Shift end. Radio tells me record day, 150,000 cases reported. Fears of second waves, concerns for -> insert overwhelmed health system/US State/Country name here. Bad. Home. Flick through recorded 6pm news. So sad. Then, man separated from luggage. What? Can someone invent a whinging entitled prat (WEP-20) test? Compulsory pre-flight screening for any signs of whingy-ness. Symptoms of self-importance? No boarding pass for you sir! You need to stay in the country you are in. Don’t come to New Zealand. We need to keep our borders safe from any infection. Protect our media from WEP-20 contagion (symptoms; whinging, moaning, complaining). Protect WEP-20 sufferers from any risk of being inconvenienced at a time when millions are suffering horrible debilitating illness and hundreds of thousands of people are dying. Just saying. Stay where you are. Stay away! Stay safe everyone.
It is extraordinary that modern technology means it has never been easier to know what is going on in the world, and yet we seem determined to focus on our navel, more than ever.
IMO, possibly the result of information over-load. Flooded with information about just about everything with most of it being contradictory causing a shut-down in cognition.
On top of that also being told to 'trust your gut' and 'common sense' both of which are the probably the worst possible pieces of advice ever.
Totally agree TSW! I cannot understand why the grizzlers get air time. Fancy that woman being whisked off in a bus to quarantine. Woe woe. "They didn't tell us we were on our way to Rotorua! We expect much more than a free quarantine in a hotel. We don't care what is best for NZ. We want special luxury deals. Don't you know who I am?"
A Hudson Institute nob, think Scooter Libby, Reagan, Kissinger, Pence, Dick Cheney, Netanyahu and Paul Ryan, and some dude who scams the desperate with his self-help claptrap say shit.
[Toby] Morris is now creative director of all the work The Spinoff team does for the WHO, and it has recruited a team of six to deliver web content, videos and animations.
A video created by The Spinoff was translated into six languages and used to open the World Health Assembly (WHA) this year, detailing how the WHO is responding to Covid-19. Most of the work relates to the pandemic – such as information on mask guidance that has had 28 million views and written explainer pieces – but it intersects with other streams the WHO works on, such as infographics for malaria and tuberculosis.
“You check your email in the morning and see the ebola team has been in touch,” says former Metro editor Henry Oliver, now part of the project. “Am I working on malaria or ebola today?”
…
“We’ve gone from a standing start to it feels like the main go-to agency on Covid-19, and increasingly on other things as well,” [Duncan] Greive said.
He said it would have been “unimaginable” if the world had not gone into widespread lockdown. But in the new environment, no one expected a team to be able to turn up to Geneva to pitch for the work, and New Zealand’s comparable success in fighting the virus gave local teams an advantage.
The government made numerous changes, as you well know. Ask the real estate agents who complain they can't get the flood of foreign buyers like they used to. Ask the visa scam "schools" who were closed down. Etc.
You tried to paint the current problems as a result of the previous governments policies being untenable in the current environment. Then you pointed out that the current government had already enacted policies that should have Reduced employment given current circumstances. I’m trying to work through your stupid before I go and play with my stupid
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Oh good Climaction – I'm sure you are a bloke and have a great can-do approach. You are the sort we need in NZ so get away from your keyboard and go and do something – now!
You can see how there is no time to waste as the world speeds up and it is quite mind-boggling seeing the Worldometer site. So if you can add your boggling to it al, something will be done and we expected it by yesterday.
Worldometer – I am sure it is recommended that sensitive persons do not watch it for more than 10 seconds or it might start a brain spasm.
While I watched World births went from 323,800 something to 324,000. Deaths today went to 136,200 in 20 secs. There is an imbalance there which we know about but won’t even try to think through the possibilities of being adult about it.
Wow look at the Public healthcare expenditure for today go up towards $13 billion. Public education and Public military are changing up as fast as the eye can see. Money spent on video games today about $240 million.
The majority of people have NFI how the economy works. Thing is, most economists don't know how the economy works. Most people think that money is the economy forgetting about the actual resources.
This is most clearly seen when people say that it would only cost a few thousand/millions to feed everyone taking absolutely no account of where the food will come from.
economists are very concerned about the allocation of resources and tend to talk around money and the actual price of something.
economics is the study of scarcity. One specialisation in that field could be the study of DTB’s understanding of what things really are and how that scarce knowledge could best be applied
Oh Climaction You join a select group of people who have to cut DTB off at the knees because he preaches a different sermon than your lot. The superiority is lofty, the sanctimony is superb, and the denunciation is damning,
economists are very concerned about the allocation of resources
That's what they tell us but their teachings don't support that. If they did then we wouldn't have private cars because their economies of scale are all wrong.
Looks like Labour's election campaign strategy will hinge on evasion of responsibility and accountability. Assuming that voters will be impressed by this, apparently. Strikes me as too much of a gamble.
Winston's position is likely to be more in accord with the public mood. However, holding someone responsible isn't the same as making the right person accountable! The principle of natural justice applies: punish the wrong-doer, then people will be satisfied that justice has been done.
All Ardern & Clark are likely to achieve with their preference for traditional Labour evasion of the need for effective enforcement is to make Labour seem like a bunch of wimps in the public mind. But perhaps they're betting that re-election is so likely that they can afford to be generous and lend National a helping hand…
I'm absolutely no fan of the Deputy Dawg, worse still his BFF, however without finding where things went wrong there's not much chance of ensuring they don't happen again. We don't need to burn the witches, just go with the Peter Principle if they don't want to keep doing the same thing and having the same things go wrong. Or use existing mechanisms such as the Chief Wonder Boy the SSC. As is usual, it can all be done in silence behind the scenes with an army of ex-journalist spin doctors used pacify the masses with some well-chosen words.
I'm not sure though they won't find out though despite what The Spinoff says, and already some people seem to 'think' they know already. Harman of Harman and Clark fame on RNZ's Sunday for example.
The sad thing for me is that JA might find that after the next election win, kindness and transformation is still not as easy as first thought.
Assuming that there is a single person responsible for any and all deficiencies foound, firing them isn't as good at solving the problem as determining whether what they did was abnormal practise for everyone else involved.
We're likely talking about relatively mundane and routine decisions made many times a day by many people on multiple sites. If it's a training issue rather than an individual deficiency, seeking out the scape-goat for the incident that gets discovered is worse than unproductive, as it can give everyone else false confidence that the system is robust even though they are unaware they are making the same mistakes as the person who got fired.
"We're likely talking about relatively mundane and routine decisions made many times a day by many people on multiple sites."
/agreed (There won't be a single person responsible)
And not all of those people necessarily got the memo. Understandable in the early stages of the emergency – not so much later on. I think Harman lays the blame at several people
Having a birds-eye view of the Bay Plaza Quarantine Hotel, I noticed that immediately after the shit hit the fan, some things changed organisationally pretty rapidly in the rear carpark.
It is necessary though to find out where the 'system' went haywire though and those (collectively or otherwise) responsible for that 'system' to try and make sure they fully understand what's required and don't keep making the same mistakes.
If necessary, we can burn the witches later – or not.
Personally, I just have a problem when the same people keep making the same mistakes (or even operate with bullying or racist attitudes) without any consequence as we see in some places in the PS. Sometimes they even get promoted.
yeah, not looking to punish individuals isn't the same as not investigating the failure. In fact it lets people speak openly about the failures they might feel responsible for without fear of losing their jobs.
There's been no hint of actual misconduct (e.g. bribes, or intentionally neglecting the job) so far. It's more a case of polishing a system that seems to have worked well and not have any major entrenched issues, rather than having to fix an absolute shitshow.
Their policy is to invite people like students back. Literally nowhere in their policy does it say anything about Covid being welcome back.
in your mind, figuratively, inviting students back = inviting Covid back.
persisting that it is literally their policy is figuratively stupid. Like blaming unemployment them as they were allowing foreigners to come study and invest while they were the government. 3 years ago
more transparent propaganda from Dennis. So a system put together in an emergency was found to be unable to scale to unprecedented demand without some glitches. so what!… lines of responsibility being rationalised, more resources being provided.
I believe most NZ (thats not you Dennis) can recognise a media gang up when they see it. the election results will reflect that.
maybe dennis and his fellow travellers are pi$$ed off because the economy isnt tanking like they had hoped. even herald has had to print that auck economy has hardly slowed. what a bugger!
Couldn't you say, Dennis, that Labour will campaign on fixing the quarantine problems – so they had better do that before the election. Nats and Seymour will gnash and whine. Winston will bet a buck each way. The Greens will be ignored.
Election outcomes are a consequence of mass psychology, and if Labour campaigned on "fixing the quarantine problems" most people would see that as credible if they had actually achieved that result.
