RNZ had one of the blowhards Siouxsie Wiles describes in the above piece, on Morning Report today–their mantra, repeated ad naseum, is “lockdowns don’t work, elimination is impossible”.
Yet, the numbers in NZ so far still do not support that “case”.
Zero tolerance is meaningless. Presumably the Government has zero tolerance for suicides, but there were 654 suicide deaths in the year to June 2020. There were 685 deaths the previous year. Sadly, many who commit suicide are aged under 25.
If the Government can accept suicide deaths despite zero tolerance, there is no logical reason why it cannot accept deaths from other causes, including Covid-19.
We could stop all suicides by monitoring every single person 24/7 and intervening. Of course it's not a viable strategy. It seems to me stopping all infections of Covid is simply not practically possible unless we become a fortress.
"Yeah, it sounds like a journey with small children …"
I would like to know more than when we are going to arrive. I would like to know what the destination looks like, whether the driver actually is following a map, and how many stops we're going to have to endure along the way.
In times of uncertainty it's natural to crave certainty, and so our leaders seek to soothe and comfort with certain promises, e.g.Freedom Day.
I'd be skeptical of those claiming "to know what the destination looks like" "and how many stops we're going to have to endure along the way."
I'll settle for honesty and evidence-based planning to help as many Kiwis through this pandemic as possible – and sooner rather than later, of course, but it is what it is.
Certainty? Of course not. But a general overview of the destination, surely? Put another way, the government is following a clear strategy (they call elimination) which currently involves hard and fast lockdown as soon as Covid appears in the community. All good. But what is the long game? Clearly Covid is mutating, so high vaccination rates are helpful, but not a definitive response. So what is the long term plan?
Clearly Covid is mutating, so high vaccination rates are helpful, but not a definitive response. So what is the long term plan?
Well, obviously global eradication is off because other governments insist on their populations acting as petrie dishes for new cultivating variants.
So we'll probably find a sweet spot of vaccine efficacy and decreasing virulence, at which point business leaders lobbying to exchange an unkown number of dead NZers for the hope of more revenue for their businesses (or using immigrants for lower wage costs) will finally get their way.
If you want a calendar, you're shit out of luck. The govt is pretty clearly avoiding further stress to the health system from community outbreaks.
Unless that changes, the "long game" is pretty obvious. There are only a few variables: vaccine efficacy, virulence, infectiousness, ICU beds and mortality.
All good points. I would just like to see more from government outlining how they see the factors you outline in your final paragraph playing out, and potentially how we need to adapt. After all, we haven't eliminated either measles or influenza, so having to live with covid in one form or another is the most likely scenario.
We have an elimination strategy for measles, not for influenza.
Being eliminated does not mean there won’t be new cases sprouting up ever again; it is the default state of zero infections that is the goal and [the process of] elimination is the sum-total of all the measures and interventions required to achieve that goal.
I feel your frustration and disappointment at the lack of a certain long-term plan. Try relaxation techniques and patience – works for me.
POST-CABINET PRESS CONFERENCE: FRIDAY, 27 AUGUST 2021 [PDF link] PM: No. We haven’t received any advice, so we’ve given no advice. And as you can imagine right now, that is just not where our thinking is at. I mean, we’re obviously trying to ensure that we’re looking after all New Zealanders, getting us back to the best position possible. It’s very clear that a bubble right now is just not a goer, but, of course, we’ll stick to the time lines we had. At the end of September, we were going to look at those settings and just give just a bit of a long-term view as to what is going to happen, because I know a lot of people are hanging on those decisions for their long-term plans. Media: At the end of September or at the start of September when— PM: Ah! Forgive me. I believe it was the end of September, from memory. Media: OK. Can I ask as well, is there an ambition—because there were five Australian states or territories that recorded zero cases today—to reopen— PM: And let’s be clear, those states would not open to us right now. Media: Indeed—yes, but you are trying to— PM: Yep, because despite what’s said, they are running pretty much an elimination strategy. Media: My question casts into the future, because of course you’re trying to eliminate the virus and are likely to, touching wood. Is there an ambition to reopen before Christmas? PM: That wasn’t wood, but I appreciate the sentiment. Look, too soon for us to say. And I would say, it’s not just up to us; those states have, for the most part, an elimination strategy themselves. They’ll want to make sure that they’re open to countries they consider to be safe. So it does all feel a bit premature right now. What we will do at the end of September, though, is just give an indication of where we think things are heading, because people are planning around that, and we need to give them some long-term certainty as much as we can—yep.
Covid-19: High vaccine rates not enough to end lockdowns, expert says
For now, Ardern said an elimination strategy remained the undisputed best option. Going into 2022, she said the government would be working with independent experts to see how Delta and other factors might change New Zealand’s approach.
“We know an elimination strategy has worked for New Zealand before, that’s the way we have managed to have a larger number of days where we have been without restrictions than countries like the UK and the United States, and not had our people gravely ill and hospitalised and unfortunately losing their lives.”
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
As a passenger, I don’t pretend to drive or control the car or know better than the driver. I trust the driver has a valid licence and good driving experience. I trust that the car has a WOF and won’t break down. I can check on the gauge if there’s enough fuel. I trust that the GPS will warn of traffic accidents or jams ahead and re-route, if necessary. I trust that we have options between the fastest route, and various other ones, including scenic D-tours, if we choose to. I’ll go along for the ride and try and enjoy it without getting motion sickness. I might listen to music on the radio, have a conversation with others in the car, or just stare out of the windows and take in the scenery.
After what has unfolded in recent weeks, I’m having difficulty trusting the driver.
I give the government and government agencies kudos for the approach last year. And the current lockdown is the right move. But there are a lot of questions over our preparedness for this current outbreak that are making plenty of people question whoever is driving.
Sure, but there’s only one driver. In 2023, we can swap drivers if we wish, and hope that we don’t go off-road. Meanwhile, we all can make sure that the driver stays focussed, sharp, and safe so that we all stay safe.
