This from the Sydney Morning Herald today (Jacinda should take note of what is happening in WA):
"Since the nationwide lockdowns of early 2020, West Australians have endured just 12 days of lockdown, the vast majority of the time free of masks and other business-curbing social restrictions. Two years into the pandemic most West Australians have no first-hand experience of COVID-19, and they are not particularly interested in acquainting themselves with it.
It is why the dramatic late-night announcement by WA Premier Mark McGowan that the long-awaited February 5 border reopening would be postponed indefinitely was greeted with relief by many, likely still a solid majority. Who wants to get sick? Or wear masks? Or suffer crippling restrictions? No, thanks. Do you blame them?
[McGowan, the WA Premier] insists on more than 80 per cent third [booster] dose coverage before the border comes down, with all further details pending."
McGowan is predictably copping a lot of flak. WA is a huge state with a lot of remote indigenous communities with very low vaccination rates. This is what McGowan said yesterday:
“I know I’m getting a lot of criticism. What we’re trying to do is save lives and save jobs at the same time,” McGowan said.
“A lot of people say we should be living with Covid. Well, there are 752 people in the eastern states no longer living with Covid,” he said, referring to the number of Australian Covid deaths so far in 2022. “You should ask their families whether we should deliberately infect large numbers of West Australians.”
Yep, took my mower in to get the blades changed this morning. Usually takes around 10minutes with a $25 service fee.
''No can do, mate,'' was the reply I received this morning. Why I asked, you don't look busy?
''We aren't busy,'' was the reply. I have lost my mechanic. He's left to help his dad pick the nectarine and peach crop on the the family orchard. They can't find workers.''
Marvellous!!! Now I have to change the blades myself.
''Seems right wingers don't like getting their delicate hands dirty doing a task that doesn't require a mechanic.''
Well, that's true about the delicate hands. My fingers and hands are required to be in pristine condition to feel the fretboards on my expensive guitars.
Where you come unstuck is believing changing a blade is an easy task on a new mower.
It used to be, and still is, if you have a bar blade. But if you have a plate with 4 mini blades, things become tricker. You will definitely need the RIGHT tools. You will be hoping the bolts haven't burred and penetration oil is not needed.
A simple time and motion study showed me it's easier to have the job done for me. Bike shops do similar. They don't repair punctures. They replace the tube. Only time warp lefties fix their own punctures using a bucket of water.
Then there's the problem of turning your mower up on its side to replace the blade. That's another no-no with a modern mower…but you probably know that.
Still no official word on why unemployed kiwis are not going for those jobs. I wonder how long the left & right will be able to maintain their collusion in silence?
-how will a seasonal job affect any benefits some may receive if they have to go back on the dole.
I met an older women working the sorting sheds – night shift- in Te Puke coming from Tokoroa. That is a two hour trip one way btw. She was in her 60s. 4 hours every day basic commute – unpaid of course. – So you need a car, money for patrol and such.
But lets again pretend that all bosses are evil and all unemployed people are lazy, that surely will make a difference.
How much money is left over from Kiwibuild that could be used for high quality portable housing to help with seasonal work in various areas? Quite a bit judging by the lack of kiwibuild houses.
always lots of excuses why no one wants to work, not much practical in how to make it easy for them too
yep. The reason why working holiday people would do that work is because the conditions suited them. Make the job attractive to locals, or people living elsewhere to travel and live there for a while, and they'll do the work.
Setting people who do seasonal work up with tiny homes on wheels, or housebus/truck, caravan etc would help the situation as well as solve some of the housing crisis issues.
Not really a shortage of temporary accommodation back in my day, but the double-tapping of paying for that for a few weeks while also keeping a flat at home.
Or moving towns completely but only for a couple of weeks (but then you'd need something more than a shared room in a dorm).
Tourists have few possessions and few commitments and few connections. Residents need to actually make money to justify the gamble.
When I was picking fruit Accommodation was provided. Basic but free. So what happened ? Employers like to bad mouth Socialism but would socialise costs anytime. Profits of course are private !!
I have little sympathy for the one crop wonder boys.
There is a grower just north of whangarei who employs 70 staff full time. He has diversified so he has different crops maturing year round, some fruit some veges. He is also smart in that he has diversified his income stream
Absolutely Sabine. In my day as an apple picker (some time ago now) there was such a thing as a union and part of the pickers agreement was to be accomodated at a weekly rate not exceeding $2.50 per week. Even given the lapsed time it was still only 20 mins work to pay your accomodation if the orchardist even bothered to charge, and it usually included power. It was also quite a simple matter to get back on the dole. If the only way to make money from apples is to rip off the workers then is it really an industry we need?
Why would governments talk about employing NZers at real rates and conditions when there is more profit in running an immigration scam. Two seperate political parties. Only one political philosophy. Hence we get either shit light or shit dark. Its always shit though.
"More investment in machinery to replace seasonal labour is required."
Yes it is….but then there is the issue of what we do about employment. If fewer and fewer large scale businesses are operating with less and less labour their profits will have to be taxed higher to allow for transfers to support the rest of the economy…..and we know how business feels about about taxation as well as knowing who has the politicians ears.
Or perhaps the investment is public and the dividends are returned to the citizenry….that sounds like something of an anathema to 'business.'
You really are the poster child for the idiocy of the moderation policy on this site. An obvious right wing concern troll pushing right wing talking points, yet the the two main active moderators are mainly concerned with policing the left.
The upshot of it is the comments section of this site now resembles a slightly younger version of the Herald.
Much of the "policing" has centred on curbing typical Woke excess … the mindless demonisation of entire demographics.
Let's be clear: Wokedom aint "the Left" … it's an Elitist Vanity Project … deploying camouflaged self-interest, an authoritarian, profoundly anti-democratic consolidation of power, financial privilege & in-group status,while systematically scapegoating a whole swathe of working people & poorer pensioners in the most cowardly & sadistic way … transforming them into second-class citizens in housing, health & increasingly other sectors. Always by stealth, always venomously contemptuous of democracy & majority opinion.
In core respects, the antithesis of the genuine Left … almost a new form of Toryism
Probably inevitable when 400-buck-an-hour virtue-signalling Middle-Class Professionals slowly capture the upper echelons of both the parliamentary & organisational wings of nominally "Left" Parties. Clearly an international phenomenon.
You yourself, Sanctuary, seem to fluctuate wildly between occasional hard-hitting critiques of Woke excess, followed a week or two later by a smattering of equally enthusiastic cheerleading for precisely the same dogmatic phenomenon. Quite baffling.
You really are the poster child for the idiocy of the moderation policy on this site. An obvious right wing concern troll pushing right wing talking points, yet the the two main active moderators are mainly concerned with policing the left.
Nah, man, when it's all just lefties, it gets really boring here.
I have got to thinking that the RW people come here because:
1 well have you ever been on a RW blog? full of opinion, 'lefties' accusations, inability to mount an argument. Full of farcebook one liners etc etc. Although I don't agree with everyone's views on here most of the posts are well thought out, heartfelt, referenced.
I value them (RW posters who abide by the rules) because:
2 when people respond to RW views it gives me food for thought and possible talking points when in real life.
3 because of standards of moderation and, mostly, cited arguments from RW people I may learn something.
I think though:
A) authors should not moderate their own posts, they should have a formal reply or clarification function in response
B) authors should not be able to moderate anyone off the site, this should be left to the team of moderators
C) RW moderators should not be able to moderate anyone off the site. this also should be left to the remaining team of moderators.
I value RW commenters likewise. Sanctuary is probably right that left wingers get moderated more than RW ones. I notice this. But it's because RW commenters are less in number, so there are more LW ones pushing the boundaries or breaking the rules.
I don't see any right wing comments on this site. People with a RW orientation might come and read the material here but I don't see any comments that are more than being from just a little bit to the right of centre. Nothing at all from further right than a traditional Liberal viewpoint in fact.
Lots of stuff from the left, the far left and people who make Mao, Pol Pot and Kim Jong-Un look sane of course.
I'm still trying to work out how posting the GDP percentage differential for agriculture between NZ and Britain is ''pushing right wing talking points, '' according to Shanwreagh.
But there you have it. It's certainly different when Liberals are in the house.
Not sure I have ever talked about GDP percentage differential for ag or responded to anyone who was pushing RW talking points on this topic.
My forays into ag have mainly been in support of regen ag and on the silliness of some aspects of the farmer protests (ie you run the risk of marching beside some 'different' bedfellows once you start on a protest march as the last one in Wellington showed with the MAGA and Trumpie people)
None so blind, alwyn? There've been a few Standard outbreaks of JacintaJacinta, CindyCindyCindy, and Comrade Princess, not to mention the occasional Fool making no secret of their scumminess, but rwnjs know that it's Ardern who continues to outclass their champions, one after the – ‘Next’.
You are probably right. There were no doubt a few occurrences of Jacinta, Cindy etc along the way.
I'm sure there were a lot more Jonkey's or shonky Johnkey, Paula Benefit, blinglish and Luxton to go with them. Were they offensive or did you see them as the height of wit?
Whatever they were and whatever the twists on Jacinda or Ardern they were hardly in hanging territory were they? They also don't display and left wing or right wing traits. They are all just people who confuse being a wit with being a twit.
I'm sure there were a lot more Jonkey's or shonky Johnkey, Paula Benefit, blinglish and Luxton to go with them.
Quite right alwyn – are you surprised, given where you are commenting?
And I’m pleased that your eyesight has improved
Whatever they were and whatever the twists on Jacinda or Ardern they were hardly in hanging territory were they?
The smears against Clarke Gayford by rwnjs here and elsewhere really speaks to their ‘character”, imho. If will be a minor miracle if another Clarke slur doesn’t surface ahead of the next general election, given that Luxon is now in charge.
Were they like the comments made about Max Key? I never actually saw any of these fabled comments about Gayford but I saw references to the fact they existed. I suspect they were immediately deleted from and blog where someone might have tried to post them.
You say "The smears against Clarke Gayford by rwnjs here …". Are you seriously saying that they were posted on this site. I would find that very hard to believe that they would have survived for more than a minute or two.
So it's cataracts. "Vile rumours" of that type do occasionally surface here – maybe they're allowed to ‘survive’ as a warning to other fools?
Your guess is at least as good as mine as to what the next smear will be – I doubt even brother Luxon could purge the influence of Dirty Politics within the National party and its supporters, even if he wanted to.
I'm sure you will provide a link to one if such a thing existed. I personally don't think they exist on this site. I can't believe that lprent would allow them to remain here.
I am not going to waste my time looking for something that only you say exists.
Is that what is supposed to have got the Police Commissioner involved?
Jeez, didn't Coster have better things to do than check out this rubbish? Still, yes, you did produce a link to stupid rumours being floated on this site. Mind you, in this day and age, who cares?
Exactly how many unemployed Kiwis do you think there are ?. Much less city ones who can maintain two rental payments a week for 6 weeks until the season is over. In the northern SI there is no one who isn’t working that can work, the wineries even pre-omicron will be looking at 75% staffing for harvest if they are lucky.
Yes I have heard that too. But, and there is always a but, some employers work on a Field of Dreams approach, build it and they will come. I know of many over 60s who would love to do something like this but
are afraid of unrealistic daily totals,…….the slow and steady fable
don't want to drive their cars out to accessible picking sites ie energy conscious
are wanting the $$$$ but don't want to give away their labour
Years ago I worked in a food processing plant in Hastings HB.
It had free buses leaving from central points & waypoints, north and south of the factory at a couple of times before the shifts started. Then again on the way home. I am not sure if they do this any more. There were also buses for people doing the picking.
Same are you talkin about watties ?first job at 15 just left school managed to last two weeks remember first day thinking what ?no morn smoko ?and then shit we must be working though lunch time as well whats goin on oh no !eventually i found out was only half past nine !!We stole fruit to survive had no money you could fit a can of peaches in the top of each gumboot pull yr
overalls down over them an walk out like that worked a charm an kept us alive . In those days canned fruit was actually quite good its crap now alas .Latest news says watties in hastings needs one hundred and fifty more workers now.
Weston …..yes they were early starts. We were there by 7.00am after catching the bus out of Napier to go to Birds Eye in Hastings. It was a holiday job and gee did I love it. By the time I left I was a chargehand on the corn line. I was there just over 3 months. They offered me a permanent job and that was when my dad put his foot down and said 'go-back-to -'varsity.'
They used to let the staff take all the mislabelled tins at the end of each week. Course the mislabelling mostly meant no labelling so it was a bit hit & miss as to what was in the tins you got. If you were smart, and I eventually cottoned on, you remembered what the lines had been doing that week, usually only a couple of things and labelled the top 'tomatoes or green beans' or 'peaches or green beans'. Otherwise it was a glorious mystery as to what was going to be in your tins. I made lots of green bean and tomato quiche things when I was actually wanting tomatoes and peaches.
I had some wonderful holiday jobs, worked with happy people who were working there fulltime. Toothpaste factory and plumbing supplies making and bending (wrong word) copper pipes on big machines. And yes females had differential (lower) rates from males for doing the same job…..Good union people. Aah well.
Luke Malpass looks at Labour's legislative agenda for this year:
When Jacinda Ardern was addressing her Labour Party colleagues at the beginning of the Labour’s caucus retreat near New Plymouth on Thursday, she was keen to impress upon them that Labour has a whole pile of non-Covid things it wants to achieve while it holds a majority in Parliament. Scrapping DHBs, battling climate change, reducing child poverty, and improving housing affordability were all mentioned. Three Waters was not.
Dunno if this is significant – to treat Three Waters as a can to be kicked down the road is likely to drop Labour poll ratings. The PM ought to include it as priority unless she can conjure up good reasons for discounting it.
