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Open mike 23/02/2021

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 23rd, 2021 - 65 comments
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65 comments on “Open mike 23/02/2021 ”

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  1. Janet 1
    23 February 2021 at 11:09 am

    A Premium article in The Herald today.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/superyacht-supper-huhu-grubs-and-goats-testicles-on-regatta-menu/7CBF46UVNX4A3X6EYCWBRFU464/

    “Superyacht supper: Huhu grubs and goat's testicles on regatta menu”

    “The vessel is owned by German industrialist and superyacht builder Guido Krass. Bold was built in 2019 by Fremantle superyacht builders SilverYachts, founded by Krass in 2005.”

    “While in New Zealand Bold will have repairs and maintenance done, thought to worth millions of dollars.”

    Who is kidding who here ? This small ship was built in 2019 and is now thought to need millions of dollars of repair!

  2. Ad 2
    23 February 2021 at 11:58 am

    For those with any exposure to the roading industry, the recent decision by Refining New Zealand to cease production of bitumen will mean that there's no locally manufactured source for the entire roading network. Yes, our entire NZ roading network.

    Not only will that focus the whole of the industry and Waka Kotahi (NZTA) on continuity of supply, it will also focus R&D departments on how to decrease that reliance. Sure hope they've got their own port and shipping slots or this could get exceedingly ugly exceedingly fast.

    Queenstown Airport made a good example of this a couple of years ago.

    https://www.queenstownairport.co.nz/corporate/news-and-events/news/queenstown-airports-apron-resurfacing-project-wins-sustainability-initiative-of-the-year-award-at-the-new-zealand-airports-awards

    • Peter chch 2.1
      23 February 2021 at 12:50 pm

      Why are we even using bitumen though? Most countries use concrete for reading, which is far better lifespan and grip wise.

      • Cricklewood 2.1.1
        23 February 2021 at 1:16 pm

        Cost, our terrain, not mention seismic activity…

      • woodart 2.1.2
        23 February 2021 at 1:43 pm

        concrete roading doesnt work on our soft ,ever moving ground.

      • Ad 2.1.3
        23 February 2021 at 1:50 pm

        Concrete, apart from being exceedingly expensive and hopeless for maintaining when you often have to dig it all up for new utilities required for new developments, also has a massive carbon cost – much of that carbon cost from cement production but also in quarrying and in its transport.

    • Graeme 2.2
      23 February 2021 at 1:59 pm

      Bitumen is going to be a really curly one as we transition away from hydrocarbon fuels. It’s all the shit thats left over from refining the useful stuff. But really handy for surfacing cheap, flexible roads. Even when we’re all running around in electrics we’re going to need roads like we have now. Haven’t seen any alternatives coming through.

      The Queenstown airport ‘green’ engineering was more for engineering pragmatism than any environmental concern. The toner cartridges gave plasticity for performance over a wider temperature range and the glass sand is used because Central Otago sands are weathered schist which are very weak and the particle sizes are all wrong for making good concretes and roads. Crushed clean glass has been added to premium concrete and basecourse sand here for a long time.

      • Ad 2.2.1
        23 February 2021 at 2:33 pm

        Even pulverised used tyre crumb (what to do with big piles of dead tyres) hasn't been sued extensively here. After NZTA's Kapiti Expressway surfacing debacle a couple of years back they are pretty conservative when it comes to trying out new surfacing materials.

  3. Morrissey 3
    23 February 2021 at 12:37 pm

    Still hilarious after all these years. And sad, at the same time

    The highlight—“Scum! Russian scum!”—comes at about the 5:50 mark…

  4. Jimmy 4
    23 February 2021 at 1:01 pm

    I hate to say it, but I think I agree with Judith Collins regarding this Aussie woman that refuses a Covid test.

    Judith Collins calls for deportation of Australian woman refusing Covid test | Stuff.co.nz

    • Sabine 4.1
      23 February 2021 at 1:07 pm

      ditto.

    • McFlock 4.2
      23 February 2021 at 1:22 pm

      Meh.

      As long as she gets charged for the length of her stay, I don't particularly care. Hell, there's even the possibility she actually has a point – that's up to the courts to determine.

      If she's just a wingbat who wants to spend other wingbats' money on quarantine and lawyers for a futile gripe, ain't but a thing. If sticking thermometers up animals' butts really has shown her a nuance of informed consent that everyone else has missed, then the court case she's promising can only be a good thing.