Remember only one occasion when driver behaviour caused me to change cars, but over the years many many NZers have 'changed cars', for the usual reasons. Our MIQ centres are now chockablock with them.
Our response worked. First time around. Going by the rapid reduction in close contacts with level four and a constant number, rather than exponential increase, in daily cases, our response is also working with Delta.
The 39% is based on a study by the Israel Ministry of Health. The article specifically addresses the rate of severe disease, but the study clearly goes beyond just that single metric.
“According to the report, the vaccines still work very well in preventing severe cases, demonstrating 88% effectiveness against hospitalization and 91% effectiveness against severe illness. But this is still is a steep decline from the earlier estimate of 64% efficacy rate released on July 5, and steeper still from the initial 95% efficacy rate Israel published in May, based on records from Jan. 24 to April 3, 2021.”
Our response (a hard lockdown) will always stop spread, but only of that outbreak. It won't achieve elimination, unless our borders are permanently closed. The Skegg report claimed that based on the then border settings, a breach was inevitable. We have choices to make, and none of them easy.
Can't put that ‘genie’ back in its bottle? Why not give Collins a go?
Maybe she could ‘pray the Covid away’
Collins says people are being ‘malicious and nasty’ to her
It’s not the first time Collins has claimed comments she’s made that could be heard as a threat have been misinterpreted. During the election campaign last year she said “disgraceful” investigative journalist Nicky Hager “still needs to meet his maker“.
She later clarified what she meant was the “Christian” belief that “we’re all going to die one day and we’re going to have to justify our actions“.
No argument form me. Before that time we have to have a much higher vaccination rate, and have developed strategies to deal with the possibility of periodic outbreaks that move beyond hard lock downs.
Not with other countries being run by sociopaths or morons, no.
But periodic elimination is, and then when we are fully vaccinated and the virus itself has self-selected to become less virulent (less severe symptoms because the surviving viruses don't kill their host as quickly), we should be able to open the borders again without parking tents and freezer trucks outside our hospitals.
After having a good think about whether we really want to go back to the old days of mass tourism.
But that doesn't mean we'll all need to go into level 4 every time there's a community covid case. That depends on our vaccine coverage (and boosters if needed) and how virulent it is, how likely it is to swamp hospitals and kill people.
Personally, I'd like to see a 3-day MIQ for all arrivals as a long term policy, but good luck getting that past the $$-at-all-costs brigade (despite how many less harmful but still damaging outbreaks of colds and flu it might catch).
"As of 24 February 2020, there had been 2,194 cases of measles reported throughout New Zealand since 1 January 2019."
If our strategy is to eliminate measles, it isn't working. But I imagine that successive governments have decided we can live with measles.
As for polio, there are still cases in some countries.
The pandemic is part of the problem. In March, WHO ordered a pause to all polio eradication campaigns to make sure vaccinators going door to door weren't unwittingly contributing to the spread of COVID-19. That order was lifted over the summer, but "as a result, 30 to 40 countries have not conducted mass immunization campaigns," Zaffran says. "During that period, up to 80 million children have been left unprotected against polio."
I also left several other instructive comments here under this post for others to inform themselves.
And yet, here we are again. Your refusal to inform yourself and take heed of warnings was your undoing last time, although you tried hard and many times to bypass your well-deserved and justified ban. NB you have been given back your commenting privileges only 11 days ago!
If you don’t improve your comments, you know how this will end. And please don’t argue with Moderators about Moderation, as is clearly explained in this site’s Policy – Incognito]
NZ does not have a Covid-19 eradication strategy, it has an elimination strategy.
NZ has an elimination strategy for measles, mainly through vaccination, as you know, and it is also a notifiable infectious disease, just as Covid-19 is. NB influenza is not a notifiable infectious disease in NZ, but non-seasonal influenza is.
"NZ does not have a Covid-19 eradication strategy, it has an elimination strategy."
Fair comment. I'm wrongly using the terms interchangeably – my bad.
To be clear, I don't believe we can eliminate Covid for anything other than short bursts, unless we completely isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.
The difference between measles and covid is that the measles virus doesn't mutate "in a comparable way".
In this mornings Herald, Professor Graham Mellsop wrote this:
"Our team of 5 million needs to be told both to committ to the preservation of good community vaccination levels and that our future includes Covid infections with brief illnesses, some hospitalisations and relatively uncommon deaths".
Few Kiwis would support continuing strict border controls, with level 4 lockdowns in response to delta (or worse) outbreaks, for years, but I do wonder about the motivation(s) of those who are agitating for a ‘sooner rather than later’ relaxation of these prudent protective measures on day 11 of our current level 4 lockdown.
There will absolutely be a time and place to let our Covid guard down. With ~23% of NZers fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and the global number of active cases set to exceed the previous January 2021 peak (18.6 million), now is not the time, imho.
‘Covid thrill-seekers‘ have the rest of the world to choose from – please leave us sleepy hobbits be a little while longer.
Yeah, it sounds like a journey with small children in the back of the car asking 5 min into the trip and then at regular and increasingly shorter intervals “are we there yet?”
Elimination is not eradication. Yes elimination is possible in a particular area, but difficult to maintain. Israel did not attempt to eliminate the virus – they wrongly relied on ""herd immunity"" – and then a variant of the virus appeared which was more infectious and they learned that the vaccine did not give personal immunity. Presumptions by politicians do not always predict science or future reality.
Ya reckon?? I reckon nz proved that if humans were as intelligent as we think, we could have wiped covid from the plant in 6 weeks , but oh no we had right from the get go fucktsrds clutching there Pearl's and screaming my economy, and then there a the countries so poverty stricken and usually run by true scum that the daily grind means that they have to go out daily to survive
Vaccine-derived polio is a strain of the virus that originated as part the oral polio vaccine but has managed to circulate, reproduce and regain strength in places with poor sanitation. Vaccine-derived polio is caused by remnants of earlier versions of the live virus used in the oral polio vaccine.
Elimination is possible depending on government action and public will.
Best results achieved with contained small outbreaks, it could even still be done in the u.s, the UK and other overrun nations, but highly unlikely after numerous previous failures to contain and eliminate.
