’s ironic that the outgoing government brag and go on about insulating so many houses when being interviewed or while speaking in parliament, yet they do little to promote the incentive to landlords etc.

      Meanwhile suffering continues, damp cold houses, exploited tenants and no housing WOF.

  3. Cinny 3
    20 June 2017 at 7:11 am

    Greens want to increase our refugee quota, bringing it up to 5,000 within six years.

    I think that’s fantastic, with 70,000 immigrants flooding our country annually, 5k over six years is peanuts. Especially when our next PM is going to cut back on immigrants, we can help more refugees, and I’m very supportive of doing just that.

    I’d rather help refugees than let in.. for example… self entitled, caste indulged landlord like we saw on The Nation in the weekend. And I’m sure anyone who has been involved with refugees would agree with me.

    65 million people in the world have been displaced, we can go on and on about looking after NZer’s first, but the outgoing government haven’t been doing that for near on a decade. Rather they’ve been putting immigrants first and bugger our citizens and bugger those who have lost everything from war.

    Over the next six years with our new government, we will be able to do this, with the current government there is no way, they care more about money than people.

    • b waghorn 3.1
      20 June 2017 at 7:17 am

      We can,t house our own . Send them to the region’s they say . No jobs and no doctors in the region’s

    • roadrage 3.2
      20 June 2017 at 11:10 am

      Self entitled landlord…??! People with mental health problems have been known to trash housing, invariably the slum landlord and the most deprived members of the community meet. THis is not eithers fault. Its simple a governing philosophy. The govts are for monied and govt has no place serving poor citizens. A civil society believes everyone has the right to basic housing, nutrition, health, security. Naffy Nat’s don’t believe in a civil society, its winner takes all, which antithetical to both democracy and capitalism, its much older type, authoritarians. Yes! The neolib is just an authoritarian under the clothes, just they select authority by how big the bank balance not what crown someone wears.

      Govt need to fund housing for the poorest, else the private sector will very badly if at all.

    • Once was Tim 3.3
      20 June 2017 at 1:21 pm

      +100
      That caste indulged landlord, just like the Gnat in parliament need to be reminded of Pyaar, Daya, Nimrata, Sat and Santokh.
      oops, I thought I was looking at TDB comments

    • reason 3.4
      20 June 2017 at 8:57 pm

      Good on the Greens with both them and yourself being absolutely correct Cinny. ….

      Doing the right thing and acting with humanity is good for our society in its own right ….

      Historically all the waves of refugees New Zealand has offered new lives to and resettled have benefited NZ…..

      From the WWII Polish orphens and Jewish concentration camp survivors … or the Dutch or other Euriopean nationalitys uprooted by WWII …. refugees are generally very grateful and work hard establishing their new lives. Their contributions have expanded our society and helped us grow well away from the backward insecure little Nation who saw a toffy english accent as a sign of superiority …. and stood up like obedient sheep to ” God save the queen” which was played in movie theaters before the film started.

      On the other hand …..our immigrants laws at at present seem more like our new tax haven laws the Nacts brought in …….

      Facilitating the corrupt and criminal …… caring only about the money …. and not discriminating the dirty from the clean.

      Increased corruption and a sinking international reputation for NZ from this National Govt so far …..

      http://www.noted.co.nz/money/property/taking-us-to-the-cleaners/

      https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/police-43m-settlement-citizen-yan-193297

      “Shanghai Pengxin, under various guises, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the National Party;” … http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/04/22/national-party-4-sale/

  4. Tamati Tautuhi 4
    20 June 2017 at 7:22 am

    Rather have refugees than Asian Landlords ?