Time will tell. Unfair to prejudge. But if you put someone in charge of quarantine admin, then fail to hold them accountable for consequent incompetence, it just sends the signal that anyone can get away with ignoring procedures.
Unwise, that! The effect on mass psychology is huge. That's the point, really. I gave them credit for being successful in the `team of five million' effort. It exhibited both competence and political nous. Now, however, I'm bemused and taken aback that they seem intent on doing the opposite. As if going for variety rather than consistency.
Let's check the record of commentators' predictions, vs actual public opinion, properly measured.
At every – yes, every – stage of the 4/3/2/1 process, there were loud voices in the media saying NZ should now be at a lower level, and there should be exceptions for A, B, C, and X, Y, Z.
And at every – yes, every stage, public opinion said the opposite. I've seen at least 8 different surveys (TV1, TV3, Spinoff etc) which showed 80-90% support, over the 4 stages.
Surely we must have grasped by now that an individual person's opinion is generated instantly, because no field work is required, only an open mouth. Whereas public opinion requires proper methodology, to return reliable data. So the false headlines come days or weeks before the real evidence.
Only a fool believes the reckons before the results. Let's not be fools, eh?
Verification of public opinion via stats takes time, and any ebbing faith in govt management of the pandemic has yet to show, so I was indicating a likelihood based on past experience of mass psychology. Responses to perceptions of social (in)justice tend to be visceral and widespread!
Accountability in governance is a perennial social necessity. It's a serious concern when political leaders evade that necessity. Makes them seem irresponsible. Delinquent, even. To teeter themselves at the top of that slippery slope is reckless and foolhardy. Better to enforce accountability, so as to retain the public's faith in your political expertise – that's my advice to them.
reading a post in FB from the Spinoff which claims the government is scrambling over the latest covid cases. this assertion is just tripe. the meedja have had a field day with covid and just because they are spinning on their own axis and threatening to disappear up their own fundamental orifice has no relation to the decisions of government. the meedja in New Zealand is riddled with infantilised noo noo heads obsessed with their own importance
One Medium (like a fortune-teller who acts as a medium between us and the spirit-world)
Two Media. The news media consist of TV (a visual medium along with cartoons, posters, photos, etc) Radio (an auditory medium) and the printed medium (newspapers, magazines, etc.)
Most people don't care now, apparently.
Todd Muller keeps saying,"The criteria is…" One criterion, 2 criteria
George W Bush famously asked, "What is our children learning?" Todd is obviously keen to take us in a similar direction..
Sad.. (Sheep is a clever but unusual example! Like fish, deer.. unusual)
There will be an equal and opposite reaction to the success. Let us hope the pendulum swing is reaching its peak and now returning to its usual place.
The prime minister has used her energy wisely. Chasing those who made errors while dealing with the huge numbers of returning residents is perhaps overload at present. Those errors have been corrected and the whys may be dealt with in a later inquiry.
Some of these visitors/ returnees are still expecting unrealistic outcomes, in spite of free accommodation food and medical care, plus free transport from the airport to their 14/28 day isolation, and they still complain to the press. Some seeking to shorten the isolation time for a variety of reasons. That at least has been stopped. Also the idea of testing being optional has been corrected firmly. Day 3 and 12 seems sensible, 28 day stay on refusal seems reasonable in the face of a tricky virus.
What part of possibly infected do they not grasp? To hear some saying they should be able to pick up food and drink at the airport is just amazing hubris, or total denial of where they have come from and what they may be carrying.
So many are returning they are being bussed to hotels in outlying towns now. So far a city worth of people has come in, at a cost of 81 million.
The huge influx of returning Kiwis who have lost employment overseas is a new problem for this Government. They will put strain on our infrastructure, and in Auckland with a current water shortage they will need to be placed far and wide in NZ.
The ability to divide Kiwis into us and them exists…'we' fought it and succeeded and 'they' came back to be part of that success. In real terms people go where the work or support is. We have to accept their right to return, it is enshrined in law.
However, perhaps in these unusual times we should give those people a card telling them what our expectations are, and where people have a certain level of assets that they contribute to the costs entailed. It is human nature to value what we pay for.
Those in the press and opposition trying to paint a picture of failure, using every bump in this new road of coping as a cause for wild statements, may find the pendulum swings back and cuts a swathe in their arguments.
One of the things the opposition will point to is the huge and growing group of returning unemployed. I wonder if they will count the returnees as a new group, or add them to the current group. The only answer is to raise benefit levels to allow the system to keep functioning rather than grinding people down. Allowing people to get involved in the digital age, regenerative farming and horticulture, the arts and creative sectors, construction and trades, or anything which supports sustainable living.
"Some of these visitors/ returnees are still expecting unrealistic outcomes "
Well said -About the only request I don't find unrealistic is the one for a test. As far as I am concerned they can have one every day if they want. The press does love it's sob stories but maybe there is a benefit in that it sorts out public attitudes.
But if the flood is becoming so great and more airlines are returning then it's likely to overwhelm the border isolation? Busing to outlying towns -ouch.
Maybe we need a hard priority list and quarantine bookings. I haven't seen a number for the citizens who no longer live here and may return but large? I asked yesterday and apparently permanent residency can be hung onto even if the person no longer bothers to reside in NZ and hasn't for a considerable period. So if they are not habitually resident why do they get any priority at all? At best they have become drive by residents probably for welfare purposes only. Then we appear to be allowing import of sports teams for competitions (okayyyy) plus those on work permits for the infrastructure projects – can't they and the farmers find a few people to employ out the returning citizens or horrors some of our newly unemployed and have been living here which was how the policy was sold
Labour don't have an enviable position in that they have to sort out a decade of lax anything goes migration from National and the luxury of doing it gradually has now gone.
With so many Kiwis ( New Zealand born citizens) returning home and maybe unable to find employment here should we not be sending the migrant workers still in NZ back to their homelands now? We hear of non- kiwi “permanent residents “ clamoring for their partners and children elsewhere in the world to be allowed to come “home” to NZ but do you hear of these people thinking to join their partners instead?
And anyone returning should not be expecting 2 weeks free food and lodgings in guarantine or anywhere !
It is much more likely that the work visas will not be renewed, that is the current work visa applies till it runs out. Only only in exceptional circumstances would it be renewed.
That would be fair to the people on the work visas and fair to the returning New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.
Once again a Nact created problem They handed out work visa's like crack cocaine to the Nact voters who were intent on paying no attention to employment laws and who didn't want to pay a decent wage. Now they are addicted and they are whinging at the government to keep giving them a fix. Some for FFS are being let back in for the infrastructure programmes rather than local hire.
The visa's had the sept extension so all they expire on the same day- but if the large number that need to go don't start going soon there will be no airline seats for them.
We need to start now dragging the expiry dates back a bit so the march expirys get to week 1 sept, the april expiry are now week 2, etc
It seems so hard to remember that we aren't talking about imported boxes of toilet paper when migrant workers are mentioned. We wanted them, they applied, we accepted them, and can't just throw them out of the cot like disgruntled babies. More gruntle needed Immigration, and some round-table discussion and fact checking and systems change required to be implemented in stages, being fair and practical.
*We* didn't want them – a lot of people could see that they were putting a strain on housing and infrastructure while driving down wages and employment conditions.
Some businesses wanted them so that they could get cheap labor.
Some political parties wanted them so that they could drive down workers conditions and pay and make themselves look good by artificially driving up GDP.
Like most capitalists they want to take all the profits but get out of paying the costs.
Bit I am talking about the matter as the migrants would see it. We, the country appeared to want them, our government did and let them in. These are people who applied, were accepted, organised their lives to come here and 'we' in power, ie the government have that power to decide what to do with them.
What we, the public felt about that or anything, has been of no account for decades. So I can have some idea of how unhappy the migrants are feeling. Perhaps you are in a position to control matters that are of importance to you.
The state of Victoria has introduced new Covid-19 restrictions which take effect from 11:59pm on Sunday 21 June. Below is a summary from the Premier's statement.
* The number of visitors you can have at your home will reduce to five. Outside the home, families and friends can meet in groups up to ten.
* Restaurants, pubs, auction halls, community halls, libraries, museums and places of worship – maximum of 20 people in any one space until 12 July.
* Gyms, cinemas, theatres and TABs can open – only with a maximum of 20 people.
* Businesses need to ensure those who can work from home continue to do so, at least until 31 July.
* If we keep seeing high case numbers each day, we will consider putting whole suburbs back into lockdown.
Yeah – National would have been a million times worse, (most of these discussions we wouldn't even been having)- and still would be so I don't see that as an electoral point in their favour.
Labour at least have tried, not always succeeded, listened adjusted and do not spend their time on blame shifting although they have a number of areas where they might well say- "National caused this ".
