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Open mike 29/09/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 29th, 2020 - 91 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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

Step up to the mike …

91 comments on “Open mike 29/09/2020 ”

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  1. Ad 1
    29 September 2020 at 7:33 am

    Shaw sounding quite reasonably buoyed this morning on RNZ by the polls last night.

  2. Brendan 2
    29 September 2020 at 8:23 am

    Now is the time for Green voters swept up in Jacindamania in 2017 to go back.

    • bwaghorn 2.1
      29 September 2020 at 12:09 pm

      I've decided to vote green thanks to james pointing out that lf labour slips a few more points lower and the greens don't make it back we could get an act nat government.

      I just hope the greens are practical in dealing with agriculture.

  4. mauī 4
    29 September 2020 at 9:15 am

    Interesting Youth leaders debate last night. Chloe knocked it out of the park as expected.

  5. PsyclingLeft.Always 5
    29 September 2020 at 9:29 am

    'Rio Tinto is welcoming the latest party promise to work out transmission costs during its wind-down period.

    Pacific operations managing director Kellie Parker said it was ‘‘recognition’’ from the Labour Party the smelter had ‘‘been paying too much for transmission costs’’.'

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/decision-2020/rio-tinto-welcomes-labour-pledge

    WTF ?!

  6. Adrian Thornton 6
    29 September 2020 at 9:35 am

    RIP Stephen F. who was one of the few free thinking public academic intellectuals remaining to help damp down the war mongering hysteria that has unfortunately infected large parts of the liberal left…

    • RedLogix 6.1
      29 September 2020 at 10:44 am

      Very good. Cohen hits on the point we completely overlook, that Russian's judge Putin based on their own historical record, and by that measure he's the best leader they've ever had. Putin's success in stabilising Russia after it's betrayal by the West and collapse in the 90's is remarkable. He should be congratulated on this.

      But the land is many ways is cursed; consisting of vast tracts of moderate to low productivity land stretched over 11 time zones with minimal internal waterways of use, and difficult transport. A long and tough winter keeps the growing seasons short. The Siberian steppes are prone to both flooding and fire. It has decent mineral and oil resources, but that's about it. In every other strategic respect, the landscape is a disaster.

      On top of this the people themselves, after centuries of mis-rule, face a demographic collapse. Birth rates are appallingly low and life expectancies are somewhere between declining and outright grim.

      The other aspect of Russia that we also fail to understand is just how difficult a country it is to defend. The vast, wide open steppes and river plains with no natural features or boundaries mean that traditionally the warring hordes could sweep over them at will. This has shaped their thinking deeply, more than anything else the Kremlin is obsessed with protecting their sovereignty, but faces difficult odds in doing so.

      At present the Russians lack well defined geographic borders and may well be motivated to expand somewhat to meet natural features they might mount and effective defense on, but the idea they want to attack Europe or the USA is as Cohen put's it, is totally ludicrous. Their military may have some nice hardware, but utterly lack the industrial depth or demographics to support military adventure at any scale.

      Literally since the Americans voted out GH Bush, their relationship with Russia has been on a downward trajectory. Trump at least came to the role as President with somewhat less of the usual Pentagon Cold War hysteria than any of his predecessors, but ultimately regardless of Trump's hopeless and botched attempts at doing a deal with Putin … the destination was always going to be the same, US alienation, isolation and withdrawal from it's post WW2 global trade order.

      And this in turn leaves Russia eyeing local powers on it's immediate borders, like Germany, Turkey and China, that are now relatively free to impose their own expansionist agenda's … with considerable concern.

      • Adrian Thornton 6.1.1
        29 September 2020 at 11:25 am

        @RedLogix, I agree with nearly all of your assessment of Cohen’s position except your last couple of paragraphs, namely in Trumps dealings with Russia (and I am not saying he was going to do a great job on this front btw), but any good intentions or instincts around Russia/Putin he might have had have been completely distorted and undermined by the frankly unhinged Russia phobia that has been stirred up by Democratic party (on steroids since their loss in 2016) and gleefully stocked by the US military industrial complex aided in no small part by the CIA externally and the FBI internally (Russia gate).

        • Tricledrown 6.1.1.1
          29 September 2020 at 11:46 am

          Adrian Yeah right what a load.

          Sycophantic diatribe.

        • RedLogix 6.1.1.2
          29 September 2020 at 12:01 pm

          I think you misread me a bit, because I largely agree with what you write above.

