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April 7, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 07 April 2020

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General Debate

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JeffW

Regarding the price gouging info line being run by MBIE, should we be dobbing in Councils?

Do others find that despite near empty roads, mouth breathers (aka road maggots and joggers) want to use walkways? Perhaps they are protected by clouds of smug?
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April 7, 2020 8:03am
- pdm
  
  How about the Government – sacked Cabinet Ministers keeping the same pay for less work.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:17am
- Jules99
  
  I’m still paying the same rates, but none of the usual mowing of public areas is taking place. Do I get a refund?
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:20am
  - Morphyoss
    
    We’re in the middle of a heath emergency and mowing is your concern?
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:43pm
    - chuk
      
      Heaths should be mown on a frequent basis.
      
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      April 7, 2020 12:50pm
      - Jack5
        
        Heaths? Haven’t heard that term often in NZ, and didn’t know we had them in our towns.
        
        Wikipedia definition: “A heath is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation.”
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:28pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  What’s wrong with using walkways?
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:23am
  - Nickc2
    
    Full of Lycra Loonies (speed bump candidates).
    
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    April 7, 2020 1:24pm
Greg Ettridge

A statistic the main stream press will not mention
Everyday on average, 90 people die in New Zealand.
So statistically, 900 hundred people have died since the first death from or of Corona virus.
So current percentage of mortality from or of Corona Virus in NZ over last 10 days is .00111111%
On a lighter note, it is sad to see Pussy Galore has died, it is pleasing to see she died of old age and not used as another celebrity stat.
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April 7, 2020 8:04am
- cmm
  
  “the first death from or of Corona virus.”
  
  No, died of COPD (emphysema), made worse by a Covid infection.
  
  Good old Pussy; had a good innings. She lead to many teen boys having restless nights.
  
  Nobody dies of old age. People die when organs stop working and their system fails.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:35am
  - Im Right
    
    ‘Nobody dies of old age. People die when organs stop working and their system fails’, how very astute of you….I hope you post the same for me when I die of a heart attack whilst drunk, celebrating my 105th birthday in a brothel!
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:25am
    - cmm
      
      In that particular case I’d say died of life!
      
      Good on yah if you pull that off.
      
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      April 7, 2020 12:14pm
      - Jack5
        
        They’ll want your cash up front for that birthday, Im Right. Don’t forget a generous tip.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:35pm
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      Damn!
      I hope to be shot at the age of 95 by a jealous lover…
      
      //
      
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      April 7, 2020 4:07pm
  - Nickc2
    
    I dare say there will be pussies everywhere at her funeral.
    
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    April 7, 2020 1:28pm
igm

What about Mallard?
Clark has been slapped om the hand, but Mallard seems to be immune.
This vile and disruptive Speaker needs a good nudge.
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April 7, 2020 8:06am
- G152
  
  You cant hit such an oily target.
  Projectiles just bounce off and five seconds later you cant see the effect.
  Hopefully the election will cure these ills
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:23am
- PhilBest
  
  You mean riding his bike, from home, round his own suburb? Nah, we shouldn’t try and make too much of that.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:35am
- KevO'Brien
  
  I suspect Mallard is bullet proof because of his Office.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:16am
peterwn

Seems Australian authorities have successfully persuaded the Big Four banks to lower merchant fees for debit and credit cards. But the banks have not told their NZ subsidiaries to follow suit so small businesses have to pay very high merchant fees so many decline to accept debit (as distinct from EFTPOS cards). This is a highly undesirable situation in current circumstance since ‘paywave’ is one way of reducing the chance of spreading the virus.
With modern technology there is no reason for merchants to be charged differing rates based on their bargaining power.
The Government could intervene as an effective Kiwibank by asking Kiwibank to bring its merchant rates into line with Australian rates. This would apply strong pressure to the ‘big four’ banks to follow suit.
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April 7, 2020 8:08am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Sadly this is not new – a study late last year showed that the average amount gouged by each Australian-owned bank that operated in New Zealand was about 35% more in New Zealand than for the Australian customers of the same bank, for no better services.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:57am
- Batman
  
  Peter, when you use a debit card for eftpos, it is the same fee as eftpos.
  
  When you use credit or paywave, it attracts the fees.
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:38pm
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Happy World Health Day!
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April 7, 2020 8:10am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Happy Idiot’s Day to you mike.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:19am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That’s every day
    
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    April 7, 2020 8:21am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Never mind, Cap’n. Although Idiot’s Day is not yet endorsed by the UN, you can keep campaigning on behalf of your fellow sufferers.
    
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    April 7, 2020 8:24am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      “Idiot’s Day is not yet endorsed by the UN”
      Because they know they’d be at the head of the parade.
      
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      April 7, 2020 9:38am
- Random T Person
  
  Morning Mike. Best of health to you sir.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:29am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    And to you.
    
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    April 7, 2020 9:06am
- Simon
  
  The Trump administration’s quarantine and travel ban in response to the Wuhan coronavirus could undercut international efforts to fight the outbreak by antagonizing Chinese leaders, as well as stigmatizing people of Asian descent, according to a growing chorus of public health experts and lawmakers.
  
  World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday that widespread travel bans and restrictions weren’t needed to stop the outbreak and could “have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit.”
  
  https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/04/coronavirus-quaratine-travel-110750
  
  Happy World Health Day from the WHO.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:27am
  - Blackbob
    
    So, the WHO, led by a rabid communist, is running interference for the CCP again. In other news the Earth traveled around the sun a bit further.
    
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    April 7, 2020 9:58am
  - curry4me
    
    Simon: Yeah, it’s not like the WHO isn’t a de facto propaganda arm of the CCP or anything.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:30pm
WaveyDavey

Boris in ICU
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April 7, 2020 8:10am
- MrTips
  
  I’d slap a lazy Kate on that Trump is screaming down the doctors phone “Give him the chloroquine!!”
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:26am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    As if Trump care about anything other than his own fat arse…
    
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    April 7, 2020 9:06am
    - WaveyDavey
      
      Really mike?
      
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      April 7, 2020 9:11am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      “As if Trump care about anything other than his own fat arse…”
      evidence???
      But could insert
      As if Clark care about anything other than his own fat arse…
      As if Robertson care about anything other than his own fat arse…
      As if Ardern care about anything other than his own fat arse…
      As if Peters care about anything other than his own fat arse…
      etc etc etc
      
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      April 7, 2020 9:41am
    - Ed Snack
      
      And you would know because …?
      
      That would be opposed to all the lefties who are screaming “Die, Boris, Die”. Because they’re such tolerant and caring people, right ?
      
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      April 7, 2020 9:55am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        What does morons wanting Johnson to die have to do with my objective assessment of Trump’s narcissistic personality disorder?
        
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        April 7, 2020 10:33am
      - Vory v zakone
        
        [Quit the personal abuse please. Mod]
        
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        April 8, 2020 8:19pm
Than

The drug hydroxychloroquine is being suggested as a potential treatment for COVID-19. But the studies haven’t been completed yet, so the effectiveness (if any) of this drug against COVID-19 remains unproven. And unfortunately, I think there are grounds to be pessimistic.

Think about it. The US is dealing with hundreds of thousands of cases of coronavirus. The idea of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment has been floating around for a few weeks now. While the FDA hasn’t approved hydroxychloroquine specifically for COVID-19 it has given permission for off-label use, so it seems highly likely there will be at least hundreds, perhaps thousands of COVID-19 patients that are or have been treated using hydroxychloroquine off-label.

But that being the case… surely if hydroxychloroquine was particularly effective against COVID-19 we would know it by now.

The fact that the anecdotal evidence around hydroxychloroquine is so mixed suggests that its effectiveness at treating COVID-19 is modest at best. If it was a highly effective cure that saved most people treated with it, that would have been obvious a while ago. Now it’s quite possible it may help in some cases (perhaps in combination with other drugs) and if so it could potentially save a lot of lives. But at best it’s only going to soften the blow and somewhat reduce the overall death toll.

No matter how much we may want it to be, hydroxychloroquine is not going to be a magic wand that makes this pandemic just go away.
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April 7, 2020 8:12am
- emmess
  
  Medical group endorses hydroxychloroquine for ‘sufficiently severe’ coronavirus patients
  
  https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-american-throacic-society-ok-malaria-drug-for-severe-coronavirus-20200406-zrgnnqb3gbhkjosaq7rdwzxdru-story.html
  
  It working and the Democrats in America are playing petty politics with peoples lives because of TDS
  
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/06/democrat-tavia-galonski-trump-chloroquine-crimes-against-humanity/
  
  It’s disgusting
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:55am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    It’s worth doing if it only works in 5% of cases.
    Reminds me of a story.
    A guy was walking along the beach after a storm.
    The beach was covered in starfish.
    Every so often he would reach down and toss a starfish into the ocean.
    A guy watching him yelled, You know it doesn’t make any difference.
    The reply
    It did to that one.
    
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    April 7, 2020 9:45am
  - Batman
    
    Citing the NY Daily news and Breitbart does zilch for your evidential credibility
    
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    April 7, 2020 3:40pm
    - Nickc2
      
      What’s your evidential credibility Batman – Washington Post, CNN – other?
      
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      April 7, 2020 4:11pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Can you really, possibly, believe that stories from Breitbart and the Daily News are more credible?
        
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        April 7, 2020 5:55pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Definitely, especially when they are supported by Fox and opposed by Wash Post and CNN.
        
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        April 7, 2020 7:35pm
- rangitoto
  
  They have started using it in New York.
  
  https://www.foxnews.com/health/thousands-of-coronavirus-infected-new-yorkers-treated-with-anti-malarial-drug
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:25am
- MrTips
  
  French doctors disagree with you: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32205204
  
  and so does a NY doc using it, who has substituted azithryomycin for doxycycline: https://nypost.com/2020/04/04/long-island-doctor-tries-new-hydroxychloroquine-for-covid-19-patients/
  
  The Chinese used it. And NZ has a clinical trial using it.
  
  And to be clear: chloroquine is not harmless, and it is being used to treat the pneumonia, not the virus.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:52am
  - chiz
    
    That french study turns out to be BS. The society that puts out the journal the study appeared in has just put out a statement of concern about the paper noting that it doesn’t meet the society’s standards although they are not currently retracting it.
    
    And just to be clear the chloroquine *is* being used to treat the virus. Its the azithromycin that’s being used to treat the pneumonia.
    
    The chinese have been using Favipiravir. One methodologically weak paper found that it works and the chinese govt has also reported that, anecdotally, it appear to work.
    
