Open mike 30/04/2021

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, April 30th, 2021 - 89 comments
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89 comments on “Open mike 30/04/2021 ”

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  1. Sanctuary 1
    30 April 2021 at 7:01 am

    Makes for good reading, especially for all the Cassandras around here who spend all day renting their clothes and gnashing their teeth that Labour hasn't immediately declared a people’s proletariat and (after suitable show trials) shot the landlords.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/audrey-young-labours-manifesto-now-has-the-teeth-it-lacked-last-term/EXXECPHAV3ILAZH25USQ3D4L44/

    "…This term, because there is nothing holding back Labour, the manifesto is its pre-eminent policy document. Policies implemented so far:

    • Increased the minimum wage to $20 an hour.

    • Increased abatement thresholds before benefits are affected to $160 a week.

    • Expanded access to flexi-wage and increase subsidy to fund up to 40,000 New Zealanders into supported work.

    • Required Commerce Commission to do market study into supermarket sector.

    • Restarted the refugee quota programme.

    • Introduced new tax rate of 39 per cent on incomes over $180,000.

    • Begun to expand free lunch in schools programme.

    • Rolling out free period products to all primary, intermediate, secondary school and kura from June 2021.

    • Rolling out targeted funding for mental health services for Rainbow young people.

    • Introduced clean car import standard to reduce emissions and fuel costs.

    • Supporting councils to decarbonise the public transport bus fleet by 2035.

    • Reinstated the 100 per cent funding band for ECEs.

    • Introduced a progressive procurement policy around Māori businesses.

    • Launched $55 million fund for public interest journalism.

    • Established Just Transition Unit to prepare for closure of Tiwai.

    • Announced first date for Matariki public holiday.

    • Opened quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia.

    • Ending the installation of new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers.

    • Expanding sick leave entitlements to 10 days…"

    Not bad for six months in the face of a pandemic and a hostile press!!

    • Herodotus 1.1
      30 April 2021 at 7:28 am

      Let’s talk about housing. Grant feed the fire that is destorying this market and contributing to all these worsening social conditions and then he walks away and leaves the reserve bank to fix his screw up.

      Ask people out there after all these announcements are their living conditons improving or going backwards. And after reading your list that is the bottom line, how are peoples lives ?

      • Sabine 1.1.1
        30 April 2021 at 8:31 am

        Let me tell you Herodotus, that his list has not been compiled to talk about housing. That list was compiled for people to feel good about a government that is failing many.

        • Herodotus 1.1.1.1
          30 April 2021 at 9:01 am

          Funny how housing is being excluded. For the umtenth time much of our social ills are a result of inadequate housing. Whilst we have the green co leader distancing herself from her responsibilities, Megan and co gone MIA that for me sums it up for any real solutions.

          • Sabine 1.1.1.1.1
            30 April 2021 at 10:03 am

            Marama Davidson is Associate Minister of Homelessness. Without the minister of housing, Labour Person Wood she can't do much. So frankly as i said the other day, she did not get the job to win, she got the job to fail. My advice to her would be, run – not walk – away and be excellent outside this government on the opposition bench.

            • Incognito 1.1.1.1.1.1
              30 April 2021 at 10:12 am

              Being on the Opposition bench is worse than being a lame possum caught in the headlights on a RONS.

        • Incognito 1.1.1.2
          30 April 2021 at 9:04 am

          Audrey Young and the NZ Herald want to make us feel good about this Government? How Machiavellian of them.

          That’s comedy gold laugh

          • mac1 1.1.1.2.1
            30 April 2021 at 9:51 am

            Yes, the next comedic line will be to assert that the government has got it all wrong because the Herald supports it.

            It's the converse of the old saying, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

            Here it has become, "Who doesn’t attack my enemy's actions is also my enemy."

            That line of laughable logic surfaced most recently with critics of our government in the 5 Eyes issue saying that we support the Chinese government in its actions against the Uighur because they assert we haven't criticised it in public recently.

            • Incognito 1.1.1.2.1.1
              30 April 2021 at 9:59 am

              Indeed, if a Minister doesn’t show their face in the 24-hour news cycle they are MIA. The logic of simpletons and the great unthinking. Many can’t read between the metaphorical lines and absorb nuance and context, which makes all the difference. To them, life is like a box of Roses chocolates: it’s all crap.