  5. b waghorn 5
    20 June 2017 at 7:26 am

    Holy shit the leaders fund for national was used to pay off Todd Barclays secutary in the tapeing fiasco . English knew according to news hub

  6. Andre 6
    20 June 2017 at 8:16 am

    Power actually causes measurable brain damage. Another argument for term limits.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/07/power-causes-brain-damage/528711/

  7. adam 7
    20 June 2017 at 8:37 am

    Really liked this post over at bootstheory, and agree except on one thing. I think it is a fundamentalist Christian view that family first are pushing, not a Christian view.

    https://bootstheory.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/the-truth-behind-the-lobbyists-who-want-the-right-to-hit-kids/

    May all child beaters fester in hell. Hitting kids is never acceptable.

    • Ad 7.1
      20 June 2017 at 8:45 am

      Stephanie was pretty clear that she was postulating an ideal from Family First, not having a crack at Christianity:

      “They just want to push a narrow-minded vision of what our society should look like. And if you aren’t the white, middle-class, patriarchal hetero monogamous Christian family unit they hold up as the ideal, they are not going to be here for you.”

      • millsy 7.1.1
        20 June 2017 at 10:13 am

        I suggest you all watch “Handmaid’s Tale”, which is currently on Spark’s Lightbox service, or the grey area of The Pirate Bay.

        It offers a very chilling depiction of what life would be like if Family Fist had their way.

  8. RedLogix 8
    20 June 2017 at 9:11 am

    Still trying to sell shit:

    In welcoming talk of a port company sell down, Prime Minister Bill English said he was pleased to see Council looking seriously at what it could do to fund its share of the city’s infrastructure. Adding Watercare to the package would, I am sure, get the action response all Aucklanders are crying out for.

    In last month’s Budget, Finance Minister Steven Joyce clearly signalled the watching brief Government is keeping on the potential for further investment in the infrastructure for our growing economy by way of, as he put it, “greater use of partnerships between central and local government, and between government and the private sector.”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11879290

    Wonder if Goff will reply?

    • millsy 8.1
      20 June 2017 at 9:25 am

      Selling the port is one thing, but selling the water is totally another. It will only burden Aucklanders, especially the poor with high water bills which they will be unable to pay.

      Transport issues can be simply solved by encouraging businesses to relocate to suburban areas. The concept of a CBD is outdated in this era of high speed internet, dating back to the Babylonian era when all business was conducted in the Town square.

      • Barfly 8.1.1
        20 June 2017 at 9:44 am

        When Goff was campaigning he very clearly pointed out the economic lunacy of selling Watercare.

    • saveNZ 8.2
      20 June 2017 at 10:52 am

      Hopefully Phil Goff will reply “Fuck off”.

      • saveNZ 8.2.1
        20 June 2017 at 2:55 pm

        Also if NZ is such a ‘rockstar’ economy why do we keep having to sell off our assets? Statistics tell us we have all these tourists, these amazing migrants, these overseas students all apparently essential to the Natz in WELLINGTON BUT where’s the money going from all this economic activity – because whoever is getting the profits, seems to expect Joe Public to pay for all the negatives…

  10. greywarshark 10
    20 June 2017 at 10:06 am

    Just thinking how nothing is working out for NZ. We have been running our country for over a century thinking we were approaching politics and the economy seriously. And, seriously, what have we accomplished – a farce.

    So I think that we should run the country as a farce, and then we will meet the problems in a flexible way, and probably things will turn out in a seriously good way.
    The method is called George Doing the Opposite approach, and here is a link to George as an individual using the method that the thinking, unhappy people of this country need to use.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUvKE3bQlY

    One of the things is to have a another Government Department called the Department of Practical Implementation and Engineering (DOPIE) and we will pay Disney to use their icons of the little dwarfs going off to work for our logo and zeitgeist. This then will be a balance to the Ministry of Bulldust and Innovative Extenuation.

    The DOPIE agency will have a relative small budget, and make small loan advances to well-presented business and tourist attraction ideas that will create NZ owned and operated business employing at least 3 people. Sort of like a grameen bank. Also regions can approach for assistance with local business already profitable and able to improve with better transport, innovation involving more workers etc.

