Open Mike 26/10/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 26th, 2016 - 103 comments
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103 comments on “Open Mike 26/10/2016 ”

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    • ropata 1.1
      26 October 2016 at 7:14 am

      Not to mention the Dreamworld tragedy, caused by skimping on maintenance, lack of skilled staff, and making money at the expense of safety

      • saveNZ 1.1.1
        26 October 2016 at 7:28 am

        +1 Ropata – all shocking. We used to lead the world in Dairy including food safety. Now under the free trade agreements NZ have sold the farms, are destroying our Kiwi Fonterra brand internationally and the farmers are not getting ahead. This is inspite of using dirty dairying and public money to destroy the environment at the same time.

        Yep theres more money in free trade we are constantly told, it is making us wealthy. The truth is trade is making the 1% super wealthy, the governments wealthy and corrupt and reliant on this type of wealth and 5% of people better off under them. The rest of the people are worse off. It’s time that equality was used as a figure for the wealth of a country not GDP which does not reveal that the money is siphoned off and not actually making most people’s lives better, in fact in NZ many people are steadily getting worse off and no matter how rich you are, once you destroy your environment it does not matter how much money you have in the bank.

      • Sorrwerdna 1.1.2
        26 October 2016 at 9:02 am

        What a completely disgusting and disrespectful comment about Dreamworld. How could you be so qualified to make these statements -surprised you haven’t blamed it on John Key.

        • ropata 1.1.2.1
          26 October 2016 at 9:12 am

          Their lax safety record is tragically obvious. It’s also in the news reports. It should absolutely be questioned!
          http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11735722

          • Muttonbird 1.1.2.1.1
            26 October 2016 at 9:50 am

            Absolutely. There is a direct relationship between the reduction of regulatory oversight of workplace and public safety, and the increased incidence of accidents. This reduction of regulatory oversight is for one purpose only – to reduce costs and increase profits for businesses.

        • greywarshark 1.1.2.2
          26 October 2016 at 3:03 pm

          What dreamworld do you live in sorry? Dreamworld is a business, not a person even if it has been given this status by shoe-licking political lackeys. You cannot be disrespectful to an ordinary business, though if Fred Hollows charity business was criticised for not helping enough blind sufferers I would get incensed.
          If you have a relative working for Dreamworld, there is no fault implied and no-one is blaming your relative. If you have shares in Dreamworld then you still could not know how the managers chose to run the business, how often and thoroughly they did inspections.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.2
      26 October 2016 at 9:29 am

      All due to the cost cutting ethic of capitalism and the drive for ever higher profits.

    • joe90 1.3
      26 October 2016 at 9:44 am

      Not excusing the current management but looking at the state of the Delta/Aurora poles and hardware it’s obvious they date from the 1950’s/60’s and should have been replaced well before the Bradford reforms.

      • Pasupial 1.3.1
        26 October 2016 at 11:03 am

        Joe90
        There weren’t any pictures of poles in that ODT article, but there were these claims:

        Delta originally planned to replace 314 power poles this financial year… a vast gap between the number of planned replacements and the 2910 poles Delta and Aurora chief executive Grady Cameron acknowledged last week were required under health and safety rules to be replaced in the next 12 months…

        Given other parts of the Aurora’s infrastructure were also in bad condition, he doubted the council would receive a dividend from Aurora for between one and two decades if it ”actually addressed the problems”.

        ”Basically, they have raped the asset for 20 years and now someone is going to have to pay and it’s going to be the ratepayers.”

        20 years ago was 1996, Bradford’s Electricity deregulation was 1997, the two dates do not seem to be mere coincidence. I walk past these dodgy power poles on a daily basis, and while; yes, they are old – that is not such a problem if they are adequately maintained.

        • joe90 1.3.1.1
          26 October 2016 at 12:05 pm

          that is not such a problem if they are adequately maintained.

          You don’t maintain, from this image and looking through my linesman’s eye, the concrete pole, the kidney insulators and line-tap terminations and it’s [the concrete pole] proximity to the Australia hardwood suggests that the line was originally constructed post war and reconstructed in the early 1960’s, assets of that age, you reconstruct and that reconstruction should have been done 25 years ago,

          • joe90 1.3.1.1.1
            26 October 2016 at 12:08 pm

            no edit:

            the early 196070’s

          • Draco T Bastard 1.3.1.1.2
            26 October 2016 at 12:33 pm

            There was probably plans to underground back in the 1980s but they probably got shit-canned when cutting taxes and selling them off as profit making ventures became popular under the 4th Labour government. As a Telecom linesman I certainly recall doing under-grounding in association with the local power authority in the mid 1980s.

            It’s what happens when government and business tell people that they don’t really need to pay as much – we lose service.

            • joe90 1.3.1.1.2.1
              26 October 2016 at 12:43 pm

              The old maxim was don’t let the bean counters run your engineering, but the bean counters won.

