So, the government has jumped the shark with respect to RATs by 'consolidating' 'confiscating' tests from private businesses. However it is described the effect is the same to the businesses affected.
In this post I am not going to go into the spooky Orwellian feel of this, the doublespeak and spin used by the government and Bloomfield to justify this move, or how the government has been exposed as hopelessly unprepared.
Rather, I want to discuss the logistics of what the government intends to do.
Listening to Bloomfield on ZB last night, and the reporting on TV1, the government intends to distribute the tests based on a criteria they still haven't determined. Apparently it is going to take about two weeks to do this.
Once the criteria is established, I assume businesses are going to be able to apply to the government for tests. I think businesses are going to try and shoe-horn themselves into the criteria, often by embellishing what they do in order to get some desperately needed tests. So, the government could be inundated with many thousands of applications.
Someone is going to have to work through the applications and weed out the wheat from the chaff. This is going to take a long time, and won't be a perfect science. So, I think it is highly likely that by the time tests actually reach businesses they won't be needed.
The other silly thing is that many of those private businesses that were importing directly themselves are probably going to businesses that meet the government criteria once they get that decided. So the effect is going to be that deserving businesses get their tests a lot later than they otherwise would have.
The media outrage over this highlights how narrow and uninformed the world view of the great bulk of our MSM journalists is. Thomas Coughlan at the Herald has gone completely off the deep end for example.
It is hard to blame them. For the last twenty years at least journalism as a career has mainly been seen as a stepping stone into more lucrative marketing and PR gigs, and those who take the vocationally focused journalism qualifications on offer in our neoliberal degree factories are subject to a narrow curriculum. A liberal education is deeply out of fashion and one of the victims of that is history, an endangered topic in deep peril of vanishing completely (along with most other humanities) at our university and functionally extinct at our polytechs.
So it is most unlikely that MSM journalists are aware that completely laissez-faire markets and narcissistic hyper-individualism as an organising principle is simple one way of running an economy and a society and that the state, in times of emergency, has enormous – and legitimate – powers it can exercise.
Media hyperbole is as often as not a result of journalists existing in a context free zone informed entirely by business lobbyists and the paradigms of the existing order.
So, the government has jumped the shark with respect to RATs by 'consolidating' 'confiscating' tests from private businesses. However it is described the effect is the same to the businesses affected.
In this post I am not going to go into the spooky Orwellian feel of this, the doublespeak and spin used by the government and Bloomfield to justify this move, or how the government has been exposed as hopelessly unprepared.
This is rather meaningless. Unless there is actual evidence that the government confiscated test, I'll accept that what they in fact did was to say to their international suppliers that they want priority on orders from now on. And the international suppliers agreed.
Misrepresenting that as 'confiscation' is just bullshit. Confiscation would mean going and taking tests from businesses.
And seriously, why do some people think that in the kind of market economy we have globally, that a large buyer shouldn't out bid smaller buyers? Or that a business has an entitlement to buy something that they don't have a contract for?
The point I was making that so far as the businesses that were expecting the orders is concerned, the effect is the same however it is described. But it is what it is.
The main issue I raised, which you haven't responded to, is the logistical problems the government will likely have in trying to administer the RATs and distribute them best to where needed in a timely fashion.
The problem I see is that by adding layers of bureaucracy to the process, the supply of tests will basically stall, and no-one will end up getting them in a timely fashion.
The point I was making that so far as the businesses that were expecting the orders is concerned, the effect is the same however it is described. But it is what it is.
Yes, and I'm saying that basically lying about the situation as well isn't helpful.
The main issue I raised, which you haven't responded to, is the logistical problems the government will likely have in trying to administer the RATs and distribute them best to where needed in a timely fashion.
I didn't respond because it sounded like supposition based on not a lot. Sure, there might be logistical delays, but I can't see an alternate plan being offered other than saying that businesses should be allowed to have priority over the government in purchasing tests.
… we will be engaging directly with those businesses, just to see what their needs might be, and if they need rapid antigen tests at the moment, to support the plan, then of course we will be working with them to supply those.
My emphasis. ie businesses generally cannot use RATs now off piste. My understanding of that is that there is a global shortage of tests, and that we need to keep them for when we actually need them, and there are public health reasons to be mostly using PCR tests at this phase of omicron response.
Basically Bloomfield is saying that it's better for the government to distribute test to get them to where they are most needed, as opposed to letting the market determine that. He wants the government to have enough supply to be able to make sure tests go where they are needed.
Yes, it's a pandemic and the government wants to control supply of testing, but not absolutely. Bloomfield also says that he expects in a few weeks the orders to businesses from suppliers will resume.
The government should never have got to this situation.
They have known for months that RATs are going to be needed, since businesses started lobbying them last year and the government eventually agreed to a pilot program that was implemented in October last year that allowed a small number of large businesses to start bringing them in, as I pointed out yesterday.
So, the government has been aware for a long time that RATs are going to be an important tool in a Covid outbreak.
The fact that there is a global shortage of these tests now is no excuse for government inaction. We could be the best stocked nation in the world for these tests if the government had pulled finger a lot earlier.
We are looking at this pre-emptively because we expect many of our larger customers are going to require evidence that our staff are likely Covid-free, and also to ensure that staff are covid free when interacting with other staff in our business..
Since we can't get RATs we are considering the RAKO saliva tests as an option. My understanding is that saliva tests are more accurate. But they are also quite expensive. We have been quoted $75 per test. And it takes 10 hours to get a result back. And it is not clear we will qualify to get RATS from the government.
Our company supplies and services compressed air equipment. We have a number of hospitals on our books, and a lot of major food producers.
We would probably consider ourselves critical, especially in the case of hospitals, where compressed air is essential for hospitals to function.
But will we qualify for RATs from the government? Who knows.
The company complaining that they can’t fulfil some orders and saying govt should have stockpiled earlier don’t explain why they didn’t stockpile earlier themselves ??
We are looking at this pre-emptively because we expect many of our larger customers are going to require evidence that our staff are likely Covid-free, and also to ensure that staff are covid free when interacting with other staff in our business..
Since we can't get RATs we are considering the RAKO saliva tests as an option. My understanding is that saliva tests are more accurate. But they are also quite expensive. We have been quoted $75 per test. And it takes 10 hours to get a result back. And it is not clear we will qualify to get RATS from the government.
Our company supplies and services compressed air equipment. We have a number of hospitals on our books, and a lot of major food producers.
We would probably consider ourselves critical, especially in the case of hospitals, where compressed air is essential for hospitals to function.
But will we qualify for RATs from the government? Who knows.
RAT's are not very accurate. The problem is they only get it right 79% of the time-that is they produce 21% false negatives, which means these 21% will wander around the community while infected.
"home tests correctly identified 78.9 percent of people who did have the virus and correctly identified 97.1 percent of people who didn’t have the virus."
Hopefully all your staff are vaccinated and had or having the boosters. That is the minimum that other businesses would expect I am thinking together with constant mask wearing..
Good on you for thinking ahead and noting that you may have to wait a little bit longer for your order to be fulfilled.
RATs are not a substitute for not wearing a mask or not being vaccinated in my view.
We didn't need them until Omicron arrived, and they have a limited shelf-life, so ordering a bunch of tests with 2 month expiry only for them to expire before Omicron got here would have been unhelpful.
The fact the criteria has not yet been established is beyond comprehension. I can not see how the MoH didn't think before this week that they might need to prioritise the distribution of RATs and how they would assess that.
I have huge sympathy for the businesses who had the foresight and did the right thing by ordering millions of these tests last year. As an employer you have legal and moral duties to protect the health and well being of your workers. A key way to satisfy that duty is by minimising the risk of people bringing COVID into the workplace. The only real way to do that is regular testing. That will be very difficult to do if your business does not meet the still to be defined criteria.
A lot of small businesses are going to be wiped out through this.
The isolation rules mean that some smaller companies might not be able to function for a month or more.
We are lucky in that most of our staff can work from home, and so we can spread our risk. For those companies that require all their staff in one location, and don't have sufficient staff to run separate shifts, it is going to be a major problem.
I have just spoken to someone who is is a live example of how this will play out.
She has a catering business, and 3/4 of her staff worked at Soundsplash over the weekend. Despite the MoH providing next to no information on the exposure yet, all of her staff are today being tested and self isolating.
Business is closed until all of those test results are provided which will likely be at least 48 hours.
A critical worker is identified by their employer as a role within a critical industry as broadly defined by government that requires a person with particular skills who:
is required to undertake their role in person at the workplace; and
is in a role that must continue to be performed to either prevent an immediate risk of death or serious injury to a person or animal, orprevent serious harm (social, economic or physical) to significant numbers in the community.
This approach will mean that critical workers who are close contacts will be able to return to work early, provided they return a negative RAT every day that they are at work throughout their required isolation period or as otherwise appropriate to their work setting.
They will only be able to go to work, not anywhere else – this protocol allows for return to work only. It does not mean that it ends isolation periods early.
yes, some businesses are going to be badly affected by omicron. As far as I can tell the government is doing a balancing act between public health response and damage limitation on the economy including businesses.
Yep, and owners of of those high risk businesses, and employers of people who depend on that business operating, will have no tools available to them to protect their workers. It is safe to assume that they will all be affected at some point in the coming months.
I accept choices have to be made, but I am very uncomfortable about this.
Uncomfortable yes, and very stressful. It's a whole new covid ballgame now.
…will have no tools available to them to protect their workers…
We all have tools, lots of them. Vaccination and boosting, good mask tech and technique, hand washing and sanitising, social distancing, good ventilation, working from home where possible and taking appropriate precautions there, people not going out to close contact events, paying attention to symptoms, getting tested, self isolation and so on. As well as the government controlled mandates and choices individual businesses are making.
(and for those that this works for, vitamin D, getting good sleep, making sure one's diet is healthy and not overloaded with sugar and so on).
And everyone is in the same boat really. RATs don't stop someone from getting omicron.
Just to clarify, my opinion is framed from a worker's perspective. Some business (and therefore many jobs) will not survie the closures that result from half their workforce having to self isolate.
Getting COVID is inevtiable for most of us. But keeping those infected people away from the workplace so that a business can continue is going to be a very difficult thing to do.
Ad lord haw haw would be proud of your description.
No confiscations taking place.
