General Debate 24 July 2017

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duggledog

I saw the interview Jess Mutch / Metiria Turei on Q & A on TV One yesterday

Nothing we didn’t know already but the one thing I really can’t get my head around is,

Why did Turei have to cheat the taxpayer of monies when the parents of the young man who got her pregnant were

A: Clearly well off and
B: Labour stalwarts.

Labour are the supposed to be the ‘caring and sharing’ party. I don’t believe for a moment Hartley had no idea how tough life supposedly was for Turei.

So, why did she not help the mother of her grandchild? The whole thing just shows how the Labour mindset really works. Load everything onto the taxpayer.
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July 24, 2017 8:02am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Red rabid is running the story about how difficult it is for grandparents are having difficulty in obtaining the benefits due for the grandchildren in their care.
  
  The usual suspects of indifference, humiliation and other hurt feelings in getting the benefits for their charges are quoted in the reporting.
  
  I have sympathy and respect these claimants for the role and opportunity that these relatives provide in the upbringing of the children due to failure of their parents for a multitude of reasons and believe that their applications may be able to be handled and processed in a more caring and sympathetic manner.
  
  However, we know that those administrating the processes that provide these benefits for the children, have had all sorts of low life ferals attempting to gain advantage by gaming the system by claiming benefit in excess of their allowance, lying, cheating and stealing from the New Zealand taxpayer and so are a bit sceptical of some applications.
  
  I suggest that those who are experiencing difficulty with any sort of benefit application, write to the co-leader of the Green Party, the one without a penis but a dick-head, so she can experience the angst of the claimants in a system full of process, checks and safeguards that people like her, the lying cheating scammers, have actively helped to evolve.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:22am
  - waikatosinger
    
    The head dick and the dick head. I like it.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:29am
- thedavincimode
  
  The taxpayer is the first port of call when anyone gets into financial strife. The only role of other family members is to say: 1) this isn’t good enough 2) the Government should pay for this.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:43am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  In 2002 Metiria Turei said she had always had the support of Ann Hartley.
  .
  Mum, an unsuccessful Auckland mayoral candidate last year and an unemployed contract lawyer who has worked for the Greens fulltime since March, said Ann Hartley had always been supportive of Piupiu, herself and her family.
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2197711
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:59am
  - Southern Raider
    
    So Hartley is a bludger as well?
    
    “unemployed contract lawyer”
    
    Was Hartley claiming the unemployment benefit while doing pro bono work for Green Party?
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:47am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      You have misread the article…
      
      “Mum ” is Metiria… the unemployed lawyer.
      
      Grandmother is Ann Hartley, Real Estate Agent, Mayor of Birkenhead and then .. Labour MP and Assistant Speaker of the House, then Deputy Speaker of the House, 2005 Labour Govt.
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:25am
- Biscuit
  
  Duggleddog, Parliament resumes tomorrow – its first sitting since MeTu made her ‘I CHEATED YOU. HA BLOODY HA!’ revelations to good, honest taxpayers like (presumably) you and (definitely) I.
  
  Remember that classic moment back in 2015 when comedian Simon Brodkin interrupted a press conference in Zurich to throw $600 (of his own money) at the then-FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s corrupt person?
  
  I am so tempted to try the same sort of stunt in the Public Gallery when Parliament resumes tomorrow.
  
  Two things are putting me off:
  
  1.
  Brodkin got given his money back by amused Swiss police after Blatter fled the room in shame. The bloody Red Greens woman, a shameLESS wretch, would probably KEEP my dosh…
  
  2.
  I’d need a written assurance from the Minister of Police that Wellington Police Station’s cells are Sky-equipped so I can watch the Lions-Canes Super Rugby Semifinal on Sunday morning…
  
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  July 24, 2017 11:17am
  - pdm
    
    You will also need wifi so you can do Fridays diatribe!!
    
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    July 24, 2017 4:11pm
- Jack5
  
  Talking about cheating taxpayers … I see that the Tainui tribe has joined Ngai Tahu in operating tax free as a charity.
  
  No politicians seem interested in charities, including big Maori-owned and church-owned businesses, operating as charities.
  
  http://www.msn.com/en-nz/money/personalfinance/tainuis-low-tax-bill-an-issue/ar-AAoFqWL?li=AAaUOAg&ocid=spartandhp
  
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  July 24, 2017 7:35pm
Left Right and Centre

Welcome to KB cheap shot of the day . . .

Metiria occupies all of the left – and most of the middle.
When she’s flying.
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July 24, 2017 8:07am
Tauhei Notts

This is Kiwiblog and we are fortunate to have people dig and deliver the information.
One contributor commented on Hartley’s valedictory speech where praise and thanks were heaped on Piu Piu, her father and numerous others. Significantly Piu Piu’s mother was omitted from that list. I have since wondered about the classic mother in law – daughter in law contretemps that have gone on forever.
Whoever that contributor was, my sincere thanks.
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July 24, 2017 8:08am
Southern Raider

Stuff seems to have gone full Marxist

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/94979057/why-the-greens-should-offer-tax-cuts-for-the-childless

Even resorts to calling the benefit scam by the Greens a “pay rise” and also slots in the term “solidarity”
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July 24, 2017 8:10am
- Albert_Ross
  
  I thought this an odd comment:
  
  Strangely, in an overpopulated planet, more stigma is still attached to women who decide not to have children than to women who believe it is their right to breed, and expect a government handout to support them from the get-go.
  
  We’re childless by choice, and I have never heard anybody attaching stigma to that.
  
  Do other Kiwibloggers despise the childless, or feel despised because they’re childless?
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:41am
  - thedavincimode
    
    You would be surprised at some of the attitudes found here on this point and at the extreme, you’re ignoring your social responsibility which is to breed and not just provide continuity of society, but pensions as well. This is why people need to breed even when they can’t afford it and it’s appropriate for people such as yourself and sixteen year old kids holding traffic signs in the rain to pick up the tab.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:48am
  - Ed Snack
    
    I can’t imagine why anyone would despise people for remaining childless, that’s a strong term.
    
    I would, in general, feel somewhat sorry for them. I spent years living for myself (sort of not intending to have children), and generally enjoying it, yet nothing in that time approaches the joy and appreciation that came with having and raising children. All the extra work, the restrictions on lifestyle, the costs, all of these pale in comparison to the sheer pleasure of watching your children grow up and become their own person. They’re you and they’re not.
    
    I respect a choice not to have children, yet I feel for you in not having that enjoyment as well.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:51am
    - Inandout
      
      Many famous people were childless – Helen Clark, Adolph Hitler.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:02am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Many infamous people were childless – Helen Clark, Adolph Hitler.
        
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        July 24, 2017 9:19am
      - KevOB
        
        Many national leaders are childless now too. Problem: how is the population going to be maintained (i.e just stable) without 2.2 children being born to each adult woman in society. People grumble when those they regard as inferior socially reproduce but opt out ultimately to the death of their own class.
        The “ferals” following their instincts to reproduce may just be providing the future replacements.
        
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        July 24, 2017 9:25am
      - CHFR
        
        Try only having one child, they way people have treated me was astonishing it was as if I was the cruelest person in the world for making my child grow up alone.
        
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        July 24, 2017 10:06am
      - Chris R
        
        M.Macron is childless but didn’t his wife make a great job of rearing him!
        
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        July 24, 2017 10:16am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @KevOB
        
        Once upon a time.. my lot were despised ‘ferals’
        The inhabitants are remarkably gross, and remarkably neglected: only two inhabitants that can speak English, and not one that can write or read.
        -Samuel Johnson – A Journey to the Western Isles
        
        And I will not even mention The IRISH.
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:07am
    - waikatogirl
      
      Perhaps those who despise couples for not having children should consider not having children isn’t always their choice. ? ?
      
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      July 24, 2017 11:12am
  - SGA
    
    Albert_Ross
    
    We’re childless by choice, and I have never heard anybody attaching stigma to that.
    
    On the odd occasion, someone’s made a comment here about the selfishness of those who aren’t procreating enough to keep pace with the godless hordes (I think they meant Muslims, but it might have been Mormons – something starting with M, wasn’t Methodists, I think).
    
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    July 24, 2017 11:30am
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    Well there’s the little matter of (for eg.)Hullun Clark being criticised every time she made some comment about children or families. Not having children of her own disqualified her from any right to contribute ideas.
    
