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March 30, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 30 March 2021

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General Debate

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Captain Mainwaring

That massive ship is stacked so high with containers that you can’t see the bridge or wheelhouse.
No wonder he couldn’t see where he was going.
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March 30, 2021 8:00am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  CM
  
  There is a regulation that the ships crew must be able to see a certain distance ahead over the containers. So you will notice that the containers forward of the bridge are stepped down.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:04am
  - alex Masterley
    
    As well as being able to see from the Bridge, I would exepct on a vessel that size that there are forward facing cameras on the mast at the bow.
    
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    March 30, 2021 8:27am
    - Nickc2
      
      The last time I went through there, the Canal Authority provided a Canal Pilot and mounted a crate on the bow which contained a searchlight and a couple of workers to man the light and provide communications with the ship’s bridge and Pilot.
      
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      March 30, 2021 9:19am
    - Master Mariner
      
      And radars, As FM said there are Visiability rules and well within range to see .
      It decieving looking at pictures.
      
      https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/29/ever-given-turned-80-percent-in-right-direction-live-news
      On another note, Still not convinced its going to be moved and towed out.
      May be positioned to allow transit vessels to pass but still a hell of a long way to go before free without major structural damage.
      
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      March 30, 2021 12:23pm
      - sooty
        
        Self driving boats. What can go wrong?
        
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        March 30, 2021 5:07pm
- Blackbob
  
  I’d be surprised if such a ship doesn’t have cameras and other such sensors installed covering all view arcs.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:19am
- hullkiwi
  
  Sorry Captain, how much of steering one of those ships is done just visually from the bridge these days?
  
  But seriously, yesterday the headlines were “ship could be stuck for months” – never true.
  
  Today RNZ, “Ships are now moving on the Suez Canal…..freeing up a significant proportion of world trade shipping” – not true.
  
  The problem here and around the world is a combination of a lazy MSM, greedy and lazy financial analysts, commodity traders , shipping agents and insurance brokers. All in to make a quick buck out of an unfortunate incident.
  
  For the record the Suez Canal is a busy waterway, but it is not the busiest. Shipping companies are notorious for taking advantage of a situation . Then to top it off you have “lazy, uneducated, always outto exploit a situation traders in the world’s financial centres. So, to make money, all you need to do is feed an equally lazy an uneducated media with fake headlines.
  
  My experience with shipping was that 2 of my clients in the UK were a sea freight company and the Bahamian Maritime Authority (the world’s 3rd largest open shipping register).
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:27am
  - kowtow
    
    And that lazy fear mongering MSM panicked politicians into the Wuflu reaction too.
    
    And doing the same with “global warming”
    
    And race , class and gender hustling
    
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    March 30, 2021 8:41am
    - Nickc2
      
      Agree. Prostituting headlines sells news and attracts the world’s Blow-Flys (Advertisers) to a feeding frenzy.
      Truth and logic are irrelevant.
      
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      March 30, 2021 9:42am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    You guys obviously can’t recognise a spoof story when you see one.
    
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    March 30, 2021 8:57am
  - plc
    
    “lazy, uneducated, always outto exploit a situation traders in the world’s financial centres”
    
    I think you’ll find that they are neither lazy nor uneducated…..
    
    The motto of my trading desk was “The Weak Must Be Punished”
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:06am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Vessel is still hard on the bottom HK, Just been manouvered to “Try” and allow transit of other vessels.
    Major risk with that is a lot more structural damage.
    
    Update its off and being towed . Great job as always Smit salvage.
    
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    March 30, 2021 12:26pm
    - curry4me
      
      Master Mariner: That’s good news. I guess it’s time to splice the mainbrace then?
      
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      March 30, 2021 3:35pm
      - Nickc2
        
        I’ll drink to that!
        
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        March 30, 2021 9:39pm
- Andrei
  
  The Ship is owned by Shoei Kiesan KK, a Japanese company
  
  It is registered in Panama and flies the Panamanian flag.
  
  It is managed by Berhard Shulte Shipmanagement, a German company.
  
  And is on long term charter to the Evergreen Marine Corporation, a Taiwanese company
  
  The captain and crew are Indian
  
  And the cargo is Chinese…
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:28am
  - kowtow
    
    And I suspect it would have had an Egyptian pilot.
    
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    March 30, 2021 8:39am
    - Andrei
      
      It is compulsory to have a Pilot in the canal – he gives the helm orders
      
      However the Master is the ultimate authority and if the Pilot screws up it is on the masters head because in theory he can overrule the pilots commands
      
      Remember when a New Zealand Pilot sent the Mikhail Lermontov to the bottom of the ocean trying to take it through a gap in the rocks where it couldn’t go?
      
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      March 30, 2021 8:49am
      - Nickc2
        
        Yes, the ship’s master is ultimately responsible for the safe navigation of his vessel at all times.
        
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        March 30, 2021 9:48am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Actually Andrei it “could” and did go through, and given a generous slice of luck would have made it safely. However as you rightly remark, there was no lucky occurrence and the ship was holed and eventually sunk with the loss of one life.
        
        Complete aberration by the Pilot – as noted it was theoretically possible for a ship the size of the Mikhail Lermontov to get through the gap, but extremely difficult to actually do so. I don’t think it was ever established why the pilot took that course, as I recall he didn’t testify on that to the enquiry and retired immediately.
        
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        March 30, 2021 11:47am
      - rockape
        
        Pilots advice ,captains decision. That’s what I was taught.
        
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        March 30, 2021 12:52pm
    - Jack5
      
      The high tide from a full Moon and a big Dutch tug were critical in freeing the container ship, says the Wall Street Journal.
      
      From this report:
      
      On Saturday, the team was using 12 tugboats—two at the front, six pushing the back and four pulling the stern—to try to dislodge the Ever Given. The dredgers by then had removed 950,000 cubic feet of sand and dug to a depth of 60 feet around the ship.
      
      By Sunday night, the supermoon had caused tidal levels to exceed 6½ feet, some 19 inches above the high tide March 23 when the Ever Given ran aground. The salvage team’s best chance of success was approaching.
      
      At 2 a.m. local time, the operation was aided by the arrival of a Dutch-flagged tugboat, the Alp Guard, with a pulling power of 285 metric tons, a major boost compared with the other tugboats working on the vessel, such as the Suez-based Baraka 1 that pulled at 160 tons.
      
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      March 30, 2021 9:05am
      - Ed Snack
        
        I think a major issue was that they had to get a tug at the South/Eastern end of the canal. There aren’t that many of those “super tugs” and they’re mostly Dutch and used by specialist salvage operations. They are based around the world, but although powerful they’re not especially fast and it would potentially take quite a few days to get one in position. I don’t think they’d be able to manoeuvre a tug around the stern of the Ever Given.
        
        Same issue with the dredger, there was one at the bow on the Western side, but not a similar one available to the East, at least not initially.
        
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        March 30, 2021 11:54am
  - Paulie_
    
    Therefore it was obviously Trump’s fault
    
    Well, it would’ve been if he was still the president
    
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    March 31, 2021 3:24am
- I remember when
  
  Twenty thousand
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:29am
- Inandout
  
  That ship would have up to date GPS as well so no excuse for a sober Captain to make this mistake.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:30am
  - Andrei
    
    Have you any idea of what it takes to conn a 220,000 GT, 400 meter long and 59 meter wide vessel through a waterway that is narrower than the vessel length with only a few meters of water under the keel? And with a huge surface area that acts like a sail in cross winds to boot
    
    They don’t handle like a go kart and that is a fact
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:03am
    - Local Miller
      
      True, but they also respond slowly to the wind and currents because of the inertia of such a large moving object. Ships have been making this passage for many years without an incident like this. These ships also have bow and stern thrusters so they aren’t relying solely on their rudder, giving them a lot of lateral control.
      Someone was asleep at the wheel.
      