Foward orders are being commandeered for a coordinated approach so supply lines and health professionals police essential services can be maintained.
We have seen overseas where supermarket shelves are empty hospitals are running out of staff. Aged care facilities struggling with no staff and outbreaks of covid.
Ad get real this is a real emergency political point scoring is undermining our health response .
Brian Tamaki style outrage is what you are projecting.
We all need to work together to defeat the Pandemic.
In war time those who undermined our war effort were treated as outcasts .Because a disease doesn't look like an enemy its easy to be anti everything to health iniatives.
Those undermining the health iniatives are right up there with the antvaxxers.
Rubbish. They want them so they can quickly test staff so the business can actually carry on operating which is pretty sensible and good planning (unlike the govt that has dropped the ball).
Perhaps essential services would have the RAT tests (like some businesses do) if our government had actually got off their ass and ordered them back when they were advised to instead of now having to "consolidate" as Ashley says other businesses orders!
They are a bit like having milk in the fridge. You normally use before it expires.
But of course, the govt would of have to have actually ordered them earlier.
Stockpiling hundreds of millions of RATs requires knowing when we'll go from a low-covid environment (where we need the sensitivity of pcrs to stamp out covid) to a higher-covid environment (where pcrs are overloaded and we need the speed of RATs to slow the spread of covid through individual institutions).
Now, we might get a year's supply at usual levels (i.e. regular testing for border staff etc), depending on the brand, but then we'd still be massively understocked in a high-covid situation.
Or we could hold onto them for a bit, and then ship them somewhere else in the hope we're supplying people who need them with tests that are still good, being close to their use-by and having had unknown conditions during transit.
Or we could have a small stock and order the extras in when it looks like we'll need them, which is the current situation.
This is an incredibly naive comment. The businesses buying RATs prior to the governments moves to centralise the purchasing and distribution of them are generally involved in providing essential services to NZ communities.
By buying these tests employers are meeting their health and safety obligations to their employees and their customers.
Further they have set up systems to manage their use efficiently. Involving MoH in their purchase and distribution will inevitably be disruptive, clumsy, slow and inefficient.
The government has moved decisively to cut off the opportunistic arseholes who have tried to make extreme profits from importing RATs and bloody good job too.
It is already happening with masks according to a Stuff article.
When I did an economics paper we studied the effects of price controls and the hurricane Hugo disaster.
The upshot was that governments invariably make emergency situations worse by trying to control prices, supply etc. Plenty of information on this online. But here for an example.
Below is a link to something a bit more substantial on the topic if you want.
One of commodities that was affected was ice. Due to power being knocked out, there was a sudden demand for ice so people could keep freezers of meat cold and the like.
The price of ice shot up and price controls were brought in to cap the price due to the public outcry.
The effect was that there were shortages as there was no price incentive to keep up the supply of ice. Thus, it became a case of first in first served so far as ice was concerned.
People who wanted ice for frivilous things such as keeping alcohol cool in parties would get their ice if they got in first. But then the ice ran out for people who really needed it and would have been happy to pay the inflated prices.
The same sort of thing occurred with equipment such as chainsaws etc. When price controls were bought in, shortages occurred which hindered the recovery.
The lesson from all this was that price controls make things worse, especially in a crisis.
Once again irrelevant this is nothing but economic propaganda .
GWBush president at the time Republican governor.
I read another article on hurricane hugo.The Republicans don't help in disasters ,they want Individual responsibility that means you have to insure your self up to the eyeballs with a separate disaster insurance which only the wealthy can afford.Republicans hands off approach.Republicans don't want any form of welfare for all and want insurance companies to prosper .
So trying to bring price controls in a state that doesn't have the capacity or desire to have govt involved in any aspect of their lives is futile and a false equivalency.
Looking at NZ price controls on doctors visits and prescriptions has worked relatively well.
Where in the US no such mechanism that's why so many in the US can't get access to healthcare or the medicines they require.Tsmithfield
So entrepreneurial price gouging has an unfortunate effect that puts poorer people at a special disadvantage but people with entrepreneurial spirits who see an opportunity to reap large rewards wouldn't gouge prices, right?
Would these opportunistic arseholes be the ones that have signed a charter last year and together with the government started to import tests, which these opportunistic arseholes paid for themselves, to test out their use as a tool in the fight against Covid?
The trial begins this week with 29 businesses across a range of sectors, after the 300,000 tests arrived in Auckland late last week from Australia. As Associate Minister of Health and Research, Science and Innovation Ayesha Verrall announced last week, the initial focus of the trial will be on large businesses, including airports, energy producers, food manufacturers and retirement homes. The Government, MBIE, the Ministry of Health and the trial businesses are working at pace to determine how this testing can be used more widely across other New Zealand businesses.
MBIE Deputy Chief Executive Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery Suzanne Stew said the trial will allow participating businesses to roll out rapid antigen testing in the workplace to help them meet their health and safety obligations, to give their staff confidence they’re working in a safe environment, and to support the COVID-19 economic recovery.
Earlier this month, 29 businesses came together as a collective to ask the Government if they could import rapid antigen tests. MBIE and the Ministry of Health then worked at pace with the trial businesses to find a way to make testing available that was relevant for New Zealand businesses. The 29 businesses have signed up to a charter, which will be the foundation for this trial.
…………
Procured by Auckland Airport via medical supplies wholesaler and distributor EBOS Healthcare, the 300,000 Abbott PanBio COVID-19 Ag Rapid tests are being funded by the 29 participating businesses.
here is what you can find at MBIE after the trial ended……
Overall the businesses involved in the trial learned a lot, adapted as they saw fit and kept communicating with their staff. They shared their experiences openly, and often took ideas from the other businesses. While there were a few bumps along the way, all of the businesses reported that they adapted quickly and reviewed processes as they needed to. They were all happy with the outcome of the trial, and have committed to continuing to share their experience with MoH for the coming month or so. At the end of the trial, 23,285 tests had been administered, with 14 positive results and 96 invalid results.
“We thank the Government, MBIE and the Ministry of Health for their quick response to our request to import rapid antigen tests and we look forward to working with them as our essential workforces start using the tests in the days ahead,” Mr Littlewood said.
Or maybe you are talking about these opportunistic arseholes here? From August 2021 – which also is a long long time ago.
and they have a point here, but then nothing could be done about that point since it was raised, obviously,
Pedants might argue that this does not constitute a ban, but banning anything that has not been approved while deciding not to approve any options sounds an awful lot like a ban. It is unclear whether MedSafe has even evaluated any options.
The most plausible justification for the ban is that the government feared people would fail to report positive results, or would take undue comfort in early negative results before viral load increased, and contribute to outbreaks.
A medical supplies company is calling on the Ministry of Health to let it distribute 10,000 rapid Covid-19 antigen tests – tests that are currently "gathering dust" in a Wellington warehouse.
Surgical Supplies Director Leigh Thornton said various different companies – including the likes of Fletchers and Vector– are lining up to buy the kits to be used by their workforce.
The Covifind self-testing kits – produced by multi-billion dollar Indian medical device manufacture Meril Life – are 98.7 per cent effective and, through an app, provide Covid-19 tests results in 15 minutes.
I really would enjoy if so called lefties would actually try to remember more then just yesterday. The government has shot itself twice in the foot in regards to these testing kits, and now is found wanting and scrambling, and 'consolidating' the orders others have placed in order to prevent looking severely out of step, out of touch, and even a few weeks behind.
Omicron was a slow wave across the ocean, everyone could see it arrive, and like good kiwis instead of getting away from the shore, they flock there to watch the tsunami arrive. Maybe we should have Covid parties and just get over with it. s/
fucks sake. Gathering dust? Or being held until we actually need them. Which we don't this week.
I'd like someone to explain how businesses intend to use RATs if they were given them this week. Are they going to wait for the MoH's say so on using them, or are they going to start now? How specifically would that work?
Virgil my partner goes into high risk areas every day of the week, every day of the year. And you and everyone else here on this board want Virgil to do that as it makes your life so much easier when the machines that everyone expects to work actually work.
At the moment, end of every day Virgil sits there and compares the site that were visited to those that may be an issue, i.e. contact. If a site shows as a 'contact' site, Virgil will get a nasal test, i will get a nasal test. I have had quite a few of these now since Covid showed its face, in fact we have had so many that the guys at the testing station know us know.
We would really be happy for Virgils company to distribute these tests to us directly, so that instead of going clogging up the govt site, we can do a simply test at home and only have a nasal swap if a test comes up unclear or positive, or really the site visited was more then just a blib. I guess you could call that personal responsibility in managing ones own life and livelihood.
I can see a company like Food Stuffs do what is done elsewhere, provide these rapid tests for people that come to offices, or warehouses, to protect its work force there.
I can see a company like Silver Fern demand the same, negative test before arriving at work. Btw, these are some really sensitive industries here, as not everyone in NZ lives on a nice property with food growing and a few hens for eggs.
What we have now, is nothing other then the tests via government, which btw, are not compulsory, and thus the same people that would not divulge a positive test will simply not get tested at all. What have we won?
Nothing. People will simply not get tested at all. Well done Labour!
What it does show me though is the fact that since the 'ban' in 2020, not one risk analyst at the Government has come up with the idea that maybe these tools are just that, tools, and that they should be made available to businesses that can distribute these across its own work force and thus remove some of the pressure on the nasal swap teams and lab teams.
To recap, since April 2020 Medsafe has had the option of making these kits 'legal' and it failed to do so. The question remains why. The question remains, Qui bono? And last for hte Labour Party the question remains, Quo Vadis? Where do you go from there. The damage is done.
Bloomfield just clarified that the ban was on individual's importing tests from overseas, and the rationale was that there are a lot of dodgy tests out there. Businesses were still able to order approved tests.
Tell me, if RATs were in widespread use today, how would the government contact trace? How would it know which people with positive tests were omicron vs delta? How would it know where omicron outbreaks were happening? Information critical to the public health response (as opposed to workplace processes).
Tell me, how would your partner's workplace use RATs today, in the context of the public health response and three phase plan? I actually think this could be done, and listening to Bloomfield above he seems to think so too, so tell us the how.
Did you see where I am ONLY talking about 'businesses' odering, paying and distributing these tests to their own employees and business partners/visitors etc?
That is not the same as people importing it on their own.