              • Pasupial …
                26 October 2016 at 12:53 pm

                DTB
                Undergrounding isn’t so popular nowadays after the Christchurch earthquakes. But as you point out, it is also expensive and seen as a dispensable luxury. However, tourist spots and richer suburbs seem to be able to wrangle it (mates on the council?). It is nice to be able to see the sky as a pedestrian, the power cables always make you feel imprisoned.

          • Pasupial 1.3.1.1.3
            26 October 2016 at 12:47 pm

            Joe90
            Okay; periodically reconstructed as part of an adequate maintenance routine, if you prefer that terminology as a linesman.

            I know that power pole well – it’s right outside two schools about a block from the Botanic Gardens & Shops on the old main road North (the only road through the area that doesn’t require a long detour up steep hillsides). It’s not even the worst of them in Dunedin, let alone the rest of Otago. But because of its location I’m glad that it’s had the recent publicity and will thus be likely replaced in the near future. That’s not going to do much for the thousands of others that have been left to rot since Bradford’s deregulation though.

            BTW That lack of edit function is really irritating. I originally meant to say something like; “There weren’t any pictures of poles in that ODT article, unless you think that Healey’s face is what the poles have eroded down to look like (though maybe he does date from the 1950s)”. But I decided to do the copy/pasting first and neglected to complete the phrase before submitting. It’s not that good a joke anyway, and it needs to be tightened to fewer words.

          • McFlock 1.3.1.1.4
            26 October 2016 at 2:00 pm

            Delta was formed in 1990 post-local government rejigging (sigh: cheers Lab4, once again).
            Looks like they were skimping on capital development since then…

    • DH 1.4
      26 October 2016 at 10:16 am

      That power price article prompted me to look at Transpower’s annual report. What a shambles, this National Govt has a lot to answer for.

      • tc 1.4.1
        26 October 2016 at 11:14 am

        The power industry has become layer upon layer of ticket clipping, profit extraction, overpaid boys club management and regulatory wankfests.

        All at the expense of fundamental network strenghtening, replacement, expansion and diversification. Transpower are a real piece of work and the jewel in bradfords reformist crown.

        • DH 1.4.1.1
          26 October 2016 at 1:40 pm

          Seems to be a bit of a cashcow for Bill English to milk too. Transpower nett profit after tax was $113 million and the Govt bilked it of $166 million in dividends.

          The average interest rate on Transpower’s $3.3 billion of borrowing is 7.2%, costing them over $225 million in interest last year. It’s been eight years since interest rates crashed, why are they still paying such usurious interest rates?

          • saveNZ 1.4.1.1.1
            26 October 2016 at 3:28 pm

            @DH – shocking! They are going to do a Solid Energy and drive them into bankruptcy. Looks like Pumpkin Patch has gone under. Another Kiwi company bites the dust – too much borrowing!! So what’s the Natz doing, more borrowing!

        • greywarshark 1.4.1.2
          26 October 2016 at 3:15 pm

          One of the National family jewels indeed. Nuts to them.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.5
      26 October 2016 at 1:33 pm

      NZ ranked first in world for ease of doing business

      Has high correlation with increasing poverty and reduced maintenance thus we’re looking at possible causation.

      • greywarshark 1.5.1
        26 October 2016 at 3:18 pm

        We will, we will, ease you! We are the slippriest country in the western world, one of Fagin’s best pocket-picking boys.

  2. saveNZ 2
    26 October 2016 at 7:52 am

    From our lobbyists for AT – transport Blog… and Phil Goff’s first ideas are to get rid of two councillors from the AT board including Mike Lee (the RWNJ’s least favourite councillor)… No wonder so many corporates wanted to donate to Phil Goff’s mayoral campaign, removing democracy, hindering accountability and giving a Fuck You to the public.

    yep we don’t want the council to know details of what the 1 billion dollars a year AT gets. Market confidentiality blah blah blah Don’t tell the council what AT are doing. (really does that make sense with the billion dollars?).

    Simple way to improve transparency Phil .. have councillors reporting back to the council about what they are doing and let the ‘shareholders, aka the public’ know too!!! Not rocket science! AT is not supposed to be a dictatorship it’s a council controlled organisation, controlled by the council and not a corporation as the public are forced to support them through rates. That is why we need some elected members there. It’s called democracy something that seems to be in decline.

    http://transportblog.co.nz/2016/10/26/no-councillors-on-at-board-perhaps-not-a-bad-thing/

    • Sacha 2.1
      26 October 2016 at 9:53 am

      The post you linked to explains very clearly how Councillors serving on AT’s Board are bound by confidentiality and so are unable to discuss anything with other Councillors anyway.

      I agree this post-election move has come as a surprise to all of us and I remain to be convinced that other accountability approaches will work either. AT has been deliberately constructed by this govt to be hard for Council to control effectively

      • saveNZ 2.1.1
        26 October 2016 at 12:45 pm

        My point is AT use ratepayer money and so should be completely accountable. Not hiding behind corporate confidentiality. AT has been in the news for corruption for goodness sake. At One billion running costs a year, they should be stuffing the board with elected members to hold them to account to the council for the money and also the ratepayers of Auckland.