              • Sabine …
                30 April 2021 at 10:05 am

                Yei! you learned about chocolate. I am so happy! Really i wuz worried you would waste your hard earned money on milkpowder, palmoil, refined sugar, chocolate flavoring and chocolate coloring. You made my day.

                • Incognito …
                  30 April 2021 at 10:09 am

                  laugh

                  Belgium chocolate is the best; Swiss chocolate has got too many holes in it and makes me hear Alphorns and yodelling.

                  • Sabine …
                    30 April 2021 at 10:14 am

                    Good, then i can now expect no more bad faith offers of bad crappy chocolate to keep me sweet. I generally am not sweet, don't want to be sweet, and have stopped being sweet in order to please some people a long time a go.

                    thanks.

                    • Incognito …
                      30 April 2021 at 10:20 am

                      I actually like Sauerkraut but your Teutonic temperament spoils it. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. I highly recommend chocolate fondue.

                  • greywarshark …
                    30 April 2021 at 10:54 am

                    Mm chocolate – chocolate fondue Mmmmm. Chocolate mousse is good too. Some chocolate is good for one's health apparently, oh bliss! No doubt in small, regular amounts enough to keep us going and smiling as well.

                  • Patricia Bremner …
                    30 April 2021 at 3:42 pm

                    Whittakers Chocolate. We can be proud of that!!

      • Adrian 1.1.2
        30 April 2021 at 10:21 am

        Bullshit , no one person can exert that much power, even Gates or Musk havent got enough money to buy enough houses to force that much demand. It is simply pent up demand and fear of missing out and stupidity. If people stopped buying the market would collapse.

      • Louis 1.1.3
        30 April 2021 at 3:03 pm

        @ Herodotus, Audrey didnt "include extra things like housing policies & Maori wards" See 1.2

    • Louis 1.2
      30 April 2021 at 2:59 pm

      "doesn't include extra things like housing policies & Maori wards"

      https://twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1387912277932666880

    • Tiger Mountain 1.3
      30 April 2021 at 3:07 pm

      Good stuff…and my unreserved praise goes to Min wage boost, Local Democracy Reporting, Period products, and qualified approval to the rest, but…

      …WEAG (Welfare Experts Advisory Group Report) remains unimplemented in the main particularly re raising Benefit levels, Fair Pay Agreements are not going to happen in any shape significantly useful to unions–workers should ideally get pay boosts from the employing class not other taxpayers e.g, WFF. A public housing mega build has barely crossed the Labour Caucus conciousness, middle class people are now having to scrape together deposits for their kids in the overheated property scene–need I go on?

      This Govt. retains heavy structural neo liberalism in legislation and methodology re funder/provider splits, contracting out, PPPs, managerialism and free in and outflow of capital. This majority MMP Govt. retains absolute support for the 36 year monetarist consensus amongst main Parliamentary political parties.

      These are basic issues for the NZ working class that need urgent attention, and NZ Labour is in for a significant arse bite in 2023 if they do not raise benefits, start building houses and apartments, and control rents.

  2. Sanctuary 2
    30 April 2021 at 7:08 am

    You know, every mistake made by this government in relation to covid has been forensically examined and represented hysterically in the media as a "massive failure" or a "border blunder" or MIQ "shambles."

    However, if you are the NZ Herald and you rely almost excuslively on real estate and travel advertising to stay in business then a cock up at Brisbane airport is characterised as a gentle "hiccup"

    "..Live: Bubble hiccup – warning for NZ travellers after airport breach in Australia.."

    The Herald knows which side it's toast is buttered.

    • Jimmy 2.1
      30 April 2021 at 8:01 am

      Audrey Young of the NZ Herald certainly knows which side her toast is buttered. Her ratings of the ministers yesterday were laughable. I felt sorry for Damien O'Connor only receiving a 4/10 which was the lowest (he must be in her bad books). Even Marama got a 5/10!

      • WeTheBleeple 2.1.1
        30 April 2021 at 9:55 am

        LOL. She's giving ratings for ministers. What is she 15? Hope she also did a "who's hot and who's not" article, just to reinforce her 'style'.

      • Stuart Munro 2.1.2
        30 April 2021 at 10:29 am

        It's about time we rated journalists – not many would reach the towering heights of a 3/10.