The reason we are scrambling here is not because businesses did something that was not approved – as above i posted ample links to point out that this disucssion with Businesses and Govt is / was an ongoing thing, it is because the Government did not think we would need these tests in large numbers, despite the world showing that they have a place in the tool box against covid.
Fact is that the businesses that have their order consolidated and pushed ot the back of the queue are businesses like Food Stuffs, Silver Fern, Mitre Tens etc etc etc, but i guess all these workers can just suck it up and play russian roulette with their health a, and b. have their brains tickled every other day, lest the government looks foolish and without a ball in their hand/court.
And frankly Weka, i don't need to tell you this, its been told many times by others with better words and the Government fucked up, and it is continuing to fuck up in this regards. They got cought out by their own hubris and self importance.
Maybe not all businesses are 'opportunistic arseholes' as called by Adrian? Maybe in this case the opportunist is the Government that failed to procure a "tool" in large enough numbers to distribute it across the nation. But then, maybe this Government can not be allowed to fail, as Covid is the only thing they got to some extend going for them.
I am done having this discussion Weka. The Government had since April 2020 to be forward thinking with regards to these Self tests, which btw are no more then a standard pregnancy test – get properly tested if it comes back unclear or positive – and they really thought that they don't need them, or could do with out. Well, i guess Covid don't give a fuck as to what the Government thinks.
And also please stop pretending that the public is just out there waiting to get to piss on one of these tests and then pretend it did not happen. Right now, people simply don't get tested at all.
honestly, I'm having trouble following your points.
Here's the MoH page explaining the ordering ban. Which wasn't a ban exactly, it was just that you has to go through the MoH to get approval. This was to stop the importation of useless tests. Hence businesses were still allowed to import, individuals weren't. If you are saying that businesses weren't allowed, please explain.
That's different from the issue this week of the government outbidding the NZ resellers.
You didn't answer my questions. I don't think all businesses or even most are arseholes. I do think that there is a clear conflict between the needs of individual businesses and the public health response. I have no problem accepting that this might be a result of the MoH being slow to move on RATs.
But here we are. Do people honestly want businesses to take priority over the MoH?
My partner is also an essential worker, and was part of those when the elimination strategy that had an employer who had foreseen the necessity for individual workers to have a quick way to test so as reduce the likelihood of the entire workforce being infected or isolated.'
They had purchased RAT tests pre-emptively with the understanding that elimination at some point would be abandoned.
I consider his employer, and those like them to be businesses that provided unforced support to their employees, and should get kudos for doing so. They are now unable to use this strategy at the moment, as they go through the process with government.
It's just another example of a mish-mash world and times. Dennis Frank (below) gets into the Hickey-Bradbury notions about capitalism and socialism.
Socialist approaches are wonderful and welcomed by capitalists when they're in the shit or see some advantage in it for themselves. And loathed the rest of the time especially when there's direct advantage to be gained for themselves.
Listening to Bloomfield on ZB (above) this was the conclusion I came to. Some companies throwing their toys out of the cot because they got caught up in a public health issue and probably weren't paying attention to the collective good and are so used to neoliberal rules applying.
The businesses that have worked with the government on a trial have not been paying attention and are throwing out their toys?
No, the small handful of businesses that decided this week to use the National Party and MSM to stamp their feet about not getting what they want during a global health crisis.
Instead of going ‘wah, wah confiscation’, they could have talked about the actual issues and how they need to be resolved.
Seriously, it is the fault of businesses that in 2022 – 2 full years into the Covid mess, we don't have a simple tool as a self tests?
Fuck off Sabine. If you're not going to listen to what I am saying, at least don't make shit up about my argument.
One of your other complainers posted the efficacy of RATS some where between 40% and 70% efficacy varying with each individual averaging 55% for the best brand 45% for the worst.That was for the original variant not Delta or omricon or the more evasive omricon b-2 variant.
So these RATS are only going to slow down the spread.
One person who came out of isolation had numerous negative tests yet 2 days out of isolation he tested positive after feeling sick.
Yes Incognito. If people listened to Assoc Min of Health yesterday, the PM over the weekend and actually read the policies/processes they will find out about the staging.
Much heat but not much light here on TS, obviously based on those beacons of unbiased reporting, the media. Surely 2 years in we know better than to try to get best info from the media? Especially when we have dedicated ways of getting information
The priority for RATs is for essential workers and especially useful for a test the day of proposing starting work after having had Covid. Surely the use for essential workers is the best use in our staged process especially if there is a shortage and a timing issuing for how long the RATs last for.
Thank you Weka for so patiently explaining this situation, which shouldn't be too hard if people have been listening.
As usual the govt can do no right here. If they had left RAT totally in the hands of private enterprise, god forbid, they would be getting hammered from the other angle.
Governments and opposition should change their views as circumstances change. This is good and hardly an embarassing backdown.
When the petition was launched there were hundreds of kiwis self isolating at home with delta, while vaxxed kiwis abroard with negative tests were being denied the ability to do the same thing.
Economist & entrepreneur Bernard Hickey pays a compliment to the left:
“The Labour Government, supported by the Greens, presided over policies that accidentally on purpose engineered the biggest transfer of wealth to asset owners from current and future renters in the history of New Zealand.”
Although, to be fair, he probably didn't intend it to be interpreted as a compliment. Bomber has a surprisingly sober view:
In a nutshell, what Mr Hickey seems to be saying is that in an unabashedly capitalist nation, a government elected on the strength of middle-class (i.e. homeowners) votes, made sure that the massive transfers of cash required to keep the economy afloat in the midst of a global pandemic went to capitalists, and the people whose votes they really, really, really didn’t want to lose
He then makes a subtle point via a survey of the capitalist parties in parliament:
Labour, an unabashedly capitalist party, holds 65 seats. National, another unabashedly capitalist party, holds 35 seats. Act, a fanatically capitalist party, holds 10 seats. The Greens, supposedly not a capitalist party, but one which has, to date, done nothing to suggest that it is an anti-capitalist party, also holds 10 seats. Which leaves the Māori Party, an ethno-nationalist party which appears to be okay with capitalism – but only if it’s Māori capitalism – with just 2 seats.
The point being that no parties in parliament have declared themselves anti-capitalist.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Pragmatism rules. No party wants to present itself as anti-Roman. Socialists ran away to hide in the 1980s & haven't been seen since. The victims of the inequality-producing system conspicuously continue to avoid the challenge of becoming politically active and leveraging their numbers. No surprise that capitalism wins by default. Winners take all when losers can't be bothered playing the game…
That Daily Blog article is by Chris Trotter, Dennis. Not Bomber.
The problem any anti-capitalist party would have in NZ is selling itself as able to successfully deconstruct the current economic structure & successfully manage an economy without capitalism.
Maybe rather than trying to deconstruct the whole system, anti-capitalists should start organising to solve the intractable existential problems that capitalism just cannot solve.
maybe that's why we don't see anti capitalists? either they can't organise as well as capitalists can or they can't agree what their anti-ness then isn't anti..
Obviously I was in a passing phase of brain fog, but that does explain why it was a sober analysis! And I agree with your delineation of the problem.
Except that the stance I adopted 30 years ago in the Greens economic policy working group was a synthesis rather than a negation or opposition and I still feel that's the best alternative. It uses a conciliatory basis. Efficiency & progress then derive from applying a suitable method. The method I advocated was to identify key principles on the left & right that seem essential (equity & enterprise being primary) and eliminate the shit parts of the left & right.
Do that and you get something new that is resilient by design. Included in the synthesis were Green principles such as true-cost accounting (to eliminate the socialisation of business costs) and the financial transactions cost tax to harvest the process of capitalism (which I viewed as socialism worth supporting)…
The RBNZ, government and business have been given the largest of serves by Bernard Hickey's research…..any response from those served is likely to be awkward.
He has just been interviewed on RNZ…the link should be available soon.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told lawmakers on Tuesday that his government was discussing the possibility of banning Russia from SWIFT with the United States.
"There is no doubt that that would be a very potent weapon [against Russia]. I'm afraid it can only really be deployed with the assistance of the United States though. We are in discussions about that," Johnson said.
What is SWIFT?
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication was founded in 1973 to replace the telex and is now used by over 11,000 financial institutions to send secure messages and payment orders. With no globally accepted alternative, it is essential plumbing for global finance… Excluding Russia from SWIFT would cause its economy to shrink by 5%, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin estimated in 2014.
SWIFT unplugged Iranian banks in 2012 after they were sanctioned by the European Union over the country's nuclear program. Iran lost almost half of its oil export revenue and 30% of foreign trade following the disconnection
Russia does have an alternative if the top gun swivels at them:
Moscow established its own payment system, SPFS, after it was hit by Western sanctions in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea early that year. SPFS now has around 400 users, according to Russia's central bank. Twenty percent of domestic transfers are currently done through SPFS
The Germans will welcome that expensive freedom LNG gas courtesy of the US
German industrialists are gagging to pay the extra cost and the extra carbon miles to get it
But umm, there's a problem
The White House's plan is complicated by the fact that the world's LNG producers are already churning out as much as they possibly can. Reuters reported that the companies contacted told the U.S. government officials that global gas supplies are tight and that there is little available to substitute large volumes from Russia
Why the fuck is it so hard to give Russia some security guarantees, cheaper in the long run, as the German commander said before he was in effect sacked for offering unwelcome advice.(An apology was not enough to save his job)
Back in 2014 , after Crimea voted to rejoin Russia (as it had in previous referendums)and this time Russia accepted, Russia was threatened with being banned from SWIFT by the US
Which wasn't greeted with a greta deal of clapping from Brussels
But to Swift managers, the move looks dangerously capricious and partisan. And they fear it would prompt non-western countries to create rival systems, to protect themselves against any future US threats.
A pretty strong encouragement for Russia, China et al to form al alternative to SWIFT.
Both China and Russia have independent settlement programs at various stages of implementation. China launched the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) in 2015, an independent clearing system with the RMB as the quote currency. Similarly, Russia has been developing its own financial messaging System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS).
Both systems are now in position, making it relatively easy to build an independent Russian-Chinese financial system by linking the two.
RW commentators ranting from a place of ignorance. FFS, NZ isn't pursuing an elimination model. Why bother even listening to this if they can't get basic facts right?
Are we becoming an international joke? No. The international joke is that individuals with severe intellectual capacity see themselves as founts of knowledge.
"New Zealand is spiralling out of control" with its '"totalitarian" PM?
