General Debate 19 November 2017

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Viking2

Been thinking about the shortage of teachers.
The problem is easy to solve.
Where did we ever have a say on which countries brats we should include in our taxpayer education system?

If we stopped schools from importing these brats and required them to focus on their responsibility to educate NZ children then many issues would go away.
We would not need so many new buildings, wouldn’t need all these teachers we haven’t got, wouldn’t have some much bother with accommodation, transport, roads and so on it goes.

It is not a problem unique to NZ. Other countries are doing the same shit. They are also having issues.
And the issue is going to get worse because there are many more young people than there are teachers.

When are we going to invest heavily in internet tuition, not only for Kiwi Kids but as an export opportunity.

That’s a really good use of our best teachers on any subject and a great way to use the broadband to collect money from oversea’s.
It is being used to train surgeons and many other professionals.

Can we get our heads around this.

Yep we can do it .

And better still we wouldn’t need an education union to tell us all what to do.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/98924553/aspire2-axes-campus-warns-industry-not-a-tap-that-can-be-easily-turned-on-and-off
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November 19, 2017 8:03am
- holysheet
  
  As Cindy said, Lets do this.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:17am
  - oldpark
    
    Yes that was before the election. Going in to Pike River Mine with her Sugar Daddy Winston Peters.
    We are holding our breaths. Both clowns Ardern and Peters knew where the mine was before election day. Perhaps their promises and electioneering dosn’t matter any more. Their rhetoric and con job worked.
    
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    November 19, 2017 10:59am
- G152
  
  Online education.
  Best answer to a nothing question
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:45am
- Digmen1
  
  Yes limit Maoris and Islanders to one child per female. They are clogging up our schools and society with.
  Use much more technology (computers in school) so we need far less teachers and just employ security guards to make sure the kids behave.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:51am
- hullkiwi
  
  Viking2, your right other countries use education as a means to earn foreign income, even in my own case I did my Masters degree in the UK and had colleague students who were from Asia and done all their post primary education in the UK.
  
  You are also correct, in that this puts pressure on schools with teachers and facilities, but the problem starts with how the schools are financed (for capital and operational expenditure) and what the expectations of the schools are. Many schools are now in virtuous loops of their own making, with lucrative international programmes, growing rolls, needing more facilities and teachers, so they need to attract more money via more international students etc. and so the process continues.
  
  Like I say, it comes back to how the schools are financed and what the expectations of the schools are.
  
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  November 19, 2017 10:05am
- Morrissey
  
  Jesus CHRIST! Are you really serious?
  
  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L5jyrNmmZxo/UWxOAGbDcEI/AAAAAAAALSQ/x8fiQpSGYFI/s1600/Gordon-Ramsay.gif
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:44pm
- lifesgood
  
  Has anybody stopped to think of the real reasons there is a shortage of teachers?
  Teachers themselves make it sound an utterly unattractive occupation.
  They constantly whinge about work load, pay rates, cost of housing etc, etc, etc., you name it.
  Also they are heavily unionised and what smart young thing wants to be held to ransom by union bosses.
  They refuse to allow higher payment for better teachers therefore removing any incentive to try hard, and don’t give me that vocation rubbish. Everyone regardless wants to be rewarded for a good effort.
  Teachers have it good. They have a minimum of 12 weeks holiday a year. Most people don’t realise that teachers of years 11, 12 and 13 stop teaching in early November and only start again in early February. Sure they do a bit of exam supervision, relieving and preparation but if they are well organised it’s pretty cruisey FOR 3 WHOLE MONTHS! and that’s not counting the holidays during the year. They should be so lucky!
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:54pm
Longknives

RIP Malcolm!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sUXMzkh-jI
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November 19, 2017 8:03am
- Digmen1
  
  I always thought he was a major part of ACDC’ music.
  
  I mean, you cannot name one good bass riff from AC DC.
  But they do have some good rthymn bits.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:32am
- Psycho Milt
  
  He should be the patron saint of rhythm guitarists – brilliant riffs and almost always done with open chords. In that clip of “It’s a long way to the top,” pretty much everything apart from the chorus is an A chord – but fuck does he make a great riff out of that one A chord. That’s musical genius for you.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:42am
- Southern Raider
  
  Terrible way to go as well.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:18am
- 3-coil
  
  Angus may have been the frontman, but Malcolm was the backbone of the band. And not just killer riffs, he was the tone meister extraordinaire – he could extract the sweetest sounds from his Gretsch, at will.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:25am
- dime
  
  The guy was a God.
  
  One of the few legends I never got to meet.
  
  He was up there with lemmy.
  
  Glad his suffering is over.
  
  The Dime challenge – listen to acdc for half hour and try not to be happy. Impossible.
  
  Great great player
  
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  November 19, 2017 10:08am
- treadingthemill
  
  Bloody sad. He was one of the greats.
  
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  November 19, 2017 10:48am
Hugh Pavletich

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
The latest RBNZ survey of house price expectations brings a sharp dive in those seeing gains in the future. In fact capital gains may have vanished; the risk is now to the downside … Interest Co NZ

https://www.interest.co.nz/news/90954/latest-rbnz-survey-house-price-expectations-brings-sharp-dive-those-seeing-gains-future

Each quarter, the RBNZ conducts a survey of household expectations.

(Well, actually they take data from the UMR Research “nation-wide telephone omnibus survey”.)

The questions the Reserve Bank is interested in relate to consumer price inflation and also house price inflation.

Specifically, the questions about expected house price inflation are: … read more via hyperlink above …

Check out the graphs near the top at http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org (currently in the process of being updated) to compare the New Zealand and Australian housing bubbles with the earlier Irish one.

Remember … we discussed the Irish housing market at Kiwiblog back in June … again … (then Government / National Party supporters … who clearly did not welcome my comments … note downticks !) …

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/07/general_debate_20_july_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-1971764

LEARNING FROM THE IRISH 2007 HOUSING CRASH … THE SEVERE COSTS OF MULTIPLE STRETCH …

It’s high multiple lending that ‘does in’ the Banks and their customers … as they learned with the Irish housing bubble collapse in 2007.

The New Zealand Banks are in no hurry to repeat the 2007 Irish experience … when the housing bubble burst there … putting all its Banks to the wall and requiring bailouts exceeding 70 billion euro or about $NZ 109 billion.

Irish housing across its metros on average went from 4.7 times annual household income in 2007 to 2.8 a few years later … refer the schedule of Demographia Surveys at http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org .

Australia is currently 5.5 times … New Zealand 5.9.

Why should the New Zealand and Australian Banks be more resilient than the Irish ones ?

What was the capital base of the Irish Banks in 2006 and 2007 ?

If a 4.7 unweighted median multiple across its metros blew the Irish banks out of the water, how come ours are supposed to survive 5.5 and 5.9 respectively with (in New Zealand’s case) a skinny capital base of just $NZ30 billion and a $NZ1 trillion (CoreLogic estimate) housing market with in excess of half it bubble value ?

Following the bust, the Central Bank of Ireland found it was high income multiple lending that did the most damage to the Irish Banks … and it imposed a general lending cap of 3.5 times annual household incomes.

A year earlier the Bank of England had capped at 4.5 times.

In normal housing markets house prices should not exceed 3.0 times annual household income, requiring sensible mortgage loads of about 2.5 times (Demographia Survey).

The days of housing inflation are over. That’s for sure.

Welcome to the real world.

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/06/general_debate_8_june_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-1946526

Make a point of watching this excellent interview … where the antics of the twits from Merrill Lynch get mentioned as well …

Prof Bill Black & others discuss the Irish financial system performance … Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7zd5dRILBw
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November 19, 2017 8:04am
- Viking2
  
  Yep in maybe 3000 years time.
  
  How quick can we kill this goose today?
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:07am
- Swifty
  
  Tool
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:08am
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Above posted over at MacroBusiness Australia as well … in case the orchestrated downtickers get ‘over – exuberant’ and you would prefer a clearer copy to read …
    
    https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/11/macro-afternoon-307/#comment-3000120
    
    The downticking is considerably slower this Sunday morning.
    
    One can only assume the Protectionist Tories are deep in prayer asking for forgiveness for their failings over the past nine years.
    
    There are sins of commission and omission.
    
    They have ‘excelled’ at both.
    
    Remember this back in 2007 …
    
    John Key on Housing Reform 2007 – YouTube
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPgoAI1cLE
    
    … and the screeds of other stuff at my archival website http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org …
    
    1. The heap of “Guilt Graphs’
    2. The GONE GONE GOING (now GONE … bye bye Nick)
    3. Screeds of new article postings
    4. Much more stuff going up Monday
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:04am
    - starboard
      
      You oviously enjoy being a fuckwit Hugh. Did you takes courses in fuckwittery? I bet you hold a masters in it.
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:10am
    - Swifty
      
      Dork
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:10am
    - softail 1450
      
      Hugh ,KB’s overall winner of “nutter of the month”award.
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:12am
    - BlueGriffon
      
      Haha, that arrogance prompted me to log in and now you are GONE!
      
      We have NEVER had house prices at 3 or even 4 times income. We are not Ireland and NO ONE wants to live in effing Arizona.
      
      Auckland Central will stay where it is but South and West Auckland should go back to affordable levels, trouble is, the millennials don’t want to live there.
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:16am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Bluegriffin …
        
        Here is some viewing / reading you may find helpful in Opposition …
        
        Housing through the decades, what is affordable? | Newshub
        
        http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2016/08/housing-through-the-decades-what-is-affordable.html
        
        We are just getting housing affordability restored.
        
        We MOST CERTAINLY are not inventing anything.
        
        As a young married family with 2 children at the time in 1978, we bought our first new home for $24,000 with a $20,000 mortgage on my SINGE EARNER annual income f $8,000.
        
        Affordable housing is just ‘normal’.
        
        That’s all.
        
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        November 19, 2017 9:39am
      - lastmanstanding
        
        Sorry but you are obviously too young to remember the early.mid 1970s. Wife and I purchased first and second house on a multiple of 2 for the 1st and 2.5 for the 2nd. And we were very much representative of buyers.
        I was 21 and then to be wife was 19 when we purchased number 1.
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:00am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        lastmanstanding … thanks for your valued comments.
        
        Seems we are about the same age.
        
        I was out working on farms through those years … and only moved in to the ‘big smoke’ of Christchurch in 1978 … for better economic opportunities.
        
        The farm-workers married couples pay at the time was about $70 per week. Just part of the rural / urban migration really.
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:16am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        ‘We inherited a mess’ – Phil Twyford outlines how Labour-led govt will build 27 houses a day | 1 NEWS NOW | TVNZ
        
        https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/we-inherited-mess-phil-twyford-outlines-labour-led-govt-build-27-houses-day
        
        Google news search … Phil Twyford …
        
        https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=phil+twyford&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZrszvhsnXAhVDW5QKHZrOBTkQ_AUICygC&biw=960&bih=422
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:28am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        … Essential reading guys !
        
        … Responsible business and government working together IN THE WIDER PUBLIC INTEREST (unlike Hong Kong) … isn’t this heartening !
        
        It makes me proud to be a New Zealander !
        
        Challenges stack up for super minister (Phil Twyford) Oliver Hartwich of The New Zealand Initiative | The National Business Review
        
        https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/challenges-stack-super-minister
        
        … November 2015 Joint Opinion by Hartwich and Twyford for the NZ Herald …
        
        Opinion: Planning rules the cause of housing crisis – NZ Herald
        
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11553128
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:37am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Here is the then new Housing Minister Phil Heatley in early 2009 … at the time of the release of the 5th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey …
        
        Bringing better balance to the housing market | Phil Heatley | Beehive.govt.nz
        
        https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/bringing-better-balance-housing-market
        
        … after I had helped the Tories for years prior in the lead – up to the 2008 election.
        
        I produced these articles soon after …
        
        NZ Government Housing Commitment Applauded | Scoop News
        
        http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0901/S00331/nz-government-housing-commitment-applauded.htm
        
        New Zealands Pragmatic Political Approach Welcome | Scoop News
        
        http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0903/S00467/new-zealands-pragmatic-political-approach-welcome.htm
        
        The 9 years of lying deception and incompetence.
        
        National (Conservative) sure are the political eunuchs of New Zealand politics.
        
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        November 19, 2017 2:02pm
      - starboard
        
        “NURSE..VET..SOMEBODY” !!
        
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        November 19, 2017 2:43pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        That was Holy Heatley the sanctimonious chap … who was caught buying burgers on the ministerial card.
        
        Sin binned at the time as I recall … then fired in early 2013 … to be replaced with Nick Smith.
        
        Talk about embarrassing.
        
        At least we are rid of them !
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:07pm
      - thedavincimode
        
        Talk about embarrassing.
        
        A failed town planner demonstrates low emotional intelligence.
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:12pm
      - Swifty
        
        Lower than whale shit.
        
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        November 19, 2017 6:25pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Swift … I noted the great contribution by Whaleoil on Friday … with his superb article on the seriously dopey satellite city idea of Infrastructure NZ (Stephen Sellwood). Just grossly excessive high-risk and unworkable smart growth garbage – aiming to keep the MUL in place while exporting growth out to the boondocks with dumb huge loss – making chuff chuffs … of course !
        
        I understand the Dom Post ran an article yesterday on the Bill Gates Arizona development.
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/general_debate_16_november_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-2078265 … and … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/11/macro-afternoon-306/#comment-2999024
        
        Bill Gates just bought 25,000 acres in Arizona to build a new ‘smart city’ | Business Insider h/t PH
        
        https://www.businessinsider.com.au/bill-gates-buys-arizona-land-to-build-smart-city-2017-11?r=US&IR=T
        
        • Bill Gates has committed $US80 million through one of his investment firms, Belmont Partners, to build a “smart city” in Arizona.
        
        • The city will integrate high-speed internet, smarter manufacturing, and systems that accommodate self-driving cars.
        
        • As more people move into cities, such technologies are poised to become more necessary. … read more via hyperlink above …
        
        … highlighted by Cam Slater of Whaleoil in New Zealand …
        
        I’ll bet they are all affordable too – Whale Oil Beef Hooked | Whaleoil Media
        
        https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2017/11/ill-bet-affordable/
        
        … which will be helped by REAL MARKET construction costs …for example … Pulte Homes in Arizona …
        
        https://pulte.com/homes/arizona/phoenix/florence/parkside-at-anthem-at-merrill-ranch-7739#CommunityDetailsView
        
        How will New Zealand’s new Labour Government affordable housing developments be managed …
        
        Like the above …
        
        … or …
        
        … the loser British bureaucratic bozo style ? …
        
        … ESSENTIAL VIEWING …
        
        Inquiry. The Great British Housing Disaster (Adam Curtis, 1984) – YouTube
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4
        
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        November 19, 2017 8:06pm
      - Swifty
        
        Egg.
        
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        November 19, 2017 9:43pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        credit-suisse-argues-run-bad-luck-seeing-millennials-do-it-tougher-their Credit Suisse argues a run of bad luck is seeing Millennials do it tougher than their parents did when they were young | interest.co.nz
        
        https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/90951/credit-suisse-argues-run-bad-luck-seeing-millennials-do-it-tougher-their
        
        Can behavioural economics explain our change of direction? New Gallup data points to a possible reason; the proportion of the country ‘struggling’ has been on the rise | interest.co.nz
        
        https://www.interest.co.nz/news/90955/can-behavioural-economics-explain-our-change-%C2%A0direction-new-gallup-data-points-possible
        
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        November 19, 2017 9:46pm
- Digmen1
  
  I agree that our house prices are vastly over priced.
  