The area's where I think they may be misreading public opinion and listening to only small self interested groups who want the neo lib model are:
– mass tourism particularly the "I can live on the roadside for free crowd"
– a neo lib labour market underpinned overcompetition from a lax migration polciy and minimal labour laws which large groups of employers largely ignore anyway.
Wages in this country have barely moved in the last 30 years apart from at the top (who are grossly over rewarded) and the minimum wage shifts at the bottom. To return to that model when so many are facing job loss and reduced incomes and do not have drive by access to residence in a number of countries needs a lot more policy change than the BAU model they seem to be sticking with.
There's a real life example of just how bad things would have been if we had listened to National:
The study’s authors concluded: “Our findings indicate that provision of misinformation in the early stages of a pandemic can have important consequences for health outcomes.”
With National telling us that we needed to do less, to open up our borders earlier we can guarantee that more people would have died.
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That is a convoluted way to try and find entries for say myself or other commenters or subjects. It adds extra buttons and sites to get what used to be a simple list with one request while looking at The Standard..
For instance on Google : Andre – 1st up June 8 2020 – No posts found.
15/6/20 One from you – I use link and it takes me to the top of the page and I have to scroll down page to find you.
Next – 2 days ago @author "feijoa" Then 7 June, 14 June, 18 June.
This was going down the page.
Not in date order, not useful and convenient. Everyone hasn't all day to play around on their computer.
feijoa, you have that right The current propaganda exercise is, "it's a debacle, disaster, stuff up, put in any suitable adjective. "The country needs National", I add "like a hole in my head!!"
They know we are doing well, but anything to make people anxious is being said and printed. Definitely Dirty Politics.
"Today there are two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation facilities in New Zealand."
"As with the five other cases reported in recent days, these two cases were recent arrivals from overseas and both were detected within our managed isolation facilities. Neither involves community transmission."
In other words, except for the two women that started this whole thing, the border quarantines and managed isolation appear to have been doing the job we expect from them.
Some people (i.e. opponents and moaners) complained that Ardern's press conferences before and during lockdown were like talking to children. Like a primary school teacher or talking to mentally challenged, Nat MPs said.
And now we know why she had to do this. Here are the facts:
Fact 1: There have been stuff-ups in the quarantine system.
Fact 2: People are arriving at the border from other countries, with Covid-19.
Fact 3: Fact 2 is 100% unrelated to fact 1.
The number of cases we now have is 7. If the quarantine was perfect, without a single mistake, ever, then the number of Covid-19 cases in new Zealand would be (drum roll …)
Seven.
How hard is it to understand this? Too hard for some, it seems.
In fact better than any country with 500 cases or more,but you wont here the media saying that ,only country with 500 or more infections with no border transmissions
Too early to say? That was a day 3 test advised today day 6. Are there not tests that return results sooner. And why not a day 1 test for the pre infected?
I must admit I was not impressed to find that they had only picked up 2 asymptomatic spreaders on day 12 of isolation ( not quarantine). That should have been a lot earlier
they had only picked up 2 asymptomatic spreaders on day 12 of isolation ( not quarantine). That should have been a lot earlier
It asks the question, where did they pick up the virus. Was it community transfer within one of our isolation hotels? or did they pick it up in, say, the 24 hrs before arrival here, very mild cases, which was not detected in earlier test (s)
And the other groups that were granted on compassionate grounds to leave the 14days early, I recall something like 320 ( but my recollection may be out). We are so fortunate that only these 2 have been confirmed, imagine if there has/is more. So it is NOT only these 2 sisters, that the system had on the team of 5m had been found to be faulty, especially in the case of Deiderick John Grant, known as DJ Rogue funeral.
Even the two sisters weren’t that out of control. Someone made a compassionate judgement and allowed them to travel, in controlled circumstances, to Wellington to support their recently widowed father. OK, something went wrong and they dealt with it themselves, which was not been ideal. But they were tested in Wellington and found to be positive and went into a quarantine bubble, hopefully still able to support their Dad.
Somehow the National Party got hold of it and made a political football out of it. I wonder what the sisters think of that.
12 June-Chris Bishop (National, ex-tobacco industry stooge) lobbied vigorously for the 2 UK women to be given compassionate exemption because they were friends of a friend of his in the UK
Q. Why has the media accepted that the two women were constituents of Bishop when they are not? (Bishop lied)
Q. Why has Bishop not released the text of his contacts between him and his friend in the UK, between him and the 2 women and between him and the quarantine centre managers?
Q. Did Bishop request that his friend's friends should only be released after a negative test?
Q. Why did one of the women hide her Covid-19 symptoms?
Absolutely BG. No one involved in any of it is actually a constituent of Mr. Bishop. Add to that the fact that he has tried to distance himself from UK based intermediary who contacted him on behalf of the sisters, and you start to get the impression at least that there is another link that perhaps the National Party would prefer not to reveal.
Yesss – I wonder what it is. But aren't MP's elected and paid for by the us NZ citizens and taxpayers. So exactly why was Bishop advocating for them? He should have been advocating for the people living here who don't want covid.
I wonder when there is going to be a back lash against people coming into the country who complain.
Latest is people arriving from planes being put on a bus and finding out they were going to Rotorua complaining to the media. Dreadful for them! Poor things (sarc)
Also earlier on Stuff a women with a baby, (nothing to do with Covid complaining about not getting on a plane to Taupo for her mum's birthday, because baggage got closed off before she could be processed…………….What are we suppose to do shed tears with her. Stupid that they even bother to report this stuff.
The bus trip to Rotorua wouldn’t have been that much longer than going into the CBD. They were lucky that they’re only in Rotorua, next option is on a charter flight and down to Queenstown or Christchurch.
Re open Somes Island for these people. Better still send these whinging self entitled non entities to Tiri. Not far from the airport, quick trip up the Motorway to Gulf Harbour then a pleasant trip by boat to the island. The only problem being, there is no accommodation there and they will have to live under canvas. These whinging poor things might discover how it is for the millions of refugees living in these type of conditions and realise how lucky they are to be able to return to NZ.
No wait! Forget that idea, Tiri is a magnificent bird sanctuary which I would not like to see polluted, also the whinging could drown out the bird song.
Jacinda Ardern got all the plaudits internationally for “beating Covid”, but New Zealand’s success was never really down to her – or her Government. It came from all of us; the team of five million.
Both/and. Her negation of govt agency as determinant is fatuous. The country did what the govt required. The success resulted from unison.
And really, form a committee?? We've seen the failure of that approach continuously since the 1970s:
The Government has no choice now but to urgently order an independent inquiry – one that includes sweeping powers to investigate and inspect facilities on the ground.
We know that both National and Labour always sweep things under the carpet, and any consequent report is designed to carefully fudge all relevant issues. Any such inquiry would waste time and space. The govt knows who screwed up. They just don't want to tell us. We're meant to have blind faith they'll get it right next time. Politicians hold the public in contempt. Nothing new.
I thought it must just be me about these incoming expats etc grizzling about their accommodation etc. It beggars belief the entitlement of some people. Surely to God they would be just so relieved to be home again and just get on with the 14 days quarantine and be thankful for small mercies.
When are these people going to be asked to pay for their 14 days quarantine. Surely its not too much to ask these returning passengers to pay for their accommodation and be darned grateful they are home. Nothing but a bunch of whinging selfish people. Its time Jacinda tempered her kindness with a tiny wee bit of mongrel.
Woods and Webb just gave a press conference on this, and they were (rightly) making no apology for putting people in quarantine, wherever and whenever needed.
They said that over 200 people will arrive tomorrow, and over 500 on Tuesday. The numbers are increasing, and the countries of origin have very high Covid-19 cases (UK, India).
It would be nice if the reporters at the press conference were listening, and also had a basic grasp of arithmetic.
No Whispering Kate, I too am really struck by people returning who are whinging!
Latest from the press conference was a reporter relaying the complaint that someone on the bus to Rotorua complained they weren't even given any water!!!!!! FFS. two hour trip. Grow up or go back. I was sorry the military guy wasn't more old school and didn't tell them to shut up and obey orders. He does seem competent though as does Megan
For starters citizens need priority ( and ones without dual nationality first).
So why isn't the flow being cut back by changing the permanent resident visa conditions so that there is no right of re entry unless they have met the conditions over the last two years that they had to meet before being granted the visa. Being a taxpayer, being actually present in the country for most of the last two years and all the other signs of permanent habitation and contributing to the land of Aoteoroa. They have the passport of another country so they are not stateless. The change could be backdated to say Jan 1 2020 with a transistion period before they have to leave again. Coming back now means they are likely welfare tourists which we can't afford and frankly I don't see local appetite for paying for this on top of quarantine.