      • Sabine 4.2.1
        23 February 2021 at 1:54 pm

        who is paying for the court case, us or herself?

        • McFlock 4.2.1.1
          23 February 2021 at 2:03 pm

          She'll be paying for her lawyers, us ours, and the winner might get costs.

          As long as she covers her direct costs, it's not a huge deal. The judge and crown lawyers will still be doing legal stuff even without her.

          • Sabine 4.2.1.1.1
            23 February 2021 at 2:18 pm

            so she squandered scarce resources in quarantine and isolation

            now she is squandering our resources in the court that could be used otherwise.

            Yeah, right ….no biggie…..and the winner can get costs back? Sounds sensible. Not.

            • McFlock 4.2.1.1.1.1
              23 February 2021 at 3:34 pm

              What is it – 1/4000th of capacity for an extra fortnight?

              Rather than simply deciding that a court case is a done deal so we don't even need to have one?

              Which slope is more slippery, do you think?

      • Treetop 4.2.2
        23 February 2021 at 9:30 pm

        Max stay in MIQ without testing is 28 days. Max charge is 14 days. According to midday news on TV 1.

      • Gabby 4.2.3
        23 February 2021 at 10:50 pm

        I think she's more of a dingnut than wingbat.

    • woodart 4.3
      23 February 2021 at 1:46 pm

      wish collins would make up her mind. normally ,she sides with aus against her own country.

    • Muttonbird 4.4
      23 February 2021 at 2:02 pm

      Simple virtue signalling, and she's desperate for the column inches.

    • Treetop 4.5
      23 February 2021 at 3:10 pm

      I thought MIQ was to prevent a Covid-19 case from entering the community. There is a process for this which is applied before being able to leave MIQ.

    • Anne 4.6
      23 February 2021 at 3:24 pm

      You beat me to it Jimmy.

      Dump her on a plane back to Aussie and tell her she's not allowed to come here again.

      https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/judith-collins-wants-australian-woman-refused-covid-19-test-deported

      • Ed1 4.6.1
        23 February 2021 at 10:55 pm

        I have sympathy for those needing to stay in MIQ for more than a week if they have to stay longer due to a new infection that requires a longer stay as a precaution, but otherwise they should pay for every day they are there, and if the rules only allow for payment up to 14 days the rules need to be changed. She is now living in Auckland, and presumably spending Australian sourced funds with our shops and possibly for accommodation – why should our government assist her by paying for a return flight? If she is financial difficulties she can contact the Australian embassy. Kneejerk reactions can be wrong; we should expect them from Judith Collins. Certainly in this case she appears to just be looking for something, anything, to criticise, but it is hard when the government set out what would happen if someone declined a test (they are not compulsory after all), and then sticks to that good policy. For those that want to send her back – would you be prepared to pay any of your money to help her? If not, why should our government pay?

    • Chris 4.7
      23 February 2021 at 9:26 pm

      Ardern rightly manages to stick to the issues but it's hard not to feel something close to vengence towards these moronic aussies.

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/124338604/return-the-favour-nsw-premier-sends-strong-transtasman-border-message-to-jacinda-ardern

  5. dv 5
    23 February 2021 at 2:07 pm

    I wonder if an airline/transport would carry her?

  6. greywarshark 6
    23 February 2021 at 3:40 pm

    Who or what is Medsafe working for? I think there should be some sackings from Medsafe.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/436942/maker-of-epilepsy-drug-warned-over-quality-control

    After the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Mylan about violating quality standards – including "missing, deleted and lost data" – New Zealand's medical safety watchdog Medsafe did its own investigation…

    Medsafe didn't tell Pharmac about the quality control issues at the plant which manufactures Logem, and in August 2018 Pharmac signed a deal to make Logem the only funded brand of lamotrigine in New Zealand.

    The deal meant more than 10,000 people taking lamotrigine had to switch brands, in a move Pharmac made to try to save $30 million over five years.

    Today Medsafe takes the stand at an inquest by the Chief Coroner into the deaths of six people, who died after switching from their original brands of lamotrigine to the Logem generic.

    Pharmac should have been given all the information to assist in their deliberations as to what was the safe and effective drug at the best price. That's their job, and how can they do it when a fellow agency doesn’t fully communicate with them. A pox on Medsafe!

    • Incognito 6.1
      23 February 2021 at 6:20 pm

      What’s your point? There were no quality control issues with the product on sale in NZ. As far as Medsafe was concerned, it had done its job, checked, and deemed it safe.