    This whole craze about hydroxychloroquine was started by the paper you cite. It turns out the scientist behind it and the subsequent paper, also BS, is a braggart and publicity hound with prior form for manipulating data in papers. On one occasion he got caught and was banned from publishing in some journals for a while.
    
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    April 7, 2020 3:41pm
- Ed Snack
  
  I saw what I think was the best reaction to this; “Is hydroxychloroquine the best drug to fight COVID-19 ? No, but is it the best we have currently available ? Yes !”
  
  It may in the end turn out to be largely ineffective though that would be a surprise given the number of apparently positive responses to it. It cannot be used for everyone, there are some people existing conditions that make its use dangerous; however outside that it and it’s side effects are well known and subject to those restrictions it is relatively safe as shown by 70 or so years of use. And it is cheap and relatively easy to make.
  
  I still want to see proper double-blind tests done on a sufficiently large sample to be sure what actual effect it has now. But as long as it doesn’t get in the way of research into better alternatives, I fully support its current widespread usage. At worst it would now have a positive placebo effect !
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:01am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Clinical trials are needed. Until then it is not recommended. Quinine-type drugs have severe side effects.
    Just because Trump boosts it does not make it an appropriate treatment – the reverse case is more likely.
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:34am
    - marcw
      
      Quinine-type drugs have severe side effects.
      Possibly, but as it has been in use for a long time, these are well known and can be avoided by not allowing indiscriminate use. I have been using it (prescribed) for many years, and it’s not done me any harm. Make what you will of that. 🙂
      
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      April 7, 2020 10:44am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Ongoing french trial; 2100 treated, <0.5% dead. Pretty good so far (though might be a result of relatively long time it takes for death to occur).
      https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/covid-19/
      
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      April 7, 2020 11:11am
    - Ed Snack
      
      With respect, I think that is the wrong approach and coloured by your TDS.
      
      Hydroxychloroquine has been in use for around 70 years and its side effects are well known as are what pre-existing conditions contra-indicate prescribing it. There is considerable evidence thought not from a strict trial, that it reduces viral load and improves symptoms even though the exact mechanism by which it achieves this isn’t known (not that it is a surprise, a lot of drugs ‘work” without us knowing exactly how).
      
      I agree that we need strict trials, but with an existing human approved drug that certainly appears to be beneficial, the downside in using it is miniscule; and the upside is large.
      
      I think that opposing its use because Trump noted its promise is possibly the most dubious excuse for wanting more people to die that I’ve ever seen.
      
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      April 7, 2020 2:34pm
      - Batman
        
        With regard to your last para, the problem is that Trump is spouting uninformed opinions from his podium, against the specific advice of the medical advisors.
        
        Just yesterday he actively blocked Fauci from answering a question on this topic because it contradicted him.
        
        Every day he is proving that he is the exact person you do NOT want coordinating a pandemic response.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:42pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Well, given your infatuation with TDS Batman, I’m not surprised that you parrot the talking points you’ve been given.
        
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        April 7, 2020 3:35pm
    - Batman
      
      Ah but Mike, we now know why he’s boosting it…
      
      ‘Wow. NYT reports Trump himself has a financial stake in the French company that makes the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.’
      
      https://t.co/FM1t2WadgN
      
      There’s always a tweet, even if not tweeted by Trump.
      
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      April 7, 2020 3:43pm
      - Vory v zakone
        
        Yeah and have you done the numbers ‘Mr Referee who also wants to be player’? Trump’s ‘financial stake’ in that company, through a Mutual Fund, is calculated to be between a MASSIVE $29 -$450!
        
        Seriously those fake news you subscribe to are not very sharp on their ‘gotchas’
        
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        April 8, 2020 8:26pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Well, this is Donald Trump, who once cashed a cheque for 13 cents, and had his ‘charitable’ foundation pay his son’s Boy Scout fees…
        
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        April 8, 2020 9:06pm
    - herb1
      
      “Quinine-type drugs have severe side effects.” says MMA.
      Which is precisely why they are using and recommending Hydroxychloroquine which is safer, according to medical researchers , who I suspect know more than a shallow left wing blogger who clearly has nothing else to do all day but post inane comments on an otherwise interesting blog
      
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      April 14, 2020 9:46am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Yes, those double blind tests are critical.
    
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    April 7, 2020 11:44am
  - chiz
    
    Is hydroxychloroquine the best drug to fight COVID-19 ? No, but is it the best we have currently available ? Yes !”
    
    No. The evidence for Favipiravir is better than for hydroxychloroquine but the scientists behind that work didn’t reach out to Fox to promote their work unlike the french scientist behind hydroxychloroquine so many people still haven’t heard about it.
    
    Remdesivir is probably better too.
    
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    April 7, 2020 3:44pm
- Fletch
  
  LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A Los Angeles doctor said he is seeing significant success in prescribing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc to treat patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19.
  
  Dr. Anthony Cardillo said he has seen very promising results when prescribing hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc for the most severely-ill COVID-19 patients.
  
  “Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free,” Cardillo told Eyewitness News. “So clinically I am seeing a resolution.”
  
  Cardillo is the CEO of Mend Urgent Care, which has locations in Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and Burbank.
  
  He said he has found it only works if combined with zinc. The drug, he said, opens a channel for the zinc to enter the cell and block virus replication.
  
  He added that the drug should not be prescribed for those who are presenting only mild symptoms, as there are concerns about shortages for patients with other conditions who need to take the drug on a regular basis.
  
  https://abc7.com/health/la-doctor-seeing-success-with-hydroxychloroquine-to-treat-covid-19/6079864/
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:22am
- chiz
  
  Other people in the scientific community have likewise wondered about the lack of anecdotal evidence about its effectiveness too. And there is probably a reason for that. One american doctor, willing to be named, has already stated that it *isn’t* working for them, and a number of Swedish hospitals came out a few days ago and announced that they had stopped using it because it wasn’t working. Another french study has just come out and found that it didn’t work.
  
  And to top it off, another study, has just come out showing HCQ with metformin is fatal in a third of mice. Metformin is a very common medication for diabetes.
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:55pm
Happychappy

Shane Jones considering ban on log exports so NZ has priority access to Wood and who would have thought Winston Peters NZ first would help the Union in its quest to achieve this.
First came the Rumour that his Lawyer , Wintson and his Partner had formed a new company in the logging industry now its Shane Jones joining the Union AWUNZ to help bring in forestry quotas and legislation to prevent “foreign- driven forest obliteration ” after the lockdown. Then the Minister of Infrastructure told Heather du Plessis- Allen he wants to help Kiwis first.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/shane-jones-considering-ban-on-log-exports-to-give-new-zealand-priority-access-to-wood/
Is this more of the same from NZ First feather your own nest first and help Kiwis later.
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April 7, 2020 8:14am
- jimbo3
  
  Is there or has there ever been a shortage of logs for local processors? Just political grandstanding again.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:25am
  - Ed Snack
    
    The price certainly has made the economics of domestic wood processing problematic at times. Log prices tend to go in boom/bust cycles, and when the price is low a lot of forest owners stop harvesting. But when the price ramps up domestic processors have to pay the going price or go out of business. That creates a lot of pressure on domestic timber prices and hence on construction.
    
    Some processors managed to get long term supply agreements in place at relatively fixed prices, this penalises them when log prices are low but gives them an advantage when prices are high. So there’s pro’s and cons to that approach.
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:06am
    - Nickc2
      
      Hey, in the commercial world, that’s business. As for Jones, Peters and company, it’s graft and corruption. It’s about them screwing the market in their own favour while having no skin in the game so to speak. A good tip to them would probably be: save your money, you will more than likely have a court case to address and while Brian Henry may be your lawyer, he may also be one of those in the dock.
      
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      April 7, 2020 1:50pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Nickc2, just answering jimbo3 – yes, at times domestic log processors have had problems sourcing enough logs at prices that they can survive on.
      
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      April 7, 2020 2:36pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  What load of nonsensical bullshit they talk.
  None of that makes any sense.
  NZF, the Edward Leer of economics
  Whats next, finding a way to justify, going to sea in sieve?
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:49am
- kowtow
  
  Give him his due ,Shane will always keep his hands on the log situation.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:22am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  We are producing tonnes more logs than we can process.
  
  Even if we got all proposed wood processing plants up and running, we’d still be swamped with logs for the next 10-20 years.
  
  Time for a sensible Forestry policy for NZ…
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:19am
  - Jack5
    
    Perhaps we could plant some trees that grow slower than Pinus radiata until the oversupply ends.
    Better timber, better prices.
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:14pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Perhaps that could be addressed by a government forestry policy, as Maggy advocates.
      
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      April 7, 2020 2:43pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      The next best as I understand it is Oregon Pine/Douglas Fir (Psudotsuga menziesii), which is harvestable between 45 and 50 years after planting. That makes the economics of plant/harvest/re plant etc much much harder. Radiata has a 28-30 year turnover.
      
      This is to produce lumber, growing for pulp can be shorter as the trees can be harvested much smaller.
      
      There’s still quite a bit of “old growth” timber available, Russia especially has a lot, and they don’t bother to replant so the cost is much lower. Offset by the terrain and climate, but still quite low cost.
      
      Maggie W is right, NZ harvests far more timber than we can process. A lot of it goes to Korea/Japan/China where it is used to make cheap plywood for concrete forms. NZ might not readily adapt to installing large factories to process and glue sheets to make plywood for export when it is a relatively low value export. Only some other nations accept radiata as a suitable construction timber; and some of those like japan do, or used to, import minimally processed “Japanese Squares” which they then saw to size. Remember too that Radiata decays pretty rapidly once harvested unless dipped in anti-sapstain and preservatives – which are typically pretty toxic.
      
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      April 7, 2020 2:45pm
      - Jack5
        
        Here’s something different: a Japanese owned company growing hard wood in Southland for chipping for high quality paper manufacturing.
        
        Next, we would like the paper mill to be sited in Southland.
        
        https://www.spfl.co.nz/
        
        Note for Milky: Yes perhaps the committee cold discuss it. Fuck, you are the original Organisation Man put out to blog pasture.
        
