Collins touching on the one of the Far Right talking points. Even if it means she has to lie.
"We are concerned about mandatory vaccination creeping in."
"Non-jab, no job"
"No other job has mandatory vaccination, (other than border workers)" Judith Collins
In fact the NZDF has mandatory vaccination is required before deployment overseas.
All Water Care employees and contractors at Mangere waste water treatment plant, must be vaccinated to work on that site.
Is Collins advocating that NZDF should have voluntary vaccination, before deploying to vulnerable and isolated third world countries?
Is Collins advocating that Water Care workers should be allowed to have a choice whether they are vaccinated before working with sewerage?
What is most disgusting about Collins reach out to the anti-vax conspiracy theorists, is that it comes hard on the heels of the violent anti-vax and neo-nazi attack on the CFMEU trade union office in Australia.
Construction to shut down in Victoria after violent protests at CFMEU office
'It was orchestrated by rightwing extremists and that is something that we've seen – the targeting of other blue-collar unions over the last few months,' ACTU president Michele O'Neil says….
The anti vaxxer movement has infiltrated the construction industry in Victoria. I read it online somewhere last night. They are getting better organised by the day and undermining all the hard work by the authorities and the police.
“Voices for Freedom” are doing the same thing here. Apart from pamphlet drops (got one in my letterbox last week) they are assembling outside schools and trying to coerce teenagers from being vaccinated. I expect they are spreading the lie they will become sterile.
They are becoming more vociferous and daring and imo should be outlawed. There is plenty of precedence in history during times of emergencies.
Sep 22, 2021 8:55 AM
RNZ Live
Anti vaccination protesters are outside Taita College in the the Hutt Valley where students are getting vaccinated this week.
The group called Voices for Freedom are standing at the entry to the school with signs saying 'can we trust the media?' and "vaccines are bioweapons".
RNZ has spoken to some students who were confused and concerned, while others were laughing.
Police are at the scene, and teachers are helping students get inside.
Is Collins advocating that NZDF should have voluntary vaccination, before deploying to vulnerable and isolated third world countries? IsCollins advocating that Water Care workers should be allowed to have a choice whether they are vaccinated before working with sewerage?
Who knows? Collins reacts to everything that happens with a knee-jerk complaint about the government. Who even listens these days
What is most disgusting about Collins reach out to the anti-vax conspiracy theorists, is that it comes hard on the heels of the violent anti-vax and neo-nazi attack on the CFMEU trade union office in Australia.
True, but Collins is invested in whining about the guvermint purely for the sake of it. I seriously doubt any anti-vaxers who might harbour notions of organising disruptive, violent protests in NZ are going to be influenced by whatever new, daft outburst Collins has to say.
She's crashing the National Party's credibility towards zero every day. Shelf-life now very close to expiry, imo.
…..Collins is invested in whining about the guvermint purely for the sake of it. I seriously doubt any anti-vaxers who might harbour notions of organising disruptive, violent protests in NZ are going to be influenced by whatever new, daft outburst Collins has to say.
I don't think that Judith Collins was inciting any anti-vaxers into organising disruptive violent protests, (though that could be a side-effect). What Collins is doing with her comments,about creeping mandatory vaccination, is opportunistically scraping the bottom of the barrel for their votes.
In the same interview she attacks the government for low vaccination rates.
And then claims she has a plan.
I would be very interested in seeing it.
Just how does the National Party propose to get us out of Lockdowns and/or raise vaccination levels above the 90% threshold, that the medical experts tell us will be needed to lift all Lockdown restrictions, and prevent the collapse of our health system?
I would really like to know.
It would be ironic, if Judith Collins’ plan has some level of mandatory vaccination. Now that she has gone on the record as being opposed to it.
In the same interview she attacks the government for low vaccination rates.
And then claims she has a plan. I would be very interested in seeing it
… … … …
"Almost every other country that we compare ourselves to is rolling out vaccinations as quickly as they can. Our closest neighbour, Australia, has prioritized this with vaccinations starting within the next few weeks.
This means their citizens will be safer. They’ll have the certainty to get back to business. They’ll see international students and visitors return, and life for Kiwis who live in Australia will start to get back to normal.
New Zealanders can’t afford another lockdown. But even more than this, failing to secure vaccinations for our frontline workers, border staff and those who work in and around managed isolation and quarantine shows a massive disregard for the sacrifice New Zealanders made last year. It is not good enough.
We need to match Australia’s schedule. We should be like Singapore, rolling out the vaccine to frontline workers and those vulnerable New Zealanders who need it urgently."
… … … …
The Australian "defence" industry and the politicians they donate to (aka bribe) – are very much a mirror of the US war machine, and know exactly what they are doing.
MSM Russiagate and MSM lies on Syrian gas attacks both crumble even further into the gutter where they belong..but of course not one person in the media that uncritically pushed these obviously bullshit stories 24/7 will be held to account…nope just like all the media and journalist who willingly pushed war in Iraq in the service of power, they will face no consequences…probably because there is so much crossover in who benefits from those lies.
Hmmmm looks like those pesky Hunter Biden emails were real after all.
The disinformation wasn't Russian , it came from all those partisan journos ready to ditch the integrity of their trade so they could belong to the "right" crowd
Politico was one of those outlets.Now one of its writers has come out with a book verifying the emails , with recipients affirming .
@Jenny how to get there…can you please explain to us exactly how highlighting the fact that Liberal MSM has been disseminating misinformation on the completely fabricated Russian collusion conspiracy for years on end, also completely disregarding all public information on the Douma chemical attack that didn't fit with their state sanctioned narrative, to the point that the BBC has been forced into a pubic apology is "running interference for Russian imperialism and Assad fascism"?…I would be interested to see what tortured logic you come up with…I am sure it couldn't be any worse than the years of bullshit that has been spewed out by the usual suspects around here defending their masters like good little soldiers…but who knows you might be a better soldier than them….fire away.
I am not going to play google tag with you, and waste my time to go over line by line the specifics of the Douma gas attack. Not because I can't, but what's the point.
The vast majority of Syrian civilians killed by the Assad regime are not being killed in gas attacks.
The vast majority of Syrian civilians being killed by the Assad regime and their Iranian allies and Russian patron, are not by gas attacks, but by so called 'conventional weapons', and in industrial scale extermination camps, into which tens of thousands of Syrians have been disappeared into.
Everyone who knows anything of Syria has heard of Sednaya, the biggest and most notorious of the Assad regime's death camps.
19 kilometres North of Damascus everbody knows where Sednaya is.
But I tell you what. Not one of the Western journalists and apologists who have visited the Damascus as guests of the Assad regime, have ever asked for a tour of Sednaya.
Sednaya Prison
See also: Sednaya Prison
To the west of Saidnaya, the government has a military prison with estimated of 14,000 prisoners. The prison lies 30 km on the outskirts of Northern Damascus.[17] In February 2017 Amnesty International released a report saying: "that between 5,000 and 13,000 people were extra judicially executed at Saydnaya between September 2011 and December 2015."[18] On May 15, 2017, the US State Department reiterated the charge of 50 secret executions a day, concealed by subsequent cremation on site.[19][20]
The Assad regime is killing so many detainees in Syria that it now amounts to the crime against humanity of "extermination", a UN report has found.