      Why did you remove this part from the text you quoted??

      Medsafe's investigation closed in July 2017 and it decided that because there was "no evidence to suggest a direct quality or safety impact" a product recall was not required.

      I’d call that selective quoting and it raises my suspicion.

  7. AB 7
    23 February 2021 at 3:57 pm

    Time to legislate out of existence any real or imagined obligation to maximise shareholder value – USD 2500/day power bills

  8. Muttonbird 8
    23 February 2021 at 3:59 pm

    Very sad. It is a good question. What will this landlord do with an extra $100/week?

    Intergenerational class divisions are opening ever wider in New Zealand and hardly anyone seems bothered by it.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/124318345/my-wellington-apartment-is-depressing-yet-my-rent-just-went-up-100-a-week

    • Treetop 8.1
      23 February 2021 at 7:04 pm

      60 days notice is required to increase the rent.

      This couple have got their priorities right, run as soon and as fast as you can into your own place.

      A $100 rent increase is to steep for a semi cell type apartment.

      • Sabine 8.1.1
        23 February 2021 at 7:44 pm

        100 per week, 400 per month. That is not a rent increase that is extortion.

        • Muttonbird 8.1.1.1
          23 February 2021 at 8:41 pm

          It's why we need rent controls and regulation of landlords and agents. So no-one is caught out by amateur actors in the industry.

          I’d call the residential tenancy sector the wild west at the moment. People’s lives are at stake.

          • Treetop 8.1.1.1.1
            23 February 2021 at 9:13 pm

            I need to look up how much notice the landlord needs to give to sell?

            I would question the landlords motive on hiking the rent as much as they have.

            Tenant needs to give 4 weeks notice to end the tenancy.

            Just to establish yourself in a rental the average person is put in debt or has to save.

            How many tenants rely on a credit card/s to be able to afford entering a rental agreement?

            Same can be said for a loan from Work and Income to avoid being homeless.

            • Muttonbird 8.1.1.1.1.1
              23 February 2021 at 9:28 pm

              It's 90 days now. Such a rent hike is designed to evict, but without having to evict without cause, which is now illegal.

              It’s a product of this timid government’s tinkering with tenancy legislation rather than wholly reforming it.

              One issue is there is still no cap on rent hikes, only the frequency, so they can do this. Hence the need for more robust rent control regulation.

              • Treetop …
                23 February 2021 at 9:43 pm

                Will be interesting to see what happens with the apartment when the tenants leave.

                Regulation is required for a rent hike to protect renters.

          • Cricklewood 8.1.1.1.2
            23 February 2021 at 9:57 pm

            No we dont need rent controls, thats a fucking bandaid.

            What we need is state housing and lots of it, with infrastructure ie busways trains etc etc

            After so much neglect and the effective privatization of state housing, The scale needed can only be meet by a govt programme backed with low cost finance.

            • Treetop 8.1.1.1.2.1
              23 February 2021 at 10:16 pm

              I hear ya. I did say a day or 2 ago that building state homes worked.

              Short term is different to long term.

              What would you do in the short term to prevent rent scalping?

              • Cricklewood …
                23 February 2021 at 10:33 pm

                Personally, take the very hard road and start sucking the capital out of housing as an investment.

                Make no mistake it will be ugly as house prices fall, many will be hurt by negative equity and will need support from govt but what point political capital and a Lab govt if you dont spend it in a meaningful way.

                I feel that the left is forgetting that the real divide in society is class… and the current govt is entrenching it…

  9. Ad 9
    23 February 2021 at 5:21 pm

    With RNZ exposing yesterday that the smelter at Bluff had stockpiled 106,000 tonnes of cyanide-laced hazardous waste less than 100 metres from a fast-eroding beach, it's good to see Minister Parker giving them a good slam today.

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/environment-minister-slams-uncooperative-tiwai-point-he-reveals-govts-toxic-waste-clean-up-request

    The question must surely be, just as they were so weak-assed about the last contamination problem in Mataura, why is Environment Southland so shit at its job?

  10. Craig H 10
    23 February 2021 at 6:01 pm

    Virginia about to abolish the death penalty

    While I hope the remaining states follow, this is huge – Virginia has been one of the mainstays of the death penalty in the USA with the most executions in US history and second post-Furman to Texas. Also some good other progressive wins for the recent Democrat majority in Virginia as noted in the article.

