Simon Bridges works tirelessly in front of the camera. His face is the most known in the length and breadth of Aotearoa. Forever portraying Himself. Bits and Pieces.
While his unsteady assistant Paula, plays bowls from time to time, blatantly releasing highly private material. Her Face is likely well known too.
Which is why I hope Simon Bridges – New Zealand's most known man – gets confirmed in the role he chooses this coming Friday.
We will miss him like heck – if he throws in his Towel. Camera tossed from the Sky Tower. And all that.
Two Faces National. These two are the Only persons known in the National paddock.
And God forbid, if David Seymore's strange dancing ass gets accepted. Bodies all over the place. Endless Bodies. Endless bodies and big money everywhere. No Thanks
Fascinating interview with Hooten on RNZ – he is knifing Bridges hard and talking up Todd Muller (who?).
The National party chickens are coming home to roost, with the number of fundies who have won seats meaning the social conservatives and liberal are now split into two factions – in one corner we have the Evangelical wing & the culture warriors coalesced around Bridges and his happy clappy brother in law, in the other the pragmatic, power at all costs brigade with Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye (likely to lose her seat on this polling).
Well, Michelle Boag, the wicked witch of Waiheke, is also putting the boot into Bridges on RNZ and pushing Muller just now. She is more grandiloquent than connected these days, but she probably represents a strand of National party grandee thinking.
Simon might be in front today, but the push to persuade the wavering MPs is clearly on and if tonight poll is equally bad for National then it may be Simon loses, or worse wins on his own vote only.
So – with Todd Muller – working on placing the Farmers as the Government of New Zealand, the Cities and Towns will turn their backs on Mr and Mrs Gum boots.
Don't do it Todd Boy. Cities and Industries, And multiple essential things are required in a Nation.
It’s quite something isn’t it, the way National Party commentators are practically willing the country into an historic recession so they can say “I told you so”.
As for the Nats losing ground. Colmar Brunton that’s due tonight was apparently polling up until yesterday evening so may capture some of the public sentiment developing as the proverbial hit the fan for the Nats.
Oz was doing really well until there was an outbreak in a meatworks in Victoria. Now they are back to where they were 30 days ago.
Meatworks have been hit particularly hard in Canada and the USA as well.
From what I heard they have been doing social distancing in NZ in meatworks and running double shifts. But that's led to problems with drought stricken farmers trying to get rid of stock and finding it hard to book in.
dunno about Canada, but US workers were told to come in even if ill.
There might also be stats on how centralised the US meat industry is comapred to NZ, but I don't know where. A farmer rep on the Daily Show was saying part of the problem is over the past few decades smaller regional plants have shut down in favour of a few larger facilities. If one in five plants goes down to 30% capacity, that's a major hit. If 2 in 15 go down to 30%, not so bad. And the ones at 100% are closer.
An AMAZING person who can nail her comments – I hope she goes far in the future, a real gem. I wouldn't be surprised if these same essential workers are the same that I see receiving handouts at Christmas time
But don't worry something is happening within National that is FAR MORE IMPORTANT !!
South Auckland cry: 'NZ wants to rebuild, but it's on our backs'
Kiwiblog's best commenter is theorising the National Party leadership challenge is a set up to make Simon look strong. They're all in on it, apparently.
Wouldn't like to be the National Party if this is true and the public find out…
Kiwiblog is ridiculous and irrelevant these days, Farrar has turned it into a platform for a parade of has-been detritus defending 1980s neoliberalism and the comments have re-housed all the wing nuts from whaleoil.
Farrar himself just wants to keep the money coming in to Curia, so he’ll hunt with the hares and run with the hounds.
Sometimes I go there, it is the modern day equivalent of the gruesome pleasure of a 18th Century tourist’ visiting Bedlam. A guilty pleasure, as it were.
The technicolour pustulence can be appealing when you're passing through. I do worry about some of the locals. The promoter always seems to be rolling in cash, villagers scrabbling at his hem.
For the public to find out there'd have to be a leaker and that's unlikely to happen isn't it? Chuckle chuckle.
Mind you if you're 'Kiwiblog's best commenter' you'd probably be quite good at playing the Kiwiblog/Farrar bullshit game and floating bullshit to create a picture you want painted.
The funny thing is that while I think Bridges is a twerp and an embarrassment to National there are other perspectives. I think for a supposed intelligent person he is dumb. He may not have got in a position to do something terrible, his Strike Force Raptor troops sorting the people were words, all piss and wind, he didn't get a chance to unleash them. On Thursday morning he's a political pariah. Did he perpetrate any evil?
John Key, 'Sir' John Key is a hero. His words about the GCSB may have been all piss and wind when it came to their relationship to truth and deed, but he had to chance to, and did what went on.
Line them up. One is like shandy made with non-alcoholic beer and one is Sunset Very Strong Rum with its 84.5% of alcohol.
If David Cormack is to be believed Simon Bridges had a evangelical conversion to a full on God botherer a couple of years ago. If that is true, it would explain his near fanatical conviction that he must – MUST! – bring down these Godless socialists.
