Open mike 29/11/2022

33 comments on “Open mike 29/11/2022 ”

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1. Tiger Mountain 1

   29 November 2022 at 7:45 am

   The class position of Dairy operators and other small retailers is pretty obvious. They are essentially bottom feeders trying to eke out a living for themselves and family–the latter of whom can regularly work unpaid according to the Household Labour Force Survey.

   What do people that use dairys because say, they don’t have regular transport, think when they see convenience store operators with trolleys full of specials at Pak’n’Save, which will be horrendously marked up for them to buy next visit! Dairys not so long ago sold legal “cannabis” and flog vapes, tobacco and Lotto. I still recall my then local Mt Eden dairy selling single cigarettes to the desperate.

   Yes the Govt. is trying to make wholesale pricing available outside of the duopoly.

   So this group are easy prey to reactionary views. And I don’t mind what any victim of serious crime talks about, but supporters need challenging when they turn on beneficiary families as the Sandringham Business Association Chair Jithin Chittibomma and others have…“I don't think they deserve taxpayers' money if they can't take care of their children and they want to go out and offend." said Chittibomma.
   https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018868909/dairy-owners-protest-for-tougher-punishment-of-offenders
   • Descendant Of Smith 1.1

     29 November 2022 at 8:25 am

     Our last two dairy owners have vanished after holding onto their fellow Indian workers passports, not paying them properly and not paying PAYE and GST to IRD.

     Hopefully the new ones will do what they are supposed to but who the hell knows. They have all been very nice people to talk to and the first one I helped him sort out his security cameras when they were not working.

     Both the previous ones were vocal about the government not helping them enough to put in bollards and metal sliding doors all the while as it turned out not paying their tax.

     One was happy to sell the legal cannabis and alcohol to underage people the other removed all the adult magazines from the shelves. Morality is really fluid.
     • Mike D 1.1.1

       29 November 2022 at 12:40 pm

       When was cannabis legal?
       • riffer 1.1.1.1

         29 November 2022 at 1:41 pm

         I believe they may be referring to synthetic cannabis.
       • joe90 1.1.1.2

         29 November 2022 at 2:14 pm

         They knew how bad it was for their customer's mental health, too.

         : "I know it's bad for you and all that, but it's just business. If it's legal, we sell it."

         https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/dairies-still-sell-legal-highs/PY5A5FPQ3ZCYNVLRHCAA4AY3QU/ (2013)
   • DB Brown 1.2

     29 November 2022 at 8:50 am

     We need to restore order to this situation!

     Only customers and employees are to be robbed in dairies as is proper.

     Opportunistic politicians and business people using crime to bang their drums should have their heads put in steel drums, and those drums banged.
   • Corey Humm 1.3

     29 November 2022 at 12:44 pm

     Holy crap.

     This is disgusting Labour tribalism and unfounded too.

     When I was volunteering and campaigning for labour in 2017 and 2020 the local dairy owners in Christchurch central would rave about Labour and how labour is their party.

     They are hurting and angry and calling them all scum is just disgusting. They have every right to protest.

     A lot of these stores know there communities very well and look after them, some are rotten but tarring them all with the same brush when the vast majority of these stores are mom and pop stores who are usually a family who work from early in the morning to late at night day in day out in their stores and know all their customers and locals names and are a part of the community.

     The left is not going to win anyone over by having a go at the victims of the crime. Its going to turn everyone off

     The funding for fog cannons and bollards will help these people feel more secure, the fact stores had to be robbed first before they were eligible to receive the funding was a gross oversight.

     They have every right to protest as they are genuinely scared and that protest was a peaceful orderly one, a lot of these people are our voters so I'd tread carefully before calling them scum and misery merchants.
     • Patricia Bremner 1.3.1

       29 November 2022 at 3:02 pm

       Kashual was a Labour supporter in 2017 as he stood to be selected but missed out.

       His support of the left seems to have waned since then, and as spokesperson he is very loud.

       How many blame covid for this angry crime spike? The opposition do not even use the word covid. According to the Word of Luxon “There are no excuses”.

       That robber /murderer went through covid and committed crime/s in Australia to then be deported back here. Here 5 days?

       Those ram raid 11 – to 14 year olds were 7 and 11 when covid started. They are poorly socialised and affected by contacts and internet pressures and covid.

       National and Act have always stirred up anger and fear fanned by Granny Herald, using that as political weapons.

       "Soft on Crime" is said about any measures to rehabilitate.

       Most Dairy owners are good people, many of whom scrape by, but there are self interested ones, just as in the Bottle store trade where huge cartel type businesses were robbing their own blind.

       Most Labour supporters and the Greens want what is best for people, but we have our angry and bigoted as well.

       The opposition just lay flowers and blame.

       The Government has to be seen to prevent crime catch criminals and rehabilitate them.
2. Adrian 2

   29 November 2022 at 8:35 am

   Agree TM, but there probably isn’t a lot of sympathy for the owners of the overpriced dairys , quite a few may see the robberies as mere profit redistribution.