The tragedy is that the ravings of lunatics like Wootton suck in and pander to cretins amongst us.
Yeah, one time I got so drunk I got in a fight, puked all over someone's lawn and on my shoes, took my shirt off and started dancing and screaming in the flowerbed! When the cops came and got me I had passed out under the walnut tree and pissed my pants!
The people who owned that garden must have looked like idiots – just "pathetic" and obviously "nasty human beings" – absolute jokes.
This will hurt Labour (and be an increased source of questioning by the Greens) I expect the public pressure will build as things get harder for more and more…pressure to claw back, pressure to denounce, and pressure to provide alternatives.
Hickey has put numbers to and laid bare responsibility for the reality many are experiencing….mainly those who have till now supported Labour and the Greens.
Here is where the system is going to collapse and become meaningless:
"Beyond this, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) will develop an online portal – similar to that used for the Business Travel Registration system – to allow individual business to apply for critical worker status. This system will be called the Critical Services Register and more information will be made available to businesses shortly about this."
So the portal still needs to be developed. Firms need to apply for critical worker status. Decisions need to be made who qualifies. Then tests need to be distributed. I expect thousands of firms will be applying.
Given the speed of the Omicron wave, I doubt any of this will be happening until after the crisis is over.
Didn't the government say yesterday they think phase two will probably start in two weeks?
That MBIE page looks clear to me.
the government is engaging this week with businesses "to ensure that critical workforces have been identified and registered, and that there are sufficient supplies of RATs for those workers when needed."
the portal is being developed for registering
they're asking businesses to self assess in the first place.
If I were in your situation I would phone MBIE and ask for a timeline on the register, and further guidelines on whether your business is likely to qualify (I would guess yes, but I'd check because you need to plan)
I agree with him that the harsh isolation rules will put people off getting tested at all. Especially if they have to sit at home for weeks trying to survive on the meagre offering from the government when their sick leave runs out.
So far as critical workers go, he makes the point that we might not see the refuse collection people as essential at the moment. And I doubt they would meet the criteria in the first instance, anyway.
But if they all get sick and can't collect rubbish for three weeks, we may change our minds. And, uncollected rubbish could become a health hazard as well.
I would be surprise if rubbish collection isn't considered essential, a la "prevent serious harm (social, economic or physical) to significant numbers in the community."
Yes, phoning MBIE or many government departments often takes a long time to get through. Phoning WINZ requires waits of up to an hour. I usually arrange to be doing something compatible while on hold.
Speaking of which, remember March 2020 when the government first started rolling out the initial pandemic response, and prioritising funding for businesses? Beneficiaries had to wait for any financial assistance, which meant that going into lockdown many couldn't buy masks, extra hand washing supplies, or extra food so they could stay home and not have to be exposed to covid in places like supermarkets.
What managers and business owners are experiencing is stressful. Really stressful in fact. This is the nature of shitty situations.
My own view is that we should be adapting and preparing for another round of this this year past this wave of omicron. We might get really lucky and omicron settles into a pattern that is more manageable. But we actually get better at crisis management if we adapt rather than holding on as if its going to be over soon.
Teaching resiliency skills would be a really good move right now, maybe this is something someone could look at helping businesses with.
I fear for the viability of many small businesses in this.
I agree with the stressful aspect. Perhaps there could be some help provided for businesses through the EAP?
A lot of small businesses don't have sufficient staff to run several shifts, and have no choice but to intermingle in their operations. Mass sickness and isolation rules could leave them without income for a month or two.
I don't know if the government is looking at the wage subsidy program again. So, they may be left to their own devices.
Also, when a lot of these businesses are forced to shut for a period of time it is going to have a huge knock on effect for the economy.
For instance, my son owns a powder coating business that is one of the busiest in Christchurch. Luckily he has plenty of cash reserves to see himself through this. But if he is forced to close down for a month or two, there will be a huge backlog of work that other businesses can’t get finished and charged out.
The effects of this are going to be far greater than many realise.
So if a worker in Mitre10 gets covid all the staff have to self isolate? I don't think so.
Looking at the MBIE and MoH links, it's not clear what they consider a close contact, but I doubt very much that it's every person the case talked to or walked past.
I think you will find most of your Mitre 10 workers will want to get tested and self-isolate, regardless of what the MoH says. If someone is at work while transmissible, then the prudent and responsible thing for any employer to do is stand down the workers who were on the same shift until they have returned a negative test. Which will likely take days.
People will do what they feel needs to be done to look after themselves and their whanau. They won’t be scrolling through the MoH website to find out what to do.
If you look to overseas jurisdictions the peak infections rise rapidly then fall away.
But if you think this pandemic is finished it won't be over till variants stop mutating.
What happens if another variant pops up Omricon b-2 is already in circulation its not known how serious it is yet but it looks more transmissible than omricon.
Belly aching ain't going to fix it.
Businesses may have to close we might go into a recession .We may have another wave of a more virulent covid.
Expecting the govt to fix everything when the Ministry of Health has been cut to shreads so we can have tax cuts and small govt.Then when things go wrong blame the govt is ironic.
Do we need to follow highly educated health professionals? or highly educated anyones?
I saw a newspaper heading this morning: "If only Jacinda Ardern was more like Scott Morrison."
Who needs highly educated health professionals or anyone here? Let's just be Scott Morrison.
I didn't read the opinion piece. It was by someone called Mike Hosking. Reminded me of pulling the petals off daisies, "He loves me, he loves me not," etc., ad infinitum, Hosking and his love affair with Morrison, Gladys Berejiklian, anything Australian, anything not New Zealand or Ardern.
I guess he doesn't see it as the country of "milk and honey", otherwise he would have gone a long time ago. Probably would be back after a couple of years like Paul Henry.
And is non-invasive it gives a relatively quick result which would be fine for returning to work, which the government is intending for the RAT tests.
If they had done that, then private industry would have been able to get their tests and use them as intended, for screening workers. As it is, the government in trying to solve one problem has just created another.
It's never that simple tsmith, though this is from 4 months ago:
Meta-analyses of recent studies suggest that saliva is useful for detecting SARS-CoV-2; however, differences in disease prevalence, sample collection, and analysis methods still confound strong conclusions on the utility of saliva compared to nasopharyngeal samples.
A RAT is a lot quicker. For this reason it is ideal as a screening tool for keeping infected people away from the workplace as much as possible, which is what a lot of companies are wanting them for. The government are now intending these be used for return to work tests, taking them away from the intended purpose industries were bringing them in for.
But when the consideration is someone returning to work, then the extra time for a saliva test probably isn't such an issue given they have been off work for quite awhile anyway.
Yes I am aware of that. With the screening test it is just one of the requirements generally, not the only one. For instance, when our techs go to Silver Fern Farms they have to pass a RAT test, plus be double vaxxed, wear a mask etc. So there is a whole suite of requirements.
So they've developed a vaccine, lab tested it, and did FDA paperwork to get authorisation to start human use, decided the study scope and population, and are ready to begin trials at… 8 weeks from the new variant being identified, and over the holiday period as well.
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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. ...
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 ...
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. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
So, the government has jumped the shark with respect to RATs by 'consolidating' 'confiscating' tests from private businesses. However it is described the effect is the same to the businesses affected.
In this post I am not going to go into the spooky Orwellian feel of this, the doublespeak and spin used by the government and Bloomfield to justify this move, or how the government has been exposed as hopelessly unprepared.
Rather, I want to discuss the logistics of what the government intends to do.
Listening to Bloomfield on ZB last night, and the reporting on TV1, the government intends to distribute the tests based on a criteria they still haven't determined. Apparently it is going to take about two weeks to do this.
Once the criteria is established, I assume businesses are going to be able to apply to the government for tests. I think businesses are going to try and shoe-horn themselves into the criteria, often by embellishing what they do in order to get some desperately needed tests. So, the government could be inundated with many thousands of applications.
Someone is going to have to work through the applications and weed out the wheat from the chaff. This is going to take a long time, and won't be a perfect science. So, I think it is highly likely that by the time tests actually reach businesses they won't be needed.
The other silly thing is that many of those private businesses that were importing directly themselves are probably going to businesses that meet the government criteria once they get that decided. So the effect is going to be that deserving businesses get their tests a lot later than they otherwise would have.
The media outrage over this highlights how narrow and uninformed the world view of the great bulk of our MSM journalists is. Thomas Coughlan at the Herald has gone completely off the deep end for example.
It is hard to blame them. For the last twenty years at least journalism as a career has mainly been seen as a stepping stone into more lucrative marketing and PR gigs, and those who take the vocationally focused journalism qualifications on offer in our neoliberal degree factories are subject to a narrow curriculum. A liberal education is deeply out of fashion and one of the victims of that is history, an endangered topic in deep peril of vanishing completely (along with most other humanities) at our university and functionally extinct at our polytechs.
So it is most unlikely that MSM journalists are aware that completely laissez-faire markets and narcissistic hyper-individualism as an organising principle is simple one way of running an economy and a society and that the state, in times of emergency, has enormous – and legitimate – powers it can exercise.
Media hyperbole is as often as not a result of journalists existing in a context free zone informed entirely by business lobbyists and the paradigms of the existing order.
How is the media reporting this an excuse for the governments failure to act sooner?
This is rather meaningless. Unless there is actual evidence that the government confiscated test, I'll accept that what they in fact did was to say to their international suppliers that they want priority on orders from now on. And the international suppliers agreed.
Misrepresenting that as 'confiscation' is just bullshit. Confiscation would mean going and taking tests from businesses.
And seriously, why do some people think that in the kind of market economy we have globally, that a large buyer shouldn't out bid smaller buyers? Or that a business has an entitlement to buy something that they don't have a contract for?
The point I was making that so far as the businesses that were expecting the orders is concerned, the effect is the same however it is described. But it is what it is.
The main issue I raised, which you haven't responded to, is the logistical problems the government will likely have in trying to administer the RATs and distribute them best to where needed in a timely fashion.
The problem I see is that by adding layers of bureaucracy to the process, the supply of tests will basically stall, and no-one will end up getting them in a timely fashion.
Yes, and I'm saying that basically lying about the situation as well isn't helpful.
I didn't respond because it sounded like supposition based on not a lot. Sure, there might be logistical delays, but I can't see an alternate plan being offered other than saying that businesses should be allowed to have priority over the government in purchasing tests.