Yes he is. The quiet infiltration of hard core evangelicals into National is something our ultra media opinionistas seem determined not to discuss, but it is clearly fuelling this split in National.
If the tory christians lose this caucus tussle, maybe the fortunes of minor parties of that space get a boost. Be interesting to hear how it plays out in the Nat party hierarchy beyond caucus, where the real power resides.
Nah the main groomers and child abusers these days are in schools teaching kids all about anal sex, trans delusions, and how it's wrong to judge people. Instead of showing kids how to be safe from predators
[Nice slur on teachers. Next time you try to make a concise point you could perhaps leave the denigration of a large professional group out of it, yes? As it stands, you come across as a disturbed troll with unresolved issues – Incognito]
Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus throws the moneylenders out of the temple
Luke 4:18-19 Jesus proclaims good news to the poor and oppressed
Matthew 25:37-40 Jesus warns of judgement against those who fail to care for the vulnerable and poor
etc etc
SiBri may have had a conversion to something but it wasn't the Way that Jesus preached. How easily those who dabble in church and don't bother to do the homework fall into relying on religious rules, rather than humbling themselves
The funniest 5 minutes on TV in ages was the Voxpop on the Bridges debacle last night. Still laughing on the classic Nat party garden party attender whose opinion of Jacinda was she wished she was leading the Nat party but when shown photos of Muller and Kaye replied " Amy someone" and "Simon Joyce ". Go Team.
Loved that moment too. A reminder to us lefties that a lot of National's support is based on cultural taxonomies and hierarchies. National represent the right sort of people who pay their bills and mow their lawns. Formal ideology, or any actual knowledge of what is happening in the world, come in second. It's quite sobering really, because it's so resistant to any form of persuasion, and insulting it just strengthens the underlying prejudice that the left is uncouth and unpleasant.
A Well summarised and analysed I think. Why it is very hard to move intelligent and efficacious policy in NZ. The myopic citizens of the comfortably-off (never rich) who surprisingly tend to be right-wing Gnats, don't want to see reality. That is as uncouth as it was to the lords and ladies of the Regency era in the light novels I read for stress-relief. That was then says my mind but – it parallels what I see with eyes wide open now, comes in an urgent whisper from the sidelines.
After some years as a tradesman, I found someone having a flash house and right wing views, was a fairly good indication that I needed to get a big deposit, up front.
transmission gully is in the shit. government has been talking about throwing everything at it. looks like the company is about to walk away from it as it would cost less than staying.
also, someone just took a 50ton digger to ripping parts of it up.
covid, everyone left and went back to australia. trucks, utes were found at wellington airport with the keys still in them.
Someone should ask Simon Bridges about that. When he gets a breather from the Nats infighting. That project has been heading for disaster even while he was the Transport Minister trying to persuade everybody it was on time and under budget.
What harsh winters? What a load of bollocks. That project was a dog from the start. National happily awarded the PPP to an Australian company who didn’t really have a clue what road building in NZ’s tricky geological conditions would require. So far the project has needed about 50% more earthworks than originally specced. They were bringing workers in from Australia, who’ve all gone home because of Covid. The ripping up the tarmac that you’ve mentioned is probably the latest effort at relaying work due to mistakes by the building consortium.
different weather up there mate. go read the reports on the slosh and frozen soil. the last winter or the one before where it rained so much no work could be done for months. same reason kapati express way keeps having issues, drainage to do with how the roads were laid. that was the fault of the contractors though, who are actually being contracted to fix it 😀
Last two winters down south have been bloody odd. There's a hole at the bottom of my road that the council has been meaning to fix for 12 months. Some of that is other reasons but the weather has definitely been an issue. Too much rain.
The sales pitch for PPPs like Transmission Gully was that the private parties would finance all the upfront costs and build it and wear the risks, and would then make their money by getting paid an ongoing annual fixed fee starting from when it was opened and operating.
So if the company is about to just walk away, then it looks to me like the PPP model says we should get all the work done so far for free, and the government could then just go ahead and complete the job and get it done at reduced cost with the bonus of not having to pay the annual operating fees.
Or did the National government lie about what PPPs really are and pull a bait and switch on us all when they signed up to the project?
There were always a couple of vehicles used by The Transmission gully workers around our way at night – must have accommodation in the area. Vehicles were there post lockdown but haven't seen them just recently. The plot thickens
Just browsing through the Health website and looked at the workforce tab. Asking both employees and organisations to register their needs.
My questions are:
– When and how and where the contracts to the agencies below awarded- what fees if any do they receive from public money or does the employer pay as usual and why was the decision made to use these two firms?
Beyond has been around a fair while and has always looked to be a mid – upper level agency but the Accent Health if I have the right one looks like it specialised pretty much in the recruitment of overseas health workers and getting visas. Not an obvious choice?