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      March 30, 2021 9:29am
      - Andrei
        
        The Ever Green has bow thrusters but no stern thrusters.
        
        And this is far from the first such incident in the Suez Canal – it is the largest ship to come unglued in the canal thus far to be sure but not the first
        
        In case you have forgotten the canal was actually closed from 1967 to 1975 due to the 1967 Arab Israeli war – about 16 ships were trapped within the canal during that era called the “Yellow Fleet” due to the accumulation of sand
        
        It was one of the reasons that led to the development of Super Tankers since oil from the ME had to go around the Cape of Good Hope and ships taking this route were not size constrined by having to navigate the canal.
        
        Cape Agulhas in an unladen tanker during a winter storm is kind of exciting…
        
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        March 30, 2021 9:56am
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        Or there was an electrical failure or some other loss of power. (There would be evidence of this, if the case.)
        
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        March 30, 2021 10:00am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Reports claim that the ship suffered an electrical or control failure and that lead to the grounding.
      
      As regards windage, it would certainly have some, but the ship also has a pretty deep draft which would counteract that. Ship was travelling much faster than normal – usual max speed in the canal is set at around 7.5 knots, the EG was doing 12.7 or so. Probably to provide additional responsiveness to control inputs, but that speed no doubt was a significant contributor to just how far into the shallow waters she penetrated when out of control. At a slower speed it would have been a lot less stuck.
      
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      March 30, 2021 11:58am
  - curry4me
    
    Inandout: The captain of this ship might have had a better excuse. I think a freak wave was involved.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM&ab_channel=ClarkeAndDawe
    The Front Fell Off.
    
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    March 30, 2021 3:45pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Green written on the side of the ship ensures a fuck up.
  
  The bigger the writing, the bigger the fup.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:20am
- MCos
  
  Times have changed since your day, Cap’n.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:29am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  I would request the captain of this ship to contest as my local Labour MP. He is sure to win.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:41am
Happychappy

Jacinda Ardern says Covid-19 vaccine targets will be set by experts not Political Parties. But what the PM doesn’t understand is the everything she does is set at snail pace and if her record is any indication it could take years and our experts could die of old age by then.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/ardern-says-any-covid-19-vaccination-target-set-experts-not-political-parties
I know this is a bit far fetched but like housing ,health and other problems we have it is just one problem after another with everyone else getting the blame before you are allowed to Criticize or suggest it’s our Celebrity Prime Minister’s fault.
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March 30, 2021 8:01am
- cmm
  
  The small print is that the politicians select which experts they give the talking stick to.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:44am
  - Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes
    
    A good friend of mine is on a couple of the various working groups run by the Government. On both of these he is the sole desenting voice and opinion to the rest of the experts. I asked how does he cope in that environment when he knows there is a pre-determined outcome to the work? He has been told he is only there so that it appears there has been a broad representation of views,, so more virtue signaling…..
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:29am
  - Nickc2
    
    Her Govt doesn’t take advice. Treasury advised her merry band of fuckwits of the consequences pertaining to their anti-landlord measures and the Finance Minister (I believe) stated they ignored Treasury advice.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:56am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      You’re quite correct, in fact Treasury advised the merry band that their actions with regard to increasing the Brightline Test would have consequences “worse than doing nothing“.
      
      I wish I was making that up but I’m not – https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300259773/treasury-suggested-extending-brightline-test-for-20-years-pushed-against-interest-deductibility-believes-rents-may-rise-out-of-new-housing-policy
      
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      March 31, 2021 12:00am
- Paulus
  
  Looks like Health Minister Andrew Little is climbing the ladder once again much to Union pressure and Pike River.
  Cindy is on borrowed time now.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:47am
  - Flossie
    
    Sorry to the families of Pike River (those still beating the drum anyway) but there’s been enough taxpayer money spent on their cause. Glad it’s finally stopped.
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:37am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Yes she is on borrowed time until 2029 as a minimum.
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:41am
    - michael_s2
      
      SCS, you became very boring on Whaleoil and you are equally so now. Take a break for a few weeks and freshen up.
      
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      March 30, 2021 7:19pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Pathetic. Of course politicians set targets. All the time. She won’t set a target because they will fail.
  
  Is she saying the leaders of the USA, Australia, and the UK are all fools for setting both primary and secondary targets for vaccine roll out?
  
  What did we do to deserve this?
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:56am
  - amospicton
    
    She blamed the rising waiting times at emergency departments yesterday on….wait for it…..National’s use of targets! Unbelievable – without a target how on earth do you measure success? Or failure. Ahhh I see now.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:57am
  - Crisplion
    
    “What did we do to deserve this?”
    
    I know this doesn’t apply to you personally Benedict – nor to me – but as a democratic body politic, “we” gave the most incompetent government of my lifetime an absolute majority, having been taken in by the vainglorious posturing of a weak but apparently appealing Prime Minister, who we allowed to scare us into obedience and then to convince us that she’d personally saved our lives. “We” now have to live with the consequences of that stupidity and cowardice.
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:06am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    We voted for them. Well, I didn’t but enough others clearly did.
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:02am
- RoboRob
  
  I would expect that experts would look towards the Uk and US and see their rollout pace and set our targets to at least match the US. Anything less would be a target set for political reasons.
  
  Note that the UK was doing the equivalent of 16k doses a week on their second week. The rollout has scaled up heavily since then. My understanding is it has taken us > 1 mth to rollout maybe 40k.
  
  On the 28th of March the UK rolled out 439,542 1st and second jabs. This is a slightly lower DAY than normal. On a per capita basis, that would work out as NZ doing 34,038 per day. Anyone think that Bloomfield is capable of that?
  
  Stats from https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations. I can’t provide exact data for NZ as the Labour party and Bloomfield refuse to provide vaccine information in a live / digital format. Anyone wonder if the reason for that is to prevent the comparison I have just made.
  
  Under Trump, on his last days the US hit 1m people per day vaccinated. That’s NZ 14,635 per day too, you would hope that JA would want to bear the incompetent Trump. The US is now at 2m a day (29,270). The US is much harder to vaccinate due to the gap between state and federal govt.
  Both the US and UK had it harder to roll out as systems and structures were set up under a much tighter timeline (both these countries have been going since December) and supply was much more ‘wobbly’ initially.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:03am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Sorry Jacinda, then you don’t understand the nature of your job.
  It is to consult experts (preferably a wide range) and then YOU make the decision. THAT IS YOUR JOB.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:16am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    I need to make decisions? That is not what Winston said… Cindy the youth Queen of Aotearoa
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:43am
  - Paulus
    
    She is consulting the professionals, ignoring what they say and then making her decision anyway.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:08pm
- Bill Felt
  
  “will be set”
  
  Shouldn’t that have read “have been set” Why were these targets not set one year ago?
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:54am
- RockyJ
  
  Having experts make these decisions is Jacinda ducking responsibility. In the words of Georges Clemenceau “war is too important to leave to the generals”.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:02am
- Jimbob
  
  They are basically just bone lazy.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:09am
  - Paulus
    
    …….bone lazy and arrogant
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:08pm
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Que frowny face and “not meeting my expectations” as the next “expert” is thrown under the bus.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:38am
TWEEDSE

I see from 1st April along with the hike in minimum hourly rate and benefit increases, the income abatement threshold increases. This is the amount you can earn per week before it reduces your benefit. It is jumping 66% from $90 to $150 a week.

