General Debate 27 February 2020

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Two fish and a scoop thanks Cindy

WHILE THE TAXPAYERS GENTLY WEEP

I look at the COL, see the Commies there sleeping
While the Taxpayers gently weep
I look at the 9th floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still the Taxpayers gently weep

I don’t know why nobody told you
How to unfold your scarf
I don’t know how Winston controlled you
He bought and sold you

I look at the world and I notice it’s turning
While the Taxpayers gently weep
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still the Taxpayers gently weep

I don’t know how you were elected
You were selected too
I don’t know how you were converted
No one alerted you

I look at the COL, see the Commies there sleeping
While the Taxpayers gently weep
I look at the 9th floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still the Taxpayers gently weep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y
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February 27, 2020 8:00am
- Two fish and a scoop thanks Cindy
  
  SHES NOT THERE – (ON THE 9th FLOOR)
  
  Well, no one told me about her (socialist past, socialist past)
  The way she lied
  Well, no one told me about her
  How many people cried
  
  But it’s too late to say you’re sorry (you voted NZFirst, NZFirst)
  How would I know, why should I care?
  Please don’t bother trying to find her
  She’s not there (on the 9th floor)
  
  Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
  The way she acts when the cameras are there
  Her voice was soft and cool, her eyes were clear and bright
  But she’s not there (part time PM, part time PM,)
  
  Well, no one told me about her (socialist past, socialist past)
  What could I do?
  Well, no one told me about her
  Though they all knew
  
  But it’s too late to say you’re sorry (you voted NZFirst, NZFirst)
  How would I know, why should I care?
  Please don’t bother trying to find her
  She’s not there (in the Parliament Precinct)
  
  Well, let me tell you about the way she looked
  The way she acts when the cameras are there
  Her voice was soft and cool, her eyes were clear and bright
  But she’s not there (Pt Chevalier, Chevalier)
  
  But it’s too late to say you’re sorry (you voted NZFirst, NZFirst)
  How would I know, why should I care?
  Please don’t bother trying to find her
  She’s not there (Have you tried Tokelau?)
  
  Well, let me tell you about the way she looked
  The way she acts when the cameras are there
  Her voice was soft and cool, her eyes were clear and bright
  But she’s not there (part time PM, part time PM,)
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:43am
  - David George
    
    A couple of beauties there Two fish. Be great to see them performed – and put up on youtube.
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:29am
    - Two fish and a scoop thanks Cindy
      
      Cheers David 🙂
      
      Paula Bennet: (she’s in charge of the campaign isn’t she?)
      feel free to take this and run with it. I’m thinking She’s not there would make an excellent backing track to a montage of images of hugz and feelz distribution interposed with images of her empty seat in the debating chamber, with maybe an attendance report?
      
      Vote National 2020 – Because Jacinda’s not there.
      
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      February 27, 2020 11:00am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        I’m grateful she isn’t there. Don’t want even more of her IUSY manifesto turned into NZ laws!
        
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        February 27, 2020 12:05pm
Jade Warrior

Over the last week or so, the Titahi Bay transmitting station has been constructing a new AM radio mast to replace the old one that was demolished four years ago. Perhaps those plans for putting the Concert Programme back on AM are well advanced. ?
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February 27, 2020 8:04am
artemisia

NZ Super costs up as NZ retirees on $100k passes 30,000

From the article, seems that these over-65s are actually working as investment income is not counted. Good chance those on that level of income are not on the tools, up and down ladders and crawling around in roof spaces, but are more probably specialists and managers.

The usual suspects say that this means our super should no longer be universal but reduced through higher tax or testing income and assets. Mr Eaqub says:

… based on the current fiscal year, and on the average Super payment being $19,592, not paying it to people on incomes of $100,000 or above would save taxpayers around $608m.

What sort of economists produce such a simplistic number for taxpayer savings? Where is the the tax revenue from these workers? Where is the huge cost of changing and managing means testing across nearly a million super recipients? Where is the increased tax revenue from a new army of financial advisers helping those with income and assets to make ‘adjustments’?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12311990
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February 27, 2020 8:05am
- mandk
  
  I’m one of those on more than $100k and receiving Super.
  
  Why shouldn’t I get Super?
  
  The income tax I pay is way more than the Super I receive, and it would be difficult for my employer to replace because my skills and experience are scarce.
  
  I could retire now, but the Crown finances and the economy would suffer.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:34am
  - Batman
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Because any decent right winger should refuse to draw it down until actually retired.
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:54am
    - RoboRob
      
      Just like the decent left wingers paying voluntary extra tax to help the government.
      
      Super is NZ pension scheme. Those who work pay into it, those who don’t work get it anyway. Why should those that have paid in not get it?
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:05am
      - Batman
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Is not a pension scheme. It’s a benefit for everyone over 65.
        
        Muldoon killed the proposed scheme.
        
        None of us are “paying into” or “pre-paying” for super. It comes from general taxation.
        
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        February 27, 2020 10:22am
      - David George
        
        The concept of universality was introduced so that individual saving and investment isn’t disencentivised. The contra is that income for retirement savings are not tax exempt as they are in many countries. Means testing super entitlement would have a profound adverse effect (and an assault on the unwritten contract) on people that have savings, investments or need or want to work.
        
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        February 27, 2020 10:46am
      - RoboRob
        
        We are all paying in. I am currently paying for others super, as I expect those after me to pay for mine. Just becuase it is not a designated account doesn’t change the implied agreement.
        
        Unlike previous superannuants I am also paying into my own kiwisaver acct.
        
        I fully expect a future government will remove the super for all those with kiwisaver funds until those funds expire. That, I would think would be horribly unfair.
        
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        February 27, 2020 10:47am
      - Nigel Kearney
        
        I agree it is taxpayer funded welfare not a pension scheme, but it’s still better for it to be universal, like a UBI for over 65s.
        
        Most over 65s are not working. Some of those who are working would not bother if working means they lose their super. Others are business people or contractors who could choose to retain income in their company and not cash out until they decide to stop working. Asset testing can be defeated by trusts. In the end it’s just not worth it.
        
        It’s also unfair because people have made plans that rely on the current system. Younger people can adjust when the rules change but older people cannot easily do that.
        
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        February 27, 2020 11:29am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Just like lefties voluntarily pay extra tax, and take homeless people in when they have extra space, and every single one of them uses public transport, and none of them drink chardonnay…..
      
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      February 27, 2020 11:46am
      - Batman
        
        That doesn’t actually address is issue, it’s more of an excuse
        
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        February 27, 2020 12:58pm
    - Liberty
      
      Batman
      So you are saying. As Winston is in bed with the left he is entitled ?
      
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      February 27, 2020 1:08pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    the Crown finances and the economy would suffer.
    
    So would your income $100k+ would drop to about $20k. Your call ….
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:54am
  - Liberty
    
    The only people paying Tax in real terms are earning around $100.000 and not working for the state. The rest are a burden. So if they are still working and also an old age pensioner they are entitled to some pin money. Good on them.
    
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    February 27, 2020 1:01pm
- Ruahine
  
  These two people are largely Labour Party stooges who often publish these sorts of utterances which are full of half truths and quite superficial. All income is taxed Super included depending on your income from all sources will depend on how much tax you pay. Anyway I have worked and paid taxes for nearly fifty years unlike some people who have arrived within the last eleven years and get the same Super as I do. Some people who have not been paying tax in this country at all still get the same super as I do. I do not mean People born in New Zealand. Never see that written out as a shock horror piece.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:41am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    None of your taxes went into a “national pension fund” …. taxes from your kids’ generation are what pay your pension.
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:43am
    - RoboRob
      
      True but the concept is the same. The government of the day decided not to put the money asside into a pension fund and spend it on other things. They chose to rely on current contributiojns to pay other users pension. Doesn’t change the fact that you have paid into the scheme, it just means when you paid in some of your money went straight out to others.
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:09am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        It’s a lot cheaper not putting the money aside. Pensions paid from taxes require less administration. Ultimately all pension have to be paid out of national production.
        Our Nat Super is intended as a minimal income to provide basic sustenance. That relieves many families too of the problem of providing for remote elderly.
        
        The universality recognises the lifetime contribution of all taxpayers and the avoided hidden cost and aggro of means testing. It all comes back into the economy. It’s taken a long time to perfect it and it is working well.
        Change for change’s sake is destructive.
        
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        February 27, 2020 11:13am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Iain, given National Super in the current form was introduced in 1976, and nearly all current retirees have paid taxes since 1976, they have paid for their share and other’s share of national super. And indeed some retirees continue to pay more tax after retirement than they draw in National super.
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:24am
      - Batman
        
        That’s now how super works though.
        
        You also paid for defence, roads, healthcare, archives, conservation, ACC, etc etc.
        
        So in reality nobody has paid for their ‘share’ and isn’t actually entitled to it.
        
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        February 27, 2020 10:29am
      - sooty
        
        Batman, how did a hard out lefty end up been a moderator on a right leaning blog?
        
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        February 27, 2020 10:40am
      - Batman
        
        Sooty – I’m sorry that I’m more right wing than the apparently entitled super beneficiaries hanging out here!
        
        I realise a lot of people here will disagree with me because they’re sitting pretty with Super plus a house etc, but it doesn’t make me wrong.
        
        Self-interest can turn anyone into an ally of Chloe Swarbruck and the Greens apparently! Te arguments being trotted out here are exactly what she’s arguing on Twitter.
        
        Next you’ll all be supporting a UBI because you love universalism so much!
        
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        February 27, 2020 11:23am
    - info@cruzpro.com
      
      And we paid taxes that paid our parents super.
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:33am
    - Aunty
      
      Incorrect. We have all been paying as taxpayers into the NZ Super Fund (almost 20 years) which is designed to support the cost of National Superannuation.
      
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      February 27, 2020 11:36am
      - Batman
        
        Except it doesn’t actually pay for super on a day to day basis.
        
        It’s a future scheme which isn’t yet being used.
        