You really do need to study up the effect of government interventions in disasters. Meddling tends to make things worse not better. Eg:
https://mises.org/library/government-and-hurricane-hugo-deadly-combination
tsmithfield…it's called "for the common good" mate. A concept little understood by the Right, especially Mr. Seymour.
Just take a look across the Tasman at the shambles that ensued when the market was allowed to dominate the RAT market.
(The silver lining here is that this has probably sealed ScoMo's fate at the upcoming federal election.)
Businesses will small orders weren't able to jump the que.
Manufacturing Delays from being inundated by orders .
So faux outrage.
Confiscating none have been confiscated.
But the brothel on the northshore stockpiled while nurses doctors ,police,emergency services truck drivers,supermarket workers,meat processors.
All missed out.
Ashley Bloomfield,
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/dr-ashley-bloomfield-maori-input-has-fed-into-omicron-plan/
RATs are discussed from start of audio.
Re companies that had orders in as well,
My emphasis. ie businesses generally cannot use RATs now off piste. My understanding of that is that there is a global shortage of tests, and that we need to keep them for when we actually need them, and there are public health reasons to be mostly using PCR tests at this phase of omicron response.
Basically Bloomfield is saying that it's better for the government to distribute test to get them to where they are most needed, as opposed to letting the market determine that. He wants the government to have enough supply to be able to make sure tests go where they are needed.
Yes, it's a pandemic and the government wants to control supply of testing, but not absolutely. Bloomfield also says that he expects in a few weeks the orders to businesses from suppliers will resume.
The government should never have got to this situation.
They have known for months that RATs are going to be needed, since businesses started lobbying them last year and the government eventually agreed to a pilot program that was implemented in October last year that allowed a small number of large businesses to start bringing them in, as I pointed out yesterday.
So, the government has been aware for a long time that RATs are going to be an important tool in a Covid outbreak.
The fact that there is a global shortage of these tests now is no excuse for government inaction. We could be the best stocked nation in the world for these tests if the government had pulled finger a lot earlier.
That may very well be true. I wasn't following that issue last year.
Did the Australians do the same thing? They seem to have a shortage.
We are looking at this pre-emptively because we expect many of our larger customers are going to require evidence that our staff are likely Covid-free, and also to ensure that staff are covid free when interacting with other staff in our business..
Since we can't get RATs we are considering the RAKO saliva tests as an option. My understanding is that saliva tests are more accurate. But they are also quite expensive. We have been quoted $75 per test. And it takes 10 hours to get a result back. And it is not clear we will qualify to get RATS from the government.
Our company supplies and services compressed air equipment. We have a number of hospitals on our books, and a lot of major food producers.
We would probably consider ourselves critical, especially in the case of hospitals, where compressed air is essential for hospitals to function.
But will we qualify for RATs from the government? Who knows.
Goes to my point. Governments generally are useless at this sort of stuff. They should have been well stocked up also.
The company complaining that they can’t fulfil some orders and saying govt should have stockpiled earlier don’t explain why they didn’t stockpile earlier themselves ??
would you mind explaining how your business will use RATs once available?
We are looking at this pre-emptively because we expect many of our larger customers are going to require evidence that our staff are likely Covid-free, and also to ensure that staff are covid free when interacting with other staff in our business..
Since we can't get RATs we are considering the RAKO saliva tests as an option. My understanding is that saliva tests are more accurate. But they are also quite expensive. We have been quoted $75 per test. And it takes 10 hours to get a result back. And it is not clear we will qualify to get RATS from the government.
Our company supplies and services compressed air equipment. We have a number of hospitals on our books, and a lot of major food producers.
We would probably consider ourselves critical, especially in the case of hospitals, where compressed air is essential for hospitals to function.
But will we qualify for RATs from the government? Who knows.
RAT's are not very accurate. The problem is they only get it right 79% of the time-that is they produce 21% false negatives, which means these 21% will wander around the community while infected.
"home tests correctly identified 78.9 percent of people who did have the virus and correctly identified 97.1 percent of people who didn’t have the virus."
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-accurate-are-rapid-covid-tests#at-home-tests
RadioNZ keeps reporting the pro-business line that that false positives are the problem; this is not the case; only 2.9%.
Bearded Git your clickbait headline only 2.9% false positives doesn't match up to the figures you provide.
RATs don't pick up asymptomatic early infections and this link has no relavency to Delta or even harder to detect Omricon
Read your link it doesn't back your claims.
Read a little further into your link it shows a list of rapid antigen test manufacturers and each efficacy.
The 4 manufacturers tests compared the worst providing 45% accuracy the best55% accuracy of infection.
Bare in mind these are an average with some people tested only 40% of infections were picked up.
Also these figures are for the alpha variant not delta or Omricon.
Facts pleases just cherry picking the 2.9% out of the complete set of figures is disappointing.
Fair enough Tricledown I didn't read it in enough detail, but what you say is backing up my point in spades-that RAT tests are semi useless- isn't it?
how would you use the RATs if they were available? Would you be testing all staff daily? or what?
Hopefully all your staff are vaccinated and had or having the boosters. That is the minimum that other businesses would expect I am thinking together with constant mask wearing..
Good on you for thinking ahead and noting that you may have to wait a little bit longer for your order to be fulfilled.
RATs are not a substitute for not wearing a mask or not being vaccinated in my view.
Look at the Newstalk ZB article yesterday on how Mainfreight Australia are using them.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/don-braid-mainfreight-chief-executives-says-rapid-antigen-tests-are-working-well-for-colleagues-over-the-tasman/
Australia is quite different from here though.
We didn't need them until Omicron arrived, and they have a limited shelf-life, so ordering a bunch of tests with 2 month expiry only for them to expire before Omicron got here would have been unhelpful.
Rats tests have only a 2 month shelf life.
Then every country and business in the world are chasing after them.
The govt ordered RAT last year still waiting for delivery.
It's easy to be critical but what would have National done .
Cut health funding more for tax cuts prior to elections.
Charge people for tests and vaccinations.
ie increasing prescription charges from $2 to $5.
National and ACT with ACT'S large tail wagging National would have opened the borders and let it rip.like Boris,Trump,Macron etc.
The fact the criteria has not yet been established is beyond comprehension. I can not see how the MoH didn't think before this week that they might need to prioritise the distribution of RATs and how they would assess that.
I have huge sympathy for the businesses who had the foresight and did the right thing by ordering millions of these tests last year. As an employer you have legal and moral duties to protect the health and well being of your workers. A key way to satisfy that duty is by minimising the risk of people bringing COVID into the workplace. The only real way to do that is regular testing. That will be very difficult to do if your business does not meet the still to be defined criteria.
A lot of small businesses are going to be wiped out through this.
The isolation rules mean that some smaller companies might not be able to function for a month or more.
We are lucky in that most of our staff can work from home, and so we can spread our risk. For those companies that require all their staff in one location, and don't have sufficient staff to run separate shifts, it is going to be a major problem.
I have just spoken to someone who is is a live example of how this will play out.
She has a catering business, and 3/4 of her staff worked at Soundsplash over the weekend. Despite the MoH providing next to no information on the exposure yet, all of her staff are today being tested and self isolating.
Business is closed until all of those test results are provided which will likely be at least 48 hours.
wait, are you suggesting that we shouldn't be trying to limit spread of omicron by using self-isolation and testing?
No
Here is the initial criteria,
https://www.business.govt.nz/covid-19/testing-and-returning-to-work-during-omicron
That makes way more sense to me than testing every employee in NZ every day.
And if you are not a critical worker?
Hospitality for example which is going to be one of the very high risk industries but can hardly be considered critical.
yes, some businesses are going to be badly affected by omicron. As far as I can tell the government is doing a balancing act between public health response and damage limitation on the economy including businesses.
Yep, and owners of of those high risk businesses, and employers of people who depend on that business operating, will have no tools available to them to protect their workers. It is safe to assume that they will all be affected at some point in the coming months.
I accept choices have to be made, but I am very uncomfortable about this.
Uncomfortable yes, and very stressful. It's a whole new covid ballgame now.
We all have tools, lots of them. Vaccination and boosting, good mask tech and technique, hand washing and sanitising, social distancing, good ventilation, working from home where possible and taking appropriate precautions there, people not going out to close contact events, paying attention to symptoms, getting tested, self isolation and so on. As well as the government controlled mandates and choices individual businesses are making.
(and for those that this works for, vitamin D, getting good sleep, making sure one's diet is healthy and not overloaded with sugar and so on).
And everyone is in the same boat really. RATs don't stop someone from getting omicron.
Just to clarify, my opinion is framed from a worker's perspective. Some business (and therefore many jobs) will not survie the closures that result from half their workforce having to self isolate.
Getting COVID is inevtiable for most of us. But keeping those infected people away from the workplace so that a business can continue is going to be a very difficult thing to do.
How we get covid matters. How fast and where it spreads matters. Timing matters. That's why some workers have to stay home.
Yes we are in total agreement on that point. Workers with COVID must remain at home away from healthy workers.
The issue we are going to face is we won't know those infected people are in the workforce transmitting the diesease because we won't be testing them.
Ad lord haw haw would be proud of your description.
No confiscations taking place.
Foward orders are being commandeered for a coordinated approach so supply lines and health professionals police essential services can be maintained.
We have seen overseas where supermarket shelves are empty hospitals are running out of staff. Aged care facilities struggling with no staff and outbreaks of covid.
Ad get real this is a real emergency political point scoring is undermining our health response .
Brian Tamaki style outrage is what you are projecting.
We all need to work together to defeat the Pandemic.
In war time those who undermined our war effort were treated as outcasts .Because a disease doesn't look like an enemy its easy to be anti everything to health iniatives.
Those undermining the health iniatives are right up there with the antvaxxers.
don't you realize these businesses only want these tests so they can on sell them & make some money.
you have a link to support your claim here?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/covid-19/460254/govt-commandeered-100k-rat-order-company
All of them is a rather long stretch, but the order in this particular article was to a private business to provide to other businesses.
Nah most are used for staff testing as a safety measure. I had to have one and wait before entering a large business premise in Auckland last week.
Basically with the huge business cost of a shutdown due to quarantining staff Rapid Tests are a very cheap extra layer of protection.