In a document published by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, investigators found the Syrian government responsible for "massive and systematised violence".
The crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime, according to the UN, far outnumber those of Isis militants and other jihadist groups….
At least three detainees belong to Syria's minority Christian community were identified among leaked mass torture photos, according to the Syrian Association for the Missing and Prisoners of Conscience.
Syrian Christian community with total population of 1.75 million has faced growing violence since the uprising erupted in March 2011. But mass torture photos inside Syrian regime's security chambers have revealed gruesome revenge of Christians who supported Syrian revolution.
For long decades, Assad's family (Father and Son) has presented itself as minorities protector. But Syrian conflict disclosed the real face of such allegations, activists said.
……
According to reports, in 2012 the first Christian Free Syrian Army unit formed, yet it was reported that the Assad government still had the reluctant support of the majority of the country's Christians of various ethnicities and denominations. By 2013 an increasing number of Christians favored the opposition. In 2014, the predominantly Christian Syriac Military Council formed an alliance with the FSA, and other Syrian Christian militias such as the Sutoro had joined the Syrian opposition against the Assad regime.
The atrocious photos of mass torture by Syrian security had been taken between 2011 and mid 2013 in the well-known 601 military hospital in Mezzah neighborhood of Damascus. The photos showed hundreds of lifeless bodies with signs of starvation, brutal beatings, strangulation and other forms of torture and killing.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights, in report issued last September, said at least 215,000 people were arrested by Syrian security since the revolution erupted in March 2011. (4500 of them are women and 9,000 are less than 18).
According to the report, 2630 detainees were tortured to death and 70,000 cases documented as enforced disappearance…..
This thread is about Russiagate and Douma specifically…your obfuscating has not answered my question even slightly…of course.
But then you and others seem to be quite OK with your media lying right to your face..infact you seem to like it, which is kind of weird…but hey different strokes for different folks I say.
Douma at the time was under heavy rocket and air attack by the Assad regime.
The pattern is much the same, and still being practiced by the regime's forces, indiscriminate bombing and shelling of all rebel held towns and cities.
The contested Douma gas attack was only one incident in a much broader government offensive that killed many more civilians and rebel fighters.
Weapons of mass destruction like nuclear weapons arnd gas weapons are only for our side to have. Third World totalitarian leaders like Kim Jong-Un of Basha Al Assad are not allowed to have them, let alone use them.
Their use is what captures the Western powers attention, and makes our military and political leaders nervous.
Generally I have chosen not to battle through the fog of war and following propaganda enslaught over each separate incident of chemical weapons use, to concentrate on the more massive acts of genocide that even the most gullible or ablest knowing apologists of Assad fascism can't deny.
I am talking here of the genocidal destruction of Homs and Hama and rebel held Aleppo, and the extensive network of government extermination camps and prisons, into which tens of thousands of Syrian civlians and activists have disappeared into.
But if we are going to do the google thing around the Douma gas attack, you couldn't do better than this report from the Intercept.
For those who are genuinly interested in what is happening in Syria I can personally reccomend this report..
WHAT HAPPENED IN DOUMA? SEARCHING FOR FACTS IN THE FOG OF SYRIA’S PROPAGANDA WAR
The next world war may begin with a grainy, contested, online image launched onto the pages of a newspaper that has recently sacked all its journalists.
From what I've heard ever since the press conference, there is no "90% target". Let alone by geographic, demographic, or number of jabs.
At least 90%. That's what they said. That's what they mean about loosening things up with "high" vax rates. The specifics depend on the circumstances when we get to a "high" rate. Don't fall into the tory trap of assuming 90% is a target. It's not, they're just laying the groundwork to bitch again.
"It depends" sucks for people who have an attachment to firm and precise numbers, but the real world requires fuzzy logic processing sometimes.
No, not a cop out. They made the cardnial sin of not boring people to death using language that even the 1980s HHGTTG text-based computer game could parse, probably because if they had then a lot of knobs would parrot "explaining is losing" instead of "we don't know what's going oooonnnn".
Let's break this down further, shall we?
90% is in the region that is denoted "high". Probably near the base of that region, but don't be super-surprised if they start announcing things loosening up from the mid 80 percentages.
But, gosh, a high percentage of what? Fuck, we might never know.
I'll take a punt and say maybe it's to do with vaccination levels. But fully vaxed or partial? Of over 12s or over 5s? omagerd, it needs to be written in stone right now!!!
fucksake. Who gives a shit. We get there when we get there.
All races at 90% (Admittedly it would only be Maori and Pacifica, as for some odd reason Asians and Indians never appear in figures as apparently don't matter)
I heard on the radio that Bloomfield idiot said not unless Maori were at 90% (Again 90% in what contexts?)
As an aside, if the figures are still double figures at that time, do you think they will open up the country to Aucklanders at the same time school holidays start?
All races at 90% (Admittedly it would only be Maori and Pacifica, as for some odd reason Asians and Indians never appear in figures as apparently don't matter)
Some things never change and it seems that you’re still a trolling idiot.
Fair point, it measured in official background statistics, but I was more talking about mentioned in their announcements to the media and their daily party ad.
But you have made a good point and I take back what I said.
You do unbderstand that the reason for high vaccination is to stop the ICUs being overloaded so people other than covid patients can be treated?
Opening up if the ICUs will be flooded by people from a particular region or ethnicity just creates the same outcome, with the extra icing that the region or ethnicity is viewed as expendable by the government.
If you genuinely don't know why your questions can come across as trolling, try thinking harder about that.
Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi is not happy about possible govt plans to open two more quarantine facilities in Rotorua. He says one will be a fourth MIQ and the other a quarantine facility for Covid-19 infectious people.
… … … …
"Waititi said his information had come from "sources" and he was concerned about leaks of Covid-19 into the community if a quarantine facility was established in the city.
This only increases the potential for a MIQ breach leading to a community outbreak," he said. "It adds more pressure on the local health system and ultimately means more lockdowns.
"This would be disastrous for Rotorua, and especially Māori who make up 45 per cent of the Rotorua population."
There was a major difference between isolation and quarantine, Waititi said.
(Waititi seems to be creating a very high media profile by complaining about all sorts of things. He's very telegenic, imo, & personally I currently expect Te Pāti Māori to do very well at the next election – Gez)
… … …
"Rotorua keeps and brings those infectious, to our community," Waititi said.
'This would be disastrous for Rotorua, and especially Māori who make up 45 per cent of the Rotorua population.'"
… … …
Hard to say if this is primarily a political ploy or stunt, but I think he's got a point. Hope he's doing all he can meantime to arrange for eligible Rotorua district ngā tāngata katoa (everybody) to get their Covid vaccinations asap.
Both of those high value PR opportunities for Waititi. He knows his target audience.
I was watching Parliament live the day he suckered Mallard into giving awesome free publicity. The rules were that male MPs were expected to wear “business attire”, which tos most Pākehā is a suit & tie.
But there are tons of prominent Māori leaders, academics, & businessmen who wear a large hei tiki draped around their necks & hanging over their shirt front. It’s a perfectly, & very common normal tāne Māori business attire.
Mallard threw a classic Pākehā stale male hissy fit, not thinking it thru. Bingo. Waititi gets the opportunity to do – for a Māori man whose mana has just been impugned – a rollicking & very culturally appropriate haka of protest & utu – reciprocation.