The start of the year has also revealed a major problem with one of Labour’s earlier changes – its revamped Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA), which came into force in December. The changes, designed to protect vulnerable borrowers from predatory lending practices or loan sharks, have resulted in middle New Zealand being whacked in a Government-induced credit crunch.
Obviously it's logical to blame the Minister of Finance for inept new financial law. Strangely, Luke sidesteps Occam's Razor in favour of convolution:
Commerce Minister David Clark has announced a review by the Council of Financial Regulators into the way banks are applying the new rules. But trying to sheet back to the banks a problem that was clearly created by the Government (when Kris Faafoi was in charge of the portfolio) is a classic case of unintended consequences.
He presents a picture as overview. It's an excellent illustration of how a picture is worth a thousand words…
The New Zealand Bankers’ Association publishes a “regulatory radar” of law and regulation changes worrying member banks. The larger, redder, and more central the star, the more urgent and important the issue. The new lending law star is large, red and in the centre. Clark and the Government will have to fix this quickly.
So it looks like financial law becomes part of commerce when enacted. Robertson manages to slip off the hook of accountability.
'The start of the year has also revealed a major problem with one of Labour’s earlier changes – its revamped Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA), which came into force in December. The changes, designed to protect vulnerable borrowers from predatory lending practices or loan sharks, have resulted in middle New Zealand being whacked in a Government-induced credit crunch.'
Prudent lending practice would should have recognised the requirements with or without the revamp.
'The New Zealand Bankers’ Association publishes a “regulatory radar” of law and regulation changes worrying member banks. The larger, redder, and more central the star, the more urgent and important the issue. The new lending law star is large, red and in the centre. Clark and the Government will have to fix this quickly.
Fix it alright!-5 billion per annum in profits going offshore.
Changes to protect vulnerable borrowers sees headline after headline of would be borrowers upset their bank asks them about spending $287 at K Mart or people finding it too hard to lie low in their spending for 3 months.
Banks ask about spending, outgoings and income. Some people in banking are pedantic. No surprise. Should borrowers expect a cruisy ride?
C&R, formerly Citizens & Ratepayers, largely controlled the former Auckland City Council for decades before the Super City, but consistently failed to get a candidate elected to the Super City mayoralty.
A C&R source said the "stars are aligning" for 2019, and there was more momentum and financial backing than for previous elections.
I really can't see how they expect to be politically effective if they remain stuck in 2019 in their heads. Right-thinking ought to incorporate temporal context!
There's also the question around political astrology. To be effective, one must be able to specify which stars are aligning with what. Doesn't matter that it worked for Reagan – one swallow doesn't make a summer…
That there are desires for the scenario she describes I dont doubt,,im not sure that the current vaccine pass is its precursor….but I may well be wrong.
However I am increasingly concerned that the mandating of those that choose to be unvaccinated is becoming entrenched (i initially thought it was a bluff used to increase up take and would be quietly dropped)…..and I am becoming increasingly reluctant to be 'boostered' with a vaccine that appears of little benefit with the latest variant, or to see the under 12s vaccinated without strong evidence of benefit.
You should be extremely cautious about any results which show boosters are not effective. There are very confusing cofounders at play in virtually all data in these cases, which can lead to miss-leading results. I showed an example of this, in that NZ Maori & Polynesians are over-all accepting vaccination at a lower rate than any of the age groups which comprise the overall data.
See "Vaccine uptake per rate ratio (unadjusted) Māori and Pacific compared with Non-Māori non-Pacific 12+" where there are wider rate differences overall than for any age group making that up.
The same kinds of thing can happen for most covid related data when these cases are not well understood.
Here is a post doing correct estimates and working through all the potential issues.
Yes there are wider rate variations by cohort than in total due to demographics as has been noted previously…and your linked study is pre Omicron….and even so I draw your attention to point 9
9. Boosters provide further protection but it is not yet clear whether they are necessary for the younger age groups.
And the issue of mandates is unaddressed…..especially when nobody thought 90% of eligible was achievable yet we have exceeded that.
I'm just highlighting the need for evidence and very careful statistical modeling in evaluating claims like, boosters appear to have little benefit. Doing this incorrectly can mean that the 13.7% protection against death you perceive massively understates the 93.8% protection against death which actually occurs in the >60 cohort (or even the 68% protection against death for vaccinated but un-boosted).
Yes, it would be good to see studies incorporating up to date data (since Omicron). The same statistical fallacies are occurring in data relating to Omicron vs Delta variants and lower vaccine efficacy against Omicron of course.
"Mandates"* had a huge public health component far and above the persuasion to be vaccinated, in fact the health factor was the main part, at least I took it as the main part.
It goes like this……when people go to be treated at hospitals there is an expectation that they will be treated for the illnesses they came in for and not acquire any another life threatening infection while there and while their defences are down. These infections are called nosocomial infections and even before Covid pneumonia was one that did occur.
Hospitals therefore needed to introduce special measures to deal with Covid. We had PPE and stand downs until the vaccination came along.
Covid is so infectious and the vaccination seemed a simple way to minimise the risk of Covid infections spreading within hospitals. The reasons for not accepting a vaccine that I have read, especially now that there are two to choose from mRNA based Pfizer and Astra Zeneca, seem mired in social media woo woo.
Health staff have been given options. The basic point is that we cannot afford to have the potential for covid to get away in our hospitals from staff who fail to be vaccinated.
My flatmate is a nurse and she says she and her fellow nurses are looking on in amazement at the very few who have stood out, she mentions that it is a requirement before beginning nursing training to be vaccinated and maintain vaccination of a range of vaccines most of us have not come across. Defence personnel have the same requirements when signing on. They have regular testing as well.
Teachers spend days with their classes and would be powerful spreaders of the virus to their students, some of whom would have been severely affected by catching Covid and may have been consigned to a life with Long Covid.
The requirement to protect diners was both a public health measure and a measure to enable businesses to be able to trade through …it came in with the traffic light system. This was a recognition that Covid may be here for the long haul and enables vaccinated businesses and people to keep the businesses pumping along at different levels.
I had no thought that the intro of the 'mandates' was anything other than for real.
At the time the Govt had examples from overseas where front facing jobs had a requirement to be vaccinated. For all the bluff and bluster from the anti vaxxers, firms such as United Airlines with a staff of 67,000 had a vaccine requirement and 232 employees were unvaccinated and lost their jobs. ,
*Mandates is a loaded word. I never use it. Better wording that is more indicative of what it is is
work requirements
or
on the job requirements
The thing is that these requirements are usually prior to employment and people who do not want vaccines or on the job drug testing etc won't apply for jobs that require them, they self select out.
As for not achieving 90%. many that I get around with thought that in true NZ style we would overshoot. We have a history of this, examples are the telethons, our responses to crises overseas etc etc
the point about the multiple reasons for the mandates, especially in health care settings is very well made.
The thing is that these requirements are usually prior to employment and people who do not want vaccines or on the job drug testing etc won't apply for jobs that require them, they self select out.
Thing is though, a left wing position on worker rights would be that if you lose your job because the job changes, you should be looked after in some way. It's unconscionable that the Labour party basically said to people 'too fucking bad, two NZs now'.
So let's be honest about this too. Part of that is because the government needed to get the vax rate very high very quickly. It couldn't take 6 months to get enough people on board via outreach and public education. It had to coerce. Which it did with the mandates in multiple ways. Not only the actual mandates, but also the messaging: 'you can choose to not vaccinate, but there is something wrong with you and we're going to make sure you know that and we're not going to help you'
That shit may well come back and bite us.
The government couldn’t afford to be kind to those citizens, and tbh for people like Ardern, it looks to me like she didn’t want to either.
Lots of lefties think that is fine, but remember this is the same shit that the right does when relating with beneficiaries.
And until Omicron I would have supported that view entirely, however indications are that what was true before may not be so now. If transmission is unimpacted by vaccination, and boosters are to be required every few months to maintain some level of reduced hospitalisation (but not infection or transmission) then we may need to re-evaluate.
And that includes the logic of mandates.
As stated earlier (as someone who was double vaccinated from when I was eligible) the ever changing requirements are cause for concern and i know of a good many who feel the same way, however the increasing propensity to dismiss concerns will not make the issue disappear rather it is likely to entrench it.
If transmission is unimpacted by vaccination, and boosters are to be required every few months to maintain some level of reduced hospitalisation (but not infection or transmission) then we may need to re-evaluate.
Here's how I understand it. We need to get as many people boosted as possible that are in the right time band.
This is to protect them from hospitalisation and/or death (and possibly long covid).
It is also to protect the health system from overwhelm, and wider society (eg the impact on workplaces).
Where vaccination lessens the chance of getting covid, it also lessens transmission.
(and let’s not forget we still have delta).
There is a lot we still don't know about omicron. Globally (but should have better data in a few weeks), but also in NZ, which has bucked the trend all through the pandemic.
I tend to agree that we won't tolerate 3 monthly boosters, but I'm not sure we are at the point of having to make that decision.
Pfizer are developing a vaccine against omicron, available in March? I guess available here going into winter.
We don't know if a new variant will come into being in that time, globally or in NZ.
We don't know how omicron will play out with long covid. That's a huge issue.
So many unknowns. It makes sense to me to use the tools we have now to protect as many people as possible directly and indirectly.
I don't understand the government's decision to not use regional boundary restrictions, I'm guessing that they are thinking omicron will be uncontrollable so why wreck the economies. I think they are probably wrong on this. The international border is easier to understand, but I think they should have turned the tap down further than they did for a period of time.
None of that is permanent.
The problem is we just don't know how things are going to go this year. I'm not seeing anything that supports the idea yet that letting omicron rip is a good idea or even a necessary evil. We're at the point in the emergency where we are stacking sandbags and waiting to see if the tide turns soon enough.
Understandably this is very hard for many people to tolerate. Those of us used to uncertainty and precarity have a different skill set and perspective. What we really should be doing at this point is teaching resiliency en masse, because this is the tutorial for climate catastrophe.
Indeed there is much unknown as yet about Omicron (and much to be determined about the earlier variants and the long term effects of multiple vaccinations)
As to boosters I know of several people who have had the booster and complain of increased impact on their health…the progression seems to be 1st jab no or little effect, second jab increased side effects but manageable, but booster wipes them out for days…..and no enthusiasm for a further booster….and a questioning of the need to vaccinate under12s
If Omicron is as transmissible as it appears overseas then the health system is going to be overwhelmed regardless of mandates.
Given we are currently at 94% of eligible double vaccinated (yes there are pockets of lower coverage) many are feeling somewhat duped in that the country has done more than asked but the rules keep changing and the imposition increasing.
You may assert that none of this is permanent but nor has it an end date.
And as to the economy….the damage has already been done so its not the consideration.
If Omicron is as transmissible as it appears overseas then the health system is going to be overwhelmed regardless of mandates.
I don't get this argument. The mandates protect the health system imperfectly but still more than if no mandates.
Given we are currently at 94% of eligible double vaccinated (yes there are pockets of lower coverage) many are feeling somewhat duped in that the country has done more than asked but the rules keep changing and the imposition increasing.
Yes, people feel this, but the reality is that the virus adapts and then so we have to, one way or the other. I think we're in this for a number of years, and the whole 'it will soon be over narrative' is probably unhelpful.
You may assert that none of this is permanent but nor has it an end date.
It's not permanent in the sense of everything is still in flux. It may well end up being permanent. Or not.
And as to the economy….the damage has already been done so its not the consideration.
Pretty sure it's core to Labour's thinking. It's not like the damage was a finite thing, more can still happen.
And I dont get how you dont get it….if Omicron evades the vaccine as it appears what purpose do the mandates serve?…none. They dont restrict transmission, or illness.
And more damage will be done to the economy, but not by covid, in fact the economy may well push covid into the background.
afaik pfizer x 2 +booster provides meaningful protection against omicron. This is central to NZ's current pandemic response, the point of holding back omicron as much as possible is to gain time to get more people boosted.
Specifically, the researchers found that right after the third shot of the Pfizer vaccine, protection against a symptomatic infection is pretty good. Two weeks after the shot, the booster cuts the risk by about 70%.
Yes, there are some differences in vaccination reporting, but like I said, Australia refuses to wear masks. They think they are better than that, and are far less likely to adhere to Covid restrictions because their dumb-ass federal government insists on sowing discord, confusion and mistrust in the community for political gain.
and yet Australia….with a higher vax and booster rate than us.
Protection is provided by a number of tools, including but not limited to vaccination+ booster. Australia gave up many of its protection tools late last year. And they've had omicron in the community, we haven't. Not really sure what your point is though. The comparison would be Australia now and Australia all other things being equal but with no vax or boosters.
Anecdotally, a Melbourne shopping centre was full of unmasked patrons in the post Christmas period. This relayed to me by a friend who visited his mother there.
I went to Sylvia Park on Boxing day. Tens of thousands of happy, masked shoppers.
By all accounts I've heard, Australians don't do Covid restrictions well, including masks. Kiwis are more compliant which I believe is a large part of our superior pandemic response.
If injections don't prevent the spread of Omicron but reduce the impacts of infection. And if the aim to alleviate possible pressures on health care systems…then what is the point of injecting people who would likely never have ended up in hospital in the first place?
Have injections available for the elderly, the vulnerable and the scared.
That would have been (has always been) the approach of public health when the tool is a vaccine that does not prevent transmission of a virus.
The NZ government’s response is "public health" in name only.
Flatmate rushing getting ready for shift, I said 'what do you think of nurses not keeping their vaccines up to date?'
Raised eyebrow with the 'what a weird idea' look. In a conversation on this prior she says that on her large ward she knows of no nurse that is not covid up to date with booster and has only heard of a couple on other wards.
NB not all the vaccines have to be renewed annually.
I had smallpox and yellow fever to travel, and rubella. Flatmate has had these too.
I was vaccinated for those vaccines on the travel schedule.
I understand Tetanus is one that is not lifelong.