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        February 27, 2020 11:42am
      - Aunty
        
        That’s incorrect as well. It’s already paid out billions in tax!
        
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        February 27, 2020 12:16pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @Aunt
        
        It hasn’t paid any pensions ….
        
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        February 27, 2020 1:23pm
      - Aunty
        
        Boag
        
        National Superannuation is paid out of the consolidated fund. Tax is paid into the consolidated fun. And your point is???
        
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        February 27, 2020 5:12pm
- tedbear
  
  “Where is the the tax revenue from these workers?”
  Aw it’s only a trifling $750,000,000 or so.
  Pfftt.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:44am
  - GoVege
    
    750 mill?
    Well that should just about cover the 600 mill its costing the country for rich beneficiaries…I mean pensioners. 🙂
    But where does the money come from for their hospital admissions?
    I read once that 99% of the health budget is spent on people with less than a year to live.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:47am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Mr Eaquab is, to be blunt, a vacuous idiot. He’s intoxicated by the exuberance of his own verbosity, and loves nothing more than to see his name in print or hear the most beautiful sound in the whole wide world – the sound of his own voice.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:45am
  - RoboRob
    
    Yup. He didn’t believe in to $10b hole in Labours budget and provided ‘figures’ to prove it. He also insists thay we should be borrowing up to our eyebrows to pay for social welfare, infrastructure and to invest in shares.
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:10am
    - Engelbert Humperdink
      
      …plus he told all the deplorables not to buy a house, then promptly went and bought one.
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:35am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        And the fact that he bought a house in Auckland at the top of the market without having one to sell proves what a hopeless economist he is.
        
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        February 27, 2020 11:04am
      - John Warren
        
        Yes, that was one of the moments where he shredded his credibility into tiny tatters. And like the Captain says, he bought at the top of the market, leaving me scratching my head in total perplexity.
        
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        February 27, 2020 12:00pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Anyone proposing to borrow to invest in shares is not fit to be an economic adviser.
      
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      February 27, 2020 11:15am
      - RoboRob
        
        I have tried explaining this to soooo many people. They just can’t understand the risk, all they see is borrow at 2% and invest for 18% return. No one thinks, why isn’t everyone doing this.
        
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        February 27, 2020 12:56pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Scoffed, like every other ‘economist’, at Mr Joyce’s $11 billon hole.
    
    Mr Joyce was wrong, it is turning out to be a much much bigger deficit.
    
    Look for my listing on trade me for T shirts, mine read; ‘six months ago I couldn’t even spell economist, now I are one – S Eaquab’
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:48am
    - freethinker
      
      Did you know that s equab is actually an anagram of stoopid arsehole – don’t worry most economists don’t either.
      
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      February 27, 2020 12:51pm
  - John Warren
    
    Eaquab has blown his credibility to shreds on several occasions that I can think of, and generally makes foolish statements and silly predictions. I wouldn’t trust him to tell me the time, let alone what to do with my money.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:58am
    - curry4me
      
      John Warren: He sounds like NZs equivalent of Krugman. Assume the opposite of what he writes.
      
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      February 27, 2020 8:09pm
    - sooty
      
      Will he go on the labour list this election?
      
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      February 27, 2020 8:48pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    I agree he is a hopeless economist….he is obviously on the Labour party payroll.
    Tony Alexander (BNZ) or Cameron Bagrie are much better.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:39pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Anyone advocating means testing Nat Super has never had to deal with the elderly. Even Winston had a problem doing his Super paperwork. I met this as a one-time IRD staffer.
  I suspect the costs of testing may exceed any savings. The money pensioners get is not wasted: GST is paid if it not saved and savings make opportunities.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:52am
  - Tall Man
    
    With this government, a saving $800 million at a cost of $2 billion is a good investment because it will create a large bunch of overpaid labour voters working in a distended public service.
    
    Perhaps they have “finished” with landlords and small business owners and now want to focus their next attack on retirees. After all, they are old and probably white and if they earn over $100k then they are rich so the perfect “trifecta” for attack from these socialist mongs.
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:00am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Means testing related to assets is too hard. Income testing based on tax returns is not – IRD/MSD regularly communicate so as to manage benefit abatement.
    
    There is no “national pension fund” – the pension is funded by today’s taxpayers. There are other transfers like this, but we call them “benefits”. Today’s taxpayers fund the pension for their olds because because the olds previously funded the pension for their (today’s taxpayers) grandparents.
    
    We deal with the “earnings on top of benefits” thing by abating the benefit when it gets over $150/week. That would be novel …..
    
    I was having this conversation with my (pensioner) younger sister. She said if that happened she might quit work. I agreed that would be an option. I also mentioned that the pension is quite a lot less than her salary ….
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:26am
    - artemisia
      
      It is moral hazard to means test income unless the stated intention is to penalise the thrifty and reward the profligate.
      
      And of course those with income from investments (on which tax is paid) have options to move to assets that pay no interest, dividends or net rents and collect a tax free capital gain. Or pass some over to the offspring and blow the rest on luxury cruises, upgrading the main home to a mini mansion, pricey cognac or other happy substances.
      
      It’s the Golden Rule – the ones with the gold make the rules.
      
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      February 27, 2020 9:42am
    - Toko
      
      Income testing can be difficult when people have investments. Usually MSD benefit recipients don’t have other assets. Superannuitants often do have investments which may be held in trusts or companies. Income testing has to look through those and is tricky in practice. I worked as an accountant when the Super surcharge was in place in the early 90s and it didn’t affect wealthy people due to their ability to structure their assets to avoid it. It stung the middle class who might have a few dollars saved, or be earning PAYE income.
      
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      February 27, 2020 11:31am
      - Ian Boag
        
        It’s a benefit. Today’s taxpayers giving money to anyone over 65 with a pulse and 10 years residency. For all other benefits, if you earn money on top then eventually the benefit disappears.
        
        Personally I would like to see the super age set at 60 with the pension treated as above and a universal one like now reinstated at 70.
        
        For a lot of people, losing their job at 60 is the end of their years in the workforce – and not voluntarily. They go on the jobseeker benefit which is about 2/3 of the pension.
        
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        February 27, 2020 12:03pm
- freethinker
  
  And think of the huge economic and skill loss if these “High Income People” decided to stop work, as Confucius said be careful what you ask for.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:54am
- skyblue
  
  The way I look at it is that the current tax system covers universal pension at 65. If these ‘rich pricks’ are to be denied this, then they should have been paying less tax in the past.
  If you earn over $100K you are a nett positive tax payer anyway, unlike a lot of wasters out there who have been nett negative tax payers with so much welfare spread around.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:22am
  - Batman
    
    Except that’s not how it works.
    
    This stuff shows why lefty universalism is a total crock and should abandoned.
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:02am
    - RoboRob
      
      The alternative to universalism is that people whave thir own savings and live off them. What happens to those that dont work or do work and earn little?
      
      Universalism meant that those people got the same as people who paid in massively more than them. Removing universal super might benefit the ‘rich’ and hurt the poor.
      
      Yes I know the answer will be the rich pay for themselves and the poor get super (paid for by the rich).
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:14am
      - Batman
        
        It’s pretty obvious how one would introduce testing onto super.
        
        We shouldn’t be subsidising Winston Peters.
        
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        February 27, 2020 10:20am
- DeepBlue
  
  Someone earning $100k on top of super is on the highest tax bracket, so they are going a long way towards self funding their super as well as contributing in their specialist fields or business by continuing to work and probably employ people as well.
  
  No to means testing.
  
  Will the government use this as another reason to increase the top tax bracket?
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:35am
  - Batman
    
    A higher bracket and a wealth tax to pay for universal super is exactly what Clint “Hey Clint!” Smith, Chloe Swarbruck, and the new Greens guy are advocating for.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:28am
    - freethinker
      
      Batman – Lets try your idea as a small pilot scheme just for say 25 years to see how it works – something like this. AS there are only 120 odd Mps and perhaps a few hundred other hangers on all of whom don’t actual pay taxes they simply return some of their income paid by the general taxpayer as tax. If their taxpayer funded parliamentary pension exceeds state super then abate it fully. Decision by binding referenda – very democratic.
      
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      February 27, 2020 1:04pm
      - Batman
        
        Assuming they’re over 65 and earning 100k plus, why not. Set an example that while you’re working you shouldn’t draw down superannuation.
        
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        February 27, 2020 1:09pm
- Ruawai
  
  It would not be fair to test on assets as many have homes that have gone up in value but they do not intend to sell so have no extra income to live on. Guess the socialists would force them to move from their homes to make room for large families.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:43am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Then you won’t be voting for TOP, if they still even exist.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:58am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Calling Mr Eaqub an economist is the same as calling Cindy a great Prime Minister. Both are waste of time.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:44am
  - John Warren
    
    I do wonder how he manages to get so much of the economist oxygen when it comes to our national discourse.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:02pm
    - DeepBlue
      
      A few years back Stuff issued an open invite for people with specialist knowledge in any field to register to comment on news. A quick database if you like. I see the same people from my specialty being asked to comment frequently.
      
      I guess database fields such as ‘economist, socialist, left’ don’t return many options.
      
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      February 27, 2020 2:41pm
      - hmmm82
        
        Far far too many.
        
        Why is that? How can any one set of facts come up with two opposing theories? Not just opposing but each makes the other ridiculous. And the examples quoted, ‘If you do it my way, everything is good’ alongside ‘ the reason it didn’t work is because they didn’t do it my way.’ How can any discipline come up with two or more opposing theories based on the concept of ‘rational people’ whilst being so irrational?
        
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        February 27, 2020 7:10pm
- RightNow
  
  Just offer the option of get super and pay normal tax rates, or no super and zero tax rates, to all those eligible for super.
  
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  February 27, 2020 10:55am
  - Ian Boag
    
    So we would take it that your hospital care and roads and stuff would become free.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:58am
    - RightNow
      
      Lol. No mate, I’d select to stop working at 65 and spend 6 months and 1 day in NZ and the rest of the year somewhere less infested with virtue signaling hypocrites.
      But you do what works for you.
      