          My view is that while the Americans may have won the Cold War (and no mean feat that was) … they've elected a series of Presidents since who really had very little vision about what to do with this victory.

          Instead we've seen an incoherent series of betrayals, blunders and moral failures, that have resulted in the US led post-WW2 trade order to become a fragile shell of it's former self. Trump and COVID between them are going about kicking down anything left standing.

          A Clinton administration would have gotten us to exactly the same destination, but more slowly and with prettier powerpoint presentations.

          And yes the unhinged Russo-phobia from the Democrats is simply proof of this assertion.

      • francesca 6.1.2
        29 September 2020 at 11:39 am

        "Birth rates are appallingly low"

        Russia

        The current birth rate for Russia in 2020 is 12.194 births per 1000 people,

        Europe

        Birth rate 9.5 births per 1,000 (2020 est.)

        The US

        The current birth rate for U.S. in 2020 is 11.990 births per 1000 people,

        Maybe we need to redefine appalling

        Life expectancy in Russia continues to rise

        https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041395/life-expectancy-russia-all-time/

        65.48 years (2000)

        The current life expectancy for Russia in 2020 is 72.57 years

        • RedLogix 6.1.2.1
          29 September 2020 at 11:49 am

          Fair enough I was a bit less than accurate there. The story is complicated.

          The current bump in birth rates is effectively a generational echo of the baby bust they had in the 70's and 80', but it will never reach the peak it did then.

          And if, as the Kremlin does, look at the data for the Russian population only, setting aside other substantial minority groups who regard themselves as separate and hostile to Moscow, the data is only worse.

          • woodart 6.1.2.1.1
            29 September 2020 at 1:02 pm

            good couple of posts, redlogix, also have to factor in how many millions left when soviet union collapsed , and people were allowed to leave. people who only look at overall statistics dont really get russia, they dont realise how many different races and areas there are. life expectancy in different areas are the shortest AND longest on the planet.

    • Stuart Munro 6.2
      29 September 2020 at 10:46 am

      "Why in the world would Putin want to invade Latvia & Estonia?"

      Invasion is usually good for domestic polling, the Russo-Japanese War being the best political hope of the prerevolutionary Russian government – the notoriously unsuccessful 'short victorious war'.

      The reinvasion of Chechnya was the policy that brought Putin to power in the first place, and Georgia and the Ukraine can attest to his bellicosity. But his rationalizations for invading are less important than his military capacity and intentions.

      One might as well ask "Why in the world would Hitler want to invade Russia?" The reasoning was not as relevant as the fact.

      • RedLogix 6.2.1
        29 September 2020 at 11:03 am

        Yes I think Cohen gets it a bit wrong on this; I do believe there are good military reasons for Putin to expand Russia somewhat in order to establish more defensible borders.

        In terms of their Siberia and Central Asian borders there is fuck all they can do about them, just too vast and open for any conceivable conventional response. All they can do is is what Putin has already made clear … put one Chinese boot into Russia and there will be no tanks or troops to meet the invasion. Just nuclear annihilation.

        But European Russia, to the west of the Urals the situation is more delicate and dangerous. A complex mix of hostile groups like the Chechnya, the loss of the Baltic sea-border, the almost disastrous loss of access to the Black Sea, and the lack of any mountains to slow down invaders means the Kremlin looks to the west with considerable strategic angst. They definitely have no wish to invade Europe, but would dearly love to nudge their assets westward to borders they can defend.

        • Stuart Munro 6.2.1.1
          29 September 2020 at 11:52 am

          I think that the Ukraine is the last of the easier cherries for Putin to pluck, but it is also much easier for the West to support, whether that be liberal democratic support, or military industrial.

          The low countries of Eastern Europe are a logistical trap, frankly, which goes some way to explain why Putin has not taken them already. They are relatively low yielding, and not particularly supportive of a Russian reinvasion. The Ukraine is closer to being the industrial powerhouse Russia lost in East Germany, and they know they won't be getting that back.

          Chechnya has the oil pipelines, but it is also a traditional Russian scapegoat, the terrain having allowed the locals to defeat multiple Russian conscript armies over the last few centuries. My sister-in-law was a journalist on the ground during the Chechen invasion – a very risky business.

          Russian aggression is likely to continue to focus on the Ukraine, and possibly Turkey, for which they have a long religious based antipathy. But Putin is nothing if not creative, and support of various discontented groups in the sandpit, like various Yemeni factions will continue to yield disproportionate dividends – at least until the new Saudi king grows canny.