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    July 24, 2017 12:05pm
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Usually unnamed editorials are assumed to be written by the editorial staff of the paper. But this is surprising incoherent and badly written, even by Stuff standards. I expect when the editor eventually makes it into the office he will insist the author’s name be added and it will turn out to be someone who definitely shouldn’t give up their day job.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:50am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Bingo.
    
    Very early this morning it had no name on it. By 7.30 some women’s name had magically appeared but no definition below on who she actually is
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:50am
    - marcw
      
      Wow, Jane Bowron. Quelle suprise! Frightbat-in-charge.
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:03am
    - Prince
      
      She reviews TV programs.
      
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      July 24, 2017 11:31am
Paulus

Why has she not resigned from Parliament – she has a fantastic MP pension so she can bluster elsewhere – probably Wussell at Greenpeace will employ her ?
Why are the Green Party still supporting her ?
Why have we heard no condemnation from them ?
From what we hear Angry supports what she did.
What has she got on the leading Green party hierarchy that they still have her as “joint leader” or whatever ?
When will Winz take “real” action ?
When will the police take a prosecution for Theft and Fraud ?
Why are the media giving her a smooth ride – because she cries on television – poor diddums.
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July 24, 2017 8:12am
- pdm
  
  The Police probably need a complaint before they can become involved.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:24am
  - holysheet
    
    Chuck is fixing that tomorrow. Needs some dutch courage first. He should also remember to make the complaint about the missing $158K that the drunken dwarf owes the taxpayer. Maybe they could share the same bottle.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:30am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      I don’t think Winston does sharing
      
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      July 24, 2017 8:41am
      - Inandout
        
        Not since giving up smoking. But he still shares a bottle of the finest.
        
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        July 24, 2017 9:17am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Name calling shows you have no argument. Why do you not go to the police. What crime would claim Peters committed and what evidence would you offer.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:59am
- peterwn
  
  Since the alleged offending is historic there is no hurry in dealing with this. As someone put it, the WINZ chief does not want to be going after a candidate who might end up being the Minister in charge of WINZ. The time to investigate would be after the election.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:27am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    I disagree totally peterwn. To defer an investigation because there is an election on would be dereliction of duty.
    
    Even the suggestion that Turei might become Minister in charge of WINZ is nothing more than a hypothetical scenario. You can bet your boots that if this involved a National Minister, the Left would be beating down the doors of WINZ and the Police demanding action, and the media would be camped on the doorstep of the Minister involved demanding a resignation. Instead, because it’s Turei, the media is fal;ling over itself to offer cuddles, editorials and tissues.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:22am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      …if this involved a National Minister, the Left would be beating down the doors of WINZ and the Police demanding action, and the media would be camped on the doorstep of the Minister involved demanding a resignation.
      
      In partisan-Nat world, that’s a given. In the real, actually-existing world, the Police drop a criminal investigation into Todd Barclay because he won’t cooperate with them, the IPCA says it’s not interested in finding out why the Police did that, and I haven’t noticed the media or anyone else camped on the Police minister’s doorstep.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:36am
      - Nookin
        
        Police did not prosecute because there was insufficient evidence.
        You say that this was Barclay, did not cooperate. What do you mean by that?
        
        Do you mean that when the police told Barclay that he was not obliged to say enough anything and that anything he said could be used in evidence, they should have added the rider that the right to remain silent does not apply to National Party members?
        
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        July 24, 2017 10:48am
      - Psycho Milt
        
        Of course Barclay had the right to remain silent, and given his recent admission that he had actually taped the staff member in question, it’s obvious why he chose to remain silent. The question is why that prompted the Police to drop the investigation rather than look for other evidence. It’s not an approach the Police usually take to investigating alleged offences, for obvious reasons.
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:07am
      - Jack5
        
        Did they investigate allegations about the notorious tape recording made of the conversation between Banks and Key? Or of the leaks of email to Hager the Horrible?
        
        Or is it okay when the Left do it?
        
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        July 24, 2017 7:42pm
    - Chuck Bird
      
      There have been claims that Bennett was living with her now husband when on the DPB. This may or may not be true. I do not really care unless it was for years. However, the big difference between Turei and Bennett is that Turei refuses to say she did and thing wrong and she also refuses to criticize others who defrauding the system. That is why I will get the papers off the police tomorrow to file an official complaint.
      
      One lied, one says she never did: The untold back-stories of political leaders Paula Bennett and Metiria Turei
      
      Stuff asked Bennett if she had claimed the DPB while in a relationship, or while living with Philps.
      
      She said through a spokeswoman: “I was on and off a benefit during my teens and early twenties but I did not receive support that I wasn’t entitled to.”
      
      “I’m proud of the woman I am, it’s been a journey to get here. I have always been upfront about the fact that I haven’t led a blameless sin-free past.”
      
      https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/94627131/one-lied-one-says-she-never-did-the-untold-backstories-of-political-leaders-paula-bennett-and-metiria-turei
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:41am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Sounds like FBI and Clinton
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:53am
  - Liberty
    
    “ WINZ chief does not want to be going after a candidate who might end up being the Minister in charge”
    That has the stench of looking after one’s own arse.
    
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    July 24, 2017 11:19am
    - peterwn
      
      Be that as it may, but time is not of the essence in this case, she is hardly likely to skip the country. It just has to take its turn with WINZ investigators and it would take a few months for them to get their beans in a row. Anyway she will be suffering slow torture in the meantime.
      
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      July 24, 2017 12:31pm
      - calendar girl
        
        Sorry I can’t agree with that, peterwn.
        
        “Time is not of the essence” for a Government Department when Ms Truei’s co-leading a significant Party into a General Election, and could end up in two months’ time having considerable influence in a Coalition Government?
        
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        July 24, 2017 5:01pm
      - peterwn
        
        ‘calendar girl’ – Great care is needed in this sort of situation. Public servants need to take great care that they do not inadvertently influence elections since they could disadvantage a candidate or party. This happened in 2002 when the Serious Fraud Office chief advised Helen Clark (or her officials) of an investigation concerning National Party donations in accordance with a ‘no surprises’ policy. It seemed she abused confidence by going public in order to inflict damage on National. As far as I remember SFO found nothing untoward. Similarly there were issues where political aides in USA would suggest that IRS audit their political enemies with the aim of inflicting damage on that person (a tax audit is both stressful and costly in terms of paying an accountant even if the tax authorities find no issues). IRS wised up to this and declined to do such audits to protect their integrity. IRD in NZ would no doubt have similar policies. Therefore if Social Welfare choose not to investigate at this stage (or limit it to discreet enquiries) this decision needs to be respected. Granted there is a risk that an incoming government may smother an enquiry after the election, but it is more important that the election process is not unnecessarily interfered with.
        It is potentially a tricky situation and there could well be differing opinions as to the appropriate course of action.
        
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        July 24, 2017 10:42pm
- Happychappy
  
  Yoù know things are going against the Green Co Leader when Jane Bowen does a column criticising her and the reasons that she gave for this fraud.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:53am
  - peterwn
    
    Like the reasoning in ‘On the Buses’ movie.
    Driver has been promoted to Inspector and had to leave the union.
    “Why have you betrayed us by joining Management?” asked the shop steward.
    “Because I needed the money” replied the ex driver.
    “So did the Great Train Robbers”.
    
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    July 24, 2017 12:36pm
Happychappy

Are the gaps starting to open in Labours ranks with Kelvin Davis threatening to resign if the two charter schools are closed in the far north.
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July 24, 2017 8:15am
- peterwn
  
  So will Winston Peters now tell Tracey Martin to pull her head in over her charter school opposition?
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:21am
  - Happychappy
    
    Peterwn: Or does Internal Polling say Hone is a problem.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:25am
- GazzaW
  
  I was out of the country when Hipkins announced Labour’s education policy. Were charter schools mentioned or has Labour retreated on its policy of immediate closure?
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:44am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    As of 9th May, Labour’s policy was to abolish the Charter School model.
    
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/330371/labour-committed-to-anti-charter-school-policy-little
    
    Of course two months is long enough for Labour to have flip-flopped any number of times, but their policy on Charter Schools will be whatever the education unions tell them.
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:56am
    - GazzaW
      
      I’m surprised that there was no specific mention made of charter schools in the major announcement on their education policy. They obviously chose not to. Why? Closure would mean a very significant saving and the announcement was all about redistributing education dollars.
      