– while there may be a need to allocate available trained staff across the public health system – is this also being used to allocate people to by the private for profit healthcare sector in particular the aged care and outsourced care giving contracts? If it is being used by for profit providers why are they not being advised to advertise over the usual websites and for that matter be required to pay decent wages and have decent conditions of work?
-should public money be used to enhance private contracts
– Is the contract tracing outsourced and if so are they accessing the app data?
Accent Health Recruitment is matching health workers to roles by considering the qualifications and skill sets required, the location where the worker is needed, and the hours they would need to work. Beyond Recruitment is assisting with additional screening questions and reference checks to help determine suitability.
Matthew Paris from UK on Radionz this morning gave me a hollow laugh. Their private company Serco, the efficient operator of all things, has been given the government contract to be part of the Covid-19 tracing system.
Lots of people signing up for it, it would probably have ended up looking like running a bounty-hunter system like in the old USofA. And ballsed up right at the start, they sent one of the applicants a file with addresses of all the other applicants and Matthew Paris says, they now all know those contacts.
How the UK thought that their contracting out was going to be better for this delicate and important task than direct control I don't know. But under present political strictures from the USA's Milton Friedman et al it seems that UK gummint and others of similar mien (mean!), is set at being nothing but an expensive employment agency for ambitious nouveau riche jerks after perks.
Yeah , I have always thought a 4 day working week was the right balance in life, particularly if working for someone else! Bring it on Jacinda – it won,t make any difference to me , as self -employed I work any ,or all, seven days of the week I want to, or need to.
I recall my father once telling me a three day weekend would be perfect, "One day for the house, one day for the family and one for himself". And then he said, "Guess which one misses out at the moment".
Data manipulation in Florida and Georgia by Republican administrations to support re-opening of the state. Listen from 1m19s through to about 2m22s. Amazing. And so delusional to believe they could get away with it – at least when Stalin always reported exceeding his 5-year plans for steel production, there was no public information eco-system that allowed people to check.
Poor old Mike. Yesterday he claimed National could still win but today has conceded defeat.
Still claiming National won the election in 2017, etc. And on the Labour led government which has gained plaudits all over the world for its pandemic response he has this to say:
As opposed to a circus of a panicked, self-absorbed, spineless, self-interested former government that gave up at the first sign of trouble.
Try reading that bit you quoted again, in context! He's actually putting the boot into the Nats. And that's after a moment of honesty: "I have no idea." 🙃
"Unfortunately, for the last half-century, the prevailing political message in many countries has been that governments cannot – and therefore should not – actually govern. Politicians, business leaders, and pundits have long relied on a management creed that focuses obsessively on static measures of efficiency to justify spending cuts, privatization, and outsourcing.
As a result, governments now have fewer options for responding to the crisis, which may be why some are now desperately clinging to the unrealistic hope of technological panaceas such as artificial intelligence or contact-tracing apps. With less investment in public capacity has come a loss of institutional memory (as the UK’s government has discovered) and increased dependence on private consulting firms, which have raked in billions. Not surprisingly, morale among public-sector employees has plunged in recent year"
I thought this was an excellent extract to pass on pat. I have quoted it and you in a comment on TDB in Waatea News today. More people should read this summation I believe, and perhaps we could see more clearly.
Imagine if it seeded here. A Scott Base lab's popular Emperor Penguin turns ill. They pop it on a flight to the Christchurch vet school. Prof + 20 students develop a weird cough. As soon as they twigged I'd hope our Government would slam down on the region/city and secure it tightly. Stop all domestic movement. Aircraft, cars, buses, taxis trains, bikes, pedestrians, insist everyone locks down hard. With the exception of departing international flights. There will be lots of people not feeling well that need to get home to all points on the globe. I think we should follow WHO guidelines and halt all domestic movement but allow taxi, bus and Uber movement to the departure terminal of the Christchurch international airport.
You'd think someone would have had a little tinkle, even if not a full on leak, but yeah, waiting for the likely discrepancies between polls for the line to be reported as national are pulling it back etc.
I suppose I'll have to break a habit and actually watch tv news for a change.
There's a column in Stuff written by someone called Damian Grant. The blurb at the end says " Damien Grant is a regular columnist for Stuff, and an insolvency practitioner and business owner based in Auckland. He writes from a libertarian perspective and is a member of the Taxpayers Union' but not of any political party."
In writing about Todd Muller's writing as a 10 year of how he wanted to be American President, Grant says: " Now, I am not going to criticise a ten-year-old for outsized ambitions; this is the inevitable result of an education system that rewards participation rather than achievement."
What? I dreamt of being an All Black, a famous pop singer and climbing Mt Everest. The inevitable result of an education system that rewards participation rather than achievement I suppose?
I could have dreamt of being a silly arse and ended up being one. But what sort of an education system would it be if I ended up like Damian Grant?
Sentenced to 30 months' jail for fraud and says jail doesn’t change you, nat type shill, would rather buy a new phone than give to charity, and has an all round sort of tosser bigot vibe.