          • RedLogix 6.2.1.1.1
            29 September 2020 at 1:29 pm

            Yes a good analysis Stuart. I agree the Russian's are looking to project their power westward but it’s not going to be easy for them. Hence the uneasy tension between rhetoric and indecisive action we’re seeing.

            The thinking maybe goes like this in the Kremlin: occupying and absorbing all the countries to Russia’s immediate west (except maybe Finland) would lodge Russian power against the triple barriers of the Baltic Sea, the Carpathian Mountains, and the Black Sea. Toss in the eastern half of Poland, and Russia’s open frontage would shrink by three-quarters, and that is a line the Russian army could work with.

            At least that would be what might motivate them to invade, but to label this as boundless aggression comparable to Hitler's invasion of Russia, isn't a helpful comparison either. I believe the Kremlin's intentions are first and foremost defensive. And understanding this is the first step to dealing effectively with them. If nothing else there is a lot NATO could do to stop stoking Russian paranoia.

            • Stuart Munro 6.2.1.1.1.1
              29 September 2020 at 2:08 pm

              I believe the Kremlin's intentions are first and foremost defensive.

              I'm not sure that I agree, but it's partly a matter of world view. Russia views the Ukraine as historically being part of their territory. Inconveniently, they have it backwards, Russia was historically part of the Ukraine.

              It is more political and economic independence that goes to the heart of the matter however. With Glasnost, Russia attempted to catch up on the long season of underdevelopment that saw Russian sailors in my time taking sewing machines back to their country in triumph. Though there were fancy new startups by the truckload, the poor bore the brunt of the reforms, and there wasn't much of a state safety net. Yeltsin's coup saw the reinstatement of the old party bureaucracy who reaped the benefits of soviet empire, and Putin is their man.

              Although a good argument can be made for a degree of economic nationalism, Putin immediately restarted the cold war intelligence apparatus, of which he had been part, but this time to counter predatory financiers and foreign competitors. This was to some degree laudable – but the wholesale theft of state assets carried out by Chernomyrdin (the Russian Roger Douglas) went into the pockets of Putin's associates.

              The popular democracy movement did not suit the oligarchs at all, and journalists were killed, and political movements decapitated. Traditionally the US would strongly protest despotic innovations of this kind, but the Iraq invasion kept the US busy, while it utterly destroyed America's global moral authority. While that cat was away, Putin was able to gobble up a number of former satellites who preferred not to be Kremlin colonies.

              It is improbable that Russia means to invade Eastern Europe at this time – but that is a function of the forces arrayed against such a possibility, not a lack of ambition on Putin's part. If cold war institutions like NATO withered and died, he would likely exploit the resulting opportunity – as can be seen from the Kremlin-backed interference in Belarus.

              • RedLogix …
                29 September 2020 at 4:01 pm

                Interesting, you make good points there.

                And at a tangent, here may well be another factor complicating matters …China's growing attempts gain influence in Eastern Europe.

                • Stuart Munro …
                  29 September 2020 at 5:01 pm

                  Thanks – Caspianreport is surprisingly fact-laden – he's become an exception to my usual avoidance of the region for its troll density.

                  China tends to play a long game, but Xi, though powerful at home, is much less successful abroad than Hu was. I would characterise China's efforts as a lapsed but not abandoned diplomatic and economic initiative.

                  If and when China's economy perks up, the effort will likely be restored, and in the meantime there will be some academic exchange. There may have been an agreement of some kind however. China moved away from its traditionally frosty relations with Russia, and gazumped a gas pipeline that had been headed for the Koreas.

                  They may have agreed to not contest areas of interest economically, a form of competition to which Russia is particularly susceptible, that being how they lost the first cold war after all.

      • Adrian Thornton 6.2.2
        29 September 2020 at 11:03 am

        " Invasion is usually good for domestic polling," as far as I know Putin has never had any problems with his domestic polling numbers whatsoever, but more importantly comparing anyone to Hitler is an automatic disqualification in any debate, so you lose…..try harder.

        • Stuart Munro 6.2.2.1
          29 September 2020 at 11:35 am

          If you knew a bit more about Putin you wouldn't dismiss the parallel so quickly.

          It's tragic really, how this murderous totalitarian picks up useful idiots on both the Left and Right, and dodgy journalists and marginal academics to support his aggression. But of course these are always the groups that pin their hopes on change, so it is natural to some extent.