        • saveNZ 2.1.1.1
          26 October 2016 at 1:02 pm

          In short they have every right to corporate confidentiality if they don’t take a cent of public money. If they do, then they need to account for it not hide behind smoke and mirrors to dispense their corporate welfare to their cronies.

    • Ad 2.2
      26 October 2016 at 10:02 am

      It’s a simple political move to give Goff two fresh appointments of his choosing on the Board, without having to wait for the seats to come up in their appointment terms.

      It presages a good-old cleanout of that Board.

      Goff will have come into the Mayoralty with his own list of people he would want on all the Boards. He’s no dummy.

      • tc 2.2.1
        26 October 2016 at 11:18 am

        No hes swapped troughs for one closer to his ranch, theres good reasons national didnt put a serious contender up as phildo will do them just fine.

      • saveNZ 2.2.2
        26 October 2016 at 12:47 pm

        No Ad it represents a clean out of elected members of the board one of which is known to be pro public owned assets. It represents a loss of democracy and accountability to the public, not what Goff and AT is trying to spin.

    • saveNZ 2.3
      26 October 2016 at 2:31 pm

      “Over the past six years, the two councillors on the AT board, former Auckland mayor Christine Fletcher and former Auckland Regional Council chair, Mike Lee, have ensured there was a voice amongst the suits on the AT board, representing the rest of us.

      Both brought deep institutional knowledge to the table. And asked embarrassing questions. Mrs Fletcher was responsible for building the Britomart train station. Mr Lee led the fight for the electrification of the train network and the rebirth of Auckland public transport.

      What an own goal for Mr Goff. The bureaucrats and the professional directors will be cracking open the champagne.”

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11735462

  3. halfcrown 3
    26 October 2016 at 8:44 am

    This is interesting article, even our Double Dipping Dickhead From Dipton gets a mention.

    No doubt this prat has got us into so much debt, he now also has to kowtow to them.

    https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/10/25/it-is-time-to-stop-the-shameful-kowtowing-to-china-before-it-is-too-late/

    • ropata 3.1
      26 October 2016 at 8:50 am

      Blinglish is bowing down to money and power. That is what he truly worships, and as a representative of New Zealand, so do we.

  4. reason 4
    26 October 2016 at 8:49 am

    David Cameron the former british PM and chum of Keys ….. was rejected and resigned from politics.

    Reading this article on him and many of the descriptions sound just like Key …………. ugly bad men. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/14/so-goodbye-david-cameron-libya-is-not-the-only-failed-state-you-are-responsible-for

    Both mean and hard on the poor,while enabling tax haven abuse and speculation: …:” His refusal to see that “reducing the deficit” was hammering the public sector too hard, his refusal to tackle abuse of the tax system, of being intensely relaxed about unaffordable house prices, the ongoing lack of investment in public provision, these were choices he made for others suffer the consequences.”

    He was a big brave guts on war like Key: …..: “Now, too, is the recklessness of his foreign policy being exposed: the intervention in Libya with its horrible echoes of Iraq, done again without proper intelligence and soon shifting its goal, from the need to protect civilians in Benghazi, to regime change. Cameron’s aim, it seems, was to pose with Nicolas Sarkozy as a liberator. Never one to miss a photo-op! Libya slid into chaos and civil war.”

    Twin superficial and false leaders: ….”His famous charm only worked on those who wanted to be fooled by it. Genuine charm, like actual manners, depends on being interested in others” … .”Cameron was only interested in others like himself. If one was “other” to him and his circle (and that’s most of us), he was merely polite in his patrician way.”

    Both talk a good game but deliver nasty shit results:… “There is an argument for saying it was Osborne’s budgets – often cruel, often aimed squarely at women and children – that helped Cameron lose the referendum. We were to be a high wage, low–welfare economy. The reality is a low-wage and low-welfare state.”

    And right wing cult leaders like Key & Cameron are the experts in all things:….:”Arrogance does not quite cover such an attitude, which leads them to maintain they know more about schools than teachers, more about hospitals than doctors, more about the economy than the IMF. This isn’t managerialism, it is narcissism.”

    It’s almost like they are Greedy creep blood Bro s

    • ropata 4.1
      26 October 2016 at 8:55 am

      It was Cameron’s hubris that caused the whole Brexit debacle, and his reliance on spin doctors more than substantial change. Key (the smiling assassin) is a bit sharper and knows exactly what he’s doing.

      • james 4.1.1
        26 October 2016 at 9:27 am

        I dont know how you can refer to Brexit as a debacle.

        It had the highest turn out of any referendum in the UK and the majority of people voted to leave.

        Its not a debacle – its democracy working.

      • reason 4.1.2
        26 October 2016 at 1:38 pm

        Key has an excellent spin team ……. which includes about 85% of our media.

        His long free ride by them where he was rewarded for telling lies has inflated his arrogance and he’s been getting a bit sloppy …… ”

        I’d rate him as less sharp than a south canterbury finance investor ……. as he kept his money invested in merrill lynch despite having inside information about them …

        ” Indeed, he says when he went back to London in 2007 he was “horrified” at the level of risk Merrill was running. “It was enormous and I just didn’t think that enough had changed to warrant that level of risk.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/john-key-the-unauthorised-biography/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502247&objectid=10522310

        And he was lucky rather than sharp when his bad Merrill investment was saved by the forced Bank of America bailout …………… leaving him to walk away with millions in charity from u.s.a taxpayers.