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      February 27, 2020 1:19pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Good on yer. You would still be an NZ tax resident and liable for NZ tax on your global income …..
        
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        February 27, 2020 1:30pm
- MCos
  
  The NZ pension is by no means universal.
  If you move offshore To most countries for more than six months & it is stopped, unlike the UK version. There is a residency qualification that a couple of guys I know found out to their dismay.
  If you are entitled to money from some other countries scheme it is deducted from your NZ payments.
  So you could work for fifty years in NZ & retire in SE Asia and get nothing.
  So the big print giveth & the small print can taketh away.
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:18am
  - Piniwi
    
    MCos @ 11.18 am wrong. Many countries pensions are transportable and the only variance are in the conditions or criteria that apply. NZ requirement is minimum 540 months continuous for full Superannuation or a % reduction for any broken portions of that period. It arrives every 4 weeks in the currency of any country one chooses to live in direct to your bank account. This detail is all available on the MSD website. The only bug bear is the annual proof of life confirmation remains a hard copy document that must be notarized and returned by snail mail. Fact.
    
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    February 27, 2020 2:15pm
  - theoldbloke
    
    You do know that you can apply to live outside NZ permanently and still get your super.
    Dont you??
    
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    February 27, 2020 7:36pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  If you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, there will be no more eggs. Governments can mess with it at their peril. There is a shitload of Tax paid by those retired but still earn over $100K.
  But hey, let’s shit in the nest anyway. Make the poor poorer, as long as the rich are poorer.
  Bernie! where the fuck are you? NZ needs you
  
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  February 27, 2020 2:40pm
Paulus Gnome

Kiwibuild houses for December = 7

Kiwibuild houses for January = 7

100,000 / 7 = 14,285 / 12 = 1,190 years to complete the Kiwibuild project.

Completion in the year of our Lord, 3210

Plenty of time to save for the deposit then, bring on the smashed avo!

Kiwifail = labour
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February 27, 2020 8:08am
- artemisia
  
  And despite the $54 million allocated to keep tenants in their tenancies, the Sustaining Tenancies initiative ‘graduated’ 2 households in January with 221 participating. These are probably mostly social housing tenants but private rental tenants have been included in the programme for several months now.
  
  So these ‘participants’ need a lot of help to pay their very cheap rent (if in social housing), look after their home and not annoy the neighbours.
  
  Ok then.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:35am
- sooty
  
  Ain’t the tradies allowed a holiday at christmas like everybody else?
  You are mean!
  They will come back in Febuary rip roaring and build a lot more!
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:50am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Sooty I know you’re /s, but for January yes, but December no.
    
    Every builder I know works their butt off doing 4/5/6 weeks of work pre Christmas to make sure progress claims can be lodged for cash flow… Plus all the promises made to be in your new home for Christmas lunch. So I say 7 houses is probably all Kiwibuild can physically achieve each month.
    
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    February 27, 2020 2:50pm
- freethinker
  
  Labour + Greens = Total abject failure .
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:55am
  - Ruawai
    
    +NZ First
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:21am
    - freethinker
      
      Ruawei – I assumed NZ1 will be history post 19/9/2020 and would hope the Greens too.
      
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      February 27, 2020 1:09pm
    - Nutta
      
      Adding NZ1 changes it from horror to splatter comedy.
      
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      February 27, 2020 9:00pm
- Scott
  
  Paulus Gnome – absolutely agree. Labour promised to build more houses and solve the housing crisis and Kiwi build was the centrepiece of their campaign promises. As you rightly point out Labour has essentially abandoned Kiwi build.
  
  Meanwhile even here in little old Masterton people cannot get a house. Rent prices are very high. Lots of people are living in motels. Some people are living in their cars.
  
  What is so hard about this? Cannot the government and local authorities agree on some designs for affordable housing? Those designs get approved quickly by councils, concrete pads are laid and the house is built using modern kit set techniques.
  Councils free up more land for housing.
  
  In the 1950s and 1960s we built thousands and thousands of state houses. Why is it now so difficult?
  
  Lastly the regulations regarding rentals have been a disaster. Forcing landlords to comply with all these codes has meant that many of them have got out of the rental market. This has disadvantaged those at the lower end who need a roof over their head and can only afford very basic housing.
  
  One final thought – we have to turn off the immigration tap. Every year we have tens of thousands of new people coming into our country who also require housing. While we can’t house our own people!?
  This year 100 refugees are coming to Masterton. Where they will live God only knows??
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:07am
  - Ruawai
    
    Not just housing but also infrastructure like water, sewerage, roading etc
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:21am
  - greybeard
    
    The Brits were building perfectly good terraced housing for ordinary folks back in the 1800s.
    Small plots of land, shared walls to reduce per-unit cost, public areas for recreation, one carpark per household, max two stories, run a bus service past the front door. What’s wrong with that ?
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:05am
    - freethinker
      
      Greybeard – Plenty of 3 storeys too, I owned one with 7 bedrooms but no car parking as 100 years ago cars were rare but a wide street sorted that. Renovation created 3 flats which rented out easily and the design / construction ( Brick with slate roof) showed just how much builders knew about sustainable housing 100 years ago until we benefited from Local Authority R Soles who have increasingly fucked up the whole system creating cost increases and delays – spot the connection – hint Burecrats like Politicians who know nothing & understand less.
      
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      February 27, 2020 1:16pm
      - greybeard
        
        Thanks. What I meant was, if that terraced housing concept was repeated today, then they could be limited to one carpark per unit.
        
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        February 27, 2020 3:13pm
  - PhilP
    
    Scott,
    I couldn’t agree more. I haven’t seen any more social housing going up in and around Masterton, so God knows where the 100 refugees will be housed?
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:07pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    regulations regarding rentals have been a disaster. Forcing landlords to comply with all these codes has meant that many of them have got out of the rental market.
    
    That’s why there’s a flood of ex-rentals on the market now in Masterton and prices are doing a bit of a sag. (?)
    
    Getting code compliance is an improvement, not a repair. For a typical rental it costs about 3-5% of the property value – if that. Might put $15/week on the mortgage.
    
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    February 27, 2020 7:15pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  At least Labour has built 14 houses? How many did National build? – Cindy in response.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:45am
Happychappy

Billionaires among full list of donars supporting NZ First Foundation.
Stuff can now reveal a longer list of donors to the NZ First Foundation up to April 2019 – which appears to operate as a political slush fund – based on Foundation Documents seen by Stuff.
New Zealand’s richest man Greame Hart and the billion dollar Spencer Family.
NZ First has traditionally pitched itself to voters as a party for grassroot NZer’s a party to trim the excesses of Neo – Liberal Capitalism. https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119704872/billionaires-among-the-full-list-of-donors-supporting-nz-first
It seems like Winston know see Capitalism as a part of his party and the Coalition after preaching how evil it was when selecting Labour as it Coalition partner when forming the Government in 2017.
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February 27, 2020 8:12am
- Swifty
  
  Cash for policy.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:37am
- Richard
  
  Its crony capitalism that Winston practices.Thats why these wealthy people gave him cash. To further their business interests through NZF being in govt and protection from any govt policy that might affect their bottom line. Basically paying Winston protection money mob boss style. And has delivered for them. Crony capitalism in a very crude form.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:52am
- sooty
  
  Isn’t it great that we have a foreign minister, that is foreign when the shit hits the fan!
  Hobnobin with the rich and posh at 5 star events, is our wee man. Telling everyone within ear shot to “listen ere sunshine”, back in Aateaarower, I am the government, it does what I say. I have a well trained office girl to clean up, my shit!
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:58am
- freethinker
  
  This extract from the Stuff report appears to support the view that donations intended for the NZ1 party were diverted to the foundation, hopefully the SFO see this and thoroughly investigate by asking Mr Chittick for more precise details of the circumstances and whose name the donation was made in?
  
  Waikato Stud owner Garry Chittick, who donated $5000, told Stuff in November that “I wish I could get it back”.
  
  Chittick said he was hounded by Woolerton for donations and he eventually agreed.
  
  “I believed it was going to help the party, not go into some foundation,” he said.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:06am
  - alloytoo
    
    That, on the face of it, is fraud.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:36am
- alex Masterley
  
  I never thought of NZ First as the party of the big end of town. But that appears to be the case.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:10am
Maggy Wassilieff

Not an encouraging start for events to come…

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/410463/gps-feel-vulnerable-to-covid-19-as-protective-gear-stock-runs-out
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February 27, 2020 8:13am
- Inandout
  
  Maggy, don’t tell anyone but those masks are basically useless. Now you can use new vacuum cleaner filters and tape them to your head, very good at keeping bugs out. If you can get hold of a WW2 gas mask with bug eyes that will suffice.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:18am
  - MCos
    
    I’ve heard the best thing about the el cheapo masks is they prevent you touching your face, or anyone else for that matter.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:02pm
- Swifty
  
  Was at the local chemist last week. One of the chemists popped around the counter to serve me herself and we got chatting.
  
  They’ve been out of face masks for three weeks now – with people having bought up all the stocks to send back to China, she reckoned. One ‘customer’ had told her about the tidy sum she was making from hoovering them up all around Auckland.
  
  Seems a bit mercenary to me…..
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:21am
  - hmmm82
    
    Its a global economy now. China’s supply chain does reach NZ. We can’t have people saying ‘don’t sell them this, don’t sell them that.’
    
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    February 27, 2020 8:36am
    - Swifty
      
      I’m sorry, I don’t understand your point.
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:43am
      - hmmm82
        
        My apologies. I thought the sarc. was way too obvious. My fault I will d try to do better.
        
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        February 27, 2020 4:45pm
- Misha Beattie
  
  Eric Crampton blogged on the corona virus a couple of days ago. Cuts to the issues as usual. He points out that Wellington has 29 ICU beds. That is it. These would get overrun in no time.
  
  http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2020/02/ready-up.html
  
  The Prime Minister assures us that New Zealand is ready. But it is mostly reassurance about processes, and committees. And we have 19 million face masks. I guess that is something.
  