Actually a great idea, Shanreagh. Our Hospitality industry's problem would be solved, and the whingers would become a source of income for our beleaguered economy.
And yes I have family overseas and we have let them know that if and when they decide to return home they had better observe our quarantine laws or there will be hell to pay at our place.
The President received a report that only about 25 people were assembled in the overflow space the campaign had reserved for a crowd Trump claimed five days earlier would top 40,000.
Though Trump formally launched his campaign one year ago in Orlando, he started telling people in recent weeks that the Tulsa event was the "real launch." He reasoned that his abysmal poll numbers were only because of the coronavirus lockdowns …
Once viewed inside the White House and Trump's campaign as a reset button for a presidency beset by crises and self-inflicted wounds, Saturday evening's campaign rally in Tulsa instead became plagued with pitfalls, a disappointing microcosm of the blindspots, denial and wishful thinking that have come to guide the President as he enters one of the most precarious moments of his first term.
I'm intrigued that they're bussing people to the regions straight from the airport. I wonder what the benefits are over a two-stage system, transferring people to the regions after a couple of weeks, and replacing their berths in the Auckland hotels with new arrivals?
That way the people most likely to be discovered to have it are in closer proximity to the quarantine residences and a tertiary hospital set up for covid treatment.
After a couple of weeks their isolation should be finished and they're let loose to do as they please.
Maybe they've shifted to having all the arrival from a specific day or two go to the same hotel. To minimise the possibility of a fresh arrival infecting someone that's just about to leave.
It's unfair to call them that, obviously. They may have all kinds of personal circumstances we don't know about. And we can have sympathy, to a degree.
But some of them need to start reading the room, before complaining to the media. People who have lost jobs and businesses and loved ones in NZ lockdown are not going to be a very receptive audience to arrivals complaining about their hotels.
yes some appear to be somewhat entitled however there are hundreds (or thousands over time) who may wish to return home not to mention the obligations and rights under international law…..we dont know (and nor do we need to) the circumstances that necessitated their returns ….and charging for an enforced quarantine is the sort of thing Id expect from those that espouse the 'efficiency of market forces'….no thanks
People who have lost jobs and businesses and loved ones in NZ lockdown are not going to be a very receptive audience to arrivals complaining about their hotels.
I suspect that the majority of the population are already not receptive to these whinging arrivals. Indeed it smacks to some degree of some of them using the situation to indulge in their 15 minutes of fame.
The problem with this latest batch being sent to Rotorua is that a bunch of rich, entitled permanent residents at the Stamford Hotel are kicking up blue murder which has prompted the new military chief to temporarily bypass the place until a few things are sorted.
With 700 due to arrive within the next 48 odd hrs they're probably running out of suitable places to put them.
We could get that catering firm that Nact though was good enough for the hospitals to feed them. That should increase the whinging to a jet engine sized roar.
Looks like the sane and rational Bolton is part of "The Resistance" now, along with other caring and thoughtful individuals like David Frum, Karl Rove, and William Kristol.
Given the data and increasing numbers of corona virus infected people recorded, I believe we should hold all flights landing from overseas until the logistics of the arrangements are air tight. There is no way that it is acceptable to invite the virus into the county. Yes, people might be p… off. But crunch the numbers and compare a few hundred people vs 5 million. If we get another 20 or so corona positive we are on the way to be shut down again. A nightmare in the making.
You say "another 20 or so", but you know the number in the community is currently zero, right? So saying "another" is misleading, and linking it to lockdown is false.
Nat MPs Kaye and Woodhouse on the news with residents of central Auckland hotel, complaining about returning Kiwis being quarantined there.
That is the same Kaye and Woodhouse who want to bring in thousands of foreign students for the second semester (= now) and put them in quarantine in … um, central Auckland hotels.
Sure, Nats are gonna Nat, but will any reporter ever be awake to ask the obvious questions?
You say "another 20 or so", but you know the number in the community is currently zero, right? So saying "another" is misleading, and linking it to lockdown is false.
Professor Michael Baker made a very important point this morning, RNZ. He said that as long as there is no community transmission, it means the disease is still eliminated from New Zealand.
Cases may be arriving and showing up while people are in isolation, and it's only a quirk of the way international stats are collected that mean they are added to the New Zealand total. Long may it last – and it will be a massive fight to keep it that way.
Another point about 'opening the borders' and forming 'bigger bubbles'. I think the events recently in Victoria Australia show that they have a big problem on their hands at the moment and I can't see New Zealand allowing free travel between other states and New Zealand. I suspect the usual suspects promoting opening up won't be quite so loud in the coming few weeks.
on a funnier note, apparently the nats have released a meme of a 17 June speech where "Todd Muller DESTROYS Labour".
I mean, it's not a terrible speech, but they went with "amazing crescendo music library hits #57" as the background music. On a loop. The music reaches a passionate high about three times at random points during the speech (with random shots of a largely empty and bored-looking House), and finishes at roughly the time he stops talking.
I laughed quite a bit. The juxtaposition is quite something.
Down our way we have an annual meteorological event in November called the Dr Muller Frost. Commemorating a venerated doctor who was always late to arrive for a baby's delivery, it names after him a late frost that threatens grape vines, tomatoes and potatoes. You're pretty safe from a Dr Muller frost after Labour Day though! 😉
Overseas these types videos are part of right wing campaigns – designed to hook in people who think they are funny then turning them into a voter. think Boris used them in the UK – along with ssoccer games sharing etc that grduaally turn political. The left needs to counter these.
Can anyone explain to me why Kiwiblog gets 400 comments regularly and the blogs of the Left, or the heart of NZ, get a 100 odd? Lazy reactive know-nothingness beats memory I think. Thankfully, no one takes their uncles seriously beyond that circle. Sadly, no one much follows the good auld tradition of democratic politics.
Angry right wingers wave hands and flap gums a lot more than the left of politics. It's hard work getting all the BS and talking points out. Might also explain why the right have won a lot of battles around the world in recent decades
We had current events in Primary. That Dutch train held up by terrorists. Trees … forests.
What really matters.
I think climate change is everything. You know, our grandchildren …children … and old age! Evidence. Scuffing about with mindless day to day politics is beneath us and irrelevant. Modern comfort has no future. Though as a history bloke I enjoy the 'footnotery' of you lot.
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Beaglehole, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago niphon/Getty Images The number of people accessing medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Aotearoa New Zealand increased significantly between 2006 and 2022. But the disorder is still under-diagnosed and ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
Shift end. Radio tells me record day, 150,000 cases reported. Fears of second waves, concerns for -> insert overwhelmed health system/US State/Country name here. Bad. Home. Flick through recorded 6pm news. So sad. Then, man separated from luggage. What? Can someone invent a whinging entitled prat (WEP-20) test? Compulsory pre-flight screening for any signs of whingy-ness. Symptoms of self-importance? No boarding pass for you sir! You need to stay in the country you are in. Don’t come to New Zealand. We need to keep our borders safe from any infection. Protect our media from WEP-20 contagion (symptoms; whinging, moaning, complaining). Protect WEP-20 sufferers from any risk of being inconvenienced at a time when millions are suffering horrible debilitating illness and hundreds of thousands of people are dying. Just saying. Stay where you are. Stay away! Stay safe everyone.
You deserve a +1 for that.
It is extraordinary that modern technology means it has never been easier to know what is going on in the world, and yet we seem determined to focus on our navel, more than ever.
IMO, possibly the result of information over-load. Flooded with information about just about everything with most of it being contradictory causing a shut-down in cognition.
On top of that also being told to 'trust your gut' and 'common sense' both of which are the probably the worst possible pieces of advice ever.
Totally agree TSW! I cannot understand why the grizzlers get air time. Fancy that woman being whisked off in a bus to quarantine. Woe woe. "They didn't tell us we were on our way to Rotorua! We expect much more than a free quarantine in a hotel. We don't care what is best for NZ. We want special luxury deals. Don't you know who I am?"
Interested in China, Hong Kong and the riots in the USA?
This is being touted as the interview you must see.
https://youtu.be/8qGg7MWqGXQ
tl;dw
Falun Gongster says shit.
/
I don't believe so, Joe.
Here is another must see interview from a totally different source.
https://youtu.be/h8IEtlOVzq4
Again tl;dw
A Hudson Institute nob, think Scooter Libby, Reagan, Kissinger, Pence, Dick Cheney, Netanyahu and Paul Ryan, and some dude who scams the desperate with his self-help claptrap say shit.
A future path for NZ business: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121881009/how-a-kiwi-media-company-became-the-world-health-organisations-latest-covid19-weapon
Let’s all stop what we are doing and make government funded videos for each other
6 jobs created to replace how many lost? This is why labour could lose the election. It’s shills have no idea how the economy works.