   Just how many dairies does Sonny Kausal own, and are they staffed by actual owners or well-underpaid family members bought in as cheap labour? I do know of a couple of dairy’s in the top of the south that are owned outright ( land and shop ) by wealthy “ uncles “ from Auckland. SKs promenading does make me suspicious of the motivation involved, as you said it looks like a representation of and for the elites than the poor buggers working all hours. I bet the Herald doesn’t do an investigation here.
   • Belladonna 2.1

     29 November 2022 at 10:25 am

     " but there probably isn’t a lot of sympathy for the owners of the overpriced dairies, quite a few may see the robberies as mere profit redistribution."

     I think that you'll find that there is a *lot* of sympathy for the owners of the corner dairies, from their local community.

     https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/thank-you-is-not-enough-belmont-dairy-owner-overwhelmed-by-community-support-after-ram-raid/DP2QUMZARFHW4CP6VKB2ZT54ZY/

     But very little for the criminals who see them as a legitimate target.

     And, even less, for the commentariat who legitimise those criminal actions.
3. Tiger Mountain 3

   29 November 2022 at 9:22 am

   Am not a regular “Dairy basher”, despite the dodgy nature of such small businesses, just aware of the political points being made out of a man’s death. Some businesses train staff, and have policy on not being a hero in the event of a robbery.

   In The Standard’s own feed today…
   http://werewolf.co.nz/2022/11/gordon-campbell-on-entrenchment-and-being-soft-on-crime/

   “68 people died at work in 2020, and 65 in 2021. The same data indicates that retail trade was actually the safest place to work during the year to August 2022 – with .41 fatalities per 100,000 workers, far below the 16.42 rate of fatalities per 100,000 for employees in the transport industry, for instance. An avoidable death in the family is a tragedy, whether it is caused by crime, or the heedless pursuit of profit.”

   So work place deaths are too common, Oh that Seymour, Luxon and the small business ops would get as wound up about that.
4. Shanreagh 4

   29 November 2022 at 10:29 am

   In our wider suburbs here in Wellington the dairies have been disappearing at a fast clip. Thankfully.

   In my suburb in the space of about 50m we used to have three dairies with two situated right next door to each other. They were valuable to many in the days when shops were not open over the weekend or did not have late nights. Another thing was that some operated a charge up book from pay to pay. The one remaining gets lots of custom from kids after school (from local intermediate school) and perpetually hungry teenage college boys on their way home but many of us actively avoid him because

   1 he is so dxxx rude

   2 operates a cash business where nothing goes through the till, so widely suspected of not paying his way.

   3 he owns buildings in the vicinity that are rented despite going to rack and ruin.

   4 he has multiple TT actions against him.

   So he is not a beloved local as some dairy owners are. Some of his predecessor were.

   I am not sure about the situation re supermarkets in that area of Auckland. We have lots of supermarkets close by and good bus services. Even have a few Four Square ones that offer goods at better prices than the dairies. Several service stations have better pricing than the local dairies.

   So dairy owners are going. Many leave their badly maintained buildings behind or ask OTT prices when they try to sell.

   BUT no-one needs to take their life into their hands when going to work.

   As well as encouraging owners to adopt sensible safety precautions I think planners should be looking carefully at whether these dairies should be maintained, planning-wise into the future. Then doing work about accessing supermarkets/petrol stations food outlets etc by public transport. These are much better protected security-wise.

   Several of our bus services do cross suburb routes so people without supermarkets can get to them and back home by bus.
   • lprent 4.1

     30 November 2022 at 1:25 am

     I am not sure about the situation re supermarkets in that area of Auckland.

     I grew up on Fowlds Ave in Sandringham – that dairy is just down 20 odd houses at the corner of Fowlds and Haverstock. If you go about 80 houses past that you will find a supermarket in St Lukes mall.

     I used to walk most of that distance to go to primary school when I was 5. The area hasn't changed that much over the last 58 years. Upgraded a bit if anything.
5. Jimmy 5

   29 November 2022 at 11:29 am

   Andrew Coster has suddenly seen the light.

   Coster "But since the police had stopped chasing fleeing vehicles there had been a significant increase in fleeing drivers and a significant decrease in the proportion of offenders identified, he said."

   Who would of thought that would happen!

   Police U-turn on fleeing cars, but no date for new spikes after officer run over | Stuff.co.nz
6. Ad 6

   29 November 2022 at 11:45 am

   It will be very difficult to re-elect a Labour-Green government if the Indian vote really does turn. They have been locked in for Labour for decades. Perhaps this degree of reaction says they have been taken for granted.

   The Hamilton by-election will no doubt give a bellwether on this.
   • Poission 6.1

     29 November 2022 at 12:04 pm

     Labour will lose the election due to inflation,and the large cost increases coming in council rates,transport,and significant blowouts in infrastructure projects (most of which should be moved to hold) increased debt repayments due to both risk off,and uncertainty.