  “There was also an intensive care network of clinical ICU directors, who would provide guidance and management for patient and staff safety.”
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119761552/coronavirus-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-expected-to-give-update-on-travel-ban
  
  If (say) 300 people get seriously ill requiring ICU care, they would occupy most of the ICU spots in the country. What happens to the other critically ill and injured people who would otherwise occupy these ICU spots?
  
  I find Eric’s assessment more convincing.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:35am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Current statistics suggest that around 20% of those diagnosed with COVID-19 need intensive care, so we are ready for only < 1,000 total cases and even that would be a problem for non-viral cases needing ICU.
    
    We are woefully under-prepared, and WHEN it hits NZ we will rapidly be unable to care for those seriously affected in a suitable way.
    
    First human trials on the first engineered vaccine are soon to start so maybe that is the hope. Scaling up production though, it is unlikely to be available in time even if it works.
    
    I'd be in favour of much more stringent border controls almost regardless of the cost, otherwise I don't think NZ could effectively cope with a significant outbreak. Given the fact that there appears to be a asymptotic carriers and that the virus spreads very readily through a number of mechanisms (aerosols, surface contact, fecal contact), only stringent quarantine practices will be sufficient.
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:29am
  - Aunty
    
    It means the clinicians will pick and choose who lives and who dies. It’s as simple as that.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:13am
    - Aunty
      
      What criteria they will use as to who gets ventilated in an ICU or not, age, qualifications, family status, martial status, ethnicity, employment status, medical history, weight, etc., who knows. And they wouldn’t tell us either. I suspect it will be a combination of age, the patients medical history and any preexisting medical conditions they have, the degree of severity of the illness they are presenting with, it’s likely course and the probability of recovery the patient will have with treatment. It won’t be pretty.
      
      That’s why our best hope is containment so that we limit or prevent an out of control spread so that the resources that we do have will be able to cope with the number of severe cases that arise at any one time.
      
      And keep your fingers crossed that a preexisting drug that’s already out there is found to have activity against the virus so that it can be used in patients who are very unwell to help them get through the infection.
      
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      February 27, 2020 11:24am
      - sooty
        
        I’m picking with only 29 beds, in ICU labour pollies will come first,
        
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        February 27, 2020 12:01pm
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  So the government has stockpiled 9 million masks. That’s almost two masks per person.
  
  How many days would one mask be good for?
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:56am
  - hmmm82
    
    You mis-understand.
    
    A mask is good for each patrol though the ward. Using a new mask each patrol means that you can reduce your infectation chance from 80% to 20%, odds worth fighting over.
    
    On day eight you have been exposed, i.e. not infected, by 0.8 x .08 x 0.8 x .08 x 0.8 0.8 x .08 x 0.8 x 0.8 e to less than 50,ooo parts in 100,000,000,000. On day 8 you have been exposed, i.e. not infected, by 0.8 x .08 x 0.8 equivalent to way less than one chance in a million
    
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    February 27, 2020 4:30pm
Right of way is Way of Right

Ihumato has now been granted the highest heritage status by Heritage New Zealand, which apparently doesn’t legally put any restrictions on any development. Nor does it stop any previous resource consents and plans, according to Pania Newton, but will undoubtedly be the lever by which the coalition will push through the legislation that will end private property rights in New Zealand.

All it will take is for someone to claim that your land is somehow culturally significant, occupy it, and all bets are off. The police cannot be seen to be enforcing private property rights in case they are seen to be politically incorrect, so it means we officially have mob rule, not the rule of law!

The Oil and Gas industry has already been torpedoed, now the construction industry will end up going the same way, as what developer will enter in to a project if the local iwi hotheads can just march on to YOUR land and thumb their noses at authorities?

Perhaps Fletchers should have made a few donations to the NZ First Foundation! Seems to be the only way to get anything done with this government! Ask Seminoff Transport, the Racing Industry and any commercial fisheries!
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February 27, 2020 8:16am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018735990/ihumatao-disputed-land-granted-highest-level-of-heritage-recognition
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:42am
- hullkiwi
  
  The granting of the highest heritage status to the site will be the CoL’s justification for paying an excessive settlement to Fletchers for the site. And we the sheeple are meant to just rollover and accept.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:01am
- Michael Rodent
  
  This is the same Heritage New Zealand that defended it’s position in the July 2018 Environment Court case that there was limited heritage value on the subject site.
  The interesting thing is that on 27 September 2017 Heritage NZ granted approval to Fletchers to “undertake works required for residential subdivision” and that this approval expires on 27 September 2022.
  It appears there is an extant approval from Heritage NZ that does not expire for another 2.5 years – how can they retrospectively reverse this decision now without being subject to substantial damages?
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:12am
  - freethinker
    
    Retrospective legislation is always wrong and if Jacinda follows Klarkula then a future El Presidente like myself will have some very interesting retrospective legislation concerning past politicians who were instrumental in doing or failing to do things I disapprove of thereby guaranteeing them a holiday at Her Majesty’s expense in a new holiday camp on Auckland Island.
    
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    February 27, 2020 1:27pm
- DeepBlue
  
  Not quite. It’s the already protected stone fields next door having Heritage Status increased from 2 to 1.
  
  This is not the Fletcher’s land at Ihumatao, but now the argument will be about a buffer zone or expanding the heritage protection.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:40am
  - Michael Rodent
    
    I don’t think it is correct that it doesn’t cover the Fletchers land – the report states : “Heritage New Zealand will tomorrow announce that it has extended the borders of the Ōtuataua Stonefields reserve in Māngere to include the controversial whenua”.
    It appears that the heritage status has expanded to now include the disputed land.
    
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    February 27, 2020 7:43pm
- Ruawai
  
  Every square metre of land in NZ was probably used for something culturally significant by Maoris such as food gathering, so where will this end. Just because maoris once cooked a hangi on a piece of land makes it sacred.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:46am
  - John Warren
    
    What about the bits they crapped on? Is their shit sacred too?
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:03pm
    - freethinker
      
      John W – Only if it was brown.
      
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      February 27, 2020 1:29pm
    - MrLovebucket
      
      If there is a chance to squeeze more $$$ out of the long suffering tax payer, you can be sure they will.
      
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      February 27, 2020 2:46pm
  - namron
    
    Hasn’t it now come down to the ludicrous situation that NZ law in 2020 is being influenced by stone age animistic beliefs !!
    How can any Govt be still be influenced by these quaint, dredged up meaningless ideas?
    Many people have stated concerns about how this precedent might also be used in other situations.
    I would hope the Opposition might strongly oppose this decision and reverse it when they become Govt.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:21pm
Yvette

‘Climate change is a monster’ – small Fijian community being swallowed by rising seas
He has been forced to watch his family land and ancestral graveyard being swallowed by the sea.
Ten-years-ago surveyors discovered the tiny community of Togoru is losing up 1.5 metres of land a year and what was once 10 acres is now only five. [1]

Although surveyors have been involved, nothing in the article actually says by how much the sea has risen – nor why such a rise is not recorded throughout the world – nor any evidence that the land is not in fact sinking.

[1] https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/climate-change-monster-small-fijian-community-being-swallowed-rising-seas
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February 27, 2020 8:16am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  If you look at the TV clip it is not sea levels rising it is foreshore EROSION which happens all the time.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:34am
- fisho
  
  I understand a lot of the shoreline erosion issues they’re experiencing in the islands are the result of reefs being intentionally altered to enable access by larger boats and in some cases things such as dynamite fishing destroying sections of reef (not CO2).
  Normally Ye reap what Ye sow, but in this case you just scream climate change and the money will pour in.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:35am
- Prince
  
  I’m sure the $17M donated so far during Ardern’s visit will help. At least Bainimarama, her new bestie, will find suitable things to spend it on.
  Who, and how much, will be the lucky winner today as the gravy train winds its way around the Pacific ?
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:44am
- Kabull
  
  No sure where I read it but a few years ago, when this claim first came to light, it was said that rather than the sea level rising, the village(s) involved were sinking because of the nature of the ground on which they were built. There is always more than one side to an emotive story.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:44am
- hmmm82
  
  Alternate explanation – “anticline”.
  
  “When the faults are a little bit curved, then when the plates slide past each other, some bits are pushed up and others subside,” Klemperer said. “Half the time you should expect an island to be going down. The reason we don’t see that is most of the subsiding islands have already gone below sea level. Offshore, there are a bunch of flat-topped, submerged seamounts that used to be islands.”
  
  https://earth.stanford.edu/news/what-sinking-island-can-tell-us-about-sea-level-change-and-earthquakes#gs.y6j7hd
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:47am
- sooty
  
  Funny how the sea has risen at that village, but nowhere else in the islands?
  The villages must be pissed having to paddle up a waterfall to go fishing, but imagine the ride home, hanging ten on the front of the canoe!
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:03am
- rangitoto
  
  It’s certainly land sinking in the case depicted on Pravda TV.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:08am
- Raphael
  
  And is it sea level rise or land subsidence?
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:18am
  - Ruawai
    
    or erosion.
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:47am
- John Warren
  
  Looked a hell of a lot like good old-fashioned regular coastal erosion to me. No sea level rise required. But don’t let facts stand in the way of a good pitch for international aid money.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:58am
- Nickc2
  
  Firstly, as I mentioned yesterday, don’t believe a word Barbra Dreaver says. She has a history of embellishing her reports etc to suit a political agenda.
  Secondly, there was a large earthquake near the mouth of the Navua river in 1953 which caused the land around Togoru to sink. For obvious reasons, she blames the sea for rising and its cause is the new found blame for everything ‘Climate Change’.
  I believe this is but a prompt for Cindy to part with more of our money by way of aid to Fiji.
  
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  February 27, 2020 12:16pm
Maggy Wassilieff

No acceleration of sea-level rise in the last 120 years
https://www.spectator.com.au/2020/01/thank-god-for-tide-gauges/
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February 27, 2020 8:18am
- Doctor Who
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Oh yes, the famous scientific institution, the Spectator. Scientific adviser Lord Ridley of Coal.
  