Rubbish. They want them so they can quickly test staff so the business can actually carry on operating which is pretty sensible and good planning (unlike the govt that has dropped the ball).
Jester While our hospitals are overun and most of the staff isolating at home.because essential services don't have tests.
Jester your are blind to the consequences of selfishness.
Perhaps essential services would have the RAT tests (like some businesses do) if our government had actually got off their ass and ordered them back when they were advised to instead of now having to "consolidate" as Ashley says other businesses orders!
What's the expiry date on the RATs?
Don't know the expiry date but the test have a shelf life of 12 to 15 months normally.
Normally?
One brand of test seems to meet that ballpark when left forgotten in a warehouse. Others – maybe not so much.
They are a bit like having milk in the fridge. You normally use before it expires.
But of course, the govt would of have to have actually ordered them earlier.
lols. An unlinked "normally", again.
Stockpiling hundreds of millions of RATs requires knowing when we'll go from a low-covid environment (where we need the sensitivity of pcrs to stamp out covid) to a higher-covid environment (where pcrs are overloaded and we need the speed of RATs to slow the spread of covid through individual institutions).
Now, we might get a year's supply at usual levels (i.e. regular testing for border staff etc), depending on the brand, but then we'd still be massively understocked in a high-covid situation.
Or we could hold onto them for a bit, and then ship them somewhere else in the hope we're supplying people who need them with tests that are still good, being close to their use-by and having had unknown conditions during transit.
Or we could have a small stock and order the extras in when it looks like we'll need them, which is the current situation.
"Or we could have a small stock and order the extras in when it looks like we'll need them, which is the current situation."
Or we could just requisition other peoples (companies) orders which is the current situation (as we forgot or were too slow).
see, no worries.
Essential services would have tests if the government had ordered them earlier.
This is an incredibly naive comment. The businesses buying RATs prior to the governments moves to centralise the purchasing and distribution of them are generally involved in providing essential services to NZ communities.
By buying these tests employers are meeting their health and safety obligations to their employees and their customers.
Further they have set up systems to manage their use efficiently. Involving MoH in their purchase and distribution will inevitably be disruptive, clumsy, slow and inefficient.
The government has moved decisively to cut off the opportunistic arseholes who have tried to make extreme profits from importing RATs and bloody good job too.
It is already happening with masks according to a Stuff article.
When I did an economics paper we studied the effects of price controls and the hurricane Hugo disaster.
The upshot was that governments invariably make emergency situations worse by trying to control prices, supply etc. Plenty of information on this online. But here for an example.
https://fee.org/articles/hurricane-hugo-price-controls-hinder-recovery/
Tsm Where did you dig up that dodgy bit of bs.
NZ is nothing like the US let alone a Republican state with a minimalist bearaucracy and private health insurance etc.
Below is a link to something a bit more substantial on the topic if you want.
One of commodities that was affected was ice. Due to power being knocked out, there was a sudden demand for ice so people could keep freezers of meat cold and the like.
The price of ice shot up and price controls were brought in to cap the price due to the public outcry.
The effect was that there were shortages as there was no price incentive to keep up the supply of ice. Thus, it became a case of first in first served so far as ice was concerned.
People who wanted ice for frivilous things such as keeping alcohol cool in parties would get their ice if they got in first. But then the ice ran out for people who really needed it and would have been happy to pay the inflated prices.
The same sort of thing occurred with equipment such as chainsaws etc. When price controls were bought in, shortages occurred which hindered the recovery.
The lesson from all this was that price controls make things worse, especially in a crisis.
https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=Vui5DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=price+controls+hurricane+hugo&source=bl&ots=ZxvhNXsZx8&sig=ACfU3U2VR6FKaUI8L0aihp9hE-HtUhVP9Q&hl=en&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiCjaynvdD1AhXzldgFHawHDYMQ6AF6BAgeEAM#v=onepage&q=price%20controls%20hurricane%20hugo&f=false
Once again irrelevant this is nothing but economic propaganda .
GWBush president at the time Republican governor.
I read another article on hurricane hugo.The Republicans don't help in disasters ,they want Individual responsibility that means you have to insure your self up to the eyeballs with a separate disaster insurance which only the wealthy can afford.Republicans hands off approach.Republicans don't want any form of welfare for all and want insurance companies to prosper .
So trying to bring price controls in a state that doesn't have the capacity or desire to have govt involved in any aspect of their lives is futile and a false equivalency.
Looking at NZ price controls on doctors visits and prescriptions has worked relatively well.
Where in the US no such mechanism that's why so many in the US can't get access to healthcare or the medicines they require.Tsmithfield
So entrepreneurial price gouging has an unfortunate effect that puts poorer people at a special disadvantage but people with entrepreneurial spirits who see an opportunity to reap large rewards wouldn't gouge prices, right?
And therein you suggest another angle in a complicated scenario – a "there is more to this than meets the eye" – angle.
Would these opportunistic arseholes be the ones that have signed a charter last year and together with the government started to import tests, which these opportunistic arseholes paid for themselves, to test out their use as a tool in the fight against Covid?
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/rapid-antigen-tests-now-being-trialled-by-new-zealand-businesses/
here is what you can find at MBIE after the trial ended……
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/lessons-learnt-from-rapid-antigen-testing-trial/
Here is a heartfelt thank you letter from Food Stuffs to the government for allowing them this 'trial'. Very arseholish of them.
https://www.foodstuffs.co.nz/news-room/new-zealand-businesses-get-the-green-light-to-import-rapid-covid-19-tests
Or maybe you are talking about these opportunistic arseholes here? From August 2021 – which also is a long long time ago.
and they have a point here, but then nothing could be done about that point since it was raised, obviously,
https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/new-opinion-81/
but this also happened last year…….
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/10k-rapid-antigen-covid-tests-gathering-dust-after-the-government-withholds-its-approval/UC3QNDYCTV5DXUQM2QCTZC4KT4/
I really would enjoy if so called lefties would actually try to remember more then just yesterday. The government has shot itself twice in the foot in regards to these testing kits, and now is found wanting and scrambling, and 'consolidating' the orders others have placed in order to prevent looking severely out of step, out of touch, and even a few weeks behind.
Omicron was a slow wave across the ocean, everyone could see it arrive, and like good kiwis instead of getting away from the shore, they flock there to watch the tsunami arrive. Maybe we should have Covid parties and just get over with it. s/
fucks sake. Gathering dust? Or being held until we actually need them. Which we don't this week.
I'd like someone to explain how businesses intend to use RATs if they were given them this week. Are they going to wait for the MoH's say so on using them, or are they going to start now? How specifically would that work?
Virgil my partner goes into high risk areas every day of the week, every day of the year. And you and everyone else here on this board want Virgil to do that as it makes your life so much easier when the machines that everyone expects to work actually work.
At the moment, end of every day Virgil sits there and compares the site that were visited to those that may be an issue, i.e. contact. If a site shows as a 'contact' site, Virgil will get a nasal test, i will get a nasal test. I have had quite a few of these now since Covid showed its face, in fact we have had so many that the guys at the testing station know us know.
We would really be happy for Virgils company to distribute these tests to us directly, so that instead of going clogging up the govt site, we can do a simply test at home and only have a nasal swap if a test comes up unclear or positive, or really the site visited was more then just a blib. I guess you could call that personal responsibility in managing ones own life and livelihood.
I can see a company like Food Stuffs do what is done elsewhere, provide these rapid tests for people that come to offices, or warehouses, to protect its work force there.
I can see a company like Silver Fern demand the same, negative test before arriving at work. Btw, these are some really sensitive industries here, as not everyone in NZ lives on a nice property with food growing and a few hens for eggs.
What we have now, is nothing other then the tests via government, which btw, are not compulsory, and thus the same people that would not divulge a positive test will simply not get tested at all. What have we won?
Nothing. People will simply not get tested at all. Well done Labour!
What it does show me though is the fact that since the 'ban' in 2020, not one risk analyst at the Government has come up with the idea that maybe these tools are just that, tools, and that they should be made available to businesses that can distribute these across its own work force and thus remove some of the pressure on the nasal swap teams and lab teams.
To recap, since April 2020 Medsafe has had the option of making these kits 'legal' and it failed to do so. The question remains why. The question remains, Qui bono? And last for hte Labour Party the question remains, Quo Vadis? Where do you go from there. The damage is done.
Bloomfield just clarified that the ban was on individual's importing tests from overseas, and the rationale was that there are a lot of dodgy tests out there. Businesses were still able to order approved tests.
Tell me, if RATs were in widespread use today, how would the government contact trace? How would it know which people with positive tests were omicron vs delta? How would it know where omicron outbreaks were happening? Information critical to the public health response (as opposed to workplace processes).
Tell me, how would your partner's workplace use RATs today, in the context of the public health response and three phase plan? I actually think this could be done, and listening to Bloomfield above he seems to think so too, so tell us the how.
Did you see where I am ONLY talking about 'businesses' odering, paying and distributing these tests to their own employees and business partners/visitors etc?
That is not the same as people importing it on their own.
The reason we are scrambling here is not because businesses did something that was not approved – as above i posted ample links to point out that this disucssion with Businesses and Govt is / was an ongoing thing, it is because the Government did not think we would need these tests in large numbers, despite the world showing that they have a place in the tool box against covid.
Fact is that the businesses that have their order consolidated and pushed ot the back of the queue are businesses like Food Stuffs, Silver Fern, Mitre Tens etc etc etc, but i guess all these workers can just suck it up and play russian roulette with their health a, and b. have their brains tickled every other day, lest the government looks foolish and without a ball in their hand/court.
And frankly Weka, i don't need to tell you this, its been told many times by others with better words and the Government fucked up, and it is continuing to fuck up in this regards. They got cought out by their own hubris and self importance.
Maybe not all businesses are 'opportunistic arseholes' as called by Adrian? Maybe in this case the opportunist is the Government that failed to procure a "tool" in large enough numbers to distribute it across the nation. But then, maybe this Government can not be allowed to fail, as Covid is the only thing they got to some extend going for them.
I am done having this discussion Weka. The Government had since April 2020 to be forward thinking with regards to these Self tests, which btw are no more then a standard pregnancy test – get properly tested if it comes back unclear or positive – and they really thought that they don't need them, or could do with out. Well, i guess Covid don't give a fuck as to what the Government thinks.