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        April 7, 2020 4:09pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Tongue was firmly in check with that one, Jack…
        
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        April 7, 2020 5:58pm
oldpark

The David Clarke fiasco . Seems when he figured the game was up and he was running scared not knowng what do he approached the Peters selected PM Ardern to tell her he did not realise the “Cost” of his actions when he ignored the so called Lockdown . Offering to resign.
Ardern realising he was the associate Finance Minister and mentioning the word “Cost” relieved him of the position. She thought if Grant Robertson got the dreaded Virus lurgy what good would David Clark be when he said he could not put 2 2 together regarding the fall out of the Lockdown breach, so she give him a Claytons Firing.Yet kept him on as NZs Health Minister in her “its only make believe World”. What ever for . After all he is a serial offender as NZs Health Minister. I recall last year when the Nurses strike was on ,he was over in Australia in the Gold Coast sunning himself . Just to reiterate he was given a Claytons Dumping . Of course all he has really being doing is emulating most of the Peters selected amateurs in Labour/Green /NZ First cabal. Run a country they could not even run a bath.
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April 7, 2020 8:20am
NeverMindTheBollocks

I see New World have now banned reusable bags.
39 1
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April 7, 2020 8:21am
- Blackbob
  
  Bring back hygienic single use plastic bags to save the planet..
  
  29 2
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  April 7, 2020 10:02am
  - curry4me
    
    Blackbob: Yes, I agree. Yet another pack of lies from the ‘Greens’ over banning them
    
    12 1
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    April 7, 2020 12:37pm
- Brian McDonald
  
  Actually asked customers to leave them in the car to speed things up at the checkouts. But do carry on.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:06pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    Correct, that is what our local supermarket does as well. reusable bags are banned inside the building and for small shops you can just leave them outside by the queuing location, or if you came by car, best to leave them in the car and transfer the items from your trolley at that point.
    
    Bringing back single use bags would also work.
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:48pm
Maggy Wassilieff

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/simon-bridges-the-former-prosecutor-who-faces-his-greatest-trial-against-nice-person-ardern
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April 7, 2020 8:28am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  Eh? I thought we didn’t post anything from the Grauniad as it’s a shallow, moronic piece of leftist filth?
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:19am
  - fernglas
    
    It’s free, and that is much more important than its political leanings.
    
    13 1
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    April 7, 2020 10:31am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    That’s only when it publishes something Kiwibloggers might disagree with.
    
    3 27
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    April 7, 2020 10:39am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Feel free to make your own decisions, Simon.
    
    I’m not very impressed by folks who try to tell others what they can and can’t read, especially on someone else’s blog.
    
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    April 7, 2020 11:26am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      Oh my, I just spilled my coffee.
      
      I’m not going searching as I’m busy but there’s plenty here who have mocked anybody posting anything from the Guardian.
      
      I can’t work out whether this place is rife with hypocrites or whether they just have terrible memories.
      
      Or maybe they’re just trying to have it both ways.
      
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      April 7, 2020 12:07pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I often post material here from the Guardian.
        
        However, you don’t need to check… just leave the possibility that I’m a hypocrite (or as you wrote yesterday… a fucking hypocrite).
        
        talking about memory… I’ve noticed quite a few trolls have a problem in that regard.
        
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        April 7, 2020 12:15pm
      - chuk
        
        Simon G says “I’m busy”. yeah, right. Not so busy you can’t find the time to infect this blog on a frequent basis. Pity about that.
        
        6 4
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        April 7, 2020 1:03pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Actually…
        I had a good Guardian day on March 2nd 2020
        
        I posted the following links…
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/03/general_debate_2_march_2020.html#comment-2652559
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/03/general_debate_2_march_2020.html#comment-2652410
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/03/general_debate_2_march_2020.html#comment-2652581
        
        SGA and Tony Stuart also posted links to The Guardian that day.
        
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        April 7, 2020 1:25pm
      - Jack5
        
        The Guardian editions policy continues to mislead us.
        
        Click the link in Maggy’s 8.28 and you see a nice Guardian spread on Bridges.
        
        Move to the UK, US, and Australian editions and the article’s gone – or at least I couldn’t find it.
        
        Now go into VPN and go the Guardian site and Bridges is also gone. VPN takes you to the international edition at Guardian.com regardless of whether you key in that or Guardian.co.uk.
        
        It seems that the Guardian site sifts out NZ internet visitors and gives them a page slanted towards NZ, though there’s no official NZ edition.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:23pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Anyone who thinks newspapers don’t intentionally target an audience is a fool. The Guardian + Observer target an educated, middle-class, left-leaning, 18+ audience. The Guardian and Observer scandal rags are owned by a UK group called the Scott Trust. – Courtesy Google.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:43pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Is that a problem, Jack?
        I’m glad the Guardian police are here though. I’m looking forward to Maggy’s future rebukes of those commenters who automatically discredit a story because it is reported there.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:41pm
      - Jack5
        
        Why should the Guardian having a “ghost” NZ edition be a problem, Milky?
        
        Not a problem, but some readers in remote New Zealand, especialy those on the Left, will give extra weight to a report on some NZ issue because the report’s in the Guardian, a famous overseas, internationally read newspaper.
        
        If the article proves to be only in a small unofficial “edition” of the newspaper, then these people will venerate it less.
        
        Unless you’ve lived in the hinterland, Milky, you probably haven’t heard a comment from someone told about an article in the regional daily: “but it’s only in the country edition.”
        
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        April 7, 2020 4:02pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I’m looking forward to Maggy’s future rebukes
        
        Gracious,
        what an exciting life you must lead.
        
        However, I fear I may disappoint you…
        
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        April 7, 2020 5:51pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Tongue in cheek again, Maggy. I’m well aware you would not call out someone you perceive as being in sympathy with your own politics.
        
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        April 7, 2020 6:05pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Oh Dear,
        You reckon I should join your dob-in-your neighbour crew?
        
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        April 7, 2020 9:15pm
krazykiwi

Reposted. Here’s cdc.govt data showing US weekly death rate due to pneumonia, with 7 years charted. Just look at it. Wow.

So far this year this illness has claimed 8,872 fewer lives than over the same period last year.

Anyone suggest why the dramatic improvement this year?

Where are the joyful media stories to celebrate this great outcome?
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April 7, 2020 8:28am
- Andrei
  
  Yes I can – the viral pneumonia deaths this year are being attrubuted to Covid-19, where as the respiratory viruses that triggered the cases in previous years were not recorded
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:52am
  - sgthree
    
    and the fact that people who would have otherwise have died of pneumonia due to some other cause are signing off due to covid19 first.
    
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    April 7, 2020 9:46am
- cmm
  
  It is quite likely that all the social distancing & handwashing cuts down on the transmission of regular flu and other infections too.
  
  However the died with vs died from accounting might be a larger factor.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:55am
Maggy Wassilieff

Our Dear Leader is focused on the important things during this Pandemic

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/easter-bunny-essential-worker-ardern
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April 7, 2020 8:30am
- Happychappy
  
  To the rest of the world she maybe nice but for anyone in NZ apert from the media and those that fawn over her she doesn’t know how to lie straight in bed let alone care about the truth. When we were children it was drilled into your mind your not nice if you tell lies but it seems nowadays Jacinda has set the example for our children and Grandchildren that lies help you achieve so that’s alright.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:44am
- burt
  
  I was surprised she could bring herself to say the word Easter.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:44am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Jacinda would make a memorable kindie teacher.
  
  Unfortunately, she’s PM.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:55am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  It’s a good bit of PR. Takes a couple of minutes of the PMs time and makes a big difference to a bunch of kids.
  
  While it may not appear to be all that important to you, for those at home with scared young kids it means a lot.
  
  A little kindness and all that. At worst harmless.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:22am
  - Blackface Twin Reverb
    
    Or, pure cringe.
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:48am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Kids aren’t scared, this is just pointless posturing from the most vapid PM ever.
    
    21 1
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    April 7, 2020 11:02am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      You’re either ignorant of what’s going on, or you’re sociopathic.
      
      Don’t presume to know the minds of children.
      
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      April 7, 2020 12:09pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        … [Deleted – mod.] You say stupid stuff and then get shouty and agro when people call you out on it. A teacher perhaps or just anther boring scolding leftie who doesn’t brook other opinions?
        
        We’ve talked to our kids about the dangers and deaths, they can parrot why they aren’t at school and pre-school and the rules about staying away from people, but they’re not in the least stressed about any of it, we’ve told them how low the risk is, so on the contrary they’re enjoying the ‘holiday’ lockdown more than normal life.
        
        The PM’s tedious efforts to manufacture positive media coverage via no-content kiddie photo ops (she’s getting desperate with all the kindies, schools and women’s mags closed) won’t interest them in the slightest, we’ll let them have the chocolate without forcing them to endure her banal wittering.
        
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        April 7, 2020 3:41pm
  - cmm
    
    If YOUR kids of the age that believe in Easter Bunnies are fearful then it because YOU are filling them with fear.
    
    Why the fuck would you do that to your kids?
    
    PS: While you’re scaring them please also explain to them what debt is and how the economy they will have to work for years to fix is being trashed by these idiots.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:28pm
- cmm
  
  This is all hamming it up for #CinD4UN.
  
  The foreign media filter out all her incompetence and just present how wonderfully nice she is.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:38am
- sam green
  
  Jesus Maggy. I admire your work and your brain but your partisan politics suck. Stop whinging. Seriously.
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:46pm
cmm

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120803527/coronavirus-whanau-ora-agency-offers-crisis-line-navigators-to-support-whanau-in-crisis

So on top of all the Pakeha handouts they also get Special Handouts? Are the laws of physics different in a Maori household?

“One single mother of four, who had filled out the Manaaki20 survey, had no sanitary products for herself and three teenage daughters, no internet data, phone credit and barely any food.”

Yup, good ordering of priorities.
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April 7, 2020 8:30am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  Did the study mention how much of their income they were paying on rent?
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:23am
  - cmm
    
    They didn’t mention not having money for rent, so clearly rent isn’t as much of a worry as data.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:15pm
igm

Ardern now stating butchers can trade remotely . . . this is not what she originally said when gaving carte blanche for halal butcheries to open for public trading!
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April 7, 2020 8:30am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Carte blanche est pour les bouchères seulement.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:43am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  More ignorant lies.
  
  Here’s what really was said. From six days ago on One News:
  
  https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/some-kiwi-muslims-go-vegetarian-lockdown-rules-see-halal-butchers-close
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:11pm
Ford Prefect

So the government has a worst case scenario model, that they refer to to see how amazing they are.

Do they have a model for the NZ economy, where they’ve killed small businesses, bankrupted salary earners, developed run away inflation, doubled overseas debt and made everyone suspect everyone else of evil doing.

What does their model show for suicide rates, accidental deaths, family violence, depression and tax burdens on future generations.

Surely these models should be compared to see which cure is preferable.
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April 7, 2020 8:32am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Of course they don’t have any such models, and if they were presented to them – as Bridges has suggested – they’d be completely ignored.
  