        When I find out how many millions worth his personal bail out was worth I’ll post it up …………….. so BM can admire the size of his millionares hand out 😉

    • james 4.2
      26 October 2016 at 9:22 am

      “David Cameron the former british PM and chum of Keys ….. was rejected and resigned from politics.”

      Really – he won two general elections – the second with am increased majority and was only last year.

      Far from him being rejected Brexit stood alone with the majority of people wanting to leave the EU.

      But cameron rejected – nope. And should he have stood against Corbyn – I think he would have won by the largest majority seen for a long time.

      • ropata 4.2.1
        26 October 2016 at 9:32 am

        You mean he scraped into power by virtue of a hopeless opposition. Cameron’s horrible far right elitist policies are deeply unpopular, hence Theresa May making all sorts of noises about going back to the centre (she won’t though).

        The whole climate of British politics is being dragged Left under the influence of Corbyn and the increasingly disaffected working/under employed class.

        I think Brexit was a signal of the problems the disaffected workers of Britain have with housing, employment, health, immigration

      • halfcrown 4.2.2
        26 October 2016 at 12:06 pm

        Camoron only won with 36.8% of the vote( Labour got 30.5%) The only reason he increased his majority was he managed to claw back the seats from the ones who voted for the Libs at the previous election.

        Not exactly a landslide victory Aye.

    • Garibaldi 4.3
      26 October 2016 at 12:46 pm

      Well expressed Reason. Thank you.
      I’ve a good mind to also say “go away James, ya fatty” but I’d better not; right wingers “don’t like it up’em “.

      • reason 4.3.1
        26 October 2016 at 4:28 pm

        Thanks Garibaldi and ropata ………… I do have some interesting posts coming with information you never read in our media …….

        Facts and links that will be uncomfortable for James ….. we’ll get a bit of truth up him 😉

  5. Penny Bright 5
    26 October 2016 at 10:02 am

    Upon what lawful basis does (yet to be sworn in) Auckland Mayor Phil Goff get the power and authority to remove Auckland Councillors Mike Lee and Christine Fletcher from the Board of Auckland Transport?

    http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2009/0032/latest/DLM2044937.html#DLM2044937

    Penny Bright

    ‘Anti-privatisation/ anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.

    • Ad 5.1
      26 October 2016 at 10:05 am

      Answer:

      9 (3) (d) of the section you quote.

      Plus, any decent Mayor would stamp his own governing authority really fast into the term.

      If you’d got, say

    • Ad 5.2
      26 October 2016 at 10:06 am

      Answer:

      9 (3) (d) of the section you quote.

      Plus, any decent Mayor would stamp his own governing authority really fast into the term.

      If you’d got, say an extra 130,000 votes, you’d have done exactly the same thing if you were smart. Thankfully, Phil Goff is Mayor, and he’s making the right moves so far.

      • Penny Bright 5.2.1
        26 October 2016 at 10:20 am

        The ‘right moves’ for whom?

        Penny Bright

      • Penny Bright 5.2.2
        26 October 2016 at 10:25 am

        errr ….. Auckland Transport is a Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) – not a ‘Council Committee’ – so – in my view Ad, you are simply WRONG.
        (9. (3)
        (d) to appoint the chairperson of each committee of the governing body and, for that purpose, the mayor—
        (i) may make the appointment before the other members of the committee are determined; and
        (ii)may appoint himself or herself:

        Kind regards

        Penny Bright
        ‘Anti-privatisation/ anti-corruption Public Watchdog’

        • Richard Rawshark 5.2.2.1
          26 October 2016 at 11:22 am

          what sort of person has a handle Penny Bright and then signs all her posts.

          Give me a break Penny you NUT job. You lost, your out there in the head, your a nutter. Phil will do ten times, no ten thousand times the job you would have, no one wants you.. go find another cause to nutter out over please.

          harsh but meh, you talk some crap.

          • greywarshark 5.2.2.1.1
            26 October 2016 at 3:28 pm

            Rich and raw all right
            Penny I guess you are inured to reading the statements of the unthinking and the ignorant. Facts are so limiting and reflection takes precious time, only wankers sit around thinking! The busy boys and girls are so far off the mark that it’s a wonder they can find their way home at night.

    • Sacha 5.3
      26 October 2016 at 11:05 am

      Council’s governing body has the power to decide whether to appoint Councillors onto AT’s Board. Goff must have secured enough numbers around the table before making his announcement.

      From section 4.15 on p87 of the Governance Manual for Substantive CCOs, downloadable here: http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/representativesbodies/CCO/Pages/Home.aspx

      “Councillors who are board members, and who are re-elected, are not guaranteed a future place on the board of Auckland Transport. Tenure guidelines referred to in this policy are expected to apply to council representatives who hold a seat on the board of Auckland Transport. The council will reassess the councillor appointments to Auckland Transport following each triennial election and based on required skills, experience and current board composition.