But National knew. It works by importing lots and lots of people. GDP goes up, property goes up, simple!
There's a slight flaw in that plan now. But they're sticking with it.
Weird comment. Labour had two years to stop that and change the economy? If it just carried as National were doing they are as much to blame.
The government made numerous changes, as you well know. Ask the real estate agents who complain they can't get the flood of foreign buyers like they used to. Ask the visa scam "schools" who were closed down. Etc.
So labour is responsible for the economy and its growing unemployment?
All governments are ultimately responsible (more accurately, accountable) for the economy. Again, as you well know.
Playing dumb is really tedious, and I'll let you play alone.
You tried to paint the current problems as a result of the previous governments policies being untenable in the current environment. Then you pointed out that the current government had already enacted policies that should have Reduced employment given current circumstances. I’m trying to work through your stupid before I go and play with my stupid
edit
Oh good Climaction – I'm sure you are a bloke and have a great can-do approach. You are the sort we need in NZ so get away from your keyboard and go and do something – now!
You can see how there is no time to waste as the world speeds up and it is quite mind-boggling seeing the Worldometer site. So if you can add your boggling to it al, something will be done and we expected it by yesterday.
Worldometer – I am sure it is recommended that sensitive persons do not watch it for more than 10 seconds or it might start a brain spasm.
https://www.worldometers.info/
While I watched World births went from 323,800 something to 324,000. Deaths today went to 136,200 in 20 secs. There is an imbalance there which we know about but won’t even try to think through the possibilities of being adult about it.
Wow look at the Public healthcare expenditure for today go up towards $13 billion. Public education and Public military are changing up as fast as the eye can see. Money spent on video games today about $240 million.
The majority of people have NFI how the economy works. Thing is, most economists don't know how the economy works. Most people think that money is the economy forgetting about the actual resources.
This is most clearly seen when people say that it would only cost a few thousand/millions to feed everyone taking absolutely no account of where the food will come from.
You’re talking about accountants and financiers.
economists are very concerned about the allocation of resources and tend to talk around money and the actual price of something.
economics is the study of scarcity. One specialisation in that field could be the study of DTB’s understanding of what things really are and how that scarce knowledge could best be applied
Oh Climaction You join a select group of people who have to cut DTB off at the knees because he preaches a different sermon than your lot. The superiority is lofty, the sanctimony is superb, and the denunciation is damning,
That's what they tell us but their teachings don't support that. If they did then we wouldn't have private cars because their economies of scale are all wrong.
Interesting how the WHO being a public-funded organisation is the main point you saw in that.
Looks like Labour's election campaign strategy will hinge on evasion of responsibility and accountability. Assuming that voters will be impressed by this, apparently. Strikes me as too much of a gamble.
Winston's position is likely to be more in accord with the public mood. However, holding someone responsible isn't the same as making the right person accountable! The principle of natural justice applies: punish the wrong-doer, then people will be satisfied that justice has been done.
All Ardern & Clark are likely to achieve with their preference for traditional Labour evasion of the need for effective enforcement is to make Labour seem like a bunch of wimps in the public mind. But perhaps they're betting that re-election is so likely that they can afford to be generous and lend National a helping hand…
Find the witch and burn her!
I'm absolutely no fan of the Deputy Dawg, worse still his BFF, however without finding where things went wrong there's not much chance of ensuring they don't happen again. We don't need to burn the witches, just go with the Peter Principle if they don't want to keep doing the same thing and having the same things go wrong. Or use existing mechanisms such as the Chief Wonder Boy the SSC. As is usual, it can all be done in silence behind the scenes with an army of ex-journalist spin doctors used pacify the masses with some well-chosen words.
I'm not sure though they won't find out though despite what The Spinoff says, and already some people seem to 'think' they know already. Harman of Harman and Clark fame on RNZ's Sunday for example.
The sad thing for me is that JA might find that after the next election win, kindness and transformation is still not as easy as first thought.
Assuming that there is a single person responsible for any and all deficiencies foound, firing them isn't as good at solving the problem as determining whether what they did was abnormal practise for everyone else involved.
We're likely talking about relatively mundane and routine decisions made many times a day by many people on multiple sites. If it's a training issue rather than an individual deficiency, seeking out the scape-goat for the incident that gets discovered is worse than unproductive, as it can give everyone else false confidence that the system is robust even though they are unaware they are making the same mistakes as the person who got fired.
"We're likely talking about relatively mundane and routine decisions made many times a day by many people on multiple sites."
/agreed (There won't be a single person responsible)
And not all of those people necessarily got the memo. Understandable in the early stages of the emergency – not so much later on. I think Harman lays the blame at several people
Having a birds-eye view of the Bay Plaza Quarantine Hotel, I noticed that immediately after the shit hit the fan, some things changed organisationally pretty rapidly in the rear carpark.
It is necessary though to find out where the 'system' went haywire though and those (collectively or otherwise) responsible for that 'system' to try and make sure they fully understand what's required and don't keep making the same mistakes.
If necessary, we can burn the witches later – or not.
Personally, I just have a problem when the same people keep making the same mistakes (or even operate with bullying or racist attitudes) without any consequence as we see in some places in the PS. Sometimes they even get promoted.
back later
yeah, not looking to punish individuals isn't the same as not investigating the failure. In fact it lets people speak openly about the failures they might feel responsible for without fear of losing their jobs.
There's been no hint of actual misconduct (e.g. bribes, or intentionally neglecting the job) so far. It's more a case of polishing a system that seems to have worked well and not have any major entrenched issues, rather than having to fix an absolute shitshow.
If the country goes back into lock-down as a result of this incompetence, Labour risk bearing the brunt come election time.
There has not yet been a single case of community transfer, after we got to zero. Not one.
So no, we won't be going into lockdown. Not unless we deliberately invite the virus in. That is literally the opposition's policy.
Figuratively is the word you are looking for.
No, it is literally true.
National's stated policy is to invite thousands of people from Covid-19 countries to NZ, right now.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2006/S00104/under-national-international-students-would-be-back.htm
Their policy is to invite people like students back. Literally nowhere in their policy does it say anything about Covid being welcome back.
in your mind, figuratively, inviting students back = inviting Covid back.
persisting that it is literally their policy is figuratively stupid. Like blaming unemployment them as they were allowing foreigners to come study and invest while they were the government. 3 years ago
Climaction – please re-read and correct that error-ridden nonsense. And check out that you really understand the meaning of figurative.
Not Achieved at present, but you may re-submit.
Yeah nah !
more transparent propaganda from Dennis. So a system put together in an emergency was found to be unable to scale to unprecedented demand without some glitches. so what!… lines of responsibility being rationalised, more resources being provided.
I believe most NZ (thats not you Dennis) can recognise a media gang up when they see it. the election results will reflect that.
maybe dennis and his fellow travellers are pi$$ed off because the economy isnt tanking like they had hoped. even herald has had to print that auck economy has hardly slowed. what a bugger!
Couldn't you say, Dennis, that Labour will campaign on fixing the quarantine problems – so they had better do that before the election. Nats and Seymour will gnash and whine. Winston will bet a buck each way. The Greens will be ignored.
Election outcomes are a consequence of mass psychology, and if Labour campaigned on "fixing the quarantine problems" most people would see that as credible if they had actually achieved that result.
Time will tell. Unfair to prejudge. But if you put someone in charge of quarantine admin, then fail to hold them accountable for consequent incompetence, it just sends the signal that anyone can get away with ignoring procedures.
Unwise, that! The effect on mass psychology is huge. That's the point, really. I gave them credit for being successful in the `team of five million' effort. It exhibited both competence and political nous. Now, however, I'm bemused and taken aback that they seem intent on doing the opposite. As if going for variety rather than consistency.
Let's check the record of commentators' predictions, vs actual public opinion, properly measured.
At every – yes, every – stage of the 4/3/2/1 process, there were loud voices in the media saying NZ should now be at a lower level, and there should be exceptions for A, B, C, and X, Y, Z.
And at every – yes, every stage, public opinion said the opposite. I've seen at least 8 different surveys (TV1, TV3, Spinoff etc) which showed 80-90% support, over the 4 stages.
Surely we must have grasped by now that an individual person's opinion is generated instantly, because no field work is required, only an open mouth. Whereas public opinion requires proper methodology, to return reliable data. So the false headlines come days or weeks before the real evidence.
Only a fool believes the reckons before the results. Let's not be fools, eh?
Verification of public opinion via stats takes time, and any ebbing faith in govt management of the pandemic has yet to show, so I was indicating a likelihood based on past experience of mass psychology. Responses to perceptions of social (in)justice tend to be visceral and widespread!