You would have thought at the same time tax bracket creep would be addressed for people who actually work and create something productive. But no, people who work are bad people and through bracket creep, are taxed more than ever. Whilst people who don’t work or work very little are rewarded.

Labour, killing productivity day by day enabled by the largely low IQ voters.
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March 30, 2021 8:02am
- WaveyDavey
  
  I’ve asked this question so many times of Labour supporters:
  
  Why do I have to earn more every year to stand still so that people who choose to do nothing see their incomes rise?”
  
  Never yet had a satisfactory or principled answer.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:32am
  - kevn
    
    @Wavy…. The mexican wants you to work harder.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:03am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    May be Maramaramarama can answer your question.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:25am
    - RalphT
      
      Yep, it’ll be in her latest press release…
      
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      March 30, 2021 12:04pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        “You c*nt”
        
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        March 30, 2021 3:24pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Please pay your rich prick tax and work hard.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:44am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    I’m avoiding as much of it as I possibly can…
    
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    March 30, 2021 5:08pm
Benedict Yu

It is becoming apparent that New Zealand’s vaccination roll out is hitting a brick wall. Because they have stopped talking about it. I have said previously that the gap between Australia’s vaccination rate and that of New Zealand will open up rapidly during April. Then Jacinda will have nowhere to hide. It will be kiwibuild all over again.

Scomo recently said that without the manufacture of the vaccine in Melbourne, there would be no effective vaccination programme because supplies from Europe are being cut off.

“Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine program would not exist without locally produced doses, the Prime Minister says, as CSL works around the clock to begin delivering vaccines early next week.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/locally-produced-astrazeneca-only-way-forward-for-australian-vaccine-rollout-20210319-p57caj.html

Months ago New Zealand should have teamed up with Australia. We could have done a deal to acquire 20 percent of the output of CSL in Melbourne. Why did New Zealand go it alone?

It would be fascinating to see an OIA release of all the advice provided to the government in the procurement strategy.

Sadly I think it is too late to rescue. Jacinda would need to get on the phone to Scomo and ask for a deal. And I doubt that Scomo would be highly motivated to cut her a deal.
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March 30, 2021 8:03am
- Colville
  
  I doubt Scomo would take the call.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:42am
  - RightFirstTime
    
    Scomo is too busy to take Cindy’s call. He’s doing what Prime Ministers are elected to do …things such as running the country in an efficient way for the benefit off all its citizens.
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:23am
    - kowtow
      
      Scomo is doing a good job fast becoming a Wokist and pandering to the “misogyny” crowd.
      
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      March 30, 2021 11:25am
      - Nickc2
        
        Yes, IMO this was a major mistake on his part. Luckily there is some time before the next election and hopefully, the peasants will have forgotten by then.
        
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        March 30, 2021 1:59pm
- Thought Criminal
  
  Loads of my Australian friends were anti brexit. I hope they are starting to fully understand the EU now.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:53am
- RoboRob
  
  JA and Bloomfield will hide the figures. NZ won’t provide digital daily stats etc so we won’t be able to compare too AU or anyone else. See my post earlier for what our rollout should look like.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:04am
- Ruawai
  
  If Ardern got on better with Morrison he might make us a few vaccines in his factory.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:09am
- Local Miller
  
  One of the many on going issues with this gubbernment is they have no concept of how to plan. 6 months ago they should have been building their vaccine rollout plan and laying the ground work with countries and suppliers to get the vaccine in large enough quantities, etc. to fulfill the plan. They seem to think that they can leave everything to the last minute and it will all just work out.
  Worst government ever!
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:49am
  - kloyd0306
    
    Yet still very popular with moron voters.
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:23am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Yes 2023 is in the bag and 2026 is 90% there.
      
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      March 30, 2021 11:45am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yeah, just-in-time government works just as well as just-in-time manufacturing
    
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    March 30, 2021 8:11pm
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Given that this is one of the biggest events to ever affect us.
  
  What we need is a wide ranging Royal Commission on the Governments response.
  
  “Absolutely” not going to happen is it.
  
  Now where were we, oh yes, be kind, what color will the wedding dress be.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:47am
  - Local Miller
    
    Do what is needed to ensure Liebour are not in power after the 2023 election and get a Royal Commission to investigate.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:20pm
  - oldfella
    
    Mr B: Will Cindy’s dress be white or red?
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:23pm
    - Nickc2
      
      But wouldn’t white be hypocritical? Oh, eFF, let’s make it white then!
      
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      March 30, 2021 1:49pm
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      Creme would be more appropriate.
      
      White would not be.
      
      Maybe shades of Grey
      
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      March 30, 2021 2:04pm
- Stu2
  
  Why would we want a deal? Oz is producing the weakest vaccine, far lower prevention rates than the other two
  
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  March 30, 2021 3:31pm
WaynelSexton

SNL nails the boomer
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159416911346303&id=10714086302&fs=60&focus_composer=0&m_entstream_source=video_home&player_suborigin=entry_point&player_format=permalink
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March 30, 2021 8:05am
Maggy Wassilieff

The Tova O’Brien hit job on National is still up on the Newshub site.

Why hasn’t National got some savvy media folk who can run a decent story exposing the perfidy of this reporting?
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March 30, 2021 8:15am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Maggy, if there’s one Newshub story e3very New Zealander should read today, it’s this one:
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/03/coronavirus-canterbury-dhb-vaccine-data-breach-worse-than-government-s-letting-on-whistleblower.html
  
  The Government and Ministry of Health have had the best part of a year to build a robust, secure database system to manage the Covid vaccine rollout. But as with so many areas surrounding Covid, what we’ve got is not fit for purpose.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:22am
  - RoboRob
    
    100%. The govt has tried to pin this on the Canterbury DHB but thats BS. The issue is with Bloomfields management of the vaccine rollout. The systems aren’t ready as promised and the organisation is broken.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:06am
  - GJM
    
    and yet they think they can have a gun registry that the gangs won’t use as a shopping list…
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:24pm
- I remember when
  
  Tova to the rescue.
  National, Act and bad news getting too much traction. Even the Greens are being annoying.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:42am
  - Paulus
    
    Surely much of Tova’s information is made up as she looks at her screen and wonders – why am I here ? – I wonder too ? JLR has gone so !
    It is irrelevant whether there is any truth in it anyway – make it sound as if I know anyway !
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:14pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  On the other hand Maggy, if a National MP has been talking with O’Brien and passing on confidential caucus information, they need to eff off right now.
  
  I’ve just taken on the role of chairing our local branch of the party, and like branch and electorate committees throughout the country, we have a massive job to do to rebuild trust in National. Much of that starts with individual members of caucus, who were a big part of National’s defeat in the first place. There’s no room in the party for MP’s who put their personal ambitions ahead of the party, and its thousands of members.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:01am
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    Good on you Tony, I just wish this attitude was prevalent at head office and caucus level. It is well past time these politicians serve us not rule over us and they acted accordingly.
    I put it down to the rise of the professional politician and firmly believe anyone who has done nothing in life and wants to get into politics should be shown the door until they have achieved something in life and have experience of the real world.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:22am
    - oldfella
      
      Charmaine, but that criteria would exclude all the Greens and most of Labour.
      Hmm, now you mention it… 😉
      
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      March 30, 2021 1:26pm
  - amospicton
    
    100% Tony but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s a phantom MP talking to Tova. It would be disgraceful for an actual MP to be doing so.
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:11am
    - Ipanema69
      
      Id give good odds that Tov has interviewed her keyboarf.
      