  But our situation is far different to Irelands.
  They built far too many houses that remained empty,
  Hence the huge crash
  Here we do not have enough houses.
  So we will have no huge crash.
  For young Kiwis I just hope for a slow but steady decline in house prices.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:58am
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Digmen! … Supply strangled bubbles crash eventually as well … with California and the UK being major examples.
    
    The housing inflation days are well and truly over here in New Zealand.
    
    There are dramatically dwindling numbers of fools willing to pay bubble prices for anything (something the RBNZ polling / research above clearly illustrates) … and financiers who are acutely aware of the medium / long term risks of ‘multiple stretch’.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:49am
Viking2

Nasa captured 20 years of changing seasons in a striking new global map of the home planet.

The data visualisation, released this week, shows Earth’s fluctuations as seen from space.

The polar ice caps and snow cover are shown ebbing and flowing with the seasons. The varying ocean shades of blue, green, red and purple depict the abundance – or lack – of undersea life.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/99020884/20-years-of-changing-seasons-on-earth-packed-into-2-minutes
Great viewing.
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November 19, 2017 8:06am
CHFR1

Has anyone else noticed we seem to be struggling at sport since we got a new PM?
Kiwis can’t beat second tier nations and the AB’s struggle to beat Scotland.
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November 19, 2017 8:11am
- Biscuit
  
  But Liverpool are unbeaten under a Labour/NZ First/Green coalition, CHFR1.
  
  3-0 this a.m.
  
  Swings and roundabouts!
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:19am
- 3-coil
  
  CHFR1 – the inept (rugby league) Kiwis have been shown twice in a week that you need brains as well as brawn. But is anybody there smart enough to learn the lesson? (and the changes need to start at the top).
  
  Kidwell was no more than a thug when he played, now exposed as totally out of his depth as the Kiwis’ so called “coach”. Let’s see if either the Tongan or Fijian coaches are available – neither of them have been sucked in by their own hype.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:24am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  We did this! she said
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:27am
  - CHFR1
    
    It was a attempt at humour guys lighten up.
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:28am
    - holysheet
      
      Are you Guy Williams?
      
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      November 19, 2017 8:37am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        No, too funny to be Guy Williams
        
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        November 19, 2017 8:53am
    - Biscuit
      
      CHFR1, humour is sometimes wasted on the so-serious types who come in here!
      
      I remember years and years ago a National Government (I think it was Muldoon’s first win) took over from a failed Labour mob.
      
      Sir Bob Jones wrote a classic letter to ‘The Dominion’ (as it was then) musing about how wonderful the weather had been since the change.
      
      That 234824572357234752354 Labourites promptly responded to point out the (obvious even to Blind Freddie) fact that the weather had been ratshit simply confirmed that they a) didn’t ‘get’ the joke and b) were highly unlikely EVER to ‘get’ the joke.
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:45am
- thedavincimode
  
  The biggest struggle is the national anthem. Pretty clear that none of our boys ever fronted in a church choir.
  
  Maybe it’s time we went for the Milli Vanilli tactic.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:28am
  - sooty
    
    What do you expect, lizzy was not singing the lead.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:33am
- RF
  
  Jacinda the jinx.
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:14pm
slightlyrighty

Not enough is being made on the latest U turn from Labour, particularly Andrew Little starting to walk back the assurances made to the Pike River families with regard to re-entering the mine.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11945226

So what was a promise to the family that the mine would be re-entered is now “we will do what we can but safety is the top priority” which was exactly the policy of the last government.

What gets me angry about this are 2 things.

1. It’s obvious that the grief of these families has been exploited by Labour and NZ First to paint the previous government as cold and uncaring by telling the families what they wanted to hear, regardless of the facts of the matter. The role of the media in amplifying this potentially false hope in the face of all common sense.

2. How very little this latest position from Andrew Little has been reported.
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November 19, 2017 8:12am
- Biscuit
  
  So when can that idiot Monk start revisiting Parliament talking of treachery and unsympathetic Governments?
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:20am
  - Viking2
    
    soon but not yet. The cheer leader is missing in action on oversea’s mission to open the despots mind to the benefits of not throwing missiles at the rest of us.
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:27am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Well that’ll be another failed Winnie Poo mission. He had better come home soon with his cardboard signs to answer questions about going down the mine instead and confirm whether he made a cast iron promise to the families, or do I see a distinct “No”.
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:17am
      - RF
        
        To be able to survive the next 3 years or hopefully less I have resorted to pretending that I am dreaming and it will all go away when I wake up.
        
        Some friendly advice …. will someone please advise Ardern that she needs to change her tightly pulled back hair style that gives her the gaunt skull look. It will also make her teeth and ears appear smaller.
        
        Just saying…
        
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        November 19, 2017 1:34pm
  - srylands
    
    Soon.
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:29am
  - lifesgood
    
    I’m sick to death of those bloody Pike River families. They are idiots in the first degree. They’ve had enormous pay outs and their loved ones bodies no longer exist so what do they hope to achieve? They should be told to button up and get lost. You don’t hear the families of the missing Malaysian flight going on and on and on about it, do you?
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:41am
    - Shaun the Sheep
      
      I wondered if the Pike River leeches considered the ultimate hypocracy of attending the Strongman mine disaster commemorations ‘to support the families’ who’ve got on with their lives for the last 50 years without bucket loads of compensation and creating a lifestyle out of media grandstanding.
      Will Winston, Jacinda and Angry Andy be donning hard hats to unseal that mine to bring the loved ones back to their families?
      
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      November 19, 2017 6:23pm
- thedavincimode
  
  No sympathy for the families being shat on by liebour and the red dwarf. It was the families, led by the lunatic monk, who chose to politicise this. They were quite happy to front up and align themselves with neville little and the dodgy dwarf when anyone with half a brain would have known that nothing would come of it if liebour & pinko first formed a government.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:31am
  - sooty
    
    Littles in the ideal position to cover up his mistakes as union boss.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:34am
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    I want to know why the Mine Safety Officer wasn’t prosecuted for failing to alert staff that gas levels were rising and have mining suspended until it was safe to resume work.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:39am
    - waikatogirl
      
      Sssshhush! Sensible, technical questions are not allowed to be asked.
      Pike River underground coal mine should never have existed, should have been open cast. It is a clusterf**k from woe to go, political environmental protests at the fore, right down to gas sensors being covered by miners.
      Angry and Winnie will fix it. Yeah right!
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:55am
      - Gabby
        
        go to whoa. wakkoa.
        
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        November 19, 2017 11:05am
    - Gabby
      
      I want to know how Knappy got out of the country and who he’s fucking over these days.
      
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      November 19, 2017 11:02am
    - KevOB
      
      Who was the idiot responsible for building or requiring that an underground mine be built on a known gas leaking fault?
      Any mine there should have been opencast only.
      
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      November 19, 2017 12:22pm
    - Paulus
      
      He was not prosecuted because he lost one son and the other just got out. (Over $1 million for each son too I understand)
      Then he complained to the Royal commission that the Mine was not safe.
      And he allowed two sons to go down the mine.
      
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      November 19, 2017 2:35pm
      - KevOB
        
        Some government official surely signed off on this.
        
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        November 19, 2017 5:19pm
      - Shaun the Sheep
        
        There was a time when I had great sympathy for his terrible loss, but I’ve seen and heard that man blame everyone else and demand all sorts of things. Now I struggle to give a rats arse.
        Seems to me there was a very casual approach to safety in a very dangerous workplace by the very people who gambled with their lives and lost.
        The mine manager went from Batman to Beagle Boy very quickly. Others should have met the same fate in my view.
        
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        November 20, 2017 12:07am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Have faith, slightlyrighty….
  Jacinda committed to a re-entry
  
  “We’ve always had specialist advice that says it is possible to do a safe, manned re-entry and that’s what we’ve committed to,” Ms Ardern said.
  
  “[In the last seven years] we’ve had lies, we’ve had broken promises, and we’re quite frankly sick of it.”
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:34am
  - KKKKatee
    
    Jacinda – lying again. She’s got form when it comes to lying. It was never ‘safe’ to re-enter the mine. I’m afraid all the porkies she’s told will come back to bite her on the bum……
    Happening already and she’s now into her 5th week as Prime Minister. Not good Jacinda, not good.
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:46am
    - KevOB
      
      Truth is what some believe: sense is what you act on.
      Taxinda has her own internal truths.
      
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      November 19, 2017 12:25pm
      - Piniwi
        
        Yes KevOB. Mirror mirror on the wall when will I fall? Will it be far? will it hurt?
        In reply the mirror was shown as a conformist by answering yes to the above.
        
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        November 19, 2017 8:24pm
  - Ross12
    
    Maggy –when did she say that?
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:54am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      http://www.labour.org.nz/labour_stands_with_pike_families
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:31am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      @Ross 12
      Links here
      
      http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/09/jacinda-ardern-visits-pike-river-reiterates-recovery-pledge.html
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/west-coast/95798732/crossparty-agreement-pledges-a-reentry-of-pike-river-mine
      
      https://yournz.org/2017/11/18/little-softening-on-pike-river-re-entry/
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:40am
      - Ross12
        
        Thank you Maggy and slightlyrighty.
        So another back down heading our way and the comment highlighted by Maggy originally will go well with the” I can go through politics with no lies”.
        
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        November 19, 2017 9:47am
  - virtualmark
    
    Well then Jacinda won’t mind taking the legal responsibilities for re-entry then.
    
    Good luck to her. Probably best if she puts the Pt Chev house into Clarke’s name first though.
    
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    November 19, 2017 1:32pm
  - KevOB
    
    I’ve read a mining expert discussing the hazards of these underground mines with gas leakages. He considers the risk of further explosions are very high on any reentry–gas and oxygen don’t just mix. Keeping air out while letting people in is difficult.
    
    With contrary opinion based on basic safe mining practices only a fool would proceed with that unknown risk. Let the Cabinet put their lives where their mouths are.
    
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    November 19, 2017 5:25pm
    - starboard
      
      I wana see the pissed dwarf go in..hopefully he wont come out.
      
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      November 19, 2017 8:29pm
- Paulus
  
  Where has all the well over $30,000,000 donated to the families of those killed in the mine ?
  Why cannot I mind out – I want to know where my family donation went -may be I want my money back too !
  Perhaps the expert in mines Angry Little can tell us.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:38am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    According to this article, each of the affected families got $217,000 from public donations.
    
    This article reckons $8M was raised from public donations.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11162699
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:45am
    - sooty
      
      No more, I hope.
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:36am
    - Paulus
      
      And what the Government gave and the Pike River Company.
      Still over $30,000,000 I understand.
      
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      November 19, 2017 2:41pm
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    Does that include the wheelbarrow load of ongoing welfare ACC pays out for dependents?
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:20pm
- GazzaW
  
  The Herald showed its true colours yesterday. Labour’s U turn covered in a single column on page 6. Imagine the uproar if the Nats had reneged on their Pike River offer. And then on page 18 there’s a full page fluff piece on Little headlined ‘Renaissance Man’.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:46am
  - Paulus
    
    Renaissance Man has a new suit and is waiting for Davis to resign so the Unions can again be in charge.
    Probably next week – certainly before Christmas.
    
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    November 19, 2017 2:43pm
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  So what was a promise to the family that the mine would be re-entered is now “we will do what we can but safety is the top priority” which was exactly the policy of the last government.
  
  Big dogs’ fucking bollocks. Little can’t promise that the mine will be re-entered if it turns out to be unsafe to do so – that isn’t a u-turn, it’s a well-duh. No promise to go in there can be completely unconditional.
  
  And the policy of the last government was to refuse to enter the mine under any circumstances, using the health and safety legislation it introduced as a fig leaf. That’s “exactly like” Labour’s policy in the same sense that Caitlyn Jenner is “exactly like” a woman.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:48am
  - thedavincimode
    
    Milt, you aren’t helping yourself.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:00am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    Actually, the last government promised to everything possible, but realized that a safe entry was not possible.
    
    This government promised a re-entry. Faced with the realization that this may not be possible to do safely, they are backtracking.
    
    and who are you to say Caitlyn is not a real woman! I’m reporting you to your overlords for gender Identity bigotry.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:26am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      Actually, the last government promised to everything possible, but realized that a safe entry was not possible.
      
      Actually, the last government did exactly what you’re accusing Labour of – made an unconditional promise to get the bodies out and then tried to weasel out of it. John Key told the families “The first thing is I’m here to give you absolute reassurance, we’re committed to getting the boys out, and nothing’s going to change that.” (See this video from 2:10 onwards.) He then spent the next few years steadfastly refusing to consider re-entry.
      
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      November 19, 2017 11:38am
      - Flash
        
        Could the subsequent refusal have had something to do with further investigations that advised against the possibility of entering the mine in safety??
        
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        November 19, 2017 1:51pm
      - slightlyrighty
        
        You don’t get it, do you. John Key was committed to getting the bodies out until investigations showed that it was not possible.
        
        At the Eulogy for the miners, Key said, “What makes it even harder is that you have not had the opportunity to lay your men to rest in a place and manner of your choosing.
        
        I do not know whether some or all of your men are in their final resting place.
        
        But I do know that where they lie now, in the Paparoa Ranges, is a very beautiful place.”
        
        The Government at the time was committed to getting the men out, until it was apparent that this was not to be.
        
        This government, in the face of that information, has used the grief of the family to further it’s own political ambition by giving hope where there is none, and painting the National Government as the villain. It is this behavior that is disgusting and that the media has yet to call the Labour and New Zealand First party out on.
        
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        November 19, 2017 2:33pm
- Southern Raider
  
  Even the family spokes people are full of shit.
  
  When National was in it was all you are murderers, it’s perfectly safe etc
  
  Now with Little when interviewed they are we appreciate the dangers
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:40am
  - fluffykiwi
    
    Indeed, and hasn’t labour just said they will go into the first drift, which is before the rockfall. what will that achieve.
    
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    November 19, 2017 6:24pm
- backster
  
  Winston didn’t want to wait for all these new experts and risk assessment committees, he bragged of his own experience and insisted on personally being first in. Little when made party leader started jostling to join him. Now its just more bureaucratic nonsense to reach a predetermined excuse not to go in.
  
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  November 19, 2017 10:20am
  - trout
    
    Worth repeating the mealy mouth comments by Little that that pulled back on guaranteed reentry and in fact mimics National government policy:
    ‘Little will take his proposals for the membership and structure of the Pike River Re-Entry Agency to Cabinet on Monday after commemorating the seventh anniversary of the disaster at Pike River tomorrow.
    Those plans include another risk assessment to decide whether a manned re-entry is possible.
    “When we get to the point where we’ve done the planning, done the risk assessment and we’re at the point where we make a decision yes or no, they will be part of that decision.
    And in the end there can be no absolute guarantee.’
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:45am
    - KevOB
      
      It’s going to take legislation to remove the personal liability attached to the Directors. Apart from a mine maybe blowing up the Directors will have to pay too.
      
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      November 19, 2017 12:29pm
- MCos
  
  There’s nothing like the Pike River tragedy to get everyone’s blood boiling.
  I remember at the time watching John Key on TV promising that the Govt would retrieve the men’s bodies, or words to that effect. I thought at the time he’s going to regret making that reckless promise, but that was typical John Key. What the hell did he know about mining and the people who work them?
  Since then half of NZ has found out more about mining than Key knew then and an awful lot of people know more, it seems, than the miners themselves.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:48am
  - trout
    
    @MCos – nonsense. Key promised nothing more than retrieval of the bodies would be undertaken ‘IF POSSIBLE’ – plain and simple . The Government has spent megabucks tidying up this mess; Labour and the Unions demanded tough health and safety regs that prohibit risky ventures in the workplace. And Little reckons he can now bypass those without legislation; absolute B/S. Perhaps giving the ‘families’ the keys sends a message; ‘you are on your own’.
    