  So where is the increasing meltwater from the ice sheets Greenland and Antarctica going? Space?
  
  It’s hilarious reading this blog: the climate deniers promising Earth is about to start cooling.
  
  Mad as hatters…
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:27am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Only one mad doctor here, me thinks…
    
    Your science qualifications are exactly what?
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:49am
  - kloyd0306
    
    Interesting that you should respond to Maggy but not Yvette (the post above Maggy’s).
    
    How is it that so called sea-level rises are only taking place at one small location, is reported as sea-level rise but is not occurring elsewhere?
    
    And you have the audacity to call us deniers?
    
    Then again, you are probably taking your marching orders from Greta.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:24am
  - Nickc2
    
    Take a Greta pill Doctor and get back in your box (Tardis that is).
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:19pm
    - alloytoo
      
      Note for Greta follows….if you can see Carbon in the air, it’s soot, not CO2
      
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      February 27, 2020 2:02pm
- cmm
  
  But that’s Oz, and the bushfires evaporate the water, so of course there is no sea level rise around Australia…. or something like that.
  
  The biggest hassle with tide gauges is that they don’t actually measure sea level rise but just the long term changes however they are caused. Add a bit of cherry picking and you can “prove” all sorts of stuff.
  
  For example, areas with seismic activity like NZ will show changes mainly due to earth movement. In 1857 or so, Wellington rose up over a metre, a short while ago Kaikoura rose 2 metres. While those rises are obvious, there are constant small changes happening all the time. At the same time, other areas in NZ are falling. To try blame any of this on “sea level rise” is beyond foolish.
  
  Pacific Islands have the same issues, then they also have further issues due to extracting too much fresh water from their aquifers. Suck out fresh water and the land “deflates” like a balloon losing air…. and then the tide gauges look like the water level has increased.
  
  The same applies in Florida and many other areas where swamplands have been developed.
  
  In short, no tide gauge in the “Ring of Fire”, Florida, or many other locations, should be used for long-term data.
  
  Tide gauges can only really be depended on in stable areas with very little seismic activity and when firmly secured to a solid rock base.
  
  As for the use of satellite data… well it needs at least 30 years of a data set before that data can be used for long term analysis.
  
  Deciding to switch from one type of measurement to another because the new measurements are “more accurate” is many things, but it is not valid science.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:59am
  - emmess
    
    These morons are so stupid that either they believe or expect us to believe that sea level rises will be different in different places around the globe.
    Besides if they were serious about mitigating sea level rises they would be promoting projects like filling the Qattara Depression in Egypt
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_8uxlpmug&t=14s
    Which granted, would only decrease sea levels by less than a centimetre worldwide. But at less than a billion US dollars would have many other benefits for Egypt and beyond. This is low hanging fruit and if successful, I am sure there are many other similar but more complex projects that could be done.
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:41am
  - KH
    
    The land problem in many islands is not sea level rise but overpopulation.
    Some places the prolific breeding means it’s hard to find someplace to live even, and in the USA dependent islands welfare the only way to live.
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:55am
  - John Warren
    
    Over-extracting groundwater has caused massive subsidence problems in cities such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Mexico City. It has been documented for decades. But no doubt even Mexico City will be reframed as rising sea-levels.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:11pm
    - Tall Man
      
      I read that Bangkok was being sunk by the huge number of massage places … The showers were lowering the water table.
      
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      February 27, 2020 3:07pm
- Vory v zakone
  
  This blog’s host was heard on ZB saying sea level rise was 3mm per year. As opposed to tidal gauges showing it was nearly half that …
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:45pm
wreck1080

Jeez, this woman needs to pull her horns in….she has upset the airlines, the veterinary clinic, and the school.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/119823581/how-air-new-zealand-stuck-to-its-customer-ban-and-came-out-looking-like-the-good-guy
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February 27, 2020 8:18am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Ah yes, an arrogant, entitled lawyer. Good to see she is living up to all the stereotypes!
  
  Whats the odds she specialises in milking Legal Aid?
  
  Oh no, its worse, an employment law advocate. Real bottom of the barrel stuff… Well she can’t really put herself forward as an example of her glorious success in resolving disputes can she?
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:32am
  - Nickc2
    
    Does she shave her armpits?
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:27pm
- Swifty
  
  Seems to be a pattern there.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:43am
- peterwn
  
  So she is forced to use Sounds Air to connect with Jetstar at Wellington. This gives me the creeps – no stewardess and no partition between the pilot and the passengers. Perhaps it is OK as no stewardess to pick an argument with.
  Smart moves by Air NZ all round. Unlike the United (fly the friendly skies) debacle a few years ago.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:47am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Yes, the only hijacking in New Zealand was from Nelson I believe. If you click on the article to see a picture of the woman, there are very disturbing similarities . . .
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:59am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Bit or a pattern there, isn’t there? A very dear friend of mine from the sub-continent has an older sister that behaves a little like this. I’ve dined with her in a group on several occasions and her behaviour is always the same.
  
  She never looks at the menu, but when it’s her turn to order she tells them what to make her. If it’s something already on the menu then she wants it a certain way, with or without a certain ingredient, or something on the side. If it’s not on the menu she tells them she wants it anyway, so just go away and make it, alright?
  
  Every. Single. Time.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:53am
  - tf78
    
    I’d tell her to stay at home and cook it herself.
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:10am
  - cmm
    
    Sounds seriously unpleasant.
    
    Why the hell do you continue to socialise with her?
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:38am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      I was staying in her house at the time. She’s a lovely person, other than this aspect of her character.
      
      Are the family of your friends all OK, are they?
      
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      February 27, 2020 9:44pm
- rererangihirihiri
  
  Definitely an uppity but but ding ding everybody sing sing do the paki rap.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:59am
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  She does seem like a right ‘Karen’, but this is typical behaviour from some people from the indian sub-continent who consider themselves born to a higher caste, and therefore feel that they can treat people from a perceived ‘lower-caste’ any way they want. Look at the number of cases where migrant workers have been underpaid and exploited by owners/managers in New Zealand and you will quickly see a proliferation of Indian surnames involved.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:18am
  - John Warren
    
    Unfortunately this has been my experience with many subcontinentals. But I didn’t say this, I don’t want everybody to know that I’m racist.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:21pm
  - Jules99
    
    My own experience has been that it is more so Fiji-Indians. Most people from India have been fine.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:24pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  Everywhere she goes, she gets bad service, but she never seems to figure out what the common denominator is…
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:46am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Good to know that just claiming ‘racism’ doesn’t cut it if you’re actually an abusive a**hole: “called the lounge hostess stupid and racist, and mocked and loudly mimicked her voice.”
  
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  February 27, 2020 10:06am
  - peterwn
    
    What is so funny (or tragic) is the way she carries on. She got a warning letter but that did not stop her. She tried for a legal remedy but ended up with a judgment that made her look plain stupid.
    I remember years ago when Bob Jones called AirNZ hostesses ‘ugly’. There had to be a response and the Chairman of AirNZ’s board said that there was nothing wrong with being called ‘ugly’ by a toad. Brilliant! It must have been a great morale booster for the staff.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:16am
- Random T Person
  
  And she wants to be a town councillor!!
  
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  February 27, 2020 10:06am
  - sooty
    
    Maybe her trough has been getting a little shallow lately?
    She’s looking for a new one!
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:48am
  - freethinker
    
    Random – R Soles of a feather gather together?
    
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    February 27, 2020 1:48pm
- Rich Prick
  
  She’s an embarrassment to the profession. I hope the Law Society gets involved.
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:37am
  - alex Masterley
    
    I think the NZLS getting involved in this is a vain hope.
    They are a bit gun shy.
    The woman’s conduct suggests, in my opinion, that she would give Frank Deliu a run for his money.
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:52pm
Albert_Ross

In the discussion about inequality a couple of days back, the benefit trap came up – the issue that when a person on benefits takes up paid employment, their benefits stop or are reduced, meaning that effectively they are not much better off financially, as a result of working, than they were when they were not working. Thus the financial incentive to get into work is weak.

Somebody commented that sensible National policy would fix that, and that particular thread was left there. I am interested to know, however, what that policy is, or if National haven’t said anything on the subject, what we think that policy should be?
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February 27, 2020 8:23am
- Misha Beattie
  
  Also on a benefit you can do cash jobs.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:37am
- Sacha
  
  Some years ago – maybe 20 – my daughter worked on a proposal to assist people with the added expenses of entering the workforce. She identified transport, clothing, child care as as examples of extra demands on the budget, and that benefits should be maintained for a certain time until certain criteria were met.
  It all sank without trace –
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:26am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    I’ve seen specific ‘work clothing’ type Op shops in the US for this purpose: people donate really good suits etc. to help others find jobs.
    
    And I don’t accept this reason not to work:
    ” not much better off financially, as a result of working”.
    
    We all start on the lowest rung and yes, might not be much better off than a benefit would be. But the point is to get work experience and improve your situation. And more importantly: get some self-respect by supporting yourself instead of feeling entitled!
    
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    February 27, 2020 10:12am
    - Albert_Ross
      
      I am quite sure that you and everybody else on kiwiblog is farsighted and thoughtful enough to appreciate that accepting poor returns at first is worth it in return for the opportunity to get started on a path that will eventually make you much better off, and provide greater dignity and self-respect, than if you stayed on benefits. Most people do, and that is why most people do spend much of their lives working instead of idling about on benefits.
      
      But not everybody has that same outlook. If they had, then there wouldn’t be a problem of long term benefit dependency. However, they don’t; and therefore, there is. Wishing it not so, don’t make it not so. What should or could be done to address that?
      
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      February 27, 2020 10:39am
      - info@cruzpro.com
        
        Yes, and industrious people putting off immediate income from work while getting a useful
        education and getting into debt because they know they will benefit in the long run.
        
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        February 27, 2020 1:13pm
  - artemisia
    
    Well that specific piece of work may have disappeared but there is quite decent help for beneficiaries transitioning to work. Grant that does not need to be repaid and assistance with child care costs. Assistance has been there for years.
    