Not sure what the point about the mandated…this seems to be putting a 2021/22 spin on what were/are pretty standard conditions of employment in health sector and occupations such as plumbers to keep one's vaccines up to date.
My flatmate did a nursing degree & is a registered nurse.. For this degree she and her classmates had to have a list of vaccines, right at the start of the degree, and these had to be kept current…….similar requirements are set for plumbers etc……the topic has been discussed further on in TS in recent days and other trades/professions added to those that require a range of vaccines. My flatmate has had vaccines that I have had as I travelled overseas in the days when you had to have those on the yellow vaccine card. Many people, these days do not have them.
Defence Dept personnel, on joining are required to have vaccines and keep them up to date (I know this as I was married to one). I think that some of the vaccines on the list of requirements are not required every year.
My flatmate has to have a flu injection annually and was required to have the Covid vaccinations. She has worked/is working at large public hospitals and says that they are reminded by email each year about getting updates to their vaccinations…..
Some health workers looking after people in their own homes are/were? not required by their employers to have up to date vaccinations. When our mother was still alive we did not allow any health worker to look after her that did not have a Flu vaccine as a minimum. Many home care workers do have vaccinations for tetanus and the like and get the boosters when needed.
I find it rather odd that your contacts don't recall being vaccinated for tetanus when boosters are needed, annual influenza injections etc.
My flatmate’s & neighbour’s views are on all fours with that those of their employer. Their employer can rely on them to keep current, but I am sure that there will be others who need reminding…..possibly a number of times.
Both have said that they are aware of very small numbers of nurses leaving over the covid vaccination requirement. None on her wards but she knew of a couple on other wards. We are talking small numbers.
The health professionals I deal with have/had no problem in fulfilling any requirements for vaccines and maintaining these. Most would do this because of both one's own health and that of patients who will be in hospital because their health status is not optimum. So if reminded to get their tetanus booster then they would do it…..end of. They would not need to be chased up.
You missed the health sciences people that Drowsy put up.
There is a nursing degree at most universities.
Jeff Tiedrich's (he is from the US) tweet of 12/10/21 springs to mind, excuse the language
"Holy fucking shit, vaccine mandates are causing teachers who don't believe in science to quit, nurses who don't believe in medicine to quit, and cops who don't believe in public safety to quit. I'm failing to see the downside to this".
I only asked for you to back up your assertion of compulsion of vaccines for nurses.
Nothing to do with other health science folk, nor you or your acquaintances attitudes to vaccination.
I feel you are the one that is putting a contemporary twist. Clearly, for you it feels right that nurses be obligated to be vaccinated because plumbers, health science folk etc.
@gsays. If vaccines are not compulsory why are nurses now leaving?
I make no bones about believing what she says. She was required to have a range of vaccines on starting the degree and is required to maintain these while in a hospital setting.
Is that what you call compulsion?
I call it common sense and reasonable. Most reasonable people would not see it as compulsion but would know that their employer has rights and can warn, warn terminate over some thing as fundamental
I also call reasonable any employer, including in the health sector, who takes action to terminate employment if requirements are not met. So if she let slip on some of her vaccine requirements she is sure that action would be taken…but there are other occupations that are required to do things that we might feel are onerous.
The large hospitals she works in/has worked in operate a reminder system by email about upcoming requirements. She has had the ones on the travel schedule as working in a large hospital she may be required to nurse someone with one of them- say a recent immigrant or traveller.
I make no bones about knowing that both my flatmate and next door Dr believe in the science and are reasonable people. Neither would want to jeopardise their health or their job by playing around in not getting updates or yearly vaccines. Why would they take their employer to the brink of a termination by not getting vaccines…
Of course I accept that other hospitals may not enforce vaccines, their choice. My flatmate knows that her hospital does enforce vaccines.
I do not want to get into any squirming around, word salads or nuances of meaning to met your need to go 'shock horror', compulsion, mandate.
It is a fact, take it or leave it.
What rubbish about the health sciences……and wanting nurses to be vaccinated because of them.
I only knew about the nurses and Drs requiring to be vaccinated. And my ex husband had a range of vaccines being in the military. The knowledge about the plumbers and health sciences people I found out about in response to some of my posts on TS. Actually I did know but had forgotten about the plumbers.
If your nurses have done degrees did they not have the vaccine requirements?
What a load of rot. Good riff on "Morpheus recruits Neo" at the start, though.
Firstly, we do look at those things she was going on about with "if this was truly about health". Hell, the suicide thing for a start has been repeatedly debunked publicly. Yet still this [no longer practising] doctor is pretending it's not been discussed?
Secondly, the future she wants requires covid to not exist. It's one thing to say that the government is leveraging covid to increase control, it's another thing entirely to pretend that covid doesn't exist. Why, just today I saw a thing about from a [not a medical] Doctor that proves covid has killed 17,000 people at a minimum in the UK, and maybe hundreds of thousands more.
But let's say this is all about "control" rather than ensuring that people in situations with high numbers of close contacts have at least a modicum of immunity and physical protection (masks) against infection or symptoms. Let's pretend that's true for a moment:
How, specifically, would that differ from efforts to protect a population from a highly infections disease that is capable of causing thousands of deaths in NZ? and
Why? They're already in charge. Almost everyone carries a handy tracking device in their pocket. Most transactions are electronic. It's getting to the stage that anyone paying cash to avoid being tracked stands out like a sore thumb. All this has happened largely organically, no crisis required. So why even bother with a shitty little app?
'The academic scholars that compiled the Fed’s loans during the financial crisis for the Levy Economics Institute also provided cumulative tallies. Their tally, which included additional Fed bailout programs not included by the GAO, came to $29 trillion.-Wall St On Parade'.
Follow the money…never fails.
@$40 a second it takes 792 years to spend one trillion.
Houses in NZ cost $1million…very …good….any war drums…beating,what distractions to a financial catastrophe are…around?
OK, so the pandemic is a distraction from financial collapse because of theft by the capitalist class.
Then why the covid apps? Lockdowns, sure. Letting the disease run rampant while having xmas parties – sure. Both cause disruption and piss people off (the latter one with mass death, starting with at least 17k and likely going as high as a hundred times that, if not more).
But how does a qr code app distract from financial crises, any more than it increases "control" that the population has already taken on board willingly??
If you look at world indebtedness…crypto,and the move to a cashless society..you will see that 'control' needs to be contoured to identifying every person and their activity/movements/ and sentiments.
The 'hearts and minds ' were easily assuaged by corporate MSM ,but now the internet is such a rich vein of information that reality is a threat to perception.
2/3 for covid, maybe. But why would the powers that be spend money on apps for things we're eagerly adopting anyway?
Crypto is like cash, but without the convenience, transaction speed, or ubiquity. It makes you stand out, so if you're doing it to lay low it's counterproductive.
But the main problem for the conspiracy theories is that something like covid was going to happen anyway, and the capitalists would make money off it anyway. There's always a crisis or some international tension.
So you think the expansion in debt by trillions since 2008 backed by U.S military force is completely logical and its quite clear that an average house in NZ is worth ..$1 million ….very good..nothing to see here…hang on..China's human rights are a BIG problem,and Russia has troops on its own …border!OMG…
I just don't understand why some apparently believe that covid is realistically just an excuse to gain "control" that the population has already ceded.
I don't understand the objectives, methodology, or logic of any plan that would fit that portrayal.
Well how does distraction or truth figure in the big picture?
Well, I suppose it suggests that the people arguing against already redundant measures of "control" are providing the distraction. Predictability can be useful, I guess.
As I have pointed out numerous times 25,000 people die EVERYDAY from starvation…what have you got to say about ..that?
It's bad? Not sure how an app would prevent it, though. But I can see the point for apps to reduce the impact of a pandemic.
The vaccine conspiracists are getting quite excited by the rise in mortality New Zealand had in the middle of 2021 (the year people were first getting vaccinated). We have traditionally called that rise, which occurs in every year, "Winter"
Pretty much sums up the strident anti-vaxxers.
Edit: as opposed to those unvaccinated for acceptable reasons.
Seems to me that someone with privileges associated with being an author who abuses such a position should in turn have sanctions imposed on them. If this doesn't happen then maybe the community could boycott any further posts by that particular "author".
I've not posted until recently since early October because I was dismayed by the misinformation freely promoted by two powerful right wing vaccine/pandemic sceptic moderators resident at this forum. And by their powerful control over ordinary commenters at The Standard, and their immunity from the actual rules of the site itself.
I acknowledge the efforts of weka and lprent in calmly challenging the dangerous promotion of misinformation by these vaccine/pandemic sceptic moderators, but it has been painful to watch.
Boycotting posts that involve covid minimisation or misinformation (and broaden the exposure of others who do the same) would simply leave such information unchallenged, even if it were to contain serious omissions or errors in anything from math to basic anatomy. Would that be an echo chamber, or a recruiting station?
Lies can run around the world before the truth has its boots on. If a subject of great importance happens to be in someone's area of knowledge and misinformation can cost lives, please try to make the lie have to carry your weight for a bit.
But it's like whack-a-mole with these guys. It does not matter how many times they are challenged on misinformation. Cornered, they double down and become more virulent.
I like the idea of a boycott because their lies are left to sit idle in an empty chamber.
I think it’s time the proletariat, us, stood up with our voices like bwaghorn did, or our silence. They can’t ban us all.
But if the chamber is left empty to fester by itself, I wonder how many posts where an author ends up suggesting that the covid UK death toll might not even be 1% of the official toll would enventually end up in links on FB groups or twitter, or other blogsites?
It is whack-a-mole, sure. But the objective isn't to persuade the mole.
When someone new reads the post and discussion (and might not realise that "50% efficacy" isn't equivalent to a toss of a coin whether you get it), if the comments include "you have a basic error of fact here" the reader might think a bit more closely about the content.
Well, a huge amount of ordinary people's time is being spent continually putting out anti-vax fires when it's probably best to just kick the the fire-setters out.
Also, newcomers are going to read vaccine sceptic and ivermectin promoting posts and believe this is what The Standard is all about.
Question; how many months/years have to pass without authoring a post before an "author" is no longer considered as such?
I agree, but who has author privileges is up to the trust.
How/whether we respond to misinformation in posts and comments is up to us, while we still can.
If we have the means to act, we have the responsibility to act. Nobody's perfect at it, but hey. We can all try, even if we think other people are dropping the ball..
Not "we" brother, you're not allowed on his pages any more. It's not a ban though, you're just too good at debating so you can't play anymore 'cos you won't let him win.
Well, a huge amount of ordinary people's time is being spent continually putting out anti-vax fires when it's probably best to just kick the the fire-setters out.
As well as that we continually ask for citing and just as continually get ignored.
Opinions are good, but as many have said they're like a-holes and everybody has them but then an opinion with links or citations 'mwah mwah', love them. Weka in several posts above speaks good sense in her opinions with no need for citations.
I am just wondering 'are we there yet' as far as posts on Covid are concerned. Everything seems to have been said many times before. Would the sky fall in if we saw what would happen if we declared a moratorium for a week on posts about Covid.
If something new or groundbreaking happened in the Covid world during that week we could 'petition' a mod to open up a thread.
….the covid UK death toll might not even be 1% of the official toll… (a quote from another post)
I am aware of two individuals, each who lost a parent in England with Covid. They were elderly and frail and both were in rest homes. Yet the death certificates claimed their deaths were due to other causes. Both took place in 2020 when it became known the British Govt. was trying to hide the real Covid death toll. Since then, several Covid international experts have estimated that the real toll from Covid is at least double that of the official numbers.
No. I'm not going to go hunting for links because I have better things to do. There were many stories, some dating back to 2020, so anyone who claims they have never heard of them are obviously living under a rock somewhere.
Yes I had heard that and I think the mysterious ways death certs were being drawn up was one of the reasons for the WHO intervention as they needed to be able drag out consistent info world-wide to see trends worldwide. Tricky dicky ways of completing death certs would stymie this of course.
Anybody can submit a Guest Post here but very few do. My guess is that if you want to write about your opinion on how low the standards have fallen on The Standard it will not be published. However, feel free to try 😉
In that case, I stand corrected and I’ll look forward to your Guest Post on TS on TS. I just hope it will have more substance than your “reply” @ 11.4 to fender and less of an attack on this site and its authors.
Mikeys back in the morning. But this is a disturbing story. When someone threatens Mikey because they have a poor grasp of the English language.. you know Aotearoa is letting the wrong people through our borders.
The first reason I would deport this chap is because he didn't know what a burner phone was.
The second reason is the chap is 60 and English is his second language. Of course he was discharged without conviction.
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The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is welcoming the Government’s latest step toward electoral reform, which begins to fulfil an important part of the Co-operation Agreement between the two parties. ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Mr Speaker, It has taken four-and-a-half years to even start to turn the legacy of inaction and neglect from the last time they were in Government together. And we have a long journey in front of us! ...
Today Greens Te Mātāwaka Chair and Health Spokesperson, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, said “The Greens have long campaigned for an independent Māori Health Authority and pathways for Takatāpui and Rainbow healthcare. “We welcome the substantial funding going into the new health system, Pae Ora, particularly for the Māori Health Authority, Iwi-Partnership ...
Budget 2022 shows progress on conservation commitments in the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Green Party achievements in the last Government continue to drive investment in nature protection Urgent action needed on nature-based solutions to climate change Future budget decisions must reflect the role nature plays in helping reduce emissions ...
Landmark week for climate action concludes with climate budget Largest ever investment in climate action one of many Green Party wins throughout Budget 2022 Budget 2022 delivers progress on every part of the cooperation agreement with Labour Budget 2022 is a climate budget that caps a landmark week ...
Green Party welcomes extension to half price fares Permanent half price fares for Community Services Card holders includes many students, which helps implement a Green Party policy Work to reduce public transport fares for Community Services Card holders started by Greens in the last Government Budget 2022 should be ...