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      March 30, 2021 12:25pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Perhaps National’s leaker is an implant, not a self-promoter after all?
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:14am
    - doublehappy
      
      My thought as well.
      
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      March 30, 2021 12:36pm
  - curry4me
    
    Tony Stuart: Good for you. Remember to make sure your MP? Candidate knows Nationals core principles. I’m sure they already know a principle isn’t a member of the NZEI.
    
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    March 30, 2021 3:56pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      “These are my principles – and if you don’t like them, I have others.”
      
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      March 31, 2021 12:03am
- Frank the tank
  
  The disgruntled leaker strikes again. Sure wants to burn bridges on his now near certain departure from politics…..
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:12am
  - Tall Man
    
    There are more in the caucus than the MPs. There are comings and goings and it sounds like someone only got part of the story.
    
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    March 30, 2021 3:35pm
lifesgood

I hadn’t realised what a shit hole New Zealand had become until I walked up Queen St, Auckland, last week. Endless empty shops, beggars everywhere with their grotty piles of blankets and stuff filling up doorways, the beautiful old ASB building (McDonalds) boarded up, a general air of depression and despondency. It will be a long, long time before I ever take that walk of misery again. Truly third world.
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March 30, 2021 8:16am
- Inandout
  
  life, almost all left run cities are decaying; LA, San Fran, Portland, Wellington.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:21am
- hullkiwi
  
  Dont worry lifesgood, it is all going to be fixed by the Auckland City Centre Master Plan.
  
  For those who think I’m joking, I’m not. You can read about it on the Auckland Council website.
  
  It is a plan developed by Auckland Council planners and Auckland Council CCOs to reshape Queen Street as a Shared Space (pedestrians and buses) shopping mall (who remembers the failed attempt in the 1980s?)
  
  Meanwhile, as you say Queen St is dying. China flu and Zoom cities have hastened the death, but there are these town planners who believe we want some pedestrian utopia in the middle of the city. We don’t! What is happening proves it!
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:36am
- Philview
  
  I had the same experience a few weeks ago. I don’t live in Auckland but noticeable that most people in that Queens Street area weren’t speaking English. It made me realise that a sizeable chunk of the population have a very different interpretation of New Zealand life to my own. I wonder what the future implications will be but anticipate the country will be a very different place and the essence of kiwi values we have known for a long time are going to disappear.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:42am
  - Ruahine
    
    Phil.
    Visit any Primary School in Auckland. Wander through the classrooms look at what is on the walls.
    Go outside any look at the children. That is what New Zealand is going to become. Look at the curriculum and the activities schedule. Walk away shaking your head.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:02am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      What’s wrong with the children in your eyes?
      
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      March 30, 2021 9:19am
      - Apropos of the Wet Snow
        
        You are the exception, of course mike, but it is human nature to prefer ones own kind, whether you are Chinese, English or Korean. So maybe the problem being alluded to is that they aren’t white, perhaps? Nothing against the kids themselves, but the pernicious policy that has led to this state of affairs will, literally, be the end of New Zealand. At this point, anyone claiming that the program of replacement of the populations in Anglosphere countries is merely a fevered conspiracy theory just looks like they are completely out of touch with the evidence of their senses, and cannot put 2 and 2 together.
        
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        March 30, 2021 11:47am
      - Tall Man
        
        You know where they hang children on the walls?
        
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        March 30, 2021 3:35pm
    - Adroit
      
      Correct. There was an article in the Horrid a week or two back about MacLean’s college. 49% of students were Asian, with a further 12% international students.
      
      61% of the school is Asian. What impact could NZ/Western values have at that level? What sort of integration could there be at that level?
      
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      March 30, 2021 10:33am
      - Apropos of the Wet Snow
        
        1) Erase a culture’s history.
        2) Upset the cultural balance.
        3) Systematically remove all the things that create and sustain a person’s national identity.
        4) Create a supranational world government.
        
        We can argue the why, but we cannot argue the what (as described above) any longer.
        
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        March 30, 2021 11:50am
      - BassilFawlty
        
        Bigot.
        
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        March 30, 2021 1:56pm
    - MCos
      
      I went to a kid’s party the other day and they sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in Māori and then English.
      Is that what you’re complaining about? The kids know a bit of Te Reo?
      Would you prefer they learn French & Latin & are taught European history like the good old days?
      
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      March 30, 2021 12:02pm
      - CBR600
        
        Yes that would be fine
        
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        March 30, 2021 2:50pm
      - Tall Man
        
        “Would you prefer they learn French & Latin & are taught European history like the good old days?”
        
        Yep. French which is spoken throughout the world almost as much as English and Latin being the root of English and many other languages …. bearing in mind these subjects are elective.
        
        European history which is relevant to the heritage of the vast majority of Kiwis rather than the 14% of maori who seem to be relatively uninterested in school fullstop with 50% plus truancy among maori on a daily basis. But hey, maybe if we stop teaching and play footy all day they’ll turn up more …..
        
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        March 30, 2021 3:40pm
  - Bluegrass
    
    It’s the ongoing political and cultural disenfranchisement of the Caucasian New Zealanders and of their ancestors who built that [NZ] country.
    
    Right out of the cultural Marxist playbook.
    
    And on the same theme, owning your own country means not having to explain things to those from different cultures and being free to comment without the fear of being labelled racist.
    
    Ring any alarm bells?
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:30am
    - kiwibird
      
      Thank our politicians of the last nearly 30 yrs for that for overrunning our place with immigrants from all walks of life.
      
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      March 30, 2021 1:28pm
  - Apropos of the Wet Snow
    
    All true observations, Philview. But look on the bright side: at least nobody is calling you a racist.
    
    Many complacent idiots have no conception of the inevitable real-world consequences of the unquestioned and apparently self-evident benefits of unfettered immigration and the multiculturalism that results, some of which you describe. I’d rather that I don’t attain a position where I can say “I told you so”, but that too is looking more inevitable by the day. We’ll learn, but it will be a hard lesson and it will also be too late by then.
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:57am
    - Fight4NZ
      
      Yes, I vividly recall the quintessential grinning moron, gleefully explaining to the fawning MSM how much more vibrant NZ was with all the immigration. And how over 9 years it was taken to industrial levels, selling NZ as a commodity to any and all comers. So when you walk down Queen St remember to appreciate how vibrant it is, thanks to the incomparable Mr Key. Who voted for that?
      
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      March 30, 2021 11:17pm
- sabre
  
  The councils woke banning and discouragement of cars is killing our cbd, what rich consumer wants to get a train to queen st when they can park the bmw for free in any of the suburban malls
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:44am
- kowtow
  
  That’s not Auckland , that’s Tamaki Makaurau……
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:47am
  - Adroit
    
    That’s not Tamaki Makaura, its 奥克兰
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:34am
    - oldfella
      
      奥克兰 Yep, don’t trust China. China is asshole!
      (I’m guess that’s what it says.) /s
      
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      March 30, 2021 1:30pm
  - WaynelSexton
    
    Auckland was the name the settlers gave the area. Their descendants have been replaced and thus so has the name.
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:59am
    - Jack5
      
      No longer “Auckland”?
      