Within days, Mallard lifted the requirement for men to wear ties. Big ups to Rawiri.
The “call NZ Aotearoa” petition & his & his Party’s commitment to keep calling for a name change is pure theatre, but he’ll get a lot more profile-raising mileage out of this issue too. I’m not in favour personally, bur I know two Pākehā acquaintences who agree with him.
Rawiri sometimes sails too close to the “all Pākehā are racist colonisers” line for my liking.
As for how much work he’s doing, I don’t know but I bet it’s a lot more than many Pākehā think. Māori electorates are huge, They involve talking at a lot of marare, with Māori orgs, hapu iwi, constituents, & a lot of travelling. That gets pretty wearing I imagine.
The Speaker was the hall monitor for what Parliaments ' rules committee' decides.
I thought he was in favour of a less literal interpretation of 'neck thingy' and once the committee met and changed it then the Speaker could follow the new direction
"Speaker Trevor Mallard has announced that ties are no longer mandatory in Parliament.
It comes days after a dress code stoush between him and Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi, which saw Waititi booted out for not wearing a tie.
Mallard said a Standing Orders committee meeting discussed appropriate business attire tonight and a submission on the topic was heard from Te Paati Māori (Māori Party).
"The committee did not reach a consensus but the majority of the committee was in favour of removing a requirement for ties to be part of 'appropriate business attire' for males," he said in a Tweet.
'As Speaker, I am guided by the committee's discussion and decision, and therefore ties will no longer be considered required as part of 'appropriate business attire'. I acknowledge those who felt this was an important issue worthy of further consideration.'"
… … …
Where Mallard did Waititi a huge favour was in objecting to the hei tiki being worn instead of a tie. Hugely boosted Rawiri's profile, & his mana with Māori.
Rather long but interesting watch on who's at the forefront of everything from the January 6th insurrection in the US, the anti-Muslim/anti immigrant protests across Europe and the anti-vaxx/anti-lockdown demonstrations in the west to our very own howl of protest fuckwittery.
Are we the last country on earth talking about noting else other than COVID? I am becoming very fatigued that after 18 months it seems to be the only thing the media or government are focussed on. It has almost become an obssession. We are still having daily press conferences on this, and every new bulletin opens with a daily case update, or story about people buying KFC.
Yes, it is the issue of our time, but there are other things happening out there in the world, which warrant our attention. How long will our daily obesseion continue?
A quick scan of international media shows, that something which started 18 months ago, isn't really news worthy anymore. COVID doesn't really get much of a mention out there
I have general faith in the MoH to do their job when it comes to COVID. Contact trace, isolating people and slowly rolling out the vaccine. They are doing it reasonably well to the point I don't think we need the minute by minute commentary, that we were doing in March last year.
I have a lot less faith in other government departments doing their job, so I wish we would turn, at least some of, our attention to them. Imagine if we had a daily press conference to announce the housing waiting list, homelessness statisitics and climate change targets.
Climate change and homelessness are Green Party Ministerial responsibilities, so Chloe Swarbrick could always start with some accountability from her own colleagues.
Chloe's current push is the futile and exceedingly middle class pursuit of rebuilding St James Theatre.
Chloe Swarbrick should pull her head out of her ass.
Perhaps it is all distraction as continuing legislative changes take place out of the spotlight. It is quite instructive to have pending legislation and Parliament Order papers fed to your email.
I agree with you on the inevitable stories about coffee, KFC, buying flour etc.
It's not news, it's trivia at best. As Chloe Swarbrick says about updates on housing and CC, and Maurice eludes to, there are other important issues that are being ignored.
That will learn me for watching TV news after years of giving it a wide berth.
Yes. They’re very rare, but they DO sometimes happen. Even in the centre of their landmass. That whole continent’s tectonic plate is always being squeezed by others. And sometimes I guess some ancient fold or fault cracks or shudders. Or there’s some local geographic collapse deep down under.
Yes Earthquakes are very over rare over here in Oz, there is a very large number of various fault lines in Oz to ancient volcanos & hotspots from the east coast of Nth’ern Qld all the way down to Victorian- SA Border & within the greater Melbourne area.
I live in Wellington, Scud. We get a lot of small earthquakes in Tawa, many coming from a slow slip event happening off the Western Kapiti Coast.
And there are about four or five major fault lines in the Welly region that generate huge quakes when they go. We're always waiting for The Big One on the Wellington fault.
But I hail from New Plymouth, Taranaki, where I grew up. Now ma & pa have both passed away here, I've been thinking about whether I should move back there, like ma wanted me to after she died. To be with my siblings up there.
The thing is, I grew up in the shadow of the beautiful & magnificent Mt Taranaki. And volcanologists say, geologically speaking it's due for an eruption, which might be small, or it might be blimmin massive. It's unusual for the number of times it's blown itself apart, & then just rebuilt itself.
It's only short. But this is what my Taranaki Maunga does:
I’m ex CHCH until 1998, so I’m quite used to Mother Nature rocking & rolling. We get a few deep earthquakes from Indonesia- Timor-Leste Area rattling Darwin & the odd from Tennant Creek Area. I’ve just finished reading up the Halls Fall Faultline that runs from the Halls Falls area in WA all the way up to the other side of Darwin Harbour & out to the sea.
We are approaching the point in the pandemic where we move from collectivising risk to individualising it. In the first phase it was collective, action, equality of sacrifice and no-one left behind. In the second phase it is get vaccinated, take precautions that are suitable for your risk profile, and if you are unlucky the healthcare system should (but might not) be there to help you. Normal transmission is being resumed and the government has not used the pandemic as a catalyst for changing anything important. Last year in the first L4 lockdown, we were as ripe as we'll ever be for UBI and significant poverty and inequality reduction efforts. Under pandemic conditions such things would arguably be rational, rather than political. Operationally, this government has handled the pandemic superbly, but strategically and ideologically not so much. The lessons we learned will go down the memory hole of history as we scramble back into a dysfunctional BAU.
I'm thinking AB means BAU in a very broad sense, that in the end the interests of "the economy" prevail, back to the dysfunctional neo-liberal-driven way of life. Illustrated, possibly, by Auckland’s move from L4 to L3, described by some experts as a “calculated risk”, and by others as more ideologically-driven than anything else.
Just out of interest I looked up the Polio Vaccine info and in 1956 there was 90% parental approval for child vaccination compared to only 29% in England, 42% in Scotland and 74% in NSW. We should be good for 90% here for Covid if our history of doing the right thing still holds. Interestingly the same problems were apparent then, production problems, the US refusing to export and lack of refrigeration, ( only a day or so leeway in ambient temp then).
More and more stories coming out about the what was going on in the Wuhan Lab and frankly it now seems more and more likely we are dealing with a virus that had been tinkered with… fucking insanity.
“They also planned to create chimeric viruses, genetically enhanced to infect humans more easily, and requested US$14 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to fund the work.”
Where does that link to; Cricklewood? I have learned not to click on concealed links on this site, as I imagine; so have others. Gain of Function Research is not that unusual – if that is what you are referring to?