          • Stuart Munro 2.1.2.1.1
            30 April 2021 at 11:06 am

            Yeah – we've made a broad negative observation – but we haven't brought it home to the worst performers just how poorly they serve the public, and how badly they are eroding their platform's bottom line.

            Lady I know did her PhD on quality in journalism. The papers she worked with lifted circulation by around 70%. There's money in doing the job properly, as well as public service.

            • Incognito 2.1.2.1.1.1
              30 April 2021 at 11:15 am

              The public is fickle and with so much choice at their fingertips, they go for the low hanging fruit that gives an instant hit. It is like an addiction and they keep coming back for more. Even drug lords understand this.

              • Stuart Munro …
                30 April 2021 at 11:48 am

                Well, not everyone notices the satire implicit in La donna e mobile. The worst media chase the sugar hit. But over the medium term, the public tire of it – Tova's latest feigned outrage no longer gets the adrenaline flowing, and they start browsing elsewhere.

                It's well known, and the demise of The Truth is a local demonstration that degrading content is a poor strategy.

                • WeTheBleeple …
                  30 April 2021 at 6:04 pm

                  Absolutely agree. I avoid many news sources as I'm not that keen on wasting my time – even when I'm wasting time.

                  Now that 'everyone's a content creator' the sea of mediocre and rubbish content that we're all awash in has become more than simply tedious, it's repugnant. Folk are aware, folk are looking for better.

                  Every day I block sites for life (of this computer at least). These sites use money and resources to get my attention yet have nothing but trivia to offer. Blocked for life. I hope the expense to wedge garbage onto the screens of myself and my peers hurts really bad. It's the least I can do.

                • greywarshark …
                  30 April 2021 at 9:25 pm

                  I think that we ought to keep a closer eye on The Civilian. I haven't seen it mentioned much here. For news with a twist, you can't go past it I reckon. Look at The Herald quickly then glance over to The Civilian and imbibe it with your Cornflakes – they would go together well.

                  Who read about this amazing new approach to our housing problem in March? It seems as beautifully written as usual.

                  http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/scientists-begin-search-for-elusive-capital-gain-particle-to-explain-runaway-housing-market/

    • Sabine 2.2
      30 April 2021 at 8:06 am

      You could also say that calling it a gentle hickup is also a nice nice term to protect those here that opened the gates. Hopefully not to hell.

      My partners company lost their first employee in India. One of the dispatchers called yesterday to querie a machine. The kid is 24 odd years old and is usually the kindest and sweetest person. He was kind, sweet and broken hearted yesterday.

      We all don't know how lucky we are that his little hickup may not be the drop of water that breaches the floodgates.

  3. Sabine 3
    30 April 2021 at 8:35 am

    I am really happy for Rainbow Youth to have been provided with something and i hope that they are to be provided with more then just a promise of money.

    However if we take labels away, we learn that Children and teenagers (Youth) as of April 2021 is not getting the mental health when they need it.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300271651/wait-times-for-youth-mental-health-services-balloon-out-under-labour-despite-huge-investment

    Wait times for children and teenagers trying to access mental health care have increased by almost two weeks since Labour was elected in 2017, despite a billion-dollar promise to fix the ailing sector.

    New figures provided to Stuff show the average wait time across 16 of the 20 district health boards increased to 33 days for the year ended July 2020, up from 21 days when Labour was elected – with some DHBs seeing wait times as high as 72 days, well over two months.

    Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) provides treatment to teenagers and children with the most severe mental health issues.

    Health Minister Andrew Little said wait times had gone up, but the Government was focused on growing the mental health workforce.

    But Mr. Little is growing a mental health workforce, he just needs a bit of manure (horse or sheep or chicken) and comfrey tea to help it grow a bit faster. The last 4 years of growing seems to have had no effect.

    But then we don’t really get the stats we used to says Chloe Swarbrook, but then Mr. Little is comfortable with the data the they give us. Go figure?

    reen Party mental health spokeswoman Chlöe Swarbrick says the Ministry of Health should be legally required to produce a wide range of mental health statistics, after concerns were raised about a routine mental health report released years late and with significantly less data than it once had.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has distanced her Government from the report too, noting it had all been produced within the ministry She said she herself was having trouble finding a specific suicide statistic that used to be in the report.
    This came after Health Minister Andrew Little said on Tuesday he was comfortable with the report’s release