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      July 24, 2017 12:50pm
- Keeping Stock
  
  My respect for Kelvin Davis has gone up. He knows Charter Schools are having a positive impact for Maori, and he is prepared to put his principles ahead of Labour’s policy, which is based on teacher union dogma. Tino pai Kelvin.
  
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  July 24, 2017 10:53am
- Liberty
  
  Davis has to be a member to resign.
  It is not certain he will be a MP.
  
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  July 24, 2017 1:21pm
Monique Watson

esults of a recent research shows that there are 7 kinds of sex.

The 1st kind of sex is called: Smurf Sex. This kind of sex happens when you first meet someone and you both have sex until you are blue in the face.

The 2nd kind of sex is called: Kitchen Sex. This is when you have been with your partner for a short time and you are so needy you will have sex anywhere, even in the kitchen.

The 3rd kind of sex is called: Bedroom Sex. This is when you have been with your partner for a long time. Your sex has gotten routine and you usually have sex only in your bedroom.

The 4th kind of sex is called: Hallway Sex. This is when you have been with your partner for too long. When you pass each other in the hallway you both say “screw you”

The 5th kind of sex is called: Religious Sex. Which means you get Nun in the morning, Nun in the afternoon and Nun at night.

The 6th kind is called Courtroom Sex. This is when you cannot stand your wife any more. She takes you to court and screws you in front of everyone.

And Last, but not least…. The 7th kind of sex is called: Social Security Sex. You get a little each month. But not enough to enjoy yourself.
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July 24, 2017 8:31am
Notsofast

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
64% of teachers have given up all hope of owning a home. Thanks John Key for inviting corrupt Chinese cash to destroy your country.
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July 24, 2017 8:32am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  94% of Kiwibloggers have given up all hope of notsofast making any sense.
  Thanks David Farrar for allowing free speech on your blog.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:41am
  - Notsofast
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    In my experience this is a place for trenchant criticism of normally reasonable people. My chief interest is in the full exposee of the crooked prosecutions visited on innocent New Zealanders by low IQ L.E. This has wrought tremendous destruction, as insiders in the Lundy case will attest. David Tamihere and Zion King are further examples currently being exonerated.
    
    This judgement is a fascinating read, be very afraid of your police force. Not most of the time, but occasionally. The idea that being subject to a police inquiry is no biggie does not wash with those who experience it.
    
    http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/king-v-attorney-general/@@images/fileDecision?r=748.716654565
    
    And while we are freely speaking, ask all those who shared a dealing room with deserter Key how to make easy money in FX. It is illegal but hard to detect.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:55am
    - KevOB
      
      You have overstepped the mark making unsubstantiated allegations.
      That behaviour is reserved for deranged Democrat followers in the USA.
      
      Keep NZ American disease free.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:32am
    - Notsofast
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      I made no allegation. These people told me how they made money. Presumably Key knows how they made it, they conceded to me their activities were illegal.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:36am
      - KevOB
        
        But you chose to implicate Key without evidence.
        
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        July 24, 2017 1:18pm
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Just 94%?
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:23am
- MCos
  
  Not so fast there Notsofast, that second sentence needs fleshing out a bit.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:42am
  - Notsofast
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Crap it does. Outbidding in auctions was predominantly with crooked Chinese money.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:56am
- Peter
  
  Given the average wage of teachers, I’d say 64% struggle with maths.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:42am
- holysheet
  
  Bullshit. Unless 64% of all teachers live in the centre of Auckland, then this is just another lie promoted by the left.
  I am sure that any teacher living in Te Kuiti or any similar place would disagree with you.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:43am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    And that is exactly the point. The biggest attraction of teaching is that you can earn enough to have a comfortable lifestyle in cheap-to-live parts of the country.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:00am
    - Notsofast
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Garbage. Community is where you grow up. No one chooses the life of a forced exile. What is it with the selfish jerks on this blog, that they don’t give a flying fig for community?
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:04am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Not so fast there! I, for one, care about MY community and to an extent yours which is why I want to see no more muslim immigrants so that the community that I / we have, is preserved.
        
        Was that the answer?
        
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        July 24, 2017 9:16am
      - holysheet
        
        Whats to stop a teacher working in Auckland buying an investment property or two or three, in the cheaper parts of the country. Renting them out and selling them when they want to retire. That way they can have their “community” and have property.
        Win Win I would say, but this doesn’t fit the lefts narrative.
        Ask Helen or Sue, rental barons from way back, how it works for them.
        
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        July 24, 2017 9:16am
      - Peter
        
        Community is where you grow up? That’s rather limiting.
        
        The people who forced up land prices are all those who block roading and new development. We have an abundance of land.
        
        The selfish enviros and NIMBYs are mostly responsible
        
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        July 24, 2017 9:19am
      - Notsofast
        
        Paulus Gnome, no that is not the answer. I agree in principal that telling children flagrant lies from their earliest cognisance is child abuse, and that is what muslims are doing to their children. Some christians do it too, I would like phonetics for reading then pure science to launch rational children. But the subject is the source of money that grew the purulent abcess of the venal property market. It is China, and they despise us thoroughly for not looking after our children the way they do theirs.
        
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        July 24, 2017 9:44am
      - srylands
        
        “Community is where you grow up.”.
        
        So nobody is mobile? I couldn’t wait to escape where I grew up.
        
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        July 24, 2017 1:00pm
    - GazzaW
      
      Spot on Captain. I’m surprised that some KBers have so readily swallowed this story given their normal suspicions surrounding any story published by the NZ media. We have teachers in our family, Auckland-based, and whilst home ownership is a challenge for them neither are looking to move currently but both are quite accepting of the fact that they may have to if home ownership becomes a priority for them. Treat these stories with the same healthy degree of suspicion as you would any other NZ media reports.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:35am
  - G152
    
    And how do teachers think of their students families making far less than them but still living in the same Auckland and subject to the same expenses..
    That is, if teachers think ….
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:24am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Ah….
      Teachers must think that they have to live in a bigger, flasher, more expensive house than that of their working-class and unemployed clients.
      
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      July 24, 2017 11:13am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  110% of labour stalwarts believe their internal polling
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:44am
- Rich Prick
  
  It must be an election year if the teachers have started moaning.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:54am
Hugh Pavletich

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Auckland housing plan far too late – Labour | Newshub

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/07/auckland-housing-plan-far-too-late-labour.html

… extract …

… Labour’s Auckland issues spokesman Phil Twyford asked why the initiative took so long.

“Now weeks out from an election, and after nine years in office, they are desperate to look like they are doing something,” he says.

Labour will abolish the urban growth boundary and replace it with a new planning approach. It will roll out bonds receiving revenue from targeted rates. … read more via hyperlink above …

Housing – New Zealand Labour Party

http://www.labour.org.nz/housing

Infrastructure announcement too long coming … NZ Labour | Scoop News

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1707/S00333/infrastructure-announcement-too-long-coming.htm

… Read carefully the Governments panicked and convoluted ’solution’ … with (again) taxpayers being forced to bear the front – end risks … unnecessarily (if you haven’t got a solution … just splash the taxpayers cash … who cares … it’s not the politicians money) …

beehive.govt.nz – Crown company to invest $600m in housing infrastructure

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/crown-company-invest-600m-housing-infrastructure

… Is this the best this Government can come up with on infrastructure, following its major announcement near 5 years ago now … October 2012 … where the focus was to be on …

• Land supply
• Infrastructure financing
• Process … and …
• Construction costs

beehive.govt.nz – Govt responds to housing affordability report

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/govt-responds-housing-affordability-report
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July 24, 2017 8:42am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  … The Gerrry Brownlee chaired 2007 / 2008 Parliaments Commerce Committee Housing Affordability Inquiry … then Housing Minister Phil Heatleys pre 2008 election study tour to the UK and USA … and National leader in Opposition John Key’s 2007 public statements on housing … when (according to Key at the time) Auckland was in ‘crisis’ with housing at slightly north of 6.0 times annual household earnings. It is now 10.0 times !!!
  