        • Tricledrown 6.2.2.2
          29 September 2020 at 11:51 am

          Especially with Putins connections to the russian mafia/KGB .

          Democracy has been usurped Putin is a Dicktator.Trump wants to emulate him.

          Putin is now much richer than Trump.

          How can anyone believe the news generated by Putin's bot army.

          • Stuart Munro 6.2.2.2.1
            29 September 2020 at 12:14 pm

            How can anyone believe the news generated by Putin's bot army.

            It's a numbers game. At its height there were over 2 million people in the KGB. They may not have been especially well resourced, and most of them were no Karlas, but it lent a heft to their operations that the smaller operations of their western colleagues sometimes struggled against.

            The disinformation campaign that appears to have captured Billy TK may seem trivial – but another 10% and his faction would have decisive influence in parliament – no laughing matter. I'm not sure how many folk we have countering that influence, but not terribly many.

  7. Dennis Frank 7
    29 September 2020 at 10:31 am

    Tamihere has had enough of the left & right trying to out-bland each other.

    The Māori Party would set up a separate Māori Parliament among other constitutional changes as outlined in its Mana Motuhake policy. Party co-leader John Tamihere announced the policy, which focuses on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, this morning at Waitangi.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12368775

    Tamihere said it was a 25-year strategy, and the party's policies were aiming to break Māori out of welfare dependency and build a Māori middle class.

    Long-term political strategy is incomprehensible to mainstream politicos, so expect much shock/horror from binary folk. I thought the guy was lightweight – maybe I got him wrong.

    • Sacha 7.1
      29 September 2020 at 10:49 am

      Tapping into the Māori middle class is hardly bold. And Tamihere is best judged on a 25 year timeframe when events may have caught up with his flapping gums.

    • Tricledrown 7.2
      29 September 2020 at 11:58 am

      Tamahere has used up all his capital a last gasp.

      The Maori Parties connection to the National Party has done irreparable damage.

    • Tautuhi 7.3
      30 September 2020 at 12:46 am

      Tamahere is no fool. He is a qualified lawyer and has done the hard yards.

  8. Dennis Frank 8
    29 September 2020 at 10:38 am

    Bomber's incoherent review of the youth leader's debate features this emote:

    I will be so genuinely upset ion the Greens doing get back in

    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/09/28/tvnz-young-voters-debate-with-act-greens-labour-national-and-nz-first/

    Grammar & spelling are ever so 20th century, so he's mastering postmodern style…

    • Pat 8.1
      29 September 2020 at 12:01 pm

      I understand the only youth leader that agreed house prices needed to drop was Chloe Swarbrick.

      ‘Tame asked the candidates a yes or no answer question: Should house prices go down?

      Swarbrick was the only one who played ball with a direct answer – yes, she said, they should.

      The rest couldn’t give a straight answer.”

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/427149/politicians-try-to-woo-young-voters-in-fiery-debate

      Revealing

      • RedLogix 8.1.1
        29 September 2020 at 1:48 pm

        Yeah because she's too young to realise that falling asset prices are a disaster of another kind. Banks don't lend, owners lose their equity and builders stop building. People stop spending, businesses go under and the poor get poorer. In the meantime a small minority of cashed up investors go on a bargain buying spree.

        Anyone who imagines that collapsing house prices is the silver bullet to our housing crisis just hasn't been around long enough to understand.

        • Pat 8.1.1.1
          29 September 2020 at 2:31 pm

          "Anyone who imagines that collapsing house prices is the silver bullet to our housing crisis just hasn't been around long enough to understand."

          Perhaps you should tell Nobel prize winning 93 year old behavioural economist Vernon Smith hes too young to understand then

        • Drowsy M. Kram 8.1.1.2
          29 September 2020 at 2:56 pm

          Maybe Waring was also "too young" to realise some things as a first-term MP, but she was a fast learner – reckon Swarbrick might be too.

        • millsy 8.1.1.3
          29 September 2020 at 3:04 pm

          So what would be your answers to housing affordability issues?

