Open mike 25/10/2023

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 25th, 2023 - 52 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:


Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

52 comments on “Open mike 25/10/2023 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. SPC 1
    25 October 2023 at 7:02 am

    Do not retweet this, if employed and or seeking employment.

    https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1716832079269568978

  2. Ad 2
    25 October 2023 at 8:07 am

    Bemusing to hear Luxon on RNZ patronising the reporter that essentially every part of government formation will be conducted in silence for as long as they feel like it, and they're not answerable to anyone.

    All he could provide as a timetable was that MPs will be called back from leave early to start implementing the 100 day plan.

    Luxon has already started treating us like a company, not a country.

  3. Ffloyd 3
    25 October 2023 at 8:32 am

    Janice. Shtrong,shtable Guvmint was John Keys mantra. Forever using it. Luxon is channeling Key.

  4. newsense 4
    25 October 2023 at 8:37 am

    This is mental.

    Holding investment property or any property is an equally clear conflict of interest, but we are further chopping into the small amount of local funding available to the stock market.

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ministers-in-waiting-start-selling-off-shares

    • Belladonna 4.1
      25 October 2023 at 8:53 am

      Inevitable fall out from the Michael Wood saga.

      For those with Ministerial ambitions, and small shareholdings – selling out the shares is the obvious alternative (cf Chris Bishop selling his 500 brewery shares)

      And is highly unlikely to have any impact at all on the stock market.

      Those with larger shareholdings, will almost certainly hold them, and manage the conflict.

      • newsense 4.1.1
        25 October 2023 at 1:44 pm

        The hypocrisy and economic failure behind it is the wider point.

        We persecute those who have shares and allow those who have property to award themselves more wealth and pretend this is a fulfilled ethical stance.

  5. Patricia Bremner 5
    25 October 2023 at 11:03 am

    Luxon repeats mantras believing if he wants it enough it will happen.

    Many people operate in this fashion, stating goals so they recognise things which impede those goals.

    (Unions Collectives Co-operatives Community are impediments according to this belief system).imo.

    He is stroking his "supporters" saying what they want to hear. "Strong and stable Government", meaning he will underpin the goal of money making and wealth accumulation.

    Now, that is fine if you belong to the 5% / 10% who live that way, but it takes away from the common pot of support for the rest of us. imo.

    We need different taxes which avoid this imbalance. imo.

    Community goals are often those things which feed the spirit, Cultural experiences Art Music Cycling Community Gardening Walking Dance Sport and common interest groups, Work place friendships shared experiences and goals which connect us etc.

    Then you get folk who say "There is no such thing as "Society" We are all "individuals" perhaps because that suits their belief agenda. I think Luxon is in that group, and that is why he said "We don't want bottom feeders".

    • Belladonna 5.1
      25 October 2023 at 11:33 am

      I think you are misunderstanding the purpose of branding and slogans. They are to outline your point of difference, to be memorable, and to (subtly or otherwise) shaft the opposition.

      Repeating them is how you embed them into public consciousness.

      Remember "Team of 5 million" "Nine years of neglect" – examples showing that Ardern (who after all has a degree in communications) understood the principle and used it effectively.

      You can disagree as much as you please with the truth of the statement – and your slogan can come back to bite you (what do you think the Opposition will do if Luxon's government *isn't* stable?) – as Ardern's 'Team of 5 million' did, when it became clear that a large chunk of the 5 million were not on the 'team')

      His 'supporters' (if you include ACT and NZF) – are the majority of voters who elected him. He's telling them what they need/want to hear. That he can form a stable government, staying true to the principles he outlined in the campaign.

      Whether he can, or not, is another matter – and we'll see when the government forms.

      The country had the chance to vote for a different tax regime. They didn't take it.

      • Patricia Bremner 5.1.1
        25 October 2023 at 12:17 pm

        You may think what you like about my opinion, that does not mean I have "misunderstood" except in your opinion.

        Propaganda is what it is..

        Truth, now that is subjective, and often massaged.

      • bwaghorn 5.1.2
        25 October 2023 at 9:37 pm

        That he can form a stable government

        More of an affirmation or possibly an upper floor prayer to the almighty I'm picking.

  6. adam 6
    25 October 2023 at 12:08 pm

    God Bless the UWA.

    Another plant Arlington goes out on Strike. Truck site so major money making plant.

  7. Stephen D 7
    25 October 2023 at 12:13 pm

    From Nick Rockel

    https://nickrockel.substack.com/p/taxing-the-super-rich

    Makes a lot of sense.

    "I think Labour and the Greens should release a joint tax plan within the next year. This should include a wealth tax, a drop in the lowest tax rate or a tax free threshold, an increase to the top rate of income tax, and minimum tax rates for companies based on their revenue in this country.