  PM John Key on Housing Reform 2007 – YouTube
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPgoAI1cLE
  
  Google search … John Key Housing Reform 2007
  
  https://www.google.co.nz/?gws_rd=ssl#q=john+key+housing+reform+2007+&spf=1500839928648
  
  … Following near 13 years of intense public discussion since the release of the 1st Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey back early 2005 … this writer made it clear at the time of the release of this years (13th) Annual Survey ( http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf … full schedule accessible at http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/ … in particular check out the GONE GONE GOING section) that there is now a broad consensus on these issues. The only thing lacking is effective political leadership …
  
  Not PC: New Zeraland’s housing consensus: Where is the political leadership ?
  
  http://pc.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/auckland-worlds-fourth-hardest-to-buy.html
  
  Haven’t THE WINDBAGS FROM WELLINGTON had more than enough time these near 9 years to have sorted the problem ?
  
  Enough is enough.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:44am
  - thedavincimode
    
    Enough is enough.
    
    Ain’t that the truth.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:51am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      I couldn’t agree more. These lecture from Hugh are becoming too repetitive and hectoring, and he really needs to seek professional help for all the hate that is coursing through his veins.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:52am
      - Happychappy
        
        And especially when Twyford is promoting Hughs Policy.
        
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        July 24, 2017 10:06am
  - hmmokrightitis
    
    You know you’re talking to yourself Hugh? Do either of you make sense anywhere in some parallel universe?
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:58am
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Above posted at …
    https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/07/links-24-july-2017/#comment-2921634
    
    NEW ZEALAND’S HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE: GOVERNMENT’S PANICKED & CONVOLUTED PRE-ELECTION SOLUTION … read more via hyperlink above …
    
    Our Trans – Tasman pals admire the political progress we Kiwis are making with these issues.
    
    I made mention of this within an interview with Heather du Plessis Allan mid last year … accessible via my archival website http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org .
    
    New Zealand has a very healthy little democracy indeed.
    
    We should be very proud of that.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:08am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  As per yesterday, the day before and most likely the day before that: too much , too early, too often, f off
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:47am
  - sooty
    
    Hugh might as well just set his stuff to repeat the same stuff each day as l think that very few people read it and no one would know the difference.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:24am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      He does.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:28am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Mostly all new material chappies … as the announcement was made only yesterday … Sunday.
        
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        July 24, 2017 10:05am
    - Rich Prick
      
      Repeating yourself, day in day out fixated on the same thing, is an early sign of the on-set of dementia.
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:05am
      - sooty
        
        Hugh you shold get a new hobby, as your present one seams to ocupy too much of your time, for so little reward.
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:27am
Fisiani

60 days till we all vote and then Winston chooses the PM.
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July 24, 2017 8:53am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Assuming his liver lasts another 60 days; if not, it might be up to the SAS mechanic, or the South Pacific special trougher.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:57am
  - Paulus
    
    Peters’s problem is lungs specifically, not only liver.
    
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    July 24, 2017 1:34pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Won’t happen.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:03am
  - thedavincimode
    
    You forget the “two ticks” Captain Two Ticks.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:15am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      So I did. Aliog has fixed my omission.
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:29am
  - Aliog
    
    Two ticks blue. Seeing you haven’t said it this morning yet, Captain, and seeing it is the single most important message for the campaign 🙂
    Edit tdv beat me to it!
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:16am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Worth repeating 🙂
      
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      July 24, 2017 9:41am
    - peterwn
      
      Except Ohariu – one tick National, one tick Peter Dunne. Brett Hudson won’t mind. A chocolate fish to the first person who sees an election hoarding with Brett’s face on it.
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:09am
  - KevOB
    
    ☑️☑️
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:37am
- GazzaW
  
  @Fisiani
  
  There’s no need to gift that opportunity to Winston.
  
  A double tick for Blue is all that’s required.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:15am
  - KevOB
    
    ☑️☑️
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:37am
cas

As I was dozing in the early hours of this morning I heard a defiant Meteria talk about taking her kid and dog ( little dog she said) to the beach, which suggests she had a car as well.

So I wonder if she committed another crime by not registering either the car or the dog so that she could have more money to feed her kid ( and I imagine the dog didn’t starve either>).

I think we should be told.
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July 24, 2017 9:01am
- VicParking
  
  I can just see her now, KFC bucket in hand, with her Legalise marijuana team discussing the dope of the day or the McGillicuddy Serious Party discussing the idiot of the day. Just the right background one needs to be a Minister of the Crown.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:16am
Fletch

Evan Sayet writes at Truth Revolt about Trump’s tactics and why being polite has failed the Right.

My Leftist friends (as well as many ardent #NeverTrumpers) constantly ask me if I’m not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum. They ask if I don’t think his tweets are “beneath the dignity of the office.” Here’s my answer:

We Right-thinking people have tried dignity. There could not have been a man of more quiet dignity than George W. Bush as he suffered the outrageous lies and politically motivated hatreds that undermined his presidency. We tried statesmanship. Could there be another human being on this earth who so desperately prized “collegiality” as John McCain? We tried propriety – has there been a nicer human being ever than Mitt Romney? And the results were always the same.

This is because, while we were playing by the rules of dignity, collegiality and propriety, the Left has been, for the past 60 years, engaged in a knife fight where the only rules are those of Saul Alinsky and the Chicago mob.

I don’t find anything “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper” about Barack Obama’s lying about what went down on the streets of Ferguson in order to ramp up racial hatreds because racial hatreds serve the Democratic Party. I don’t see anything “dignified” in lying about the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi and imprisoning an innocent filmmaker to cover your tracks. I don’t see anything “statesman-like” in weaponizing the IRS to be used to destroy your political opponents and any dissent. Yes, Obama was “articulate” and “polished” but in no way was he in the least bit “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper.”

The Left has been engaged in a war against America since the rise of the Children of the ‘60s. To them, it has been an all-out war where nothing is held sacred and nothing is seen as beyond the pale. It has been a war they’ve fought with violence, the threat of violence, demagoguery and lies from day one – the violent take-over of the universities – till today.

The problem is that, through these years, the Left has been the only side fighting this war. While the Left has been taking a knife to anyone who stands in their way, the Right has continued to act with dignity, collegiality and propriety.

With Donald Trump, this all has come to an end. Donald Trump is America’s first wartime president in the Culture War.

More – http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/evan-sayet-he-fights
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July 24, 2017 9:01am
- MCos
  
  I recently read the autobiography of Diane Moseley, wife of the pre war fascist leader Oswald Moseley. In that capacity she became acquaintances of both Winston Churchchill & Adolf Hitler and others.
  Almost invariably when these chaps were away from the business for which they are best known they were rather charming fellows.
  I’ve read the same about Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Stalin, Kim Jung Il even.
  So when someone says how wonderful a politician’s public persona appears to be it doesn’t mean much, I’m afraid.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:38am
- Psycho Milt
  
  Wow, the US really is full of loons. This stuff will rot your brain, Fletch.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:43am
  - Gruffydd
    
    To late….
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:17am
  - Fletch
    
    So, you disagree with him then?
    
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    July 24, 2017 11:26am
    - Gruffydd
      
      It works like this Fletch.
      I have explored your links in the past.
      Often they are total nonsense or blatant spin,
      Or hyperventilating RWNJ’s ranting .Like the attack on abortion alleging selling of baby’s.
      
      Cut n pasteing screeds from some source with an ideological bent and a history of being wrong just gets Scrolled.
      . …. .
      Tl;dr.
      Try some ideas of your own .
      Make an argument supported with links.
      If your argument has merit some may engage.
      
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      July 24, 2017 12:29pm
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        ‘some may engage’ or not, ask Hugh P how it is going for him
        
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        July 24, 2017 1:30pm
BeaB

Still so many questions about Metiria’s fraud. Surely the first dollar you receive would go on your child’s food, especially as a little baby does not need a huge amount and Metiria herself always looks well fed. And had the cash to gallivant around with the McGillicuddys and others. What kind of rotten cad is the father, watching his baby starve? Why didn’t he help? Did he have a job? Was he living with them? Were he and Metiria cohabiting? What about his mother? Why would she stand by and let her grand-daughter suffer? As a former Labour MP surely she has one of those giant Lefty social consciences. Or is she as neglectful as her son seems to have been.
Still so many unanswered questions and no efforts at all being made by the media.
I guess at least we will be spared Metiria’s smug moralising in Parliament. What a hypocrite she has turned out to be. Sickening.
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July 24, 2017 9:05am
- GazzaW
  
  Question Time tomorrow. Will she front?
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:12am
  - peterwn
    
    Unfortunately party leaders (except the PM and support party Ministers) cannot be asked Parliamentary questions.
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:05am
    - Right of way is Way of Right
      
      An issue easily remedied by a patsy question to the Minister of Social Development along the lines of “Has she received any reports regarding long term benefit fraud?”
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:37am
    - GazzaW
      
      There’s more than one way of skinning a cat 😉
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:55am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        or knee-capping a frog . . . . .
        