      Auckland Transport board members who are outgoing elected representatives must retire no later than one month from Election Day or upon the appointment of their successor – whichever is earlier.”

      So the default is Lee and Fletcher have to stand down anyway.

      • Penny Bright 5.3.1
        26 October 2016 at 11:20 am

        Since when was the (yet to be sworn in) Auckland Council Mayor Phil Goff – ‘the Council’?

        Penny Bright

        ‘Anti-privatisation/ anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.

        • Sacha 5.3.1.1
          26 October 2016 at 11:27 am

          Learn to read. Start with my first sentence.

        • greywarshark 5.3.1.2
          26 October 2016 at 3:32 pm

          Yes Penny it is no use venting about unsatisfactory things that have already been enabled for Council to slide smoothly into its easy-rider, don’t look now, management role. You will just have to suck it up or have Sachas coming out of the woodwork in their hundreds. And they would be if it’s already been legislated -they can do it and you only weaken your case by not confronting that fact.

          • McFlock 5.3.1.2.1
            26 October 2016 at 3:58 pm

            Goff is mayor right now. Otherwise there’d be the situation where Auckland has absolutely no leading body in case of disaster or something needing to be done.

          • Sacha 5.3.1.2.2
            26 October 2016 at 4:12 pm

            I prefer activism based on a genuine understanding of the situation, not fanciful blatherings.

        • McFlock 5.3.1.3
          26 October 2016 at 3:56 pm

          what’s your obsession with the swearing in ceremony? According to the Local Electoral Act he came into office on the day after the official results were declared.

          Looks like another example of failing to see the wood for the trees…

  6. ropata 6
    26 October 2016 at 10:14 am

    NZ house prices overdue for a correction (or stagnation) says ANZ chief economist
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11735906

    Professor Steve Keen (Kingston University) says property prices could fall up to 70%, and why Australia will be hit by a recession in 2017.

  7. Penny Bright 7
    26 October 2016 at 10:40 am

    The problem, in my view, is that Auckland Transport has not been held accountable to their statutory obligations under the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009:

    http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2009/0032/latest/DLM2363310.html

    40Operating principles
    In meeting its principal objective (as a council-controlled organisation) under section 59 of the Local Government Act 2002, and in performing its functions, Auckland Transport must—

    (a) establish and maintain processes for Māori to contribute to its decision-making processes; and

    (b) operate in a financially responsible manner and, for this purpose, prudently manage its assets and liabilities and endeavour to ensure—

    (i) its long-term financial viability; and

    (ii) that it acts as a successful going concern; and

    (c) use its revenue efficiently and effectively, and in a manner that seeks value for money; and

    (d) ensure that its revenue and expenditure are accounted for in a transparent manner; and

    (e) ensure that it acts in a transparent manner in making decisions under this Act and the Land Transport Management Act 2003.

    Section 40: substituted, on 1 November 2010, by section 31 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 36

  8. Rosemary McDonald 8
    26 October 2016 at 11:07 am

    Natrad’s nine to noon this am featured Leonie Freeman and her revolutionary plan to solve Auckland’s housing crisis….

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201821325/a-new-iniative-to-tackle-auckland's-housing-crisis

    Also, the quick link to Freeman’s webpage…http://thehomepage.nz/

    Personally I didn’t hear anything new or innovative from this person who appears to have done well from playing all sides of the housing sector….

    She seems to think that creating a ten member panel/think tank, funded by various stakeholders, will solve the problem.

    I say you go girl…as long as all panel members are paid the minimum wage…

  9. Pasupial 9
    26 October 2016 at 11:10 am

    Hi to Lprent (or whoever is dealing with the technical side of moderation). The edit function seems to be completely missing today, reply is still there though (I am using Firefox on a W10 laptop). Is anyone else having this issue?

    • ropata 9.1
      26 October 2016 at 11:52 am

      Sidebar comments went missing sometime early this morning (9-ish?). Was OK before then

      • Draco T Bastard 9.1.1
        26 October 2016 at 12:40 pm

        It’s been iffy for me since I got on this morning at around 8:30ish.

        • Draco T Bastard 9.1.1.1
          26 October 2016 at 12:41 pm

          Right-hand side bar is completely gone for me now and there’s no edit function.

          • te reo putake 9.1.1.1.1
            26 October 2016 at 12:57 pm

            Same here on both Firefox and Chrome. I think we’ve seen this issue before and it does make navigating the discussions difficult. No doubt LP will come up with a fix in short time.

    • weka 9.2
      26 October 2016 at 12:22 pm

      I also can’t edit from the front end comment – there is no edit button. Logged in, Safari.

      The bug I’ve noticed is I’m getting the error message of commenting too quickly, but it happens even if I haven’t commented recently. I can’t comment on my phone at all for the past few days. I’ve had it happen once on the laptop too.

  10. Robert Glennie 10
    26 October 2016 at 12:40 pm

    What is it going to take to make this country address men’s health?