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300271515/greens-push-for-mental-health-statistics-to-be-required-by-law-as-prime-minister-appears-to-distance-herself-from-slimmeddown-report?rm=a

    yep, mental health is in shambles. Nevermind.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300266892/huge-growth-in-use-of-last-resort-seclusion-indicates-mental-health-system-in-crisis-and-in-worse-shape-than-when-labour-elected-in-2017?rm=a

    • CAnker the pig fucker 3.1
      30 April 2021 at 9:05 am

      Sabine, I know a lot of the mental health field. Developing a new workforce is potentially a very long complicated task. The only country I am aware of who rolled out a mental health work force to serve people with mild to moderate mental health issues was the UK under Professor David Clark from Oxford University. In NZ there isn't wide spread support and training in CBT which is an evidenced based therapy. Various training institutes offer other models, most of which are lacking in any substantial evidence. So there is also an issue with training the trainers. People t teaching at these training institutes are deeply wedded to their model and can't be deployed to train in other more proven therapies. There is also the issue of providing culturally sensitive therapy.However the Min of Health doesn't appear to have adopted his model. Training therapists is a very complex issue. People have to have aptitude for the job

      Unfortunately I am aware. that there are many therapists practicing who aren't effective therapists.

      Good therapists practicing evidence based therapy can not just be magically pulled of a hat.

      • Sabine 3.1.1
        30 April 2021 at 9:54 am

        I agree with all that you said. But it has been four years, and in stead of just staying bad, it got worse, and hey our stats are now so whitewashed that effectively they are useless. But then, if you don't count it don/t exist. Right?

        • Incognito 3.1.1.1
          30 April 2021 at 10:01 am

          You may want to change the polarity of your filter; it may shock you.

          • Sabine 3.1.1.1.1
            30 April 2021 at 10:10 am

            What i should not care? Don't give a fuck about the homeless, the hungry, the shoeless kids with empty bellies in preschool, the beatings women get form violent men, the glue sniffing kids, the poor huddled unwashed masses?

            Sorry, but you know what? I am closer to those then i ever will be to the wellfed, wellhoused, well dressed doodas that you so cherish.

            My view is excellent. Its neither Red nor Blue, it ain't partisan, it ain't based on wishful thinking.

            And mental health under this government has gotten worse by their own admission. So don't take it too me, tell them to give you better news.

      • Gosman 3.1.2
        30 April 2021 at 9:55 am

        My wife is a Psychologist and has been involved with training Counselors. She is not impressed with how the training institutions are doing this. There is a huge risk of people being seen by people who are not properly trained to help them. This could make the situation worse not better.

        • Incognito 3.1.2.1
          30 April 2021 at 10:06 am

          My tongue is bleeding heavily …

          Was your wife trained in NZ? She must be old school.

          So, we should stop training these young and highly motivated bright people because they “could make the situation worse not better”?

          Let’s not do anything and stay inside because we may make a mistake. FFS!

          • Tricledrown 3.1.2.1.1
            30 April 2021 at 11:44 am

            Incognito US universities pushed a style of psychology that was Christian moralist calvinism not scientific ie Otago University longitudinal study.

            Looking at Gosmans comments and allegiance to reaganomics it all makes sense.

            • greywarshark 3.1.2.1.1.1
              30 April 2021 at 9:41 pm

              Tricledrown – The USA university mention made me think of Ruth Dudley Edwards novel Murdering Americans (politically incorrect title for a book having that theme.) What they teach in the university/college at which she is visiting professor is far from her expectations.

              …Murdering Americans takes place in a solidly built, nice looking college in the abandoned steel town of New Paddington, Indiana. The college, Freeman State University, has deteriorated over the years from the principles on which it was founded, that is the teachings of math, science, and history, freedom of speech, diversity of thought and integration, and so on. Political Correctness (with a capital "PC") has become their crushing ideology. The only competition permitted by this college is who is the greater victim…

              …Baroness "Jack" Troutbeck, though quite busy being a member of the House of Lords and the Mistress of St. Martha's College in Cambridge, is always eager to face a new challenge should one present itself. To her surprise and delight she has been invited to America as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. She readily accepts, leaves London and flies off to America, and on to Freeman State University. The Baroness imagined the American colleges to be as she had viewed them in the movies of the fifties. What a shock to find them bastions of the liberal elite who have contempt for all things Western…

              She found that this college did not offer the standard courses in literature and science but instead an array of programs in political correctness. Because Christian Americans are at the root of the world's problems, students need only to study the backgrounds and cultures of blacks, gays and lesbians, Muslims, Jews, and other oppressed minorities to understand why all countries in the world hate America.