Accountability in governance is a perennial social necessity. It's a serious concern when political leaders evade that necessity. Makes them seem irresponsible. Delinquent, even. To teeter themselves at the top of that slippery slope is reckless and foolhardy. Better to enforce accountability, so as to retain the public's faith in your political expertise – that's my advice to them.
reading a post in FB from the Spinoff which claims the government is scrambling over the latest covid cases. this assertion is just tripe. the meedja have had a field day with covid and just because they are spinning on their own axis and threatening to disappear up their own fundamental orifice has no relation to the decisions of government. the meedja in New Zealand is riddled with infantilised noo noo heads obsessed with their own importance
The media is one sick puppy.
xanthe – you know that media is a plural noun? I would agree with 'are sick puppies'.
no I did not know that ! so what is the singular? or are (is?) they like sheep linguistically as well as behaviorally ?
One Medium (like a fortune-teller who acts as a medium between us and the spirit-world)
Two Media. The news media consist of TV (a visual medium along with cartoons, posters, photos, etc) Radio (an auditory medium) and the printed medium (newspapers, magazines, etc.)
Most people don't care now, apparently.
Todd Muller keeps saying,"The criteria is…" One criterion, 2 criteria
George W Bush famously asked, "What is our children learning?" Todd is obviously keen to take us in a similar direction..
Sad.. (Sheep is a clever but unusual example! Like fish, deer.. unusual)
"One Medium (like a fortune-teller who acts as a medium between us and the spirit-world)"
yeah. channeling the spirit world! thems the critters.
The word has two meanings. When used to mean the main means of mass communication it can be either plural or singular:
https://www.lexico.com/definition/media
There will be an equal and opposite reaction to the success. Let us hope the pendulum swing is reaching its peak and now returning to its usual place.
The prime minister has used her energy wisely. Chasing those who made errors while dealing with the huge numbers of returning residents is perhaps overload at present. Those errors have been corrected and the whys may be dealt with in a later inquiry.
Some of these visitors/ returnees are still expecting unrealistic outcomes, in spite of free accommodation food and medical care, plus free transport from the airport to their 14/28 day isolation, and they still complain to the press. Some seeking to shorten the isolation time for a variety of reasons. That at least has been stopped. Also the idea of testing being optional has been corrected firmly. Day 3 and 12 seems sensible, 28 day stay on refusal seems reasonable in the face of a tricky virus.
What part of possibly infected do they not grasp? To hear some saying they should be able to pick up food and drink at the airport is just amazing hubris, or total denial of where they have come from and what they may be carrying.
So many are returning they are being bussed to hotels in outlying towns now. So far a city worth of people has come in, at a cost of 81 million.
The huge influx of returning Kiwis who have lost employment overseas is a new problem for this Government. They will put strain on our infrastructure, and in Auckland with a current water shortage they will need to be placed far and wide in NZ.
The ability to divide Kiwis into us and them exists…'we' fought it and succeeded and 'they' came back to be part of that success. In real terms people go where the work or support is. We have to accept their right to return, it is enshrined in law.
However, perhaps in these unusual times we should give those people a card telling them what our expectations are, and where people have a certain level of assets that they contribute to the costs entailed. It is human nature to value what we pay for.
Those in the press and opposition trying to paint a picture of failure, using every bump in this new road of coping as a cause for wild statements, may find the pendulum swings back and cuts a swathe in their arguments.
One of the things the opposition will point to is the huge and growing group of returning unemployed. I wonder if they will count the returnees as a new group, or add them to the current group. The only answer is to raise benefit levels to allow the system to keep functioning rather than grinding people down. Allowing people to get involved in the digital age, regenerative farming and horticulture, the arts and creative sectors, construction and trades, or anything which supports sustainable living.
"Some of these visitors/ returnees are still expecting unrealistic outcomes "
Well said -About the only request I don't find unrealistic is the one for a test. As far as I am concerned they can have one every day if they want. The press does love it's sob stories but maybe there is a benefit in that it sorts out public attitudes.
But if the flood is becoming so great and more airlines are returning then it's likely to overwhelm the border isolation? Busing to outlying towns -ouch.
Maybe we need a hard priority list and quarantine bookings. I haven't seen a number for the citizens who no longer live here and may return but large? I asked yesterday and apparently permanent residency can be hung onto even if the person no longer bothers to reside in NZ and hasn't for a considerable period. So if they are not habitually resident why do they get any priority at all? At best they have become drive by residents probably for welfare purposes only. Then we appear to be allowing import of sports teams for competitions (okayyyy) plus those on work permits for the infrastructure projects – can't they and the farmers find a few people to employ out the returning citizens or horrors some of our newly unemployed and have been living here which was how the policy was sold
Labour don't have an enviable position in that they have to sort out a decade of lax anything goes migration from National and the luxury of doing it gradually has now gone.
RedBaronCV It's gopod to read some reasoned comment after some of the flimsy, baiting stuff further up.
With so many Kiwis ( New Zealand born citizens) returning home and maybe unable to find employment here should we not be sending the migrant workers still in NZ back to their homelands now? We hear of non- kiwi “permanent residents “ clamoring for their partners and children elsewhere in the world to be allowed to come “home” to NZ but do you hear of these people thinking to join their partners instead?
And anyone returning should not be expecting 2 weeks free food and lodgings in guarantine or anywhere !
It is much more likely that the work visas will not be renewed, that is the current work visa applies till it runs out. Only only in exceptional circumstances would it be renewed.
That would be fair to the people on the work visas and fair to the returning New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.
Once again a Nact created problem They handed out work visa's like crack cocaine to the Nact voters who were intent on paying no attention to employment laws and who didn't want to pay a decent wage. Now they are addicted and they are whinging at the government to keep giving them a fix. Some for FFS are being let back in for the infrastructure programmes rather than local hire.
The visa's had the sept extension so all they expire on the same day- but if the large number that need to go don't start going soon there will be no airline seats for them.
We need to start now dragging the expiry dates back a bit so the march expirys get to week 1 sept, the april expiry are now week 2, etc
It seems so hard to remember that we aren't talking about imported boxes of toilet paper when migrant workers are mentioned. We wanted them, they applied, we accepted them, and can't just throw them out of the cot like disgruntled babies. More gruntle needed Immigration, and some round-table discussion and fact checking and systems change required to be implemented in stages, being fair and practical.
*We* didn't want them – a lot of people could see that they were putting a strain on housing and infrastructure while driving down wages and employment conditions.
Some businesses wanted them so that they could get cheap labor.
Some political parties wanted them so that they could drive down workers conditions and pay and make themselves look good by artificially driving up GDP.
Like most capitalists they want to take all the profits but get out of paying the costs.
Bit I am talking about the matter as the migrants would see it. We, the country appeared to want them, our government did and let them in. These are people who applied, were accepted, organised their lives to come here and 'we' in power, ie the government have that power to decide what to do with them.
What we, the public felt about that or anything, has been of no account for decades. So I can have some idea of how unhappy the migrants are feeling. Perhaps you are in a position to control matters that are of importance to you.
Bubble??? In Victoria 25 new cases yesterday, reported people who know they have covid19 continue to work and socialize
Victoria Covid-19 cases today.
https://www.twitter.com/SimoLove/status/1274501494306291712
The state of Victoria has introduced new Covid-19 restrictions which take effect from 11:59pm on Sunday 21 June. Below is a summary from the Premier's statement.
* The number of visitors you can have at your home will reduce to five. Outside the home, families and friends can meet in groups up to ten.
* Restaurants, pubs, auction halls, community halls, libraries, museums and places of worship – maximum of 20 people in any one space until 12 July.
* Gyms, cinemas, theatres and TABs can open – only with a maximum of 20 people.
* Businesses need to ensure those who can work from home continue to do so, at least until 31 July.
* If we keep seeing high case numbers each day, we will consider putting whole suburbs back into lockdown.
https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/statement-from-the-premier-45/
Quite right, Anker. It's all hypothetical, but we have Natz past little glories to judge them by.
They would, without doubt, have bowed to the 'economic' imperative and moved down levels quicker than the coalition did.
They would have opened the borders by now, especially to lucrative Chinese students (they are owned by China, after all) and
Their management of quarantine would have been abysmal – one only has to remember the psa kiwifruit problem and mbovis to realise that.
I'm no fan of Winnie, but we should all be thankful he chose to go into coalition with Labour.
Yeah – National would have been a million times worse, (most of these discussions we wouldn't even been having)- and still would be so I don't see that as an electoral point in their favour.
Labour at least have tried, not always succeeded, listened adjusted and do not spend their time on blame shifting although they have a number of areas where they might well say- "National caused this ".