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        July 24, 2017 1:32pm
    - VicParking
      
      She wont dare ask a question in the next 60 days thats for sure
      
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      July 24, 2017 3:32pm
- Keeping Stock
  
  What kind of rotten cad is the father, watching his baby starve? Why didn’t he help?
  
  Not all the blame can be attributed to Paul Hartley. Turei is also to blame because she point-blank refused to name him as the father:
  
  Turei had felt the sting of the sanction herself when she didn’t name the father of her daughter. She said she did it to protect him from Winz harassment with the goal to keep their relationship positive for their daughter.
  
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11886812
  
  Also, as a law student, you’d think Turei would realise that Child Support is administered by IRD, not WINZ. However her public statements have probably meant that Paul Hartley will be chased by IRD for unpaid Child Support from Piupiu’s birth date until her 19th birthday. I doubt he feels particularly kindly disposed to Ms Turei now.
  
  Every action has a consequence. Metiria Turei is rapidly discovering that.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:36am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Paul Hartley must have been desperate for a leg-over.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:54am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      Let’s not even go there Captain. That’s their business, and their’s alone.
      
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      July 24, 2017 10:04am
      - holysheet
        
        When we the taxpayers are paying for it’s results, it becomes our business.
        
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        July 24, 2017 12:07pm
  - BeaB
    
    Of course he can be blamed too. He is the father. Just because she didn’t name him to WINZ doesn’t mean he didn’t know who he was!
    We all know his name.
    Why did he stand by and allow his baby daughter to go without? Why didn’t he step in and help Metiria? Why did he allow the fraud without stepping in to help?
    Or did they have an arrangement so he wasn’t named but slipped her the money? Was he part of the fraud too?
    Whatever, Metiria’s account paints him as a cad and deadbeat dad while she nobly strove to do a law degree, struggle as a single mum and cheat the taxpayer to get enough money for her lifestyle.
    Why didn’t his mum, the former Labour MP, give him a clip round the ear and tell him to man up and look after his child?
    Is anyone going to interview him or his mother?
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:21am
    - srylands
      
      You need to back up there.
      
      A father that makes a private arrangement to pay child support to a mother is not acting unlawfully. Of course if the mother applies for a benefit she is obliged to inform WINZ of that support. WINZ will immediately require the mother to apply for child support via IRD, effectively negating any private arrangement.
      
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      July 24, 2017 1:18pm
      - Piniwi
        
        Equally provisions can be made in the settlement when the marriage fails. The important aspect is enumerate any financial concessions made and a dollar value as well as signed off by both parties. The calibre of legal eagles in the department is not the highest and they sometimes fail to acknowledge any concessions. However the court is not so blind but rather dispenses blind justice. The drawback is though you might get the right decision one has to foot the cost of contesting false claim by the DSW “lawyer”. Cheaper than on-going payment so write it in and get it formerly acknowledged by the other party in the settlement. ANY financial concessions made on the children’s behalf need to be set down chapter and verse. It is essential if being a good guy you are also seen to be and not assume anything.
        
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        July 24, 2017 4:20pm
- Rich Prick
  
  The answer to all of those questions is that the “hunger” and “suffering” is utter bullshit. And cynically designed to make Turei’s fraud look reasonable.
  
  That Turei is using her daughter as a human shield, shows that she is a pathetic person who will use anyone for her own selfish gain. I struggle to find polite words to express the contempt I have for this creature.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:42am
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Still so many questions about Metiria’s fraud.
  
  Still so much idle and malicious speculation, gossip and finger-pointing about Metiria Turei’s time on the benefit. The media isn’t a fishwives’ star chamber, thank Christ.
  
  Also: funny how all the people who used to go on about “Key Derangement Syndrome” whenever someone suggested the sun didn’t shine out of the ex-PM’s arse are now obsessed with digging dirt on Metiria Turei. Actually, strike that – not funny, just embarrassing to watch.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:48am
  - BeaB
    
    This is a smug, entitled MP who has preached high standards of morality to everyone in the Government, especially John Key. Just read Hansard.
    This isn’t gossip. It is a disgraceful story of fraud and theft. I think much of it actually is carefully crafted spin and isn’t even true.
    She could be deputy Prime Minister in a few weeks time if too many wallies vote for Winston and let in Labour and the Greens.
    We deserve to know the truth and she should bear the consequences of her choices.
    Imagine having enough money to feed your dog but not your baby!!
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:25am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      This isn’t gossip. It is a disgraceful story of fraud and theft.
      
      Fraud and theft? Did she rob a dairy as well?
      
      Bill English ripping us off for tens of thousands of dollars via falsely claiming an accommodation supplement was a disgraceful story of fraud. Turei not telling WINZ about her flatmates, on the other hand, is a story of what happens when you let Ruth Richardson reduce benefits to a level impossible to live on. People who aren’t National voters can tell the difference.
      
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      July 24, 2017 11:14am
      - simpleton1
        
        “reduce benefits to a level impossible to live on. People who aren’t National voters can tell the difference.”
        
        Demanding money/taxes also to the death and stress of some perhaps National voters.
        
        “Put humanity back into taxation urge experts
        30 Jun, 2000 3:24pm”
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2113
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:26am
      - Prince
        
        English didn’t ‘rip us off’. He relied on the advice of Parliamentary Services.
        Turei told outright lies.
        Can you see the difference ?
        I guess you can’t.
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:43am
      - BeaB
        
        I am constantly amused by the leftwing apologists and their moral contortions to sanctify Metiria yet demonise anyone from National.
        Perhaps we should just take a look at some of Metiria’s own high moral pronouncements in Hansard to see the standards she sets others but not for herself.
        She is a hypocrite and can never be a minister in a Labour-Greens government.
        Pity as I’d love to watch her on the rack at question time!
        
        PS of course it’s theft – from the public purse.
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:53am
      - Psycho Milt
        
        Demanding money/taxes also to the death and stress of some perhaps National voters.
        
        Maybe you should direct it to the people on this site demanding the government rigorously pursue all instances of incorrect payments when it comes to beneficiaries.
        
        English didn’t ‘rip us off’. He relied on the advice of Parliamentary Services.
        
        I doubt very much that Parliamentary Services advised him to put his house in a trust so he could pretend he didn’t own it. And I find it even more unlikely that they’d advise him to make a false declaration about where he lived so he could claim accommodation allowances. Those things he did on his own ill-judged advice.
        
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        July 24, 2017 12:44pm
      - simpleton1
        
        Some people being forced to pay extraneous taxes, that combined with penalties, penalty interest, that compounds monthly, that killed or bankrupted them.
        It was an austere time, demand for benefits, and demand for taxes.
        
        “Put humanity back into taxation urge experts
        30 Jun, 2000 3:24pm”
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2113
        
        It makes it seem that it is because they are national party voters and so ok to demand money with that.
        
        I do find it is an issue when WINZ or IRD do pursue people that are over paid/incorrectly, and are unwittingly aware of it.
        
        How ever to commit fraud is wrong, whether a national party voter or labour or green party voter.
        edit hip-cup
        
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        July 24, 2017 1:42pm
      - calendar girl
        
        “I doubt very much that Parliamentary Services advised him to put his house in a trust so he could pretend he didn’t own it.”
        
        1. Where is there any evidence that Parliamentary Services advised English (and / or his wife?) to put his (their?) house into a trust ….?
        
        2. From the time the house became owned by a trust, at law it was not owned by him (or his wife).
        
        Your attempts at smearing are rather crude, arguably less ‘clever’ than you seem to believe.
        
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        July 24, 2017 5:33pm
VicParking

The Matariki awards. Glad to see maori celebrating their culture. I wonder what would happen if a set of European awards was suggested?.
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July 24, 2017 9:05am
- kowtow
  
  Sadly paid for by the honki tonki taxpayers out there in the real world.
  
  The media were making a great play the other day over maori business success (no doubt also built on the back of the taxpayer), too bad they don’t pay for their own racist celebrations.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:18am
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Er, a set of European awards already exists. John Key got one this year, for services to the National Party.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:42am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Psycho Milt lives in a place where bitter meets twisted. I wonder how Helen Clark reacted when her trusted deputy Sir Michael Cullen accepted his knighthood, she having disestablished them.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:49am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      You wonder about that? Why do you care? What with not being bitter and twisted, an’ all.
      