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    November 19, 2017 3:00pm
holysheet

Sixteen Auckland beaches have been deemed too risky to swim at.
Auckland Council’s new water quality forecast website, Safeswim, identified 16 beaches swimming was not recommended at because of poor long term water quality.
They are Cox’s Bay, Weymouth Beach, Wairau Outlet, North Piha Lagoon, Laingholm Beach, Taumana East, Clarks Beach, Fosters Bay, Meola Reef, Little Oneroa Lagoon, Piha Lagoon, Te Henga (Bethells) Lagoons, Wood Bay, Green Bay, Titirangi Beach and Armour Bay.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11945442&ref=rss

Where are the protests about this scandal? The farmers are always accused of polluting he waterways and are regularly pinged big time by the counties.
When will we hear from the greens about this?
Opps silly me, they are to busy worrying about refugees and anything else but the environment.

Apologies to the teddy bears

If you go down to the beach today
 You’re sure of a big surprise. 
If you go down to the beach today
 You will get a big surprise

For every beach turd that ever there was 
Will gather there for certain, 
Because today’s the day the 
Beach turds have their picnic.

Picnic time for beach turds 
The little beach turds are having 
A lovely time today. 
Watch them, catch them unawares, 
And see them picnic on your beaches.
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November 19, 2017 8:13am
- virtualmark
  
  Nah, it’s more important that our rivers are swimmable than that our beaches are.
  
  I mean Kiwis always choose to swim in rivers right? Far more than at beaches.
  
  /sarc
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:16am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Good news that 12 of Canterbury Rivers and lakes have improved in water quality over the last couple of years.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/98937133/swimming-goal-in-sight-for-canterbury-as-more-rivers-and-lakes-become-safe
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:22am
  - Viking2
    
    Nah, 3 weeks it would be, just like all the poor have now got houses.
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:25am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Viking, you took the words right out of my mouth. Just like in Auckland 7 years of Labour mayors and the two Auckland harbours are more polluted than ever.
      But the solution to Auckland is a tram system to the airport when there are empty buses on Mt Eden, Dominion and Sandringham Roads, rather than invest in Auckland’s sewerage system. Makes sense to me.
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:30am
  - Digmen1
    
    Well done National.
    
    What about Auckland’s beachs ey Phil Goff and Len (correct colour) Brown.
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:34am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Cindy did that in the last 4 weeks
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:43am
    - backster
      
      Well that’s all it took her to fix poverty and homelessness eh.
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:28am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Tui’s advert time, yeah r….!
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:31am
- VicParking
  
  Wastewater systems (Sewerage/Stormwater) have not been fit for service in Auckland for ten years at least. Much more important to spend the money on ‘Pants down Brown’s’ electric train set. As for the councils management, the more people you hire and work for you the more you get paid, more conferences you can attend and ‘Long’ lunches you can trough.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:32am
  - Digmen1
    
    Sounds like Auckland is more like a third world city with all the “stuff” on the beaches!
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:35am
- thedavincimode
  
  Auckland needs to get rid of the houses and put the land into dairy. That’ll get the beaches cleaned up quick time.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:48am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Auckland has a problem of clueless town planners. As part of the SuperCity model, Hide and Smith required the development of the Auckland Unitary Plan or the Blue Print on how to s***w Auckland over once and for all.
    
    The problem with SuperCity they amalgamated the staff of the old councils into one organisation and many of these people do not have a clue about the entire region. Most of the staff of the council are urban, latte sippers who wouldn’t have a clue about living in areas of Franklin and Rodney, let alone planning. But because they needed a unitary plan, plan they have. So, you have land designated in Puhoi for urban development on sections that can be 2500 sq metres, in urban areas that would be fine. However, in rural areas we need biological sewerage systems, which need a minimum soakage area of 4,500 sq metres. So as a result, developments will be subject to excessive run-off, that will end up in the Puhoi River and eventually the Wenderholm Regional Reserve, nice!
    
    Thanks Len and Phil and your council of latte sippers who listen to urban lobby groups who have no idea about rural areas.
    
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    November 19, 2017 10:46am
- thedavincimode
  
  Same deal in practice in Horizons. The council dumps shit in the rivers with impunity.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:50am
- Southern Raider
  
  There was big resistance in council departments to this new more real time monitoring system being put in place.
  
  Congrats to the people who against huge resistance pushed this through
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:42am
Nukuleka

Interesting to see that one Christchurch citizen has taken to ‘people power’ to make a city-wide mailbox delivery of an ‘Open Letter’ to set out some facts about income and spending of the Christchurch City Council. His primary point is that there were 24,000 unpaid rate accounts at the end of the 2016/17 year, that there is every chance that this number will increase and that the City Council is engaged in unnecessary and expensive projects that are well beyond the core activities the council should be engaged in. The burden of paying rates is growing too great for many local people, particulalry on those on fixed incomes.

He also cites the $46 million dollars being spent this year on largely deserted cycleways- and it is expected that this will eventually exceed $150 million.

The crux of the author’s message is that the CCC employees far too many people, many on inflated salaries, all of who must justify their existence by finding new projects that justify their employment. All at the growing expense of the ratepayers of the city.

Good on him for going to all this trouble, I say!!
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November 19, 2017 8:14am
- Viking2
  
  Ha we need to get this country wide.
  Tauranga has the same useless bunch.
  27 million in the next 3 years for cycle ways etc and we can’t fix the bloody traffic jams that are holding the place up.
  
  Idiots about at the ratepayers expense.
  
  Stupid bloody socialists who thunk we are all going to ride bikes or take inconvenient buses to work or play.
  Note that they drive like the rest of us.
  
  born with too many brains.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:24am
  - Digmen1
    
    Yes, and have you seen Tauranga City Council Transport survey?
    I did it on line, and every question was angled to me answering that we all want more cycling tracks and better public transport.
    I replied in every case that the subisided buses were empty, and that Tga is too spread out for people to be able to ride bikes to work, and what about winter?
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:41am
    - Dave Mann
      
      Your point about the empty subsidised buses is a very good one. I live in Auckland and here some fucking genius has decided that we need DOUBLE DECKER buses!
      
      Every time I see one I look to see how full it is and honestly I’ve never seen one of these beautiful gleaming mobile warehouses with more that about 4 or 5 people in it!
      
      I’ve become boring to my wife because every time I see one of these empty double deckers I exclaim “Oh look – ANOTHER empty bus paid for by some corrupt council official stealing our money to line his brother-in-law’s pockets! ”
      
      Useless cunts.
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:28am
      - GazzaW
        
        We were due to get double deckers on our suburban route but the silly bastards didn’t take the shop verandahs and roadside trees into account. Back to the drawing boards.
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:58am
      - hullkiwi
        
        The fu****g genius you refer to Dave is the General Manager of Transport Services (the division of AT responsible for AT Metro).
        
        Dave, I could bore everybody with all sorts of stats on this. The worst excess is on the Mt Eden Road in the middle of the day Mon to Friday and the Northern Motorway/Busway on Saturdays and Sundays. There is a capacity problem though, 20% of trips carry 80% of all passengers, 90% of all trips are going to work or places of study – schools and university, the problem is you need buses and drivers for when there is the peak requirement, i.e. rush hour Monday to Friday. Then there is the problems in March when the universities etc start back after summer.
        
        Auckland’s PT investment has been screwed up for 30 years and suffers from its politicians, lobby groups and business interests not being interested in proper strategic thinking (strategy and thinking when it comes to Auckland’s transport is a complete anathema), instead what is produced are Christmas wish lists of big ticket spending projects.
        
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        November 19, 2017 11:48am
      - Viking2
        
        We have single decks with the same disease.
        Big old groaning monsters beclhing smoke and owned by the Mari’s. subsidized by the white man.
        
        All in the name of equity.
        
        Thieving from the taxpayers has, I’m sure ,become a game of one upman ship. Whats the next way we can rip of the ratepayer?
        
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        November 19, 2017 1:01pm
    - Viking2
      
      Auckland’s PT investment has been screwed up for 30 years and suffers from its politicians, lobby groups and business interests not being interested in proper strategic thinking (strategy and thinking when it comes to Auckland’s transport is a complete anathema), instead what is produced are Christmas wish lists of big ticket spending projects.
      ——————————————————–
      
      The problem with transport is that the money is in the hands of the socialists. And they are not going to give up their gravy trains easily.
      
      The problem is that both buses and taxis are regulated by central Govt.
      One cannot start a bus run anywhere without a local body of some sort requiring them to have a license and then they will only deal with big bus companies.
      
      Both industries need to be deregulated completely just as freight transport has been. I can remember the bullshit that went with 40 mile limit on freight on trucks and the bus and taxi industry have the same strangle hold on public money for transport.
      
      If the Govt. had an guts (and the Nats didn’t.) they would wipe all the rules around taxis and buses and allow the enterprising to develop bus routes that worked for customers that paid.
      
      Kinda like Uber for buses. Plenty of people would set themselves up with a minibus and pickup customers and drive them where they need to go at a time that works for the customers.
      Perhaps people could be encouraged to run buses where the bus people simply don’t want to, can’t be bothered or the funders won’t fund.
      
      The older I get the more it amazes me that we need to have our life controlled by control freaks. Mind you if we took away their power and their money and jobs they would sit on the roadside crying poor and desperate. Sooner the better.
      
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      November 19, 2017 1:17pm
- wiseowl
  
  I think you would find that is the case around the country.
  Councils have gone far beyond their brief and the Local Government Act is the culprit.
  Labour made changes that allowed councils to do anything.The power of general competence.
  National never changed it and so the growth continues.
  The Act needs changing.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:27am
  - Viking2
    
    In fact National encouraged them. Cycleways anyone?
    Now not opposed to them but, we have gone from Tourist cycle ways to one for everyone.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:31am
  - Jack5
    
    Yep, some weird local body stuff is going on.
    
    Libraries seem to be being re-purposed as centres for the homeless. If digital books do take over much of publishing, will we need flash new libraries? Is this technology what libraries as centres for the homeless is about?
    
    But the new cycling craze is the weirder. In Christchurch, the council wants retailing to bounce back in the rebuilding central city, but cycle ways and bus lanes clog traffic and replace car parks, so the public will stay shopping in suburban centres with their free parking.
    
    Are Christchurch people cycling to shops or work? Many of the bikes I see are on the back of cars heading for the recreation-park cycle ways – also being built by the council.
    
    In staffing, the old model of a town clerk, whose title became city manager, has been augmented by tiers of senior management introduced by MBA’s and consultants.
    
    Businesses that clog up like this die. Local bodies just squeeze more out of ratepayers.
    
    Watch for more big spending by local bodies now that the State is to become guarantor for local body loans. In the past ratepayers were the ultimate fallback in a default. I think that, sadly in my view, National as well as Labour have welcomed this change.
    
    If you have a rich uncle whose going to give a cast iron guarantee for everything you borrow from the bank, are you – or the bankers – going to be prudent?
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:10am
  - hullkiwi
    
    wiseowl, I wrote my 2 cents a few weeks back in a GD about local government.
    
    The problem has existed because of the tension between the centre (Wellington) and the local councils and each regional council. There has always been talk of the need for economies of scale, hence the urge for amalgamation. But the result is a large council out of touch with local areas, so they have local boards which are toothless wonders with no power and very little money.
    
    However, when it comes to local authorities or any government agency, you’ll never heard said:
    
    1. What is the statutory responsibilities of the authority & do they limit themselves to only that;
    2. Does the body have a finite purpose? Does the purpose ever get achieved, or does it morph into some other activity?
    3. Does the body live within its budget or is it always wanting more? and if so why?
    
    Strangely enough, you will never hear a government body say it has achieved its goal, it will wind itself up, and it lived within its budget and here is the balance of the money back.
    
    That’s because it is about self preservation and empire building, rather than meeting a public need real or perceived.
    
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    November 19, 2017 12:29pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  A Dutch woman somehow involved in Auckland Council was telling us on RNZ how wonderful cycling is in the Netherlands and how we could have exactly the same in Auckland if we just tried.
  
  What a fool: is she blind to the fact that Auckland has *hills* while the Netherlands are very flat? At best, we could get more people onto bikes if there were affordable and easy to charge electric bikes.
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:00pm
Longknives

Jack Tame shrieking about what ‘Big Meanies’ The Aussies are because many voted ‘No’ and because they aren’t opening the floodgates and letting unlimited Refugees in-

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11944429

Seriously- What planet do these Bleeding Hearts live on?
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November 19, 2017 8:18am
- CHFR1
  
  It is funny as many of the No votes came from the very refugees he wants to enter the country.
  They can’t see the people they want to bring in will change the country in ways they can’t (but rational people can) see.
  Therefore to answer your question he lives on planet headshovedupownanus.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:27am
- Manolo
  
  Tame is a known whiner. How on earth the radio employs him is a mystery.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:32am
  - Paulus
    
    Oh, Tame is very pretty too.
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:41am
    - Gravelroad
      
      Yes, Tame is the youth version of Winston. Has a lovely smile, wears nice clothes and knows absolutely everything.
      The grandson that many in the retirement homes wish they had.
      
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      November 19, 2017 8:54am
  - MCos
    
    You’re a bit of a whiner yourself, Manolo, I’ve noticed.
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:53am
- DifferentPerspective
  
  Jack Tame is my touchstone advisor on everything.
  
  If I’m not sure on what is the correct stance on any issue, I just listen to Jack and then take the opposite position Jack advocates!
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:46am
  - Ross12
    
    I think people like Tame ( and there are plenty of them) are not “political” in their thinking or outbursts , they are just bandwagon jumpers and more often than not they do not think before they jump ( as highlighted by CHFR1 above).
    They just love to see their smug faces in the lime light , name in print or voices screeching above everyone else.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:53am
- softail 1450
  
  longknives ,I for one nearly fell over when I found out that jack lame wasn’t gay,I had always figured you’d have to be to feature on the tv3 breakfast program .
  and he certainly exudes femininity ,,,,
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:22am
  - holysheet
    
    Time will tell.
    I know 4 men who came out in their 40’s after having families.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:31am
  - lifesgood
    
    Are you sure about that? His best friend is Matty McLean….I’ve always wondered.
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:46am
    - stigie
      
      Yes, hello sailor !~
      
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      November 19, 2017 12:41pm
      - RF
        
        Blow me on shore
        
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        November 19, 2017 5:48pm
Viking2

Have we all noticed the twats that run Queenstown are blaming AIRBNB for a shortage of houses for the workers down there?

Obviously all Labour voting socialists.

They are endeavoring to create new law that will stop private property owners from using what they own for their own benefit.

So far no one has resisted their efforts which are really aimed at deflecting their own failure to ensure that the proprietors of motels and hotels have failed to ensure that they have accommodation for their transient workers.

Today we have a critic of their stance.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/98937711/budget-buster-making-money-with-airbnb-should-be-celebrated-not-regulated

Now like all creeping socialist regimes don’t think that it will end in Queenstown. It will follow into every little socialist empire in this country. Much like the Uber debate. Its always someone else’s fault when the entrenched have their cosy lifestyle disrupted.