The area's where I think they may be misreading public opinion and listening to only small self interested groups who want the neo lib model are:
– mass tourism particularly the "I can live on the roadside for free crowd"
– a neo lib labour market underpinned overcompetition from a lax migration polciy and minimal labour laws which large groups of employers largely ignore anyway.
Wages in this country have barely moved in the last 30 years apart from at the top (who are grossly over rewarded) and the minimum wage shifts at the bottom. To return to that model when so many are facing job loss and reduced incomes and do not have drive by access to residence in a number of countries needs a lot more policy change than the BAU model they seem to be sticking with.
There's a real life example of just how bad things would have been if we had listened to National:
With National telling us that we needed to do less, to open up our borders earlier we can guarantee that more people would have died.
Your search function returns "nothing nothing nothing nothing"
Wrong. My search function involves going to google, typing in my search and adding site:thestandard.org.nz. Returns plenty.
edit
That is a convoluted way to try and find entries for say myself or other commenters or subjects. It adds extra buttons and sites to get what used to be a simple list with one request while looking at The Standard..
For instance on Google : Andre – 1st up June 8 2020 – No posts found.
15/6/20 One from you – I use link and it takes me to the top of the page and I have to scroll down page to find you.
Next – 2 days ago @author "feijoa" Then 7 June, 14 June, 18 June.
This was going down the page.
Not in date order, not useful and convenient. Everyone hasn't all day to play around on their computer.
Reading all the vitriole in the media, smashing Jacinda and Ashley, I would say Dirty Politics is back.
Divide and rule is the oldest political trick in the book, and that is exactly what the Nats and the media are doing.
Kia kaha everybody
feijoa, you have that right The current propaganda exercise is, "it's a debacle, disaster, stuff up, put in any suitable adjective. "The country needs National", I add "like a hole in my head!!"
They know we are doing well, but anything to make people anxious is being said and printed. Definitely Dirty Politics.
Ministry of Health media release.
"Today there are two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation facilities in New Zealand."
"As with the five other cases reported in recent days, these two cases were recent arrivals from overseas and both were detected within our managed isolation facilities. Neither involves community transmission."
https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/2-new-cases-covid-19-4
In other words, except for the two women that started this whole thing, the border quarantines and managed isolation appear to have been doing the job we expect from them.
Indeed.
Some people (i.e. opponents and moaners) complained that Ardern's press conferences before and during lockdown were like talking to children. Like a primary school teacher or talking to mentally challenged, Nat MPs said.
And now we know why she had to do this. Here are the facts:
Fact 1: There have been stuff-ups in the quarantine system.
Fact 2: People are arriving at the border from other countries, with Covid-19.
Fact 3: Fact 2 is 100% unrelated to fact 1.
The number of cases we now have is 7. If the quarantine was perfect, without a single mistake, ever, then the number of Covid-19 cases in new Zealand would be (drum roll …)
Seven.
How hard is it to understand this? Too hard for some, it seems.
Case in point: read the replies.
Right wingers have a permanent Idiocy Virus.
In fact better than any country with 500 cases or more,but you wont here the media saying that ,only country with 500 or more infections with no border transmissions
Too early to say? That was a day 3 test advised today day 6. Are there not tests that return results sooner. And why not a day 1 test for the pre infected?
I must admit I was not impressed to find that they had only picked up 2 asymptomatic spreaders on day 12 of isolation ( not quarantine). That should have been a lot earlier
It asks the question, where did they pick up the virus. Was it community transfer within one of our isolation hotels? or did they pick it up in, say, the 24 hrs before arrival here, very mild cases, which was not detected in earlier test (s)
And the other groups that were granted on compassionate grounds to leave the 14days early, I recall something like 320 ( but my recollection may be out). We are so fortunate that only these 2 have been confirmed, imagine if there has/is more. So it is NOT only these 2 sisters, that the system had on the team of 5m had been found to be faulty, especially in the case of Deiderick John Grant, known as DJ Rogue funeral.
2400 people have been released early without a test.
Even the two sisters weren’t that out of control. Someone made a compassionate judgement and allowed them to travel, in controlled circumstances, to Wellington to support their recently widowed father. OK, something went wrong and they dealt with it themselves, which was not been ideal. But they were tested in Wellington and found to be positive and went into a quarantine bubble, hopefully still able to support their Dad.
Somehow the National Party got hold of it and made a political football out of it. I wonder what the sisters think of that.
Hadn't their father died just before they came here?
Apparently the timeline is:
7 June they arrive in NZ
12 June they applied for the compassionate exemption. Later that day their parent died. As a result, their application was expedited.
13 June they traveled to Wellie, with detour and meetup along the way.
Not sure which parent died.
You missed:
12 June-Chris Bishop (National, ex-tobacco industry stooge) lobbied vigorously for the 2 UK women to be given compassionate exemption because they were friends of a friend of his in the UK
Q. Why has the media accepted that the two women were constituents of Bishop when they are not? (Bishop lied)
Q. Why has Bishop not released the text of his contacts between him and his friend in the UK, between him and the 2 women and between him and the quarantine centre managers?
Q. Did Bishop request that his friend's friends should only be released after a negative test?
Q. Why did one of the women hide her Covid-19 symptoms?
Absolutely BG. No one involved in any of it is actually a constituent of Mr. Bishop. Add to that the fact that he has tried to distance himself from UK based intermediary who contacted him on behalf of the sisters, and you start to get the impression at least that there is another link that perhaps the National Party would prefer not to reveal.
Exactly Scott….
Perhaps Bishop is advocating on behalf of the bereaved spouse.
Yesss – I wonder what it is. But aren't MP's elected and paid for by the us NZ citizens and taxpayers. So exactly why was Bishop advocating for them? He should have been advocating for the people living here who don't want covid.
mother.
as well.
I wonder when there is going to be a back lash against people coming into the country who complain.
Latest is people arriving from planes being put on a bus and finding out they were going to Rotorua complaining to the media. Dreadful for them! Poor things (sarc)
Also earlier on Stuff a women with a baby, (nothing to do with Covid complaining about not getting on a plane to Taupo for her mum's birthday, because baggage got closed off before she could be processed…………….What are we suppose to do shed tears with her. Stupid that they even bother to report this stuff.
The bus trip to Rotorua wouldn’t have been that much longer than going into the CBD. They were lucky that they’re only in Rotorua, next option is on a charter flight and down to Queenstown or Christchurch.
There’s probably a connection to the palaver around using the Stanford Plaza https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300038948/hotel-residents-concerned-over-reports-of-quarantined-travellers-arriving
Answer to anker @12
Agree 100%
Re open Somes Island for these people. Better still send these whinging self entitled non entities to Tiri. Not far from the airport, quick trip up the Motorway to Gulf Harbour then a pleasant trip by boat to the island. The only problem being, there is no accommodation there and they will have to live under canvas. These whinging poor things might discover how it is for the millions of refugees living in these type of conditions and realise how lucky they are to be able to return to NZ.
No wait! Forget that idea, Tiri is a magnificent bird sanctuary which I would not like to see polluted, also the whinging could drown out the bird song.
Not fair to Tiri and the inhabitants there – winged! It is a special island and the intention is to keep pests off it.
" It is a special island and the intention is to keep pests off it"
Ha, ha. I like it grey.
Tracy Watkins being silly: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300038914/coronavirus-the-only-way-to-restore-confidence-is-to-order-an-urgent-inquiry-into-our-border-failures
Both/and. Her negation of govt agency as determinant is fatuous. The country did what the govt required. The success resulted from unison.
And really, form a committee?? We've seen the failure of that approach continuously since the 1970s:
We know that both National and Labour always sweep things under the carpet, and any consequent report is designed to carefully fudge all relevant issues. Any such inquiry would waste time and space. The govt knows who screwed up. They just don't want to tell us. We're meant to have blind faith they'll get it right next time. Politicians hold the public in contempt. Nothing new.
A day ending in 'y' then.
I thought it must just be me about these incoming expats etc grizzling about their accommodation etc. It beggars belief the entitlement of some people. Surely to God they would be just so relieved to be home again and just get on with the 14 days quarantine and be thankful for small mercies.
When are these people going to be asked to pay for their 14 days quarantine. Surely its not too much to ask these returning passengers to pay for their accommodation and be darned grateful they are home. Nothing but a bunch of whinging selfish people. Its time Jacinda tempered her kindness with a tiny wee bit of mongrel.
Woods and Webb just gave a press conference on this, and they were (rightly) making no apology for putting people in quarantine, wherever and whenever needed.
They said that over 200 people will arrive tomorrow, and over 500 on Tuesday. The numbers are increasing, and the countries of origin have very high Covid-19 cases (UK, India).
It would be nice if the reporters at the press conference were listening, and also had a basic grasp of arithmetic.