  Focusing all efforts and decisions through only one lens – the futile attempt to protect every single life – allows them to set fire to the economy in the name of kindness.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:06am
Maggy Wassilieff

New World bans reusable bags
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120836693/new-world-shoppers-asked-to-leave-reusable-bags-in-the-car-during-lockdown
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April 7, 2020 8:33am
- sam green
  
  Oh glee!
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:47pm
david

cmm
you might also query why she would run out of phone credits when calling MSD who surely have an 0800 number.
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April 7, 2020 8:35am
- cmm
  
  Let’s say she has a $9 a month ($2 a week) Skinny account. That does everything she needs.
  
  That gives 100 minutes of talk time. Enough for a few minutes holding for WINZ. If she prioritises yacking to her mates over sorting out WINZ, well that’s her look out.
  
  Perhaps she should consider a $20 plan which gives her unlimited talk time.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:03am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    She’ll have to pay off the $1,800. ‘phone first.
    
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    April 7, 2020 9:28am
Raphael

Fellow readers may remember our local MSM regurgitating a number sneering articles on Trump talking about the use of hydroxochloroquine to help treat patients with Covid-19.
Trump said at the time that the anti-malarial drug, when combined with a antibiotic (the name of which escapes me) was reportedly being very effective at relieving the symptoms, and that because both drugs had been in use for many years, that once confirmed FDA would be able to rush certification (as we already know all the side effects etc.)

The Media mocked Trump for giving false hope and touting snake oil and then in a supposed coup de grâce trotted out a story about this poor working-class couple, who desperately hanging onto Trump’s every word, grasped this bit of hope, and finding a product in their home that had an ingredient with a similar sounding name to hydroxochloroquine . They drank this fish [Koi] tank cleaner and the husband died and it was blamed on Trump.

Well an increasing number of studies and reports are showing that chloroquine is very effective, the FDA and CDC have both approved it’s use, and atleast one Governor who had threatened to prosecute any doctors prescribing it has done a u-turn and is now asking for supplies.

And the couple above….. well the wife has a long history of being rabidly anti-Trump, and a frequent donor to the DNC. She was in the process of divorcing her husband, and had a history of assaulting him…..
Steven Crowder on the Fishtank Cleaner story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLGQLKNBS-o

Tim Pool on how the media’s slurs on Trump are backfiring on the MSM and the DNC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC3VDhziVFc
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April 7, 2020 8:38am
- All_on_Red
  
  ‘FDA and CDC have both approved it’s use,’
  Not trying to rain on your Parade, but the FDA and CDC approval relates to its original use as an anti Malerial drug.
  However, Doctors have the authority to use it for other ailments if in their judgement they think it will work.
  This has been confirmed by Dr Fauci
  It should be noted that long term use of Chloroxyquine can cause side effects but short term not so much- maybe.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:57am
  - Ed Snack
    
    It should perhaps be noted to your note that “long term use” for the Chloroquine drugs is by most standards very long term. People use it as a malarial preventative and can take it for 20+ years and more, with annual checkups. So although they can occur, side effects from a 1-2 week course are likely to be minimal as long as patients are screened for pre-existing disqualifying conditions (like heart arrhythmias).
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:18am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Fauci actually went further than that:
    
    Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top doctor on infectious diseases and a key member of the White House taskforce, was adamant there was nothing to suggest the medicine had any benefit against coronavirus.
    “In terms of science, I don’t think we can definitively say it works,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation.
    “The data are really just at best suggestive. There have been cases that show there may be an effect and there are others to show there’s no effect.”
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:46am
Lance

Duncan Garner actually grilled David Clark on the AM show.
I was stunned, it’s usually just patsy, soft questions for members of the CoL in general and Cindy in particular.
He must have had the go-ahead from Cindy.
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April 7, 2020 8:47am
brett68

Can the economy still function at level 3 ?
I’m guessing when we come out of lockdown, we’ll be at level 3 for at least until the winter is over which is six months away.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/coronavirus-covid-19-what-alert-level-3-would-mean-for-you/

Another thing is can we realistically have an election? politicians won’t be able to have public meetings or campaign properly.
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April 7, 2020 8:56am
- mikenmildagain
  
  How much effect do you think meetings and face-to-face canvassing has in an election? My suspicion is that much campaigning activity is mainly for the cameras, and has little impact in persuading voters.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:48am
- calendar girl
  
  brett68 – Please don’t put evil thoughts in the minds of Jacinda & Winston’s Government.
  
  A General Election may have had plenty of practical communications obstacles 25 years ago, but today’s world is alive with mass media and electronic connections that – collectively – could reach 99.9% of potential voters. Quite apart from conventional election hoardings, and leaflets dropped in letter-boxes.
  
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  April 7, 2020 2:57pm
Simon

Grant Robertson – high minimum wage helps demand in the economy. Fucking mental.

And they demoted Clarky for going to the beach.

Clarky is bottom of the Cabinet. It must be really crowded down there.
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April 7, 2020 9:00am
- igm
  
  Min of Finance was trained by a competent creative accountant don’t you know.
  He has the fiscal ability of a typical Labourite . . . ask Parker!
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:50am
- Simon Gotlieb
  
  Go on then. Do give us the benefit of your undoubted economic brilliance. Explain how reducing wages is helpful to the lowest paid. And explain to us the obvious benefits to the economy of depriving a section of society, who spend almost all of their income, of money.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:25am
  - brett68
    
    The minimum wage is far too high.
    
    1)It makes a joke of the people who have made the effort to upskill.
    
    2) Further increases the cost of living for everyone else
    
    3)Hurts small business because they struggle to pass on extra costs
    
    4) It causes an increase in the black economy.
    
    Raising the minimum wage is lazy politics, far more effort should go into reducing the cost of living but that’s way beyond the capabilities of our current crop of politicians.
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:36am
  - Simon
    
    “Do give us the benefit of your undoubted economic brilliance. “
    
    Lol. – It’s economics 101 if you set a floor on prices it creates surpluses.
    
    Robertson is an ideologue mong hard wired to Marxism.
    
    Over the next 2 or 3 years you are in for a steep learning curve.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:30pm
    - sam green
      
      Or maybe you are.
      
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      April 7, 2020 11:49pm
  - Salacious Crumb
    
    Geezus wept Gotlieb. Have you had enough of having your arse handed to you? Perhaps you’d be better served helping the vacuous Gayford find his “scorched almonds” hidden by his equally vacuous ‘partner’.
    
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    April 7, 2020 4:16pm
    - sam green
      
      Vacuous she is not . And you fecking know it.
      
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      April 7, 2020 11:50pm
Simon

Trump was right about China. The never Trump neolib globalists were wrong and that includes the people running NZ for the last 12 years.
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April 7, 2020 9:01am
- emmess
  
  Absolutely, listen to or watch Bannon lay in to Henry Kissenger who he sees as the architect of allowing China to rise at the expense of the west.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcPlSD0uK3g&t=3171s
  From about 38 minutes
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:13am
Durden

Loathing in the times of Covid-19.
My observations over two weeks. Some people might not like what I am going to say. But may be pause and think.

The closest walk for me takes me along the beachfront. Most of it has a narrow strip of footpath ~1 meter wide. In very few places, it is wider and some bits have a small gravel/grass verge. A lot of the route has footpath on only one side. It goes past beaches, dog exercise areas sports fields, camper van parking.

1. Why do people think they can let their dogs off the leash in dog exercise areas to playfight with other people’s unknown dogs? Do they leave their brains at home and need Mother Jacinda to tell them how bubbles work ?

2. People who let their “friendly” dogs off their leash on the public footpaths–I don’t care if your dog is friendly. I do not want your dogs to come smell me or try to play with me while you stand there in the back futilely calling you pooch. The rule is very clear. Dogs always on leash in public areas.

3. For mum and dad with young kids on bicycles/scooters — unless you can explain to your kids distancing etiquette and they have the skills to do it on their bikes/scooters, do not take them on narrow paths where stepping on to the road is risky for other walkers due to narrow windy roads with no visibility.

4. Long lost friends, if you want to talk to your mate you see walking, don’t just stop where you met at the narrow parts of the path taking over the path, get off the path or go stand where it is wider.

5. Why do runners, especially younger ones think they can huff and puff their way right past me without the making the effort to move?

6. Why do young people walking in a group still take up the whole footpath and not make space for others.

7. If you are walking side by side as a couple, you won’t die if you go single file for a few seconds to let some one pass. I notice older people are always more considerate than the young people.

8. I thought campervan travel was not allowed. But it seems you can and do use public overnight parks. Seen them walking in their nighties to use toilet and showers. No doubt to carry germs to their next destination.
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April 7, 2020 9:05am
- Ed Snack
  
  Have to say that with so little traffic, stepping on the road, at least around here, is common and almost entirely risk free.
  
  Have the same issue with narrow paths, just suck it up and make as much room as possible. Hold your breath if you must.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:21am
  - Sacha
    
    If you walk with the wind behind you, you won’t inhale any bugs of any breed. 🙂
    
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    April 7, 2020 11:38am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Except from those behind you !
      
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      April 7, 2020 2:53pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Extra comment, I’ve seen various “reports” that the most common infection pathway is expelled virus particles settling on surfaces that are touched by others who then touch their faces especially around the nose, mouth, and eyes. Various figures are quoted but many think 90+% occur this way.
      
      Masks are a primary aid in these circumstances – reduce the exhaled viral load and protect the face from touching to an extent. Also explains why frequent hand washing works as well – destroys the contact viruses.
      
      If we could get them insisting on mask wearing when in public would be an ideal assistance to go to level 3 as quickly as possible. No idea if enough publicly usable masks are available.
      
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      April 7, 2020 2:57pm
Simon

NZ media needs to tell the story of how NZ chemists, supermarkets and warehouses were emptied of masks, gloves & other equipment & sent to China, thereby creating unnecessary shortages here.

https://twitter.com/Anne_MarieBrady/status/1245436627624677376

Chinese consul general criticises decision to bar travellers from China over coronavirus concerns

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408720/chinese-consul-general-criticises-decision-to-bar-travellers-from-china-over-coronavirus-concerns

So at the same time CCP was saying everything is fine agents of the CCP were asset stripping basic health tools to fight Wuhan virus,

Trump got China right. NZ was wrong.
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April 7, 2020 9:07am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Is there any truth that China raided NZ’s health supplies?
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:24am
  - Simon
    
    “Is there any truth that China raided NZ’s health supplies?”
    
    Comrade check the link. Its all there. The NZ Chinese buyers are backed / financed by a black listed CCP entity.
    