A quick google threw up this Intercept article (limited to 3 free article views, but not otherwise paywalled) though I am not disposed to trawl through all 900+ pages of FOIA primary sources to confirm what they are saying.
On August 27, Biden announced that the intelligence inquiry was inconclusive.
Biden blamed China for failing to release critical data, but the U.S. government has also been slow to release information. The Intercept initially requested the proposals inSeptember 2020.
It doesn't seem that unreasonable to me to fund and conduct research into SARS & MERS in a virology lab. Though if it was done at the Biosafety Level 3 Wuhan University Center for Animal Experiment, rather than the BL4 Wuhan Institute of Virology, then the denials that the WIoV was involved might be a way of deflecting attention from the WUCfAE. The evidence does not seem conclusive.
In any case, there is more noise than sound in the speculations on both sides of these lab leak "theories" (ie conjectures beyond what is supported by evidence). I doubt there is much good faith on either side, even if one, or both, speculations are eventually confirmed. Personally, I think all labs licensed to operate beyond BL1 (eg university teaching labs using low risk biologicals level), should be subject to regular un-notified inspection by independent teams of international experts. That's not going to happen though!
Mr Zhao, who is known for his aggressive style of diplomacy, has played an important role in spreading the "US origin" theory. Several tweets from his account last year first drew wide attention to Fort Detrick. "What's behind the closure of the biolab at Fort Detrick?" he wrote in July 2020, "When will US invite experts to investigate the origin of the virus in US?"
In recent months, his calls have been joined by Chinese diplomats based in various countries, and the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV even aired an hour-long special report, "The Dark History behind Fort Detrick", focusing on breaches of containment at the lab in 2019, to bolster claims of lax lab security echoed by Chinese officials and state media. A related hashtag has had more than 100 million views on Weibo, China's Twitter equivalent.
Yesterday, seven were infectious in the community, FFS. They’re chasing the tail, which is wagging the dog. Stomp on it, hard and fast and don’t mind the yelping dog, FFS.
It's a dangerous habit to get into chasing the gauges of the daily numbers and demand level 4 for any community cases above zero.
It's a process they're working through. they're identifying connections with previous cases for almost all new cases within a day of diagnosis. They're not getting randos coming in so much with absolutely no connection with any previous cases. So they have several clusters that are being reasonably well contained, and that will burn themselves out eventually.
Level 3 matches that risk profile. We're using the same playbook that got us out of it last time, and it seems to be working about as well as it did last time. Better, even, because we started it sooner.
I hear you but the risk with smouldering fires is that they can flare up and burst into flames at any time. I believe that a more stringent ‘bespoke’ approach is justified and warranted to place a higher firewall around existing known clusters. The persistent tail is reason enough to up the ante, IMO.
At the moment, the assessment is that the winds have died down, the main blazes have been extinguished, so it's just the slog of finding the hot spots and digging them out. that means the evacuation orders can be cancelled and people can return to the properties that were in danger.
If the winds pick up and embers transfer again, back come the monsoon buckets and evacuations. But the full court press takes a heavy toll on everyone, so only gets done when times are desperate.
Changing topic. There is a major grizzle going down with importers about the backlog of vessels waiting to come alongside at Auckland Port. History repeats itself. I well remember in 1972 on a voyage to Japan with my partner (wives privilege of accompanying officers of the sea going vessels) and arriving in Tokoyo to see rows and rows of vessels waiting to go alongside or being off loaded by barges way out in the bay. 50 plus vessels at least. I also remember the sea was like glue it was so polluted. We were going into drydock at Yokohama but the sight was one I never forgot.
Now there are 60+ vessels out in the bay in LA waiting for a berth alongside. It seems our ports have been suffering from logjams for ever and a day.
In comparison Auckland has no problems and maybe there should be less whinging from the importers and accept the circumstances.
we are dealing with a virus that had been tinkered with… fucking insanity.
I'm not sure I'd be trusting the source of that article. Not one jot.
Papers, confirmed as genuine by a former member of the Trump administration, show they were hoping to introduce "human-specific cleavage sites" to bat coronaviruses which would make it easier for the virus to enter human cells.
When Covid-19 was first genetically sequenced, scientists were puzzled about how the virus had evolved such a human-specific adaptation at the cleavage site on the spike protein, which is the reason it is so infectious.
The documents were released by Drastic, the web-based investigations team set up by scientists from across the world to look into the origins of Covid-19.
In a statement, Drastic said: "Given that we find in this proposal a discussion of the planned introduction of human-specific cleavage sites, a review by the wider scientific community of the plausibility of artificial insertion is warranted."
DRASTIC (Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19) is a loose collection of scientists and researchers investigating the origins of COVID-19, in particular the COVID-19 lab leak theory. Most scientists maintain COVID-19 likely had a natural origin, but a lab leak is still a possibility worth investigating. DRASTIC is composed of about 30 core members, whose activity is primarily organized through the social media website Twitter. They formed in February 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. DRASTIC members have called for a "full and unrestricted investigation" into the origins of COVID-19, conducted independently of the World Health Organization.
Many of DRASTIC's members use pseudonyms, while identified members have backgrounds including mycology, neuroscience, and data science. Members of DRASTIC have engaged in personal attacks against virologists and epidemiologists on Twitter, falsely accusing some of working for the Chinese Communist Party.
Perhaps but no one is flat out denying what they have released in terms of documents and given the USAs likely involvment in funding work in the Lab https://www.bbc.com/news/57932699 I think its the mostly likely source of what has proven a remarkably well adapted virus.
But it very much suits those in power not to have that exposed.
It can be a long process finding the animal source of an outbreak. Not only have you got to stumble across the correct population but additionally, you have to sample the animal at the time it is infected with the virus. Progress is however being made. A bat population in the Northern Laos region has been sampled and found to contain a very closely related covd virus. It contains the human ace receptor site though not however the furin cleavage site. But the existence of the human ace receptor site is enough to allow the possibility of the evolution of the furin cleavage site in repeated human contacts. Or a wild furin cleavage site may still be found. These things take a lot of time.
"The WHO team's main public conclusion so far is that it's "extremely unlikely" that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan. The scientists think the virus most likely started in bats, then jumped to other animals, then to humans.
Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans was part of that team that "reconstructed every step in that initial outbreak" in two weeks of investigation."
"So from everything that we've looked at and we've also visited three labs involved and also three labs that work on these viruses. From that, we have not been able to find any credible link there."
"How open and transparent were the Chinese once they let you in?
This is a topic and a mission. There are sensitivities around it … big political tensions that are around it. And that's something you cannot completely avoid in a situation like this. But once we got out of our quarantine, got into the face-to-face meetings, I think we've managed to get into real good scientific exchange with stiff discussions here and there, because [people] start from different backgrounds and different views. But I tell everyone, wait and read the report and let's discuss then. But I think we managed to get a good outcome of this meeting. I think it was in that sense quite successful."
"Is there anything that you think is necessary to know that you don't have access to?
Not really. So if you say, did the Chinese colleagues hand over the complete raw data files? No, they did not. But then again, I did not expect that in a mission like this. So we've seen a lot of information. We've been given a lot of information. We've had access to the people working on the data, aggregating the data, looking at what exact questionnaires that they used, what does the data file look like. To me, that is quite extensive data access."
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
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Liar, liar pants on fire.