              During her stay, the Baroness is involved in four murders of which she has been inconveniently accused. She immediately calls for her friend in need, Robert Amiss, who flies to her side to help her solve the crimes…

              • Incognito …
                30 April 2021 at 10:50 pm

                Why do you use a novel to support allegations about ‘intellectual derailment’ at US universities??

                Please include a link next time, thanks.

            • Incognito 3.1.2.1.1.2
              30 April 2021 at 10:57 pm

              What a load of nonsense! Firstly, it is a false dichotomy between “Christian moralist Calvinism” and science-based tertiary training and education, and a strawman. Secondly, which US universities and when did they supposedly push for a “style of psychology”, whatever that’s supposed to mean. Thirdly, I note you have not provided one shred of evidence for your assertions, not even a tiny little link. Lastly, the context is Aotearoa-New Zealand, not the USA.

              • greywarshark …
                1 May 2021 at 4:13 pm

                Sorry about the link incognito. I think that the novel gives an example of the way that some of the second or third-grade universities have changed their focus in tertiary education, particularly in the USA.

                And from the USA has come wokeness and an enhanced sensitivity to various groups making claims of unfairness, sometimes distantly connected to those who are actually battling huge inequality. The fact that it is fiction does not make it trivial. Matters taught in university in humanities and perhaps economics, may be more distorted than fiction I consider.

        • Tricledrown 3.1.2.2
          30 April 2021 at 10:12 am

          Gosman given your competency I wouldn't take your spin on any subject as truth.

      • Herodotus 3.2.1
        30 April 2021 at 9:21 am

        And where are the services that were promised and funded to cover tough stress over COVID , still waiting. Another announcement with no action to follow. Now there are real needs out there and there are many who think that an announcement from the throne solves these issues , guess what ?? It doesn’t and our queen bee needs to be told of this . But then again after an announcement out on it ministers go missing they have got there RV spot whilst nothing changes for the masses.

        • Incognito 3.2.1.1
          30 April 2021 at 9:26 am

          The whole mental health sector is under immense pressure and has been for years. In fact, the whole medical care sector is bending over backwards. They all need a long holiday, literally, before they burn out. Anybody with half a brain cell can see this.

      • Sabine 3.2.2
        30 April 2021 at 9:56 am

        that is nice, very nice, but of no help to anyone who needed mental health access and treatment yesterday and tomorrow. They are still shit outta luck.

        I am looking forward to seeing these same excuses when National is next in line to fucking it up. Its a bit like, yeah, we don't build no houses, but there is a record number of building consents.

  4. Sabine 4
    30 April 2021 at 8:42 am

    the quarantine free holidays are hopefully a thing of the past soon.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300289065/covid19-hundreds-in-melbourne-told-to-get-tested-after-unexpected-wastewater-detections

    The Australian Health Department has contacted hundreds of Victorians and urged them to undergo a coronavirus test after “strong and unexpected” Covid-19 fragments were detected in the state’s wastewater.

    Authorities say 246 people who were in Melbourne’s western and north-western suburbs were contacted on Thursday and told to get tested as a precaution.

    “This additional action is being taken due to the strength of the wastewater detection and because a known positive Covid-19 case, from flight QF778, has been in Victoria in the past 14 days,” the department said.

    • Gabby 5.1
      30 April 2021 at 10:10 am

      Hoodat?

      • greywarshark 5.1.1
        30 April 2021 at 12:11 pm

        Go on Morrissey give us a clue so we can guess first before looking up the links, testing our shrewdness, during our busyness trying to keep up with this amorphous world we live in.

  6. Jimmy 6
    30 April 2021 at 9:36 am

    Australia have a low bar of entry for politicians.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/staffer-in-parliament-masturbating-video-files-police-report-over-revenge-porn-20210429-p57nnd.html

    “I hope that enough people will see that Nathan is a victim here. He was stupid, he should get a kick up the arse for what he did … but I think he deserves his job,” Mr Entsch said.

    Great that the guys boss believes he deserves his job back after doing that over a womans desk! Anyone can be an MP these days.