Unless you are suggesting that no one ever enters and leaves NZ, elimination is unfortunately not possible. Getting people vaccinated is a prerequisite to open the borders not just in NZ but countries from where people travel from.
Admittingly, the government has made a big tactical error by not getting in to high gear a year ago of procuring the vaccine and getting it distributed whilst we were still on level 1 without the travel bubble, which incidentally was the biggest mistake in my book. Far too early, no one vaccinated, flying on a hope and prayer. Everybody I talked to about travel was saying that it is just a matter of time until we see level 4 again. And here we are.
Elimination, especially with a relatively small outbreak is entirely possible, as proved by the first and second times we had community spread in NZ and got rid of it, giving many months of normality.
Now what happens between outbreaks is the debate you might want to have, but that won't change any of the above being true with regards to containment and elimination.
You don’t seem to know what “elimination” is/means.
It might surprise you that NZ has successfully followed and is still following an elimination strategy.
This has been recommended by experts, e.g., Prof. Skegg, and it is still the recommendation. Indeed, Skegg has said that this outbreak was and should have been expected although not the exact size and date, of course.
This lockdown may fail to contain the Delta outbreak, but definitely worth a try imho.
What's disappointing is the certainty of 'fail blowhards' – takes all kinds I guess.
Collins says the government needs to give people more certainty.
"People aren't stupid, they understand this is a highly transmissible variant. So people do need certainty, they need certainty about their lives, their work, their businesses."
Why is Collins bleating about "more certainty"? Her future is certain enough.
And here I was thinking business was 'agile' and 'innovative', that it could move 'at pace' and 'make decisions' and 'bring clarity' in 'fast-paced environments' that are 'challenging' and require 'insight', judgment and 'flawless execution'. Surely not much certainty is needed when you have this array of talents? Or have I been looking at too many Seek job ads?
And I had thought that requiring an impossible certainty was an endearing but thankfully temporary trait that we observe in our children – or, less endearingly, in some behavioural disorders. Just shows how wrong I was.
don’t quite understand what you are saying Ross. NZ managed to eliminate the virus in previous lockdowns. To stay at a 0% case level we would have had to completely shut our boarders, which the govt chose not to do.
perhaps it is a case of what strategies work best. I believe that the science based strategies the govt are following have worked the best. These are the strategies our top experts have recommended.
of course there is a future burden for young people out of this pandemic, but that would be true for all countries.
one of the many benefits of following an elimination strategy is it preserves our very precious health workforce. The Uk for example have lost many Drs and nurses to covid
Yes. Ross was reporting a bit of humour at Auckland's expense.
It looks like Auckland is in for 2 more weeks of L4 at the least. We know its the right thing to do but it is hard going. We Jafas have had more than our fair share of these debilitating lockdowns.
NZ managed to eliminate the virus in previous lockdowns.
We have had cases for as long as I can remember. Indeed, I recall a gentleman from Australia allegedly bringing Covid to Wellington in June. Before that I recall a woman in the Coromandel testing positive after visiting numerous places. There are and have been any number of cases in MIQ. The idea the virus has been eliminated is wrong.
Some people might have thought that vaccination would prevent lockdowns but that doesn't seem to be the case. We will continue to have lockdowns. That will only change with the political will to do so.
Anker, 3
As history tells us, science is one thing, human behavior quite something else. So perhaps this should be approached with science and common sense. Opening a travel bubble without having the population in NZ vaccinated and allowing people from known delta virus countries to enter the country with test results that no one can verify….come on, human behavior + a bit of stupidity = super spread. I mean this is not so difficult to figure out. Unless political correctness has no dampened our survival instinct.
North Cornwall town reeling and people urged not to visit as thousands of cases linked to festival
I understand that not all the 5,000 COVID cases in Cornwall are necessarily directly linked to the festival. There are probably cases outside of Cornwall linked to the festival. Anyway, lets assume this festival caused 5,000 COVID cases, which means with current UK numbers:
~ 1,000 people in hospital
~ 20 people dead
I would like to see the world-wide news headlines, the public outrage, if you would have those numbers linked to a terrorist attack at a music festival!
To announce "Freedom Day" and "Let COVID rip" through the country without sufficient protection should be called "mass-murder".
But of your comparators, only one is an infectious disease (AIDS) and in comparison to COVID-19, AIDS is really not very infectious at all. The other examples are a bit silly: one traffic accident does not cause another three accidents. It is the exponential growth in a completely immune-naive population that makes COVID so different and completely justifies the response to date. At the right time and once we have good information, we will move cautiously to a different approach.
All are systemic risks we have learnt to live with.
What do you mean?
Millions if not billions of dollars are spent each year to keep death tolls due to those causes under control and even to bring them down further. Once you open flood gates mitigation is pretty much all you can do within (economic) reason. The big difference with Covid-19 is that so far we have managed to control it and keep a lid on it (only 26 deaths so far). Once we remove the elimination measures, we will be likely having to accept the consequences in terms of severe illness and death, despite vaccination, and live with it; in all likelihood, it will be worse and more severe than influenza.
Sounds like you’re saying that it is “when” not “if” and if that’s the case, you fundamentally change the debate to “when” and “how”. Unfortunately, some pundits only focus on the “when” and think the “how” is somebody else’s problem, usually the Government’s.
BTW, polio and measles have been eliminated and can possibly be eradicated.
Fortunately for Kiwis, our government and health experts (epidemiologists, virologists, vaccinologists) have been singing from the same songbook, and so we still have good choices after 10 days of lockdown and 70 new cases.
Kiwis might yet rush in and snatch defeat from the jaws of this victory, so winning the 'sympathy' of powerful 'allies', but we don't have to – we really don’t.
Given our essential workers are at highest risk, why aren't we insisting their employers provide them with N95 masks which actually provide best protection?