    Long term it’s not a viable position for the major party of the left to oppose a more progressive tax system. In doing so they are effectively enabling the rich to protect their exorbitant wealth and avoid paying their fair share.

    That cannot be the position of the major party of the left in the future. Or they will struggle to remain as the major party of the left, with others willing to stand up for a fairer system that enables our society to pay for the things that everyone needs."

  8. Ffloyd 8
    25 October 2023 at 12:59 pm

    Patricia B. You go! BD sounds a bit prickly today. IMO.

  9. Incognito 9
    25 October 2023 at 1:17 pm

    Somebody tell Luxon that the election campaign is over and he can stop sloganeering. They should also whisper in his ear(piece) that he’s no longer managing an airline but about to govern this country for all New Zealanders.

    “Prime ministers are always going to set rules for their engagement with the media. But there's no law that says the Press Gallery has to follow them. I think (Luxon) has unrealistic ideas about how government formation talks work, because he talks about them as if they were a merger or acquisition. They're not,” he [Richard Harman] said.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018911843/take-me-to-your-leader [by Colin Peacock]

    • Adrian 9.1
      25 October 2023 at 2:53 pm

      Bill English has already publicly had to remind him that he will be running a country not a company.

      • lprent 9.1.1
        26 October 2023 at 10:57 pm

        Where? I’d like to read that.

        Ah on the NZ Herald – explains why I haven’t seen it.

        Asked for one piece of advice for Luxon, English said it was to remember the Government was not a business.

        “It’s not a business okay,” he said, going on to say that Luxon appeared to have already learned this lesson.

        “What I really like about Chris Luxon is how quickly he’s learned that. He’s only had the shortest time ever to learn it,” English said.

        English had other advice for the incoming government, including to remember that the “customer” for a minister’s work is not an official in a ministry, but the wider public. He warned against being captured by the public service.

        He said the new government should challenge the way the public service works.

        The problem with that is the position of all three coalition parties. Act wants to cut deeply into muscle in the public service. National wants to finance unrealistic tax cuts and will cut muscle to do so. And NZ First just wants to cut whoever offended them recently in the public service – probably starting with Jack Tame.

        The nett effect will be to strip the effective members of the public service and to promote the ineffective sycophant brown nose. Apart from Peters, there isn’t much competent experience in any of the parties to be able to judge public service competence. Plus they will get an opportunity to fill in the position of Public Service Commissioner. That decision will be interesting to watch.

  10. newsense 10
    25 October 2023 at 1:57 pm

    Labour’s failures may make things tricky for Luxon. A good Tory PM essentially wants to do nothing while wondering if we should change the flag or watching the rugby.

    Usually this means keeping all the necessary reforms Labour made to areas of society or country in need. The problem this time might be that the new government may have to deal head on with climate change. They’ve already indicated that the housing crisis will continue and get worse. Infrastructure from transport to water to electricity needs bold market intervention.

    Long story short doing a few things that achieve little up front like boot camps and then sitting tight may really not be an option.

  11. pat 11
    25 October 2023 at 2:09 pm

    "The country's population grew by 105,900 people in the 12 months to June 2023, according to new estimates from Statistics NZ. Auckland led the growth, fuelled by migration.

    Stats NZ estimates the population at 5.223 million as of June 30. The population of the North Island is now just short of 4 million.

    The 105,900 extra people in the whole country in the 12 months to June 2023 represented 2.1% growth.

    "The population grew in all 16 regions of New Zealand in the year ended June 2023, according to provisional estimates," Stats NZ said."

    https://www.interest.co.nz/economy/124923/stats-nz-says-countrys-population-grew-105900-people-year-june-aucklands-population

    What housing crisis and infrastructure deficit?

  12. Janet 12
    25 October 2023 at 2:59 pm

    There is a very interesting series of 5 articles by Eugenie Bingham running at the moment on Stuffs The Post. It is a close look at the work of Predatorfree Ltd 2050 since its inception.

    https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/nz-news/350096235/how-noble-goal-eliminate-predators-hit-trouble-part-1-wrong-track

  13. SPC 13
    25 October 2023 at 3:28 pm

    While the world reminds Israel about article 4 of the Geneva Convention (and maybe article 15 of the Human Rights Declaration), parties in our parliament will also have to remind the incoming NACT government about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights …

    articles that come to mind are …

    8

    https://www.youthforhumanrights.org/what-are-human-rights/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/articles-1-15.html

    22-26

    https://www.youthforhumanrights.org/what-are-human-rights/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/articles-16-30.html