And also please stop pretending that the public is just out there waiting to get to piss on one of these tests and then pretend it did not happen. Right now, people simply don't get tested at all.
honestly, I'm having trouble following your points.
Here's the MoH page explaining the ordering ban. Which wasn't a ban exactly, it was just that you has to go through the MoH to get approval. This was to stop the importation of useless tests. Hence businesses were still allowed to import, individuals weren't. If you are saying that businesses weren't allowed, please explain.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/assessment-and-testing-covid-19/rapid-antigen-testing#business
That's different from the issue this week of the government outbidding the NZ resellers.
You didn't answer my questions. I don't think all businesses or even most are arseholes. I do think that there is a clear conflict between the needs of individual businesses and the public health response. I have no problem accepting that this might be a result of the MoH being slow to move on RATs.
But here we are. Do people honestly want businesses to take priority over the MoH?
My partner is also an essential worker, and was part of those when the elimination strategy that had an employer who had foreseen the necessity for individual workers to have a quick way to test so as reduce the likelihood of the entire workforce being infected or isolated.'
They had purchased RAT tests pre-emptively with the understanding that elimination at some point would be abandoned.
I consider his employer, and those like them to be businesses that provided unforced support to their employees, and should get kudos for doing so. They are now unable to use this strategy at the moment, as they go through the process with government.
It's just another example of a mish-mash world and times. Dennis Frank (below) gets into the Hickey-Bradbury notions about capitalism and socialism.
Socialist approaches are wonderful and welcomed by capitalists when they're in the shit or see some advantage in it for themselves. And loathed the rest of the time especially when there's direct advantage to be gained for themselves.
Listening to Bloomfield on ZB (above) this was the conclusion I came to. Some companies throwing their toys out of the cot because they got caught up in a public health issue and probably weren't paying attention to the collective good and are so used to neoliberal rules applying.
The businesses that have worked with the government on a trial have not been paying attention and are throwing out their toys?
Seriously, it is the fault of businesses that in 2022 – 2 full years into the Covid mess, we don't have a simple tool as a self tests?
Yeah, Right. Tui. Must be the businesses, can't be anything else.
No, the small handful of businesses that decided this week to use the National Party and MSM to stamp their feet about not getting what they want during a global health crisis.
Instead of going ‘wah, wah confiscation’, they could have talked about the actual issues and how they need to be resolved.
Fuck off Sabine. If you're not going to listen to what I am saying, at least don't make shit up about my argument.
Tests for omricon are not very accurate .
One of your other complainers posted the efficacy of RATS some where between 40% and 70% efficacy varying with each individual averaging 55% for the best brand 45% for the worst.That was for the original variant not Delta or omricon or the more evasive omricon b-2 variant.
So these RATS are only going to slow down the spread.
One person who came out of isolation had numerous negative tests yet 2 days out of isolation he tested positive after feeling sick.
RATs do not do such a thing. They get phased in progressively as we move to Phase 3, as per yesterday’s announcement.
Yes Incognito. If people listened to Assoc Min of Health yesterday, the PM over the weekend and actually read the policies/processes they will find out about the staging.
Much heat but not much light here on TS, obviously based on those beacons of unbiased reporting, the media. Surely 2 years in we know better than to try to get best info from the media? Especially when we have dedicated ways of getting information
https://covid19.govt.nz/
The priority for RATs is for essential workers and especially useful for a test the day of proposing starting work after having had Covid. Surely the use for essential workers is the best use in our staged process especially if there is a shortage and a timing issuing for how long the RATs last for.
Thank you Weka for so patiently explaining this situation, which shouldn't be too hard if people have been listening.
As usual the govt can do no right here. If they had left RAT totally in the hands of private enterprise, god forbid, they would be getting hammered from the other angle.
It's all politics.
Politics, but also people under stress. And too much neoliberal socialisation.
Sabine NZ initiative is a right wing think tank formally the business round table.
The Indian made rats you have posted in your link claim to have a 95% efficacy which is bs.
This cheap political point scoring is undermining the govts initiatives.
'
Fail:
National Party in another embarrassing backdown.
Ironic really, in that the whole purpose of the petition was to embarrass the government.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/omicron-backdown-national-drops-now-from-end-miq-petition-says-govt-s-home-isolation-pause-justified/ar-AAT8Cmm?
Governments and opposition should change their views as circumstances change. This is good and hardly an embarassing backdown.
When the petition was launched there were hundreds of kiwis self isolating at home with delta, while vaxxed kiwis abroard with negative tests were being denied the ability to do the same thing.
Then omicron hit and things changed.
Dunno about changing the wording of petitions mid-campaign, though.
Stop one, start another.
"When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir?" Winston Churchill
Nothing wrong with that.
However…..
I would be incensed if I put my name to a petition, and then found out that what I had signed up to had been altered before it was handed in.
Changing the wording of a petition after people have already signed up to it crosses a moral line.
I agree with McFlock. If the original wording is no longer fit for purpose, if the situation has changed, best to abandon it and start again.
Embarrassing? Lazy? Immoral? Opportunistic?
Much
Economist & entrepreneur Bernard Hickey pays a compliment to the left:
Although, to be fair, he probably didn't intend it to be interpreted as a compliment. Bomber has a surprisingly sober view:
He then makes a subtle point via a survey of the capitalist parties in parliament:
The point being that no parties in parliament have declared themselves anti-capitalist.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Pragmatism rules. No party wants to present itself as anti-Roman. Socialists ran away to hide in the 1980s & haven't been seen since. The victims of the inequality-producing system conspicuously continue to avoid the challenge of becoming politically active and leveraging their numbers. No surprise that capitalism wins by default. Winners take all when losers can't be bothered playing the game…
That Daily Blog article is by Chris Trotter, Dennis. Not Bomber.
The problem any anti-capitalist party would have in NZ is selling itself as able to successfully deconstruct the current economic structure & successfully manage an economy without capitalism.
Maybe rather than trying to deconstruct the whole system, anti-capitalists should start organising to solve the intractable existential problems that capitalism just cannot solve.
maybe that's why we don't see anti capitalists? either they can't organise as well as capitalists can or they can't agree what their anti-ness then isn't anti..
New Zealanders don't vote for negativity
I am sure the electorate will take that on board in '23.
Nothing but negativity from the Natz!
Obviously I was in a passing phase of brain fog, but that does explain why it was a sober analysis! And I agree with your delineation of the problem.
Except that the stance I adopted 30 years ago in the Greens economic policy working group was a synthesis rather than a negation or opposition and I still feel that's the best alternative. It uses a conciliatory basis. Efficiency & progress then derive from applying a suitable method. The method I advocated was to identify key principles on the left & right that seem essential (equity & enterprise being primary) and eliminate the shit parts of the left & right.
Do that and you get something new that is resilient by design. Included in the synthesis were Green principles such as true-cost accounting (to eliminate the socialisation of business costs) and the financial transactions cost tax to harvest the process of capitalism (which I viewed as socialism worth supporting)…
No compliments anywhere…indeed the opposite.
The RBNZ, government and business have been given the largest of serves by Bernard Hickey's research…..any response from those served is likely to be awkward.
He has just been interviewed on RNZ…the link should be available soon.
The top global gun may get pointed at Russia; https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/26/investing/swift-russia-ukraine/index.html
What is SWIFT?
Russia does have an alternative if the top gun swivels at them:
Boris is grandstanding.
As 40% of european energy relies on Russian supply,cutting off SWIFT would mean the Cold War would become …a war of frozen corpses.
There is no ready substitute for Russian energy …supply.
Oh but Blazer
The Germans will welcome that expensive freedom LNG gas courtesy of the US
German industrialists are gagging to pay the extra cost and the extra carbon miles to get it
But umm, there's a problem
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-talks-with-energy-producers-supply-europe-if-russia-invades-ukraine-2022-01-25/
Why the fuck is it so hard to give Russia some security guarantees, cheaper in the long run, as the German commander said before he was in effect sacked for offering unwelcome advice.(An apology was not enough to save his job)
Germany and Europe will just stop shutting down their nuclear reactors if gas supplies are cut.
Back in 2014 , after Crimea voted to rejoin Russia (as it had in previous referendums)and this time Russia accepted, Russia was threatened with being banned from SWIFT by the US
Which wasn't greeted with a greta deal of clapping from Brussels
https://www.the-american-interest.com/2014/10/03/sanctions-on-russia-could-backfire/
An international neutral banking facility becomes a US weapon, thus undermining it's credibility and usefulness
A pretty strong encouragement for Russia, China et al to form al alternative to SWIFT.
Both China and Russia have independent settlement programs at various stages of implementation. China launched the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) in 2015, an independent clearing system with the RMB as the quote currency. Similarly, Russia has been developing its own financial messaging System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS).
Both systems are now in position, making it relatively easy to build an independent Russian-Chinese financial system by linking the two.
A great step for mankind that will meet with approval…everywhere.
Let's face it ,we all abhor….monopolies!
The Russian invasion is not quite as imminent and not quite as full scale as we thought
Western intelligence seems to be a little slow to cotton on
(Even though the Ukrainians themselves have been pointing it out for weeks)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/26/focused-russian-attack-on-ukraine-seen-as-more-likely-than-full-scale-invasion
Gwynne Dyer nails it here. Don't hold your breath for a Russian invasion or any kind of war additional to that already going on in Ukraine.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/300497162/russias-posturing-over-ukraine-is-being-taken-much-too-seriously
Jacinda Ardern is a “nasty human being” and the media here is “pathetic” and “gutless”. Are we becoming an international joke?
https://m.facebook.com/GBNewsOnline/videos/rita-panahi-we-are-not-immortal-everybody-dies/2070682556430296/?__so__=permalink&__rv__=related_videos&locale=ne_NP&_rdr
RW commentators ranting from a place of ignorance. FFS, NZ isn't pursuing an elimination model. Why bother even listening to this if they can't get basic facts right?
You wish, Ross.
Seen the photo on the mask-wearing post?
Perhaps there's something in what you say…
GB News? Seriously?
Sure. Jacinda became an international joke when she was ambushed by a birthday cake.
Are we becoming an international joke? No. The international joke is that individuals with severe intellectual capacity see themselves as founts of knowledge.
"New Zealand is spiralling out of control" with its '"totalitarian" PM?
The tragedy is that the ravings of lunatics like Wootton suck in and pander to cretins amongst us.
Ross….that sort of rubbish should come come with a warning.