Grant clearly doesn't know anything about the education system – it has a mania for assessment mainly due to influential nitwits (like Grant) constantly demanding it. To cut him some slack, I guess all right-wing libertarians have been pyschically scarred by seeing the state intervene strongly and competently to save people from a deadly virus. And in addition save the economy from far worse damage than it would have experienced without that interference. Kind of blows their worldview to smithereens and makes them babble incoherently.
Why are the National party propagandists so good at unconscious irony?
After decades of pushing for an education system that rewards mindless rote learning, to pass constant narrow testing, he complains about education that "rewards participation rather than achievement".
The aggressive retort by party diplomats is designed to do what it's doing. It's working. It has nothing to do with annoying us and everything to do with no fuel at Chinese bowsers being Don's fault.
Yeah, I've been provoked into flipping out in an outrageous way before, I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm pleased I didn't do so in front of an armed Policeman. When flipping out, calculating the status of the people about is furthermost from your mind.
Nobody is evil to the core but it's hard not to wonder if some of these people being taken down aren't evil at all. They left their insulin in their other pants etc.
I think you're right, we can put wild animals to sleep with tranquiliser darts, we insist on it, anything else is Barbaric, why not humans.
That reminds me of Nigel Latta in his Beyond the Darklands programme. A young chap had spent years drinking and driving, had been through the courts and sent to prison a number of times, but over the years he'd also killed six people. This, according to Nigel Latta, meant that he was 'evil'. It really was quite incredible. Latta's approach in that show was always to interview the subject's friends and family about the person's background to try to explain their behaviour. People who knew this chap described him as essentially a good guy who was kind and worked hard and who'd give you the shirt off his back, but that when he drank he'd do stupid things. Nobody said a bad word against this guy apart from how he was when he drank. Latta went to the trouble of talking to these people presumably to get an insight into things, but still described him as 'evil'. It was an extraordinary conclusion, especially coming from someone who holds themselves out as an expert on 'human behaviour'.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
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In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
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New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
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This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
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Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
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Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
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Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
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Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
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Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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Better the devils you know…
Simon Bridges works tirelessly in front of the camera. His face is the most known in the length and breadth of Aotearoa. Forever portraying Himself. Bits and Pieces.
While his unsteady assistant Paula, plays bowls from time to time, blatantly releasing highly private material. Her Face is likely well known too.
Which is why I hope Simon Bridges – New Zealand's most known man – gets confirmed in the role he chooses this coming Friday.
We will miss him like heck – if he throws in his Towel. Camera tossed from the Sky Tower. And all that.
Two Faces National. These two are the Only persons known in the National paddock.
And God forbid, if David Seymore's strange dancing ass gets accepted. Bodies all over the place. Endless Bodies. Endless bodies and big money everywhere. No Thanks
Fascinating interview with Hooten on RNZ – he is knifing Bridges hard and talking up Todd Muller (who?).
The National party chickens are coming home to roost, with the number of fundies who have won seats meaning the social conservatives and liberal are now split into two factions – in one corner we have the Evangelical wing & the culture warriors coalesced around Bridges and his happy clappy brother in law, in the other the pragmatic, power at all costs brigade with Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye (likely to lose her seat on this polling).
Rent a rant doing as instructed or just having some fun probably filling up airtime.
They risk doing worse with an unskilled media operator but that's not an issue when the media's in your corner is it.
Well, Michelle Boag, the wicked witch of Waiheke, is also putting the boot into Bridges on RNZ and pushing Muller just now. She is more grandiloquent than connected these days, but she probably represents a strand of National party grandee thinking.
Simon might be in front today, but the push to persuade the wavering MPs is clearly on and if tonight poll is equally bad for National then it may be Simon loses, or worse wins on his own vote only.
Anything but real news I guess these days…..she's just another opinionator
Do you think Simon is bright enough to vote for himself?
Not so stupid as to offer a deal to Muller, "You vote for me and I'll vote for you!"
I'd be interested to know if any of these speculating talking heads have clients in the national caucus.
The Farm takes over ?
So – with Todd Muller – working on placing the Farmers as the Government of New Zealand, the Cities and Towns will turn their backs on Mr and Mrs Gum boots.
Don't do it Todd Boy. Cities and Industries, And multiple essential things are required in a Nation.
It’s quite something isn’t it, the way National Party commentators are practically willing the country into an historic recession so they can say “I told you so”.
Granny's done her bit today on that with the mouth being feed (nz businesses) biting the govt over not being like Oz.
The Herald's ambient bias is amazing. Trevett practically urging National to "not lose ground" is quite something.
And Hosking, he is frantic with worry.
Just as well hardly anyone reads it nowadays.
As for the Nats losing ground. Colmar Brunton that’s due tonight was apparently polling up until yesterday evening so may capture some of the public sentiment developing as the proverbial hit the fan for the Nats.
Oz was doing really well until there was an outbreak in a meatworks in Victoria. Now they are back to where they were 30 days ago.
Meatworks have been hit particularly hard in Canada and the USA as well.