    Surely in this day and age it cannot be acceptable to tell a man battling depression to harden up? And yet, I have heard several people, including work colleagues say that to people.

    We would not tell a woman to harden up if she has post natal depression, would we? We would offer her support and sympathy.

    We underfund mental health and under resource it when it has probably never been needed more. How many times do we hear of mental health patients either killing themselves or killing someone else?

    https://willnewzealandberight.com/2016/10/26/mens-mental-health-more-than-a-once-annual-talk-fest/

    • weka 10.1
      26 October 2016 at 1:22 pm

      Too many women with PND also don’t get the support they need and instead get negative or dismissive messages.

      I agree that men have particular issues that need addressing. I think one of the issues is that in the past handful of decades women have organised to push for the things they need (am thinking health in general). I’m not sure that men have that, and that many men either don’t value that or there is a cultural taboo on it.

      As a country we are appalling bad at dealing with mental health. A big part of that is funding, but also the mainstream doesn’t really have a good set of tools for this because of the focus on the biomedical model, and on mental illness as a disease. Looking at social theories of disability would help us a lot, as well as the work being done by people who have taken their mental health outside the mainstream, and by the psych survivor movement. Many people are saying that they would be ok if they had support that worked for them i.e. treatment doesn’t have to be the first place to go.

      • Cinny 10.1.1
        26 October 2016 at 2:17 pm

        YES ! Re the PND. Once upon a time mum’s were able to stay in hospital with their newborns for 2 weeks, feeding would have been established, routine, mum was able to recover from the most intense thing a womans body can ever go through.

        Now mum’s are allowed only a couple of days in hospital, and more often than not they are encouraged to leave ASAP.

        As a woman whom was diagnosed with severe PND after 15 trips to to Dr’s asking for help, I strongly feel that pushing women out of hospital so soon is directly to blame as well as NZ’s reluctance to invest in mental health, training GP’s etc to know and understand the signs, teach the dad’s and family members about PND and depression etc etc.

        As a result of a mum having the PND the whole family suffers and can potentially break down, creating massive stress for the dad/husband. It’s a killer that mental illness is.

        Mental Health is underfunded, whole system needs an overhaul and a stigma change

        • The New Student 10.1.1.1
          26 October 2016 at 2:30 pm

          +1 Cinny. Also, men’s health needs addressing; but I think it needs to be seen to be led by men. By men, for men; for the benefit of us all.

        • saveNZ 10.1.1.2
          26 October 2016 at 2:40 pm

          Hi Cinny – it’s much worse than that with maternity. At Auckland hospital you are expected to leave within 2-3 hours with a normal birth and 24 hours with a caesarean birth.

          You then go to birth care or some other place, so have to often in the middle of the night, birth your child, dress them, put them in a carseat and then drive off to another destination, check in, resettle your baby in a room with another Mother with possibly an unsettled child or be woken as another mother turns up in the night.

          Don’t get me wrong, it’s not birth cares fault. But it is child abuse. Often the babies temperature has dropped during the drive. Also don’t expect if you are Maori to be able to take your placenta to birth care to store it in a fridge. No facilities for placenta storage until you go home.

          Then they wonder why NZ has such high child abuse statistics and poor child outcomes….. it starts with the cruel and stupid treatment of women and child and the rest of the family, in their first hours of birth.

          All this to save a few dollars for the hospital and to make sure they can drive down costs at birth care by making them apply for funding constantly.

          Like in all neoliberalism it shifts the costs upstream – and onto someone else budget.

          • Olwyn 10.1.1.2.1
            26 October 2016 at 6:48 pm

            +1000 savenz. As a species, we are not naturals at looking after our young – we have to learn, and bonding with the newborn is an important first step. The kind of thing you describe puts people onto the wrong foot from the outset.

          • Manuka AOR 10.1.1.2.2
            26 October 2016 at 10:22 pm

            At Auckland hospital you are expected to leave within 2-3 hours with a normal birth and 24 hours with a caesarean birth.

            Good grief.
            Perhaps it is due to concern over the spread of antibiotic superbugs, or hospital acquired infections?

        • Rosemary McDonald 10.1.1.3
          26 October 2016 at 8:38 pm

          I’m going back 30 years here when No.1 son was born and I was forced to sign a stack of forms to say I wouldn’t blame the hospital for any adverse outcomes because of my insistence to leave the hospital within 24 hours of giving birth.

          “Do you want a dead baby?” was the comment from one nurse.

          Three years later, and after delivering No.2…the fashion had changed and they shuffled me out the door within hours.

          No.3 was born at home. By far the best place in my humble opinion. Hospitals are, by their very nature, unhealthy places to keep a vulnerable newborn unless they or mum need ongoing medical treatment.