    If some are not successful, it doesn’t matter, the region will have been primed with some capital, people will have been working, and the multiplier will have been working. If big business can fail and that’s accepted as natural attrition, then small business that has a small failure rate, shouldn’t be sniffed at.

  11. Philip Ferguson 11
    20 June 2017 at 10:12 am

    During Boris Johnson’s mayoralty, ten London fire stations were closed down; three of them within the vicinity of Grenfell Tower, something which would inevitably affect response time.

    Paul Embery, London organiser of the Fire Brigades Union, warned in 2014 that people would die:
    https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/firefighter-organiser-2014-warning-re-closures-of-london-fire-stations/

    And, of course, the Grenfell residents had pointed out last November that it would take people dying before anything was done about the safety of the Tower: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/grenfell-fire-tenants-predicted-the-disaster/

    Interesting comments by an ex-firefighter about how fire deaths are under-recorded:
    https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/ex-firefighter-on-the-grenfell-tragedy/

  12. saveNZ 12
    20 June 2017 at 10:43 am

    To most people you would think loss of life would be the main concern with a volcanic eruption, but not in NZ…

    How a city eruption would hit Auckland’s economy

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11879120

    Bought to you by the ideology that bought us Cyclone Katrina, The Grenfell Tower and Pike river…

    Government is not about the people stupid, it’s about protecting the interests of their donor stakeholders… not wasting money on citizens that can be easily replaced in the global market place…

    • lprent 12.1
      20 June 2017 at 11:33 am

      To most people you would think loss of life would be the main concern with a volcanic eruption, but not in NZ…

      http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/book/export/html/198

      Auckland volcanoes are basaltic. In a society with measuring instruments they will give quite a lot of warning before erupting. Their eruptions are pretty localized to less than 10 kilometers. The earthquakes associated with them are small. Basaltic volcanoes are almost a pleasure for emergency services dealing with evacuating people. Of course houses, buildings and businesses can’t move as easily.

      To give you an idea. There is considerable evidence of Maori on the seashore across the narrow channel to Rangitoto during the last eruptions of Rangitoto about 600 years ago.

      I suspect you are thinking about Andesitic (ie like White Island) or Rhyolitic volcanoes (like Ruapehu or Taupo). The latter in particular tend to go off with little warning and can cause problems worldwide. For instance the last eruption at Taupo caused problems all of the way down the Waikato to Hamilton. And then of course there is this eruption

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taupo_Volcano#The_Oruanui_eruption

      The Oruanui eruption of the Taupo Volcano was the world’s largest known eruption in the past 70,000 years, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8. It occurred around 26,500 years ago and generated approximately 430 km³ of pyroclastic fall deposits, 320 km³ of pyroclastic density current (PDC) deposits (mostly ignimbrite) and 420 km³ of primary intracaldera material, equivalent to 530 km³ of magma.[4][5][6]

      Modern Lake Taupo partly fills the caldera generated during this eruption.

      Tephra from the eruption covered much of the central North Island with ignimbrite up to 200 metres deep. Most of New Zealand was affected by ash fall, with even an 18 cm ash layer left on the Chatham Islands, 1,000 km away. Later erosion and sedimentation had long-lasting effects on the landscape, and caused the Waikato River to shift from the Hauraki Plains to its current course through the Waikato to the Tasman Sea.

      It pays to know your volcanoes before getting too daft about them. The Auckland volcanoes that surround me are relatively safe. The ones I fear are in the central north island, and I fear that I live a bit too close to them. If I am lucky, we may get a few days warning that life will get somewhat dangerous.

      • RedLogix 12.1.1
        20 June 2017 at 11:42 am

        Yes … ask a geologist about the “Okataina Complex”.

        https://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/Science-Topics/Volcanoes/New-Zealand-Volcanoes/Volcano-Geology-and-Hazards/Okataina-Volcanic-Centre-Geology

        I’ve heard one speaker describe it as by far the most underestimated geo-hazard in NZ. As if we didn’t already have plenty.