          • RedLogix 8.1.1.3.1
            29 September 2020 at 3:54 pm

            A long laundry list of things. Off the top of my head:

            1. Allowing local govt to get back into the subdivision game
            2. Fund BRANZ to aggressively pursue smarter and more cost efficient building processes. Encourage continuity and skills retention in the building game, avoid boom and bust if at all possible.
            3. Reform the RMA to streamline reasonable intensification and more efficient land use zoning
            4. Govt puts up a $25k gift for all new home builds (as they do in Australia) and another $15k for first home buyers.
            5. Tighter RBA limits on how much can be lent on the value of the land (as distinct from the value of the improvements)
            6. Less emphasis on bank lending criteria around serviceability. Let people have more say in how much repayment commitment they want to take on to better account for how people work these days
            7. Encourage multi-generational property ownership, recognise that many parents are keen to assist their children in some fashion.
            8. More flexible occupancy types. At the moment we really have only three, owning, renting private or social housing. Overseas there are other options including group housing, and housing associations of various types that suit many people really well.
            9. A Commission of Enquiry into costs in the building supply chain.
            10. Allow all home owners to claim mortgage interest costs as a tax deductable to put them on an even footing with investors. (As in the USA for example.)
            11. A more intelligent and controlled immigration policy. Good old fashioned demand vs supply remains the single largest factor driving prices.

            This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list, just some items that I can quickly come up with a view to improving the efficiency of the NZ housing market.

            • RosieLee 8.1.1.3.1.1
              29 September 2020 at 4:27 pm

              And CGT on all residential property speculation ie on all but the family home.

              And get stuck in to a STATE house building programme.

            • mauī 8.1.1.3.1.2
              29 September 2020 at 7:07 pm

              This reads to me like a series of band-aids. Instead we need a fundamental shift away from using housing as an investment vehicle, which is what economist Steve Keen suggests. I thought you might be supportive of his stance.

  9. swordfish 9
    29 September 2020 at 10:40 am

    Update on my Parents

    Just before Midnight last night, their neighbour returns swearing violently along their fenceline & then outside his house, just 4 or 5 metres from their bedroom: "F*king Ct !!!, Fking come here, you Fking Ct !!!, Fking Move, you Fking Ct !!!" at the top of his voice. Out of control abusing mate or girlfriend (who had presumably walked along road with him, lagging behind) – with clear underlying threat of violence. Went on & on outside their house in this vein for 45 mins "Fking Ct, Fking Ct"– constant very loud violent swearing & sporadic body slams into front porch wall near their bedroom … real atmosphere of impending violence. Then went off … only to return after 1:30am with stereo up full volume, thumping base with aggressive hip-hop 'Motherfucker' lyrics inside & frequent slams & bangs into internal walls until they finally headed off again around 3am.

    My Mother recently turned 90, my father has just turned 89. They've lived in their house for almost 60 years … always with nice, older & middle-age neighbours … highly sociable area … never a violent neighbourhood in any way … my Mother's the sort of person with real courage who would go outside late at night if she heard someone – a child, a woman – needing help … pretty fearless … but is now very scared to go out at all. She was in the bathroom when this waste-of-space arrived home and got a real fright when someone suddenly started violently swearing straight outside their house. They rang me & I could hear this psychopathic little prick down the phone … his aggressive swearing effortlessly cut right through the heavy wind outside.

    And this incident is actually relatively minor compared to the violent intimidation & severe sleep deprivation they've had to put up with for hours throughout the early morning over the past 3 years, including this guy running onto their property at 2 in the morning & smashing their fence & letterbox back in December, shouting threats, along with a whole lot more on a very frequent basis. The degree of stress & severe sleep deprivation it's caused them (esp) & for nearby neighbours as well.

    Just want to thank the Labour Govt for unceremoniously dumping the most out-of-control uber-violent tenants (the ones landlords rightly avoid at all costs) on unsuspecting neighbourhoods & for the callous, bordering on sadistic No Eviction policy … cheers for turning my Elderly Parents' life into a Nightmare, two long-term Labour activists, sort of people who give to charity even when they can't afford it, always focus on other people's needs, putting themselves last, never complaining and apologetic when they're absolutely forced to … & cheers to Kris Faafoi … when you were thanking them for helping you out on election days in the past, Kris, wouldn't it have been the decent thing to let them know you were planning to dump a massive violent social problem on the other side of their bedroom wall with precisely zero chance of relief. Playthings for a Psychopath.

    Time to start telling a few home truths …

    • RedLogix 9.1
      29 September 2020 at 10:51 am

      Record it. Get it on video. Take it to the media. It's right before an election.

      • Anne 9.1.2
        29 September 2020 at 11:12 am

        Yes swordfish. Redlogix is right. That is exactly what should be done. To begin with, the resultant publicity would force the landlord/lady or Winz to remove him saspo.