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    February 27, 2020 2:52pm
- tf78
  
  I’ve found the birds I’ve been feeding have fallen into the same trap- there are more and more of them, each day wanting more. So it’s not just human nature.
  
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  February 27, 2020 10:12am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    And the mouse does not understand why the cheese is free. Bang, trapped forever
    
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    February 27, 2020 2:55pm
- alloytoo
  
  I have a suggestion….
  
  1. Reduce current benefits to their after tax equivalent. (and relink them to inflation)
  2. Make Benefits tax free.
  3. Give everyone a tax break by introducing a universal tax rebate.
  4. Those starting on minimum wage will retain a larger part of their earnings, widening the gap between benefits and Minimum wage.
  
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  February 27, 2020 2:13pm
oldpark

Noticed the Peters selected too sweet to be wholesome,or who is like me Ardern on a trip to Fiji,big noting with a guy called Frank Bainimarama who was virtually self “Selected” as PM of Fiji. Seems it takes one to know one being “Selected”.
She was once more “Virtue Signalling ” and promoting the “myth” of Global Warming while handing over a couple of Million Dollars of NZs Taxpayers money to the self Selected Fijian PM to help the “myth” go figure that one .
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February 27, 2020 8:25am
hmmm82

A few days ago I was virtually accused of being a Winston first troll by bringing up Nationals ‘ex-CCP’ MP. I held off replying because I knew within days we would see something like the following link. I am sure we will continue to see it again and again, more and more, right through the US elections. Trump is on to this. For the record, I have never voted NZ1 and never will.

Unless National address this, it will be a festering sore. I await some new five-eyes revelation where a Nat govt is less trusted than the COL.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/02/major-chinese-spy-ring-busted-in-australia.php
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February 27, 2020 8:33am
- curry4me
  
  hmmm82: Thanks for the post. Sounds like a certain hostile power is up to their usual tricks.
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:17am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Even Australia’s policy of requiring MPs and Senators to be Australian citizens will not by itself stop foreign powers infiltrating our political processes. However, what it does mean is that our state agencies need to be more vigilant and for our political parties to engage with the security services.
    
    I know it is an anathema to some of NZ’s would be politicos, but ouf democracy and our freedoms are at stake.
    
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    February 27, 2020 11:54am
niggly

So how will the borderless EU prevent coronavirus spreading across Europe?

When I understand border checkpoints had been dismantled years ago?

Will this be a wake up call to those that advance and support open borders and globalism?
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February 27, 2020 8:51am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Talking about the EU, who else heard Ben Elton on Hosking this morning? He thinks referenda should be banned, basically because the average citizen is too stupid to think the issues through properly and we vote for politicians to debate things wisely for us idiots!
  
  I was pretty disappointed with someone who has been a great writer of comedy.
  
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  February 27, 2020 12:20pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I’m guessing it was comedy – a new kind
    
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    February 27, 2020 2:56pm
  - Tall Man
    
    He is right though, the vast bulk are too stupid to think things through.
    
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    February 27, 2020 3:03pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    Rather than banning referendums, we should strive to make them binding. To have a referendum result be ignored by the government in power means the citizens of this great country have no real control or real democracy.
    
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    February 27, 2020 6:33pm
  - Nutta
    
    I don’t know that the populace are too stupid to think issues through, but I do suspect that the biased and totally suboptimal information provided/available will render their vote essentially nonsensical…
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:10pm
rockape

Quite simple really. It shouldn’t be a choice! If you can work you should be working not sitting on your arse at the taxpayers expense.
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February 27, 2020 8:55am
Tall Man

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/410473/homeowners-near-wellington-complain-council-lost-their-paperwork

We also had a problem with our council asking us to complete the compliance process or risk having the consent withdrawn.

Luckily we had kept a carbon copy of the final inspection and sign off which had been “lost” in their office.
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February 27, 2020 8:56am
hullkiwi

How to know Bridges and National is on to a winner, when Jacinda accuses Bridges and National of being naive.

I’m referring to the reports yesterday in NewsHub, citing Ardern claiming Bridges announcement that a National govt will consider a policy to return Australian convicted criminals back to Australia.

For a start I don’t believe Ardern would have picked up on the press statement of Bridges without a Wellington staffer feeding her with a response (given she was enroute to Fiji) and shy is it naive to do the reciprocal to Australia?

Let’s watch Liebore and NZF try and steal the idea as their policy!
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February 27, 2020 9:16am
Chuck Bird

Buy a V8 and help green the planet. An excellent video by Dr Patrick Moore, former CEO of Greenpeace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXBBNcAvCsU
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February 27, 2020 9:18am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Very interesting, also very long. If you want to get straight to why we actually need to put *more* CO2 into the atmosphere, try from 31 mins.
  
  Key point: carbon trapped in dead shellfish and resulting masses of rocks etc is taking CO2 out of the carbon cycle and would have meant the “end of life on earth”.
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:24am
Happychappy

Does anyone else think that the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has set out to woo the overseas media by how much she gives in dollars to poorer countries to enhance her person’a and give the impression that she really cares because she knows that a lot of people have changed their opinion of her because of the blatant lies that have been told.
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February 27, 2020 9:31am
hullkiwi

A conversation with a colleague yesterday left the colleague asking why do we not hear from National over this. My response was the media aren’t interested in news that criticizes Ardern’s policy decisions.

I am referring to the fact that NZ has had to import coal from Indonesia for the purposes of power generation at Huntly. My colleague claimed he was unaware and given he is a reasonably informed person, it is fair to draw the conclusion that most people are equally unaware.

The issues are it is election year, and National somehow need means to bust through the stranglehold the MSM has on what information people hear, particularly when that information is critical of the policies of Cindy the Charlatan and the Other one. Anyone with any ideas or comment about this?
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February 27, 2020 10:14am
- tf78
  
  I’m sure National are very aware but being an election year they will be gathering plenty of fact based ammo to unleash nearer to September.
  
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  February 27, 2020 10:48am
- greybeard
  
  First thing to do is make sure that Mike Hosking and Peter Williams hear about it.
  Those two cannot be shut down.
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:59am
- freethinker
  
  I have some ideas and wrote to Paul Goldsmith – no reply so will try David Seymour.
  
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  February 27, 2020 1:56pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Nobody told PTPM what is in the ground at Huntly – and there is shitloads of it
  
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  February 27, 2020 3:01pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    Funny that is shy the huntly power station was built where it is.
    
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    February 27, 2020 6:03pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Leaked chinese govt documents show PRC lying about infections by up to 50x (ie millions infected):
https://www.theepochtimes.com/leaked-documents-reveal-chinas-shandong-province-faked-coronavirus-infection-data-real-numbers-up-to-52-times-higher_3251354.html
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February 27, 2020 10:33am
Jack5

Southland becomes wide a-Woken, and prepares to lynch an unWoken whitebaiter.

Ken Cochrane, a council member of Southland Fish and Game, which manages the region’s recreational fishing and duck shooting, faces the sack because of a remark about female scientists.

The Southland Times reports Cochrane, at a Southland Recreational Whitebaiters Association meeting in Invercargill on Sunday, was discussing the association’s submission on a whitebait management discussion document.

He is reported as saying about the document and his experience as part of a whitebait “working party”:

“I sat there one day and I thought: ‘What I’m listening to is a whole bunch of chick scientists.’

“And if you really looked at the view that they were pitching, [it] was everybody in New Zealand should not shave their armpits, they should wear dreadlocks, and when they go whitebaiting they should do it in jandals only.

“And after they catch one patty for tea they should sit down, hold hands and sing Kumbaya. That was the feeling I got.”

Cochrane’s remarks drew some laughter at the meeting, but Southland Fish and Game chairman Graeme Watson says he received about 50 texts and email messages from “from scientists, lecturers and fishing licence holders.” Only two supported Cochrane.

Southland Fish and Game has held a special meeting, passed a vote of no confidence in Cochrane, and asked for his resignation “by 4pm on Friday”.

The remarks of Cochrane, who has since apologised, may have been offensive to some or all women scientists, but were they a hanging offence?

It’s interesting that Watson said the flood of emails, texts, phone calls, and social media feedback were “unprecedented in my time on the council.”

On the internet, Mr Watson, there’s something worse than being noticed like that: being too bland to be noticed at all.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/119824088/fish–game-councillor-who-made-chick-scientists-comment-asked-to-resign
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February 27, 2020 10:34am
- KevO'Brien
  
  These Otago young dragons are appearing on TV news regularly too. Their heads do seem full of fancies and too much self belief and importance. We are being pushed not to be in control of our own lives as that would be bad for us.
  
  I endorse the Councillors’s comments.
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:34am
- Jack5
  
  It may be relevant that Graeme Watson, chairman of Southland Fish and Game, is a professional angling guide.
  
  Ken Cochrane, the councillor being asked to resign, spent 15 years as a professional angling guide, though his main hunting interest now seems to be duck shooting.
  
  In his candidate profile for the council, Cochrane said:”I believe that fresh water fishing guides should pay for the use of the resource.”
  
  Cochrane also opposed the council fighting against a proposed cycle way along the Oreti River.
  
  He concludes his profile (which doesn’t mention whitebaiting): “Vote Ken Cochrane and have a voice.”
  
  Well, yeah …
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:53am
- hmmm82
  
  This is ground zero for Free Speech. He may be right or wrong, no matter, He is who was elected to represent his constituents.
  
  You cannot allow another party or power to decide who will represent you. When that happens, you no longer live in a democracy. You have become the property of your representative.
  
  They own what you can think, say or do. How does this differ from slavery?
  
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  February 27, 2020 3:06pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  To all you precious, offended, chick scientists. Tough Titties.
  