There are some enlightened.
Sanderson Group who are building a retirement village in Queenstown are building their accommodation first so they have a place for workers to stay. Good thinking. But not the ocals who stand to gain most from having accommodation. Nope they want someone else to pay.
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November 19, 2017 8:18am
- Paulus
  
  Sanderson has two major retirement villages in Bethlehem, Tauranga.
  Both high class (read very expensive).
  And successful thanks to the Auckland house price boom.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:44am
  - Viking2
    
    Um yes but he also built The Avenues and Forest Lake Gardens in Hamilton .
    He started of course with the Omokoroa retirement village many years ago and still owns that on although Metlife now own the Aves and FLG.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:34am
    - Paulus
      
      No understand he does not own Omokoroa – in a divorce settlement it is his wife’s and now causing financial strife to some residents.
      They bought many years ago at costs then which bear no relation to current values, so cannot get out as they get veery much older.
      He built the Avenues as an Apartment block but understand was unsuccessful so understand sold out to MLC where very successful as a retirement village..
      
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      November 19, 2017 2:52pm
      - Viking2
        
        Last I heard he was still in Omokoroa.
        Don’t recall the Aves ever being anything but a retirement village. Certainly not configured for apartments in the normal sense. Still a block of land to extend the place which Metlife will do when they think there is a need.
        At the moment they are busy with Papamoa Beach village and Somervale where they have built a big block at the back.
        
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        November 19, 2017 8:57pm
- marcw
  
  Sorry but if you want to run an accommodation or holiday apartment business, then do it with the proper council consents and pay the appropriate rates as do motels, hotels and holiday parks.
  
  Residential Living 1 zones are just that – for the enjoyment of residents and families. Zones are created for very good reasons, and protect home and other property owners from unwanted commercial activities disrupting their environment. Puting a limit on the number of days your home can be used as a commercial accomodation business seems very responsible and sensible to me.
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:01pm
  - Viking2
    
    Zones are elitist crap.
    
    People staying in a house is still people living in a residential address even though it might be as little as one day or 4 weeks.
    If they do this then their problem will be a lot worse. tourists just won’t bother to go there.
    
    Perhaps that’s what they want..
    
    As always be careful what you wish for.
    
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    November 19, 2017 1:21pm
  - Evadne
    
    The reality of life is that some people own homes they don’t live in permanently. There are many possible and legitimate reasons for this: travel, work secondments, OE, temporary residence in other cities, holiday homes, old family homes, investment, time split between different places for work or family reasons…
    
    If you have a home that is empty for some or all of the year, it makes sense to rent it out. The short-term rentals of Airbnb allow you to to rent it out when you don’t need it, but be able to use it yourself when you want to.
    
    Putting caps on Airbnb won’t mean the property is suddenly available for sale or permanent rental. It just means that in most cases the owner will leave it empty when they’re not using it themselves. So a city ends up with less temporary or holiday accommodation.
    
    Which would be disastrous for a city like Queenstown, which is dependant on tourism.
    
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    November 19, 2017 2:09pm
Manolo

A hard-fought win:
http://www.planetrugby.com/news/all-blacks-grind-past-plucky-scotland/
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November 19, 2017 8:23am
- thedavincimode
  
  I think it’s a bit patronising to call the jocks “plucky” Manolo. I thought they played bloody well and it was a great game for the most part, because of the way the jocks played. Just critical cockups cost them.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:11am
- Gabby
  
  If players in the air are so vulnerable the practice of jumping to catch the ball should be penalised.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:43am
Viking2

Not often I agree with Otago stuff but this is a heads up. Being in the getting older category I can relate to the things being said about workplaces and the risks particularly older men take.
————————————————–

More needs to be done to keep older employees safe from work-related injuries, a study has found.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Otago, found older workers represented a “significant burden” on Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).

Between 2009 and 2013, more than one in five accepted ACC claims for traumatic work injuries were made by workers aged 55 to 79 years old.

Overall, 70 to 79 year olds had the highest rate of work injury claims, and the highest percentage (5 per cent) of fatal injuries.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/99007061/university-study-highlights-need-to-keep-aging-workforce-safe

Older men tend to be can do it guys and will try to do stuff that causes them grief. Like getting on roof’s on up ladders etc.
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November 19, 2017 8:36am
- JibberJabber
  
  100% of humans that survive birth will die, irrefutable fact, no amount of cotton wool, bubble wrap or corrugated cardboard will change anything.
  The ACC driven health and safety fuckwittery is probably causing more injuries thru the abrogation of personal responsibility.
  The Site Safe sponsored construction sites that I have worked on are the most dangerous by a country mile than any other I`ve experienced, in regards to workers not cleaning up after themselves, offcuts, power leads and other assorted shit left lying around and the safety officers more concerned with the wearing of hard hats, long sleeves(sunburn FFS) and how much coffee the workers are drinking( now a workplace hazard re dehydration apparently).
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:36am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  Crickey – sounds like an excellent reason to lower the retirement age to 55. ACC claims down 20%.
  Let’s do this!
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:57am
Sofia

If I was a supporter of Winston’s, I would petition the Prime Minister for a Commission of Inquiry, headed by a judge or Queen’s Counsel.
– “A blow to democracy” John Tamihere, waateanews

I don’t really believe anyone “high-up” in National revealed Winston’s super secret.
I mean unless they were absolute morons (well, OK, so that is possible).

However, with Winston saying that MSD first advised him of the over-payments matter about mid-July it would have coincided with, or been just slightly after Metiria Turei dropping her self-confessed welfare ‘f’ bomb on 16 July.
But Winston’s minor problem was totally opposite in every respect when compared with Metiria’s effort, because he ensured his incident was history before it became news.
It was “done and dusted” before Ministers were advised of it.

So the only surprise in the “No Surprises Policy” was that the two associated Ministers were actually told at all, like Tolley, on August 15, a month after it was over already.
And Winston was able to say, “I subsequently received a letter from the area manager thanking me for my prompt attention and confirming that the matter was concluded to the ministry’s satisfaction.”

Surely a leak which allowed Winston to parade his swift conscientious action, compared to Metiria’s absolute moral mess, would have been counter-productive for National to highlight.

But on the other hand, the breaking news (August 27) gave Winston oxygen when he was suffocating as media mobbed Jacinda, so spectacularly had she risen (August 1) pheonix-like from the ashes of Labour, even although spouting bumper sticker slogans, but no substance, as she was.
And Winston was sitting there with such a marvellous answer (instant honest solution of his problem, but one of intriguing irony, and even gossip gold according to Paula Bennett) that he only needed someone to actually ask a question about it.

Winston, who should have had a brilliant media burst of showing how honest and prompt he had been, in fact goofed things up by trying to screw too much out of it, first by playing the victim of a leak card, then dragging that out into a witch hunt.

Lloyd Burr, newshub, is on Winston Peters’ lawyer’s likely leak list.
Winston wants to know who told Lloyd.
I would also like to know who told Lloyd, but only to see to what extent that person may possibly be a New Zealand First and Winston Peters supporter.
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November 19, 2017 8:39am
- Paulus
  
  Let us not forget that Winston Peters is a well known antagonistic who does not like to be out of the limelight.
  He has been know to be considered a liar too.
  
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  November 19, 2017 8:47am
  - Sofia
    
    As has been suggested elsewhere, Winston just needed to say –
    
    “Yes, there has been a mistake, there were super-overpayments into my account, but the moment I was notified, I dropped Wellington business, flew to Auckland and sorted the matter within 24 hours.
    Please note the difference to Metiria, who has been fraudulent, shows no remorse whatsoever, and she and we still haven’t a clue of the amount actually involved.
    My position is a private, personal and confidential matter – the amount I received was MSD money. and their money is now returned. Finish.
    Go and ask Metiria how she is getting on resolving her indiscretion.”
    
    But he couldn’t leave it alone …
    
    (And how is Metiria getting on, or will New Zealand voters never have the extent of her fraud revealed to them, or are WINZ still working on it?
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:03am
- peterwn
  
  Labour has a serious problem here. In 2002 Helen Clark used similar ‘no surprises’ information to embarrass the National Party which probably lost National a few percent of votes.
  What surprises me is that John Key did not do a review of the ‘no surprises’ policy when National returned to power in 2008. MSD head should not have been bound to advise the Minister of Winston’s case (note particularly he took advice from Crown Law and the State Services Commissioner on this) and similarly the likes of Serious Fraud Office and Police chiefs should be allowed discretion not to advise their Ministers of any investigation being undertaken (There cannot realistically be an outright ban since it is reasonable for the Police Minister to be informed of major incidents where there are no political overtones).
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:07am
  - peterwn
    
    I should have said – the biggest mistake here is WINZ not prosecuting Winston. Since he had to re-affirm his eligibility for the ‘higher’ payment annually there would have seemed to be sufficient evidence for a prosecution.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:27am
  - Sofia
    
    What John Tamihere seems to forget –
    Brendan Boyle [Head of the MSD] had consulted State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes, who in turn consulted Solicitor General Una Jagose, before Tolley and Bennett were told.
    
    but –
    Prime Minister Bill English says “ … given the personal and confidential nature of the information, it would have been better for the Ministers not to have been advised.”
    
    So did the Solicitor General Una Jagose advise that Tolley and Bennett be told, or not (no media report I’ve seen actually says one way or the other) when the issue was a private and confidential matter that had already been promptly and completely resolved by both Mr Peters and the Department?
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:47am
- Keeping Stock
  
  I would be very surprised if the “leak” came from anywhere other than within Winston First.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:13am
  - thedavincimode
    
    Inside knowledge KS? I’ve always assumed it was Bennett. She has a bit of form.
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:21am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Paula Bennett and her staffer Clark Hennessey
      
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      November 19, 2017 9:35am
  - waikatogirl
    
    I agree KS. Put Winnie on the stand and ask him!
    
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    November 19, 2017 10:24am
    - lifesgood
      
      And you think he’d tell the truth? Seriously?
      
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      November 19, 2017 11:48am
      - marcw
        
        If it turned out that evidence showed eventually that it was in fact him, and he had denied it under oath earlier, then it would be curtains for him.
        
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        November 19, 2017 12:18pm
      - Paulus
        
        I would like to see a copy of his application so that we may all judge what he actually did – Lie ?
        
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        November 19, 2017 2:56pm
      - waikatogirl
        
        lifesgood, I’m not that naive but it is the HC. More chance there than anywhere else, but it is Winnie we are talking about and most know he can’t lie straight in bed.
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:43pm
    - geoff3012
      
      Didn’t Mugabe get pissy with Mataura tuatara for calling him racist? And didn’t he then threaten some utu on her? This was before she outed herself.
      
      Maybe the melons fingerprints are on this
      
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      November 19, 2017 12:39pm
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    But..but..but..
    It had to have come from within National because the great oracle C. Slater said so. //
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:29pm
- wiseowl
  
  If you had followed this closely you would have heard Soper say very early on that the leak came from National.
  It was deliberate and calculated to cause damage to NZF.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:33am
  - sooty
    
    Soper knows all! edit add letter for spelling
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:42am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Soper says is as reliable and unbiased as Simons says . . . . .
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:52am
  - Yvette
    
    Before Winston’s own statements told the whole country more, the initial media details seemed only to say an irregularity had occurred and Winston, when advised of it, immediately and satisfactorily resolved it – a matter that was “done and dusted” before the two Ministers were told and the Prime Minister wasn’t.
    
    How that could damage Winston’s reputation is beyond comprehension, unless other negative details exist.
    Has anyone actually seen anything that Winston didn’t already announce to the entire nation?
    
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    November 19, 2017 9:56am
    - Piniwi
      
      Yes Yvette but in his first response he said he had repaid the over payment, interest and penalties. Thus with that admission he confirmed the error was his or there would have been NO INTEREST OR PENALTIES.
      
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      November 19, 2017 8:40pm
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    And Soper’s information the leak came from National came from NZF?
    
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    November 19, 2017 10:03am
    - Sofia
      
      Whoever decided that leaking Winston’s problems with his superannuation was a good idea robbed the National Party of its chance of a rare fourth term and turned English into a two-time loser – Mike Williams
      
      So, again, in the interests of helping Winston with his utu jigsaw puzzle:
      When State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes consulted Solicitor General Una Jagose, before Tolley and Bennett were told, what was the Solicitor General’s advice?
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:30am
    - wiseowl
      
      No.
      A fellow reporter.
      
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      November 19, 2017 11:27am
  - Evadne
    
    No. If anything, Soper’s unsubstantiated comment was “deliberate and calculated to cause damage” to National.
    
    It was National who lost out most, not Winston.
    
    The way National was hounded for this, by slurs and accusations, without any proof or common sense, suggests this whole thing was directed at them, not caused by them.
    
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    November 19, 2017 2:15pm
  - Rachael Membery
    
    To do damage to National you mean.
    
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    November 19, 2017 3:06pm
- backster
  
  Yep I’m also convinced it was Winston himself who initiated it himself and Soper who ensured its’ circulation.
  
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  November 19, 2017 10:40am
Biscuit

I see crowds have been on the streets in Harare telling Robert Mugabe, 93, to resign his office.

Charles Windsor, 69, is trying to arrange similar protests in London about some woman, 91, who is also refusing to stand down…
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November 19, 2017 8:39am
Digmen1

Its a shame that those crowds in Harare did not protest so much 30 years ago when it was obvious that he was wrecking and raping their once prosperous country

(But then again it might have been a bit dangerous to do that)
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November 19, 2017 8:44am
- DifferentPerspective
  
  Yes indeed good job the UK government and the UN (well the whole international community really), they all got in behind ending the terrible WAASHIISSTT regime that had maintained Rhodesia has a power house economy that fed much of the region and ensured higher living standards for all those poor oppressed Blacks than they’ve been enjoying since Mugabe won the election back in 1980 and started his mass-murdering campaign and dismantling of a once thriving economy.
  
  Yes good job the UK and the UN – you made a huge difference to all those millions of previously well-fed, healthy, fear-free blacks in Zimbabwe who died since 1980 when white-rule ended.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:00am
- Biscuit
  
  Digmen1, very dangerous, I’d have thought.
  
  I may be a tad presumptuous, but I have no great faith that the guy being touted as RM’s replacement will offer any great improvement once he takes office.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:50am
  - waikatogirl
    
    Presumably got to be better than the Grace, RM’s ex typist, self-serving and venomous 52 year old wife who manipulated her 93 year old elderly husband into gifting her the presidency. No wonder there was a coup…
    
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    November 19, 2017 10:47am
    - Paulus
      
      Bit like the Clintons eh !
      
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      November 19, 2017 2:58pm
- MCos
  
  Have you checked your extensive archives to see if that didn’t indeed happen and to find out what might have happened to anyone who did?
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:02pm
Digmen1

I am no Winston fa.
But at first I sympathies with him over the WINZ leak, her personal business should not have been made public.
But when he started making threats I reversed my thoughts.
Then we find out he was never going to go with National and wasted three weeks of our time.
Show us the form you signed Winston!
Please be first to enter the mine!
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November 19, 2017 8:47am
VicParking

Article on Red Rdaio this morning where one after another they interviewed people on the road toll with vested interests.
Roading engineer say its the roads.
Car salesman says it older model unsafe cars.
Politican (Julie Anne Genter) says its the last governments fault.
Its drugged drivers not being tested…..
More education needed……
Its mobile phones and screens in cars….
They went on an on.
Nobody has quoted the statistics which say that if you look at the number of cars on the road and/or miles traveled per deaths the rate is going down.
Yes our roads are crap, there are to many old cars and hoons on the roads, but lets discuss it rationally.
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November 19, 2017 8:47am
- MCos
  
  How does your idea of rational discussion vary from what you describe was on the wireless?
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:06pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    Simple, I heard the discussion and have heard previous such discussions and it comes down to vested interests.
    