    • Sabine 6.1
      30 April 2021 at 9:57 am

      anyone can. Indeed.

      i find it interesting that this is not considered sexual assault.

    • Gabby 6.2
      30 April 2021 at 10:47 am

      One can draw ones own conclusions as to Mr Entsch's work habits.

      • Morrissey 6.2.1
        1 May 2021 at 3:54 pm

        Mr Entsch's work habits…

        I'm sure I'm not the only person to notice that this gentleman's name is an anagram of "Stench".

    • McFlock 6.3
      30 April 2021 at 1:24 pm

      So if I get this straight, the guy who filmed himself committing gross misconduct that got him fired after the video was aired is considering making a formal "revenge porn" complaint against his ex who had given the video to the media after their break-up.

      Worthy of a soap opera. No idea which way the legal system might go on it, but sheesh.

      • Incognito 6.3.1
        30 April 2021 at 1:34 pm

        Another day in the office.

      • Jimmy 6.3.2
        30 April 2021 at 4:21 pm

        Yep, that's how I understood it too. So "the perp" has become "the victim".

        But I thought the funniest part was his boss Mr Entsch saying he should have his job back!

        I wouldn't want to be a cleaner in that office!

        • McFlock 6.3.2.1
          30 April 2021 at 4:38 pm

          Thing is, on the face of it, the pervert who got fired does have a point: an intimate visual recording shared in confidence was distributed for publication without his permission.

          BUT

          there is also the public interest in revealing that footage, given the guy's boss is obviously ok with such behaviour in the workplace

          BUT public interest might not be a defense under the Aussie law, and how long did the other guy wait to send it to the media? Was it at the time, or did he really just do it as revenge for being dumped, rather than serving the public interest?

          BUT I'm assuming the footage wasn't published unblurred, so does that count as intimate recording if the intimate bits are blurred out?

          And other buts. Damned if I would be able to cut through that legal gordian knot.

          As for pretty much everyone except the person whose desk was defiled and, as you say, the cleaner… yuck.

          • Gabby 6.3.2.1.1
            30 April 2021 at 4:55 pm

            No reason they can't both be prosecuted.

            • McFlock 6.3.2.1.1.1
              30 April 2021 at 6:28 pm

              Not sure the [literal] wanker did anything illegal as such.

              Definitely deserved to lose his job though.

              But yeah – very much a case of "throw everything at the courts and let them sort it out".

  7. greywarshark 7
    30 April 2021 at 11:11 am

    We have to watch and be wary of cults as well as gangs, and also the pseudo churches and charities that slide in to the tax-reduction gap offered to so-called worthy entities. This tax exemption strategy should be wiped, and replaced with applications for tax reduction on specific projects supplying sufficient Samaritan-like aid to the needy which is supervised. That is to try and prevent the institutional nasties that we have a Commission for at present.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/441479/ex-exclusive-brethren-accuse-church-of-tearing-families-apart-there-are-some-pretty-nasty-stories
    …Wellington man Peter H… is starting life again at the age of 52…

    "It's not true to say they 'wish those who leave all the best': They tell you 'you will fall apart, suffer financially, won't keep faith, your health will fail, you won't have relationships'..
    "You're not allowed to think for yourself. One saying in there is from the leadership: 'You do the doing, we'll do the thinking'."

    Investigative journalist Nicky Hager has uncovered widespread use of private investigators by senior Brethren against ex-members in New Zealand.
    "If we as a society can't protect people in that very vulnerable state, escape from something like a cult where their lives were being controlled and then they find themselves still being harassed, if we can't protect them, then something is really wrong."

    This is the latest on the long-running, really eternal, story of grievances and sadness resulting from the dictatorship of the Exclusive Brethren (has reverted to Plymouth Brethren I have read. Bad faith is inherent in the beliefs and practices of this cult). The authorities seem to find it difficult to show pastoral care for the citizens in such coercive groups, even from a business and taxation POV.

    • Adrian 7.1
      30 April 2021 at 12:07 pm

      You can get between the Brethren and their God, but God help you if you get between the Brethren and their money.

    • Tricledrown 7.2
      30 April 2021 at 1:27 pm

      [deleted entire comment because of potentially harmful content]

      [I’m deeply uncomfortable with your allegations about EB/PB and the inferences you make about connections between them and other groupings with political parties without one piece of supporting evidence!