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  February 27, 2020 9:09pm
curry4me

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/08/paz-de-la-huerta-harvey-weinstein-lawsuit-disney-bob-iger

This guy resigned suddenly the day after Harvey Weinstein was convicted. I’d have put this in the dedicated Weinstein thread, but that’s a couple of days old.
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February 27, 2020 10:43am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYQUGtKh20
President Trump’s Namaste Rally with an audience of 100,000.
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February 27, 2020 10:43am
- freethinker
  
  Doesn’t even compare with Bidens 20 in a church Hall and 6 of them were security, 2 clergy and 2 cleaners. The others came in to warm up.
  
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  February 27, 2020 2:03pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbmYWmgDZ64
President has flipped the formerly liberal Ninth Circuit. Liberals are a tad miffed. The Ninth Circut was the one that temporarily blocked the travel ban. So, no more trouble from them now they’ve been flipped.
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February 27, 2020 10:45am
- hmmm82
  
  Trumps major selling point to the Senate Republicans are the quality, youth, and speediness in selecting judges. Mitch is determined to ‘leave no vacancy unfilled’. The never-Trumpers have been won over by just this. To them, the wall is just a way of distracting the Democrats. In another 4 more years, the Judiciary will be ‘origintalists’.
  
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  February 27, 2020 11:50am
- Fletch
  
  The trouble is still the liberal judiciary. Just one federal judge can block something, or tie up a policy for years until the president is out of office.
  
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  February 27, 2020 12:52pm
MrTips

Pete Buttigieg just royally rogered his campaign to be the Democrat candidate.

What kind of idiot promotes the “coming out” of a 9 yr old boy? In front of the nation? At 9, that boy isn’t able to make that call, simply not mature enough. And now he’s going to receive unwanted attention for his teenage yrs.

IMHO, child abuse for political purposes.
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February 27, 2020 11:02am
- John Warren
  
  How on God’s green earth does a nine-year-old know he’s gay?
  
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  February 27, 2020 12:26pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Pete told him he is gay. Either that, or a drag queen book reader at school
    
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    February 27, 2020 3:06pm
- cmm
  
  A nine year old probably still thinks he wants to be a fire truck when he grows up.
  
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  February 27, 2020 1:42pm
oldfella

[Deleted at oldfella’s request]
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February 27, 2020 11:04am
oldfella

Good piece by Chris Trotter, well-known former lefty (or becoming one…) 😉
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/02/littles-hate-speech-laws-will-destroy.html
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February 27, 2020 11:06am
oldfella

Mods… please delete my first post on the Chris Trotter story. I’m having trouble with the delete button. Cheers

[Mod – all done]
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February 27, 2020 11:14am
Manolo

Open war, all against the old socialist:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/26/megadonor-urges-pelosi-schumer-to-pick-candidate-to-stop-bernie-sanders.html

Democratic megadonor Bernard Schwartz has started reaching out to party leaders to encourage them to coalesce around a candidate for president in order to stop the surge of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Schwartz told CNBC that in recent days he’s been trying to speak with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about making a pick out of the hope that voters will follow their lead.
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February 27, 2020 11:17am
- curry4me
  
  Manolo: Time to lay in some popcorn, and Coke. I think the Dem convention could be a repeat of Chicago 1968 if Bern out gets shafted again.
  
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  February 27, 2020 8:25pm
oldfella

Another great piece on freedom of speech from Brendan O’Neill at ‘Spiked’.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/02/26/why-we-must-win-the-fight-for-free-speech/
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February 27, 2020 11:34am
Jack5

Jacindarella, speaking to students at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji:

“There is a well-known Maori proverb we often quote in New Zealand, for good reason:

“He aha te mea nui o tea ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata

“This means, what is the most important thing in the world? The people, the people, the people.”

If I were trying to defend Indian villagers encroaching into the natural habitat of tigers and elephants, this proverb might be useful in a political speech.

But does it really say anything at all? Is it no more than a rhetorical device that ramps up the audience (or mob) by pounding out “the people, the people, the people.”

Is it a mere truism, but even then only for non-Buddhists and non-animal rights activists and non-animal lovers?

So, Jacindarella, please spell out for us the “good reason” that in New Zealand the English translation of this Maori proverb is “often quoted”.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-university-south-pacific-students
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February 27, 2020 11:38am
- John Warren
  
  Can’t say I’ve ever quoted it myself.
  
  6 0
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  February 27, 2020 12:27pm
- Fletch
  
  What she means is ‘the Proletariat, the Proletariat, the Proletariat’
  
  7 0
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  February 27, 2020 12:54pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  ‘Proverb we often quote’ Who is this ‘we’ Kemosabe?
  White lady speak with fork tongue
  
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  February 27, 2020 3:10pm
oldfella

Having trouble with the ‘delete’ button. Won’t work. Anyone else having this problem?
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February 27, 2020 11:39am
- Batman
  
  Yeah it’s a WordPress thing.
  
  People usually just replace the comment with a single “.”
  
  3 0
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  February 27, 2020 11:41am
  - oldfella
    
    Thanks.
    
    3 0
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    February 27, 2020 11:47am
Tony Stuart

The gift that keeps on giving:

A raft of multimillionaire rich-listers are among the funders of Winston Peters’ NZ First party, donating large and undisclosed sums to a slush fund now being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.

Stuff can reveal a longer list of donors to the NZ First Foundation up to April 2019 – which appears to operate as a political slush fund – based on Foundation documents seen by Stuff. It includes New Zealand’s richest man, Graeme Hart, and the billion-dollar Spencer family.

Business magnates, property developers, a chicken farmer, and thoroughbred horse breeders are among the wealthy known to have contributed heavily to the foundation, which tallied more than $500,000 in donations.

There is no suggestion the donors have done anything wrong or acted illegally.

NZ First has traditionally pitched itself to voters as a party for grassroots Kiwis in regional New Zealand, a party keen to trim the excesses of neo-liberal capitalism.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119704872/billionaires-among-the-full-list-of-donors-supporting-nz-first

Of course, Winston Peters knows nothing about those hundreds of thousands of dollars, although I doubt he’ll get away with denials when the SFO compels him to make a statement. I just hope he’s more accurate with that statement than with his superannuation forms.
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February 27, 2020 11:44am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Either Winston owns the Party or the Party owns Winston.
  Legally the status of the Foundation is very dubious. It cannot exist as an entity of the Party if the controlling body of the party don’t know of it–if it does that is another can of worms.
  It would be proper for the Party at a General Meeting to agree to such a body being set up to manage their funds.
  To claim the Foundation is a private entity and payments received by it are not Party contributions leave open the question whose money is it? Why were amounts tailored to avoid the $15,000 disclosure threshold? Someone believed those were likely caught by the Electoral Act.
  I’m glad the SFO are looking into this.
  
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  February 27, 2020 12:00pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    And why were funds that were given to NZ First instead banked in a “Private” entity? Surely that’s theft and fraud and various other issues. If they take that avenue they may end up in far worse trouble (hopefully).
    
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    February 27, 2020 12:53pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      There is a strong suggestion that a private fundraiser was active on behalf of the Foundation. Would not such funds be the property of the Party with the Foundation holding them only on a constructive trust for the Party? The SFO will probably be looking at that.
      
      I see interesting legal argument over the property in the Foundation and note that a lawyer believed to be part of the management team has appeared for Winston.
      
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      February 27, 2020 3:41pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/119846467/govt-lays-out-plans-to-make-fuel-market-more-competitive

If the ‘government’ interferes in a business there will be unintended consequences. As usual.
Best just to reduce the tax take.
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February 27, 2020 11:54am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Maybe the NZ Police and Govt could do this instead of taking legal guns from the law abiding. What’s that? The gangs are scary and have guns. They also vote Labour.
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Operation-results-in-largest-federal-seizure-of-guns-in-Alaska-3-accused-felons-at-large-568218111.html?fbclid=IwAR3pgevTUl5E2l9Iw_V6iuJcbODveJWLgzV2cljZPfonj31KP4f4buMHZq4
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February 27, 2020 12:05pm
- Tall Man
  
  Some even have ardern’s cell phone number.
  
  5 0
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  February 27, 2020 2:10pm
Loddenthinks

It’s funny, isn’t it? I used to go straight to WO/BFD of a morning to get a different perspective. I don’t do that any more, I come here.

What I do, however, is pop in occasionally and observe just how far a once-credible (I know, it’s been a while) source of news and alternative viewpoints has fallen.

Every other article is clearly a paid hagiography of St Winston, or a vicious and often puerile attack on Bridges, Bennett and anyone who dares think that a National-led government is preferable to the current lot.

In particular, Bridges’ master-stroke in sidelining Peters a few weeks ago has caused them to lose any semblance of perspective, and now they’re just thrashing around like a beached shark, desperately looking to inflict some damage, without success.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, why is the BFD at boiling point with rage? I think a better name is TheBFG – blank froth gibber.
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February 27, 2020 12:08pm
- Kabull
  
  Agree totally. I detest the BFD’s hysterical downplaying to Bridges and the Nats. It is not journalism, just CNN-type propaganda. Yet The BFD claims to uphold highest journalistic standards. Nonsense.
  
  11 0
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  February 27, 2020 1:24pm
- Raphael
  
  yeah, I’m pretty much the same. I don’t have a problem criticising National and Bridges when it is warranted. But the continuous attacking Bridges and Bennett for daring to breath, and the constant denigration of National got to me.
  Especially with Winnie being painted as NZ’s saviour.
  
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  February 27, 2020 10:02pm
Fletch

Annnd… she’s back in the headscarf…

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/02/jacinda-ardern-dons-headscarf-acknowledges-fijian-march-15-victims-in-mosque-visit.html
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February 27, 2020 12:56pm
- Tall Man
  
  A winning formula do you think?
  
  I think ardern is in for a big surprise September 20th.
  
  8 0
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  February 27, 2020 2:05pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  The hijab is body shaming women: ‘There’s something wrong with men seeing your hair or body’. In Iran women are imprisoned for not wearing the hijab!
  
  But Taxinda assuages this ideological body shaming, because it’s someone’s culture.
  
  8 0
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  February 27, 2020 2:33pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Sucking MSM dick
  
  6 1
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  February 27, 2020 3:12pm
- Poppa
  
  My God that makes my blood boil
  
  Stupid little girl
  
  5 0
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  February 27, 2020 3:26pm
- Vory v zakone
  
  .
  