    While at the same time the Chinese CCP GC was saying everything is under control.
    
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    April 7, 2020 9:35am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      What link?
      
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      April 7, 2020 11:48am
- Jules99
  
  Same thing happened in Australia. We need to wake up.
  
  12 1
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  April 7, 2020 9:36am
  - ross411
    
    And in Canada. And the US sent a plane load. Not that concerned about it, it was early days. What is more concerning is the governments lack of action to address the shortage as things became more critical here.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:21pm
- curry4me
  
  Simon: Readers should remember to leave Chinese goods on the shelf after this is over. Talk to store managers. Cite the CCP virus, and human rights concerns.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:47pm
HemiT

one country’s turmoil extrapolates onto another.

NZ could hav taken initiative to combine commonwealth military resources and where asked/needed moderate for swift resolve between conflicting countries because , now there are 70.8 million people displaced and nz is unequipped to take on any more
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/world-refugee-day-2019

and advise china on formulating a ‘static population guidline , of a 3/4 ~ billion so it can close down exotic food markets and , eat properly. same with india , africa , etc.

march 8 2020 60 minutes exotic food market
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7nZ4mw4mXw

2016 , job lay off’s in the million’s , china.
https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/the-labours-of-mr-zhang/7663290
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April 7, 2020 9:10am
JibberJabber

So if you commit an offence now, can you plead you have Stuckhome Syndrome?
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April 7, 2020 9:11am
- mikenmildagain
  
  “Shame is still a terminal disease in some parts of the Galaxy” – Douglas Adams
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:54am
  - burt
    
    Not in our parliament though.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:26pm
rangitoto

Jacinda TV a disgrace last night. Trying to claim Bridges need to drive to get suitable internet connection to reliably chair the response committee was akin to Dr Clark’s escapades. They should be closed down as propaganda is not an essential service.
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April 7, 2020 9:17am
- brett68
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  He’s got ultra-fast internet at his Tauranga electoral office.
  
  The guy goes to Wellington so he can do media interviews, that’s it, personally I have no problem with him doing that, he’s the opposition leader and apparently we’re supposed to somehow be having an election this year.
  
  The excuse he gave out of having poor internet was bollocks though and makes him look like a clown.
  
  Reminds me of the time David Cunnliffe spouted out the nonsense about having to live in the “leafy suburbs” because his wife is breastfeeding.
  
  Bridges decision making and lack of awareness is something else and is why he will not win and National is going to beaten quite comfortably at election time.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:55am
  - rangitoto
    
    Did you actually watch the committee. There was a lot of transmission issues with Bridges feed.
    
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    April 7, 2020 10:13am
    - brett68
      
      So why doesn’t he use his electoral office?
      
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      April 7, 2020 10:20am
      - marcw
        
        Some say he should stay at home because he has fibre broadband at home, however, the speed available is as much dependent on the ISP as the actual technology used. A good ISP using copper tech can give in fact a faster service to the end user than some with fibre connections.
        
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        April 7, 2020 10:26am
      - brett68
        
        He has fast fibre capabilities at his electoral office, has he tried to use that?
        
        It seems like a fair more sensible plan than driving 7 hours to Wellington.
        
        See what I mean, the reason he put out makes him look like a clown
        
        Simon Bridges: “Hmm my internet at home is shit and I can’t do the committee stuff properly
        
        Should I?
        
        A) Drive 7 hours to Wellington and 7 hours back
        B) Use my electoral office in Tauranga
        
        Simon Bridges: Better get the car gassed up and hit the road !!!
        
        Like I said I have no problem with him going to Wellington to do politics, he should just be honest.
        
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        April 7, 2020 10:44am
      - Jack5
        
        The disgrace in the Bridges driving row is the way State TV news rubbished him. It is trying to out-Pravda Stalin’s Pravda in the way it works for the Labour Coalition.
        
        Bridges is the Leader of the Opposition, of the party which got more votes than Jacinderella’s and the Melon Green party combined.
        
        Whatever Bridges thinks is the best way to do his job as “checker in chief” let him do it that way.
        
        This “guy went for a bike ride”, this “guy went hunting”, this woman “played with her neighbour’s kids”, this person “drove to Wellington” …. the tattle-tale of little informers – people who, in East Germany, would have been ratting to the Stasi.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:03pm
  - Paulus
    
    I live round the corner from Simon and Labour List MP Jan Tinetti and our connection is first class at all times.
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:25pm
    - marcw
      
      Your ISP is the key bottleneck Paulus – fibre, copper or wireless. Do you have the same ISP?
      
      3 1
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      April 7, 2020 3:22pm
- jv
  
  Not enough gumption to take Clark out of his misery and let him satisfy his personal wish to stay with his family rather than (thank goodness) front footing his essential Minister of Health responsibilities in Wellington.
  Not enough gumption to publicly acknowledge Simon’s common sense driving to do his essential job at his essential work place.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:07am
Maggie Pie

The neighbors popped over last night for a catch-up and quiet drink. [And yes, we did maintain social distancing.]
Discussion was invariably around the Coronavirus and the part China played in its release. They were telling us “that they had just read where France has ordered a billion face-masks from China, but the French have been told they will only be supplied if they accept Huawei 5G”. Sounds like China is forcing Coronavirus hit countries to kneel before Huawei.
As my partner said, “You would have to wonder what price the CCP are looking to extract from New Zealand for the billions in loans?”
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April 7, 2020 9:28am
Cobolt24

New World (temporarily) bans reusable shopping bags
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/120836693/new-world-shoppers-asked-to-leave-reusable-bags-in-the-car-during-lockdown
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April 7, 2020 9:30am
Shut the hell up you Fascist!

Corovirus-19 is a lung infection which is aggravated and spread by cigarette and cigar smoking.

Why, why, why in a lung disease pandemic would you ban hard liquor and leave cigarettes untouched?

Why, why, why? BTW the tobacco tax take in NZ is $1,800,000,000 and many, many smokers vote Labour.

The numbers only make sense when you factor in cigarette smoking.

Most pandemics of the 20th and 21st century with the exception of AIDS and Ebola are related to chest infections and the rise of smoking.
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April 7, 2020 9:30am
- Michael NZ
  
  In one respect, they might all die?
  Then there is no excise taxes so net tax income goes down.
  But there is no future cost on the health service apart from a big hit up front.
  There might be many many free spaces in workplaces, universities, housing units, so creating opportunities.
  Political Parties will have less voters.
  Someof those dying might be politicians.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:55am
- JackRabbit
  
  Ironically, in 2000, WHO published data regarding asbestosis and smoking. In that white paper, they pointed out that it was very very rare for someone to die from asbestos that was not a smoker.
  
  The lung defence system is quite capable of dealing with a lot of abnormal events, including purging the lungs of one off cigarette smoke, cigar smoke or asbestos. Provided the lungs defence system has not been incapacitated by regular smoking, vaping or smoking weed.
  
  Anything in excess can overload any defence system including the lungs. If the lung’s defences are incapacitated, they will not be able to neutralise the threat, and not able to transport the neutralised threat out of the lungs, further reducing the oxygen intake and expelling of CO2. Any reduction in breathing capacity will put strain on the heart, as it attempts to compensate.
  
  The reports that some Covid-19 victims die of a heart attack while in recovery is not that unusual, as some asthma patients also die of heart attacks. It is also not unusual to find enlarged hearts in patients with lung disease or chronic smokers.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:14am
- mikenmildagain
  
  The present time is perhaps not the best for nicotine addicts to go cold turkey.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:56am
  - JackRabbit
    
    mikey it is the best time. Stop smoking now, and reduce the chance of dying sounds like a good proposition to me. After all, business owners are being forced to go cold turkey on revenue and that has negative effects. Cold turkey on smoking increases your chances if you get Covid-19.
    
    mikey, you seem to be implying that smokers should keep smoking and die!
    
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    April 7, 2020 11:37am
    - cmm
      
      I agree this is an excellent time.
      
      Most people dying have been heavy smokers in the past. If we’re going to scare everyone with this Covid thing, then scare the smokers into quitting.
      
      It might not help them in the very short term and it likely would not help people who are going to die in the next couple of months, but it will help the survivors.
      
      If this was a pandemic of deaths caused by not wearing seatbelts then the government would be making laws to force people to use seatbelts.
      
      Being generous to mma (I don’t know why), but smokers in the process of quitting are more likely to get grumpy. Perhaps he’s worried about smokers putting in the bash and kids ending up in Starship?
      
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      April 7, 2020 12:10pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        No, just wondering whether abruptly stopping the supply of tobacco is the best way to reducing smoking harm, especially at this time.
        
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        April 7, 2020 12:19pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Banning tobacco will leave a big hole in the budget, it brings in a lot of $, way more than is spent on medical care for smokers and that’s without factoring in the reduced superannuation payouts to smokers.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:59pm
- Inandout
  
  Longname, I recall a workmate of mine who was a heavy smoker jokingly saying. ‘I might not get Parkinsons because I smoke, but I will probably die of other things’.
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:19am
- MCos
  
  cvid-19 isn’t an infection otherwise you’d treat it with antibiotics.
  Cigarette smoking is on the decline.
  Apart from that it’s a person’s past smoking that’s going to get them not what they do right now.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:08pm
  - Shut the hell up you Fascist!
    
    Cigarette smoking on the decline?
    
    Italy smoking rate for 2016 was 23.70%, a 0.1% decline from 2015. Italy smoking rate for 2015 was 23.80%, a 0.3% decline from 2014. Italy smoking rate for 2014 was 24.10%, a 0% increase from 2013. Italy smoking rate for 2013 was 24.10%, a 0.2% decline from 2012.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:56pm
    - Shut the hell up you Fascist!
      
      China has the largest smoking population in the world, with around 316 million adult smokers, and accounts for nearly one-third (30%) of smokers and 40% of tobacco consumption worldwide (4). In 2015, smoking prevalence was 27.7% (52.1% among men and 2.7% among women)
      
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      April 7, 2020 12:59pm
    - cmm
      
      The whole population smoking rates do not matter so much.
      
      What matters is smoking rates in the highest risk groups (older, other factors such as heart conditions etc).
      
      Also factor in vaping. A lot of smokers have transitioned to vaping and no longer show in smoking statistics.Vaping might not be quite as bad as smoking, but it still buggers the lungs somewhat.
      
      Are there now more vapers + smokers than there were just smokers in the past?
      
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      April 7, 2020 1:53pm
  - cmm
    
    “cvid-19 isn’t an infection otherwise you’d treat it with antibiotics.”
    
    Huh?
    