        Secondly, I think this situation is more prevalent than most people know. There are 48 social housing apartments currently being built close to where I live. Locals are rightly fearful of the impact this might have on our neighbourhood. I'm sure the bulk of the tenants will prove to be good neighbours but it is inevitable there will be trouble makers. There is currently no easy way to have these problems solved.

    • dv 9.2
      29 September 2020 at 11:05 am

      Record the noise and playback very loud at 7am next day for several hours

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 9.2.1
        29 September 2020 at 11:08 am

        Yea dont think that would help much. Its the Police' job to get involved. So they should.

      • greywarshark 9.2.2
        29 September 2020 at 4:32 pm

        Playing back would just invite threats, retaliation, violence. The chap is a nutter obviously, and there needs to be a prison where people who are anti-social like this live permanently and are kept on what would be a prison farm so they have controls on their life.

    • Dennis Frank 9.3
      29 September 2020 at 11:05 am

      Well, you could try a citizen's arrest. Might have to join ACT, get a gun & licence first though, eh?

      Every one who witnesses a breach of the peace is justified in interfering to prevent its continuance or renewal, and may detain any person committing it, in order to give him or her into the custody of a constable: provided that the person interfering shall use no more force than is reasonably necessary for preventing the continuance or renewal of the breach of the peace, or than is reasonably proportionate to the danger to be apprehended from its continuance or renewal.

      http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM328261.html

    • anker 9.4
      29 September 2020 at 11:14 am

      An intolerable situation.

      I would make suggestions, but I am sure you have tried them all, or at least thought about them.

      I completely understand your feelings on this one.

      Some people deserve to be shipped off to an island and left to fend for themselves.

    • Molly 9.5
      29 September 2020 at 1:59 pm

      Having recently been through similar, swordfish, I sympathise with your parents.

      In the end, calling the police was the only thing that interrupted the behaviour. Police advice to record the incidents – and then refusal to accept the recordings – made their advice a waste of time. Actually the stress levels went drastically up when having to ensure that the interactions were being recorded

      The suggestion to video the incidents was rejected by us, because of the not inconsiderable concern that openly filming incidents would both escalate and focus the aggression on the person holding the camera.

      In the end, the Tenancy Tribunal hearing mediator actually advised us not to present our recordings, log or transcripts of some incidents for abusive behaviour because that would likely be overturned, and suggested that we accept the end of tenancy for failure to pay rent. When we asked how that would benefit other landlords who would look for any past incidents with the tenant, he told us not to worry about it. Did we want them out or not?

      If someone can stay with your parents for a while, then call the police – even if it is more than once a day, until the tenant understands that any incident will result in a visit, and your parents have the benefit of having someone else in the house to make that decision and call.

      As we were both neighbours and landlords, I was aware that the situation for any neighbour would have been the same. At least, it was only impacting on us. But, it was already difficult to get any practical action from the police, who regarded verbal abuse as not violent enough to prosecute. We were told he actually had to physically "get in your face and make threats".

    • Morrissey 9.6
      29 September 2020 at 3:09 pm

      & cheers to Kris Faafoi…

      Sounds like he did as much due diligence about this issue as he did when he obediently and thoughtlessly backed that insane plan to destroy Concert FM earlier this year.

      Least impressive cabinet member by a considerable distance.

    • Treetop 9.7
      29 September 2020 at 6:54 pm

      The type of situation you have raised is upsetting as your parents are elderly and no one should have to live like that. Were your parents not so frail the pig would not get away with it.

      Some sort of action needs to be taken by a third party. Go to the local MP with your parents and take some cell phone recordings.

      I have lived in fear of neighbours before and I could not wait for the day when they left.

      The woman who the man is a pig to she probably fears for her life.

  10. PsyclingLeft.Always 10
    29 September 2020 at 10:53 am

    @ 9 …Wow sympathy…I'm presuming Police were called? Not sure you can blame Labour ?