      We have two spoken languages, English and Maori.
      
      In written and spoken English it’s “Auckland”. In Maori it’s “Ākarana,” according to the online Maori dictionary.
      
      In Hawaiian, Auckland is “Aukake”, in Samoan “Aukilani”, in Tongan, and in Southlandish, “Orrrk-land”.
      
      In Chinese it’s 奥克兰市, as posters Adroit and Oldfella point out. That’s a Chinese pronunciation of “Auckland”
      
      For “New Zealand” the Chinese word is 新西兰, which sounds to our ears something like “Shin shealand”.
      
      In Hindi, Auckland is ऑकलैंड, pronounced the same as in English, and New Zealand is न्यूज़ीलैंड, pronounced as “New Zealand” is in English.
      
      Plug “Ākarana” into Google Translate and the Hindi translation is pronounced as the English word “Auckland”.
      
      So in Chinese, Hindi, Hawaiian and Samoan, the name for NZ’s biggest city is a cognate of the English language name “Auckland”.
      
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      March 30, 2021 3:14pm
      - Jack5
        
        Edit: In Tongan, according to an online dictionary, New Zealand is Nuʻu Sila or Nuʻusila, and Auckland is ʻAokalani.
        
        Apologies to Southland kin for reference to Orrkland. People south of the Waitaki River are the only New Zealanders who pronounce “r” properly, IMHO.
        
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        March 30, 2021 3:43pm
      - WaynelSexton
        
        They have already changed the name, just watch the news and talk to the kids. Things are not going to get better, not when the descendants of the settlers are only having 1.4 children.
        You can’t have control over land you don’t occupy.
        
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        March 30, 2021 5:28pm
- Frank the tank
  
  In a nut shell Auckland is falling apart. Decades of infrastructure non investment, rapid population increases and poor ideological leadership lead to the doorstep of no return.
  
  Then, unshackled from Winston and buoyed by covid cult the political vandals decided to finish the job. Welcome to Tamaki Makarau (no fucks given regarding the spelling) – main city of (little) Aotearoa. The first nation to move from the first to the third world.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:18am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Argentina, third in the world in terms of GDP per head in the late 1940’s (thanks to no losses in WW2) and although not third world, very definitely second and not first right now.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:07pm
    - Jack5
      
      Similar countries in many ways. Agricultural exporters that haven’t evolved into industrial nations.
      
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      March 30, 2021 3:45pm
- SB2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  lifssgood, create a link and share photos as evidence. Otherwise we can safely say fake post.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:49am
  - lifesgood
    
    Bloody hell…are you unable to walk it yourself? What’s wrong with you? Take a wee break from trolling and have a look.
    
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    March 30, 2021 12:21pm
- Nickc2
  
  Come on Goff, get off your shiny arse and clean the place up FFS!
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:17am
- MCos
  
  “I hadn’t realised what a shit hole New Zealand had become until I walked up Queen St”
  
  Apart from anything else Queen St doesn’t represent NZ.
  What were you doing down there anyway?
  It should be renamed Disappointment St. The sort of place you go when you have nowhere else to go.
  It’s been like that all my time in Auckland.
  The cemetery near here has more vitality.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:54am
  - lifesgood
    
    Since you ask I had a meeting to attend and being a good citizen I caught the bus to the bottom of town and walked the rest of the way. Any more questions?
    
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    March 30, 2021 12:23pm
Tony Stuart

Credit where it’s due; well done to Andrew Little for convincing the Pike River families that there is no more money, and there will be no further re-entry into the mine. May the Pike River 29 now rest in peace.
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March 30, 2021 8:17am
- Blackbob
  
  Credit??!! Something he should have done $50m dollars ago…
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:22am
  - lifesgood
    
    Guilt is expensive.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:24am
- Inandout
  
  TS, no money ‘for now’ I heard. As for Little he hasn’t done anything well in his sorry history. Just remember that if Jacinda hadn’t had C19 to spend money on then Pike River would have continued to suck taxpayer money.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:26am
- Rodney Hide
  
  Tony
  
  You are a very generous man. Or you have learnt to set the bar low.
  
  That was $50 million to add nothing to our understanding beyond the Royal Commission Report. Wise and experienced heads told Little it was a waste of time before he even started. He plowed on with the people’s money.
  
  He should be apologising to John Key who realised $50 million ago it would be a waste and a risk to no advantage.
  
  A decent media would be holding Little to account but then that truly is a low bar!
  
  best
  
  Rodney
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:30am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Hi Rodney. The decision to re-enter the drift was the wrong one, and as you point out, cost us $50m. Once they reached the rockfall, the usual suspects put their hand out for more money to go further. My gratitude to Little is only for the decision to tell them there is no more money; he could easily have been persuaded by emotional arguments and evidence from “experts” that the re-entry should go deeper.
    
    At the very least, John Key has been proved right. It’s time to seal the mine entrance, and leave it as a grave to the men entombed within it.
    
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    March 30, 2021 8:41am
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      The experts would have told them that with the temperature and pressure, there would have been nothing to find short of piles of ash.
      
      $50,000,000 divided by 29 $1,700,000 per victim added to compensation already paid would have been money better spent.
      
      Once the emotions calm down do you think in retrospect any of the families will say it was money well spent.
      
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      March 30, 2021 10:57am
      - Ehlana
        
        Some people will never think enough has been done for them, no matter what they get. To put it in perspective, one of the mosque shooting victims sent home $2200 a month to support his parents in Pakistan. $1.7m could pay that for over 64 years.
        
        And yes, they and other overseas families are indeed complaining that the “cruel” NZ government has failed and abandoned them: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124684088/nz-has-abandoned-me-elderly-father-of-terrorist-attack-victim-says.
        
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        March 30, 2021 12:38pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        @Ehlana Agreed – there’s no basis in law or morality for the NZ tax-payer to send $2,200 a month or in fact any amount to the family of someone who was the victim of a terrible crime.
        
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        March 31, 2021 12:29am
    - Stu2
      
      The thing that annoyed me most were the ridiculous suggestions on the nightly news that we might be finding evidence in the drift. What a crock
      
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      March 30, 2021 3:34pm
  - RoboRob
    
    Duncan Garner on this morning saying it was the right thing to do and than miss reporting it as ‘ONLY costing $30m’. Can’t rely on TV3 (Tova tv) for unbiased journalism.
    
    Labour only promised this to spite John Key. I bet if the supporters of this policy were asked to pay $10 for each person in their family so that Labour could keep its promise the support would be a lot less.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:17am
- Luke Piewalker
  
  @ Tony
  
  Sorry zero credit to Andrew Little on anything Pike River.
  
  He is the architect of this debacle in the first place.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:31am
  - CBR600
    
    Thank Little for lumbering us with Cindy!
    Even he recognised his own lack of worth.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:44pm
- nathie
  
  Sounds like the Labour Party wrote the media release for the Pike River families.
  
  Basically unanimous support and praise for Labour (when only recently some of the families were dissing Labour for saying they were going to stop the recovery).
  