    Antibiotics work on bacterial infections by killing or inhibiting bacteria.
    
    Viral infections do not respond to antibiotics. Covid19 is a virus. It does not respond to antibiotics.
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:22pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      True enough, COVID-19 is the disease that results from the SARS-Cov-2 viral infection.
      
      Note that the preferred Hydroxychloroquine regime includes an antibiotic for best affect. Whether this protects against bacterial pneumonia that takes hold because of the lung damage or because of some other possibly immune system impact, is not known.
      
      It is possible that HCQ both blocks viral replication by increasing Zinc uptake in cells and changing the pH and also assists the immune system by blocking at least some of the methods that the virus uses to “hide” from the immune system; and the antibiotic has a similar affect in a different way so the assist each other.
      
      Interestingly another existing drug candidate for use against COVID-19 is ivermectin, a well known anti-parasite drug. It too has a not really well known exact mode of action but at least some of it is thought to come from blcking parasites ability to hide from the immune system. Ivermectin is possibly one of the real wonder drugs of the past 30 years for human health – it has had a huge impact against parasitic disorders in the third world. In NZ perhaps best known as an animal anti-wormer. Anyone interested should look it up, a fascinating story started when a Japanese university found avermectin as an active compound in a single Japanese soil sample and partnered with Merck who developed the variant Ivermectin. Initially used in animals it was only through persistence from Merck that its use in humans was pioneered – to attack River Blindness and later Elephantiasis with great success. It helps that a single dose given once every 1-2 years works very well, so not onerous to apply.
      
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      April 7, 2020 3:10pm
Michael NZ

I’m in favour of the Swedish/South Korean/Taiwan/Israeli measures.

Lock up the old, vulnerable 3/12, keep social distancing and wear masks in public.
No large gatherings 50+, no cinema, pop concerts, conferences, use Zoom instead of travelling.

Isolate positive tests, track and trace, then test, isolate etc, ad nauseum.
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April 7, 2020 9:52am
- All_on_Red
  
  Yes
  That’s the way forward
  I hope they review numbers this weekend.
  It maybe that we could go to Level 3 but with your safeguards included.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:47am
Chuck Bird

The Epidemic Response Committee will be starting soon.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12322997
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April 7, 2020 10:05am
Gravelroad

Dogs and loneliness
Read in a UK magazine there was going to be in March (presumably cancelled) a London Dog Week.
This was to feature activities such as “cuddles clubs, puppy street food and a Late Night Hounds music event.”
Part of the reported reason for organising this week of events was to “alleviate the epidemic of loneliness“ that people face there.
Hopefully, in NZ, we do not have an epidemic of loneliness that only dogs can help with?
Meanwhile in the Wuhan, China night markets, customers have happily resumed eating dogs……..
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April 7, 2020 10:11am
- kowtow
  
  By the amount of dog shit on the footpaths, certain owners, by no means all, who may feel a close connection to pooch are really showing how fucking selfish they are.
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:26am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Either that or lack of double use plastic bags.
    
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    April 7, 2020 11:38am
    - kowtow
      
      Sorry , no excuses . They can buy cheapo plastic bags.
      
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      April 7, 2020 12:31pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Use nappy bags, or the more expensive dog-specific bags.
        
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        April 7, 2020 12:42pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Around our way, there are special dispensers for the little green bags used to collect the dog shit at most entrances to reserves.
        
        I’ve also noticed a significant increase in the uncollected shit, and attribute it to people not used to walking their dogs much being out and about for exercise.
        
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        April 7, 2020 3:13pm
- cmm
  
  Puppy street food??
  
  Is that food for puppies or is that Maori/Chinese-style food from puppies?
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:12pm
- GoVege
  
  Bastards!!
  AND they often torture them first.
  To think this terrible lethal disease started because of stupid customs some cultures have about eating all sorts of totally weird and disgusting “foods “.
  They need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century!
  
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  April 7, 2020 7:39pm
MrTips

Gotta hand it to the govt. They’ve clearly been nicking all the PPE that should have gone to the docs to protect themselves for the political infective fallout of their incompetence.

No amount of PPE is going to protect from economic infection though. Not even the media can ignore that.
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April 7, 2020 10:16am
- brett68
  
  Yep, they sure know how to do politics.
  National certainly could learn a thing or two.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:23am
mudrunner

Pandemic Inventory. I would be interested to see how hard this task from the MOH 2018/19 Annual Report YE 30 Jun 2019 is looked at.
“2.8 Inventory
The value of antiviral and other stock for pandemic management totalled $8.5 million. This was $8.5m less than the Main Estimates due to the stock nearing the end of its expiry date. The value of the inventory will increase in out years as the stock is replaced.”
https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/annual-report-year-ended-30-june-2019
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April 7, 2020 10:24am
igm

When are we going to see public servants, both in local and central government positions, taking pay cuts to carry their share of the burden cast on businesses and workers?
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April 7, 2020 10:25am
- curry4me
  
  igm: On the 12th of never, or when hell freezes over. Whichever comes soonest.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:53pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/west-coast/120863250/coronavirus-offduty-cop-caught-hunting-during-lockdown

This cop was off duty because of an injury !
But could still go hunting and carry a deer out !
I hope he refunds all of his sick pay etc.
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April 7, 2020 10:29am
- fernglas
  
  Those who impose or uphold the law should be held to higher standards than the people they are coercing, particularly in a time of crisis, and accordingly both this functionary and the Minister of Health should both be sacked as a signal to the people of New Zealand that this is not a “she’ll be right” moment in our history.
  
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  April 7, 2020 10:49am
- Inandout
  
  grey, this is primarily an ACC matter, followed by disciplinary action by Police bosses. Had he not been on ‘sick leave’ I would say good on him getting some meat for the family.
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:23am
- cmm
  
  Is he going to get a free ride to “our place”?
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:01pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  Was he using Police ammo? His injury could have been a paper cut. You know how Health and Safety work these days. Good on him for getting some meat… I can’t see why you can’t do half the stuff we have been banned from doing. Even Clarke thought half the rules were crap based on what he was doing….
  
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  April 7, 2020 1:00pm
secondcumming

A good hunting buddy of mine was in the Force for nearly 20 years. Like he sez, “They’ll all be hoping this bloke doesn’t turn out to be as piss-weak as his predecessor” 😎

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1247282937147473920
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April 7, 2020 11:03am
- Inandout
  
  second, his is a political appointment like all Police Commissioners going back to the mists of time when most were born in the UK.
  
  “Andrew takes up this leadership role at a time when the Government is making our communities safer by adding 2,000 new police officers to the frontline and reforming gun laws to stop firearms from falling into the wrong hands,” Jacinda Ardern said.
  
  “I know he’ll lead a team of 13,000 people across the country with positivity, inclusion and integrity.
  
  “I first met Andy in his role in Central Auckland. I’ve had the opportunity to see him work on policy issues such as recent gun law reforms, but most of all I’ve observed his passion for a police force that knows its strength lies in what it can achieve with the community it serves.
  
  “I want to thank Mike Bush MNZM who has led the Police for six years including during the significant affront to the safety of New Zealanders that occurred on March 15,” Jacinda Ardern said.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:42pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    The police commissioner is no more a political appointee than any other public servant. Our rules explicitly rule out political appointments, with a very few exceptions – like some ambassadorships.
    
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    April 7, 2020 12:56pm
  - secondcumming
    
    You are of course *dead right* there In.
    The word ‘inclusion’ sez it all.
    And it’s obvious to everyone that Jacinda told him he needed to shave off his beard 😎
    
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    April 7, 2020 1:11pm
Cobolt24

Air NZ begins layoff of nearly 400 employees:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/120863685/coronavirus-air-new-zealand-begins-pilot-redundancies
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April 7, 2020 11:05am
- JackRabbit
  
  387 to be exact. Not nearly 400. In light of Ms Ardern saving 27,000 people that would have died, lets keep our exaggeration and negativity to a minimum.
  
  On the current mortality rate, for 27,000 deaths to have been true, “New Zealand” would have to include the population of all South Pacific nations, and Australia.
  
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  April 7, 2020 11:45am
freemark

Australia’s lock-down rules by State. Far less restrictive than ours. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/03/australia-coronavirus-lockdown-rules-nsw-victoria-qld-queensland-explained-can-i-visit-my-partner-family-friends-walk-dog

On here you can see how Australia has LESS new cases – MORE testing per head.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
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April 7, 2020 11:58am
rouppe

Fake tanning company given essential service status.

Oh. My. God.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/120850505/were-not-claiming-to-be-an-essential-service-christchurch-company-can-deliver-fake-tan-the-warehouse-cant
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April 7, 2020 12:05pm
mikenmildagain

The Extremely Competent, Somewhat Boring Civil Servant Who Has New Zealanders’ Hearts Aflutter – How Ashley Bloomfield, director-general of health, became an unassuming country’s unassuming rock star.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/new-zealand-covid-19-coronavirus-ashley-bloomfield.html
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April 7, 2020 12:17pm
- cmm
  
  but, but, but there’s only room on the stage for one rock star at a time.
  
  The bugger is going to get a severe dressing down if he steals to much of the PrinZess’ limelight.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:38pm
- Surely Knott
  
  Why is Dr. Ashley Blomfield the headline and the sad-face photo on newshubs article, “Dr Ashley Bloomfield grilled over NZ testing shortages.” It was Jacinda who repeatedly assured us their were heaps of tests. But if there is bad news to front they put someone else’s reputation on the line. Jacinda in a previous newshub article headlines ” Jacinda Ardern urges clinicians to do more COVID-19 testing: ‘We have the capacity’ “
  
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  April 7, 2020 4:34pm
kowtow

Pell innocent.

Show trials will continue , be very afraid . Be very afraid of how hard it is to prove your innocence in the Wokacratic times we are now oppressed by.
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April 7, 2020 12:19pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Um, he didn’t prove his innocence. His lawyers had an easier task – persuade some judges that the jury was wrong to believe he was guilty. So Pell is now at least as innocent as David Bain.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:53pm
  - lifesgood
    
    What utter rot mm.
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:29pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    It is a genuine problem, prosecuting a case from 40-50 years ago with no corroborating evidence at all. The timing was uncertain, so Pell had very little opportunity to demonstrate his innocence – if he could. It became a who to believe case with politics and the media making it clear who they wanted people to believe.
    
    I’ve always thought that Pell was innocent just because his record on opening the Catholic Church in Australia up to acknowledge the earlier abuse would be at odds with his wanting to conceal any personal guilt.
    