    Reality MCos, the road even in 2017 is significantly lower than in 1977 or 1987 and this is largely because of safety improvements in cars, and better designed roads (although there are still many roads no better than 40 years ago). In our local community, I also know the volunteer first responder who with his wife also works for St Johns, and they have told me that if the road accident involves older cars (& this includes second hand imports), the chances of their being serious injuries or fatalities is higher because the cars involved do not meet the safety features required in most modern European designed cars.
    
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    November 19, 2017 1:04pm
Paulus

Digmen1
Angry appears to be backtracking from himself and Winston going anywhere near the mine – they will form a Committee – chaired by Monk in his pub.
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November 19, 2017 8:49am
DifferentPerspective

What is it with creepy lefties and little girls?

Here is another prominent socialist caught being very creepy with a little girl, ask yourself if this was your kid and you were watching this happen wouldn’t you be looking at this dude very suspiciously?
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November 19, 2017 9:03am
- Gabby
  
  I’d be checking whether it was fake dippy furby.
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:47pm
starboard

Listening to toothy on Q+A this morn..her ultimate aim is to become the big cheese at the UN. Being PM of NZ is just a stepping stone. Sticking her nose into Manus Is and Nth Korea so soon after becoming PM and ignoring the ‘poverdy’
at home. Its all about her.
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November 19, 2017 9:44am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Quelle suprise!!!
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:54am
- MCos
  
  I wasn’t watching. Is that what she said or is that your biased opinion?
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:08pm
  - Gabby
    
    Three guesses.
    
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    November 19, 2017 12:48pm
    - Brito
      
      Starboard is correct. I saw it too.
      
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      November 19, 2017 5:22pm
lastmanstanding

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/kiwi-bikie-gangster-deported-twice-in-24-hours/ar-BBF85yY?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=UP97DHP

Pity gutless NZ governments dont do the same thing.

Oh I forgot they are variously
Misunderstood
Victims of white male dominated society.
Victims of white male colonialisation.
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November 19, 2017 9:54am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Maori then?
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:55am
  - fernglas
    
    Where are we going to deport Maori to, just out of interest?
    
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    November 19, 2017 10:17am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      Hawaiiki
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:36am
    - Digmen1
      
      They were such good navigators and writers that they don’t even know where they came from. Hawaii, Tawian, Cook Islands, North America.
      
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      November 19, 2017 11:35am
      - hullkiwi
        
        Diugmen1 stop trying to explode the myth of how they got here. Or how Maui did the return journey against the prevailing tidal currents of the Pacific. You might just prove that all those historians and academics have been talking rubbish for years and kill off their sweet little con job at the same time.
        
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        November 19, 2017 1:17pm
      - Paulus
        
        It is established beyond all doubt by DNA that Maori came from what is now SE Taiwan and are from the Gao Shan Zhu tribes there.
        There are many diagrammatics of all the Polynesian voyages over thousands of years.
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:03pm
EAD_TWO

Ever wonder why are our traditions mocked? Why are our ancestors derided as racist? Why does iconoclasm keep being pushed? Who were the Communists?

The answers are all there if you look ❗

“The historical mission of our world revolution is to rearrange a new culture of humanity to replace the previous social system. This conversion and reorganisation of global society requires two essential steps, firstly the destruction of the old established order, secondly, the design and imposition of the new order, the first stage requires elimination of all frontier borders, nationhood and culture, public policy ethical barriers and social definitions. Only then, the destroyed old system elements can be replaced by the imposed system elements of our new order.”

“The first task of our world revolution is destruction. All social strata and social formations created by traditional society must be annihilated. Individual men and women must be uprooted from their ancestral environment, torn out of their native milieus, no tradition of any type shall be permitted to remain as sacrosanct. Traditional social norms must also be viewed only as a disease to be eradicated. The ruling dictum of the new order is, nothing is good so everything must be criticised and abolished. Everything that was must be gone.”Nahum Goldmann – The Sprit Of Militarism

“You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the “Russian Revolution.” It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn – 200 Years Together

https://archive.org/details/SolzhenitsynYouMustUnderstandTheLeadingBolsheviksWhoTookOverRussiaWereNotRussians
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November 19, 2017 10:05am
- treadingthemill
  
  Ever wonder why are our traditions mocked?
  
  What traditions are being mocked?
  
  Why are our ancestors derided as racist?
  
  Some of them were.
  
  Why does iconoclasm keep being pushed?
  
  What does that mean? Iconoclasm can be a good thing sometimes.
  
  Who were the Communists?
  
  They were the communists.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:01am
  - EAD_TWO
    
    What point exactly were you trying to make treading the mill?
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:14am
    - treadingthemill
      
      I asked you two questions and made two fairly obvious points, namely, some of our ancestors were racists, which would be true of all human groups, the communists were the communists, which traditions are being mocked, and what do you define as iconoclasm and why is it bad?
      
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      November 19, 2017 11:28am
      - Jack5
        
        EAD-TWO is trying to say that Solshenitsyn is blaming the Jews for the Bolshevik revolution. As he is a neo-Nazi, this is an understandable and typical viewpoiint for EAD-TWO.
        
        According to Wikipedia, Solzhenitsyn in the book:
        
        … denounces “the superstitious faith in the historical potency of conspiracies” that leads some to blame the Russian revolutions on the Jews and to ignore the “Russian failings that determined our sad historical decline.”
        
        AND
        
        … criticizes the “scandalous” weakness and “unpardonable inaction” that prevented the Russian imperial state from adequately protecting the lives and property of its Jewish subjects.
        
        Solzhenitsyn, famed for his novels, wrote Two Hundred Years Together as a two-volume historical essay. As far as I am aware, it hasn’t been fully translated into English, so I doubt that EAD-TWO has read it, unless he is pretty good at Russian.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Hundred_Years_Together
        
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        November 19, 2017 2:15pm
      - Jack5
        
        I see that EAD-TWO has begun using the red exclamation mark ❗ that was often used by Kea.
        
        I hope this isn’t some secret code such as the triple brackets – ((( ))) – neo-Nazis often use to denote “Jewish” or “Jew”.
        
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        November 19, 2017 2:19pm
Maggy Wassilieff

I’m not a happy camper today… it’s cold and damp and I’m concerned that I’m pulling NZ’s happiness index down.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2017/11/interview-jacinda-ardern.html (from 11:00)
Is anyone happier today than they were yesterday?
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November 19, 2017 10:21am
- JibberJabber
  
  Just finished me third triple shot coffee, so yeah I`m Buzzin`.
  
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  November 19, 2017 10:38am
- EAD_TWO
  
  Thanks Maggy – with the misery this lots policies are about to inflict on the populace, why does the does this phrase from Orwell’s 1984 spring to mind when thinking of Jacindas Happiness index – an index that will be even more easily manipulateable and fudged than CPI?
  
  The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink
  
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  November 19, 2017 10:51am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    “Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth”
    
    https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tj7ujtq7hqfqvo4fwuppfj7wt5y?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-songlyrics
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:48am
- namron
  
  Me too, Maggie.
  Much the same over here in Mangapapa!
  namron
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:02am
- treadingthemill
  
  Is anyone happier today than they were yesterday?
  
  Yes. Had a good time at the local market this morning, bought some vintage ironworks for the garden, had a pretty good Cornish pastie, and the sun is shining.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:04am
- holysheet
  
  Yes Maggy, have got our new lawn sown this week and it needs all the rain it can get.
  Saves me having to water it today and tomorrow. I will be happy tomorrow as well, thanks for asking.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:05am
Brito

Here’s a vet being treated with all the respect these animals could muster.

White lives matter…don’t think so.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11945509
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November 19, 2017 10:52am
- EAD_TWO
  
  For those that don’t click Britos link it tells the shocking story of an 89-year-old veteran dying as he begs for help as the (black) nurses stand by laughing.
  
  Just imagine for a second if the races were reversed, there would be riots in every major US city…..Is this the white privilege the people who own the MSM keep telling us about?
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:00am
  - Brito
    
    Who’s the gutless weasel down ticking this thread.
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:12am
    - starboard
      
      Wheres MM speaking of weasels ?
      
      11 4
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      November 19, 2017 11:15am
    - waikatogirl
      
      KB always attracts a few sad, negative downtickers Brito. It’s all part of the rich tapestry of individuals we mix with here. Good to have a few leftie naysayers to stir the pot. ?
      
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      November 19, 2017 11:32am
      - Brito
        
        I don’t get why people down tick a report about vile behaviour. If it’s personal against me and my previous comments that’s pretty pathetic.
        
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        November 19, 2017 2:12pm
      - waikatogirl
        
        Don’t take downticking personally. Downticks may be as a result of their personal agenda, they really disagree with your post, or they are just arseholes. ?
        Just move on.
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:55pm
  - EAD_TWO
    
    These sort of events will become ever more common in the nightmare world that is being constructed as the political elites keep on importing more of the 3rd world and drumming the “white oppression” narrative into them.
    
    Whites will be old, being looked after by blacks who don’t give a shit about you, just for you to die. But hey, at least you fought racism/antisemitism when you were young, so it’s OK. Just ask Amy Biehl.
    
    http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2010/05/09/christopher-donovan-amy-biehl-syndrome/
    
    Demographics, (rather than voting for the red or blue team) is destiny
    
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    November 19, 2017 11:13am
- holysheet
  
  Just wait for the lawsuit from the hospital to cover the fact that the camera recording was illegal.
  These people will do anything to deflect their disgusting inaction. Before looking at the link I assumed the patient was a white man and the nursing staff were blacks.
  Not a lot of surprises then when I looked at the link.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:46am
Digmen1

On Q&A Jacinda she that she used to be part of an organisation that was on the world stage! (who knew!)

Commo, Socialist Jacinda’

I have some bad news fot her.

There are only a few communist/socialist countries left, in the Asian Pacific, North Korea, Venezuela.

The rest are advancing capitalist states lifting millions out of poverdy with no social welfare, just investment, hard work, and wages way lower than ours.
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November 19, 2017 11:39am
- treadingthemill
  
  There are only a few communist/socialist countries left, in the Asian Pacific, North Korea, Venezuela. The rest are advancing capitalist states lifting millions out of poverdy with no social welfare.
  
  This is completely false. For a start, socialism and communism are not the same thing. Secondly, all advanced capitalist societies have some level of social welfare. The Scandinavian countries and for that matter all European nations, have a mixture of capitalism and socialism, with strong social welfare, as New Zealand, Canada and Australia also do. And even the USA has some social welfare. There is no advanced capitalist society in the Western world which does not have social welfare of some sort.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:47am
- Brito
  
  Just a small point…but I get your drift…Venezuela’s coast is in the North Atlantic (equatorial, but still the Nth Atlantic).
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:13pm
Digmen1

Labour’s 100,000 houses.
That’s 10,000 a year.
Given that we all know they cant do it in the first year as it will take time for their “policies” to take effect” that means more like 12,000 for the next 9 years!
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November 19, 2017 11:41am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Given all the developers retrenching as a result of house prices starting to fall (and likely recession in 2018 as Labour’s policies start to bite), I would bet that we will ultimately find less houses built during the CoL term than during the preceding National term. And hopefully young voters will have then learnt a valuable lesson about handing power to poseurs.
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:59pm
- Paulus
  
  Tauranga has announced a new sub division of 3,500 new houses, schools, shops etc in Tauriko West. Believe was Bob Clarkson’s land and concept but Council did not like him so sold it to friendly Developer/House Builder who in.
  This is in addition to the over 5,000 currently underway and planned to go in eastern Tauranga.
  There is currently about $1.5 billion in new Commercial development going on in town and said up to 3,000 tradesmen will be involved.
  
  Not sure where Government’s 10,000 houses per year are going to come from as these builders are fully booked with current projects.
  Maybe some from Kaikoura and a few left in Christchurch.
  
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  November 19, 2017 3:12pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Digmen,
  
  Didn’t you get the report, you better talk to Cindy and Twitford.
  
  Their KiwiBuild promise was questioned during the week by the Robo’s arms length Reserve Bank.
  
  The RB question whether KB was achievable on two fronts:
  1. NZ does not have enough builders, electricians and other trades to build more than what they are currently doing, so how can they build another 10,000 per year, without importing more building tradesmen? or stealing building staff from existing work or planned work; and
  2. The other point was where were all these KiwiBuild projects going to come from? It seems the plan is to procure projects currently planned or in process. So, the government will buy already planned jobs. Therefore, the RB concluded that it is unlikely that an additional 10,000 homes will be built under the KiwiBuild scheme.
  
  When Twitford was questioned about this, he stated that the promise was “to build an addidtional 10,000 addordable homes a year. This would be achieved by the government buying already planned to built houses and sell them as affordable”.
  
  In other words, the taxpayer is going to be subsidising potential home owners to buy homes made “cheaper by taxpayer subsidy”. Brilliant!!
  
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  November 19, 2017 4:51pm
Digmen1

If Labour really wanted to make houses more affordable they could…
Tell all councils to sack half of their over paid bureaucrats, and cut development costs and building monitoring costs by half.
Then they could conduct an enquiry (two people, one month with very high powers) to report back why our building costs per sq metre are so much higher than Australia’s, where they have higher wages!
Is it supplier duopolies?
Is it builders inefficiencies
Is it high markups – is so tell us where and who!
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November 19, 2017 11:45am
- holysheet
  
  Its all about the numbers. Auzzies have the population density we do not. The higher the build numbers the cheaper the cost per build.
  You could say the same about any industry.
  
  Ask any builder in the small pacific islands why their building costs are not the same as in NZ. The answer will be the same.
  I have just moved into a newly built house. Cost per S m of $3200. there is no way you would get this quality of house for any thing less. I never thought in my lifetime I would spend $1100 on a kitchen tap, but there you go. You get what you pay for in this world.
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:57am
  - Viking2
    
    Nor would you get in Aussie a house that will withstand earthquakes, high winds, high rainfall, cold temperatures.
    
    You will get piles of bricks in formation, no heating or insulation,.
    
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    November 19, 2017 2:10pm
- srylands
  
  There is no need for another inquiry. It has all been analysed. And ignored.
  
  https://www.productivity.govt.nz/inquiry-content/1509?stage=4
  
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  November 20, 2017 2:52am
Morrissey

GROPERS
No. 4: Robin Brooke

He did, however, not specify what he had done to the 15-year-old Auckland girl who was holidaying at the Hilton on Denarau Island, saying he was too drunk to remember but accepted her version of events.

The allegations included that he twice grabbed the girl’s backside while she was pool-side at around 3am and had assaulted her male friend when he had tried to intervene.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/3309104/Robin-Brooke-apologisies-for-Fiji-actions

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10655407

“GROPERS” is researched and presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.

No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush
No. 2 Bill O’Reilly
No. 3 Al Franken
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November 19, 2017 12:05pm
VicParking

I know scotland is a poor country but you expect they could afford to turn the lights on for a Rugby game.
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November 19, 2017 12:07pm
- Morrissey
  
  At least they had the wit to wear white jerseys, so we could tell the teams apart—unlike the thick bastards from the Irish Rugby Football Union….
  
  https://www.thesun.ie/sport/rugby-union/1790964/fans-left-fuming-as-ireland-kit-clashes-with-south-africa-jersey/
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:13pm
  - Morrissey
    
    Some moron who thinks it’s acceptable for opposing football teams to wear the same uniforms has registered his existence. (12.30 p.m.)
    
    https://i1.wp.com/i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j370/Jezey/Bored%20Eye%20Roll%20Shaking%20Head%20Gifs/Judge-Judy-Shake-My-Head-Gif_zps66b02891.gif
    
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    November 19, 2017 12:31pm
- marcw
  
  Why are the Welsh wearing grey jerseys? It’s not like their traditional (normal) red was going to clash with the Georgian’s white. And England have also got a dark grey jersey they can use. Is it so they can force the ABs to wear their away kit? It’s sort of a compliment they need to be reduced to the dirty tricks to give them a psychological feelz if that is the reason. They are pathetic. The Jocks gave them a good hurry up this morning though. Gave the crowd their money’s worth.
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:31pm
  - Morrissey
    
    Well said, marc. It is standard protocol for the home team to change its strip. The All Blacks wear white when they play Scotland in New Zealand, for instance. I’d like to see them wear white when they’re at home to South Africa and France as well.
    