New cost of living payment closely aligned to Green Party policy to expand the Winter Energy Payment Extension and improvement of Warmer Kiwi Homes builds on Green Party progress in Government Community energy fund welcomed The Green Party welcomes the investment in Budget 2022 to expand Warmer Kiwi ...
Budget 2022 support to reduce homelessness delivers on the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Bespoke support for rangatahi with higher, more complex needs The Green Party welcomes the additional investment in Budget 2022 for kaupapa Māori support services, homelessness outreach services, the expansion of transitional housing, and a new ...
Green Party reaffirms call for liveable incomes and wealth tax Calls on Government to cancel debt owed to MSD for hardship assistance such as benefit advances, and for over-payments The Green Party welcomes the support for people on low incomes Budget 2022 but says more must be done ...
Our Government has just released this year’s Budget, which sets out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. It’s full of initiatives that speed up our economic recovery and ease cost pressures for ...
A stronger democracy is on the horizon, as Golriz Ghahraman’s Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill was pulled from the biscuit tin today. ...
Tomorrow, the Government will release this year’s Budget, setting out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. While the full details will be kept under wraps until Thursday afternoon, we’ve announced a few ...
As a Government, we made it clear to New Zealanders that we’d take meaningful action on climate change, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Earlier today, we released our next steps with our Emissions Reduction Plan – which will meet the Climate Commission’s independent science-based emissions reduction targets, and new ...
Emissions Reduction Plan prepares New Zealand for the future, ensuring country is on track to meet first emissions budget, securing jobs, and unlocking new investment ...
The Greens are calling for the Government to reconsider the immigration reset so that it better reflects our relationship with our Pacific neighbours. ...
Hamilton City Council and Whanganui District Council have both joined a growing list of Local Authorities to pass a motion in support of Green Party Drug Reform Spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick’s Members’ bill to minimise alcohol harm. ...
Today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a major package of reforms to address the immediate skill shortages in New Zealand and speed up our economic growth. These include an early reopening to the world, a major milestone for international education, and a simplification of immigration settings to ensure New Zealand ...
Proposed immigration changes by the Government fail to guarantee pathways to residency to workers in the types of jobs deemed essential throughout the pandemic, by prioritising high income earners - instead of focusing on the wellbeing of workers and enabling migrants to put down roots. ...
Ehara taku toa i te toa takatahi, engari taku toa he toa takimano – my strength is not mine alone but the strength of many (working together to ensure safe, caring respectful responses). We are striving for change. We want all people in Aotearoa New Zealand thriving; their wellbeing enhanced ...
The Green Party is throwing its support behind the 10,000 allied health workers taking work-to-rule industrial action today because of unfair pay and working conditions. ...
Since the day we came into Government, we’ve worked hard to lift wages and reduce cost pressures facing New Zealanders. But we know the rising cost of living, driven by worldwide inflation and the war in Ukraine, is making things particularly tough right now. That’s why we’ve stepped up our ...
New Zealand is a step closer to a more resilient, competitive, and sustainable coastal shipping sector following the selection of preferred suppliers for new and enhanced coastal shipping services, Transport Minister Michael Wood has announced today. “Coastal shipping is a small but important part of the New Zealand freight system, ...
Tēnā koutou katoa It’s a pleasure to speak to you today on how we are tracking with the resource management reforms. It is timely, given that in last week’s Budget the Government announced significant funding to ensure an efficient transition to the future resource management system. There is broad consensus ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis have welcomed the release of a paper from independent advisory group, Taumata Aronui, outlining the group’s vision for Māori success in the tertiary education system. “Manu Kōkiri – Māori Success and Tertiary Education: Towards a Comprehensive Vision – is the ...
The best way to have economic security in New Zealand is by investing in wāhine and our rangatahi says Minister for Māori Development. Budget 2022, is allocating $28.5 million over the next two years to strengthen whānau resilience through developing leadership within key cohorts of whānau leaders, wāhine and rangatahi ...
Whānau Ora Commissioning Agencies will receive $166.5 million over four years to help whānau maintain and build their resilience as Aotearoa moves forward from COVID-19, Minister for Whānau Ora Peeni Henare announced today. “Whānau Ora Commissioning Agencies and partners will remain a key feature of the Government’s support for whānau ...
The development of sustainable, plant-based foods and meat alternatives is getting new government backing, with investment from a dedicated regional economic development fund. “The investment in Sustainable Foods Ltd is part of a wider government strategy to develop a low-emissions, highly-skilled economy that responds to global demands,” said Stuart Nash. ...
With New Zealand expecting to see Omicron cases rise during the winter, the Orange setting remains appropriate for managing this stage of the outbreak, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “While daily cases numbers have flattened nationally, they are again beginning to increase in the Northern region and hospitalisation ...
Justice Minister Kris Faafoi today announced appointments to the independent panel that will lead a review of New Zealand’s electoral law. “This panel, appointed by an independent panel of experts, aim to make election rules clearer and fairer, to build more trust in the system and better support people to ...
Honourable Dame Fran Wilde will lead the board overseeing the design and construction of Auckland’s largest, most transformational project of a generation – Auckland Light Rail, which will connect hundreds of thousands of people across the city, Minister of Transport Michael Wood announced today. “Auckland Light Rail is New Zealand’s ...
Boost to Māori Medium property that will improve and redevelop kura, purchase land and build new facilities Scholarships and mentoring to grow and expand the Māori teaching workforce Funding to continue to grow the Māori language The Government’s commitment to the growth and development of te reo Māori has ...
On the eve of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s trade mission to the United States, New Zealand has joined with partner governments from across the Indo-Pacific region to begin the next phase of discussions towards an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). The Framework, initially proposed by US President Biden in ...
As part of New Zealand’s ongoing response to the war in Ukraine, New Zealand is providing further support and personnel to assist Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “We have been clear throughout Russia’s assault on Ukraine, that such a ...
Budget 2022 is providing investment to crackdown on tobacco smuggling into New Zealand. “Customs has seen a significant increase in the smuggling of tobacco products into New Zealand over recent years,” Minister of Customs Meka Whaitiri says. This trend is also showing that tobacco smuggling operations are now often very ...
Prime Minister to lead trade mission to the United States this week to support export growth and the return of tourists post COVID-19. Business delegation to promote trade and tourism opportunities in New Zealand’s third largest export and visitor market Deliver Harvard University commencement address Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party on winning the Australian Federal election, and has acknowledged outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison. "I spoke to Anthony Albanese early this morning as he was preparing to address his supporters. It was a warm conversation and I’m ...
Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Matariki Tapuapua, He roimata ua, he roimata tangata. He roimata e wairurutu nei, e wairurutu nei. Te Māreikura mārohirohi o Ihoa o ngā Mano, takoto Te ringa mākohakoha o Rongo, takoto. Te mātauranga o Tūāhuriri o Ngai Tahu ...
Three core networks within the tourism sector are receiving new investment to gear up for the return of international tourists and business travellers, as the country fully reconnects to the world. “Our wider tourism sector is on the way to recovery. As visitor numbers scale up, our established tourism networks ...
The Minister of Customs has welcomed legislation being passed which will prevent millions of dollars in potential tax evasion on water-pipe tobacco products. The Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products) Amendment Act 2022 changes the way excise and excise-equivalent duty is calculated on these tobacco products. Water-pipe tobacco is also known ...
The Government is contributing $100,000 to a Mayoral Relief Fund to help the Levin community following this morning’s tornado, Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan says. “My thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by severe weather events in Levin and across the country. “I know the tornado has ...
The Quintet of Attorneys General have issued the following statement of support for the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and investigations and prosecutions for crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “The Attorneys General of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand join in ...
Morena tatou katoa. Kua tae mai i runga i te kaupapa o te rā. Thank you all for being here today. Yesterday my colleague, the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson, delivered the Wellbeing Budget 2022 – for a secure future for New Zealand. I’m the Minister of Health, and this was ...
Urgent Budget night legislation to stop major supermarkets blocking competitors from accessing land for new stores has been introduced today, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The Commerce (Grocery Sector Covenants) Amendment Bill amends the Commerce Act 1986, banning restrictive covenants on land, and exclusive covenants ...
It is a pleasure to speak to this Budget. The 5th we have had the privilege of delivering, and in no less extraordinary circumstances. Mr Speaker, the business and cycle of Government is, in some ways, no different to life itself. Navigating difficult times, while also making necessary progress. Dealing ...
Budget 2022 provides funding to implement the new resource management system, building on progress made since the reform was announced just over a year ago. The inadequate funding for the implementation of the Resource Management Act in 1992 almost guaranteed its failure. There was a lack of national direction about ...
The Government is substantially increasing the amount of funding for public media to ensure New Zealanders can continue to access quality local content and trusted news. “Our decision to create a new independent and future-focused public media entity is about achieving this objective, and we will support it with a ...
$662.5 million to maintain existing defence capabilities NZDF lower-paid staff will receive a salary increase to help meet cost-of living pressures. Budget 2022 sees significant resources made available for the Defence Force to maintain existing defence capabilities as it looks to the future delivery of these new investments. “Since ...
More than $185 million to help build a resilient cultural sector as it continues to adapt to the challenges coming out of COVID-19. Support cultural sector agencies to continue to offer their important services to New Zealanders. Strengthen support for Māori arts, culture and heritage. The Government is investing in a ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
Four new permanent Coroners to be appointed Seven Coronial Registrar roles and four Clinical Advisor roles are planned to ease workload pressures Budget 2022 delivers a package of investment to improve the coronial system and reduce delays for grieving families and whānau. “Operating funding of $28.5 million over four ...
Establishment of Ministry for Disabled People Progressing the rollout of the Enabling Good Lives approach to Disability Support Services to provide self-determination for disabled people Extra funding for disability support services “Budget 2022 demonstrates the Government’s commitment to deliver change for the disability community with the establishment of a ...
Fairer Equity Funding system to replace school deciles The largest step yet towards Pay Parity in early learning Local support for schools to improve teaching and learning A unified funding system to underpin the Reform of Vocational Education Boost for schools and early learning centres to help with cost ...
$118.4 million for advisory services to support farmers, foresters, growers and whenua Māori owners to accelerate sustainable land use changes and lift productivity $40 million to help transformation in the forestry, wood processing, food and beverage and fisheries sectors $31.6 million to help maintain and lift animal welfare practices across Aotearoa New Zealand A total food and ...
House price caps for First Home Grants increased in many parts of the country House price caps for First Home Loans removed entirely Kāinga Whenua Loan cap will also be increased from $200,000 to $500,000 The Affordable Housing Fund to initially provide support for not-for-profit rental providers Significant additional ...
Child Support rules to be reformed lifting an estimated 6,000 to 14,000 children out of poverty Support for immediate and essential dental care lifted from $300 to $1,000 per year Increased income levels for hardship assistance to extend eligibility Budget 2022 takes further action to reduce child poverty and ...
More support for RNA research through to pilot manufacturing RNA technology platform to be created to facilitate engagement between research and industry partners Researchers and businesses working in the rapidly developing field of RNA technology will benefit from a new research and development platform, funded in Budget 2022. “RNA ...
A new Business Growth Fund to support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow Fully funding the Regional Strategic Partnership Fund to unleash regional economic development opportunities Tourism Innovation Programme to promote sustainable recovery Eight Industry Transformation Plans progressed to work with industries, workers and iwi to transition ...
Budget 2022 further strengthens the economic foundations and wellbeing outcomes for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa, as the recovery from COVID-19 continues. “The priorities we set for Budget 2022 will support the continued delivery of our commitments for Pacific peoples through the Pacific Wellbeing Strategy, a 2020 manifesto commitment for Pacific ...
Boost for Māori economic and employment initiatives. More funding for Māori health and wellbeing initiatives Further support towards growing language, culture and identity initiatives to deliver on our commitment to Te Reo Māori in Education Funding for natural environment and climate change initiatives to help farmers, growers and whenua ...
New hospital funding for Whangārei, Nelson and Hillmorton 280 more classrooms over 40 schools, and money for new kura $349 million for more rolling stock and rail network investment The completion of feasibility studies for a Northland dry dock and a new port in the Manukau Harbour Increased infrastructure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team. In this podcast Michelle and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Clark, Deputy Engagement Editor, The Conversation Politics can be slow-moving, until all of a sudden it isn’t. As political scientist Simon Jackman says in today’s episode of Below the Line, “politics is very non-linear. You get these steady, secular ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology On Sunday, popular American singer songwriter Halsey shared a video on TikTok with tinny music in the background, the on-screen text reading: Basically I have a song that I love that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Crowley, Adjunct Associate Professor, Public and Environmental Policy, University of Tasmania During Saturday’s election, 31.5% of the voters deserted the major parties, with a swag of female teal independents tipping Liberal MPs out of their heartland urban seats. By contrast, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rita Matulionyte, Senior Lecturer in Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock Mastercard’s “smile to pay” system, announced last week, is supposed to save time for customers at checkouts. It is being trialled in Brazil, with future pilots planned for the Middle East ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Stand by for something “reckless and dangerous”. That’s what former prime minister Scott Morrison said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would be if he asked the Fair Work Commission ...
Just in case the affected voters and constituencies haven’t bothered to check how much funding they are being given in Budget 2022 (or how much they have lost in some cases), ministers have been letting them know in post-Budget press statements. At least, they have been letting them know when ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has called the way a New Zealand mother of two died in custody awaiting deportation from Australia was a disgrace and further evidence that the system is not just broken but responsible ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University Shutterstock You showered this morning, are wearing fresh clothes and having an otherwise normal day, when suddenly you notice that stench. Why do our armpits smell, and why more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lucinda McKnight, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy and Curriculum, Deakin University Pixabay The war in Ukraine is being described as the first social media war, even as “the TikTok war”. Memes, tweets, videos and blog posts communicate both vital information and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Stewart, John Bray Professor of Law, University of Adelaide Industrial relations issues were front and centre when federal Labor last won office from opposition in 2007. The backlash against John Howard’s “Work Choices” reforms cost both his government and his own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Soutphommasane, Acting Director, Sydney Policy Lab & Professor of Practice (Sociology and Political Theory), University of Sydney The message from Saturday’s election result was clear: Australians want a political reset. And not just about issues such as government integrity and climate ...