I wondered where our resident hand wringer David was getting his talking points from. Doesn’t surprise me it’s from Matt King. Cindy's not the Messiah, she's just a naughty girl. A la Monty Python
Have a read of the Bishop interview in the Listener and Bishop freely admits that he has no self-awareness and little in the way of a moral compass when he details the many, many times that he has allegedly supported National Party positions on issues he reckons he does not agree with on the grounds he has to show “ unity “, or as the rest of the world would call it, hypocrisy.
Yes Northland lumped in with Auckland is quite disappointing when you realise that Warkworth is part of the Auckland area not Northland. There are no cases in Northland and the sensible place to hold a border would be Te Hana – with just a short strip to police to stop Aucklanders getting to Mangawhai through the back roads.
If you want people to comply – and they have already loosened up around me here near Whangarei- then realistic borders need to be considered or there will be no respect which means poor compliance.
They did say that Northland won’t always be lumped with Auckland necessarily, only this time.
If people want some of their relative freedoms back, they could start with simple things such as scanning. That will give the officials and authorities the confidence that they can relax the rules.
This is a two-way thing, for our own benefit. Why do people find this so hard to get their heads around?
So a clear why would help to make it understandable… Is the Aucklanders that they say ran to their baches, is it to stop drug running , is it not enough scanning in, is it not enough police to control a north border as well as a south border. What is it ?
The PM said in the 3pm-er that it was because of the case in Warkworth and the concern that people traveling through there could have taken it further north. It is only a few more days to be sure it no make it to paradise.
If we have limited vaccine supply and Auckland has to shoulder this, the nationwide vaccine rollout should be halted forthwith and all vaccines diverted to Auckland for the foreseeable future. 😉
As of 24th August NZ rate of vaccination for covid placed us 74th. The US was 35th. Countries with small populations in the 10's of thousands can achieve a very high vaccination rate in a very short time because obviously there are fewer people to organise to be vaccinated.
I admire your self-awareness. Has the lockdown given you time for introspection and reflection and helped you to internalise a really complicated situation in your head? It is starting to show and pay off.
Have to confess a slight irritation myself – Owen would "love to hear from you", several times an hour apparently. Maybe all those sound-bite public opinions are newsworthy. Who isn't a sucker for instant polls these days – one born every minute?
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.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
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 ...
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 ...
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https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/27-08-2021/siouxsie-wiles-ignore-the-uninformed-windbags-lockdowns-really-do-work/
RNZ had one of the blowhards Siouxsie Wiles describes in the above piece, on Morning Report today–their mantra, repeated ad naseum, is “lockdowns don’t work, elimination is impossible”.
Yet, the numbers in NZ so far still do not support that “case”.
Elimination is impossible. Heavily vaccinated countries such as Iceland and Israel have learnt that. We are slow learners.
Lockdowns are expensive, not just financially. Future generations are in for a tough time.
Indeed. And 'elimination' is actually not 'elimination'.
"Elimination does not necessarily mean zero COVID. It means zero-tolerance for cases of COVID. We will stamp it out and continue to try to stamp it out," Prof Skegg told the committee.
And 'elimination' is actually not 'elimination'.
Zero tolerance is meaningless. Presumably the Government has zero tolerance for suicides, but there were 654 suicide deaths in the year to June 2020. There were 685 deaths the previous year. Sadly, many who commit suicide are aged under 25.
If the Government can accept suicide deaths despite zero tolerance, there is no logical reason why it cannot accept deaths from other causes, including Covid-19.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122519593/suicide-rate-shows-slight-drop-after-recordhigh-year
The govt doesn't accept suicide deaths. It just doesn't know how to prevent every single suicide.
But the answer to stopping people from dying from infectious diseases is to stop the infections. This is possible with covid.
We could stop all suicides by monitoring every single person 24/7 and intervening. Of course it's not a viable strategy. It seems to me stopping all infections of Covid is simply not practically possible unless we become a fortress.
Nope. 24/7 monitoring doesn't stop suicides. Had a mate die in psych services while he was on suicide watch.
We don't need to be a "fortress". Cruise ships don't mount beach assaults.
But the answer to stopping people from dying from infectious diseases is to stop the infections
Yes, that works very well with the flu. Despite the existence of a flu vaccine, we see 500-600 flu deaths each year.
Does the NZ Government or any government in the world have an elimination strategy for influenza?
You really don’t get this thread, do you?
Well, not every year. Last year, for some reason, we had a 99.8% drop in flu cases (and a corresponding drop in deaths).
Some times resistance isn't futile.
Let me help you with your ignorance.
For your edification: https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/8/e006810
"Yeah, it sounds like a journey with small children …"
I would like to know more than when we are going to arrive. I would like to know what the destination looks like, whether the driver actually is following a map, and how many stops we're going to have to endure along the way.
In times of uncertainty it's natural to crave certainty, and so our leaders seek to soothe and comfort with certain promises, e.g. Freedom Day.
I'd be skeptical of those claiming "to know what the destination looks like" "and how many stops we're going to have to endure along the way."
I'll settle for honesty and evidence-based planning to help as many Kiwis through this pandemic as possible – and sooner rather than later, of course, but it is what it is.
Certainty? Of course not. But a general overview of the destination, surely? Put another way, the government is following a clear strategy (they call elimination) which currently involves hard and fast lockdown as soon as Covid appears in the community. All good. But what is the long game? Clearly Covid is mutating, so high vaccination rates are helpful, but not a definitive response. So what is the long term plan?
Well, obviously global eradication is off because other governments insist on their populations acting as petrie dishes for new cultivating variants.
So we'll probably find a sweet spot of vaccine efficacy and decreasing virulence, at which point business leaders lobbying to exchange an unkown number of dead NZers for the hope of more revenue for their businesses (or using immigrants for lower wage costs) will finally get their way.
If you want a calendar, you're shit out of luck. The govt is pretty clearly avoiding further stress to the health system from community outbreaks.
Unless that changes, the "long game" is pretty obvious. There are only a few variables: vaccine efficacy, virulence, infectiousness, ICU beds and mortality.