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    November 19, 2017 12:35pm
    - Gabby
      
      The IRB changed that.
      
      2 2
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      November 19, 2017 1:04pm
      - hullkiwi
        
        Gabby, it is no longer called the IRB, it is called World Rugby.
        
        Secondly, the problem started happening with the World cups when the jersey manufacturers started playing the game of one up manship. In 2007, the French home shirt (Nike) was so dark, it clashed with the ABs (Addidas) and the ABs were required to play in their rubbish grey strip. Since then it has got stupid, because each year there is new kit for the fans to buy.
        
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        November 19, 2017 1:40pm
Morrissey

Deadbeat Dads
No. 2: From where did this little creep learn his hateful attitudes?

http://www.pridenz.com/gaynz/4991.html
http://forums.punkas.com/viewtopic.php?t=39631
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November 19, 2017 12:18pm
- VicParking
  
  KB poster posts usless crap.
  Morrissey once again has posted a usless blog. Why does his Gay partner allow him to write such shit.
  
  19 2
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  November 19, 2017 12:26pm
  - Morrissey
    
    What I posted is a fact. You don’t like that fact, which makes someone you support, for some ungodly reason, look very bad.
    
    Your abuse is therefore trivial, and not to be taken seriously.
    
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    November 19, 2017 12:29pm
    - VicParking
      
      Ditto to you.
      Trash is trash keep you homophobic crap to the Standard.
      
      8 1
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      November 19, 2017 12:55pm
      - Morrissey
        
        Not that I think you’d appreciate the difference, but…. didn’t you mean to write “anti-homophobic crap”?
        
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        November 19, 2017 1:04pm
- treadingthemill
  
  From where did this little creep learn his hateful attitudes?
  
  Well, obviously not from his dad, who supports gay rights, voted for marriage equality, and danced at a gay pride event. As I said yesterday, young people say dumb things because they are young. Trying to make this about John Key is lame.
  
  and not to be taken seriously
  
  Neither is your attempt to defame the former PM, and while the comments the boy made are fact, your attempt to link it to his father is not.
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:32pm
  - Morrissey
    
    So where did he learn those vicious attitudes? No one I know would tolerate such hateful language in their home—and no, I don’t just mix with “right on” or “P.C.” people.
    
    Bill English went on record as saying that he is “totally responsible for [his] children’s physical and moral welfare,” and that children need parental direction.
    
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    November 19, 2017 12:37pm
- KevOB
  
  You’re 10 years out of date with a slur piece without proof. Bitterness?
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:48pm
treadingthemill

So where did he learn those vicious attitudes?

Blogs, his peers, who the hell knows. but obviously not from his dad. He may have just had a brain fart. Kids say dumb things. Sometimes they pick up on things from the news or some other source. I think you’re making more of it than it deserves.

And the other day you sourced an article from a web site known for viscous anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. People in glass houses should be careful about throwing stones.
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November 19, 2017 12:43pm
- treadingthemill
  
  The fastest and most effective way to turn people off of supporting gay rights is to act like a self-righteous left wing puritan policing other peoples speech and getting hysterical about the slightest deviation from acceptable speech. It doesn’t do gay people any favours.
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:49pm
  - Morrissey
    
    If anybody’s a puritan in New Zealand politics, it’s Bill English. Because I have reminded you of the sort of disgusting, hateful behaviour his son got up to at his elite Catholic school, that makes me a “moral policeman”?
    
    You’re barking up the wrong tree.
    
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    November 19, 2017 1:00pm
    - SPLOOGE
      
      Well after watching his father lie to the population and commit fraud to get extra cash it’s no surprise he’s gone off the rails.
      Like father like son.
      
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      November 19, 2017 2:54pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  “Kids say dumb things. ”
  
  Boy, do they ever. I sure remember some of the dumb things I said, sometimes just to annoy my parents. But when most of us were young, we didn’t write it up on the internet for the world to see and to haunt us and our families forever. That’s the difference these days.
  
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  November 19, 2017 2:34pm
- Flash
  
  Everyone knows that kids learn to swear when they first go to school. Many a parent has been shocked at the answer when they asked ‘what did you learn at school today?’ and been greeted with a swear word or two learnt frothier new best friend.
  
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  November 19, 2017 6:53pm
Johnboy

I’ve always really hated Morrisey stuff.
I’ve always been an Austiny sort of chap! 🙂
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November 19, 2017 12:50pm
- Morrissey
  
  Ha ha ha ha ha! That’s an uptick for you, Johnboy!
  
  https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/586978519470571522/K4AeZ1oO.jpg
  
  Ha ha ha ha ha!
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:54pm
  - Johnboy
    
    I have to say though I went off both of them when they tried to turn shit into fillet steak. Like Riley Elf for example: 🙂
    https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=riley+elf&client=firefox-b&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYmuCkqsnXAhWDjpQKHZXFD1IQsAQIJQ&biw=1668&bih=882
    
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    November 19, 2017 1:00pm
    - Steve (North Shore)
      
      It may be shit, but it’s ‘British’ old boy
      
      5 0
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      November 19, 2017 5:01pm
Morrissey

but obviously not from his dad.

That’s a faith-based statement if ever there was one.

He may have just had a brain fart. Kids say dumb things.

It wasn’t a case of one or even just a few thoughtless or malicious comments. The abuse was sustained and repeated: those brutal comments went on for months.

And the other day you sourced an article from a web site known for viscous [sic] anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. People in glass houses should be careful about throwing stones.

I replied to that issue several hours later. Here it is just for you and whoever else is interested in the vexed question of American support for what papers like the Telegraph and Times called the “heroes” of Al-Nusra….

https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/general_debate_17_november_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-2079389
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November 19, 2017 12:52pm
Nookin

Just another reason why you should never rely on anything published in the news media

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/99028878/all-blacks-honour-motor-neurone-disease-stricken-scottish-rugby-legend-doddie-weir

In case you didn’t get it

Weir was warmly received by All Blacks captain Winston Reid and Scottish skipper John Barclay and exchanged pleasantries with Beauden Barrett as the All Blacks first five-eighth took the ball to prepare for kickoff.
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November 19, 2017 12:53pm
- Morrissey
  
  The worst incident like this was after that farcical 2011 RWC final, when the brilliant French captain Thierry Dusautoir was interviewed by that waste of space Ian “Smithy” Smith. The moron called him “Thierry Henry”, then giggled at his own stupidity.
  
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  November 19, 2017 12:58pm
  - softail 1450
    
    moronissey ,,,,,OMG no link ,are you slipping moronissey ?
    
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    November 19, 2017 1:05pm
    - Morrissey
      
      I just can’t bear to even tap the words “Ian Smith” into the search bar. In fact I become homicidal if I even think about that swine for more than a few moments.
      
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      November 19, 2017 1:09pm
      - Johnboy
        
        Thank goodness you are not in charge of the Zimbabwean Army then old chap. They are showing remarkable forbearance with his replacement! 🙂
        
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        November 19, 2017 1:16pm
      - Morrissey
        
        Thank goodness you are not in charge of the Zimbabwean Army then old chap.
        
        You’d get more sense out of the corpse of the old Rhodesian president than you would out of that brainless ex-wicketkeeper.
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:44pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        I have the same problem typing in “Morrissey”. However, to compare you to swine is to do a disservice to pigs. It’s amazing that under Ian Smith, Rhodesia was the bread basket of Southern Africa. Now look at the shit hole it has become. But communist filth like you like shitholes to dominate.
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:16pm
Johnboy

Anyone seen Milkey then?
I really do miss the old bugger! 🙂
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November 19, 2017 1:20pm
- Johnboy
  
  A downtick???? Who can not like Milkey then? 🙂
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:33pm
Fletch

Jacinda says taking the refugees “is just a matter of doing the right thing”. For whom? For New Zealanders who she is supposed to represent? As the top comment on Facebook puts it –

I just don’t want to read in the news in a few months time: “Manus Island refugee plows van into large crowd on Queen St”

A guard who worked there said it is a bad move taking these people and I’m sure he’d know first hand. Plus are they going to be living next to Jacinda? I’m guessing not…

https://www.facebook.com/1NEWSNZ/posts/10154931839636218

The above comment now seems to have disappeared from the Facebook story.
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November 19, 2017 1:21pm
- Johnboy
  
  One has to look on the bright side of things. Muleface, Winnie and James may just be sitting at a cafe on Queen St with Helen when the van takes out the whole lot of them! 🙂
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:28pm
  - waikatogirl
    
    Cafe? Does it serve whisky?
    
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    November 19, 2017 4:06pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      In Vulcan Lane, it can be arranged.
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:18pm
- mandk
  
  For whom?
  
  The people traffickers, of course.
  
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  November 19, 2017 1:55pm
Tauhei Notts

Delightful funny story from horse racing.
Yesterday’s top fillies race saw the red hot favourite, Prom Queen (Super Easy – Finishing School) get beaten. Earlier in the week her trainer was asked how the filly got her name. His answer was priceless.
“Look at her breeding, her mother was named Finishing School. That is where prom queens come from. And prom queens have always been super easy.”
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November 19, 2017 1:59pm
Digmen1

Getting back to Zimbabwe

I hope the military get rid of Mugabe and his greedy wife and hold proper elections.

I’d like to see Morgan Tsvangirai back with a chance. Remember all the times he got beaten up by Mugabe’s thugs
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November 19, 2017 2:07pm
Fletch

For your viewing pleasure, the final fight(s) in the movie No Retreat/No Surrender (bookmarked to final scene). It was Van Damme’s first movie, in which he plays an evil Russian fighter in the employ of mob guys who want to buy up dojos and use them to distribute drugs. He is defeated by a young guy who is taught Kung Fu by the ghost of Bruce Lee. Much of the movie is cheesy but I still love it…lol

https://youtu.be/Ua8Tgv99Ljc?t=1h27m10s
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November 19, 2017 2:24pm
Longknives

What freaking Planet does this ridiculous Woman live on??

“More analysis was needed, she said, adding that she was “still reserving her judgment”, on whether Kiwis were threatened by terrorism.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99026299/jacinda-ardern-its-more-important-to-do-whats-right-than-whats-popular

The whole Western World is threatened by Islamic Terrorism you idiot! How many more children need to be slaughtered at Pop Concerts/Run over by Muslims driving Trucks before stupid Lefties get this into their stupid heads??
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November 19, 2017 2:26pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  But she knows we are being threatened by North Korea.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99016477/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-north-korea-is-a-real-threat
  
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  November 19, 2017 2:28pm
  - RF
    
    Thank god she is watching our backs…… not
    
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    November 19, 2017 6:14pm
- Digmen1
  
  We have well over 40,000 muslims here in NZ.
  Some of them will be radicalised already.
  More will be so in the future.
  So its only a matter of time.
  
  Then what will Jacinda and the Greens say?
  
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  November 19, 2017 2:32pm
  - Steve (North Shore)
    
    Then what will Jacinda and the Greens say?
    
    It is National’s fault, the ones we let in are peacefull. National let the bad ones in
    
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    November 19, 2017 5:12pm
  - Paul Marsden
    
    It was a lone wolf..??
    
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    November 19, 2017 8:11pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Why bother having an SIS when Jacinda can just exercise her “judgement”
  http://www.nzsis.govt.nz/our-work/protection-from-terrorism/
  
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  November 19, 2017 2:32pm
  - Kimbo
    
    What makes you think her judgement won’t be shaped by briefings from the SIS, GCSB, etc.?
    
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    November 19, 2017 2:43pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Because if she was listening to them or had even read the link I gave to the SIS she would have discovered this:
      There are individuals and groups in New Zealand with links to overseas organisations that are committed to acts of terrorism, violence and intimidation. There are extremists who advocate using violence to impress their own political, ethnic or religious viewpoint on others.
      
      It is important that New Zealand is not used as a safe haven from which to plan or facilitate terrorist acts elsewhere.
      
      And if she had read the 2016 annual report of the SIS to Parliament she would have read
      While the terrorism threat level in New
      Zealand remains at ‘low’, the threat
      from a small number of individuals
      espousing support for violent
      extremism has continued and a small
      number of New Zealanders remain in
      ISIL-occupied parts of the Middle East.
      http://www.nzsis.govt.nz/assets/media/annual-reports/nzsis-ar16.pdf
      
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      November 19, 2017 3:00pm
    - Kimbo
      
      …so what does that have to do with those on Manus Island? That’s who she is discussing.
      
      Of course there is a “potential” or even real threat” from those who are here. Or any idiot who was skilled enough to hijack an overseas plane and fly it into, say the Sky Tower. Just like there is a threat from being hit by an asteroid, an earhquake in Wellington, a volcanic eruption in Auckland…
      
      The issues are
      
      1. What is the clear and present danger from current residents?
      
      2. What is the likely threat from a specific group of 150 from Manus Island?
      
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      November 19, 2017 3:11pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        No Kimbo
        It’s not just about Manus Is.
        
        Jacinda was being interviewed on a number of topics…
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99026299/jacinda-ardern-its-more-important-to-do-whats-right-than-whats-popular
        The final question was about local violent extremism
        And on the threat of local violent extremism, Ardern said she was still taking advice from people on the nature and size of any potential threats.
        
        More analysis was needed, she said, adding that she was “still reserving her judgment”, on whether Kiwis were threatened by terrorism.
        
        Her answer flies in the face of the information the NZ SIS has furnished to Parliament.
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:35pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Bit all advise is always contingent on additional information or reappraisal. And when it comes to policy, politicians make the decisions, not the pyblic servants…
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:41pm
      - treadingthemill
        
        Ardern said she was still taking advice from people on the nature and size of any potential threats.
        
        Which is good.
        
        More analysis was needed, she said,
        
        Which is true.
        
        she was “still reserving her judgment”, on whether Kiwis were threatened by terrorism.
        
        Which is prudent.
        
        Her answer flies in the face of the information the NZ SIS has furnished to Parliament.
        
        No I don’t think it does. The report you cited says the threat is low, and she was not saying there is no threat.
        
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        November 19, 2017 3:43pm
    - KevOB
      
      Who can shape her judgement? None is required when ideology is embedded.
      
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      November 19, 2017 5:30pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  “How many more children need to be slaughtered at Pop Concerts/Run over by Muslims driving Trucks before stupid Lefties get this into their stupid heads??”
  
  Endless numbers, I’m afraid. Because, y’know ‘not all muslims are like that, so we can’t be prejudiced’. /sarc
  
  You see, subscribing to an openly woman hating, jew hating, unbeliever hating, pro slavery ideology is OK if it is a ‘religion’ and not all believers actually carry out all its violent instructions.
  
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  November 19, 2017 2:40pm
- treadingthemill
  
  We have had no terrorist attacks by Muslims in New Zealand, and as far as I know, no credible threat of one. So she’s not wrong that it’s an open question that needs more analysis. Given the number of them elsewhere, it is significant that we have not had any. We may just not be that important to bother targeting. Compared to other countries, our Muslim population is very small. It’s not inevitable that we will have one. I would rather have the PM rely on knowledgeable analysis and the work of our security services than give in to hysteria.
  