The Education and Workforce Committee is calling for submissions on the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill. This bill would extend the period of time available to raise a personal grievance ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Menzel, Assistant Professor – First Nations Health, Bond University GettyImages Workplaces can be hostile, overwhelming and unwelcoming places for many First Nations Peoples. My research has explored how this is the case in many organisations, including universities. White organisations ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Breadon, Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute CDC/Unsplash Anthony Albanese campaigned on better pandemic management. Giving the vaccination program a shot in the arm will be his first test. Not long ago, every shipment of vaccines was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Kingham, Professor, University of Canterbury Shutterstock/Tanya NZ The Dutch have long been recognised as leaders in cycling. Denmark is not far behind, with more bikes than cars in its capital Copenhagen. This is the result of many years of ...
Remaining in the orange traffic light setting is not a constraint or handbrake to accelerating business recovery, rebuilding, and planning for growth, says Auckland Business Chamber CEO Michael Barnett. “Businesses can do everything under Orange, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Breadon, Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute CDC/Unsplash Anthony Albanese campaigned on better pandemic management. Giving the vaccination program a shot in the arm will be his first test. Not long ago, every shipment of vaccines was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Purdie, Senior Research Fellow, University of Otago Getty Images If your next car is not electric, then it must be much smaller than your last one. Scientists have warned that the world needs to halve emissions every decade to ...
Not many New Zealanders may have noticed what is happening in China or India – but their economies appear to be tracking in opposite directions. Those movements could have a powerful impact in turn on NZ’s economic fortunes. Point of Order is indebted to two remarkable pieces of journalism for ...
Northland District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill: Police agree with the findings of an IPCA report, which concluded a Police officer was justified in using force against a man during an arrest in Northland. On 27 May 2021, Police were witness ...
Napier man, Alister Robertson, says the lack of any proper funding in the Budget for the proposed Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan is really disappointing and concerning. “This Budget announcement is very underwhelming. It’s hardly a wellbeing Budget ...
Tauranga City Council’s commissioners have resolved to write directly to Government Ministers to detail their concerns that a lack of alignment between agencies and legislation is impacting the planning and funding of urban development in New Zealand’s ...
The Office for Seniors has released a new guide that will help inform the best urban design practices to benefit older people. The Age friendly urban places guide is a technical resource targeted at local and central government urban planning practice ...
RNZ Pacific A commemoration has been held in French Polynesia to mark the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of a leading opposition politician in the Tuamotus. Boris Léontieff, who headed the Fetia Api party, was among four politicians travelling in a small plane on a campaign trip when it disappeared ...
Feedback from our consultation on the rules governing policyholder security in our insurance legislation will help to shape the final policy. An important purpose of New Zealand’s insurance legislation is to promote a financially sound insurance ...
E tū/NZNO/PSA media release After rallying around Aotearoa for a better pay offer, care and support workers and their unions are delivering their messages to Parliament in a petition signed by thousands in just 10 days. They will hand over the petition, ...
“Jacinda Ardern’s visit comes immediately on the heels of Joe Biden’s trip to Japan for a meeting of the ‘Quad’ - the US, Australia, India and Japan - that intends to dramatically increase militarisation of the Pacific region. Ardern’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Baron, Associate professor, Australian Catholic University ShutterstockI’m curious about what will happen if, hypothetically, someone moves with speed (that is) twice the speed of light? – Devanshi, age 13, Mumbai Hi Devanshi! Thanks for this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Political commentators often use the idea of a political spectrum from left to right as shorthand for understanding political ideologies, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patricia A. O’Brien, Faculty Member, Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University; Visiting Fellow, Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University; Adjunct Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC., Georgetown University The federal election has delivered a monumental win for Australia’s relations ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Hellewell, Research Fellow, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, and The Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Curtin University Shutterstock Loss or alteration of taste (dysgeusia) is a common symptom of COVID. It’s also a side effect of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Bell, Professor of Marine Biology, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Despite New Zealanders’ close connection with the oceans, very few will have heard of “temperate mesophotic ecosystems” (TMEs). Even fewer will appreciate their importance for coastal fisheries, and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eleanor Cowan, Lecturer in Ancient History, University of Sydney Francesco Solimena, Death of Messalina (about 1704/1712)The GettyReaders are advised this story includes depictions of domestic violence and violence against women. Domestic violence was endemic in the Roman world. Rome ...
23 May US President Biden unveiled his long-awaited Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in Tokyo tonight, supported by a small group of allies, including New Zealand’s Prime Minister Arden by zoom. “The low-key event was overshadowed by the elephant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne AAP/Lukas Coch With 73% of enrolled voters counted, the ABC is calling 73 of the 151 House of Representatives seats for Labor, 54 for the Coalition, 15 Others ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The transition from one government to another involves a democratic miracle and a physical mess. In parliament house’s ministerial wing on Monday, shredding machines were working flat out, fragments of their massive output leaving ...
OP-ED by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). ...
Australia has a new political leader at the helm after nine years governed by conservatives but what does the change of hands mean for New Zealand? ...
RNZ Pacific A female candidate in the Papua New Guinea elections believes it is more important than ever that the country has women MPs in Parliament. Dulciana Somare-Brash is the daughter of the late Sir Michael Somare and she unsuccessfully stood in the East Sepik regional seat in 2017, finishing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Garnett, Professor of Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University Gilbert’s potoroo, a marsupial that may be extinct in 20 years.Shutterstock It feels a bit strange to publish a paper that we want proved wrong – we have identified the ...
PNG Post-Courier “Powes! Powes! Powes!” The city of Port Moresby was ringing with chants of support for its governor for the past 15 years — Powes Parkop. Hundreds of men, women and children from the settlements to the suburbs flocked at the weekend in support of the three-term politician who ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Beasy, Lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Tasmania You’d be forgiven for not having heard about the long-awaited new Australian Curriculum, which was released with little fanfare in the midst of the election campaign. But this update to the national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nancy Baxter, Professor and Head of Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne In a poll conducted by the Guardian in August of 2021 about the number of deaths Australians would be willing to accept as restrictions eased, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock As the polls closed on Saturday night, most election commentary focused on the dispiriting campaign where both major parties avoided any substantial division on policy issues and instead focused on ...
The Environment Committee Komiti Taiao invites public submissions on Aotearoa New Zealand’s emissions budgets and the emissions reduction plan, Te Hau mārohi ki anamata Towards a productive, sustainable and inclusive economy—Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
The announcement in Budget 2022 to build 300 affordable homes for Pasefika families in Porirua will be transformational, says the Central Pacific Collective (CPC). The homes will be built over 10 years through “Our Whare Our Fale” – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jarryd Bartle, Sessional Lecturer, RMIT University Shutterstock One of the surprising results from the federal election was a record vote for Legalise Cannabis Australia, a minor party previously known as the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) party. The party ...
Stuff business writer John Anthony was still focused on businessman Simon Henry’s widely reported remarks about My Food Bag co-founder Nadia Lim, a day after the company posted its latest annual results. His report on Saturday began with news that – according to its chief executive – My Food Bag’s ...
The Bus and Coach Association welcomes the recent budget announcement by the Labour Government to invest $61 million over the next four years towards ensuring a sustainable, skilled workforce of bus drivers nationwide. “This is great news” says CEO Ben ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Strating, Director, La Trobe Asia and Associate Professor, La Trobe University, La Trobe University During the election campaign, Anthony Albanese singled out Indonesia as a key regional partner. The new prime minister made a point of declaring he intended his first ...
New Zealand’s export industries are looking to a new era in the wake of life returning to something like normal in international markets. The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, will head a mission to the US to promote trade and tourism opportunities in our third largest export and visitor market, saying this ...
Budget 2022’s multi-million dollar spend on “service recognition” awards exemplifies the growing fiscal indulgence of the public sector, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . The Budget’s Summary of Initiatives reveals the Department of Prime Minister ...
Thank you for your invitation to close this semester for your class. There was a time when foreign policy was nonpolitical and when politicians held the view, that offshore, we would face the world as one people. Sadly, that is not the case today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Casswell, Professor of public health policy, Massey University Getty Images The World Health Organization’s newly released report on regulating cross-border alcohol marketing raises the alarm for countries like Australia and New Zealand, given their light touch towards alcohol advertising. ...
The country’s international relationships have loomed large in Beehive announcements since Friday. One press statement – from the PM – congratulated Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party on winning the Australian Federal election. Jacinda Ardern said: “Australia is our most important partner, our only official ally and single economic ...
RNZ News A New Caledonian anti-independence candidate has withdrawn from the race for a seat in the French National Assembly just hours before nominations closed. Vaea Frogier pulled out, citing concern about the splits in the anti-independence camp. Seventeen candidates in New Caledonia are standing in next month’s election, with ...
Right to Life requests that Christopher Luxon becomes the truly pro-life leader that National and our nation desperately needs, by seeking the repeal of the Abortion Legislation Act 2019 and legislating for the recognition of the humanity of unborn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Carney, Vice-Chancellor’s professorial fellow, Monash University Elections are a test – the ultimate test, really – of those who serve as parliamentarians and those who aspire to serve. Scott Morrison asserted quite absurdly early in the 2022 campaign that the election ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University AAP/James Ross It is pretty human to crave the approval of peers and to hope for more of the same, even if unconsciously. But for political parties selling themselves as unifying ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Lukas Coch/AAP Extreme weather events are the new normal. The use of nuclear weapons by Vladimir Putin’s Russian military is now an unthinkable possibility. And ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catharine Coleborne, Dean of Arts/Head of School Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle Higher education did not figure prominently in the election campaign. The biggest issues facing the sector, in particular the arts, humanities and social sciences, could never ...
This from the Sydney Morning Herald today (Jacinda should take note of what is happening in WA):
"Since the nationwide lockdowns of early 2020, West Australians have endured just 12 days of lockdown, the vast majority of the time free of masks and other business-curbing social restrictions. Two years into the pandemic most West Australians have no first-hand experience of COVID-19, and they are not particularly interested in acquainting themselves with it.
It is why the dramatic late-night announcement by WA Premier Mark McGowan that the long-awaited February 5 border reopening would be postponed indefinitely was greeted with relief by many, likely still a solid majority. Who wants to get sick? Or wear masks? Or suffer crippling restrictions? No, thanks. Do you blame them?
[McGowan, the WA Premier] insists on more than 80 per cent third [booster] dose coverage before the border comes down, with all further details pending."
Yes, I agree that it's interesting & significant. Sensible psychology operating in WA – quite a contrast to NSW & Victoria!
McGowan is predictably copping a lot of flak. WA is a huge state with a lot of remote indigenous communities with very low vaccination rates. This is what McGowan said yesterday:
“I know I’m getting a lot of criticism. What we’re trying to do is save lives and save jobs at the same time,” McGowan said.
“A lot of people say we should be living with Covid. Well, there are 752 people in the eastern states no longer living with Covid,” he said, referring to the number of Australian Covid deaths so far in 2022. “You should ask their families whether we should deliberately infect large numbers of West Australians.”
WA has travel restrictions to protect those Aboriginal communities.
In regards to COVID deaths; ‘What were their underlying conditions?’, sounds an awful lot like ‘What was she wearing?’
I think it’s callous to see the deaths of people with diabetes, heart or kidney disease etc. as necessary cost of ‘opening up’.
You are just making things up now Arkie-those 752 are the Covid-related reported deaths.
What is it about you Boris/ScoMo pro-business fanatics that motivates you to ignore human suffering and death?
maybe reread what they said.
Fruit picking season is about to start. Is this the year many horticultural enterprises join urban businesses on the road to closure?
Britain has the same problem. But agriculture in Britain is 0.59% of GDP. While in New Zealand it's 6% of GDP, and our biggest export earner.
https://www.ft.com/content/ee933d30-43fc-47ff-b00f-8e7b1c695516
Surely some rich fuck from overseas is happy to buy these businesses a penny to a dollar.
And if anyone thought that fruit picking season was a mess last year, well its gonna be real messy this year.
Yep, took my mower in to get the blades changed this morning. Usually takes around 10minutes with a $25 service fee.
''No can do, mate,'' was the reply I received this morning. Why I asked, you don't look busy?
''We aren't busy,'' was the reply. I have lost my mechanic. He's left to help his dad pick the nectarine and peach crop on the the family orchard. They can't find workers.''
Marvellous!!! Now I have to change the blades myself.
No self respecting NZr with a name like Blade would consider paying someone to swap mower blades over.
Seems right wingers don't like getting their delicate hands dirty doing a task that doesn't require a mechanic.
Nice story though, or was it concern trolling..
''Seems right wingers don't like getting their delicate hands dirty doing a task that doesn't require a mechanic.''
Well, that's true about the delicate hands. My fingers and hands are required to be in pristine condition to feel the fretboards on my expensive guitars.
Where you come unstuck is believing changing a blade is an easy task on a new mower.
It used to be, and still is, if you have a bar blade. But if you have a plate with 4 mini blades, things become tricker. You will definitely need the RIGHT tools. You will be hoping the bolts haven't burred and penetration oil is not needed.
A simple time and motion study showed me it's easier to have the job done for me. Bike shops do similar. They don't repair punctures. They replace the tube. Only time warp lefties fix their own punctures using a bucket of water.
Then there's the problem of turning your mower up on its side to replace the blade. That's another no-no with a modern mower…but you probably know that.