  0 0
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  February 27, 2020 8:54pm
Kabull

A good video by Tony Heller on how climate alarmists are dishonest in their claims on the environmental benefit of ‘carbon free’ energy production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lUaJYBxfEk
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February 27, 2020 1:06pm
hmmm82

One bonus of the coming crunch is maybe Sri Lanka and Greece can buy their ports back from China.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/chinas-whatever-it-takes-moment

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lanka-port.html

Sorry Tonga, doubt you can raise anything worthwhile.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/114222352/why-is-china-pouring-money-into-tonga
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February 27, 2020 1:12pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Also the PRC has loaned money to Cook KIs, Samoa, Niue, Solomons, PNG.
  
  None of whom have the where withal to pay it back.
  
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  February 27, 2020 3:42pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    PNG has enormous commercial reserves of natural gas just offshore.
    
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    February 27, 2020 9:57pm
david

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere BUT the burning question is:
Will Ms Ardern and her plethora of hangers-on, Winston Peters, Lianne Dalziel all be required to undertake 24 days “self-quarantine” on their returns respectively from Fiji and Australia; India (via? Singapore ), Japan ????????

Possible destinations and transits are among the world’s hot spots for “the virus” so are there special exemptions for politicians?
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February 27, 2020 1:17pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  It would certainly appeal to my sense of the absurd if a government Minister became New Zealand’s first confirmed coronavirus sufferer!
  
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  February 27, 2020 1:36pm
  - MCos
    
    At her age and being female she’d be a low risk of serious consequences if she contracted the virus.
    Some other world leaders might not be so lucky.
    Of course with Mike Pence directing operations, President Trump is safe. Otherwise he would check all the wrong boxes. The Malaysian PM should be checking out his panic room.
    
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    February 27, 2020 3:49pm
- Tall Man
  
  You mean like stay away from parliament and do nothing?
  
  How would you know who was on quarantine and who just doing what they normally do?
  
  4 0
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  February 27, 2020 2:03pm
hmmm82

A post for everybody with a cast iron frypan.
(I’m not vouching for Kent, but it works for me. I just haven’t got to the non-stick stage yet.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljSQrSoSYAE&feature=youtu.be
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February 27, 2020 1:25pm
- Swifty
  
  I shouted myself a large Lodge skillet just before Christmas.
  
  I stripped the factory seasoning with oven cleaner and elbow grease (no grinding at all) and re-seasoned five times with, alternately, Kremelta and beef dripping.
  
  Cooked on it several times a week (steaks, eggs, bacon etc) and it became completely non-stick after about 4-5 uses. It’s just brilliant now.
  
  This guy appears the best on YouTube:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/user/TheCulinaryFanatic/videos
  
  Worth a look.
  
  4 0
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  February 27, 2020 3:00pm
Ruahine

I have just found some fake news.

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/02/never-seen-anything-like-this-president-trump-receives-grand-welcome-in-india
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February 27, 2020 1:26pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Seems Vijeta Uniyal got carried away. Must be a leftie. Can’t tell the difference between one hundred thousand and hundreds of thousands. There is a job open at the Horrid for someone like that
  
  6 0
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  February 27, 2020 2:29pm
Jack5

Jacinda back in a hijab!

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/410498/pm-jacinda-ardern-pays-tribute-to-fijians-killed-in-christchurch-mosque-attacks
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February 27, 2020 1:35pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Mufti day!!
  
  5 0
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  February 27, 2020 4:35pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  I have no problem with her wearing a hijab in a Mosque. If she visited the Pope she would be expected to dress in black with a black head covering similar to a hijab.
  
  What I do have a problem with is her going into full hijab mode whenever she is with Muslims. Muslim women are in prison for not wearing it in Iran and Saudi.
  
  7 0
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  February 27, 2020 6:42pm
- Vory v zakone
  
  The virtue signal … as displayed by an expert
  
  0 0
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  February 27, 2020 8:58pm
Manolo

Is there hope?
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/why-jacinda-ardern-could-be-removed-as-new-zealand-prime-minister-as-her-unpopularity-at-home-continues-to-grow/ar-BB10pmWm
7 0
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February 27, 2020 1:35pm
- Tall Man
  
  For us yes, her … not so much.
  
  0 0
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  February 27, 2020 8:35pm
Fletch

A friend of mine works in a bar and they are adding 50c to every glass of drink to cover the upcoming minimum wage rise. I expect other businesses are doing the same.

In other words, nobody is winning. Wages and the cost of living will find their own level and artificially increasing one past a certain point will force an increase in the other.

You want to make people better off? Decrease taxes and make it easier for businesses to flourish. Look at Trump’s America. Oh, but the liberals will never do that, even though it works. It doesn’t work in with their philosophy.
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February 27, 2020 2:30pm
- igm
  
  When we have a PM that could not even operate the till in a fish shop adeptly how could we expect to have competent fiscal analysis?
  
  5 0
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  February 27, 2020 4:50pm
wreck1080

I’m with Greg Murphy, I should be allowed to speed. It is all the other muppets who can’t drive that should not be allowed to speed.
4 0
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February 27, 2020 4:01pm
aquataur

Did people see the Sun Times article in the weekend bleating about how racist the health system is for Maori?

The thrust of their argument was that Maori make up 43% of people needing kidney transplants, but only get 25% of the transplants. No recognition of what individual factors contribute to this need including obesity, poor diet, life style choices, etc.

But hold on – Maori are 14% of the population yet get 25% of transplants – doesn’t this show that they are severely favoured!

And then take into account – half of the transplants occur because a family member donates a kidney. Amongst Maori, organ transplants/donations are almost negligible (well under 10%)

So removing the family donations means Maori are getting about 50% of the non family donated organs – for a group who are only 14% of the population and who hardly donate any organs.

I think this shows extremely racist behaviour – but in favour of Maori not against them
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February 27, 2020 4:23pm
igm

Has the vile and corrupt bunch of mongs in charge of the country, and their compliant senior cops, decided to leave Mongrel Mob and Black Power to continue unabated?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/119841534/sh1-closed-while-police-search-canterbury-property
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February 27, 2020 4:40pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/119827319/pest-infestations-poor-cleaning-among-violations-in-auckland-eateries

Spot the common thread here.
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February 27, 2020 5:07pm
Pharmachick

Yep… I think we now have a pandemic:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/26/health/coronavirus-us-developments/index.html

Looks also like that Gilead drug I was talking about a week or 2 ago, might actually be useful (YAY!)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/24/investing/gilead-sciences-coronavirus-who-remdesivir/index.html

[For the record: I have no association, stock or other implied or express conflict of interest with Gilead. Never met them, dont know them apart from their scientific/medical output. No sarcasm.]
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February 27, 2020 6:31pm
Hugh Pavletich

Posted at … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2020/02/80-of-australians-agree-chinese-travel-ban-must-remain/#comment-3690291

NEW ZEALAND … CORONAVIRUS INITIAL ECONOMIC IMPACTS …

New Zealand economy faces ‘serious impact’ from coronavirus outbreak … Eleanor Ainge Roy … The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/27/new-zealand-economy-faces-serious-impact-from-coronavirus-outbreak

Business confidence drops amid coronavirus disruption … Radio New Zealand

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/410511/business-confidence-drops-amid-coronavirus-disruption
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February 27, 2020 6:39pm
Swifty

On Bourdain, from those close to him:

https://www.gq.com/story/anthony-bourdain-men-of-the-year-tribute
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February 27, 2020 6:54pm
Tall Man

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/02/petrol-prices-could-drop-up-to-30-cents-per-litre-with-new-government-bill.html

Hyperbole and rubbish.
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February 27, 2020 8:26pm
rightoverlabour

LOL …LOL… LOL ….

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/119873753/nz-police-fined-7000-and-banned-from-hiring-migrant-workers-for-six-months

Is this a country run by idiots or are we just a reality version of the Monty Python Show?????
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February 27, 2020 8:57pm
Hugh Pavletich

NEW ZEALAND: Residential construction ‘positive’ … latest ANZ Bank Business Confidence Survey …

During 2019 New Zealand’s new dwelling approvals were about 7.66 per 1000 population per annum (37.5k) and rising … Australia 6.25 (about 160k) … and California a truly woeful 2.75 (about 110.2k)

Adjusted for population … during 2019, Australia new dwelling approvals were about 81% of New Zealand’s, while California was about 35% of New Zealand’s new dwelling approval rate.

No wonder that within the latest New Zealand ANZ Bank Business Confidence Survey, that construction is the most positive sector within the economy …

Coronavirus hits business confidence; Agricultural sector’s confidence dives while construction sector’s lifts … Jenee Tibshraeny … Interest Co NZ

https://www.interest.co.nz/news/103811/coronavirus-hits-business-confidence-agricultural-sectors-confidence-dives-while

Will the New Zealand coalition government successfully implement the Urban Development National Policy Statement, the Urban Development Bill and the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill …

Urban Development – Hon Phil Twyford – New Zealand Government

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/portfolio/labour-led-government-2017-2020/urban-development
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February 28, 2020 4:17am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  … so that a normal residential production industry can be restored in New Zealand … like they have in Australia (e.g. http://www.metricon.com.au ) and the United States ( e.g http://www.drhorton.com ) … and as explained here in New Zealand mid – 2018 by Kevin Atkinson, CEO of Generation Homes …
  
  Opinion: Let the builders build … Kevin Atkinson … Stuff New Zealand
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/104213530/opinion-let-the-builders-build
  
  … extract …
  
  … So they buy 10 lots here, five there, depending on what deals they can get.
  
  The net result is that in a city like Auckland, builders and subcontractors are running all over town to different jobs and they’re wasting an hour every time they do it.
  
  To get real efficiency and to be able to build affordable houses, building companies need to be building 50 to 100 houses or more in one development. … read more via hyperlink above …
  
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  February 28, 2020 4:19am

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