From what I heard they have been doing social distancing in NZ in meatworks and running double shifts. But that's led to problems with drought stricken farmers trying to get rid of stock and finding it hard to book in.
Here's a graph (I hope)
Try linking.
Sorry the link is such a long but at the end is a pretty graph.
https://scontent.fwlg2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/99103830_1015063508887603_5323176634096812032_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=0YaLJ2lgBMkAX-FFD-e&_nc_ht=scontent.fwlg2-1.fna&oh=0855e86c2e3bf7238ffd96444a4bca1b&oe=5EECE234
That uptick in Australia shows up clearly. Unfortunate.
The silver lining is that this whole situation will do wonders for the synthetic meat industry.
why should facts get in the way of some RW spin being it's fronted by the COO of Fonterra…..one of the most incompetently managed organisations in NZ.
Up against Fletchers that's no mean feat.
Do you think meat works being hit hard in the USA and Canada has something to do with the temperature as well as hard to social distance on a line?
dunno about Canada, but US workers were told to come in even if ill.
There might also be stats on how centralised the US meat industry is comapred to NZ, but I don't know where. A farmer rep on the Daily Show was saying part of the problem is over the past few decades smaller regional plants have shut down in favour of a few larger facilities. If one in five plants goes down to 30% capacity, that's a major hit. If 2 in 15 go down to 30%, not so bad. And the ones at 100% are closer.
An AMAZING person who can nail her comments – I hope she goes far in the future, a real gem. I wouldn't be surprised if these same essential workers are the same that I see receiving handouts at Christmas time
But don't worry something is happening within National that is FAR MORE IMPORTANT !!
South Auckland cry: 'NZ wants to rebuild, but it's on our backs'
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12333389
Very impressive! Another wahine toa.( just looked it up – tamatai talavou in Samoan)
Wow! Street knowledge more powerful than you'd think. I wonder if it's ironic that she knows she's being pimped by the government?
https://youtu.be/UGkywE_uCEI
Farrar watch:
Kiwiblog's best commenter is theorising the National Party leadership challenge is a set up to make Simon look strong. They're all in on it, apparently.
Wouldn't like to be the National Party if this is true and the public find out…
Kiwiblog is ridiculous and irrelevant these days, Farrar has turned it into a platform for a parade of has-been detritus defending 1980s neoliberalism and the comments have re-housed all the wing nuts from whaleoil.
Farrar himself just wants to keep the money coming in to Curia, so he’ll hunt with the hares and run with the hounds.
his site traffic says otherwise.
A lot of people like watching bumfights for entertainment.
Sometimes I go there, it is the modern day equivalent of the gruesome pleasure of a 18th Century tourist’ visiting Bedlam. A guilty pleasure, as it were.
The technicolour pustulence can be appealing when you're passing through. I do worry about some of the locals. The promoter always seems to be rolling in cash, villagers scrabbling at his hem.
If you believe his site traffic statistics.
IRC Whale Oils were like 2/3 apple safari views …
It's an ugly site, I had a look the other day, just looks old, boring, stale…
For the public to find out there'd have to be a leaker and that's unlikely to happen isn't it? Chuckle chuckle.
Mind you if you're 'Kiwiblog's best commenter' you'd probably be quite good at playing the Kiwiblog/Farrar bullshit game and floating bullshit to create a picture you want painted.
The funny thing is that while I think Bridges is a twerp and an embarrassment to National there are other perspectives. I think for a supposed intelligent person he is dumb. He may not have got in a position to do something terrible, his Strike Force Raptor troops sorting the people were words, all piss and wind, he didn't get a chance to unleash them. On Thursday morning he's a political pariah. Did he perpetrate any evil?
John Key, 'Sir' John Key is a hero. His words about the GCSB may have been all piss and wind when it came to their relationship to truth and deed, but he had to chance to, and did what went on.
Line them up. One is like shandy made with non-alcoholic beer and one is Sunset Very Strong Rum with its 84.5% of alcohol.
If David Cormack is to be believed Simon Bridges had a evangelical conversion to a full on God botherer a couple of years ago. If that is true, it would explain his near fanatical conviction that he must – MUST! – bring down these Godless socialists.
Wasn't his brother-in-law already on that path?
Yes he is. The quiet infiltration of hard core evangelicals into National is something our ultra media opinionistas seem determined not to discuss, but it is clearly fuelling this split in National.
If the tory christians lose this caucus tussle, maybe the fortunes of minor parties of that space get a boost. Be interesting to hear how it plays out in the Nat party hierarchy beyond caucus, where the real power resides.
All those kiddy-fiddlers from those collapsed so-called "Christian "parties had to go somewhere.
Nah the main groomers and child abusers these days are in schools teaching kids all about anal sex, trans delusions, and how it's wrong to judge people. Instead of showing kids how to be safe from predators
[Nice slur on teachers. Next time you try to make a concise point you could perhaps leave the denigration of a large professional group out of it, yes? As it stands, you come across as a disturbed troll with unresolved issues – Incognito]
well, that went south quickly.
Or North, hemisphere depending.