  But was there any dissent by some of the PR families, or have they all been bought off (by additional taxpayer money)?
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:42am
  - RoboRob
    
    My understanding was it was 50/50 with the families. Half wanted it left alone. That half do not have spokespeople and don’t get media coverage.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:19am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Since we’re at the end it would be good to have a post summarising all the different statements Andrew Little has made about Pike River over time, from when he was the union boss to now.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:01am
  - Harriet
    
    ‘Heartland Labour and the home of unionism’ should have pulled up when Key said so. It was never a battle of any sort. Legal ones aside. imo.
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:10am
    - Nickc2
      
      We can’t have that Harriet, it may expose some corruption in our trade union movement and expose some of their officials to scrutiny by the Serious Fraud Office. I hesitate to mention names.
      However, wouldn’t that be a hoot! It may even make NZ1st’s problems seem like a kindy picnic.
      
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      March 30, 2021 12:03pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Harriet, take a look at Lilman’s 10:23 post.
        He’s onto it!
        
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        March 30, 2021 12:11pm
- graham
  
  Meanwhile, a few days ago marked the 125th anniversary of the Brunner Mine disaster where 65 workers were killed in a single explosion on March 26, 1896. They were aged from 15 to 72.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/brunner-mine-disaster-descendant-of-miner-killed-125-years-ago-remembers-nzs-worst-workplace-accident/4SITHD3F4X75K24KUBV7XQ2PSA/
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:10am
- crikey
  
  They have been resting in peace for 10 1/2 years. Perhaps you meant to say ‘may the Pike River families now rest in peace’?
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:12am
- Yvette
  
  It would have been nice if Little could have at this point given some indication of the remainder of the Pike River Recovery process.
  Does the Recovery Agency or the Police announce any further evidence as to the cause of the disaster?
  Do the Police believe they have sufficient evidence to prosecute any particular person?
  Has a cursory examination of the side passages of “Pit Bottom in Stone” revealed that there are no human remains there, as well as none in the Drift?
  
  On The AM Show this morning, Pike River Families Reference group spokesperson Sonya Rockhouse, when asked “What now does she have to look forward to?” says “We’ve got prosecutions …” and infers the Police now know a great deal more than before “A lot more people have been talking to them over the time”, she says.
  Is there more the Minister in Charge of Pike Recovery (and Minister of Justice) can be saying on the matter.
  It would be nice for the country to have a little closure on this.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:15am
- lilman
  
  Credit that lying prick!!!!!
  He put those men in the ground by not doing what his members paid him for ,to ensure that safety was up to scratch.
  No he took the money,commie bastard, and then has the gaul to say the previous govt let the miners down.
  FFS, he should be prosecuted, dont need to go down any mine to get that evidence.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:23am
  - Nickc2
    
    You’re onto it. Good one!
    
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    March 30, 2021 12:08pm
  - Fight4NZ
    
    Soooo, H&S is not primarily the responsibility of the mine owner/operator?
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:31pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Gotta get the blame chain right. In health and safety, the main responsibility is borne by the leadership of any union to which workers might belong. Next in line are the pesky workers themselves, followed by the government setting and enforcing the rules. Last would be the management and owners, because everyone can see the have no influence in the workplace.
      
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      March 31, 2021 7:16am
sabre

Woke Mainland in their latest ad talks of Easter buns, to scared to mention hot cross buns, they can stick their products where the sun don’t shine
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March 30, 2021 8:31am
- Jack5
  
  Wh0/what is Mainland?
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:58am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Seems to me that ‘Easter buns’ and ‘hot cross buns’ are exactly the same thing. If you are implying that the company is downplaying the Christian association, why would they refer to Easter?
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:22am
  - Crisplion
    
    Traditionally those buns are consumed on Good Friday, not Easter day. But whatever …
    
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    March 30, 2021 12:07pm
  - Local Miller
    
    In an attempt to avoid any reference to the Cross. A number of stores now sell Easter Buns. Same look as Hot Cross Buns, only no cross.
    Remember, for us Christian God botheres, it’s Jesus’ death on the cross, and resurrection 3 days later that matters. If you do away with the cross then Jesus is just another mystical teacher.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:43pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The etymology of Easter has Pagan God connotations…
    so probably very acceptable to folks who want to downplay the Christian story.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:06pm
    - Jack5
      
      The Woke wouldn’t want to be the special guests at a Viking festival.
      
      6 1
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      March 30, 2021 3:19pm
  - I remember when
    
    All my life I have eaten ‘Hot Cross Buns.’
    I have always bought ‘Hot Cross Buns.’
    I have never eaten Easter Buns or bought Easter Buns.
    I have bought and eaten Easter Eggs.
    And it is the Easter Bunny.
    
    8 1
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    March 30, 2021 2:53pm
- Paulus
  
  Monday price of half doz hot cross buns up $2 a pack.
  Made on premises
  Not going to pay that now – will do without.
  
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  March 30, 2021 1:21pm
Maggy Wassilieff

The Government is going to have “a look” at what has caused the timber shortage.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying ministers are “engaged” in looking into what has caused the issue.

“They are interested in what we can do in government, our industry transformation plans to ensure we have more processing capacity.”

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/rural/2021/03/commerce-commission-launches-enquiry-into-carter-holt-harvey-s-halting-of-timber-supply.html

Bit late in the day to think that more processing capacity can appear with a sprinkling of fairy dust.
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March 30, 2021 8:32am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Government “looking at things” always helps…
  
  increase the cost of things
  
  51 3
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  March 30, 2021 8:34am
  - Bluegrass
    
    Old Chinese curse: may you come to the attention of the government…
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:34am
- Gravelroad
  
  @mw : the government has another “industry transformation plan”?
  God help us.
  No doubt though, it will take a long, long time and will require another set of well paid working groups before anything useless is actually done.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:43am
  - Tricati
    
    Maybe they can start at looking at those timber mills that closed down due to excessive union demands, that then became uneconomical.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:52pm
- Thought Criminal
  
  Presumably this will be lead by one of the mimisters with loads of private sector experience.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:48am
- kowtow
  
  Another aspect of this Alice in Wonderland new reality that mustn’t be overlooked is due to the climate scam we are retiring productive agricultural land into forests that will never be milled .
  
  Lunacy.
  
  29 3
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  March 30, 2021 8:51am
- cmm
  
  KiwiTwoByFour is going to make KiwiBuild look like a success.
  
  23 3
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  March 30, 2021 8:56am
- hmmokrightitis
  
  A friend of a friend works PR for gubbermint departments. Her trick, which is widespread apparently…
  
  When an issue arises, she gets a brown cardboard folder, writes the name of the issue on the folder, puts a sheet of paper inside it with that issue name on it as well. And can then tell CEO / Minister they can advise the public that work is underway to look at the issue. Which the media generally forgets about on our collective behalf.
  
  I wish I was making this up.
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:59am
  - RoboRob
    
    If she runs out of folders she can talk to a co worker and than say ‘we are having a conversation about this’ or if she hasn’t she can say ‘we will have a conversation around this’. Works for Labour and saves the working of actually writing on the folder 🙂
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:22am
    - Don Beckett
      
      “We will announce the date that we are hoping to make an announcement on who will be appointed to the working group to advise on this issue, and they will announce the date when they project that they will make an announcement to get back to us, then we will be able to announce the date on which we will make an announcement.”
      
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      March 30, 2021 11:39am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Well, if she is a ‘communications’ person, chances are she knows bugger all about any of the issues.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:23am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      Just like Jacinda.
      