ScoMo, Boris or Jacinda. Tough choice that one-give me the woman with the soft voice any time.
Ross the far right news gb news .
Jealous of Jacinda .
A bunch of old white incell males wanting to go back to the days of British empire.
Yeah, one time I got so drunk I got in a fight, puked all over someone's lawn and on my shoes, took my shirt off and started dancing and screaming in the flowerbed! When the cops came and got me I had passed out under the walnut tree and pissed my pants!
The people who owned that garden must have looked like idiots – just "pathetic" and obviously "nasty human beings" – absolute jokes.
Bernard Hickey eviscerates the Government and RBNZ
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018828257/the-cost-of-the-pandemic-the-financial-winners-and-losers
This is going to hurt.
What an indictment on this Govt.
'Tony Blair in …high heels'….indeed.
This will hurt Labour (and be an increased source of questioning by the Greens) I expect the public pressure will build as things get harder for more and more…pressure to claw back, pressure to denounce, and pressure to provide alternatives.
Hickey has put numbers to and laid bare responsibility for the reality many are experiencing….mainly those who have till now supported Labour and the Greens.
Here is a link on the critical worker situation just forwarded through to me.
https://www.business.govt.nz/covid-19/testing-and-returning-to-work-during-omicron
Here is where the system is going to collapse and become meaningless:
"Beyond this, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) will develop an online portal – similar to that used for the Business Travel Registration system – to allow individual business to apply for critical worker status. This system will be called the Critical Services Register and more information will be made available to businesses shortly about this."
So the portal still needs to be developed. Firms need to apply for critical worker status. Decisions need to be made who qualifies. Then tests need to be distributed. I expect thousands of firms will be applying.
Given the speed of the Omicron wave, I doubt any of this will be happening until after the crisis is over.
Didn't the government say yesterday they think phase two will probably start in two weeks?
That MBIE page looks clear to me.
If I were in your situation I would phone MBIE and ask for a timeline on the register, and further guidelines on whether your business is likely to qualify (I would guess yes, but I'd check because you need to plan)
I will try that. But I expect it could be a bit difficult getting through.
Here is an interesting interview with David Seymour. I realise it is from the wrong side of the fence here, but he makes some really good points.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018828168/act-leader-david-seymour-on-govt-s-omicron-response
I agree with him that the harsh isolation rules will put people off getting tested at all. Especially if they have to sit at home for weeks trying to survive on the meagre offering from the government when their sick leave runs out.
So far as critical workers go, he makes the point that we might not see the refuse collection people as essential at the moment. And I doubt they would meet the criteria in the first instance, anyway.
But if they all get sick and can't collect rubbish for three weeks, we may change our minds. And, uncollected rubbish could become a health hazard as well.
I would be surprise if rubbish collection isn't considered essential, a la "prevent serious harm (social, economic or physical) to significant numbers in the community."
Yes, phoning MBIE or many government departments often takes a long time to get through. Phoning WINZ requires waits of up to an hour. I usually arrange to be doing something compatible while on hold.
Speaking of which, remember March 2020 when the government first started rolling out the initial pandemic response, and prioritising funding for businesses? Beneficiaries had to wait for any financial assistance, which meant that going into lockdown many couldn't buy masks, extra hand washing supplies, or extra food so they could stay home and not have to be exposed to covid in places like supermarkets.
What managers and business owners are experiencing is stressful. Really stressful in fact. This is the nature of shitty situations.
My own view is that we should be adapting and preparing for another round of this this year past this wave of omicron. We might get really lucky and omicron settles into a pattern that is more manageable. But we actually get better at crisis management if we adapt rather than holding on as if its going to be over soon.
Teaching resiliency skills would be a really good move right now, maybe this is something someone could look at helping businesses with.
I fear for the viability of many small businesses in this.
I agree with the stressful aspect. Perhaps there could be some help provided for businesses through the EAP?
A lot of small businesses don't have sufficient staff to run several shifts, and have no choice but to intermingle in their operations. Mass sickness and isolation rules could leave them without income for a month or two.
I don't know if the government is looking at the wage subsidy program again. So, they may be left to their own devices.
Also, when a lot of these businesses are forced to shut for a period of time it is going to have a huge knock on effect for the economy.
For instance, my son owns a powder coating business that is one of the busiest in Christchurch. Luckily he has plenty of cash reserves to see himself through this. But if he is forced to close down for a month or two, there will be a huge backlog of work that other businesses can’t get finished and charged out.
The effects of this are going to be far greater than many realise.
where are you getting the month or two thing from?
One person gets sick. Everyone has to isolate. Another person gets sick. Everyone has to isolate etc etc.
Where contact is unavoidable then this could impact businesses for a long time.
So if a worker in Mitre10 gets covid all the staff have to self isolate? I don't think so.
Looking at the MBIE and MoH links, it's not clear what they consider a close contact, but I doubt very much that it's every person the case talked to or walked past.
https://www.business.govt.nz/covid-19/testing-and-returning-to-work-during-omicron
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-response-planning/omicron-community-what-means-you
https://covid19.govt.nz/traffic-lights/life-at-red/
I think you will find most of your Mitre 10 workers will want to get tested and self-isolate, regardless of what the MoH says. If someone is at work while transmissible, then the prudent and responsible thing for any employer to do is stand down the workers who were on the same shift until they have returned a negative test. Which will likely take days.
People will do what they feel needs to be done to look after themselves and their whanau. They won’t be scrolling through the MoH website to find out what to do.
I am talking about small businesses with unavoidable close contact.
If you look to overseas jurisdictions the peak infections rise rapidly then fall away.
But if you think this pandemic is finished it won't be over till variants stop mutating.
What happens if another variant pops up Omricon b-2 is already in circulation its not known how serious it is yet but it looks more transmissible than omricon.
Belly aching ain't going to fix it.
Businesses may have to close we might go into a recession .We may have another wave of a more virulent covid.
Expecting the govt to fix everything when the Ministry of Health has been cut to shreads so we can have tax cuts and small govt.Then when things go wrong blame the govt is ironic.
In WW2 everybody was on the same page all working to defeat a common enemy.
Most are on board but the few who aren't are making the loudest noises.
Who do we follow those extremists who want to score cheap political points.
Or our highly educated health professionals.
Do we need to follow highly educated health professionals? or highly educated anyones?
I saw a newspaper heading this morning: "If only Jacinda Ardern was more like Scott Morrison."
Who needs highly educated health professionals or anyone here? Let's just be Scott Morrison.
I didn't read the opinion piece. It was by someone called Mike Hosking. Reminded me of pulling the petals off daisies, "He loves me, he loves me not," etc., ad infinitum, Hosking and his love affair with Morrison, Gladys Berejiklian, anything Australian, anything not New Zealand or Ardern.
When is he moving to Australia?
I guess he doesn't see it as the country of "milk and honey", otherwise he would have gone a long time ago. Probably would be back after a couple of years like Paul Henry.
All just empty slogans.
Read this and thought nah, someone's taking the piss. But it's 'Murica.
https://twitter.com/FruitKace/status/1486083494681919490
https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/teachers-paying-their-own-substitutes-believe-it-or-not-it
Ridiculous country.
I think the government would have been better to use saliva tests as from Rako for return to work testing.
https://www.rakoscience.com/
Saliva testing may be more accurate than PCR testing for Omicron anyway.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/health/saliva-testing-coronavirus-omicron.html
And is non-invasive it gives a relatively quick result which would be fine for returning to work, which the government is intending for the RAT tests.
If they had done that, then private industry would have been able to get their tests and use them as intended, for screening workers. As it is, the government in trying to solve one problem has just created another.
It's never that simple tsmith, though this is from 4 months ago:
Meta-analyses of recent studies suggest that saliva is useful for detecting SARS-CoV-2; however, differences in disease prevalence, sample collection, and analysis methods still confound strong conclusions on the utility of saliva compared to nasopharyngeal samples.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34259552/
Probably still more accurate than RAT tests though, especially with Omicron which is located more in the upper respiratory track.
And it depends what you read:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.22.21268246v1
You’ve set off my ignorance detector.
You do know that Rako’s saliva test is actually a PCR test and not a RAT, don’t you?
You do know that, as such, the saliva sample has to be analysed at an accredited lab with the same turn around as for a nasal sample, don’t you?
Do you know what the “R” in RAT stands for?
Fair enough. I should have qualified the type of PCR: e/g saliva vs nasal.
The turn around is quicker than nasal PCRs according to what we have been quoted by Rako: They are saying average time of 10 hours for a result.
How do you know that that is “quicker”?
A RAT is much quicker, isn’t it?
A RAT is a lot quicker. For this reason it is ideal as a screening tool for keeping infected people away from the workplace as much as possible, which is what a lot of companies are wanting them for. The government are now intending these be used for return to work tests, taking them away from the intended purpose industries were bringing them in for.
But when the consideration is someone returning to work, then the extra time for a saliva test probably isn't such an issue given they have been off work for quite awhile anyway.
They are quicker, but they are less reliable, so there’s a trade-off.
The standard remains PCR tests until the system (i.e. testing capacity) gets overwhelmed in Phase 3 or somewhere between Phases 2 and 3.
If you had informed yourself then you’d have known that in Phase 3 RATs may be used for diagnosis.
https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/omicron-in-the-community-what-this-means-for-you-26jan2022.pdf
Yes I am aware of that. With the screening test it is just one of the requirements generally, not the only one. For instance, when our techs go to Silver Fern Farms they have to pass a RAT test, plus be double vaxxed, wear a mask etc. So there is a whole suite of requirements.
Good news. People like this woman deserve jail.
Napier woman who hid her daughter's injuries behind face paint on flight jailed – NZ Herald
Pfizer has announced the start of trials to assess their omicron-targeted vaccine.
So they've developed a vaccine, lab tested it, and did FDA paperwork to get authorisation to start human use, decided the study scope and population, and are ready to begin trials at… 8 weeks from the new variant being identified, and over the holiday period as well.
Someone ought to nominate their team for a Nobel Prize. They'd be a shoo-in.
Depends where the genius was – developing the vaccine, or working with the FDA…
TOP have a new leader
https://twitter.com/rafmanji/status/1486479706459631618?s=21
Big topics for we mortals to just read and wonder
TV Poll out at 6pm tonight.
thanks for the reminder. Which TV?