    • Dennis Frank 10.1
      29 September 2020 at 11:08 am

      Guilt is bipartisan: both mainstream parties have been weakening the cops steadily the past 30 years or so. Originally that had wide public support due to paranoia about a police state, but things have slid to the opposite ridiculous extreme…

      • woodart 10.1.1
        29 September 2020 at 1:28 pm

        dont forget we also have polies wanting to allow more free speech and personal freedoms, and rip up RMA, which all contibute to the problem of bad neighbours . private property values versus free speech, with common decency caught in the middle. there is no easy answer , and blaming the polie you hate the most isnt a solution. blaming it on weakening police powers(?)(since when) is a sideshow. bad neighbours, like barking dogs, have always been a problem, since we all lived in adjoining caves. I know of instances(sister) where these cretins own there houses, so running to winz isnt an option. it really is a case by case problem. many of these neighbours from hell have mental health problems, addiction problems etc, so ,sometimes DHB is the best place to go. having lived in a deadend(in both meanings) street with a junkie for a neighbour , that was interesting. he kept all of the nearby villians away , and was scared of our dog, so we were good, but all the rest in the street hated him and our dog(us).

      • Morrissey 10.1.2
        29 September 2020 at 3:16 pm

        "Weakening the cops"? What do you mean by that, Dennis? Do you not consider that the police need to be monitored and controlled?

        This awful case involving swordfish's parents is the sort of thing the police should be sorting out; instead they have wasted thousands of hours harassing—selectively harassing—people for marijuana possession, forcing Peter Ellis (R.I.P.) to regularly "check in" with the Christchurch police, and harassing journalists like Nicky Hager.

        • Dennis Frank 10.1.2.1
          29 September 2020 at 3:58 pm

          By weakening I meant the effect of funding constraints. Thus the feeble excuse the cops routinely give for failing to deal with such situations (“not enough resources”).

          I agree re appropriate police tasks. Unfortunately the command/control hierarchy remains free to choose prosecuting cannabis users instead of responding to pleas for help from members of the public who are being victimised by others.

    • Sacha 10.2
      29 September 2020 at 11:31 am

      I’m presuming Police were called? Not sure you can blame Labour ?

      The situation has history. And isn't Labour proposing to make it harder to remove bad tenants? Seems highly relevant.

    • weka 10.3
      29 September 2020 at 11:33 am

      The noise in the wee hours is a straight out council noise control issue, and they will respond better if there is a clear pattern of behaviour. Documenting each incident clearly with time and date is where I would start, and play the long game.

      • Molly 10.3.1
        29 September 2020 at 2:05 pm

        Documenting each incident clearly with time and date is where I would start, and play the long game.

        You would think so, wouldn't you. But after advising us to do so, both the police and the Tenancy Tribunal wanted nothing to do with the documentation and recordings.

        The noise in the wee hours is a straight out council noise control issue, and they will respond better if there is a clear pattern of behaviour.

        The tenant must have known about how the response works, because he would blast music for about 20-30 minutes then quieten down for a few hours and then repeat the pattern. Ensuring that if noise control was called, by the time they arrived all would be quiet.

        • weka 10.3.1.1
          29 September 2020 at 2:06 pm

          What did the council do?

          • Molly 10.3.1.1.1
            29 September 2020 at 2:18 pm

            Because the tenants were in a granny flat on our property we weren't able to use the noise control officer at Auckland Council. Noise control only responds to complaints made about another property.

            Other neighbours are actually fairly loathe to get involved because of the quite real fear of reprisal.

            On the flip side, the experience of a neighbour down the road who has battled with local council regarding an existing resource consent for a small rural venue, has neighbours (with strong local board and council links) putting in noise control complaints every time (once a month) when they have guests. Despite meeting all resource consent requirements and closing before 11pm, the council issues notices despite sound level recordings showing noise levels are well below guidelines. In our neck of the woods, the old boys network plays fast and loose with the regulations.

            • weka 10.3.1.1.1.1
              29 September 2020 at 2:53 pm

              that's a different situation than I was commenting on. There's no guarantee that councils will do what we want, but that process of having dates and times and details is what they need to act.

              • Molly …
                29 September 2020 at 4:03 pm

                I understand.

                I was thinking more of the age of swordfish's parents, and the escalation of stress involved in making sure all the documentation and everything is up to date. In my case, following this advice increased the already hyper-vigilance that was in place, and having that information may not be as conclusively beneficial as you would think.

                They have the issue of being neighbours to someone who will likely respond negatively to the noise complaints, and any council prosecution. And even a successful prosecution might not be enough to allow the landlords to terminate the tenancy so that the neighbours were no longer there.

                So there they remain. Sitting ducks for the retaliatory behaviour of the tenant.

    • Treetop 10.4
      29 September 2020 at 9:11 pm

      The government and the police need to sort the loophole out when it comes to noise when drunk and disorderly behaviour occurs in a home which impacts on the neighbours. This is intimidating and a form of harassment.