          There was an interesting talk on Natrad the other day on PND,
          http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201821008/alison-mcculloch-post-natal-depression

          And even more interesting…in 2004, a study found that rates of PND amoungst Samoan mothers were much lower (8% as opposed to 20%) than for all NZ mothers.

          http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/150787/nz-study-finds-low-rates-of-post-natal-depression-among-samoans

          And yet….in 2012…the rates of PND amoungst Pacific mothers was recorded as being 10% higher than the rest of the population.

          http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/102583/pacific-islanders-twice-as-likely-to-have-depression

          So…I’m a little confused. Either some of the research is a bit dodgy, or there was some cataclysmic change in the Pacifica community in the 8 years after the first study.

          Now…there was a rather devastating election outcome in 2008… which seems to coincide with much higher rates of depression in the wider community….

    • Sacha 10.2
      26 October 2016 at 11:29 pm

      Thanks Robert. A man posts about men’s health and the next 7 responses are about women’s health instead. Interesting.

      Men are worse off for all health conditions shared with women, a NorthHealth RHA study found in the 90s. Ignored. In the context of your post, way more men than women kill themselves. Yet try to get any health funder to act accordingly.

  11. saveNZ 11
    26 October 2016 at 12:58 pm

    Great insights from Trotter…

    “LABOUR – WTF?” The question said it all. And the packed-out restaurant confirmed its aptness. Laila Harré has good instincts for the mood of the Auckland Left, and “WTF?” sums up its assessment of the current state of the Labour Party with earthy directness.

    Less adroit, perhaps, was her decision to allow The Spinoff to co-sponsor the event. It’s hard to reconcile the Ika Seafood Bar and Grill’s skilful courting of Auckland’s progressives with The Spinoff’s vicious attack on one of the Left’s most respected representatives – Mike Lee. That the attack on Lee could so easily have resulted in (and was quite probably intended to secure) Bill Ralston’s election to the Auckland Council merely confirmed The Spinoff’s political incorrectness.

    That the choice of Simon Wilson as host of the evening’s panel discussion’s proved equally unsuitable was not something for which the Ika team could be blamed. Wilson made himself so by persuading The Spinoff to post his “Look, there goes the Labour Party – sliding towards oblivion” on the same day as the Table-Talk event.

    It is a very curious piece of writing. Provocative title aside, Wilson’s posting is mostly an attempt to isolate and ridicule left-wing critics of his beloved Unitary Plan. Though no names are mentioned, it is clear that the sort of people Wilson has in mind when he castigates these “old lefties”, are people like Mike Lee….

    http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/10/25/old-lefties-wtf-simon-wilson-hosts-table-talk-at-the-ika-seafood-bar-and-grill/#comment-357365

    • saveNZ 11.1
      26 October 2016 at 1:24 pm

      What is just as revealing is that Simon Wilson doesn’t even come from Auckland and thought of it as a shithole apparently. Ok so now campaigning very strongly to make it worse..

      Simon Wilson’s claim to fame is editing cuisine magazine and consumer, as well as being one of the writers during Metro’s decline … just can’t work out how he’s considered qualified on any of the topics he is pushing.. unitary plan and the decline of the Labour party…

      Or is he just another declining ex journo making a buck being a friendly lobbyist for the powers that want to carve up and sell off, Auckland and bonus points for attacking Labour in the media?

      • Gangnam Style 11.1.1
        26 October 2016 at 3:41 pm

        Really liked your comment on Daily Blog saveNZ, I thought it was very good, especially ‘commuting Wellsford family’ vs ‘inner city hipsters’!

  12. Pasupial 12
    26 October 2016 at 2:04 pm

    These rules are chilling but grimly practical. My favourite bit is at 6:05 (it is nearly twenty minutes long, but you’ll know fairly quickly if it’s your thing), something about the frequent repetition of the word “Key’s” along with this list out of the blue (slightly edited):

    1/ Promise rewards to Key [‘s backers]
    2/ Recruit [political allies]
    3/ [acquire power]
    4/ Control the treasure
    5/ Pay cronies
    6/ Flag referendum

  13. Puckish Rogue 13
    26 October 2016 at 3:36 pm

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/south-island/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503933&objectid=11736129

    “Several military-style semi-automatic firearms including five rifles and 23 handguns along with ammunition were stolen from a property on Maitland St just before 5pm.”

    Unless Maitland Street has drastically changed since I was last there I’d strongly suggest there’s quite a bit more to this because that lot of weaponry wouldn’t be cheap to purchase (legally or illegally)

    • Gangnam Style 13.1
      26 October 2016 at 8:28 pm

      Jeez you are a snob. Anyway, arn’t you a pro gun nut? SO what is the issue? One of the reasons people like me are anti guns is because they get stolen & used for nefarious purposes. Actually, Maitland St does have a couple halfway houses on it (it is in the infamous ‘mental health triangle’ area), plus some quite flash mansions, Dunedin is funny like that.

  14. repateet 14
    26 October 2016 at 4:01 pm

    “Information gathered through the checkpoint has enabled Police to provide support and information, to those people who we had reason to believe may be contemplating suicide.”

    So just in case they think that someone may be contemplating suicide they can mount checkpoints?