Judith Collins, this morning on TVNZ Breakfast.
Collins touching on the one of the Far Right talking points. Even if it means she has to lie.
In fact the NZDF has mandatory vaccination is required before deployment overseas.
All Water Care employees and contractors at Mangere waste water treatment plant, must be vaccinated to work on that site.
Is Collins advocating that NZDF should have voluntary vaccination, before deploying to vulnerable and isolated third world countries?
Is Collins advocating that Water Care workers should be allowed to have a choice whether they are vaccinated before working with sewerage?
What is most disgusting about Collins reach out to the anti-vax conspiracy theorists, is that it comes hard on the heels of the violent anti-vax and neo-nazi attack on the CFMEU trade union office in Australia.
Jenny, our media is pretty average, but (if you've got the stomach) check out some clips of Murdock's Sky News on youtube.
Frankly, they are inciting resistance to being vaccinated. As well as being blatant climate deniers!
Gutter press.
Just one example among so many: hold your nose before viewing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFoAczoHbV0
Da, I'm so stupid,I believe my own tea leaves, "It is tea leaves you use"Sharri Madson
The anti vaxxer movement has infiltrated the construction industry in Victoria. I read it online somewhere last night. They are getting better organised by the day and undermining all the hard work by the authorities and the police.
“Voices for Freedom” are doing the same thing here. Apart from pamphlet drops (got one in my letterbox last week) they are assembling outside schools and trying to coerce teenagers from being vaccinated. I expect they are spreading the lie they will become sterile.
They are becoming more vociferous and daring and imo should be outlawed. There is plenty of precedence in history during times of emergencies.
There need to be tent(s) in hospital ground for Anti vax that get covid. They should nt be let into wards.
Collins plays to her dwindling audience on the provided tvnz soapbox.
She's using the supplied rope very effectively. Was she given another free ride or actually challenged ?
Predictably appalling that’s Judith.
Is Collins advocating that NZDF should have voluntary vaccination, before deploying to vulnerable and isolated third world countries? Is Collins advocating that Water Care workers should be allowed to have a choice whether they are vaccinated before working with sewerage?
Who knows? Collins reacts to everything that happens with a knee-jerk complaint about the government. Who even listens these days
What is most disgusting about Collins reach out to the anti-vax conspiracy theorists, is that it comes hard on the heels of the violent anti-vax and neo-nazi attack on the CFMEU trade union office in Australia.
True, but Collins is invested in whining about the guvermint purely for the sake of it. I seriously doubt any anti-vaxers who might harbour notions of organising disruptive, violent protests in NZ are going to be influenced by whatever new, daft outburst Collins has to say.
She's crashing the National Party's credibility towards zero every day. Shelf-life now very close to expiry, imo.
I don't think that Judith Collins was inciting any anti-vaxers into organising disruptive violent protests, (though that could be a side-effect). What Collins is doing with her comments,about creeping mandatory vaccination, is opportunistically scraping the bottom of the barrel for their votes.
In the same interview she attacks the government for low vaccination rates.
And then claims she has a plan.
I would be very interested in seeing it.
Just how does the National Party propose to get us out of Lockdowns and/or raise vaccination levels above the 90% threshold, that the medical experts tell us will be needed to lift all Lockdown restrictions, and prevent the collapse of our health system?
I would really like to know.
It would be ironic, if Judith Collins’ plan has some level of mandatory vaccination. Now that she has gone on the record as being opposed to it.
In the same interview she attacks the government for low vaccination rates.
And then claims she has a plan. I would be very interested in seeing it
… … … …
"Almost every other country that we compare ourselves to is rolling out vaccinations as quickly as they can. Our closest neighbour, Australia, has prioritized this with vaccinations starting within the next few weeks.
This means their citizens will be safer. They’ll have the certainty to get back to business. They’ll see international students and visitors return, and life for Kiwis who live in Australia will start to get back to normal.
New Zealanders can’t afford another lockdown. But even more than this, failing to secure vaccinations for our frontline workers, border staff and those who work in and around managed isolation and quarantine shows a massive disregard for the sacrifice New Zealanders made last year. It is not good enough.
We need to match Australia’s schedule. We should be like Singapore, rolling out the vaccine to frontline workers and those vulnerable New Zealanders who need it urgently."
… … … …
https://www.national.org.nz/covid-19-response
… … … …
If that's it, it's blimmin vague; lacking any useful particulars. (As is usual for Judith when reporters question her.)
I'm betting – beyond this – she doesn't actually have one.
Why America goes to war.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018812875/andrew-cockburn-how-the-american-war-machine-is-all-about-money
Or, how Australia has been conned.
The Australian public have been conned.
The Australian "defence" industry and the politicians they donate to (aka bribe) – are very much a mirror of the US war machine, and know exactly what they are doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhfqQzMVJxI
MSM Russiagate and MSM lies on Syrian gas attacks both crumble even further into the gutter where they belong..but of course not one person in the media that uncritically pushed these obviously bullshit stories 24/7 will be held to account…nope just like all the media and journalist who willingly pushed war in Iraq in the service of power, they will face no consequences…probably because there is so much crossover in who benefits from those lies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBNvLlt1K0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9w0LRLnBkU
Hmmmm looks like those pesky Hunter Biden emails were real after all.
The disinformation wasn't Russian , it came from all those partisan journos ready to ditch the integrity of their trade so they could belong to the "right" crowd
Politico was one of those outlets.Now one of its writers has come out with a book verifying the emails , with recipients affirming .
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10014239/DC-accepts-Hunter-laptop-real-New-book-Bidens-cites-sources-verifying-damaging-emails.html
But what the hell, moving on, who cares? job done.
Just like your piece about the Clinton campaign lawyer lying, silence from all those ardent truth seekers…
Still running interference for Russian imperialism and Assad fascism?
American imperialism is not the only evil in the world.
https://thestandard.org.nz/heroes-2/#comment-1298465
@Jenny how to get there…can you please explain to us exactly how highlighting the fact that Liberal MSM has been disseminating misinformation on the completely fabricated Russian collusion conspiracy for years on end, also completely disregarding all public information on the Douma chemical attack that didn't fit with their state sanctioned narrative, to the point that the BBC has been forced into a pubic apology is "running interference for Russian imperialism and Assad fascism"?…I would be interested to see what tortured logic you come up with…I am sure it couldn't be any worse than the years of bullshit that has been spewed out by the usual suspects around here defending their masters like good little soldiers…but who knows you might be a better soldier than them….fire away.
I am not going to play google tag with you, and waste my time to go over line by line the specifics of the Douma gas attack. Not because I can't, but what's the point.
The vast majority of Syrian civilians killed by the Assad regime are not being killed in gas attacks.
The vast majority of Syrian civilians being killed by the Assad regime and their Iranian allies and Russian patron, are not by gas attacks, but by so called 'conventional weapons', and in industrial scale extermination camps, into which tens of thousands of Syrians have been disappeared into.
Everyone who knows anything of Syria has heard of Sednaya, the biggest and most notorious of the Assad regime's death camps.
19 kilometres North of Damascus everbody knows where Sednaya is.
But I tell you what. Not one of the Western journalists and apologists who have visited the Damascus as guests of the Assad regime, have ever asked for a tour of Sednaya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQni3qn6GIU&t=1s
" industrial scale extermination camps"
Lol
'
For you Brigid, I have one word.