    Very close parallels to the Kavanaugh hearings in the US, a complaint that was indeterminate in time and place and cited witnesses who did not back up the complainant. In other words, a hatchet job fitted out for political and personal gain purposes.
    
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    April 7, 2020 3:21pm
Fletch

Cardinal Pell has his conviction quashed by Australia’s highest court. As a Catholic myself, I am all too aware of the failures of the Church in regards to abuse, but Pell was quite clearly stitched up. The claimed abuse couldn’t have happened out in the open after a Mass the way claimed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-52183157
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April 7, 2020 12:19pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  I still think his conviction was a stitch up. Look, I don’t particularly like Pell, I think he was too conservative on most issues, and I don’t have a water case argument as to his innocence, but I still found his conviction , based on the facts of the case iffy. If I was accused of rape based on that evidence and found guilty, I would be a little peeved. Further, as an ex alterboy, I find the circumstances of the offending highly improbable, based on when and where it supposedly took place.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:56pm
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Definetly a stitch up with huge ramifications.
  Three Victorian Judges thought he was guilty beyond reasonable doubt, one appeal court Judge wrote 200 pages of why the charges were impossible.
  Seven High Court Judges quashed conviction, zero agreed with original judge and 2 successful Judges in appeal court.
  I have said all along, I am not a fan of Pell or the Catholic church, but this whole sordid episode takes Victorian justice to a new low, if thats possible after the Gobbo total CF, that will drag on for years.
  Interesting to see if DPP choose to have another crack at him, lot of egg on a lot of faces this morning.
  
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  April 7, 2020 1:41pm
  - lifesgood
    
    What this whole case came down to was hatred of the Catholic church and, lets face it, Christianity in general. It’s funny how the world is bending over backwards to appease the Muslim community and yet has quite a vicious attitude towards Christians. I wonder who put the accuser up to it. The other early accuser, now dead, came clean early on and said it never happened.
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:36pm
lemuzz

Just listened to David Clark talking to Suzie Ferguson on RNZ. It sounded like word for word of Clare Curren’s speech when questioned about her meeting with Carol Hirschfeld “Um I um, I was um, I will be um, I did um. The only difference was he spoke with a deeper voice .
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April 7, 2020 12:26pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeMPB3yqrrI
The CCP is using the CCP virus to split the Fourth Reich. Europe is the epicentre of the CCP virus. Italy is seeking help from China, as the Fourth Reich has dropped the ball. So is Spain, and the Czech Republic who got Chinese supplies. Serbia can be pals with China. No worries about pollution, or carbon emissions. Germany has sent stuff. But China is winning the propaganda war.
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April 7, 2020 12:27pm
- Ed Snack
  
  They’d be winning even more if the stuff they sent (and sold, not donated) actually worked.
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:23pm
cmm

So Mo’unga says he did nothing wrong. He just kicked the ball back.

Then, it seems, they kicked it towards him again and he kicked it back again… and again…

After their abysmal showing at the last RWC it is obvious All Blacks should be getting all the training they can. It is an essential function.
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April 7, 2020 12:31pm
- kowtow
  
  Our MediaParty lost their shit over Folau ,an Australian . I don’t expect the same level of hysteria from them over this a New Zealander.
  Hypocrites.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:40pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I dunno. Defending two-time champions lose semi-final, and win third-place playoff. I would not consider that abysmal. Abysmal would have been a quarter-final exit.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:48pm
  - cmm
    
    Nope, anything other than a win was abysmal. Everyone was saying that, even the one eyed foreign commentators.
    
    A frequent theme, here and abroad, was: Of course the All Blacks will win. The RWC competition is really about who takes second place.
    
    Kiwis deserve better.
    
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    April 7, 2020 1:47pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Nah. A three-peat. Unlikely ever, imo.
      
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      April 7, 2020 2:33pm
Jack5

The lost ~~ark~~ case …

John “Indiana Jones” Stringer, who has posted articles on Kiwiblog about being an amateur archaeologist in Israel, is on the end of a judgment in a case with Colin Craig, of the Conservative party:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12323024
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April 7, 2020 12:32pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Noted this the other day. Scoreless draw in the overall Craig-Stringer nonsense. Lawyers the only winners – they must love stubbornly moronic customers.
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:49pm
tedbear

So will we see Cindy being caring and changing our benefit rules regarding foreigners, like she insisted Australia should do?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/413633/broke-and-desperate-govt-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-jobless-immigrants

“There’s 400,000 people in New Zealand on temporary visas and those who are facing hardship through job losses they do need clarity, extremely quickly. ”
The Ministry of Social Development is advising those in financial difficulties to approach their embassy. ”
So from that it seems Cindy won’t be offering assistance.
How kind and caring.
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April 7, 2020 12:46pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  This is about people on temporary visas. Aren’t New Zealanders in Australia automatically permanent residents?
  
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  April 7, 2020 12:51pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Not at all.
    If you arrived in Australia after 26 Feb 2001 you need to apply for and satisfy certain requirements to get permanent residency.
    
    Most NZers who have recently settled in Australia are on 444 visas.
    
    https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/new-zealand-citizens/pathway-to-permanent-resident-and-citizenship
    
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    April 7, 2020 1:00pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    No. New Zealand citizens have the right to live and work in Australia. However permanent residents in Australia can access the same welfare, student loans etc as Australian citizens. AFAIK the only things permanent residents cannot do (compared to citizens) is vote, work in the Australian Public Service, or serve in the armed forces.
    
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    April 7, 2020 1:26pm
    - Jack5
      
      New Zealanders have the “right to live and work in Australia.”
      
      A “right”? I don’t think so.
      
      Unless you are a permanent resident, you are pretty much in Australia as a guest worker.
      
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      April 7, 2020 1:47pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Agree. There has been no challenge to the order for NZers who don’t have the right visa to get out as far as I know and there are plenty of ambulance chasing lawyers there who would gladly take up the cause if they could see a way to win.
        
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        April 7, 2020 2:12pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    If they arrived before 2001, pretty mch “yes”.
    
    Other than that – the 444 visa that lets you get off the plane, work, marry, buy a house, run a business, get medicare etc is not “permanent residence”. No access to any social benefits.
    
    To get PR, there are some very non-trivial and expensive hoops to go through. Not a lot of 444 holders would make it. Very few have historically bothered ….
    
    PR is the first (hardest) step towards citizenship FWIW.
    
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    April 7, 2020 3:42pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Cardinal Pell’s conviction for child sex abuse has been quashed

https://www.theage.com.au/national/george-pell-high-court-decision-live-ruling-due-on-cardinal-s-child-sex-abuse-conviction-appeal-20200407-p54hqo.html
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April 7, 2020 1:06pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Heads will be exploding at the ABC
  The outrage on Twitter will be epic
  
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  April 7, 2020 1:27pm
  - Nickc2
    
    You are not wrong. The venom toward Pell held by those Chardonnay Socialists and their same sex girl friends in ABC Australia knows no bounds. They will be dusting off their Witches Costumes and gathering wood for the cauldron fire as we speak.
    You wouldn’t want to be a known Catholic within the vicinity of ABC Australia for the next month or two. It will take a major drama shift to divert these Witches to the next item on their Offended Feminist Socialist agenda.
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:22pm
    - GoVege
      
      If only they had shown such commonsense for our Pete…may he rest in peace, poor dude.
      
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      April 7, 2020 7:31pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  I’m pleased to here that.
  
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  April 7, 2020 7:03pm
tui47

I saw the German Lufthansa plane depart Auckland carrying German Nationals home on this morning’s walk. Given there are around 15,000 Germans needing repatriation there will be dozens of flights required to both enter and depart NZ in the next couple of weeks. It is a pity then (as a source tells me) the flight crew and pilots have had absolutely no direction from Lufthansa nor NZ border authorities to self isolate in their hotels upon arrival. They have been wandering around exploring Auckland. In fact, one flight attendant called his Auckland based friend to invite her over for a coffee.
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April 7, 2020 1:32pm
- Greg Ettridge
  
  There are three Judges in Victoria today that would be seriously thinking about their future as guardians of Justice within the state of Victoria. They have been rebuffed 7-0, they ignored the third appeal judge that wrote a couple hundred pages on why the conviction was unsafe.
  Can’t wait to hear from the Premier and the DPP.
  This has very little to do with Pell, it has plenty to do with the state of the Justice system in Victoria.
  If the Gobbo CF didn’t almost finish it off, this will, time for a very big broom.
  
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  April 7, 2020 1:52pm
  - GoVege
    
    But Greg, they just let a dangerous 78 year old criminal outa jail!
    The Ozzies must be petrified…..
    
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    April 7, 2020 7:28pm
Critical Thinker

NZ on day 13 of the dystopian lockdown:
943 confirmed cases of the China Coronavirus.
241 recovered.
12 currently in hospital. 4 of them are in ICU.
1 died with the China Coronavirus. (73 year old woman, that already had an underlying chronic health condition, whom refused to be put on a ventilator).
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April 7, 2020 1:38pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  1160 total cases will eventually mean something like 150 hospitalized and 20 dead over next month even if there are zero infections from now on, but we will inevitably reach 1500-2000 cases even if this lock down is super successful and eradicates the virus.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:26pm
- Brian McDonald
  
  I heard Dr Bloomfield say that it was 1160 cases, 12 in hospital, 4 in ICU (incl 1 critical). That shows the promising possibility of NZ becoming virus-free or close to it. The figures also demonstrate how quickly in the spread in the community by social contact – Marist School, Matamata and the Invercargill wedding. As a result of the lockdown ‘possible infections’ have been reduced to numbers between 2 to 3 for each new case rather than 60 plus in the cases above.
  That is an appreciable advantage to NZ chances. The projected figure of 4,000 infections by now could have been higher and would anyway be out of control by now.
  Part of the plan was to reserve hospital beds for a potentially high number of infections, that began weeks ago. Then there was a plan to ‘lockdown,’ a difficult situation to complete and with expected hiccups, that was done remarkably well.
  Many people panicked and wanted the sick locked up and NZers prevented from returning home. Completely throughout this time, there has been a Covid 19 Committee convening daily in Parliament with majority opposition to give a public voice to disagreement with the plan undertaken. But the committee agreed with the lockdown.
  The fact you use the word dystopian indicates if the plan had failed you would have been critical and that because it was successful in suppressing the spread of the virus and keeping NZers safe you flip a double-faced coin.
  