      Given that have shown repeatedly ignoring Moderation notes in the past, I have deleted your whole comment and have passed it on to other Moderators who have much better understanding of the possible legal implications of your seemingly baseless accusations.

      If you can back up all your assertions AND if the other Moderators deem it harmless enough, I will restore your comment.

      Please acknowledge that you have read and understood this Moderation note at your earliest convenience, thanks – Incognito]

  8. greywarshark 8
    30 April 2021 at 12:00 pm

    edit
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/441390/new-zealand-donates-1m-as-india-covid-19-deaths-top-200-000

    I agree with helping India as we can, perhaps some supplies to specific points as well as some money towards UN help. And careful rehoming of NZs, and families split, what about them especially where there are children? We have a large number of Indian people resident here now living, working, making their lives with us, and we must have cognisance of their needs and do what we can being concerned and reasonable, which doesn’t mean we can do everything that is wanted.

    Our governments have not resisted the forces of the free market and open borders and cheaper goods made elsewhere. They chose to run down this country's internal economy and conditions in order to let foreign money (called investment) flood in. But that attitude has come back and bitten us in the bum. So we are bums, admit it, and attempt to do some good now it is needed, but without throwing away the good we have managed to retain and conserve here.

    Also let us help Paprua New Guinea – they are beside themselves over there according to reports. And it seems, literally, anyone who can do good is trying to be in two places at once.

    29/4 at 6.02 am – https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/programmes/pacific-waves/audio/2018793344/png-doctors-say-covid-19-outbreak-getting-worse

    29/4 at 4.23pm – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/441445/we-don-t-have-any-grasp-covid-19-crisis-pushes-png-hospitals-to-the-brink |Jamie Tahana
    Doctors in Papua New Guinea say the coronavirus crisis is only getting worse as some hospitals shut their doors to patients and others struggle without supplies as basic as gloves.

    Health officials and doctors interviewed by RNZ Pacific have described a health system teetering on the brink of collapse and a country that has no real grasp of just how widespread the virus really is.
    Officially, the country has recorded 10,915 cases of Covid-19 and 107 deaths, according to government figures released on Wednesday night.

    This in March – https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/2018789058/papua-new-guinea-battling-tb-crisis-amid-covid-19-pandemic

    So Papua New Guinea – PNG has a TB outbreak as well. I think we need to airlift supplies to these people. Fly in, drop off, refuel and back. Be in constant touch and advocate for them as well from the PTB and authorities, could even see what Australia is doing and co-ordinate with them keeping our aid separate to minimise spread of anything between us.

    • Treetop 8.1
      30 April 2021 at 2:23 pm

      Nothing new for PNG being under prepared. I heard a doctor say the other day that most day to day medical supplies run out. Covid was always going to impact on unprepared populations and large populations and the poorest in the population.

      In NZ we create a bubble and wait for the impact. I have previously said that an airport is a hot spot for transmission.

  9. Sabine 9
    30 April 2021 at 12:37 pm

    fuck.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/124993291/covid19-red-zone-traveller-who-breached-brisbane-airport-green-zone-tests-positive

    One of the red zone travellers from Papua New Guinea who was allowed into Brisbane Airport’s green zone for two hours has tested positive.

    The person had mixed with passengers travelling on three flights to New Zealand under the trans-Tasman bubble arrangement.

    The positive result was returned on Friday and a serology test was underway. Queensland Health's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has declared the international terminal a venue of concern.

    “Anyone who was in the terminal between 9.45am and midday on Thursday, 29 April 2021, should monitor their symptoms and get tested immediately if they feel unwell,” she said.

    • Treetop 9.1
      30 April 2021 at 2:12 pm

      Not if but when the community spread is detected. Have Scooby-Doo and Ardern really considered the viability of a bubble. I have and everyday since it began.

  10. Byd0nz 10
    30 April 2021 at 2:45 pm

    TEL AVIV (Sputnik) – The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concerns on Thursday about a parade that took place in Kiev to celebrate the creation of SS Galicia Division, calling on the Ukrainian government to condemn the glorification of Nazi collaborators.

    On Wednesday, Ukrainian nationalists held the first march in the center of Kiev to commemorate the anniversary of the foundation of the SS division during the Second World War. Previously, such parades were held in the city of Lviv.

    Now, I'm no fan of Israel, but I wonder if Blinken will address these concerns when he visits there next week, or will he support the SS Parade?