All good points. I would just like to see more from government outlining how they see the factors you outline in your final paragraph playing out, and potentially how we need to adapt. After all, we haven't eliminated either measles or influenza, so having to live with covid in one form or another is the most likely scenario.
sigh
We have an elimination strategy for measles, not for influenza.
Being eliminated does not mean there won’t be new cases sprouting up ever again; it is the default state of zero infections that is the goal and [the process of] elimination is the sum-total of all the measures and interventions required to achieve that goal.
I have explained this so many times now!!
I feel your frustration and disappointment at the lack of a certain long-term plan. Try relaxation techniques and patience – works for me.
I'll take your advice and do some deep breathing. Meanwhile the national debt my children will be required to support gets bigger every day.
Some kids are (and will be) alright, and that's great.
https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-relief-breathing-techniques
Unite against COVID-19
https://covid19.govt.nz/
As a passenger, I don’t pretend to drive or control the car or know better than the driver. I trust the driver has a valid licence and good driving experience. I trust that the car has a WOF and won’t break down. I can check on the gauge if there’s enough fuel. I trust that the GPS will warn of traffic accidents or jams ahead and re-route, if necessary. I trust that we have options between the fastest route, and various other ones, including scenic D-tours, if we choose to. I’ll go along for the ride and try and enjoy it without getting motion sickness. I might listen to music on the radio, have a conversation with others in the car, or just stare out of the windows and take in the scenery.
After what has unfolded in recent weeks, I’m having difficulty trusting the driver.
I give the government and government agencies kudos for the approach last year. And the current lockdown is the right move. But there are a lot of questions over our preparedness for this current outbreak that are making plenty of people question whoever is driving.
Sure, but there’s only one driver. In 2023, we can swap drivers if we wish, and hope that we don’t go off-road. Meanwhile, we all can make sure that the driver stays focussed, sharp, and safe so that we all stay safe.
Remember only one occasion when driver behaviour caused me to change cars, but over the years many many NZers have 'changed cars', for the usual reasons. Our MIQ centres are now chockablock with them.
Countries that thought 60% vaccination is enough and "opened up" do not "prove" anything of the sort.
Delta is the game changer.
A July report from the Israel Ministry of Health found that Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine is just 39% effective in Israel, where the Delta variant is the dominant strain but still provides strong protection against severe illness and hospitalization.
We've got a long way to go before we understand the best response to this.
If you analyse Israels numbers. From someone who does know what they are talking about. The percentage in your link is misleading.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/26-08-2021/siouxsie-wiles-what-we-know-about-covid-vaccines-effectiveness-and-boosters/
“If we convert those raw numbers to per 100,000 then we get a rate of 16.4 cases per 100,000 unvaccinated people versus 5.3 cases per 100,000 vaccinated people. In other words, the rate of severe disease is three times higher in unvaccinated than vaccinated people.”
Hardly only 39% effective.
Our response worked. First time around. Going by the rapid reduction in close contacts with level four and a constant number, rather than exponential increase, in daily cases, our response is also working with Delta.
The 39% is based on a study by the Israel Ministry of Health. The article specifically addresses the rate of severe disease, but the study clearly goes beyond just that single metric.
“According to the report, the vaccines still work very well in preventing severe cases, demonstrating 88% effectiveness against hospitalization and 91% effectiveness against severe illness. But this is still is a steep decline from the earlier estimate of 64% efficacy rate released on July 5, and steeper still from the initial 95% efficacy rate Israel published in May, based on records from Jan. 24 to April 3, 2021.”
Our response (a hard lockdown) will always stop spread, but only of that outbreak. It won't achieve elimination, unless our borders are permanently closed. The Skegg report claimed that based on the then border settings, a breach was inevitable. We have choices to make, and none of them easy.
+100
Permanent elimination, I think you mean.
My view is permanent elimination (as in no covid ever) is not practical.
Can't put that ‘genie’ back in its bottle? Why not give Collins a go?
Maybe she could ‘pray the Covid away’
No thanks.
"now is not the time, imho."
No argument form me. Before that time we have to have a much higher vaccination rate, and have developed strategies to deal with the possibility of periodic outbreaks that move beyond hard lock downs.
Not with other countries being run by sociopaths or morons, no.
But periodic elimination is, and then when we are fully vaccinated and the virus itself has self-selected to become less virulent (less severe symptoms because the surviving viruses don't kill their host as quickly), we should be able to open the borders again without parking tents and freezer trucks outside our hospitals.
After having a good think about whether we really want to go back to the old days of mass tourism.
I'm not I see 'Periodic elimination' in the same light as elimination. But I hear what you're saying.
There will always be some disease that someone can bring in. We can eliminate them from NZ, like polio, but even during L4 we have people coming into the country.
But that doesn't mean we'll all need to go into level 4 every time there's a community covid case. That depends on our vaccine coverage (and boosters if needed) and how virulent it is, how likely it is to swamp hospitals and kill people.
Personally, I'd like to see a 3-day MIQ for all arrivals as a long term policy, but good luck getting that past the $$-at-all-costs brigade (despite how many less harmful but still damaging outbreaks of colds and flu it might catch).
Polio, measles?
Polio, measles?
"As of 24 February 2020, there had been 2,194 cases of measles reported throughout New Zealand since 1 January 2019."
If our strategy is to eliminate measles, it isn't working. But I imagine that successive governments have decided we can live with measles.
As for polio, there are still cases in some countries.
The pandemic is part of the problem. In March, WHO ordered a pause to all polio eradication campaigns to make sure vaccinators going door to door weren't unwittingly contributing to the spread of COVID-19. That order was lifted over the summer, but "as a result, 30 to 40 countries have not conducted mass immunization campaigns," Zaffran says. "During that period, up to 80 million children have been left unprotected against polio."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_New_Zealand_measles_outbreak
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/30/929080692/the-campaign-to-wipe-out-polio-was-going-really-well-until-it-wasnt
[Stop showing off your ignorance and educate yourself before you comment here.
Last night, I replied to your comment here with a useful link: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27-08-2021/#comment-1811896.
I also warned you to back-up your claims of fact or face Moderation again: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27-08-2021/#comment-1811895. Consider this now a Moderation request.