See my Moderation note @ 11:46 AM.
Noted. Apologies for the angry outburst
Ta
It may feel like a thankless, even bleak task at times, but it's an important responsibility. You do it better than I ever managed.
Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus throws the moneylenders out of the temple
Luke 4:18-19 Jesus proclaims good news to the poor and oppressed
Matthew 25:37-40 Jesus warns of judgement against those who fail to care for the vulnerable and poor
etc etc
SiBri may have had a conversion to something but it wasn't the Way that Jesus preached. How easily those who dabble in church and don't bother to do the homework fall into relying on religious rules, rather than humbling themselves
The funniest 5 minutes on TV in ages was the Voxpop on the Bridges debacle last night. Still laughing on the classic Nat party garden party attender whose opinion of Jacinda was she wished she was leading the Nat party but when shown photos of Muller and Kaye replied " Amy someone" and "Simon Joyce ". Go Team.
Loved that moment too. A reminder to us lefties that a lot of National's support is based on cultural taxonomies and hierarchies. National represent the right sort of people who pay their bills and mow their lawns. Formal ideology, or any actual knowledge of what is happening in the world, come in second. It's quite sobering really, because it's so resistant to any form of persuasion, and insulting it just strengthens the underlying prejudice that the left is uncouth and unpleasant.
A Well summarised and analysed I think. Why it is very hard to move intelligent and efficacious policy in NZ. The myopic citizens of the comfortably-off (never rich) who surprisingly tend to be right-wing Gnats, don't want to see reality. That is as uncouth as it was to the lords and ladies of the Regency era in the light novels I read for stress-relief. That was then says my mind but – it parallels what I see with eyes wide open now, comes in an urgent whisper from the sidelines.
"Pay their bills"?
Except their tax bills?
After some years as a tradesman, I found someone having a flash house and right wing views, was a fairly good indication that I needed to get a big deposit, up front.
Heh.
"Between the idea and the reality ….falls the Shadow"
Some news for you.
transmission gully is in the shit. government has been talking about throwing everything at it. looks like the company is about to walk away from it as it would cost less than staying.
also, someone just took a 50ton digger to ripping parts of it up.
covid, everyone left and went back to australia. trucks, utes were found at wellington airport with the keys still in them.
make of that what you will.
Someone should ask Simon Bridges about that. When he gets a breather from the Nats infighting. That project has been heading for disaster even while he was the Transport Minister trying to persuade everybody it was on time and under budget.
I can tell you it mostly was. It was a couple of harsh winters and now covid, which I think has put the nail in.
What harsh winters? What a load of bollocks. That project was a dog from the start. National happily awarded the PPP to an Australian company who didn’t really have a clue what road building in NZ’s tricky geological conditions would require. So far the project has needed about 50% more earthworks than originally specced. They were bringing workers in from Australia, who’ve all gone home because of Covid. The ripping up the tarmac that you’ve mentioned is probably the latest effort at relaying work due to mistakes by the building consortium.
Yep. See article linked below. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21-05-2020/#comment-1713753
different weather up there mate. go read the reports on the slosh and frozen soil. the last winter or the one before where it rained so much no work could be done for months. same reason kapati express way keeps having issues, drainage to do with how the roads were laid. that was the fault of the contractors though, who are actually being contracted to fix it 😀
Last two winters down south have been bloody odd. There's a hole at the bottom of my road that the council has been meaning to fix for 12 months. Some of that is other reasons but the weather has definitely been an issue. Too much rain.
the road was ripped up by an angry employee a few days ago. it's being kept hush hush. not a lot of goodwill out there.
Can't beat local knowledge. 🙂
Contractors that don't know, weather occurs. LOL.
According to my local info it was about a year behind 2 years ago
The sales pitch for PPPs like Transmission Gully was that the private parties would finance all the upfront costs and build it and wear the risks, and would then make their money by getting paid an ongoing annual fixed fee starting from when it was opened and operating.
So if the company is about to just walk away, then it looks to me like the PPP model says we should get all the work done so far for free, and the government could then just go ahead and complete the job and get it done at reduced cost with the bonus of not having to pay the annual operating fees.
Or did the National government lie about what PPPs really are and pull a bait and switch on us all when they signed up to the project?
Exactly, and all the gear is leased so let the leasor take it back and then rent it for a fraction of the price and get the new MOW finish it. Sorted.
Good detail about all of that: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2020/05/06/times-up-for-ppps/
There were always a couple of vehicles used by The Transmission gully workers around our way at night – must have accommodation in the area. Vehicles were there post lockdown but haven't seen them just recently. The plot thickens
Marvelous.
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1263204731570307073
Just browsing through the Health website and looked at the workforce tab. Asking both employees and organisations to register their needs.
My questions are:
– When and how and where the contracts to the agencies below awarded- what fees if any do they receive from public money or does the employer pay as usual and why was the decision made to use these two firms?