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      March 30, 2021 1:14pm
    - RoboRob
      
      As JA proves every day 🙂
      
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      March 30, 2021 1:16pm
  - kevn
    
    @hummo… and always walk around the office with one of those folders in hand. People will think you are ‘doing something’.
    Think of it as prop, like in movies.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:38am
  - Swifty
    
    “Yes, Minister, we have opened a file on this matter……”
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:43am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    If the Minister doesn’t understand (or doesn’t want to understand) the meaning of “work is underway” in this context, then there is a problem…
    
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    March 30, 2021 10:54am
- crikey
  
  Report on Labour Government: “Talk, talk, talk, committee, committee, committee, report, report report. There you are, we’ve fixed everything for you, aren’t we wonderful!”
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:16am
- crikey
  
  Report on Labour Government March 2021: “Talk, talk, talk, committee, committee, committee, report, report report. There you are, we’ve fixed everything for you, aren’t we wonderful!”
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:19am
  - Swifty
    
    “We’ve all been working incredibly hard!” Minister Stuart Nash, 2021.
    
    Haven’t achieved anything, but have worked incredibly hard doing it.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:01pm
- Ehlana
  
  Didn’t North Korea have a demi-god of looking at things a while back? Maybe that is where our government got the idea from.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:20am
- Nickc2
  
  She wouldn’t have a fucking clue! There was an Industry Rep on Hosking’s show this morning saying there wasn’t a problem as Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) is currently in the process of converting a mill to cater for the shortfall.
  PM, stick to stuff you know something about e.g. Teddy Bears, Kindies and Sand Pits.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:31am
  - JB.49
    
    Not forgetting crayons!
    
    8 0
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    March 30, 2021 2:18pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  OK let me wait for puff pieces from Mathew Hooten, Bernard Hickey and Simon Wilson about Cindy’s transformational leadership here.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:44am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  The answer.
  
  Import timber form the northern hemisphere.
  
  Why would we cut down our trees.
  
  Think of future generations.
  
  Like we import coal for the Huntly power station, despite siting on enough of the stuff to last forever.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:02am
- Black Propaganda
  
  Great news we have a timber shortage as Bunnings can now start importing higher-quality baltic pine like they have in Australia. Pre-covid when in Sydney we were using this on a reno. The timber had virtually no knots, straight, no resin, SG 10 rather than SG8 and cheaper than NZ crap. Love to see Mr Jone’s face when it happens!
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:05am
- Local Miller
  
  Given the number of timber mills that have closed in NZ over the past few years, or will be closing, is it any wonder that our timber industry is struggling to provide timber to the construction industry. We are relying ever more on imports from China, made with timber we first sent them.
  Another case of the government making it harder for industry in NZ to operate, and easier for them to export raw product.
  
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  March 30, 2021 1:57pm
- rouppe
  
  Shame the problem is the supply of trees, not the availability of processing capacity.
  
  That misunderstanding sounds very similar to the government’s not understanding the housing problem.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:38pm
- Fight4NZ
  
  While I recoil at the thought that the government is trying to get itself involved, I am in equal parts confused as to why the unspoken but default position is the private sector and all its expertise will solve this? This is a woeful failing of purely private sector management laid bare. Overly self confident dropkicks come from many walks of life.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:42pm
Maggie's partner

Apparently the PM has urged us to be more cautious in our use of wood as “it doesn’t grow on trees”
73 4
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March 30, 2021 8:37am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Unlike government money . . .
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:29am
- SB2
  
  The timber shortage gas nothing to do with government’s actions or inactions but more to do with a number of factors including the closure of wood mills and Carter Holt affecting supply. The shortage is thought to be a short term problem
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/comment-four-causes-of-timber-shortage-and-what-can-be-done/FLB2GWC66KOJVE5H3FNJ47QK4E/
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:05am
  - Black Propaganda
    
    SB2 short-term as in how long it takes to finish the current houses under construction then no shortage due to no demand at all!
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:48am
  - Local Miller
    
    SB2: “more to do with a number of factors including the closure of wood mills”
    Really, and you don’t think gubbernment policy doesn’t impact on mills to reduce their profitability and close? Things like unreasonable increases in minimum wages forcing production costs to increase?
    Excuse the pun, but I don’t think you can see the wood for the trees.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:01pm
I remember when

After listening to the News on TV:
Does the Government need a Minister for Matters that ‘are being looked at right now.’
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March 30, 2021 8:46am
- sooty
  
  But that minister would have to do all the work of the present ministers and labour have no one that clever and all the rest would scive off. Sciving off is what this government does best!
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:34am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  They wont look to hard.
  
  I smell the hand of tywford.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:03am
I remember when

Florida’s Gopher Resource keeps 13 million batteries out of landfills, extracting lead from them.
But this recycling is poisoning its workforce and the community around the factory.
In an 18-m0nth investigation Tampa Bay Times found workers were exposed to airborne lead hundreds of times the Federal safety limit.
Federal inspectors haven’t inspected the plant, which is within a half-mile of an elementary school, for lead contamination in seven years.
They’ll be glad when we move on to electric vehicles!
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March 30, 2021 8:53am
- kevn
  
  @I rem… Electric cars. With almost impossible to recycle batteries.
  It will make fossil fueled cars look amazing. They are.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:35am
cmm

In Christchurch, NTZA (Waka something or other) is shortly going to start a $40M upgrade to Brougham St to match the doubling in capacity of Littleton harbour that is planned sometime soon.

A few points:
1) Global population has peaked. Everywhere except Africa and Middle East have reducing populations (ie everyone that can trade has reducing populations). Who is going to consume our increased exports (if we can make them)?
2) The Canterbury area has room to grow, but will it? NZ population levels (like global populations) are stagnant and likely to start dropping off. Will we really need double the imports in the next 25 years? Do we really need double the harbour?
3) NZ is already at, or close to, peak output. We’re not going to double our agricultural outputs or other outputs. So where is the export increase going to come from?
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March 30, 2021 8:55am
- RoboRob
  
  My opinion
  
  1) Nz is underpopulated and I would expect it to continue growing.
  
  2 & 3. An ongoing major problem in NZ is that we are too reactionary. We wait for a crises and than suffer while we rush some kind of half ass fix. See the Harbour bridge in AK. They know it will need major work / replacement in the next 20ish yrs, but don’t plan to start planning a fix for another 10yrs. I am happy that for once some long term planning is taking place 🙂
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:31am
  - Paulus
    
    New Zealand has plenty of room to grow Asian immigrants – even those who arrive from one source and find that upon arrival saying they have been tested find they have symptoms on day of arrival.
    Surely something very wrong again from the same flights and original source who appear will do anything to get here.
    This has to be stopped and it is now almost daily from that source.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:29pm
  - cmm
    
    Yes, NZ is underpopulated, but when opportunities reduce (as what happens when there is a reduction in population) people tend to go towards higher population areas. Just witness the flight of people to Auckland and overseas.
    
    That means population increases in South Island are unlikely to be large – certainly not enough to double the volume of imports.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:35pm
  - KH
    
    My opinion is New Zealand is overpopulated.
    I agree with you that “…… we are too reactionary. We wait for a crises and than suffer while we rush some kind of half ass fix….”
    The crisis has been the population explosion, and the housing shortage etc.
    And the fix was only last week. (not expecting the problem to just up and leave tho)
    Once we had affordable houses, minimal commutes, a low income family could have a bach.
    But big GDP was the priority, so we screwed New Zealanders chasing that acronym.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:46pm
- Jack5
  
  The road’s pretty busy now, CMM, but I share your scepticism about Lyttelton port doubling in throughput.
  