  11. joe90 11
    29 September 2020 at 1:45 pm

    Evil fucks.

    • Anne 11.1
      29 September 2020 at 3:54 pm

      ACT is nothing more than a bunch of ultra right wing white supremacists. They started out with potential – albeit well to the right on economic policies – but they ended up being taken over by the right's loony element who originally lived with National.

      They're thinking is dangerously simplistic and ideologically stupid. They really should not be allowed near parliament. Seymour on his own is relatively harmless but if he brings some of the crackpots into parliament with him there will be problems.

      And btw, I had some interaction with them in the mid to late 1990s so I know what I’m talking about.

  12. anker 12
    29 September 2020 at 1:47 pm

    Hey just wondering if anyone can help. I need to submit a link to TVNZ of the first tv debate for my complaint.

    I am having difficulty doing this. I have joined tv on demand, but can't get the link to copy and have looked through various news websites including a quite glance at the Standard, but to no avail.

    Any ideas/

  13. anker 13
    29 September 2020 at 2:54 pm

    Thanks so much Joe90

  14. Fireblade 14
    29 September 2020 at 3:47 pm

    • observer 14.1
      29 September 2020 at 3:54 pm

      I've no time for NZF, but for any party to have this hanging over them in an election campaign is just wrong.

      SFO should either have said "no decision before election" or made that decision about charges long ago.

      • Dennis Frank 14.1.1
        29 September 2020 at 4:07 pm

        Nat supporters in the SFO management would have figured out the right time to kneecap Winston long ago. Labour supporters within would have adopted the Pontius Pilate stance. Morality in governance is a matter of (in)convenience…

      • Treetop 14.1.2
        29 September 2020 at 9:15 pm

        Peters should have known better and structured party finances in a way which would not go before the SFO.

    • Tautuhi 14.2
      30 September 2020 at 12:48 am

      Looks like NZF could suck the Kumara this time around ?

  15. Dennis Frank 15
    29 September 2020 at 4:41 pm

    ACT gets real for a change: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300119429/election-2020-act-sheds-two-controversial-policies-as-david-seymours-star-rises

    ACT has dropped two of its more controversial policies: lowering the minimum wage and adding interest back onto student loans. Both the policies could still be found on the party’s website as of Tuesday morning, but ACT leader David Seymour said they were no longer active election policies.

    So policies can now be either active or inactive. You can imagine this being enabled for public viewing of party websites: a red light for inactive policies, and a green light attached to those which are active. User-friendly for binary folk.

  16. greywarshark 16
    29 September 2020 at 4:45 pm

    Good news about social welfare from Labour on Radionz.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/427162/labour-health-policy-mental-health-for-school-children-mobile-dental-clinics

    Health spokesperson Chris Hipkins announced the party's health policy in Auckland this morning, saying it had invested record amounts into DHBs, hospitals and mental health "after nine years of neglect under National".

    Labour would:

    • Provide mental health support for all primary and intermediate students
    • Continued roll out of nurses in secondary schools
    • $50m a year extra funding for planned care
    • $50m a year extra funding for Pharmac
    • Double the number of cochlear implants
    • Dental health grants of up to $1000 for those on low incomes and 20 additional mobile dental clinics

    The party has also already signalled it would implement reforms recommended by the Heather Simpson health and disability report, including establishing a Māori health authority and national public health agency, reducing the number of DHBs from 20 to between eight and 12, and abolishing DHB elections.

    • Treetop 16.1
      29 September 2020 at 7:11 pm

      The dental grant is good news. As long as the criteria is not changed for eligibility this is great news for when there is a start date. I have already been turned down twice by the DHB this year. It pays to shop around for a quote.

  17. Pat 17
    29 September 2020 at 5:14 pm

    Oh dear Winston

  18. mosa 18
    29 September 2020 at 5:27 pm

    An open letter to Mediaworks.

    With the level of bias that exists in our media what guarantee does the public have that the questions being put to the PM in the debate are fair and Judith Collins has to account for her own record ?

    Patrick Gower is well known for his right wing bias after his treatment of David Cunliffe in 2014 so what guarantee does the public have that this debate is fair and balanced.

    I sincerely hope that any pressure from the National party wont effect the rules of the debate.

    Regards

  19. Tautuhi 19
    30 September 2020 at 12:51 am

    The teeth are actually a very important part of the human anatomy.

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