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      July 24, 2017 11:16am
  - Prince
    
    More lies from the Psycho.
    
    11 2
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    July 24, 2017 11:45am
    - Gabby
      
      More Mince from the Prince.
      
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      July 24, 2017 8:41pm
- Rich Prick
  
  Ask the Auckland university students who wanted to celebrate their European culture by forming a club. Hint, it didn’t end well once the SJW’s took an interest.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:44am
  - MCos
    
    There’s no such thing as ‘European culture’. Europe is an artificial collection of neighboring nations all with their own or multiple cultures.
    
    3 27
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    July 24, 2017 10:40am
    - Rich Prick
      
      Oh dear. We’ve got a live one here. That’s as silly as saying that there is no such thing as American culture because the union is a collection of artificial States.
      
      26 1
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      July 24, 2017 10:54am
      - MCos
        
        So you’re saying Greece, for example, has the same culture as Ireland or Poland or even nearby Turkey?
        
        4 23
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        July 24, 2017 11:05am
      - Rich Prick
        
        I can’t be bothered with this, but will say Turkey isn’t part of Europe. You should know that.
        
        12 2
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        July 24, 2017 11:12am
      - MCos
        
        Turkey (/ˈtɜːrki/; Turkish: Türkiye [ˈtyɾcije]), officially the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: About this sound Türkiye Cumhuriyeti ; pronounced [ˈtyɾcije d͡ʒumˈhuɾijeti]), is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe.
        
        I’m not suprised you didn’t know that . . . .
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:38am
      - Rich Prick
        
        You did read that definition, didn’t you? *Thinks to self* Why am I discussing geography today …
        
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        July 24, 2017 11:49am
    - GazzaW
      
      You mean just like tribal ‘Aotearoa’ was a single culture? 😉
      
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      July 24, 2017 12:38pm
    - VicParking
      
      Same therefore is true of American black “culture”.
      An artifical collection of people from neighouring nation brought to america by force.
      
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      July 24, 2017 3:37pm
- MCos
  
  There probably already are. There’s various European cultures that have associations in NZ.
  There are also Asian groups. Indian, Chinese, Thai etc. There’s a Tibetan temple round the corner from me & we’ve often been to Thai festivals.
  So, what’s your problem?
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:47am
GazzaW

The Herald has just fired out one of its interminable Breaking News flashes. It refers to controversial new ‘citizen’ Peter Thiel (the Herald’s parentheses not mine). Memo to the Herald – Peter Thiel is a fully accreditted citizen of New Zealand and far more Kiwi than your own bastardised mixed Aussie/Kiwi parentage so conveniently cobbled together to provide some legitimacy to your claim to be NZ owned.
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July 24, 2017 9:09am
- Gabby
  
  They’ve been here longer than 12 days guzzla, and prolly paid more taxes too.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:39pm
4077th

@ Fletch:
It wouldn’t surprise me if Hillary was presently at McCain’s bedside looking all sympathetic while just under the blanket she is slowly squeezing the oxygen tube.
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July 24, 2017 9:23am
- MickMac
  
  or standing on it whilst smiling for the cameras…
  
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  July 24, 2017 10:08am
- Inandout
  
  Horrible mind flash then when you mentioned Hillary ‘squeezing the oxygen tube’. I remember the House of Cards episode when Claire Underwood visited a dying Secret Service man in hospital. He blurted out that he had a secret lust for her and she responded by putting her hand under the bed covers and gave him a ‘tubal liquidation’.
  
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  July 24, 2017 11:26am
- Nermal
  
  Why would she do that? McCain has done more to help the Democrats than he has ever done for the Republican cause.
  
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  July 24, 2017 12:47pm
  - 4077th
    
    Indeed, perhaps he has secrets she would prefer not to be told? 🙂
    
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    July 24, 2017 1:25pm
Yvette

Hugh Pavletich, from your obvious knowledge of Auckland housing, please tell me roughly how much do you think the average amount of rent, per week, would a person have paid for a three bedroom house in Auckland around 1995, at the lower end of the market?
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July 24, 2017 9:24am
- Prince
  
  Don’t invoke his name, please.
  
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  July 24, 2017 11:46am
Keeping Stock

You’ll all have to excuse Hugh if he lashes out today, but he’s had a major setback. His hero Shamubeel Eaqub has bought a house and given up renting, because he wants stability for his family.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/94966044/Shamubeel-Eaqub-I-ve-bought-a-house-at-last
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July 24, 2017 9:27am
- 4077th
  
  Mr Eaqub is so full of it his eyes are brown. I remember his comment about renting and that buying was a failed strategy. He never will be anyone I would listen to for fiscal advise. He and Bernard Hickey should get together and build a doomsday shelter they can live in while the sky is falling. Meanwhile, Tony Alexander and the rest of us will be doing just fine above ground.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:42am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    He’s the bloke who described Whanganui as a Zombie Town a couple of years ago. He couldn’t be more wrong. Whanganui is growing, new businesses are starting up, and it’s a great place to bring up a family with affordable house prices, a terrific climate, fantastic arts and cafe scenes, and not a zombie in sight.
    
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    July 24, 2017 9:47am
    - VicParking
      
      Yes a great town…..
      Its a pitty that the District Council is so poorly run and full of Labour “spend its not our money” councillors. While the parks are run down, the water pipes are bursting and the town floods if someones pisses upstream they spend up large on on stupid programs like covering rotting velodromes, wharves to nowhere and art galleries and museums that have more staff than visitors.
      
      12 2
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      July 24, 2017 10:27am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      It’s a wee bit windy…….
      OK, not as bad as Wellington, but don’t take sandwiches down to the beach unless you want a mouthful of iron filings.
      
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      July 24, 2017 11:21am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        Nowhere near as windy as Palmerston North Maggy 😎
        
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        July 24, 2017 2:45pm
      - VicParking
        
        Ever had a curry in Whanganui. Makes cook straight feel like the doldrums.
        
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        July 24, 2017 3:40pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Wasn’t Shamubeel Eaqub’s argument that for some people, they were better to pour their capital elsewhere rather than home ownership? That rent is not necessarily “dead money”, as, even when you factor it in and crunch the numbers, some still don’t make a sufficient return on their house investment in the long term to justify that financial choice compared to others?
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:42am
    - waikatogirl
      
      You’d have to buy a house in deepest Otara and then trash it before putting it on the market not to have made a profit on a house sale in the last 5 years in Auckland.
      
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      July 24, 2017 12:48pm
      - 4077th
        
        Exactly WG. Mr Eaqub should know, as an “economist” that better use of the capital would likely attract taxation in many forms. Acquiring realestate (at the time) will have now paid a sizeable TAX FREE dividend. Perhaps from a leftist’s economic world view, it is more sensible to not fuel the housing market but from an investment point of view his advise was very poor.
        
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        July 24, 2017 1:38pm
      - Kimbo
        
        But most New Zealanders do not own a family home in Auckland…or even Wellington or Tauranga for that matter. That’s part of his point I think…
        
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        July 24, 2017 2:48pm
      - 4077th
        
        @Kimbo
        Sure, if he is specific about that in his commentary but he is not. For the most part, he is fixated with the Auckland market and almost all of his rhetoric is about the impact of Auckland house prices on those who seemingly cannot afford it. This is his narrative and his regular touchstone when giving opinion on “the economy”.
        
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        July 24, 2017 4:45pm
- Left Right and Centre
  
  Er – chardonnay sipping rental advocate ?
  
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  July 24, 2017 11:27am
Rodney Randall

Generation Rent: Rethinking New Zealand’s Priorities was a great read.

What have you published 4077th?
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July 24, 2017 9:55am
- Rodney Randall
  
  Nothing, thought as much
  
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  July 24, 2017 10:26am
  - 4077th
    
    Is that the only argument you have? I told you I am not the least bit interested in anything that wannabe “economist” has to say, even less so now he has revealed is rank hypocrisy.
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:29am
  - 4077th
    
    Eaqub’s failed predictions for GDP vs actual..Like I said, he is a wannabe “economist”. He is a Labour lapdog spinning the “housing affordability” line on their behalf mostly because people have stopped listening to Bernard Hickey and his baseless rantings.
    