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  November 19, 2017 2:44pm
  - Paulus
    
    Those of you who can may remember “Enoch Powell”
    He was right but was derided for many years, but proven right eventually.
    
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    November 19, 2017 3:18pm
    - Johnboy
      
      I remember him Paulus. A great man in my opinion. Derided by the wankers in his time but they cannot deride what he predicted because it has all come true! 🙂
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers-of-Blood-speech.html
      
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      November 19, 2017 6:24pm
      - Jack5
        
        Enoch Powell’s wife, Pam, died on November 11 at the age or 91. She stood loyally with him through the years when Powell was shunned by politicians because of his views on immigration.
        
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        November 19, 2017 11:09pm
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Powell’s statements were about ethnicity though. I’m not aware that he even mentioned islam. I don’t care what colour someone is, but what ideology they subscribe to.
      
      Calling islam-critics ‘racists’ is really defamation by SJWs and islamists to stifle debate. Comparing the valid criticism of an ideology to Powell’s racial statements just helps boost that lie.
      
      PS, criticizing overpopulation by immigration for other reasons can be totally valid, too.
      
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      November 20, 2017 11:40am
  - Jack5
    
    But we have had people who, after being radicalised at the Christchurch mosque, were killed fighting for Al Qaeda.
    
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10118134/Killed-terrorists-radicalised-in-Christchurch
    
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    November 19, 2017 3:26pm
    - treadingthemill
      
      True, which is why we must be vigilant. Hysteria and vigilance are not the same thing however, and the PM was not saying we shouldn’t be vigilant.
      
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      November 19, 2017 3:34pm
  - RF
    
    When our first real terrorism apart from the Rainbow Warrior happens let me be the first to remind you of your statement…
    
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    November 19, 2017 6:17pm
- Kimbo
  
  @ Longknives
  
  The whole Western World is threatened by Islamic Terrorism you idiot!
  
  The “threat” in question is the possibility of accepting those who are on Manus Island – a possibility John Key also contemplated and made the offer to Aussie concerning, btw. The question is, to what extent can it be determined that they could be a threat if they come to NZ? Not just in the “it could happen because they are Muslim” category, but rather, is there a clear and present danger because of known details about their specific and personal backgrounds.
  
  Not acceptable to you, or say, David Garrett, I know. Nonetheless, the policy that seems to most popular among Kiwibloggers – no Muslims should be allowed into New Zealand – is not likely to become government policy in NZ any time soon. Or even in the US. Think about that for a moment…
  
  So what we are left with is the government exercising its discretion and judgement. Which is what they are elected to do. Don’t like it? Get yourself elected.
  
  Oh, yes, and I know it begs the response “then we shouldn’t let in any more Muslims”, but NZ has not had “children slaughtered at Pop Concerts/Run over by Muslims driving Trucks”. So it is not directly relevant to the NZ and Manus Island context Ardern was discussing.
  
  Mind you, I do have some sympathy with your “broad sweep”/religious-profiling solution. It was all downhill once we let in immigrants of Irish Catholic Fenian sympathies, because, the present lull in the troubles in Ireland notwithstanding, based on history the chances are that may flare up again some time soon.
  
  But then don’t say that this Protestant didn’t warn you. Don’t believe me? Already the new government has removed reference to out head of state, the Queen in the Parliamentary prayer. That’s only the start for these Irish Catholic-inspired scum, I tell you!!!!! Irish and Catholic = a chip on both shoulders, and they never forget and they never learn, and even if they hadn’t had occasion to have a grudge against the good Protestant Westminster democracy, they would have invented it anyway just for the pleasure of fighting. And drinking. And breeding too many kids, And taking welfare. Why won’t anyone listen??!! sarc/
  
  Oh yes, and that bit about the troubles in Northern Ireland – and the republic for that matter – maybe being just temporary – that wasn’t sarcasm. Is a very likely possibility in the years, decades and generations ahead. Did I also mention that the Papacy is an abomination and an affront to democracy? That wasn’t sarcasm either. But we allowed these people in. That last bit was sarcasm.
  
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  November 19, 2017 2:59pm
  - Longknives
    
    You forgot to mention The Crusades Kimbo!
    
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    November 19, 2017 3:19pm
  - Jack5
    
    One difference is that Catholics don’t kill apostates, and nor do any Protestant groups I know of. So the chance of assimilation or peaceful co-existence is a thousand times higher than it is when a Western country takes in Muslims.
    
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    November 19, 2017 3:28pm
    - treadingthemill
      
      One difference is that Catholics don’t kill apostates, and nor do any Protestant groups I know of.
      
      Not anymore, but they used to, a lot. Still, I’m not sure Kimbo’s comparison between Irish immigrants and Muslim immigrants is a very good analogy.
      
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      November 19, 2017 3:33pm
  - Kimbo
    
    How about we just try and assess the risk of 150 from Manus Island with a better criterion than just “they are Muslims”? And you call Ardern an idiot?
    
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    November 19, 2017 3:31pm
    - Jack5
      
      They are international border-crashing criminals, Kimbo.
      
      Countries have the right to decide who comes into them. These ratbags paid criminal networks to help them break Australia’s laws. Besides, many appear to have been committing crime in PNG.
      
      There is no justification for NZ helping them.
      
      Risking NZ visa-free entry to Australia, risking relations with our biggest trade and defence partner – just for a bunch of international criminals?
      
      Ardern is an airheaded PR graduate without any nous.
      
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      November 19, 2017 3:43pm
      - Kimbo
        
        No, there is a justification: you may not agree, and I may not either, but the Manus Island detention situation is, by any fair measure a human rights in our own region. And whether Ardern is right or wrong, Aussie politicians who tell us we should not be dealing with PNG direct with regards to the conditions on Manus Island and how we allocate our aid budget need reminding that they are best advised to Foxtrot Oscar.
        
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        November 19, 2017 5:13pm
      - Jack5
        
        “…. our own region” ????
        
        It’s 4117km from Auckland to Port Moresby. That’s quite a bit further than the distance from London to Cairo.
        
        The argument is between the neighbours, Australia and PNG.
        
        It’s NZ politicians, chiefly Jacinderella and the likes of Golriz, need reminding that they are best advised to “Foxtrot Oscar”.
        
        Since when has it been NZ’s job to intervene in foreign human rights issues?
        
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        November 19, 2017 7:36pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Jack5
        
        “…. our own region” ????
        
        It’s 4117km from Auckland to Port Moresby. That’s quite a bit further than the distance from London to Cairo.
        
        Pfft. It’s the South Pacific. Put it this way – we took it rather seriously when the Japanese were invading PNG in 1942. Then it was indeed local.
        
        Since when has it been NZ’s job to intervene in foreign human rights issues?
        
        It’s not our job, but it is our prerogative, as we’ve done on a host of issues – nuclear testing in the South Pacific (Norman Kirk sent the Otago to Mururoa, and Bolger repeated the dose some 20 years later), cancelling the 1973 Springbok tour, boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics, sending peacekeepers to the Sinai, the Balkans and (closer to our region) East Timor and Bouganville, a great deal of our foreign aid is targeted to the South Pacific because we do indeed consider it our backyard (have done ever since RJ Seddon annexed the Cook Islands!), offering to take those of the Tampa – an offer gratefully accepted by the Aussies btw – John Key offering to take some 150 from Manus Island…
        
        Oh, sorry (no, not really), you were asking one of those rhetorical questions where you act like the answer is self-evident. A word of advice – we smarty arse fancy-dan theology graduates are too thick on common sense to realise you are wanting others to indulge and gratify your inner-curdudgeon.
        
        You may disagree with Ardern and Golriz – and on balance I think I do too – but good on ’em for sticking to what are their values,. and not cowering wondering what a bunch of arrogant fuck wits like Aussie politicians think. Our government doesn’t agree with Aussie’s policy, then it should not be afraid to say so. If Aussie disagrees, then that’s the end of it.
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:16pm
      - Jack5
        
        Kimbo I have to challenge you on one point:
        
        … we took it rather seriously when the Japanese were invading PNG in 1942….
        
        But we (NZ) didn’t get involved in the PNG-Papua campaign alongside the Australian regular troops brought home from the Middle East, beside American GI’s, and beside the American Army’s Fifth Air Force.
        
        We left our battle-hardened troops in North Africa, then Italy, and sent newly raised units to the region of the Pacific in the sector commanded by the US Navy, whose ships we have insulted in recent years.
        
        The odd New Zealander who fought in PNG would most likely have been in the Australian Army.
        
        I agree with your statement, “Our government doesn’t agree with Aussie’s policy, then it should not be afraid to say so.” However, Ardern, psyched up by the Melon Greens, has gone beyond disagreeing. She wants to interfere in Australia’s policy, even if it goads Australia into slapping visa requirements on all New Zealanders.
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:33pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Jack5
        
        Uh, huh. And while we didn’t fight in PNG, nonetheless we were the base for thousands of Americans who went off to fight in the general Melanesian area, starting in Guadalcanal in the Solomon islands. Or are you saying that Kiwis thought it was just fine and peachy the Japanese hadn’t turned up in Auckland Harbour? Because, hey, it’s not like anyone here gave a shit about the far-away Battle of the Coral Sea, was it?! 😉
        
        How is Ardern “interfering” in Aussie foreign policy? In the matter of aid, she is dealing direct with PNG. “Interfering” is if she sends a gunboat into Sydney Harbour. Or immediately accepts some of those on Manus Island into NZ. Neither has happened. Aussies don’t like hearing something contrary to their policy. Tough shit, and suck it up cobber, just like when they do stuff we don’t agree with. And there’s been a bit of that from their side of the ditch lately…
        
        But yes, she does indeed have…justification. As I’ve argued before – sorry about that fancy theology shit, but doubling down on emphatic grumpiness doesn’t win you the argument, other than in your own wind. Want as analogy to make it clearer? Nah, not your style as you willfully misunderstand those.
        
        So, there is a justification…just one you may not agree with. Fair enough, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer pick. As she or the Greens never had your vote, I doubt they will lose much sleep.
        
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        November 19, 2017 11:18pm
  - Digmen1
    
    Kimbo
    The risks of an islamist attack on us is just too great.
    
    Not only that islam is not a religion of peace and should be kept out of non muslim countries.
    
    They have an agenda, and it is world domination, sharia law etc. Their beliefs are rooted in the stone age.
    
    Long live Myanmar (only 400,000 left to go), Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
    
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    November 19, 2017 5:05pm
    - Kimbo
      
      Onya Digmen1
      
      You may be that most pathetic of people, an anonymous keyboard warrior, and IMHO your advocacy for ethnic cleansing likely warrants some low level GCSB or SIS surveillance to confirm you are indeed an empty vessel/gutless weasel who talks tough, but at least you put what you really think and want out there.
      
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      November 19, 2017 5:46pm
      - nasska
        
        I’d go along 100% with Digmen1 on this one. Mostly because I fully believe that we are in desperate need of religious cleansing on all fronts.
        
        It’s the brain dead who believe in magic men in the skies who threaten us……not ethics or races.
        
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        November 19, 2017 7:29pm
      - Jack5
        
        Kimbo, you and I are anonymous posters, as well.
        
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        November 19, 2017 7:38pm
      - treadingthemill
        
        Being anonymous for privacy is fine. Using it to advocate genocide and the mass killing of a persons political opponents, as he also wants to kill everyone to the left of National, is pretty cowardly. It also makes him no different to Islamic terrorists. They want to kill everyone who disagrees with them. So does he. Honestly, whats the difference?
        
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        November 19, 2017 8:09pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Jack5
        
        Yes, but last time I looked, neither of us supported and/or advocated ethnic cleansing/genocide.
        
        Do please keep up, and ensure your facts are relevant, and fit the original point and the thread…
        
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        November 19, 2017 10:22pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    As a good Catholic of Irish descent, I am confused with your post Kimbo? What makes me even more confused is that I am married into a family of Scottish Protestants, one who served in Her Majesties Government in MI5. (and was nearly posted to Belfast for his numerous sins). Or do I just go with my Catholic Italian heritage and be a good Dago? My confusion is whether I am welcome or not in this lovely land. I do hate Winston, if that helps.
    
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    November 19, 2017 10:06pm
    - Kimbo
      
      The Ngati Scottish makes you ok. So too does the Irish Catholic. So too does…and here’s the point…if you were part Muslim too. Because they are not relevant in the first instance to whether or not
      
      1. you are a person of good character, or
      2. a good prospective migrant.
      
      Trust that assists.
      
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      November 19, 2017 10:24pm
RF

There have been previous comments today concerning the Pike River Mine. There is so much BS spoken about this sad tragedy based on heresay.

The Pike River Mine Royal Commission report vol 1 & 2 that can be down loaded makes very interesting reading.

Vol 2, chapter 10 under the heading Gas Monitoring is worth reading….

“Some Gas sensors that were machine mounted in the mine were tampered with by placing plastic bags over them and clips being placed that shut them off. Some clips were left in place at end of shift and discovered by the next shift.”

The Pike incident reports records 14 reports of gas sensors being bypassed. Other reports went missing.

Based on the report the obvious culprits were some of the miners working in the mine. I understand that the miners had their own safety man so it appears that it was a common occurrence to shut down gas sensors so they could keep on working. This would no doubt increase their production without interruption and presume it would reflect in their wages.

I know a retired Mine deputy in Greymouth and he was very critical of the mine operation & safety measures – both management and miners taking short cuts and chasing the mighty dollars.

Looks like there is fault on both sides and not just management.
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November 19, 2017 2:30pm
- Jack5
  
  It isn’t the first time you’ve tried to blame the miners for the disaster, RF (unless I’m mistaking you for another poster).
  
  Blame can be placed fully on the management: poor vision, second-class but cheap mining equipment, ignoring the obvious “gasiness” of the mine, and failure to enforce safety standards.
  
  Why was there no functioning second exit? Why didn’t the former company manager have the gumption to come back from Australia to NZ for the inquiry?
  
  What a bullshit project the whole thing was. If there hadn’t been the disaster, the mine would have gone down in the world coal-price crash, as Solid Energy did.
  
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  November 19, 2017 3:37pm
  - Komata
    
    Jack5 @1537
    
    Re: ‘Blame can be placed fully on the management: poor vision, second-class but cheap mining equipment, ignoring the obvious “gasiness” of the mine, and failure to enforce safety standards.
    
    Why was there no functioning second exit? Why didn’t the former company manager have the gumption to come back from Australia to NZ for the inquiry?
    
    What a bullshit project the whole thing was’.
    
    I would suggest that, in seeking answers, you are not looking widely enough. I say this as prior to 1989, there were a group of very experienced and professional mining men in NZ who had literally started at the bottom and worked their way up to become recognised ‘experts’ in their field; Many had worked in mines in Australia, some even in South Africa and the USA. Collectively they were known as ‘Mines Inspectors’ or ‘Inspectors of Mines’ (the terms were interchangeable). The role of Mines Inspectors had existed for many years (over a century , from memory), operated under due statute and had the full legal backing of the NZ Government. They were usually based in the mining areas that they ‘supervised’ (Thames [later Huntly], Waihi, Greymouth, Nelson etc.) and were tasked with supervising all and any mining or quarrying operation within their district. Granted, there were the occasional ‘ratbags’ but by and large they were men of honour and professionalism who did their work with pride, fairness and enthusiasm. With the decline of metal mining, the Mines Inspectorate gradually evolved into a group focused primarily on the Coal mining industry, with the change of emphasis finally being codified in the Coal Mines Act 1979. The Pike River Report summarises the result as follows:
    
    Inspectors
    The act provided for a chief inspector, district, electrical and mechanical inspectors of coal mines.
    Chief inspectors could support and review the actions of the inspectors. They held first class coal mine manager’s certificates and had significant coal mining expertise, usually as manager of a large and challenging New Zealand mine such as Strongman, which had problems with gas and spontaneous combustion.
    