I also left several other instructive comments here under this post for others to inform themselves.
And yet, here we are again. Your refusal to inform yourself and take heed of warnings was your undoing last time, although you tried hard and many times to bypass your well-deserved and justified ban. NB you have been given back your commenting privileges only 11 days ago!
If you don’t improve your comments, you know how this will end. And please don’t argue with Moderators about Moderation, as is clearly explained in this site’s Policy – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 8:21 am.
Good point about Polio, however even though we don't have Polio in NZ, surprisingly it still not been eradicated globally. However the only two countries where polio remains endemic are Pakistan and Afghanistan, and our tourism and migration with those countries would be minimal? However, this is worth noting: Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links to endemic countries.
Unless Covid was eradicated from all countries we have travel links with, it is near impossible to eradicate it from NZ.
I'm not sure what you mean by measles? We still have measles in NZ, despite a vaccination program.
NZ does not have a Covid-19 eradication strategy, it has an elimination strategy.
NZ has an elimination strategy for measles, mainly through vaccination, as you know, and it is also a notifiable infectious disease, just as Covid-19 is. NB influenza is not a notifiable infectious disease in NZ, but non-seasonal influenza is.
"NZ does not have a Covid-19 eradication strategy, it has an elimination strategy."
Fair comment. I'm wrongly using the terms interchangeably – my bad.
To be clear, I don't believe we can eliminate Covid for anything other than short bursts, unless we completely isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.
The difference between measles and covid is that the measles virus doesn't mutate "in a comparable way".
The authors conclude that there is a near-zero probability for the natural emergence of a new measles virus capable of evading vaccine-induced immunity.
In this mornings Herald, Professor Graham Mellsop wrote this:
"Our team of 5 million needs to be told both to committ to the preservation of good community vaccination levels and that our future includes Covid infections with brief illnesses, some hospitalisations and relatively uncommon deaths".
I tend to think he's right.
Nope, an elimination strategy relies on measures to keep it at zero and stomp it out ASAP when there are flare-ups. It requires constant vigilance.
It is a strategy, a process, with a specific goal.
NZ successfully eliminated Covid-19 before, notwithstanding the ones that came in at the border and caught in MIQ, and can do it again.
It is explained in that link I’ve shared a few times now.
Few Kiwis would support continuing strict border controls, with level 4 lockdowns in response to delta (or worse) outbreaks, for years, but I do wonder about the motivation(s) of those who are agitating for a ‘sooner rather than later’ relaxation of these prudent protective measures on day 11 of our current level 4 lockdown.
There will absolutely be a time and place to let our Covid guard down. With ~23% of NZers fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and the global number of active cases set to exceed the previous January 2021 peak (18.6 million), now is not the time, imho.
‘Covid thrill-seekers‘ have the rest of the world to choose from – please leave us sleepy hobbits be a little while longer.
Yeah, it sounds like a journey with small children in the back of the car asking 5 min into the trip and then at regular and increasingly shorter intervals “are we there yet?”
Elimination is not eradication. Yes elimination is possible in a particular area, but difficult to maintain. Israel did not attempt to eliminate the virus – they wrongly relied on ""herd immunity"" – and then a variant of the virus appeared which was more infectious and they learned that the vaccine did not give personal immunity. Presumptions by politicians do not always predict science or future reality.
Ya reckon?? I reckon nz proved that if humans were as intelligent as we think, we could have wiped covid from the plant in 6 weeks , but oh no we had right from the get go fucktsrds clutching there Pearl's and screaming my economy, and then there a the countries so poverty stricken and usually run by true scum that the daily grind means that they have to go out daily to survive
And yet we eradicated polio and smallpox, and almost got rid of measles until the anti vaxx movement came along
roblogic,
With effective vaccinations you can hold these diseases at bay and it may look like eradication but it is not. Polio is on the up.
Smallbox on the other hand would almost qualify except for some labs still hold the virus.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/30/929080692/the-campaign-to-wipe-out-polio-was-going-really-well-until-it-wasnt
Vaccine-derived polio is a strain of the virus that originated as part the oral polio vaccine but has managed to circulate, reproduce and regain strength in places with poor sanitation. Vaccine-derived polio is caused by remnants of earlier versions of the live virus used in the oral polio vaccine.
Incorrect!
Smallpox has been successfully eradicated.
You’re conflating eradication and extinction.
Is that a fact or your opinion?
Either way, you may want to back that up before I start moderating you, yet again.
Interesting interview….https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018809952/covid-19-uk-based-critic-on-new-zealand-s-exit-strategy
…is this the one you're referring to?
Yes Rosemary, that's the interview I heard this morning.
Elimination is possible depending on government action and public will.
Best results achieved with contained small outbreaks, it could even still be done in the u.s, the UK and other overrun nations, but highly unlikely after numerous previous failures to contain and eliminate.
Unless you are suggesting that no one ever enters and leaves NZ, elimination is unfortunately not possible. Getting people vaccinated is a prerequisite to open the borders not just in NZ but countries from where people travel from.
Admittingly, the government has made a big tactical error by not getting in to high gear a year ago of procuring the vaccine and getting it distributed whilst we were still on level 1 without the travel bubble, which incidentally was the biggest mistake in my book. Far too early, no one vaccinated, flying on a hope and prayer. Everybody I talked to about travel was saying that it is just a matter of time until we see level 4 again. And here we are.
Elimination, especially with a relatively small outbreak is entirely possible, as proved by the first and second times we had community spread in NZ and got rid of it, giving many months of normality.
Now what happens between outbreaks is the debate you might want to have, but that won't change any of the above being true with regards to containment and elimination.
You don’t seem to know what “elimination” is/means.
It might surprise you that NZ has successfully followed and is still following an elimination strategy.
This has been recommended by experts, e.g., Prof. Skegg, and it is still the recommendation. Indeed, Skegg has said that this outbreak was and should have been expected although not the exact size and date, of course.
This lockdown may fail to contain the Delta outbreak, but definitely worth a try imho.