Sednaya
Don't support fascism. (It really shouldn't have to be said).
LOL?
You can dispute the evidence, (Something I notice you don't do).
So my question for you Brigid;
Is what sort of low life laughs at the mass extermination of human beings?.
This thread is about Russiagate and Douma specifically…your obfuscating has not answered my question even slightly…of course.
But then you and others seem to be quite OK with your media lying right to your face..infact you seem to like it, which is kind of weird…but hey different strokes for different folks I say.
Douma at the time was under heavy rocket and air attack by the Assad regime.
The pattern is much the same, and still being practiced by the regime's forces, indiscriminate bombing and shelling of all rebel held towns and cities.
The contested Douma gas attack was only one incident in a much broader government offensive that killed many more civilians and rebel fighters.
Weapons of mass destruction like nuclear weapons arnd gas weapons are only for our side to have. Third World totalitarian leaders like Kim Jong-Un of Basha Al Assad are not allowed to have them, let alone use them.
Their use is what captures the Western powers attention, and makes our military and political leaders nervous.
Generally I have chosen not to battle through the fog of war and following propaganda enslaught over each separate incident of chemical weapons use, to concentrate on the more massive acts of genocide that even the most gullible or ablest knowing apologists of Assad fascism can't deny.
I am talking here of the genocidal destruction of Homs and Hama and rebel held Aleppo, and the extensive network of government extermination camps and prisons, into which tens of thousands of Syrian civlians and activists have disappeared into.
But if we are going to do the google thing around the Douma gas attack, you couldn't do better than this report from the Intercept.
For those who are genuinly interested in what is happening in Syria I can personally reccomend this report..
The 90% target is too broad. It should be 90% for every age bracket, and every ethnicity.
Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but has she clarified whether it is 90% had1 jab, both jabs, or had the opportunity to get a jab?
It seems to get mixed up depending who is talking.
From what I've heard ever since the press conference, there is no "90% target". Let alone by geographic, demographic, or number of jabs.
At least 90%. That's what they said. That's what they mean about loosening things up with "high" vax rates. The specifics depend on the circumstances when we get to a "high" rate. Don't fall into the tory trap of assuming 90% is a target. It's not, they're just laying the groundwork to bitch again.
"It depends" sucks for people who have an attachment to firm and precise numbers, but the real world requires fuzzy logic processing sometimes.
Sorry mate but that is a cop out on their part.
90% of what
No, not a cop out. They made the cardnial sin of not boring people to death using language that even the 1980s HHGTTG text-based computer game could parse, probably because if they had then a lot of knobs would parrot "explaining is losing" instead of "we don't know what's going oooonnnn".
Let's break this down further, shall we?
90% is in the region that is denoted "high". Probably near the base of that region, but don't be super-surprised if they start announcing things loosening up from the mid 80 percentages.
But, gosh, a high percentage of what? Fuck, we might never know.
I'll take a punt and say maybe it's to do with vaccination levels. But fully vaxed or partial? Of over 12s or over 5s? omagerd, it needs to be written in stone right now!!!
fucksake. Who gives a shit. We get there when we get there.
Yes obviously vaccinations.
But 90% of Aucklanders?
1 jab or both?
All regions at 90%
All races at 90% (Admittedly it would only be Maori and Pacifica, as for some odd reason Asians and Indians never appear in figures as apparently don't matter)
I heard on the radio that Bloomfield idiot said not unless Maori were at 90% (Again 90% in what contexts?)
As an aside, if the figures are still double figures at that time, do you think they will open up the country to Aucklanders at the same time school holidays start?
Some things never change and it seems that you’re still a trolling idiot.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data#ethnicity
Also scroll down to Vaccine uptake per 1,000 people by ethnicity
Indians and Chinese, for example, are Asians. Humans are a race.
Fair point, it measured in official background statistics, but I was more talking about mentioned in their announcements to the media and their daily party ad.
But you have made a good point and I take back what I said.
And I fail to see how that post was trolling btw
Trolling?
Hint
That Bloomfield IDIOT
Sorry. Still don't see how that is trolling. Am I not allowed to think someone is an idiot?
You do unbderstand that the reason for high vaccination is to stop the ICUs being overloaded so people other than covid patients can be treated?
Opening up if the ICUs will be flooded by people from a particular region or ethnicity just creates the same outcome, with the extra icing that the region or ethnicity is viewed as expendable by the government.
If you genuinely don't know why your questions can come across as trolling, try thinking harder about that.
Of course I do.
I would just like to know the context of the %
Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi is not happy about possible govt plans to open two more quarantine facilities in Rotorua. He says one will be a fourth MIQ and the other a quarantine facility for Covid-19 infectious people.
… … … …
"Waititi said his information had come from "sources" and he was concerned about leaks of Covid-19 into the community if a quarantine facility was established in the city.
This only increases the potential for a MIQ breach leading to a community outbreak," he said. "It adds more pressure on the local health system and ultimately means more lockdowns.
"This would be disastrous for Rotorua, and especially Māori who make up 45 per cent of the Rotorua population."
There was a major difference between isolation and quarantine, Waititi said.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-mp-rawiri-waititi-claims-govt-plans-quarantine-facility-for-rotorua/YIUWMNYGNEOFU2BC6IDORTBW6Y
… … …
(Waititi seems to be creating a very high media profile by complaining about all sorts of things. He's very telegenic, imo, & personally I currently expect Te Pāti Māori to do very well at the next election – Gez)
… … …
"Rotorua keeps and brings those infectious, to our community," Waititi said.
'This would be disastrous for Rotorua, and especially Māori who make up 45 per cent of the Rotorua population.'"
… … …
Hard to say if this is primarily a political ploy or stunt, but I think he's got a point. Hope he's doing all he can meantime to arrange for eligible Rotorua district ngā tāngata katoa (everybody) to get their Covid vaccinations asap.
It's the only thing he's done so far that could be mistaken for work – going ballistic over ties was just grandstanding, as is his push on Aotearoa.
Both of those high value PR opportunities for Waititi. He knows his target audience.
I was watching Parliament live the day he suckered Mallard into giving awesome free publicity. The rules were that male MPs were expected to wear “business attire”, which tos most Pākehā is a suit & tie.
But there are tons of prominent Māori leaders, academics, & businessmen who wear a large hei tiki draped around their necks & hanging over their shirt front. It’s a perfectly, & very common normal tāne Māori business attire.
Mallard threw a classic Pākehā stale male hissy fit, not thinking it thru. Bingo. Waititi gets the opportunity to do – for a Māori man whose mana has just been impugned – a rollicking & very culturally appropriate haka of protest & utu – reciprocation.
Within days, Mallard lifted the requirement for men to wear ties. Big ups to Rawiri.
The “call NZ Aotearoa” petition & his & his Party’s commitment to keep calling for a name change is pure theatre, but he’ll get a lot more profile-raising mileage out of this issue too. I’m not in favour personally, bur I know two Pākehā acquaintences who agree with him.
Rawiri sometimes sails too close to the “all Pākehā are racist colonisers” line for my liking.