      • Molly 12.1.2
        20 June 2017 at 1:21 pm

        Auckland Museum has a interactive exhibit about a volcano eruption – Rangitoto – in Auckland. The exhibit has the impact of the eruption simulated on Auckland’s waterfront and neighbouring suburbs.

        I can’t remember how far they predicted the eruption would reach – was too busy watching Mark Sainsbury delivering the televised news segment, but I thought it was more than 10km – maybe 30.

        Has anyone else been there recently that can remember?

        • saveNZ 12.1.2.1
          20 June 2017 at 2:20 pm

          Even if it is likely for there to be warnings about a volcano, the situation should be looked at with a worst case scenario… nowadays there are just too many situations where government seem asleep at the job in the case of a crisis.

          Remember when all the power went off in Auckland. Seem to remember the civil defence was on the 13th floor of the council building, yep, lifts require electricity people. That wasn’t even a disaster and it cleared out Auckland.

          There seems to be a lack of interest in actually looking at the practical reality in a disaster or even if there is a man made crisis like Electricity grid drops off.

          We are pretty much doomed in Auckland because we can barely escape for the weekend out of Auckland these days in normal traffic conditions, not sure what’s gonna happen when a disaster strikes..

  13. greywarshark 13
    20 June 2017 at 12:34 pm

    Many may have read this by Martyn Bradbury over at TDB but it’s good to see someone swinging wide with a baseball bat at our disastrous economy and gummint.

    The National Party have nurtured and grown the speculative property bubble with open floodgate immigration and fake foreign student education because it creates a false illusion of middle class wealth that keeps them voting National.

    This is IT explicitly and well said on 19/6/2017.
    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/06/19/so-it-seems-our-rock-star-economy-was-completely-dependent-on-an-imported-audience/

  14. greywarshark 14
    20 June 2017 at 12:59 pm

    For clmate change buffs and everyone else too – compact information pack from Skeptical Science.
    https://skepticalscience.com/news.php?n=3786

  15. Penny Bright 15
    20 June 2017 at 1:17 pm

    Today – the Point England Enabling Bill is number 3 on the Order Paper.

    If Green Party MPs ‘sit on the fence’ and abstain on this arguably classic environmental issues- I for one will be VERY outspoken – because, in my opinion, this is a SELLOUT.

    Why on earth does Minister for Building and Construction Nick Smith, want to carve a quarter of the Point England Reserve, when, on HIS watch, there are 76 bare sections and apparently 70 empty, former Housing NZ houses already in Tamaki?

    Penny Bright

    2017 Independent candidate
    Tamaki electorate.

    (Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.)

    • saveNZ 15.1
      20 June 2017 at 2:21 pm

      Good points Penny Bright. Get a grip Greens, you are being USED by the Natz to help push their agenda.

      • saveNZ 15.1.1
        20 June 2017 at 2:44 pm

        And Natz agenda is to use precedents like that to push through other developments on reserve land AND divide Maori and Pakeha AS WELL AS make Greens less trusted as environmental custodians.

  16. greywarshark 16
    20 June 2017 at 7:17 pm

    From a 2015 report on campylobacter and chicken.
    Fresh chicken is the likely source of 50% of the 600 serious campylobacter cases yearly.
    https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2015/12/19/nzs-long-running-campylobacter-epidemic-from-poultry-now-with-antibiotic-resistance/

    Rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in NZ poultry

    …NZ has a long-term problem with Campylobacter infection from contaminated fresh chicken meat [1]. In addition, recently presented research on AMR has found that a tetracycline and fluoroquinolone resistant strain of Campylobacter, first detected in poultry in 2014, has spread rapidly across the North Island [2]. By 2015 this strain was causing about a third of human Campylobacter infection cases in Auckland….

    Contaminated poultry is therefore responsible for about 300 of the 600 serious Campylobacter infection cases hospitalised each year [4]. About 30 of these infections will cause paralysis (Guillain-Barré syndrome [6]), and others will result in serious invasive illness and death. One example was Rod Donald, co-leader of the Green Party, who died in 2005 at the age of 49 years from myocarditis secondary to Campylobacter infection [7].