Still no official word on why unemployed kiwis are not going for those jobs. I wonder how long the left & right will be able to maintain their collusion in silence?
My first guesses would be
-lack of transport to and from work
-lack of cheap affordable seasonal accommodation
-how will a seasonal job affect any benefits some may receive if they have to go back on the dole.
I met an older women working the sorting sheds – night shift- in Te Puke coming from Tokoroa. That is a two hour trip one way btw. She was in her 60s. 4 hours every day basic commute – unpaid of course. – So you need a car, money for patrol and such.
But lets again pretend that all bosses are evil and all unemployed people are lazy, that surely will make a difference.
Don't forget they will likely have to maintain accommodation costs in their hometown or risk not having housing when the season ends.
There are additional costs for NZers doing seasonal work.
I know that, but then it is easier to blame lazy unemployed people for not taking a job that they literally can't afford to take.
How much money is left over from Kiwibuild that could be used for high quality portable housing to help with seasonal work in various areas? Quite a bit judging by the lack of kiwibuild houses.
always lots of excuses why no one wants to work, not much practical in how to make it easy for them too
yep. The reason why working holiday people would do that work is because the conditions suited them. Make the job attractive to locals, or people living elsewhere to travel and live there for a while, and they'll do the work.
Setting people who do seasonal work up with tiny homes on wheels, or housebus/truck, caravan etc would help the situation as well as solve some of the housing crisis issues.
Not really a shortage of temporary accommodation back in my day, but the double-tapping of paying for that for a few weeks while also keeping a flat at home.
Or moving towns completely but only for a couple of weeks (but then you'd need something more than a shared room in a dorm).
Tourists have few possessions and few commitments and few connections. Residents need to actually make money to justify the gamble.
When I was picking fruit Accommodation was provided. Basic but free. So what happened ? Employers like to bad mouth Socialism but would socialise costs anytime. Profits of course are private !!
I have little sympathy for the one crop wonder boys.
There is a grower just north of whangarei who employs 70 staff full time. He has diversified so he has different crops maturing year round, some fruit some veges. He is also smart in that he has diversified his income stream
nice.
Absolutely Sabine. In my day as an apple picker (some time ago now) there was such a thing as a union and part of the pickers agreement was to be accomodated at a weekly rate not exceeding $2.50 per week. Even given the lapsed time it was still only 20 mins work to pay your accomodation if the orchardist even bothered to charge, and it usually included power. It was also quite a simple matter to get back on the dole. If the only way to make money from apples is to rip off the workers then is it really an industry we need?
Why would governments talk about employing NZers at real rates and conditions when there is more profit in running an immigration scam. Two seperate political parties. Only one political philosophy. Hence we get either shit light or shit dark. Its always shit though.
Scales Corp is NZ's biggest Apple business.
It has had very good earnings despite covid.
Mainly smaller growers are affected by imported labour shortages.
More investment in machinery to replace seasonal labour is required.
"More investment in machinery to replace seasonal labour is required."
Yes it is….but then there is the issue of what we do about employment. If fewer and fewer large scale businesses are operating with less and less labour their profits will have to be taxed higher to allow for transfers to support the rest of the economy…..and we know how business feels about about taxation as well as knowing who has the politicians ears.
Or perhaps the investment is public and the dividends are returned to the citizenry….that sounds like something of an anathema to 'business.'
You really are the poster child for the idiocy of the moderation policy on this site. An obvious right wing concern troll pushing right wing talking points, yet the the two main active moderators are mainly concerned with policing the left.
The upshot of it is the comments section of this site now resembles a slightly younger version of the Herald.
bwaghorn would no doubt support your comment, Sanctuary.
Yes indeed Robert Guyton.
.
Much of the "policing" has centred on curbing typical Woke excess … the mindless demonisation of entire demographics.
Let's be clear: Wokedom aint "the Left" … it's an Elitist Vanity Project … deploying camouflaged self-interest, an authoritarian, profoundly anti-democratic consolidation of power, financial privilege & in-group status,while systematically scapegoating a whole swathe of working people & poorer pensioners in the most cowardly & sadistic way … transforming them into second-class citizens in housing, health & increasingly other sectors. Always by stealth, always venomously contemptuous of democracy & majority opinion.
In core respects, the antithesis of the genuine Left … almost a new form of Toryism
Probably inevitable when 400-buck-an-hour virtue-signalling Middle-Class Professionals slowly capture the upper echelons of both the parliamentary & organisational wings of nominally "Left" Parties. Clearly an international phenomenon.
You yourself, Sanctuary, seem to fluctuate wildly between occasional hard-hitting critiques of Woke excess, followed a week or two later by a smattering of equally enthusiastic cheerleading for precisely the same dogmatic phenomenon. Quite baffling.
Nah, man, when it's all just lefties, it gets really boring here.
What's a concern troll, Weka? And…should I be worried?
worried about what?
Concerns, I would imagine
It sounds like a terminal condition that maybe only Righties can catch?
more like a chronic condition that dickheads induce.
But the term does get thrown around as an accusation too much too.
I have got to thinking that the RW people come here because:
1 well have you ever been on a RW blog? full of opinion, 'lefties' accusations, inability to mount an argument. Full of farcebook one liners etc etc. Although I don't agree with everyone's views on here most of the posts are well thought out, heartfelt, referenced.
I value them (RW posters who abide by the rules) because:
2 when people respond to RW views it gives me food for thought and possible talking points when in real life.
3 because of standards of moderation and, mostly, cited arguments from RW people I may learn something.
I think though:
A) authors should not moderate their own posts, they should have a formal reply or clarification function in response
B) authors should not be able to moderate anyone off the site, this should be left to the team of moderators
C) RW moderators should not be able to moderate anyone off the site. this also should be left to the remaining team of moderators.
I value RW commenters likewise. Sanctuary is probably right that left wingers get moderated more than RW ones. I notice this. But it's because RW commenters are less in number, so there are more LW ones pushing the boundaries or breaking the rules.
I don't see any right wing comments on this site. People with a RW orientation might come and read the material here but I don't see any comments that are more than being from just a little bit to the right of centre. Nothing at all from further right than a traditional Liberal viewpoint in fact.
Lots of stuff from the left, the far left and people who make Mao, Pol Pot and Kim Jong-Un look sane of course.
I'm still trying to work out how posting the GDP percentage differential for agriculture between NZ and Britain is ''pushing right wing talking points, '' according to Shanwreagh.
But there you have it. It's certainly different when Liberals are in the house.
Huh?
Not sure I have ever talked about GDP percentage differential for ag or responded to anyone who was pushing RW talking points on this topic.
My forays into ag have mainly been in support of regen ag and on the silliness of some aspects of the farmer protests (ie you run the risk of marching beside some 'different' bedfellows once you start on a protest march as the last one in Wellington showed with the MAGA and Trumpie people)
The comment you’re referring to was made by Sanctuary, not Shanreagh.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22-01-2022/#comment-1853615
Sanctuary was essentially complaining that you are have Right wing views but don’t always make it obvious.
Correct. Sorry Shanreagh, my mistake.
''Right wing views but don’t always make it obvious.''
I don't think Sanctuary is that good at nuances.
None so blind, alwyn? There've been a few Standard outbreaks of Jacinta Jacinta, Cindy Cindy Cindy, and Comrade Princess, not to mention the occasional Fool making no secret of their scumminess, but rwnjs know that it's Ardern who continues to outclass their champions, one after the – ‘Next’.
You are probably right. There were no doubt a few occurrences of Jacinta, Cindy etc along the way.
I'm sure there were a lot more Jonkey's or shonky Johnkey, Paula Benefit, blinglish and Luxton to go with them. Were they offensive or did you see them as the height of wit?
Whatever they were and whatever the twists on Jacinda or Ardern they were hardly in hanging territory were they? They also don't display and left wing or right wing traits. They are all just people who confuse being a wit with being a twit.
Quite right alwyn – are you surprised, given where you are commenting?
And I’m pleased that your eyesight has improved
The smears against Clarke Gayford by rwnjs here and elsewhere really speaks to their ‘character”, imho. If will be a minor miracle if another Clarke slur doesn’t surface ahead of the next general election, given that Luxon is now in charge.
Were they like the comments made about Max Key? I never actually saw any of these fabled comments about Gayford but I saw references to the fact they existed. I suspect they were immediately deleted from and blog where someone might have tried to post them.
You say "The smears against Clarke Gayford by rwnjs here …". Are you seriously saying that they were posted on this site. I would find that very hard to believe that they would have survived for more than a minute or two.
So it's cataracts. "Vile rumours" of that type do occasionally surface here – maybe they're allowed to ‘survive’ as a warning to other fools?
Your guess is at least as good as mine as to what the next smear will be – I doubt even brother Luxon could purge the influence of Dirty Politics within the National party and its supporters, even if he wanted to.
I'm sure you will provide a link to one if such a thing existed. I personally don't think they exist on this site. I can't believe that lprent would allow them to remain here.
I am not going to waste my time looking for something that only you say exists.
Link provided @2.4.4.2.2, and again @7:03 pm.
I'd get that checked out – Should've gone to Specsavers
Is that what is supposed to have got the Police Commissioner involved?
Jeez, didn't Coster have better things to do than check out this rubbish? Still, yes, you did produce a link to stupid rumours being floated on this site. Mind you, in this day and age, who cares?
Exactly how many unemployed Kiwis do you think there are ?. Much less city ones who can maintain two rental payments a week for 6 weeks until the season is over. In the northern SI there is no one who isn’t working that can work, the wineries even pre-omicron will be looking at 75% staffing for harvest if they are lucky.
Yes I have heard that too. But, and there is always a but, some employers work on a Field of Dreams approach, build it and they will come. I know of many over 60s who would love to do something like this but
Years ago I worked in a food processing plant in Hastings HB.
It had free buses leaving from central points & waypoints, north and south of the factory at a couple of times before the shifts started. Then again on the way home. I am not sure if they do this any more. There were also buses for people doing the picking.
Same are you talkin about watties ?first job at 15 just left school managed to last two weeks remember first day thinking what ?no morn smoko ?and then shit we must be working though lunch time as well whats goin on oh no !eventually i found out was only half past nine !!We stole fruit to survive had no money you could fit a can of peaches in the top of each gumboot pull yr
overalls down over them an walk out like that worked a charm an kept us alive . In those days canned fruit was actually quite good its crap now alas .Latest news says watties in hastings needs one hundred and fifty more workers now.
So you are a criminal..like Meteria ..we will hound you and track ..you down…now!
Weston …..yes they were early starts. We were there by 7.00am after catching the bus out of Napier to go to Birds Eye in Hastings. It was a holiday job and gee did I love it. By the time I left I was a chargehand on the corn line. I was there just over 3 months. They offered me a permanent job and that was when my dad put his foot down and said 'go-back-to -'varsity.'
They used to let the staff take all the mislabelled tins at the end of each week. Course the mislabelling mostly meant no labelling so it was a bit hit & miss as to what was in the tins you got. If you were smart, and I eventually cottoned on, you remembered what the lines had been doing that week, usually only a couple of things and labelled the top 'tomatoes or green beans' or 'peaches or green beans'. Otherwise it was a glorious mystery as to what was going to be in your tins. I made lots of green bean and tomato quiche things when I was actually wanting tomatoes and peaches.
I had some wonderful holiday jobs, worked with happy people who were working there fulltime. Toothpaste factory and plumbing supplies making and bending (wrong word) copper pipes on big machines. And yes females had differential (lower) rates from males for doing the same job…..Good union people. Aah well.
Luke Malpass looks at Labour's legislative agenda for this year:
Dunno if this is significant – to treat Three Waters as a can to be kicked down the road is likely to drop Labour poll ratings. The PM ought to include it as priority unless she can conjure up good reasons for discounting it.
Obviously it's logical to blame the Minister of Finance for inept new financial law. Strangely, Luke sidesteps Occam's Razor in favour of convolution:
He presents a picture as overview. It's an excellent illustration of how a picture is worth a thousand words…
So it looks like financial law becomes part of commerce when enacted. Robertson manages to slip off the hook of accountability.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/127559164/why-2022-will-be-the-year-covid-really-crimps-labours-visions-of-change
LOL.
LOL
yeah I get that there's two sides to that
within Labour it'll be scaredy-cats vs policy zealots
'The start of the year has also revealed a major problem with one of Labour’s earlier changes – its revamped Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA), which came into force in December. The changes, designed to protect vulnerable borrowers from predatory lending practices or loan sharks, have resulted in middle New Zealand being whacked in a Government-induced credit crunch.'
Prudent lending practice would should have recognised the requirements with or without the revamp.
'The New Zealand Bankers’ Association publishes a “regulatory radar” of law and regulation changes worrying member banks. The larger, redder, and more central the star, the more urgent and important the issue. The new lending law star is large, red and in the centre. Clark and the Government will have to fix this quickly.
Fix it alright!-5 billion per annum in profits going offshore.
The less regulation the more the banks…like it.
Parasites.
Changes to protect vulnerable borrowers sees headline after headline of would be borrowers upset their bank asks them about spending $287 at K Mart or people finding it too hard to lie low in their spending for 3 months.
Banks ask about spending, outgoings and income. Some people in banking are pedantic. No surprise. Should borrowers expect a cruisy ride?
Political beat up…the banks are laughing all the way…..to
I have noticed how Harvey Normans has been running a 60 months interest free offer for over 12 months now…with wraparound Herald and T.V advertising .
Maybe the music stops sometime this…year.
Ponzi schemes loses money. Who woulda thunk it?
/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-21/crypto-meltdown-erases-more-than-1-trillion-in-market-value
Conservatives unable to keep up:
I really can't see how they expect to be politically effective if they remain stuck in 2019 in their heads. Right-thinking ought to incorporate temporal context!