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  April 7, 2020 9:12pm
Tasman Terror

There was no mention of the Easter Bunny today by the temporary Prime Minister. That is totally unacceptable. Mind you until yesterday’s press conference she’d gone many days without referring to Winston, so maybe fair enough.
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April 7, 2020 1:51pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

PTPM was asked about the Police numbers. How many spoken to, arrested, prosecuted, warned.
She said she did not have the numbers.
Bloomfield said he did and gave the numbers.
Oh boy, did he get the look or what? PTPM did not want us to know
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April 7, 2020 2:01pm
- lifesgood
  
  Where can I find that snippet? Bloomfield for PM.
  
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  April 7, 2020 2:41pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Was on the 1pm propaganda
    
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    April 7, 2020 2:52pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  You don’t reckon Dr Bloomfield would be in line for replacement by a womin sista…?
  
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  April 7, 2020 2:51pm
- barnacle bill
  
  @Steve
  
  I watched that Steve, and she actually smiled when Dr Bloomfield produced the copy, saying that he was given the copy on his way in.
  
  Stop bull shitting.
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:00pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That was not a smile. That is natural. Look at the eyes.
    Prob not there now – this is TV1 we are talking about
    
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    April 7, 2020 3:23pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I think in your case, Steve, malice is in the eye of the beholder.
      
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      April 7, 2020 6:13pm
- rangitoto
  
  Jacinda being her usual open and transparent self.
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:16pm
Shut the hell up you Fascist!

https://www.timesofisrael.com/smokers-appear-to-be-at-higher-risk-from-coronavirus-expert/
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April 7, 2020 2:24pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Others have already disagreed.
  
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  April 7, 2020 7:00pm
alex Masterley

Judging by the Mad Butchers comments in the Horrid, our transparent leader is regarded as anything but.
Her clear statements regarding contactless sale are anything but it would seem.
I would copy the link but that is beyond my modest technical abilities.
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April 7, 2020 2:56pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Let me help you:
  Covid 19 coronavirus: Mad Butcher left fuming at confusion around selling meat online
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12323143
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:14pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    Many thanks.
    PM says one thing, MBIE do another. the reality is elsewhere.
    
    13 2
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    April 7, 2020 3:16pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Do you really think the comments of an older, successful, white, male businessperson (who I believe has had to endure accusations of sexism and racism in the past) are appropriate at this time…?
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:16pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    He is a mad Pom, and he has done so much for NZ.
    Peter Leitch is a good man.
    
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    April 7, 2020 4:52pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      He was born in Wellington, grew up in Newtown.
      
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      April 7, 2020 5:45pm
cmm

During an emergency, more people dealt with by the cops for walking on the beach than there are people in hospital.

Is this REALLY a medical emergency? Seems to be a law and order emergency.

Perhaps we don’t need more medical staff. We need more cops and more rules!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/120871562/people-arrested-set-to-appear-in-court-as-lockdown-rules-ignored
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April 7, 2020 3:01pm
Shut the hell up you Fascist!

I want you people to be a lot more understanding of Jacinda.

Sometimes, in order to perform miracles, saints have to do strange things we don’t understand.
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April 7, 2020 3:21pm
Lipo

Taken from NZ Herald website
Total world cases of Covid 19 = 1,345,619
Number of deaths = 74,665
Equals mortality rate of 0.05%

Can anyone please explain why we are shutting the world down
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April 7, 2020 3:29pm
- Evadne
  
  And that’s only the “tested” cases. Doesn’t allow for the huge numbers of untested cases (asymptomatic & mild cases which don’t bother getting tested, and the many thousands of almost-certain cases who miss out on confirmed diagnosis due to test shortages).
  
  Also includes those who “die with”, not just “from”.
  
  So the final figure (if we ever know it) will be even lower.
  
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  April 7, 2020 3:54pm
- Shut the hell up you Fascist!
  
  Your maths is incorrect by a factor of 100
  
  The correct answer is 5%
  
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  April 7, 2020 4:12pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That roving decimal point again.
    Million, Billion, Trillion? They have no idea. No math at school – just social studies – like I put up with in 1966
    
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    April 7, 2020 4:56pm
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  Sorry mate,
  
  Your math is wrong. The correct answer is 5.54% (0.0554).
  
  But I believe that the actual figure will be closer to what you incorrectly calculated!
  
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  April 7, 2020 5:54pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Those numbers have no diagnostic value to NZ.
  
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  April 7, 2020 6:58pm
Poppa

So in my simple world it seems you are roughly 350 times more likely to die in a car than from the virus

I vote we rip up all the roads except the one to the liquor store
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April 7, 2020 3:38pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  About 100 would normally die on roads in a 3 month period. Without this lockdown 100’s of times that many would die in NZ in the next 3 months.
  
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  April 7, 2020 8:29pm
Fletch

Wait, what??

How Ashley Bloomfield, director-general of health, became an unassuming country’s unassuming rock star. […]

Ashley Bloomfield is by all accounts a nice man who is very good at his job. Given that his job right now is to stop us all from dying in a pandemic, he’s become something of a national sensation. Google trends show NZ searches for his name spiking exponentially. A Twitter stan account has been set up, journalists tweet when they find out when his next appearance is scheduled, and his name has become synonymous with doing the right thing. Writer Anna Rawhiti-Connell wrote of our collective infatuation with the man she insists must only ever be referred to by his full name in an essay for the local website Newsroom: “On Sunday, Ashley Bloomfield returned to his rightful place as host of the Ashley Bloomfield Power Hour. On being asked about how many people with Covid-19 were Māori or Pasifika, Ashley Bloomfield gave the exact percentages to one decimal place.”

My country expresses its passion for Ashley Bloomfield in a lot of different ways. We’re concerned about him: An article about him finally having a day off was syndicated to three local news sites (in a country with about six major online news platforms total). We’re horny for him: I’ve seen no shortage of tweets like this, and “ashley bloomfield wife” remains one of the top auto-fill responses on Google.

But mostly, we just want to be taken care of by him. Ashley Bloomfield is, at this moment, his nation’s collective dad. Dad is calm and reassuring always, even when his children (the press gallery) ask once again why they can’t go kayaking even though he just explained why. Dad doesn’t lose his temper, even though he is very tired. Dad wants us all to follow the rules, not because he gets off on the power of making them, but because he wants the best for us. This pandemic is fundamentally changing the entire way our world system functions, and it’s nice to feel like there’s an adult in the room who knows what to do next.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/new-zealand-covid-19-coronavirus-ashley-bloomfield.html

First I’ve heard of this. Sounds like absolute bollocks.
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April 7, 2020 4:02pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Don’t read the other articles (or comments) on Slate, Fletch. You wouldn’t like them.
  
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  April 7, 2020 6:15pm
Michael Rodent

Think that the daily advice of the cumulative number of Covid cases is potentially misleading and the more important fact is how many “live” cases we have at each day. This can be calculated by taking the cumulative number of reported cases and excluding from that total the number of cases that are “recovered”.

Today we had the first reduction in the number of “live” cases.

On 6 April we had 1106 cumulative cases and 176 recovered cases giving 930 live cases. Today we had 1160 cumulative cases and 241 recovered cases giving 919 live cases – a reduction of 11 cases.

Of course all this depends on the accuracy of reporting, testing and lag.
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April 7, 2020 4:29pm
MCos

‘Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.’

Well, fancy that.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-malaria-drug.html
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April 7, 2020 4:37pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Fuckwit. As if we would PAY to go there.
  The link works, but you are a jerk for posting that.
  How about all you lefties stop your shit?
  
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  April 7, 2020 5:00pm
  - MCos
    
    Steve
    
    Can’t put up a rational rebuttal so you resort to personal abuse.
    BTW
    You know as well as me that if an influential, but unqualified NZ politician relentlessly pushed an unproven cure for this virus against the advice of Medsafe everyone on this forum would be down on them like a ton of bricks.
    Particularly if it emerged their was a pecuniary interest involved.
    
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    April 7, 2020 5:58pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      That would depend on what party the politician belonged to, surely.
      
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      April 7, 2020 7:37pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Thank you for your reasoned rebuttal.
    
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    April 7, 2020 6:21pm
- Fletch
  
  A Democrat State Rep who contracted the disease and was given hydroxychloroquine thanks Trump for bringing the drug to prominence and saving her life.
  
  https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/04/06/democrat-karen-whitsett-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-trump/2955430001/
  
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  April 7, 2020 5:22pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Possibly the power of thoughts and prayers, also…
    
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    April 7, 2020 6:22pm
- MrTips
  
  Lol. So doth I. So doth THOUSANDS of people, even politicians. Sanofi is one of the core biotech stocks so anybody with brains invests in it.
  
  The NYT is really gutter balling low, even for it.
  
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  April 7, 2020 6:41pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Don’t believe anything in that rag.
  
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  April 7, 2020 6:54pm
Jack5

Radio NZ reports many of the 400,000 people in New Zealand on temporary benefits are broke and out of work.

While there are still a few pilots working for Air NZ, wouldn’t it be cheaper for the Government to arrange free air repatriation. It would be humane, and cheaper for NZ taxpayers than supporting them in New Zealand.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/413633/broke-and-desperate-govt-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-jobless-immigrants
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April 7, 2020 5:19pm
RW Capitalist

Went to wifes Doctor at hospital, first ever Dr she has seen in over a year, with her life threatening condition.
She has seen a nurse, who relays things to Dr’s and back to her. But not a Dr.
He cleared up a lot of things, it was excellent, he was excellent.
BUT as an aside, we have made several visits to the hospital over the past year.
Usually busy and buzzing.
Today it was a ghost town, the busiest people were office workers moving files around. There were more security guards than nurses.
Now I know why the only things we see on TV are film of ICU’s from the USA. Britain, Spain and Italy BUT not NZ.
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April 7, 2020 6:53pm
Happychappy

I have to laugh at Jacinda Ardern and what she had said about playing Politics to Simon Bridges in the last month. For Jacinda to have hers friend Jessica Mutch but into stories over people like David Clark breaking the rules on the lockdown with look what Simon Bridges is doing is crap and if it needs to be said front up and say it yourself . One news have taken a swipe at Bridges two nights in a row for a weak two faced Prime Minister that has Journalists write peices on how liked and kind she is but conveniently leave out the consistently of the lies she tells.
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April 7, 2020 6:56pm
Brian McDonald

One thing about David Clark is that he didn’t break down into tears, and by not doing so defied an often employed Parliamentary tradition.
I’d rather he was on the frontline than a cry-baby, what about you?
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April 7, 2020 9:22pm
Wired-one

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120883746/shane-jones-concedes-provincial-growth-fund-hasnt-created-enough-jobs-promises-a-fix

Just another failure. This pandemic couldnt have come at a better time for the worst government in our history.
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April 7, 2020 10:27pm

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