    The economic cost to the country from Campylobacter-contaminated poultry runs to tens of millions of dollars [8]. This cost is largely paid for by sick consumers, employers and the taxpayer-funded health sector rather than by the poultry industry which is the source of the problem….

    The Ministry of Health (MOH) should have an interest in encouraging MPI to regulate given the considerable disease burden resulting from contaminated chicken meat. Health services pick up much of the tab for these illnesses so one would expect the MOH to be highly supportive of moves to close off this source. In addition, they have a lead role in developing NZ’s Antimicrobial Resistance strategy….

    Consumer action: Finally, consumers can also ‘vote with their feet’ (or wallet) and switch to safer and lower cost protein foods [16]. If they continue to purchase poultry, then changing to cooked and frozen product would greatly lower their risks of Campylobacter infection….

    In summary – NZ has a serious long-term Campylobacter epidemic but now with the added hazard of rapidly emergent antimicrobial resistance. Fortunately a range of control options exist, many of which have been proven to work in the past in this country and internationally. Now all we need is the political will to act on this important and costly public health problem.

    • In Vino 16.1
      20 June 2017 at 8:02 pm

      Buy it frozen, and cook the hell out of it. Otherwise you are at risk. Stuff any official reassurances.

  17. Penny Bright 17
    20 June 2017 at 8:52 pm

    Today at 4.45pm I received an OIA reply from Minister for Building and Construction, Nick Smith, regarding evidence I have provided which proves that the Local Government and Environment Select Committee was given inaccurate advice regarding the Pt England Development Enabling Bill.

    Nick Smith advised me to contact the Chair of the Local Government and Environment Select Committee – Andrew Bayly if I thought the Selecr Committee had been given inaccurate advice – which I have.

    How can the House proceed with the
    Pt England Development Enabling Bill if information about this Bill has been based upon inaccurate advice?

    Penny Bright

    2017 Independent candidate for
    Tamaki electorate.

    Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.

  18. exkiwiforces 18
    20 June 2017 at 11:54 pm

    Get a load of this, if you think the business case study for third main in Auckland was a load bollocks. Get a load of this one WTF!
    http://politik.co.nz/en/content/economy/1121/Decision-making-in-a-rush-Kiwirail-Treasury.htm

    This one is almost out of this world in terms of the dumb decision’s by NZ Railways management that been made in its history so far. But worst one I’ve seen so far is not in NZ, but in Oz with building of the inland railway from Melbourne port (Dryon yards) to Brisbane port well it stops short by 35km from the port. The private venture goes to port to port.

    • RedLogix 18.1
      21 June 2017 at 12:06 am

      On board with the KiwiRail insanity, but I’m not sure if you have it quite right with the Inland Route:

      The Kagaru to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton (K2ARB) section is one of 13 projects that complete Inland Rail. This section of the Inland Rail Programme consists of enhancements to, as well as commissioning of, dual gauge operations along the existing interstate track between K2ARB.

      There is about 52km of existing track to be upgraded enabling double-stacking capability along the existing interstate route both south from Kagaru to Bromelton and north from Kagaru to Brisbane’s major intermodal terminal at Acacia Ridge.

      https://inlandrail.artc.com.au/k2arb

      If you check out the map the rest of the rail route from the Acacia Ridge terminal to the Port appears to already exist. Is there more to this?

      • exkiwiforces 18.1.1
        21 June 2017 at 12:39 am

        It depends what newspaper or rail mag I seem to pickup of late. I’m starting to think may be some misinformation floating about ie between the ARTC and the Private venture? I do know there is some work has to carried out the Dryon yards in Melbourne and the bum fight in regards to Queensland’s narrow gauge (Cape gauge) in weather dual gauge or not and then you have the Wanger brothers trying to get inland railway to go via their airport. Anyway i’m hoping it doesn’t turn to like the NBN shit fight.