    Eaqub’s rantings from Q+A December 2011.
    
    (Paul Holmes)
    “These forecasts of yours last week – 1.5% and 1.8% and they’re lower than government projections, are they going to allow the government to balance the books by 2015? By 2014, 2015?
    
    (Eaqub)
    “We think it will be very hard. They would have to cut spending more aggressively than they have signalled to be able to do that or raise the revenue”.
    
    Below, actual GDP figures from RBNZ.
    
    2011Q4 1.8
    2012Q1 2.3
    2012Q2 2.6
    2012Q3 2.6
    2012Q4 2.5
    2013Q1 2.2
    2013Q2 2.2
    2013Q3 2.5
    2013Q4 2.2
    2014Q1 2.4
    2014Q2 2.5
    2014Q3 2.6
    2014Q4 3.4
    2015Q1 3.4
    2015Q2 3.3
    2015Q3 3.0
    2015Q4 2.5
    
    Mr Eaqub was obviously drunk on Labour’s cool aid as the numbers plainly demonstrate.
    
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    July 24, 2017 11:02am
- Peter
  
  Those who pontificate on matters financial are best judged, in my view, by their track record over time.
  
  Buffet has earned the right to be taken seriously. Those commentators who failed to pick an obvious property market – not so much.
  
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  July 24, 2017 12:36pm
  - 4077th
    
    Agreed! Mr Eaqub managed to finally buy a house right at the top of the market or as some might tell you, at the beginning of a decline. There is some stunning financial smarts on display right there!
    
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    July 24, 2017 1:28pm
    - VicParking
      
      No doubt he has locked a mortgage in at 5%+ for four years, until the crash is over and National have a Majority on their own. Thats Labour smarts for you.
      
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      July 24, 2017 3:43pm
- Happychappy
  
  Is that going to the same as generational welfare as they just about get every thing paid for now.
  
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  July 24, 2017 1:43pm
Rodney Randall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KuuNaOMVUk

Kiwis of Snapchat #13: It’s time to take down Winston Peters
The Spinoff

Today: a special National Party emergency meeting.

GOLD
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July 24, 2017 9:58am
Manolo

The RINOs have taken it over.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-are-in-full-control-of-government–but-losing-control-of-their-party/2017/07/23/b1ab6bbc-6d92-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.db2184a6fcc1
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July 24, 2017 11:00am
Manolo

Another left-winger should bite the dust at the next election:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-renzi-analysis-idUSKBN1A80FI

Matteo Renzi is struggling to regain the political initiative after a disastrous spell during which he lost his job as prime minister and his party fractured.

His approval ratings are in slow decline, his attempts to reassert control over the ruling Democratic Party (PD) are flailing and his efforts to control the coalition government from outside parliament have foundered.
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July 24, 2017 11:02am
Chuck Bird

This is a principled stand by Winston. One just has to look at his Facebook page to seen a large number of Maori who have said you have lost my vote. He of course hope to gain other votes but he is prepared to take the risk. He has not paid for private pooling or focus groups to determine his stance. The Maori seats are detrimental to hardworking Maori and only benefit the brown elite.

NZ Herald Editorial: Maori electorate referendum threatens longstanding minority rights

After some uncertainty whether party leader Winston Peters favoured leaving the decision with Maori voters – the preferred option of his Maori affairs spokesman and MP Pita Paraone – Peters issued a statement stating that “every registered voter” would be entitled to cast a vote.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11892683
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July 24, 2017 11:32am
- Psycho Milt
  
  This is a principled stand by Winston.
  
  Winston has more bottom lines than an elephant. A few months from now Minister Peters will be breezing past journalists who want to know about this “bottom line” and telling them he doesn’t have time for their lies and foolishness.
  
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  July 24, 2017 12:48pm
- sam green
  
  @ Chuck Bird
  
  “… only benefit the brown elite.”
  
  You mean the rich pricks? Sounds like envy to me Chuck.
  
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  July 24, 2017 3:47pm
Groza

The whole incidident with MT and benefit Fraud has blown out of proportion, did labour entice workers on fraudulently missrepresentative false pretenses (probably), did they violate electoral legislation by not declaring the value of goods and services and money received (probably), did they commit immigration fraud by bringing people over on non-working visas then giving those workers renumeration (food, board and the like) probably. Did MT break the law by encouraging benefit fraud, yes most likely I believe it is a statutory offense to encourage people to break the law, not that this stops the police I guess they are above the law too…

It is also likely slander to say that voting for any other candidate is voting to murder children and babies…. I mean that is a pretty big accusation and if untrue would certainly be a very damaging lie if people were to believe it, I believe their would be grounds for some sort of compensation.

Certainly a breach of her oath of office, and her membership of her party, and likely a confession that she missrepresented herself in obtaining her license to practice as a lawyer which undoubtably contained some form of statutory decleration that she is of good charachter and not a criminal persons, therefore every dollar every cent she obtained through that license was obtained fraudulantly, and ofcourse any profit that she may have made from her scheme (and/or) boarding house business is liable to tax and having not been paid subject to penalty of 10% of the ammount payable plus 1% of that amount payable and 1% of the penalty MONTHLY. This is seperate from any time value of money penalties from WINZ.

At the end of the day, it is nothing new, just look at the way they try to rile one another against each other, to turn us on ourselves, the hatred they preach against succesfull people, the names they call anyone who disagrees with them, I mean gareth morgan was on the radio saying in response to how he would pay for all this stuff ‘rich people, old rich people, why shouldn’t they pay’, look at the lefts track record in europe and latin america, look at what a wonderfull place North Korea or Venezuela is, look at how many businesses are flocking to the heavily unionised French Republic…. You really get a sense of self worth and a feeling of being respected for being an indiviudal in those countries right?

It shouldn’t be news to anyone that these people are not nice people. I mean going around taking everyones stuff (theft) is not nice, going around bossing everyone arround is not nice is it, and stirring up resentment and hatred and spreading lies is not nice is it? And they have always portrayed themselves like this. So when they confess to this crime or are caught doing that I don’t know why people get so worked up?
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July 24, 2017 11:37am
sooty

I went over to visit whale oil site. I must say that I like the te moko tattoo that Matiria Turei has had applied on her face. If only someone would do it to the Greens election billboards.
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July 24, 2017 11:53am
- VicParking
  
  Such a steady hand or has you visit to WO not kicked in yet. Its like crawling through a piggery on your belly.
  
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  July 24, 2017 3:48pm
cmm

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/95034823/british-foreign-secretary-boris-johnson-in-kaikoura

In a joke, Boris says a hongi could be misinterpreted in Glasgow as a Glasgow kiss (a headbutt) and the luvvies are getting bent out of shape.

Well he’s right.

And a haka is basically just a bunch of soccer hooligans shouting death threats.
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July 24, 2017 11:59am
- Inandout
  
  Oh the lefties are in full form on the Stuff comments section, attacking Boris in the normal vicious way they do things.
  
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  July 24, 2017 12:11pm
  - sam green
    
    Bloody lefties – so vicious – what was it you said again about Meteria?
    
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    July 24, 2017 3:44pm
    - dad4justice
      
      sam , I just gave a gween election billboard with that horrible huckster that is a fraudulent cow a liverpool kiss. It looks much better now.
      
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      July 24, 2017 5:23pm
      - sam green
        
        Good for you love.
        
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        July 24, 2017 6:57pm
      - Gabby
        
        You need to watch where you’re going dud4jammies.
        
        2 2
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        July 24, 2017 8:25pm
- waikatogirl
  
  The left have no sense of humour when they get the chance to instead take a joke as an insult.
  
  Some of us did get the joke Boris. ?
  Welcome to NZ.
  
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  July 24, 2017 12:55pm
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Agree wholeheartedly Waikatogirl.
    
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    July 24, 2017 2:53pm
  - Gabby
    
    Blobby Jobby’s coming over here to fulfil the 12 day residency requirement.
    
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    July 24, 2017 8:24pm
- Longknives
  
  Boris is Awesome!
  
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  July 24, 2017 4:58pm
  - sam green
    
    http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/14/boris-johnson-slashed-londons-fire-services-in-2014-and-told-rival-politician-to-get-stuffed-6708609/
    
    What a guy!
    