As for how much work he’s doing, I don’t know but I bet it’s a lot more than many Pākehā think. Māori electorates are huge, They involve talking at a lot of marare, with Māori orgs, hapu iwi, constituents, & a lot of travelling. That gets pretty wearing I imagine.
The Speaker was the hall monitor for what Parliaments ' rules committee' decides.
I thought he was in favour of a less literal interpretation of 'neck thingy' and once the committee met and changed it then the Speaker could follow the new direction
Herald:
"Speaker Trevor Mallard has announced that ties are no longer mandatory in Parliament.
It comes days after a dress code stoush between him and Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi, which saw Waititi booted out for not wearing a tie.
Mallard said a Standing Orders committee meeting discussed appropriate business attire tonight and a submission on the topic was heard from Te Paati Māori (Māori Party).
"The committee did not reach a consensus but the majority of the committee was in favour of removing a requirement for ties to be part of 'appropriate business attire' for males," he said in a Tweet.
'As Speaker, I am guided by the committee's discussion and decision, and therefore ties will no longer be considered required as part of 'appropriate business attire'. I acknowledge those who felt this was an important issue worthy of further consideration.'"
… … …
Where Mallard did Waititi a huge favour was in objecting to the hei tiki being worn instead of a tie. Hugely boosted Rawiri's profile, & his mana with Māori.
Mallard could've just let it go.
By making it an issue it got to be changed .
Isnt that how change happens ?
Wow. Crazy stuff in Melbourne. Anti-lockdown, antivaxx zombies gather to riot, harass nurses and spread chaos.
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1439437673685389312?s=20
Unions deny any association with the mob of grifters and denialists
https://twitter.com/lhilakari/status/1440163312897957888?s=20
Looks like our bubble with Australia won't be viable again for a long time. The plague of fuckwittery is particularly virulent
Rather long but interesting watch on who's at the forefront of everything from the January 6th insurrection in the US, the anti-Muslim/anti immigrant protests across Europe and the anti-vaxx/anti-lockdown demonstrations in the west to our very own howl of protest fuckwittery.
It ain't poor people.
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1eaJbnjnojYJX
You sure about that?
https://twitter.com/dnforca/status/1440571893388484612
Are we the last country on earth talking about noting else other than COVID? I am becoming very fatigued that after 18 months it seems to be the only thing the media or government are focussed on. It has almost become an obssession. We are still having daily press conferences on this, and every new bulletin opens with a daily case update, or story about people buying KFC.
Yes, it is the issue of our time, but there are other things happening out there in the world, which warrant our attention. How long will our daily obesseion continue?
A quick scan of international media shows, that something which started 18 months ago, isn't really news worthy anymore. COVID doesn't really get much of a mention out there
We are a peculiar little nation at time.
https://edition.cnn.com/
https://www.bbc.com/news
https://www.smh.com.au/
https://www.theguardian.com/international
https://www.bbc.com/news
Rant over.
Here's hoping for daily 1pm updates of the other crises afflicting NZ and the world: housing, inequality and climate change.
https://twitter.com/_chloeswarbrick/status/1440053826774454277?s=20
https://twitter.com/gumdigger/status/1439858037955563523?s=20
Absolutely.
I have general faith in the MoH to do their job when it comes to COVID. Contact trace, isolating people and slowly rolling out the vaccine. They are doing it reasonably well to the point I don't think we need the minute by minute commentary, that we were doing in March last year.
I have a lot less faith in other government departments doing their job, so I wish we would turn, at least some of, our attention to them. Imagine if we had a daily press conference to announce the housing waiting list, homelessness statisitics and climate change targets.
Climate change and homelessness are Green Party Ministerial responsibilities, so Chloe Swarbrick could always start with some accountability from her own colleagues.
Chloe's current push is the futile and exceedingly middle class pursuit of rebuilding St James Theatre.
Chloe Swarbrick should pull her head out of her ass.
Perhaps it is all distraction as continuing legislative changes take place out of the spotlight. It is quite instructive to have pending legislation and Parliament Order papers fed to your email.
I agree with you on the inevitable stories about coffee, KFC, buying flour etc.
It's not news, it's trivia at best. As Chloe Swarbrick says about updates on housing and CC, and Maurice eludes to, there are other important issues that are being ignored.
That will learn me for watching TV news after years of giving it a wide berth.
Australia has earthquakes?
https://twitter.com/TimothyJ_23/status/1440458736640794628
Yes. They’re very rare, but they DO sometimes happen. Even in the centre of their landmass. That whole continent’s tectonic plate is always being squeezed by others. And sometimes I guess some ancient fold or fault cracks or shudders. Or there’s some local geographic collapse deep down under.
My understanding anyway.
🙄 *geographic = geological
Yes Earthquakes are very over rare over here in Oz, there is a very large number of various fault lines in Oz to ancient volcanos & hotspots from the east coast of Nth’ern Qld all the way down to Victorian- SA Border & within the greater Melbourne area.
I live in Wellington, Scud. We get a lot of small earthquakes in Tawa, many coming from a slow slip event happening off the Western Kapiti Coast.
And there are about four or five major fault lines in the Welly region that generate huge quakes when they go. We're always waiting for The Big One on the Wellington fault.
But I hail from New Plymouth, Taranaki, where I grew up. Now ma & pa have both passed away here, I've been thinking about whether I should move back there, like ma wanted me to after she died. To be with my siblings up there.
The thing is, I grew up in the shadow of the beautiful & magnificent Mt Taranaki. And volcanologists say, geologically speaking it's due for an eruption, which might be small, or it might be blimmin massive. It's unusual for the number of times it's blown itself apart, & then just rebuilt itself.
It's only short. But this is what my Taranaki Maunga does:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GljllvKlTac
I’m ex CHCH until 1998, so I’m quite used to Mother Nature rocking & rolling. We get a few deep earthquakes from Indonesia- Timor-Leste Area rattling Darwin & the odd from Tennant Creek Area. I’ve just finished reading up the Halls Fall Faultline that runs from the Halls Falls area in WA all the way up to the other side of Darwin Harbour & out to the sea.
Newcastle, 1989.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Newcastle_earthquake
We are approaching the point in the pandemic where we move from collectivising risk to individualising it. In the first phase it was collective, action, equality of sacrifice and no-one left behind. In the second phase it is get vaccinated, take precautions that are suitable for your risk profile, and if you are unlucky the healthcare system should (but might not) be there to help you. Normal transmission is being resumed and the government has not used the pandemic as a catalyst for changing anything important. Last year in the first L4 lockdown, we were as ripe as we'll ever be for UBI and significant poverty and inequality reduction efforts. Under pandemic conditions such things would arguably be rational, rather than political. Operationally, this government has handled the pandemic superbly, but strategically and ideologically not so much. The lessons we learned will go down the memory hole of history as we scramble back into a dysfunctional BAU.
yep. Although I'm not convinced we will go back to BAU. The vaccine isn't a silver bullet.
I'm thinking AB means BAU in a very broad sense, that in the end the interests of "the economy" prevail, back to the dysfunctional neo-liberal-driven way of life. Illustrated, possibly, by Auckland’s move from L4 to L3, described by some experts as a “calculated risk”, and by others as more ideologically-driven than anything else.
I used "BAU" too loosely (this damn writing thing is so hard to get right), but meant in that broad sense you suggest.