There's also the question around political astrology. To be effective, one must be able to specify which stars are aligning with what. Doesn't matter that it worked for Reagan – one swallow doesn't make a summer…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/is-auckland-mayor-phil-goff-about-to-bow-out-of-politics-and-support-a-rising-star-to-replace-him/TIXJQC3FAFQF5KR55CWYDS3Z6I/
I read that about 8.00 am this morning and thought: "It's 2022. That doesn't make sense. Poor proof-reading? Undetected error?"
Apparently so. UPDATED now appears at the top. And that sentence in the article now reads:
Eloquent and succinct – former MD Alison Goodwin on “What is going on”
https://odysee.com/@spearhead4truth:e/What-is-going-on:b?fbclid=IwAR1cab4g4tDgQOU7j8bNF7rZpV1eeDcQHRxnm2PPU2Q9i0nYliJjd-TLcZo
That there are desires for the scenario she describes I dont doubt,,im not sure that the current vaccine pass is its precursor….but I may well be wrong.
However I am increasingly concerned that the mandating of those that choose to be unvaccinated is becoming entrenched (i initially thought it was a bluff used to increase up take and would be quietly dropped)…..and I am becoming increasingly reluctant to be 'boostered' with a vaccine that appears of little benefit with the latest variant, or to see the under 12s vaccinated without strong evidence of benefit.
And then there are other unanswered questions….
https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o102
You should be extremely cautious about any results which show boosters are not effective. There are very confusing cofounders at play in virtually all data in these cases, which can lead to miss-leading results. I showed an example of this, in that NZ Maori & Polynesians are over-all accepting vaccination at a lower rate than any of the age groups which comprise the overall data.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data#ethnicity
See "Vaccine uptake per rate ratio (unadjusted) Māori and Pacific compared with Non-Māori non-Pacific 12+" where there are wider rate differences overall than for any age group making that up.
The same kinds of thing can happen for most covid related data when these cases are not well understood.
Here is a post doing correct estimates and working through all the potential issues.
https://www.covid-datascience.com/post/what-do-new-israeli-data-say-about-effect-of-vaccines-boosters-vs-death-critical-severe-disease
Yes there are wider rate variations by cohort than in total due to demographics as has been noted previously…and your linked study is pre Omicron….and even so I draw your attention to point 9
9. Boosters provide further protection but it is not yet clear whether they are necessary for the younger age groups.
And the issue of mandates is unaddressed…..especially when nobody thought 90% of eligible was achievable yet we have exceeded that.
I'm just highlighting the need for evidence and very careful statistical modeling in evaluating claims like, boosters appear to have little benefit. Doing this incorrectly can mean that the 13.7% protection against death you perceive massively understates the 93.8% protection against death which actually occurs in the >60 cohort (or even the 68% protection against death for vaccinated but un-boosted).
Yes, it would be good to see studies incorporating up to date data (since Omicron). The same statistical fallacies are occurring in data relating to Omicron vs Delta variants and lower vaccine efficacy against Omicron of course.
Dont dispute the need to be careful with statistics.
And is why I am increasingly concerned about current events.
"Mandates"* had a huge public health component far and above the persuasion to be vaccinated, in fact the health factor was the main part, at least I took it as the main part.
It goes like this……when people go to be treated at hospitals there is an expectation that they will be treated for the illnesses they came in for and not acquire any another life threatening infection while there and while their defences are down. These infections are called nosocomial infections and even before Covid pneumonia was one that did occur.
Hospitals therefore needed to introduce special measures to deal with Covid. We had PPE and stand downs until the vaccination came along.
Covid is so infectious and the vaccination seemed a simple way to minimise the risk of Covid infections spreading within hospitals. The reasons for not accepting a vaccine that I have read, especially now that there are two to choose from mRNA based Pfizer and Astra Zeneca, seem mired in social media woo woo.
Health staff have been given options. The basic point is that we cannot afford to have the potential for covid to get away in our hospitals from staff who fail to be vaccinated.
My flatmate is a nurse and she says she and her fellow nurses are looking on in amazement at the very few who have stood out, she mentions that it is a requirement before beginning nursing training to be vaccinated and maintain vaccination of a range of vaccines most of us have not come across. Defence personnel have the same requirements when signing on. They have regular testing as well.
Teachers spend days with their classes and would be powerful spreaders of the virus to their students, some of whom would have been severely affected by catching Covid and may have been consigned to a life with Long Covid.
The requirement to protect diners was both a public health measure and a measure to enable businesses to be able to trade through …it came in with the traffic light system. This was a recognition that Covid may be here for the long haul and enables vaccinated businesses and people to keep the businesses pumping along at different levels.
I had no thought that the intro of the 'mandates' was anything other than for real.
At the time the Govt had examples from overseas where front facing jobs had a requirement to be vaccinated. For all the bluff and bluster from the anti vaxxers, firms such as United Airlines with a staff of 67,000 had a vaccine requirement and 232 employees were unvaccinated and lost their jobs. ,
*Mandates is a loaded word. I never use it. Better wording that is more indicative of what it is is
work requirements
or
on the job requirements
The thing is that these requirements are usually prior to employment and people who do not want vaccines or on the job drug testing etc won't apply for jobs that require them, they self select out.
As for not achieving 90%. many that I get around with thought that in true NZ style we would overshoot. We have a history of this, examples are the telethons, our responses to crises overseas etc etc
That's very well expressed, Shanreagh and I find myself in full agreement with what you've written.
the point about the multiple reasons for the mandates, especially in health care settings is very well made.
Thing is though, a left wing position on worker rights would be that if you lose your job because the job changes, you should be looked after in some way. It's unconscionable that the Labour party basically said to people 'too fucking bad, two NZs now'.
So let's be honest about this too. Part of that is because the government needed to get the vax rate very high very quickly. It couldn't take 6 months to get enough people on board via outreach and public education. It had to coerce. Which it did with the mandates in multiple ways. Not only the actual mandates, but also the messaging: 'you can choose to not vaccinate, but there is something wrong with you and we're going to make sure you know that and we're not going to help you'
That shit may well come back and bite us.
The government couldn’t afford to be kind to those citizens, and tbh for people like Ardern, it looks to me like she didn’t want to either.
Lots of lefties think that is fine, but remember this is the same shit that the right does when relating with beneficiaries.
And until Omicron I would have supported that view entirely, however indications are that what was true before may not be so now. If transmission is unimpacted by vaccination, and boosters are to be required every few months to maintain some level of reduced hospitalisation (but not infection or transmission) then we may need to re-evaluate.
And that includes the logic of mandates.
As stated earlier (as someone who was double vaccinated from when I was eligible) the ever changing requirements are cause for concern and i know of a good many who feel the same way, however the increasing propensity to dismiss concerns will not make the issue disappear rather it is likely to entrench it.
Here's how I understand it. We need to get as many people boosted as possible that are in the right time band.
This is to protect them from hospitalisation and/or death (and possibly long covid).
It is also to protect the health system from overwhelm, and wider society (eg the impact on workplaces).
Where vaccination lessens the chance of getting covid, it also lessens transmission.
(and let’s not forget we still have delta).
There is a lot we still don't know about omicron. Globally (but should have better data in a few weeks), but also in NZ, which has bucked the trend all through the pandemic.
I tend to agree that we won't tolerate 3 monthly boosters, but I'm not sure we are at the point of having to make that decision.
Pfizer are developing a vaccine against omicron, available in March? I guess available here going into winter.
We don't know if a new variant will come into being in that time, globally or in NZ.
We don't know how omicron will play out with long covid. That's a huge issue.
So many unknowns. It makes sense to me to use the tools we have now to protect as many people as possible directly and indirectly.
I don't understand the government's decision to not use regional boundary restrictions, I'm guessing that they are thinking omicron will be uncontrollable so why wreck the economies. I think they are probably wrong on this. The international border is easier to understand, but I think they should have turned the tap down further than they did for a period of time.
None of that is permanent.
The problem is we just don't know how things are going to go this year. I'm not seeing anything that supports the idea yet that letting omicron rip is a good idea or even a necessary evil. We're at the point in the emergency where we are stacking sandbags and waiting to see if the tide turns soon enough.
Understandably this is very hard for many people to tolerate. Those of us used to uncertainty and precarity have a different skill set and perspective. What we really should be doing at this point is teaching resiliency en masse, because this is the tutorial for climate catastrophe.
Indeed there is much unknown as yet about Omicron (and much to be determined about the earlier variants and the long term effects of multiple vaccinations)
As to boosters I know of several people who have had the booster and complain of increased impact on their health…the progression seems to be 1st jab no or little effect, second jab increased side effects but manageable, but booster wipes them out for days…..and no enthusiasm for a further booster….and a questioning of the need to vaccinate under12s
If Omicron is as transmissible as it appears overseas then the health system is going to be overwhelmed regardless of mandates.
Given we are currently at 94% of eligible double vaccinated (yes there are pockets of lower coverage) many are feeling somewhat duped in that the country has done more than asked but the rules keep changing and the imposition increasing.
You may assert that none of this is permanent but nor has it an end date.
And as to the economy….the damage has already been done so its not the consideration.
I don't get this argument. The mandates protect the health system imperfectly but still more than if no mandates.
Yes, people feel this, but the reality is that the virus adapts and then so we have to, one way or the other. I think we're in this for a number of years, and the whole 'it will soon be over narrative' is probably unhelpful.
It's not permanent in the sense of everything is still in flux. It may well end up being permanent. Or not.
Pretty sure it's core to Labour's thinking. It's not like the damage was a finite thing, more can still happen.
And I dont get how you dont get it….if Omicron evades the vaccine as it appears what purpose do the mandates serve?…none. They dont restrict transmission, or illness.
And more damage will be done to the economy, but not by covid, in fact the economy may well push covid into the background.
afaik pfizer x 2 +booster provides meaningful protection against omicron. This is central to NZ's current pandemic response, the point of holding back omicron as much as possible is to gain time to get more people boosted.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/01/19/1071809356/covid-booster-omicron-efficacy
"afaik pfizer x 2 +booster provides meaningful protection against omicron."
and yet Australia….with a higher vax and booster rate than us.
I don't think that is true, pat.
NSW vaccination rates Hard to tell from this but 12+ rates in NSW is on or south of 90%
NZ vaccination rates NZ 93% fully vaccinated 12+, and 95% booked. Waitemata 95%, Auckland 98%, Counties Manukau 93%.
Also Australians refuse to wear masks.
@Murronbird
Our world in data has Australia at 78.2% of total pop double vaxed and 23.6% boosted
New Zealand at 76.8% of total pop double vaxed and 18.5% boosted as at 20/1/22
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=OWID_WRL
Yes, there are some differences in vaccination reporting, but like I said, Australia refuses to wear masks. They think they are better than that, and are far less likely to adhere to Covid restrictions because their dumb-ass federal government insists on sowing discord, confusion and mistrust in the community for political gain.
Protection is provided by a number of tools, including but not limited to vaccination+ booster. Australia gave up many of its protection tools late last year. And they've had omicron in the community, we haven't. Not really sure what your point is though. The comparison would be Australia now and Australia all other things being equal but with no vax or boosters.
@Muttonbird
The world in data info is collected directly from the relevant health authorities.
As to mask wearing the Australian rules have been almost identical to our own …and by all accounts Ive heard they are widely adopted.
The penalties in Australia for non compliance of covid regs are stiffer than our own.
Anecdotally, a Melbourne shopping centre was full of unmasked patrons in the post Christmas period. This relayed to me by a friend who visited his mother there.
I went to Sylvia Park on Boxing day. Tens of thousands of happy, masked shoppers.
By all accounts I've heard, Australians don't do Covid restrictions well, including masks. Kiwis are more compliant which I believe is a large part of our superior pandemic response.
If injections don't prevent the spread of Omicron but reduce the impacts of infection. And if the aim to alleviate possible pressures on health care systems…then what is the point of injecting people who would likely never have ended up in hospital in the first place?
Have injections available for the elderly, the vulnerable and the scared.
That would have been (has always been) the approach of public health when the tool is a vaccine that does not prevent transmission of a virus.
The NZ government’s response is "public health" in name only.
The vaccines protect against infection as well as severity of illness if one gets covid.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/01/19/1071809356/covid-booster-omicron-efficacy
Excellent points Weka in both of your posts.
"and maintain vaccination of a range of vaccines most of us have not come across."
This is simply not true, certainly at Mid Central.
Nursing staff get offered the annual 'flu jab and anecdotally, surprisingly few take it up.
More fool them.
Flatmate rushing getting ready for shift, I said 'what do you think of nurses not keeping their vaccines up to date?'
Raised eyebrow with the 'what a weird idea' look. In a conversation on this prior she says that on her large ward she knows of no nurse that is not covid up to date with booster and has only heard of a couple on other wards.
NB not all the vaccines have to be renewed annually.
I had smallpox and yellow fever to travel, and rubella. Flatmate has had these too.
Travel advisories for NZ travellers
https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/medicines/v/vaccines-international-travel/
https://www.immune.org.nz/vaccines/travel-vaccination
Smallpox hasn't been vaccinated for since 1972.
Beyond Covid, I am curious to know what other mandated 'boosters' your flatmate claims are needed.
I was vaccinated for those vaccines on the travel schedule.
I understand Tetanus is one that is not lifelong.
Not sure what the point about the mandated…this seems to be putting a 2021/22 spin on what were/are pretty standard conditions of employment in health sector and occupations such as plumbers to keep one's vaccines up to date.
Any chance you could cite something more authoritative than your flatmate when you make this assertion?
"and maintain vaccination of a range of vaccines most of us have not come across."
Nurses I know draw a blank when I ask them.