Beyond has been around a fair while and has always looked to be a mid – upper level agency but the Accent Health if I have the right one looks like it specialised pretty much in the recruitment of overseas health workers and getting visas. Not an obvious choice?
– while there may be a need to allocate available trained staff across the public health system – is this also being used to allocate people to by the private for profit healthcare sector in particular the aged care and outsourced care giving contracts? If it is being used by for profit providers why are they not being advised to advertise over the usual websites and for that matter be required to pay decent wages and have decent conditions of work?
-should public money be used to enhance private contracts
– Is the contract tracing outsourced and if so are they accessing the app data?
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-resources-health-professionals/join-covid-19-surge-workforce
How are workers assigned to roles?
Accent Health Recruitment is matching health workers to roles by considering the qualifications and skill sets required, the location where the worker is needed, and the hours they would need to work. Beyond Recruitment is assisting with additional screening questions and reference checks to help determine suitability.
Matthew Paris from UK on Radionz this morning gave me a hollow laugh. Their private company Serco, the efficient operator of all things, has been given the government contract to be part of the Covid-19 tracing system.
Lots of people signing up for it, it would probably have ended up looking like running a bounty-hunter system like in the old USofA. And ballsed up right at the start, they sent one of the applicants a file with addresses of all the other applicants and Matthew Paris says, they now all know those contacts.
How the UK thought that their contracting out was going to be better for this delicate and important task than direct control I don't know. But under present political strictures from the USA's Milton Friedman et al it seems that UK gummint and others of similar mien (mean!), is set at being nothing but an expensive employment agency for ambitious nouveau riche jerks after perks.
Yeah , I have always thought a 4 day working week was the right balance in life, particularly if working for someone else! Bring it on Jacinda – it won,t make any difference to me , as self -employed I work any ,or all, seven days of the week I want to, or need to.
I recall my father once telling me a three day weekend would be perfect, "One day for the house, one day for the family and one for himself". And then he said, "Guess which one misses out at the moment".
Data manipulation in Florida and Georgia by Republican administrations to support re-opening of the state. Listen from 1m19s through to about 2m22s. Amazing. And so delusional to believe they could get away with it – at least when Stalin always reported exceeding his 5-year plans for steel production, there was no public information eco-system that allowed people to check.
Poor old Mike. Yesterday he claimed National could still win but today has conceded defeat.
Still claiming National won the election in 2017, etc. And on the Labour led government which has gained plaudits all over the world for its pandemic response he has this to say:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12333626
If TVNZ put him in as debate moderator again the country should hit the streets in protest.
Try reading that bit you quoted again, in context! He's actually putting the boot into the Nats. And that's after a moment of honesty: "I have no idea." 🙃
Ah well. He's not a good writer, is he. None on these broadcasters seem to be yet they are all given opinion column inches.
It is telling he has thrown in the towel though!
"Unfortunately, for the last half-century, the prevailing political message in many countries has been that governments cannot – and therefore should not – actually govern. Politicians, business leaders, and pundits have long relied on a management creed that focuses obsessively on static measures of efficiency to justify spending cuts, privatization, and outsourcing.
As a result, governments now have fewer options for responding to the crisis, which may be why some are now desperately clinging to the unrealistic hope of technological panaceas such as artificial intelligence or contact-tracing apps. With less investment in public capacity has come a loss of institutional memory (as the UK’s government has discovered) and increased dependence on private consulting firms, which have raked in billions. Not surprisingly, morale among public-sector employees has plunged in recent year"
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/105135/mariana-mazzucato-and-giulio-quaggiotto-show-why-countries-embraced-proactive-state
So true…Will we finally learn the lesson?
I suspect the slow start to Kiwibuild had more to do with that, and a lack of spare capacity, than anything else.
Perhaps…although it was the wrong policy in any case. Something that likely would have been realised in time had the state capability existed.
Yes. I never liked it.
They should have simply built a lot more State rental houses.
My feelings as well
I thought this was an excellent extract to pass on pat. I have quoted it and you in a comment on TDB in Waatea News today. More people should read this summation I believe, and perhaps we could see more clearly.
Its a message that cannot be too widely disseminated (imo)
Imagine if it seeded here. A Scott Base lab's popular Emperor Penguin turns ill. They pop it on a flight to the Christchurch vet school. Prof + 20 students develop a weird cough. As soon as they twigged I'd hope our Government would slam down on the region/city and secure it tightly. Stop all domestic movement. Aircraft, cars, buses, taxis trains, bikes, pedestrians, insist everyone locks down hard. With the exception of departing international flights. There will be lots of people not feeling well that need to get home to all points on the globe. I think we should follow WHO guidelines and halt all domestic movement but allow taxi, bus and Uber movement to the departure terminal of the Christchurch international airport.
Dog eat dog at noon for Simon and Todd.
AC/DC – Dog Eat Dog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t22TpvtLOro
Isn't the Todd thing a charade to make us all say in unison 'Simon won'
Well that'd be a helluva travel tab Todd Munter's run up for the sake of a subterfuge. Pretty big bubble Munty has by the look of it.