How many lives has Covid lockdown saved in Melbourne this morning? Bet the mad mob leaders say "It was the fucking gummint mate ".
Just out of interest I looked up the Polio Vaccine info and in 1956 there was 90% parental approval for child vaccination compared to only 29% in England, 42% in Scotland and 74% in NSW. We should be good for 90% here for Covid if our history of doing the right thing still holds. Interestingly the same problems were apparent then, production problems, the US refusing to export and lack of refrigeration, ( only a day or so leeway in ambient temp then).
More and more stories coming out about the what was going on in the Wuhan Lab and frankly it now seems more and more likely we are dealing with a virus that had been tinkered with… fucking insanity.
“They also planned to create chimeric viruses, genetically enhanced to infect humans more easily, and requested US$14 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to fund the work.”
Where does that link to; Cricklewood? I have learned not to click on concealed links on this site, as I imagine; so have others. Gain of Function Research is not that unusual – if that is what you are referring to?
A quick google threw up this Intercept article (limited to 3 free article views, but not otherwise paywalled) though I am not disposed to trawl through all 900+ pages of FOIA primary sources to confirm what they are saying.
https://theintercept.com/2021/09/06/new-details-emerge-about-coronavirus-research-at-chinese-lab/
It doesn't seem that unreasonable to me to fund and conduct research into SARS & MERS in a virology lab. Though if it was done at the Biosafety Level 3 Wuhan University Center for Animal Experiment, rather than the BL4 Wuhan Institute of Virology, then the denials that the WIoV was involved might be a way of deflecting attention from the WUCfAE. The evidence does not seem conclusive.
In any case, there is more noise than sound in the speculations on both sides of these lab leak "theories" (ie conjectures beyond what is supported by evidence). I doubt there is much good faith on either side, even if one, or both, speculations are eventually confirmed. Personally, I think all labs licensed to operate beyond BL1 (eg university teaching labs using low risk biologicals level), should be subject to regular un-notified inspection by independent teams of international experts. That's not going to happen though!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58273322
Links back the Herald
23 cases today. All but 1 linked to known clusters.
Covid-19 case update: 23 new community cases reported | RNZ News
Yesterday, seven were infectious in the community, FFS. They’re chasing the tail, which is wagging the dog. Stomp on it, hard and fast and don’t mind the yelping dog, FFS.
I've generally found it helpful every few months to go back to the implementation criteria for different alert levels.
It's a dangerous habit to get into chasing the gauges of the daily numbers and demand level 4 for any community cases above zero.
It's a process they're working through. they're identifying connections with previous cases for almost all new cases within a day of diagnosis. They're not getting randos coming in so much with absolutely no connection with any previous cases. So they have several clusters that are being reasonably well contained, and that will burn themselves out eventually.
Level 3 matches that risk profile. We're using the same playbook that got us out of it last time, and it seems to be working about as well as it did last time. Better, even, because we started it sooner.
I hear you but the risk with smouldering fires is that they can flare up and burst into flames at any time. I believe that a more stringent ‘bespoke’ approach is justified and warranted to place a higher firewall around existing known clusters. The persistent tail is reason enough to up the ante, IMO.
Fire is a fair analogy.
At the moment, the assessment is that the winds have died down, the main blazes have been extinguished, so it's just the slog of finding the hot spots and digging them out. that means the evacuation orders can be cancelled and people can return to the properties that were in danger.
If the winds pick up and embers transfer again, back come the monsoon buckets and evacuations. But the full court press takes a heavy toll on everyone, so only gets done when times are desperate.
Changing topic. There is a major grizzle going down with importers about the backlog of vessels waiting to come alongside at Auckland Port. History repeats itself. I well remember in 1972 on a voyage to Japan with my partner (wives privilege of accompanying officers of the sea going vessels) and arriving in Tokoyo to see rows and rows of vessels waiting to go alongside or being off loaded by barges way out in the bay. 50 plus vessels at least. I also remember the sea was like glue it was so polluted. We were going into drydock at Yokohama but the sight was one I never forgot.
Now there are 60+ vessels out in the bay in LA waiting for a berth alongside. It seems our ports have been suffering from logjams for ever and a day.
In comparison Auckland has no problems and maybe there should be less whinging from the importers and accept the circumstances.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58643717
I'm not sure I'd be trusting the source of that article. Not one jot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRASTIC
DRASTIC (Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19) is a loose collection of scientists and researchers investigating the origins of COVID-19, in particular the COVID-19 lab leak theory. Most scientists maintain COVID-19 likely had a natural origin, but a lab leak is still a possibility worth investigating. DRASTIC is composed of about 30 core members, whose activity is primarily organized through the social media website Twitter. They formed in February 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. DRASTIC members have called for a "full and unrestricted investigation" into the origins of COVID-19, conducted independently of the World Health Organization.
Many of DRASTIC's members use pseudonyms, while identified members have backgrounds including mycology, neuroscience, and data science. Members of DRASTIC have engaged in personal attacks against virologists and epidemiologists on Twitter, falsely accusing some of working for the Chinese Communist Party.
Perhaps but no one is flat out denying what they have released in terms of documents and given the USAs likely involvment in funding work in the Lab https://www.bbc.com/news/57932699 I think its the mostly likely source of what has proven a remarkably well adapted virus.
But it very much suits those in power not to have that exposed.
or, like, shit just happens sometimes. and this virus is that shit this time.
It can be a long process finding the animal source of an outbreak. Not only have you got to stumble across the correct population but additionally, you have to sample the animal at the time it is infected with the virus. Progress is however being made. A bat population in the Northern Laos region has been sampled and found to contain a very closely related covd virus. It contains the human ace receptor site though not however the furin cleavage site. But the existence of the human ace receptor site is enough to allow the possibility of the evolution of the furin cleavage site in repeated human contacts. Or a wild furin cleavage site may still be found. These things take a lot of time.
Link
Good reason not to trust the source
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/02/16/968375658/virologist-on-wuhan-trip-seafood-market-not-the-whole-story-in-early-outbreak
"The WHO team's main public conclusion so far is that it's "extremely unlikely" that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan. The scientists think the virus most likely started in bats, then jumped to other animals, then to humans.
Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans was part of that team that "reconstructed every step in that initial outbreak" in two weeks of investigation."
"So from everything that we've looked at and we've also visited three labs involved and also three labs that work on these viruses. From that, we have not been able to find any credible link there."
"How open and transparent were the Chinese once they let you in?
This is a topic and a mission. There are sensitivities around it … big political tensions that are around it. And that's something you cannot completely avoid in a situation like this. But once we got out of our quarantine, got into the face-to-face meetings, I think we've managed to get into real good scientific exchange with stiff discussions here and there, because [people] start from different backgrounds and different views. But I tell everyone, wait and read the report and let's discuss then. But I think we managed to get a good outcome of this meeting. I think it was in that sense quite successful."
"Is there anything that you think is necessary to know that you don't have access to?
Not really. So if you say, did the Chinese colleagues hand over the complete raw data files? No, they did not. But then again, I did not expect that in a mission like this. So we've seen a lot of information. We've been given a lot of information. We've had access to the people working on the data, aggregating the data, looking at what exact questionnaires that they used, what does the data file look like. To me, that is quite extensive data access."