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    July 24, 2017 7:47pm
starboard

Tainui rolling in it but don’t pay tax. Yeah that’s fair..not.

http://www.hobsonspledge.nz/?e=9b994ffb6bd9141c440866831e0a7b44&utm_source=hobsonspledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=media_release28&n=2
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July 24, 2017 1:22pm
starboard

***Sultan Ali Abdul Ali Akbari must go***

Convicted sexual deviant Akbari must go.
Children and women in NZ won’t be safe until this filthy dirtbag has been deported back to the shithole it came from.
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July 24, 2017 2:35pm
Manolo

NYC “royalty” and Democrat mayor:
http://nypost.com/2017/07/23/homeless-booted-from-subways-so-de-blasio-could-have-clean-ride/

Mayor de Blasio ventured into the city’s decrepit subway system on Sunday — but didn’t have to face the foul-smelling and often crazy vagrants that ordinary New Yorkers are forced to contend with every day.

That’s because police were ordered to oust all the homeless people from two stations ahead of the mayor’s four-stop press event as he rode from his Park Slope gym to his new re-election headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn.
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July 24, 2017 3:40pm
starboard

Another violent special..

https://i.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/95047132/pamper-party-trial-crown-opens
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July 24, 2017 3:40pm
Manolo

Hungary speaks against Soros’ agenda:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4722180/Hungary-accuses-EU-Soros-Muslimising-Europe.html

EU leaders and Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros are seeking a ‘new, mixed, Muslimised Europe,’ according to Hungary’s anti-migration prime minister.
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July 24, 2017 4:19pm
Longknives

Jack Tame and Hilary were discussing the need for ‘Gender Neutral’ kids clothes at New Zealand Stores on Breakfast this morning- Jack was literally shrieking his disgust at those of us who differentiate between ‘Boys and Girls’. (The child should decide you see..)
I bought my wee Boy a Blue Star Wars T-Shirt the other day.
Who knew that R2D2 would be corrupting his little mind and forcing evil ‘Gender Stereotypes’ on him? I’m so ashamed..
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July 24, 2017 5:07pm
- Keeping Stock
  
  Jack Tame is “Talent Neutral”; just sayin’…
  
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  July 24, 2017 5:45pm
  - dad4justice
    
    What gender is Jack Tame?
    
    6 6
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    July 24, 2017 6:33pm
    - Longknives
      
      Gender is nothing more than a ‘Social Construct’ D4J! Didn’t you know?..
      
      8 1
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      July 24, 2017 6:48pm
      - dad4justice
        
        Silly me Longknives I should have known that the Tame thing goes to a different toilet from Mike Hosking at TVNZ.
        
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        July 24, 2017 6:53pm
      - stigie
        
        You reckon he might be a ladyboy at night Dad..?
        
        4 0
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        July 24, 2017 7:47pm
      - dad4justice
        
        stigie, gender fluid people do not exist.
        
        Please stop nurturing this insanity.
        
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        July 24, 2017 8:15pm
    - Steve (North Shore)
      
      Hillary’s Son – so I guess male. I have been wrong before
      
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      July 24, 2017 7:17pm
Southern Raider

OMG just listening to a Sociologist on ZB

First issue is he’s an Australian lecturing at a NZ university

Secondly he hates success and banged on about inequality and how philanthropy doesn’t count

His claim was that even if Bill Gates gave away $89B it doesn’t count and he’s still evil as he would still have $1B left which is too much
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July 24, 2017 5:49pm
Sublime

Synthetic cannabis in the news again. With it will come more echoes from the dak debate – do we legalise/de-crim marijuana?

Morally, I don’t really have an issue with it. In the past I have even toyed with the idea of supporting its decriminalisation. But, after working on farms around the world (operating machinery), travelling to mine sites, and being around heavy diesel equipment in general I don’t think I could ever support legalisation. The thought of an environment where it’s legal to sit at home after shift and make a waster of yourself terrifies me, and would also terrify many others who wear hi-vis for a living.

What could change my mind would be if certain industries – e.g. construction, mining, heavy equipment etc – had the statutory power to require employees to be pot-free.

I note many of the louder calls for legalisation come from those who have a job where the riskiest thing that could happen is slipping over carrying something, falling off a chair etc … not from those who work in a job where, if someone makes a mistake or pulls the wrong lever, they could die.
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July 24, 2017 6:28pm
- nasska
  
  Sublime
  
  I understand your concerns but I think it is fair enough to differentiate between a worker using marijuana on the job & one who uses recreationally in their own time.
  
  The salient point is how long is the drug likely to impair judgement & motor skills.
  
  A drug addiction site picked at random from Google offers this:
  
  …..”Marijuana can affect driving capabilities up to 3 hours after administration and includes judgement about distance, as well as attraction to light and sleepiness, particularly affecting prolonged and monotonous driving routes.”…..
  
  But we know from the experiences of people who have been sacked or prosecuted for drug taking that the evidence lasts far longer:
  
  …..” THC is noticeable up to 3 days after the last dose of marijuana. However, chronic use can be detected weeks or months after last use. And as with any other drug, the hair follicle drug test detection time for marijuana is a minimum of 90 days in a single human hair.”……
  
  http://drug.addictionblog.org/how-long-does-marijuana-last/
  
  Because marijuana is illegal ANY test that shows up previous use is taken to be evidence of impairment yet that may well not be the case.
  
  As in any problem the rough mallet of prohibition legislation seldom produces justice or even anything resembling common sense.
  
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  July 24, 2017 7:22pm
  - Sublime
    
    nasska
    
    A point well made and one that generally I agree with. The detection angle is unworkable for the reasons you correctly point out. Off work/own time isn’t the worry. However, own time will seep into work time, I fear. You see it in NZ, the odd user now who mixes a bit of ‘oregano’ into their roll-your-own on their *cough* smoko break. It is not always immediately obvious that they’re on the stuff. But that’s the thing – they’re on it. When it’s legal we are only going to see more occurrences just like that.
    
    If workplaces had the ability to detect, instantly and accurately, whether an employee is under the influence of cannabis while on the job and be able to offer them a ‘this is your one and only chance’ warning, then law loosening could be workable in my book. Until then, no way. Workplace deaths and injuries, which are already at olympian heights in NZ, will only become more frequent. Some of us have to wear that.
    
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    July 24, 2017 7:57pm
Monique Watson

A guy in the locker room saw another guy with a piece of cork up his ass.
“Why do you have a cork up your ass?”
“Well, it’s a long story. But one day I was walking on the beach and I tripped over a bottle and woke up a genie who said he would grant me one wish. I said, ‘No s**t!”
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July 24, 2017 7:31pm
nasska

I got home from work & there was a note on the kitchen table from my wife.

It read: ‘Gone to see a Psychiatrist, your brussel sprouts on toast is in the washing machine.’
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July 24, 2017 7:37pm
- GoVege
  
  Sorry nasska, but it’s the screaming of the lambs from your backyard that’s probably driven her to the shrink. …
  
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  July 24, 2017 10:18pm
Scott Chris

Seaweed shown to reduce 99% methane from cattle.

Canadian and Australian studies that also show healthier, more fertile cattle. The seaweed comprises 2% of the

Win win.
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July 24, 2017 7:48pm
- Ross12
  
  Now Scott you just to get through the bureaucratic BS to be able to “farm”seaweed. I know Roger Beattie (the guy who advocates farming weka on a commercial scale) took years to get a licence to collect seaweed for his paua farming operation (he farms them to grow “pearls” for jewellery).
  They collect seaweed off the California coast commercially –the kelp grows like grass and they mow it just like cutting grass except they just take about the top 20-30% off when cutting. Cannot see that being allowed in NZ if the right variety exists here.
  
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  July 24, 2017 9:21pm
Monique Watson

Beer or Brussels sprouts on toast? What would you chose?
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July 24, 2017 7:56pm
- Brigitte
  
  The brussel sprouts – otherwise the toast would be so soggy it would fall apart. Or, in reality, just chuck the lot and stick to the merlot.
  
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  July 24, 2017 8:05pm
BananaLlama

Childless couples have no future.
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July 24, 2017 9:31pm
- GoVege
  
  BS!
  They’re saving the planet and giving the rest of us a future.
  
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  July 24, 2017 10:12pm
  - GoVege
    
    Especially if they’re vegequarians!
    
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    July 24, 2017 10:13pm
Manolo

Mamma Merkel poised to win:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/just-german-election-heats-merkel-takes-holiday-break-122908463.html
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July 25, 2017 6:34am

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