  11. Muttonbird 11
    23 February 2021 at 8:57 pm

    According to Henry Cooke it's been three and a half years since JA mentioned shared equity schemes and/or similar, and he and housing minister Megan Woods are reporting to date there have been just 12 families successfully housed in such a way.

    Beyond pathetic.

    Megan Woods says it's complicated and goes on to blame low income families themselves for some reason. Not that's it's her fault. Phil Twyford should have owned this but has been found not competent at ministerial level.

    If the government doesn't pull finger on housing, and importantly housing for the under $100K/pa families, this term will be their last.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300237672/home-ownership-scheme-announced-in-2019-has-housed-just-12-families

    • Cricklewood 11.1
      23 February 2021 at 10:07 pm

      At some stage this govt will be voted out, anything more than 3 terms is a big ask.

      I can see, that despite the rhetoric leading up to the first term the landlord renter class divide will have grown far larger/faster than anytime in our history.

      The 'soft' Nat voters that switched are getting what they paid for the core Lab voters are getting crumbs but are going to end up worse off in the long term…

      My place has 'earned' more than my wife and I's yearly income in the last 12 months.

      Its fucked, hell a colleague with a 900k pre approval cant manage to buy in Auckland cause anything without a fishhook that effects his finance goes to auction.

      But dont worry Jacinda cares…

      • Treetop 11.1.1
        23 February 2021 at 10:35 pm

        I know someone in Wellington, the place cost 29 k in 1978. Bank loan for the mortgage was only 9 k. The place is now worth 1.2 mil.

        Per year profit what does that work out as?

        How would this look on a graph?

        The cost of housing and the profit is making people dizzy. Negative equity if you need to re buy in the same city.

  12. Muttonbird 12
    23 February 2021 at 9:38 pm

    Gladys Berejiklian wants New Zealand to reciprocate the trans-Tasman bubble. She has been very stern with Jacinda Ardern.

    Gladys might find more cooperation if Australia stopped exporting their home grown criminals.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/124338604/return-the-favour-nsw-premier-sends-strong-transtasman-border-message-to-jacinda-ardern

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    1 week ago

  • New connectivity funding for more rural homes and businesses
    More New Zealand homes, businesses and communities will soon benefit from fast and reliable connectivity, regardless of where they live, study and work,” Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications, David Clark said today. “The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us time and again how critical a reliable connection is for ...
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    1 week ago

  • Phil Twyford to attend Nuclear Ban Treaty meeting
    Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Phil Twyford will lead Aotearoa New Zealand’s delegation to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) First Meeting of States Parties in Austria later this month, following a visit to the Netherlands. The Nuclear Ban Treaty is the first global treaty to make nuclear ...
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    1 week ago

  • Australian Foreign Minister to visit for talks
    Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will this week welcome Australian Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon. Penny Wong on her first official visit to Aotearoa New Zealand as Foreign Minister. “I am delighted to be able to welcome Senator Wong to Wellington for our first in-person bilateral foreign policy consultations, scheduled for ...
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    1 week ago

  • Government’s School Investment Package supports 4,500 projects
    State schools have made thousands of site, infrastructure and classroom improvements, as well as upgrades to school sports facilities and playgrounds over the past two and a half years through a major government work programme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The School Investment Package announced in December 2019 gave ...
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    1 week ago

  • PM Ardern shares warm meeting with Samoa PM
    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had a warm and productive meeting with Samoa Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa in Wellington, today. The Prime Ministers reflected on the close and enduring relationship the two countries have shared in the 60 years since the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, and since Samoa ...
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    1 week ago

  • Govt acting to increase supermarket competition
    “Food price data shows New Zealanders pay too much for the basics and today’s figures provide more evidence of why we need to change the supermarket industry, and fast," Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says. Stats NZ figures show food prices were 6.8% higher in May 2022 compared ...
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    1 week ago

  • New standalone integrity entity for sport
    An independent body to strengthen and protect the integrity of the sport and recreation system is to be established. “There have been a number of reports over the years into various sports where the athletes, from elite level to grassroots, have been let down by the system in one way ...
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    1 week ago

  • New baby unit opened at Waitakere Hospital
    Parents of babies needing special care can now stay overnight at Waitakere Hospital, thanks to a new Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU), Health Minister Andrew Little said today. The new SCBU, which can care for 18 babies at a time and includes dedicated facilities for parents, was opened today by ...
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    1 week ago