Yes, but that would require independent thought. Most reporters now seem to go in with prepared questions only. Gotcha ones…
No Whispering Kate, I too am really struck by people returning who are whinging!
Latest from the press conference was a reporter relaying the complaint that someone on the bus to Rotorua complained they weren't even given any water!!!!!! FFS. two hour trip. Grow up or go back. I was sorry the military guy wasn't more old school and didn't tell them to shut up and obey orders. He does seem competent though as does Megan
For starters citizens need priority ( and ones without dual nationality first).
So why isn't the flow being cut back by changing the permanent resident visa conditions so that there is no right of re entry unless they have met the conditions over the last two years that they had to meet before being granted the visa. Being a taxpayer, being actually present in the country for most of the last two years and all the other signs of permanent habitation and contributing to the land of Aoteoroa. They have the passport of another country so they are not stateless. The change could be backdated to say Jan 1 2020 with a transistion period before they have to leave again. Coming back now means they are likely welfare tourists which we can't afford and frankly I don't see local appetite for paying for this on top of quarantine.
Despite what Megan Woods says permanent residents don't have "an absolute right of entry" because the rules could be changed and should be changed, Looking at the inflowthis is likely to get worse. We may yet have an over run health system from incomers bringing their infections and whining with them.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300039338/returning-kiwis-may-have-to-wait-overseas-as-quarantine-hotels-fill-up
Just imagine how much they will be moaning if they decide not to allow a test for Covid-19 and have to wait a month instead of 2 weeks to be released.
Actually a great idea, Shanreagh. Our Hospitality industry's problem would be solved, and the whingers would become a source of income for our beleaguered economy.
And yes I have family overseas and we have let them know that if and when they decide to return home they had better observe our quarantine laws or there will be hell to pay at our place.
Trump's campaign already had speed wobbles. Now it seems to have hit the skids: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/21/politics/trump-campaign-trail-coronavirus/index.html
I googled Biden's campaign slogan out of curiosity but got no revelation. Some good suggestions though:
A Return to Slightly Less Bad
Took One Idea from Bernie, Stop Complaining
Not Racist Recently
Actually, playing the redemption card could work with all them christians in the USA:
Hasn't Voted for the Iraq War In Over 15 years!
Can't go wrong with being traditional, it always works:
Yet Another Old White Rich Male
But my favourite so far has to be:
Putting the `er' back in America 😆
I'm intrigued that they're bussing people to the regions straight from the airport. I wonder what the benefits are over a two-stage system, transferring people to the regions after a couple of weeks, and replacing their berths in the Auckland hotels with new arrivals?
That way the people most likely to be discovered to have it are in closer proximity to the quarantine residences and a tertiary hospital set up for covid treatment.
After a couple of weeks their isolation should be finished and they're let loose to do as they please.
Maybe they've shifted to having all the arrival from a specific day or two go to the same hotel. To minimise the possibility of a fresh arrival infecting someone that's just about to leave.
It's more the trickle has become a flood, just on the news now the said there is 700 people coming in over the next 2 days .
Time to start charging nzs fair weather's kiwis for their isolation,it will slow the buggers down .
fair weather kiwis?…how do you know?
It's unfair to call them that, obviously. They may have all kinds of personal circumstances we don't know about. And we can have sympathy, to a degree.
But some of them need to start reading the room, before complaining to the media. People who have lost jobs and businesses and loved ones in NZ lockdown are not going to be a very receptive audience to arrivals complaining about their hotels.
yes some appear to be somewhat entitled however there are hundreds (or thousands over time) who may wish to return home not to mention the obligations and rights under international law…..we dont know (and nor do we need to) the circumstances that necessitated their returns ….and charging for an enforced quarantine is the sort of thing Id expect from those that espouse the 'efficiency of market forces'….no thanks
I suspect that the majority of the population are already not receptive to these whinging arrivals. Indeed it smacks to some degree of some of them using the situation to indulge in their 15 minutes of fame.
The problem with this latest batch being sent to Rotorua is that a bunch of rich, entitled permanent residents at the Stamford Hotel are kicking up blue murder which has prompted the new military chief to temporarily bypass the place until a few things are sorted.
With 700 due to arrive within the next 48 odd hrs they're probably running out of suitable places to put them.
We could get that catering firm that Nact though was good enough for the hospitals to feed them. That should increase the whinging to a jet engine sized roar.
Bolton's book has been posted online.
https://twitter.com/TimForgot/status/1274544113845538816
Nice, but you may want to give thought as to what Prentice will do when he finds illegal downloads published on this site.
Delete it, should it be a problem.
Looks like the sane and rational Bolton is part of "The Resistance" now, along with other caring and thoughtful individuals like David Frum, Karl Rove, and William Kristol.
Given the data and increasing numbers of corona virus infected people recorded, I believe we should hold all flights landing from overseas until the logistics of the arrangements are air tight. There is no way that it is acceptable to invite the virus into the county. Yes, people might be p… off. But crunch the numbers and compare a few hundred people vs 5 million. If we get another 20 or so corona positive we are on the way to be shut down again. A nightmare in the making.
You say "another 20 or so", but you know the number in the community is currently zero, right? So saying "another" is misleading, and linking it to lockdown is false.
I agree with that Foreign 200%
Nat MPs Kaye and Woodhouse on the news with residents of central Auckland hotel, complaining about returning Kiwis being quarantined there.
That is the same Kaye and Woodhouse who want to bring in thousands of foreign students for the second semester (= now) and put them in quarantine in … um, central Auckland hotels.
Sure, Nats are gonna Nat, but will any reporter ever be awake to ask the obvious questions?
Observer 20.1 and 21
+100
Professor Michael Baker made a very important point this morning, RNZ. He said that as long as there is no community transmission, it means the disease is still eliminated from New Zealand.
Cases may be arriving and showing up while people are in isolation, and it's only a quirk of the way international stats are collected that mean they are added to the New Zealand total. Long may it last – and it will be a massive fight to keep it that way.
Another point about 'opening the borders' and forming 'bigger bubbles'. I think the events recently in Victoria Australia show that they have a big problem on their hands at the moment and I can't see New Zealand allowing free travel between other states and New Zealand. I suspect the usual suspects promoting opening up won't be quite so loud in the coming few weeks.
He's not holding anything back.
https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1274423892375941120
Interesting and thought-provoking review of a book on "white fragility".
Something to mull over.
Here's a great overview of the topic:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-its-so-hard-to-talk-to-white-people-about-racism_b_7183710
on a funnier note, apparently the nats have released a meme of a 17 June speech where "Todd Muller DESTROYS Labour".
I mean, it's not a terrible speech, but they went with "amazing crescendo music library hits #57" as the background music. On a loop. The music reaches a passionate high about three times at random points during the speech (with random shots of a largely empty and bored-looking House), and finishes at roughly the time he stops talking.
I laughed quite a bit. The juxtaposition is quite something.
Down our way we have an annual meteorological event in November called the Dr Muller Frost. Commemorating a venerated doctor who was always late to arrive for a baby's delivery, it names after him a late frost that threatens grape vines, tomatoes and potatoes. You're pretty safe from a Dr Muller frost after Labour Day though! 😉
Overseas these types videos are part of right wing campaigns – designed to hook in people who think they are funny then turning them into a voter. think Boris used them in the UK – along with ssoccer games sharing etc that grduaally turn political. The left needs to counter these.
Parties do not beat those by responding to them.
Really? Odd tactic, to be so laughably terrible that they gain votes.
Just looked cheap to me, and the speech wasn't any better.
Can anyone explain to me why Kiwiblog gets 400 comments regularly and the blogs of the Left, or the heart of NZ, get a 100 odd? Lazy reactive know-nothingness beats memory I think. Thankfully, no one takes their uncles seriously beyond that circle. Sadly, no one much follows the good auld tradition of democratic politics.
Angry right wingers wave hands and flap gums a lot more than the left of politics. It's hard work getting all the BS and talking points out. Might also explain why the right have won a lot of battles around the world in recent decades
We had current events in Primary. That Dutch train held up by terrorists. Trees … forests.
What really matters.
I think climate change is everything. You know, our grandchildren …children … and old age! Evidence. Scuffing about with mindless day to day politics is beneath us and irrelevant. Modern comfort has no future. Though as a history bloke I enjoy the 'footnotery' of you lot.
So much beard-stroking, so little time
Kia Ora
Newshub.
That's is cool testing people for the virus on arrival.
No the tree planting after Cyclone bolar was massive. The credit for native trees planting could be good.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori News.
I think it's sad the way they sacked the Warriors Coach when they have other issues to sort.
That's awesome Whakatohea Iwi getting there Waitangi settlement sorted finally.
Ka kite Ano.