    The chief inspector attended conferences
    of the Australian chief inspectors.
    Inspections
    
    District inspectors had coal mining expertise and inspected mines within a particular geographical area. Inspections occurred with and without notice and following notification of incidents and accidents. Small mines were inspected monthly and large mines inspected weekly. That reflected the mine’s rate of progress and the time required for a comprehensive inspection.
    
    Mines that posed a high level of hazard could receive greater attention, which resulted from discussion within the inspectorate rather than from a formal hazard assessment system.
    
    Frequent inspection allowed the inspectors to become familiar with mines and to respond to problems swiftly and in an informed manner’.
    
    So far so good; everything worked well as it had for the previous 100 or so years. Everyone knew the rules and safety was paramount.
    
    In 1989 (under Labour BTW), the situation changed. To again quote from the ‘Report:
    
    ‘The late 1980s/early 1990s
    
    In 1989 the Ministry of Energy was abolished. The coal mining inspectorate, by then known as the Mining Inspection Group (MIG), was transferred to the Energy and Resources Division of the Ministry of Commerce. Following the
    Resource Management Act 1991, the MIG’s resource management function was transferred to regional authorities. Consequently, its staffing was reduced and its work became more concerned with health and safety’. (1).
    
    it was all downhill from there and the powers and abilities of the Inspectors were gradually (some would say deliberately) eroded away until they finally became little more than advisors. Mine safety was inevitably compromised but those odf us who expressed concerns were told that (a) we didn’t know what we were talking about, that (b) the Inspector’s were ‘old fashioned and expensive; ‘So Nineteenth Century’, and that ‘Nothing would go wrong; the coal mining industry was SO safety conscious and that it was quite capable of monitoring itself; after all EVERYONE knew the hazards’.
    
    With no Inspectors who knew WHAT went on (and still does BTW); no one checked, no-one cared, and as for ‘safety’ A joke!! It was only a matter of time before something went very, very wrong and if it hadn’t been Pike River, it would have been somewhere else; the metaphorical fuse had been lit, the problem was developing and no-one cared; especially not the ‘brigh young things’ who thought they knew it all and had no (or at least very little) underground expertise; a University degree / qualification does NOT a mining expert make.
    
    I would suggest that ultimately it was not the fault of the company, nor was it the fault of the workers or even a Government Department. Rather it was the fault of the SYSTEM; a system where cost cutting, ‘modernisation’ for modernisation’s sake, ignorance, almost willful stupidity, inexperience and undue emphasis on ‘paper’ ahead of actual practical and hard-earned experience created a situation which ultimately failed spectacularly.
    
    I agree that Pike River should never, ever have happened, but as I hope I’ve shown above, it was an ‘ultimate result’, rather than something that occurred through willful and deliberate intent.
    
    Observation however, does make me wonder how much has subsequently been learned…
    
    ___________________________
    
    (1) [n.a.], ‘Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy’, Vol 2: 2: ‘The decline of the mining inspectorate'(Wellington: New Zealand Government Printer [n.d.]), pp. 270-271.
    
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    November 19, 2017 5:51pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      When the first explosion at the mine occurred the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union leader (Andrew Little) defended the management of Pike River.
      http://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/how-andrew-little-failed-pike-river.html
      What a berk!
      What was his background in Mines/Mining safety?
      
      10 0
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      November 19, 2017 6:23pm
      - Komata
        
        Maggie
        
        Mr Little had absolutely NO mining background, and in view of his ‘anti-capitalist’ stance by virtue of his role as head of the EPMU, I have always found his (vehement) statements in support of the company to be very strange.
        
        One has to wonder if there was a lot more to that support than was reported in the MSM.
        
        The phrase ‘Vested Interests’ comes to mind.
        
        We will, of course, never know.
        
        7 0
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        November 19, 2017 7:10pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Yes Komata,
        My question was rhetorical.
        I know Little has no background in mining and obviously no geology.
        
        I’ve always been puzzled why miners went to work in that deadly mine.
        Any experienced miner would have known that they were operating under dangerous 3rd world conditions.
        
        5 0
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        November 19, 2017 7:29pm
  - RF
    
    Jack 5.
    
    Not blaming the miners outright just pointing out that there were faults on both sides.
    
    Read the bloody report……
    
    Better still talk to a miner who has worked down there and left prior to the explosion. You might just learn something….
    
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    November 19, 2017 6:25pm
SPLOOGE

***Jacinda Arden***
PRIME MINISTER of New Zealand and all New Zealanders.
Ahh. I never get tired of saying that.
1 28
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November 19, 2017 2:57pm
- Jack5
  
  Perhaps you could rename your toy yacht, Jacinderella.
  
  15 1
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  November 19, 2017 3:51pm
- Digmen1
  
  Seeing her on the international stage makes me ashamed to be a New Zealander.
  
  15 0
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  November 19, 2017 4:59pm
  - Steve (North Shore)
    
    Jacinda Ardern does not make me ashamed to be a New Zealander. I want the World to know how many stupid people live in NZ, and how stupid out MMP system is. She is on the World stage, the World needs to know the truth about these silly communist socialist idealist fucking airbrains.
    Free this, free that; nothing is free. Free $3M to PNG, thanks – that was my money not yours Taxinder.
    End of rant
    
    24 0
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    November 19, 2017 5:22pm
    - Johnboy
      
      Quite so Steven. Whats more the silly bitch can’t even play golf FFS! 🙂
      
      13 1
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      November 19, 2017 5:32pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  FFs Ardern!!!!!
  
  7 0
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  November 19, 2017 7:06pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  “PRIME MINISTER of New Zealand and all New Zealanders.”
  
  Splodge you are a weapons-grade fuckwit and you prove it multiple times on here every day.
  I’m looking forward to your response when the whole thing blows up in her toothy face.
  And it won’t be long coming.
  
  5 0
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  November 19, 2017 8:30pm
  - SPLOOGE
    
    Ohh ‘captain’, once again in the full face of facts you have to go and make a complete fool of yourself.
    Just what are you trying to convey in your frankly ludicrous statement?
    
    0 5
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    November 19, 2017 8:47pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  Well, she’s Not My Prime Minister, because I am not a New Zealand Citizen. I have the choice of Zuma, (ughh) or Paolo Gentiloni Silveri to claim as My Prime Minister. Once a decent, representative government gets back into power, I’ll consider citizenship.
  
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  November 19, 2017 9:53pm
Rodney Randall

Auckland Peace Action just had a protest for Manus Island darlings. Some twitter footage is available online.

Golriz assured the audience that it is a human right to seek asylum (she conveniently forgot to tell audience that it is not a human right for govt to grant asylum) and that these men are homosexuals fleeing Isis, and environmental activists:) No mention about mentally disturbed, sexually deviant miscreants) as proven by Australian Security reports

Her partner Guy Williams read out some pleas from the island.

All 12 claps from the audience could be heard.
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November 19, 2017 3:13pm
- Jack5
  
  Golriz thinks Green stands for Islam.
  
  Without MMP, such an extremist would have a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming an NZ member of Parliament.
  
  14 3
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  November 19, 2017 3:49pm
  - fluffykiwi
    
    If she were in Australia she would not even be in parliament, being born overseas and all that.
    
    8 0
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    November 19, 2017 6:27pm
    - Johnboy
      
      We’re happy to have scum for politicians. We had Donald, Fitzsimons, Norman, Turei, etc..etc..after all! 🙂
      
      11 0
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      November 19, 2017 6:36pm
- Digmen1
  
  I used to like Guy Williams
  
  1 5
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  November 19, 2017 5:00pm
  - Johnboy
    
    Fuckwit! 🙂
    
    4 0
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    November 19, 2017 6:36pm
- Komata
  
  Presumably Penny was there in her numerous self-appointed and delusional capacities??
  
  9 0
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  November 19, 2017 5:59pm
All_on_Red

‘Have we got a priggish little Goody Two-Shoes government to represent us to the world? Most New Zealanders, I’ll wager, completely understand Australia’s decisions on dealing with boatloads of people trying to land on its coasts.
If New Zealand was situated north of Australia wouldn’t we do exactly the same? You bet your life.
We know this but worse, Aussies know it too. I shudder to think what they thought about the scolding they’ve had from our new Prime Minister.’

Let me help John. They probably think she’s a naive silly little girl who’s out of her depth with her virtue signalling.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11945367
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November 19, 2017 4:04pm
- Rodney Randall
  
  Great article.
  
  6 0
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  November 19, 2017 4:31pm
- Ross12
  
  A cut and paste from a W/O poster
  
  “There is a summary of the status of the 1,000 or so chancers who paid smugglers and who ended up on Manus Island, on a left-wing Australian site called “The Conversation”.
  
  598 of them have already accepted the very generous offer by Australia to fly them back home at Australian expense and give them a nice cash bonus.
  
  253 more of them have been finally determined to be not genuine refugees.
  
  Everyone left is able to move to well-equipped new centres on Manus & in PNG, or to take up the offer of free transport home and a resettlement allowance.
  
  Australia has spent hundreds of millions looking after these people (mostly young men) and its generosity continues and remains open.
  
  In the meantime our virtue signalling fool aligns NZ with the rabid far left of Australia, and tries to look good by throwing a miserable $3million as a bribe to get the remaining trouble-makers to continue their attack on Australia”
  
  This is the link to the full Conversation piece
  
  https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-whats-going-on-at-manus-island-87354
  
  9 0
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  November 19, 2017 8:00pm
  - Rodney Randall
    
    This is an outstanding breakdown Ross.
    
    4 0
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    November 19, 2017 8:54pm
chiz

New map of Auckland released.
6 0
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November 19, 2017 4:23pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Well they got ‘Wine Wankers’ right. Fuck they are funny over there – don’t even like me going past in my boat
  
  5 0
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  November 19, 2017 5:42pm
tranquil

Why have there been no political opinion polls since the election?

It used to be the case that you couldn’t go for a week without one or another polls coming out. The last month? Nothing.

Why? What is happening?
13 0
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November 19, 2017 4:57pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Not needed. Taxinder will tell you what you need to know. Jacinda is Prime Minister in case you missed that.
  sarc/
  
  8 0
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  November 19, 2017 5:44pm
  - starboard
    
    Arden..not my PM.
    
    5 1
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    November 19, 2017 8:41pm
- JibberJabber
  
  They don`t want to burst any bubbles.
  
  2 0
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  November 19, 2017 8:52pm
Manolo

A good forecast for the US economy:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-18/goldman-sachs-sees-four-2018-fed-rate-hikes-as-u-s-growth-gains

The U.S. economy is heading into 2018 with strong momentum that’s likely to boost wages and inflation more broadly, requiring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates four times next year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists said in a research note.
8 0
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November 19, 2017 4:58pm
Digmen1

I’d like to see a poll in say Feb or March after some of their policies have been enacted.
5 0
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November 19, 2017 5:01pm
- tranquil
  
  I’d like to see one now to see if there is any early drop in Labour’s support.
  We seem to be well overdue for one.
  
  8 0
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  November 19, 2017 5:22pm
  - Steve (North Shore)
    
    Overdue? Correct. You think the MSM in NZ are going to tell you that the 3 week old Govt is going down the shitter?
    National will be back. Drain the fucking swamp. Who said that? never mind
    
    11 1
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    November 19, 2017 5:48pm
    - Harriet
      
      “….Drain the fucking swamp….”
      
      Smoke out the beehive of all socialists.
      
      9 1
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      November 19, 2017 6:52pm
      - Steve (North Shore)
        
        First the leader, and the sheep will follow.
        …Don’t use those dots Harry, it makes Phil Ure famous…
        
        8 0
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        November 19, 2017 6:59pm
  - MrLovebucket
    
    I’m really keen to see NZFs polling post decision. Surely it will be around 3% or less
    
    6 0
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    November 19, 2017 8:00pm
Digmen1

I’d like to see a poll on if we should ever take one illegal immigrant male from Manus island.
12 0
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November 19, 2017 6:45pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Try one for 3 months. If he fucks up – history
  
  6 0
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  November 19, 2017 7:01pm
  - Komata
    
    Steve (NS)
    
    Re: ‘Try one for 3 months. If he fucks up – history’
    
    I don’t think it would work; One on his own is likely to ‘behave himself’ and be allowed to stay as a result.
    
    However, if the ‘European’ experience is any indicator, the cowards are SO much ‘braver’ when they are in packs (two or more) – especially against a lone woman.
    
    (Just saying).
    
    8 0
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    November 19, 2017 7:22pm
GazzaW

Great to see that Chemists Warehouse is in the process of expanding into NZ from Australia. Their first outlet is open in St Lukes with ten more due to open in Auckland next year and thirty plus across NZ. Is it coincidence that a full pharmacy is being opened in our local Countdown and that a price war is all on?

The Pharmacy Guild had no comment. We’ve been ripped by massive profit margins for years and this is very welcome news for the NZ consumer.
9 1
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November 19, 2017 7:15pm
- marcw
  
  There have been “full pharmacies” in some Christchurch Countdown stores for a couple of years. They appear to be popular and successful.
  
  5 1
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  November 19, 2017 7:44pm
  - GazzaW
    
    I think Chemist Warehouse is going to really take it to the establishment on pricing. There was a double page ad in the Herald yesterday and the pricing on established brands was extremely aggressive. They operate off reduced margins but obviously get a lot of leverage off bulk purchasing for their 400 Australian stores. Nil prescription fees too.
    
    3 1
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    November 19, 2017 8:02pm
    - starboard
      
      I use them when Im in aussie..they are fantastic..cant rate them enough. Cholesterol tabs in NZ 50 bucks one months supply. Chemist W/house same product 10 bucks.
      
      4 1
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      November 19, 2017 8:52pm
- Digmen1
  
  Thanks, I did not know that.
  One item/brand that is VERY highly priced in NZ is Scholls footwear accessories.
  I’ll be keen to compare their prices.
  We have one in our Countdown at Fraser Cove Tauranga
  
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  November 20, 2017 6:23am
nasska

You know you’re an infidel if you prefer women over goats.
6 1
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November 19, 2017 8:00pm
- SPLOOGE
  
  In the pot or in the bed?
  
  0 5
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  November 19, 2017 8:50pm
  - starboard
    
    Hey splooge…
    
    3 1
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    November 19, 2017 9:22pm
Jack5

That’s a great yarn in the Hooerald – that President Trump thought Jacinderella was Madame Trudeau….

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11945615
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November 19, 2017 9:26pm
- Don the Kiwi
  
  More likely Madame Tussauds
  
  3 1
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  November 19, 2017 10:14pm
ex-golfer

Has Jacinda fixed Zimbabwe yet?
6 0
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November 19, 2017 10:14pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Ex-golfer:
  
  Zimbabwe is next on the list – after the Rohingya:
  
  Taking into account earlier arrivals, 830,000 Rohingya are now camped there and in other settlements carved into the surrounding hills and paddies. Bangladesh has long said it cannot sustain the refugees indefinitely, but that statement — meant as a plea for international help — is now a frighteningly real reflection of their impact.
  
  How on earth will Jacinda find the time to fix the “child poverty” problem in NZ?
  
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  November 19, 2017 11:04pm
Digmen1

In Zimbabwe they’d at least be Christians and probably English speaking (just with a 30% chance of having Aids.)
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November 20, 2017 6:26am
Manolo

Africa never ceases to amaze:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5097215/Zimbabwe-s-ruling-party-remove-Mugabe-Sunday.html
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November 20, 2017 7:16am

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