What's disappointing is the certainty of 'fail blowhards' – takes all kinds I guess.
Why is Collins bleating about "more certainty"? Her future is certain enough.
Surely Codger knows that certainty is inimical to capitalism.
“People do need certainty”
And here I was thinking business was 'agile' and 'innovative', that it could move 'at pace' and 'make decisions' and 'bring clarity' in 'fast-paced environments' that are 'challenging' and require 'insight', judgment and 'flawless execution'. Surely not much certainty is needed when you have this array of talents? Or have I been looking at too many Seek job ads?
And I had thought that requiring an impossible certainty was an endearing but thankfully temporary trait that we observe in our children – or, less endearingly, in some behavioural disorders. Just shows how wrong I was.
I'm certain that you are not wrong AB
A little gallows humour on ‘First Up,’ RNZ this morning:
“This covid thing is a scam – anyone who’s been to Auckland knows it hasn’t got 400 places of interest!”
Good line for a T-Shirt.
of course there is a future burden for young people out of this pandemic, but that would be true for all countries.
one of the many benefits of following an elimination strategy is it preserves our very precious health workforce. The Uk for example have lost many Drs and nurses to covid
Good points, but Hipkins has rightly identified Delta as a potential game changer.
The Uk for example have lost many Drs and nurses to covid…
The BMJ has a memorial.
Also the Nursing Times
thanks for posting Rosemary. Very, very sad.
Satire Anker. Somebody down country is introducing a bit of humour by having a dig at Auckland. Nothing to do with Covid and strategies.
Did I not read something properly? I was responding to Ross.
I hope you are going ok Anne as you wait for your surgery.
Hi Anker
Yes. Ross was reporting a bit of humour at Auckland's expense.
It looks like Auckland is in for 2 more weeks of L4 at the least. We know its the right thing to do but it is hard going. We Jafas have had more than our fair share of these debilitating lockdowns.
NZ managed to eliminate the virus in previous lockdowns.
We have had cases for as long as I can remember. Indeed, I recall a gentleman from Australia allegedly bringing Covid to Wellington in June. Before that I recall a woman in the Coromandel testing positive after visiting numerous places. There are and have been any number of cases in MIQ. The idea the virus has been eliminated is wrong.
Some people might have thought that vaccination would prevent lockdowns but that doesn't seem to be the case. We will continue to have lockdowns. That will only change with the political will to do so.
Anker, 3
As history tells us, science is one thing, human behavior quite something else. So perhaps this should be approached with science and common sense. Opening a travel bubble without having the population in NZ vaccinated and allowing people from known delta virus countries to enter the country with test results that no one can verify….come on, human behavior + a bit of stupidity = super spread. I mean this is not so difficult to figure out. Unless political correctness has no dampened our survival instinct.
After reading following Guardian Article this morning:
‘It’s really hit us now’: Newquay becomes England’s Covid capital
I understand that not all the 5,000 COVID cases in Cornwall are necessarily directly linked to the festival. There are probably cases outside of Cornwall linked to the festival. Anyway, lets assume this festival caused 5,000 COVID cases, which means with current UK numbers:
I would like to see the world-wide news headlines, the public outrage, if you would have those numbers linked to a terrorist attack at a music festival!
To announce "Freedom Day" and "Let COVID rip" through the country without sufficient protection should be called "mass-murder".
If even '5 dead' pans out then it should make one think about the ‘price’ of Freedums.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/26/attempt-to-force-release-of-johnsons-messages-on-covid-in-care-homes-fails
New Zealand is running over 300 dead and over 4,000 injured a year just for operating a road network.
We do campaigns to mitigate.
New Zealand is running 2,200 lung cancer registrations and about 1,800 lung cancer deaths per year.
We do campaigns to mitigate.
Back in 2016 we had AIDS outbreaks, all sorts of fear and loathing broke out.
We do campaigns to mitigate.
A bunch of lunatics flew planes into key buildings on the US East Coast.
Globally we generated travel protocols to mitigate, and still fly just fine.
COVID will end up being the same:
Just another set of protocols, another set of new medical interventions, another social marketing campaign.
Yep, "COVID will end up being the same", but we're not there yet, imho. There's a time and a place for everything, 'Covid freedums' included.
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/covid-freedom-uk-after-lockdown-rules-ignore-protocols-1162538
This is true of course – in a general sense.
But of your comparators, only one is an infectious disease (AIDS) and in comparison to COVID-19, AIDS is really not very infectious at all. The other examples are a bit silly: one traffic accident does not cause another three accidents. It is the exponential growth in a completely immune-naive population that makes COVID so different and completely justifies the response to date. At the right time and once we have good information, we will move cautiously to a different approach.
All are systemic risks we have learnt to live with.
Polio outbreak was another. As was measles. All previously deadly.
What do you mean?
Millions if not billions of dollars are spent each year to keep death tolls due to those causes under control and even to bring them down further. Once you open flood gates mitigation is pretty much all you can do within (economic) reason. The big difference with Covid-19 is that so far we have managed to control it and keep a lid on it (only 26 deaths so far). Once we remove the elimination measures, we will be likely having to accept the consequences in terms of severe illness and death, despite vaccination, and live with it; in all likelihood, it will be worse and more severe than influenza.
Sounds like you’re saying that it is “when” not “if” and if that’s the case, you fundamentally change the debate to “when” and “how”. Unfortunately, some pundits only focus on the “when” and think the “how” is somebody else’s problem, usually the Government’s.
BTW, polio and measles have been eliminated and can possibly be eradicated.
As I said above just 2 points above, we generate mitigation plans and live with it.
Polio was controlled in NZ with armed guards at each city border. It took many years to control. A few around still remember it.
We've struggled to 'control' TB in Possums getting into our dairy herds – for five decades.
We can't even eliminate Mycoplasma Bovis in cows despite rigorous herd testing and DNA tracing – and spending $800 million.
Soon as we can get to every 5-year-old getting a double shot before they first start school, the better.
Cell and gene therapy will be our next medical capacity nightmare.
Good governments are already communicating how to live with it.