My flatmate did a nursing degree & is a registered nurse.. For this degree she and her classmates had to have a list of vaccines, right at the start of the degree, and these had to be kept current…….similar requirements are set for plumbers etc……the topic has been discussed further on in TS in recent days and other trades/professions added to those that require a range of vaccines. My flatmate has had vaccines that I have had as I travelled overseas in the days when you had to have those on the yellow vaccine card. Many people, these days do not have them.
Defence Dept personnel, on joining are required to have vaccines and keep them up to date (I know this as I was married to one). I think that some of the vaccines on the list of requirements are not required every year.
My flatmate has to have a flu injection annually and was required to have the Covid vaccinations. She has worked/is working at large public hospitals and says that they are reminded by email each year about getting updates to their vaccinations…..
Some health workers looking after people in their own homes are/were? not required by their employers to have up to date vaccinations. When our mother was still alive we did not allow any health worker to look after her that did not have a Flu vaccine as a minimum. Many home care workers do have vaccinations for tetanus and the like and get the boosters when needed.
I find it rather odd that your contacts don't recall being vaccinated for tetanus when boosters are needed, annual influenza injections etc.
TS discussion re plumbers https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-01-2022/#comment-1854436
health sciences requirements are in the post nearby from Drowsy…..
"I find it rather odd that your contacts don't recall being vaccinated for tetanus when boosters are needed, annual influenza injections etc."
Tetanus is available but not compulsory.
Ditto annual (last years) 'flu jab.
I feel your flatmate may be mixing up encouraged to maintain and mandatory.
It may seem a trivial point. In this climate of getting things right, I am keen for the record to be set straight.
I am aware of the conversation regarding plumbers and overseas nurses.
It is a trivial point you are making.
My flatmate’s & neighbour’s views are on all fours with that those of their employer. Their employer can rely on them to keep current, but I am sure that there will be others who need reminding…..possibly a number of times.
Both have said that they are aware of very small numbers of nurses leaving over the covid vaccination requirement. None on her wards but she knew of a couple on other wards. We are talking small numbers.
The health professionals I deal with have/had no problem in fulfilling any requirements for vaccines and maintaining these. Most would do this because of both one's own health and that of patients who will be in hospital because their health status is not optimum. So if reminded to get their tetanus booster then they would do it…..end of. They would not need to be chased up.
You missed the health sciences people that Drowsy put up.
There is a nursing degree at most universities.
Jeff Tiedrich's (he is from the US) tweet of 12/10/21 springs to mind, excuse the language
"Holy fucking shit, vaccine mandates are causing teachers who don't believe in science to quit, nurses who don't believe in medicine to quit, and cops who don't believe in public safety to quit. I'm failing to see the downside to this".
I only asked for you to back up your assertion of compulsion of vaccines for nurses.
Nothing to do with other health science folk, nor you or your acquaintances attitudes to vaccination.
I feel you are the one that is putting a contemporary twist. Clearly, for you it feels right that nurses be obligated to be vaccinated because plumbers, health science folk etc.
It's just that it ain't so.
I prefer the original,
I also like an original with same name but a harder edge:
@gsays. If vaccines are not compulsory why are nurses now leaving?
I make no bones about believing what she says. She was required to have a range of vaccines on starting the degree and is required to maintain these while in a hospital setting.
Is that what you call compulsion?
I call it common sense and reasonable. Most reasonable people would not see it as compulsion but would know that their employer has rights and can warn, warn terminate over some thing as fundamental
I also call reasonable any employer, including in the health sector, who takes action to terminate employment if requirements are not met. So if she let slip on some of her vaccine requirements she is sure that action would be taken…but there are other occupations that are required to do things that we might feel are onerous.
The large hospitals she works in/has worked in operate a reminder system by email about upcoming requirements. She has had the ones on the travel schedule as working in a large hospital she may be required to nurse someone with one of them- say a recent immigrant or traveller.
I make no bones about knowing that both my flatmate and next door Dr believe in the science and are reasonable people. Neither would want to jeopardise their health or their job by playing around in not getting updates or yearly vaccines. Why would they take their employer to the brink of a termination by not getting vaccines…
Of course I accept that other hospitals may not enforce vaccines, their choice. My flatmate knows that her hospital does enforce vaccines.
I do not want to get into any squirming around, word salads or nuances of meaning to met your need to go 'shock horror', compulsion, mandate.
It is a fact, take it or leave it.
What rubbish about the health sciences……and wanting nurses to be vaccinated because of them.
I only knew about the nurses and Drs requiring to be vaccinated. And my ex husband had a range of vaccines being in the military. The knowledge about the plumbers and health sciences people I found out about in response to some of my posts on TS. Actually I did know but had forgotten about the plumbers.
If your nurses have done degrees did they not have the vaccine requirements?
What a load of rot. Good riff on "Morpheus recruits Neo" at the start, though.
Firstly, we do look at those things she was going on about with "if this was truly about health". Hell, the suicide thing for a start has been repeatedly debunked publicly. Yet still this [no longer practising] doctor is pretending it's not been discussed?
Secondly, the future she wants requires covid to not exist. It's one thing to say that the government is leveraging covid to increase control, it's another thing entirely to pretend that covid doesn't exist. Why, just today I saw a thing about from a [not a medical] Doctor that proves covid has killed 17,000 people at a minimum in the UK, and maybe hundreds of thousands more.
But let's say this is all about "control" rather than ensuring that people in situations with high numbers of close contacts have at least a modicum of immunity and physical protection (masks) against infection or symptoms. Let's pretend that's true for a moment:
My theory is ..this is the connection…
'The academic scholars that compiled the Fed’s loans during the financial crisis for the Levy Economics Institute also provided cumulative tallies. Their tally, which included additional Fed bailout programs not included by the GAO, came to $29 trillion.-Wall St On Parade'.
Follow the money…never fails.
@$40 a second it takes 792 years to spend one trillion.
Houses in NZ cost $1million…very …good….any war drums…beating,what distractions to a financial catastrophe are…around?
OK, so the pandemic is a distraction from financial collapse because of theft by the capitalist class.
Then why the covid apps? Lockdowns, sure. Letting the disease run rampant while having xmas parties – sure. Both cause disruption and piss people off (the latter one with mass death, starting with at least 17k and likely going as high as a hundred times that, if not more).
But how does a qr code app distract from financial crises, any more than it increases "control" that the population has already taken on board willingly??
So as Meatloaf said 2 out of 3 ain't bad!
If you look at world indebtedness…crypto,and the move to a cashless society..you will see that 'control' needs to be contoured to identifying every person and their activity/movements/ and sentiments.
The 'hearts and minds ' were easily assuaged by corporate MSM ,but now the internet is such a rich vein of information that reality is a threat to perception.
Smedley -Butlers epiphany' is proof of..that.
2/3 for covid, maybe. But why would the powers that be spend money on apps for things we're eagerly adopting anyway?
Crypto is like cash, but without the convenience, transaction speed, or ubiquity. It makes you stand out, so if you're doing it to lay low it's counterproductive.
But the main problem for the conspiracy theories is that something like covid was going to happen anyway, and the capitalists would make money off it anyway. There's always a crisis or some international tension.
They say never let a crisis go to waste…
So you think the expansion in debt by trillions since 2008 backed by U.S military force is completely logical and its quite clear that an average house in NZ is worth ..$1 million ….very good..nothing to see here…hang on..China's human rights are a BIG problem,and Russia has troops on its own …border!OMG…
No, I don't think that.
I just don't understand why some apparently believe that covid is realistically just an excuse to gain "control" that the population has already ceded.
I don't understand the objectives, methodology, or logic of any plan that would fit that portrayal.
Well how does distraction or truth figure in the big picture?
As I have pointed out numerous times 25,000 people die EVERYDAY from starvation…what have you got to say about ..that?
Well, I suppose it suggests that the people arguing against already redundant measures of "control" are providing the distraction. Predictability can be useful, I guess.
It's bad? Not sure how an app would prevent it, though. But I can see the point for apps to reduce the impact of a pandemic.
Yes I am in total agreement with you ..that an App would not prevent 25,000 dying of starvation.
I guess when it comes to deaths we have to get our ..priorities ..right.
Don't you just love 'conspiracy theorists' . . . they are so, so off kilter to be really entertaining!
Just remembering Meatloaf.
From David Farrier
https://www.webworm.co/p/meatloaf
Republican and anti vaxxer who died from Covid I find now…….who cares about his views, the music!!!!!
I did hear someone say I will do anything for love, but I won't get vaxxed. RIP
Magic.
This is from Oct 2021, but superb burn from the bods at the MoH,
Picked up this tweet form your link;
David Hood
@Thoughtfulnz
Pretty much sums up the strident anti-vaxxers.
Edit: as opposed to those unvaccinated for acceptable reasons.
Seems to me that someone with privileges associated with being an author who abuses such a position should in turn have sanctions imposed on them. If this doesn't happen then maybe the community could boycott any further posts by that particular "author".
What 'abuses' would they be..then?
Surprised you haven't < a href="https://thestandard.org.nz/uk-covid-deaths-with-no-underlying-factor/#comment-1853730">seen it</a>
I’ve stuffed the link up, I believe this to be an abuse of power: “That comment was the very final comment you ever made beneath one of my posts on ‘the standard’.”
I've not posted until recently since early October because I was dismayed by the misinformation freely promoted by two powerful right wing vaccine/pandemic sceptic moderators resident at this forum. And by their powerful control over ordinary commenters at The Standard, and their immunity from the actual rules of the site itself.
I acknowledge the efforts of weka and lprent in calmly challenging the dangerous promotion of misinformation by these vaccine/pandemic sceptic moderators, but it has been painful to watch.
I disagree with boycotts on some issues.
Boycotting posts that involve covid minimisation or misinformation (and broaden the exposure of others who do the same) would simply leave such information unchallenged, even if it were to contain serious omissions or errors in anything from math to basic anatomy. Would that be an echo chamber, or a recruiting station?
Lies can run around the world before the truth has its boots on. If a subject of great importance happens to be in someone's area of knowledge and misinformation can cost lives, please try to make the lie have to carry your weight for a bit.
Truth might catch up eventually.
But it's like whack-a-mole with these guys. It does not matter how many times they are challenged on misinformation. Cornered, they double down and become more virulent.
I like the idea of a boycott because their lies are left to sit idle in an empty chamber.
I think it’s time the proletariat, us, stood up with our voices like bwaghorn did, or our silence. They can’t ban us all.
But if the chamber is left empty to fester by itself, I wonder how many posts where an author ends up suggesting that the covid UK death toll might not even be 1% of the official toll would enventually end up in links on FB groups or twitter, or other blogsites?
It is whack-a-mole, sure. But the objective isn't to persuade the mole.
When someone new reads the post and discussion (and might not realise that "50% efficacy" isn't equivalent to a toss of a coin whether you get it), if the comments include "you have a basic error of fact here" the reader might think a bit more closely about the content.
Well, a huge amount of ordinary people's time is being spent continually putting out anti-vax fires when it's probably best to just kick the the fire-setters out.
Also, newcomers are going to read vaccine sceptic and ivermectin promoting posts and believe this is what The Standard is all about.
Question; how many months/years have to pass without authoring a post before an "author" is no longer considered as such?
I agree, but who has author privileges is up to the trust.
How/whether we respond to misinformation in posts and comments is up to us, while we still can.
If we have the means to act, we have the responsibility to act. Nobody's perfect at it, but hey. We can all try, even if we think other people are dropping the ball..
"…..while we still can"
Not "we" brother, you're not allowed on his pages any more. It's not a ban though, you're just too good at debating so you can't play anymore 'cos you won't let him win.
As well as that we continually ask for citing and just as continually get ignored.
Opinions are good, but as many have said they're like a-holes and everybody has them but then an opinion with links or citations 'mwah mwah', love them. Weka in several posts above speaks good sense in her opinions with no need for citations.
I am just wondering 'are we there yet' as far as posts on Covid are concerned. Everything seems to have been said many times before. Would the sky fall in if we saw what would happen if we declared a moratorium for a week on posts about Covid.
If something new or groundbreaking happened in the Covid world during that week we could 'petition' a mod to open up a thread.
I am aware of two individuals, each who lost a parent in England with Covid. They were elderly and frail and both were in rest homes. Yet the death certificates claimed their deaths were due to other causes. Both took place in 2020 when it became known the British Govt. was trying to hide the real Covid death toll. Since then, several Covid international experts have estimated that the real toll from Covid is at least double that of the official numbers.
No. I'm not going to go hunting for links because I have better things to do. There were many stories, some dating back to 2020, so anyone who claims they have never heard of them are obviously living under a rock somewhere.
Yes I had heard that and I think the mysterious ways death certs were being drawn up was one of the reasons for the WHO intervention as they needed to be able drag out consistent info world-wide to see trends worldwide. Tricky dicky ways of completing death certs would stymie this of course.
Is Liz Gunn writing a guest post here tomorrow? Maybe Brian Tamaki from the mount of Eden? How low will The Standard go?
Anybody can submit a Guest Post here but very few do. My guess is that if you want to write about your opinion on how low the standards have fallen on The Standard it will not be published. However, feel free to try 😉
https://thestandard.org.nz/contribute-post/
I was replying to fender and your "guess" is incorrect.
In that case, I stand corrected and I’ll look forward to your Guest Post on TS on TS. I just hope it will have more substance than your “reply” @ 11.4 to fender and less of an attack on this site and its authors.
Mikeys back in the morning. But this is a disturbing story. When someone threatens Mikey because they have a poor grasp of the English language.. you know Aotearoa is letting the wrong people through our borders.
The first reason I would deport this chap is because he didn't know what a burner phone was.
The second reason is the chap is 60 and English is his second language. Of course he was discharged without conviction.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/threat-against-mike-hosking-man-in-court-for-alleged-violent-text-against-newstalk-zb-host/PDH3BAYYI3ZAXFUC23MJ7E2JFY/