Any spoilers from the 1 news poll?
Nope, but #savesimon is trending #1 on twitter thanks to the input from the left 🙂 Bloody brilliant 🙂
Roll on 6pm, not long now
You'd think someone would have had a little tinkle, even if not a full on leak, but yeah, waiting for the likely discrepancies between polls for the line to be reported as national are pulling it back etc.
I suppose I'll have to break a habit and actually watch tv news for a change.
Hehehe it's more dramatic via the TV news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4
heh
There's a column in Stuff written by someone called Damian Grant. The blurb at the end says " Damien Grant is a regular columnist for Stuff, and an insolvency practitioner and business owner based in Auckland. He writes from a libertarian perspective and is a member of the Taxpayers Union' but not of any political party."
In writing about Todd Muller's writing as a 10 year of how he wanted to be American President, Grant says: " Now, I am not going to criticise a ten-year-old for outsized ambitions; this is the inevitable result of an education system that rewards participation rather than achievement."
What? I dreamt of being an All Black, a famous pop singer and climbing Mt Everest. The inevitable result of an education system that rewards participation rather than achievement I suppose?
I could have dreamt of being a silly arse and ended up being one. But what sort of an education system would it be if I ended up like Damian Grant?
Sentenced to 30 months' jail for fraud and says jail doesn’t change you, nat type shill, would rather buy a new phone than give to charity, and has an all round sort of tosser bigot vibe.
What more do you need to know?
Grant clearly doesn't know anything about the education system – it has a mania for assessment mainly due to influential nitwits (like Grant) constantly demanding it. To cut him some slack, I guess all right-wing libertarians have been pyschically scarred by seeing the state intervene strongly and competently to save people from a deadly virus. And in addition save the economy from far worse damage than it would have experienced without that interference. Kind of blows their worldview to smithereens and makes them babble incoherently.
Why are the National party propagandists so good at unconscious irony?
After decades of pushing for an education system that rewards mindless rote learning, to pass constant narrow testing, he complains about education that "rewards participation rather than achievement".
I think Red L has read this.
The aggressive retort by party diplomats is designed to do what it's doing. It's working. It has nothing to do with annoying us and everything to do with no fuel at Chinese bowsers being Don's fault.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/417168/homicide-sexual-assault-charges-plummet-during-lockdown
Overall, 22 percent fewer charges were laid in the District Court during the lockdown.
Homicide, robbery and fraud charges all dropped roughly 40 percent while the biggest change was a 65 percent drop in sexual violence charges.
Charges relating to family violence – expected to rise as households came under pressure in the pandemic – dropped 10 percent.
Majorly, lack of (alcoholic) fuel?
"I ain't got no Woodies or DB Browns Uncle Grey but I could have the postie drop you in a little bag of Gizzy Madness my grey mango."
Or, there's no escape.
Why can't cops just use their tasers or shoot people in the shoulder or the leg or something instead of killing people?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/121584925/shocked-friends-remember-taranaki-man-shot-dead-by-police
Yeah, I've been provoked into flipping out in an outrageous way before, I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm pleased I didn't do so in front of an armed Policeman. When flipping out, calculating the status of the people about is furthermost from your mind.
Nobody is evil to the core but it's hard not to wonder if some of these people being taken down aren't evil at all. They left their insulin in their other pants etc.
I think you're right, we can put wild animals to sleep with tranquiliser darts, we insist on it, anything else is Barbaric, why not humans.
That reminds me of Nigel Latta in his Beyond the Darklands programme. A young chap had spent years drinking and driving, had been through the courts and sent to prison a number of times, but over the years he'd also killed six people. This, according to Nigel Latta, meant that he was 'evil'. It really was quite incredible. Latta's approach in that show was always to interview the subject's friends and family about the person's background to try to explain their behaviour. People who knew this chap described him as essentially a good guy who was kind and worked hard and who'd give you the shirt off his back, but that when he drank he'd do stupid things. Nobody said a bad word against this guy apart from how he was when he drank. Latta went to the trouble of talking to these people presumably to get an insight into things, but still described him as 'evil'. It was an extraordinary conclusion, especially coming from someone who holds themselves out as an expert on 'human behaviour'.
To think, I believed the bullshit they fed us when the Taser was added to their arsenal.
I'd be gutted if National polls over 30% tonight.
Don't the Brunton polls usually over egg the nat vote and squish the reds and greens?
I'd be disappointed if they're above 35%
Usually, yes, but these are no usual times and the one poll may influence the other.
Blimey, 29%, your guts are safe. lol
Gee, I hope not. You don't deserve such a fate. I'm picking they come in at 35%, Labour 50%, Greens 6%, NZF 3%, ACT 2%…
It'll probably be L 42, N 39, G 4.9, NZF 8.
"It's a miracle", Simon will say and liken himself to Lazarus (Tova already has) or even Jesus him/herself!
I wouldn’t want to disappoint Tova!
Whoops, looks like I was wrong. 🙂
todd muller worked for fonterra nuff said