Some 'good' governments have no good choices left. From a health PoV, Freedum Day was both a classic blunder and a miscommunication.
So, on the 40th day of Freedum: 38,281 new cases and 140 new deaths
Meanwhile, in the US of A: 169,953 new cases and 1,215 new deaths
And, in Aussie (getting on top of it?): 954 new cases and 2 new deaths
[Worldometer links current on 27 August 2021]
Fortunately for Kiwis, our government and health experts (epidemiologists, virologists, vaccinologists) have been singing from the same songbook, and so we still have good choices after 10 days of lockdown and 70 new cases.
Kiwis might yet rush in and snatch defeat from the jaws of this victory, so winning the 'sympathy' of powerful 'allies', but we don't have to – we really don’t.
Given our essential workers are at highest risk, why aren't we insisting their employers provide them with N95 masks which actually provide best protection?
Bishflap gets his Gingrich on.
https://twitter.com/rugbyintel/status/1430370295785811968
#NationalNotFitToGovern
barking
https://twitter.com/nealejones/status/1431094146995875845
#NationalNotFitToGovern
I wondered where our resident hand wringer David was getting his talking points from. Doesn’t surprise me it’s from Matt King. Cindy's not the Messiah, she's just a naughty girl. A la Monty Python
I hope someone's checking in on Mattking from time to time, just to see if he's all right.
Have a read of the Bishop interview in the Listener and Bishop freely admits that he has no self-awareness and little in the way of a moral compass when he details the many, many times that he has allegedly supported National Party positions on issues he reckons he does not agree with on the grounds he has to show “ unity “, or as the rest of the world would call it, hypocrisy.
Tragicomedy – do you think he learnt it from his dear old dad?
Do we know what time the announcement is today?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/450177/covid-19-update-70-new-community-cases-as-lockdown-decision-looms
Cheers arkie
I’ve found these well-being Twitter threads helpful. This one is about managing lockdown stress including frustration over lockdown not lifting.
https://twitter.com/sarb/status/1431001808848101376?s=21
He’s been writing good pieces for quite some time.
Auckland & Northland still in L4 🙁
I'd settle for a mochachino and a cheese scone right now.
Yes Northland lumped in with Auckland is quite disappointing when you realise that Warkworth is part of the Auckland area not Northland. There are no cases in Northland and the sensible place to hold a border would be Te Hana – with just a short strip to police to stop Aucklanders getting to Mangawhai through the back roads.
If you want people to comply – and they have already loosened up around me here near Whangarei- then realistic borders need to be considered or there will be no respect which means poor compliance.
It may be intended to protect police from the thundering herds of utes n boats heading upnorth.
One is left wondering if there is an undisclosed reason for this …. maybe drug runners and the self excluded Aucklanders.
They did say that Northland won’t always be lumped with Auckland necessarily, only this time.
If people want some of their relative freedoms back, they could start with simple things such as scanning. That will give the officials and authorities the confidence that they can relax the rules.
This is a two-way thing, for our own benefit. Why do people find this so hard to get their heads around?
So a clear why would help to make it understandable… Is the Aucklanders that they say ran to their baches, is it to stop drug running , is it not enough scanning in, is it not enough police to control a north border as well as a south border. What is it ?
The PM said in the 3pm-er that it was because of the case in Warkworth and the concern that people traveling through there could have taken it further north. It is only a few more days to be sure it no make it to paradise.
You can watch it here and inform yourself.
PM explains why Northland joining Auckland at Alert Level 4
https://play.stuff.co.nz/details/_6269727712001 [1 minute and 18 seconds of your time]
The settings for Northland will be reviewed on Monday, as the PM said in the same Press Stand-up.
If we have limited vaccine supply and Auckland has to shoulder this, the nationwide vaccine rollout should be halted forthwith and all vaccines diverted to Auckland for the foreseeable future. 😉
"Auckland has to shoulder this"
No, the whole country is affected. The other MIQ's don't have the issues that Auck. keep having, why?
"limited vaccine supply"
No, the program is romping along, and I'm looking forward to getting my first shot Sept. 10
Sure, we’ve got a world class vaccine rollout …
We sure have, aren't we fortunate we've been served so well.
Nact would have us suffering like the UK at the very least, "free" to kill and maim .
Aren't we 120th in the OECD?
Sure looks good from where I'm sitting, certainly can't see any great advantage gained by the other 119.
If you plant a row of seedlings, no use just looking at one to see how they're all growing.
As of 24th August NZ rate of vaccination for covid placed us 74th. The US was 35th. Countries with small populations in the 10's of thousands can achieve a very high vaccination rate in a very short time because obviously there are fewer people to organise to be vaccinated.
Vaccine supply is not the limiting factor, or at least not the only one.
Lisa Owen can't understand why we can't do everything at once as a madder of extreme urgency.
Lisa Hosking is it? She makes me nauseous, I don't listen to Shitpoint any more.
Lisa Owen's bumptious and sarcastic style has irritated me and many others for several years…
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25-05-2019/#comment-1620604
Anyone can tell the age of a person by looking at their bonsai, surely..
[link deleted; next time, use an emoji 😀 ]
Well, that comes as a surprise: media personality irritates Morrissey because of her style. Tell us something new, next time.
She's gedding more irridading by the minute Incognido.
I admire your self-awareness. Has the lockdown given you time for introspection and reflection and helped you to internalise a really complicated situation in your head? It is starting to show and pay off.
Have to confess a slight irritation myself – Owen would "love to hear from you", several times an hour apparently. Maybe all those sound-bite public opinions are newsworthy. Who isn't a sucker for instant polls these days – one born every minute?
Fair comment, and thanks.
I think many of us are perhaps a little more irritable than usual.
I can see it in my responses to some comments that really grate me more than usual.
If I were a better person, I’d rise above it …
Cheers. Too late for me, but you're not sunk yet!
Treading water though …
btw, it’s ok to be grumpy😀
Thanks, and it is, but slightly different standards are to be upheld by Authors and Moderators on this site, IMHO.