    How about having everyone’s internet checked, just in case? I’m sure the apparatus exists.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/85752421/police-admit-using-checkpoint-to-target-euthanasia-meeting-attendees

    • Richard Rawshark 14.1
      26 October 2016 at 4:46 pm

      Doesn’t someone? I mean what we let a bunch of people organized by one figure prepare suicide kits. Not so sure it was a bad thing, not sure of what to do if you came across that information, how do you handle that.?

      • Gangnam Style 14.1.1
        26 October 2016 at 8:25 pm

        Yeah very suspect! I am curious why they didn’t take all her knives & other sharp instruments off her as well, talk about nanny state! What the fuck are the police up to here, they got nothing better to do than harass the elderly?

    • RedBaronCV 14.2
      26 October 2016 at 8:40 pm

      Not only is this uber creepy, just who the hell in the cops thought this would ever be a good idea? And exactly how much & what surveillance exactly are they undertaking?

      The lack of self awareness, legal knowledge and the rights of ordinary citizens to go about their business in peace is absolutely astounding. Frankly I would expect someone to be sacked pronto. I think we can also infer that this came from fairly well up the ladder. There are usually a number of cops on these checkpoints, why didn’t one of them raise an objection or were they told what to do but not why?
      Time to change the law on these checkpoints – unless you show as alcohol impaired or have no rego/ warrant then you do not have to provide them with any of your details.

      Could you imagine the outcry if the police decided to prevent money laundering as a crime, by staking out a meeting of tax lawyers with public officials, a minister or MP about watering down rules on tax havens. Or a meeting of worthies to discuss how the public purse was going to be funding the Ruataniwha dam after illegally swapping conservation land.
      How long before they target other political meetings just because somebody doesn’t agree with them.

      • RedBaronCV 14.2.1
        26 October 2016 at 8:42 pm

        I also see that neither the Herald or Stuff opened their pieces for comment, pity
        that but hey the MSM have to support Right wing authoritarianism dont they?

      • Anne 14.2.2
        26 October 2016 at 10:26 pm

        Compare this response to the police response over the revelations contained in Dirty Politics. Apart from the police ganging up on the messenger, Nicky Hager it was zilch!

        What further annoys me … we are never allowed to know the identities of the police twats who are responsible for these bizarre practices. For all we know they are free to continue being total twats and buggering up law abiding citizen’s lives in the process.

    • Manuka AOR 14.3
      26 October 2016 at 10:09 pm

      How about having everyone’s internet checked, just in case? I’m sure the apparatus exists.

      Exists and in use – for huge profits:
      http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/10/25/terrifying-att-spying-americans-profit-new-documents-reveal

      The program, known as Project Hemisphere, allowed state and local agencies to conduct warrantless searches of trillions of call records and other cellular data—such as “where a target is located, with whom he speaks, and potentially why”—for a massive range of investigations, the Beast’s Kenneth Lipp reports.
      —–
      Evan Greer, campaign director at the digital rights group Fight for the Future, said Tuesday, “The for-profit spying program that these documents detail is more terrifying than the illegal [National Security Agency] surveillance programs that Edward Snowden exposed. Far beyond the NSA and FBI, these tools are accessible to a wide range of law enforcement officers including local police, without a warrant, as long as they pay up.”

  15. Richard Rawshark 15
    26 October 2016 at 4:43 pm

    The Rt Stupid Nick Smith announces fairy tales and pixie dust as solutions to the housing crisis.

    Auckland gets 100 homes, sounds good doesn’t it, until you read it and find out they haven’t even laid foundations yet.

    Or that they cost 500k

    or that, he’s a complete poser who thinks this sort of shit will save his ass.

    http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/auckland-gets-100-new-affordable-homes/ar-AAjpdyF?li=AA521r&ocid=spartandhp

  16. Robert Atack 16
    26 October 2016 at 7:34 pm

    Perth property prices continue to plummet despite hopes they may stabilise this year, with the median house price now at its lowest point since March 2013.

    House prices sunk 1.7 per cent to a median of $568,132 in the June quarter, the sixth consecutive fall for the city. Over the past year, Perth house prices have fallen by 5.6 per cent, the worst in the country, bar the volatile Darwin market.

    “After looking like the market might bottom out, Perth recorded a sharpish decline in the month and an even sharper decline in the June quarter,” Domain chief economist Andrew Wilson said.
    “House prices in Perth are the lowest they’ve been in three years and they are still falling.”

    Dr Wilson said the country’s historically low interest rates had not ignited the Perth market in the way they had in other capital cities, and said confidence was the key factor keeping a turnaround at bay.

    But there were several greenshoots in the market bucking that trend, many of which are lifestyle suburbs found further out from Perth, along the coastline.
    http://www.domain.com.au/news/perth-house-prices-continue-to-fall-to-lowest-point-in-three-years-20160721-gq9moe/

  17. weka 17
    26 October 2016 at 11:59 pm

    [In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.

    If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted – weka]

  18. KJT 18
    27 October 2016 at 12:30 pm

    Note: Perth, like Brisbane has an almost unlimited area of desert inland to build on.
    Unlike the constraints on Auckland.
    Also their is a competitive building supplier market, not a duopoly.

    Which is why their housing hasn’t sky rocketed in those States.