     No leadership at the national level,and little at the local level in removing costs,or constraining debt.
     • Ad 6.1.1

       29 November 2022 at 12:23 pm

       Except the other side are shit.
       • Poission 6.1.1.1

         29 November 2022 at 12:27 pm

         That is always a problem,but dreams of Utopia always end in fascist idealism.
         • Ad 6.1.1.1.1

           29 November 2022 at 3:44 pm

           No, pointing to an alternative does not incur Godwin.
           • Poission 6.1.1.1.1.1

             29 November 2022 at 3:57 pm

             No but the status quo invokes Popper ( and a double entendre is intended )

             “The Utopian attempt to realize an ideal state, using a blueprint of society as a whole, is one which demands a strong centralized rule of a few, and which is therefore likely to lead to a dictatorship.”
   • alwyn 6.2

     29 November 2022 at 1:40 pm

     Having read the first half dozen comments here, which are blatantly anti-Indian, I would think that if the Indian vote was to turn it would be because they weren't wanted, and were regularly insulted by Labour supporters.
     • Descendant Of Smith 6.2.1

       30 November 2022 at 8:10 am

       Nonsense. It is an observation of the contrast between this reaction and the reaction to an ongoing problem affecting the same community and the attack on the (beneficiary) community they serve/are their customers. Even the assumption that these are all children of beneficiaries illustrates the class point the original poster was making.

       You are as bad as Labour thinking race trumps class. I thought you were opposed to such wokeness.

       “I don't think they deserve taxpayers' money if they can't take care of their children and they want to go out and offend." said Chittibomma."

       You willfully ignore the context of demanding tax-payers support while at the same time saying others shouldn't get it while at the same time being passive about those in their community not paying the tax that will fund it.

       I'm consistent about complaining and commenting about people ripping off IRD and your shouldn't cast aspersions on me by suggesting I'm a labour supporter when I've clearly said for a long time I'm not.
   • bwaghorn 6.3

     29 November 2022 at 6:25 pm

     Luxons planning to raise retirement to 67 , which means he's probably buggered.
     • Alan 6.3.1

       29 November 2022 at 7:19 pm

       link?
       • arkie 6.3.1.1

         29 November 2022 at 7:26 pm

         https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/11/christopher-luxon-stands-by-policy-of-increasing-superannuation-age-despite-report-saying-it-will-disadvantage-m-ori-pasifika.html
         • Alan 6.3.1.1.1

           29 November 2022 at 7:38 pm

           You did read the bit that said it would be lifted very slowly and would reach 67 by 2037??
           • arkie 6.3.1.1.1.1

             29 November 2022 at 8:19 pm

             You asked for a link, I supplied one. No need to quiz me now you've caught up.
     • Graeme 6.3.2

       29 November 2022 at 7:41 pm

       And Winston is looking at 10%
7. Adrian 7

   29 November 2022 at 2:22 pm

   The comments are not anti-Indian but are anti a particular subset who are the wealthy elite, just like in any grouping, who actually own the physical dairy and lease it to the strugglers, thus ripping off their own people. If the Indian immigrant shopkeepers are pissed off with anyone it should be with these profiteering bastards. My guess is that if a proper investigation was done that the aggregation of ownership would come down to a very small cohort which would surprise many.
8. Adrian 8

   29 November 2022 at 2:26 pm

   The comments are not anti-Indian but are anti a particular subset who are the wealthy elite, just like in any grouping, who actually own the physical dairy and lease it to the strugglers, thus ripping off their own people, they are essentially landlords, who are the ones who should be paying for the protection equipment but I would bet they aren’t, just passing it on to the leasees who an least afford it. If the Indian immigrant shopkeepers are pissed off with anyone it should be with these profiteering bastards. My guess is that if a proper investigation was done that the aggregation of ownership would come down to a very small cohort which would surprise many.
   • Visubversa 8.1

     29 November 2022 at 5:51 pm

     And anyone who has had the misfortune to interact with Mr Kaushal over the last few years. can be forgiven for accurately describing his personality and political activities.
9. Reality 9

   29 November 2022 at 3:02 pm

   Alwyn, it's good to see you are not "anti-Indian" and are showing them your support. You must be really bothered by Chris Luxon referring to a certain group as "bottom feeders"? That wasn't very nice was it? Likewise Simon Bridges comparing the value of Chinese to Indians a few years ago.

   It was the opposition parties who politicised the recent tragedy in Auckland. Respect and ethics escape them all too often.
10. Ad 10

    29 November 2022 at 3:43 pm

    The US regulator threaten our fish exports on marine conservation grounds.

    US court orders ban on NZ seafood exports in Māui dolphin case | Stuff.co.nz

    Looks like Sea Shepherd gets the hearing from the US that they needed from New Zealand.

    Kinda like Greenpeace stopping Fonterra exporting to Europe. … which I guess this does become a precedent legal tactic in a different jurisdiction.

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