  Coal from the West Coast, once the port’s biggest cargo by volume, has a limited exporting future. Agricultural production, with Green pressure on dairying, will increase in volume slowly, if at all. The cruise liner trade is kaput.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:46am
- Benedict Yu
  
  The government has a target of increasing primary sector exports by $44 billion between 2020 and 2030.
  
  https://www.mpi.govt.nz/about-mpi/our-work/fit-for-a-better-world-accelerating-our-economic-potential/
  
  Are you saying the government is wrong?
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:08am
  - Black Propaganda
    
    Benedict it is aspirational, target is so 2017.
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:34am
  - cmm
    
    It is all very well having a “target” or a “goal”, but a goal is not a real goal unless it is achievable and a path to get from a to b.
    
    A wish is not a goal.
    
    Their attempts to kill of dairy are hardly going to help. Same for coal.
    
    The only way to increase the dollar value of exports is to increase the value per ton. This does not drive a need for more shipping.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:15pm
I remember when

On The Hui:
Rawiri Waititi complaining about Government use of Maori without permission for naming Departments, etc.
Saying it should be stopped.
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March 30, 2021 9:02am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I think we should support him.
  
  There’s too many Maori words with multiple meanings to figure out exactly what the institution does.
  
  eg:
  Te Tari Taiwhenua
  Te Tari Ture o te Karauna
  Te Komihana Hiko
  Te Tari Arotake Matauranga
  Te Whānau o Ako Pai ki te Upoko o te Ika
  Te Kunenga ki Purehuroa
  Irirangi Te Motu
  Te Kaporeihana Āwhina Hunga Whara
  
  etc, etc
  
  (all Public Sector institutions)
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:40am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    They didn’t have those in 1835.
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:12am
- cmm
  
  All government documents should be fully bilingual.
  All the Maori stuff should be written in the traditional Maori script.
  
  37 5
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  March 30, 2021 9:47am
  - kowtow
    
    Yep , in countries where the central govt makes a big show of official bi lingualism you can’t get a gubmint job of any worth if you’re not provably bi lingual .
    
    That’s the case in R of ireland and Canada , I believe.
    If this gubmint was genuinely about “bi culturalism/ bi lingualism” as it claims to be then a few headers and titles are merely window dressing and an actual insult .
    
    Every civil servant , cop , soldier ,court room staff , prison , immigration ,customs ,IRD staff member etc should be able to engage, converse , and correspond in writing with the 1 % of the population who might choose to speak , write or communicate with said govt /crown employee in Maori , as and when that citizen choses to………
    
    Until that is literally a day to day reality in Aotearoa formerly New Zealand a ki ora , or tena something or other uttered at the start of a press briefing or donning a feather cloak is racist , empty , virtue signalling .
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:41am
  - kevn
    
    @cmm… Just need a jolly good memory.
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:49am
- Ruawai
  
  I smell a koha coming.
  
  13 1
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  March 30, 2021 10:25am
- Ehlana
  
  Who would they get permission from? Every single iwi and hapu across the country, or do naming rights rest with the Wellington tribe?
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:38am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  100% agree with Rawiri Waititi. Giving Maori names to Cities and Government department should be stopped immediately.
  
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  March 30, 2021 12:10pm
  - curry4me
    
    info@cruzpro.com: Yes, so do I. A stopped clock can be right twice a day, I guess.
    
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    March 30, 2021 4:16pm
Maggie Pie

Disillusioned cop after 5 years in tells late night talkback host ….
“The new Commissioner is no more than a politician in uniform who acts like a woke social worker”

Like my partner said, can you imagine how those young recruits feel having to put their lives on the line with that sort of attitude festering down from the top?
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March 30, 2021 9:08am
Captain Mainwaring

I’m on a fixed monthly payment with Genesis Energy which is supposed to take into account the differing usage rates between summer and winter.
I’ve just been advised that they want to increase the payment by 24% despite the fact that I’m currently in credit.
The period when this payment was the most stable was during National’s ‘nine years of neglect’.
Why does that not surprise me?
Thanks Labour and all the muppets who voted for you, Winston and the toxic greens.
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March 30, 2021 9:09am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  The muppets who voted for Labour include – Farmers, small businesses and sheeple of Taranaki.
  
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  March 30, 2021 9:45am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Haha – yep Sidekick, let’s just say for arguments sake that what you say is true.
    So if farmers, small businesses and the sheeple of Taranaki (who all might be described as traditional National voters) did vote in droves for Labour, why did they?
    I suspect it was not because of what the Labour Party charlatans were offering.
    It was because the National Party had very little on offer – not even stable leadership.
    @sheepleslivesmatter
    
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    March 30, 2021 11:51am
    - Tall Man
      
      Nope. Covid porn and 80,000 dead …..
      
      5 1
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      March 30, 2021 3:15pm
      - Gravelroad
        
        So nothing to do with any National Party shortcomings at all then?
        Just keep telling yourself that and see what happens next time…….
        
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        March 30, 2021 5:41pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Of course there are shortcomings in the National party, there are shortcomings in ACT you just haven’t seen them yet because they are as significant as a pea in a poo.
        
        The question you need to ask yourself in the booth are there less or more than in the only other option. That wasn’t rhetorical although for many of you it may as well be.
        
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        March 30, 2021 5:54pm
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Tallman points out the reasons why National Sheeple voted for Labour. I voted for National and will again vote for National no matter what. That is what you call loyalty.
      
      7 1
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      March 30, 2021 3:29pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Moi aussi 🙂
        
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        March 30, 2021 5:52pm
    - plc
      
      Nah, in Taranaki’s case, they are just fuckwits
      
      4 0
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      March 30, 2021 3:56pm
- Tomtoddy
  
  Go to https://www.emi.ea.govt.nz/Wholesale/Reports/W_P_C?_rsdr=L364D&DateFrom=20200330&DateTo=20210329&_si=v|3
  and see what is happening to wholesale electricity prices. With the PM’s ridiculous, virtue signalling halt to gas exploration there has been a greater use of imported coal at Huntly and wholesale prices are spiking at 4 to 6 times above price 6 months ago.
  
  Expect power bills to keep climbing frighteningly over the next few months particulrly.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:13am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Where’s our Winter Energy Payment?
    Has that been dropped?
    
    8 2
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    March 30, 2021 11:14am
    - Flossie
      
      Starts in May
      
      7 0
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      March 30, 2021 11:54am
    - RalphT
      
      Starts 1 May, apparently. Us oldies will just have to freeze until then.
      Ralph, from Tamaki Makaurau, where it’s currently 21
      
      7 0
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      March 30, 2021 12:16pm
    - HeatherW
      
      Winter Energy Payment currently scheduled to run from 1 May 2021 to 1 October 2021.
      
      6 0
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      March 30, 2021 1:23pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Waddya mean “our”?
      
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      March 30, 2021 8:28pm
Benedict Yu

So yesterday I was required to read a scientific report issued by a government department. I am going to link to it because its readership is small.

It is over 200 pages in length. It has hundreds of references to New Zealand cities, plants and animals and geographic features. EVERY such reference, hundreds of them, contains both the English and Maori terms for those towns, cities, and geographic features. For example, it might say “the working group met in Auckland Tāmaki-makau-rau”

Reading hundreds of pages like this is irritating and exhausting. If there really is an audience for this report that is fluent in Maori then publish a Maori translation.

Many countries have two official languages. But they don’t mix them together to form some pidgin document. For example Canada publishes almost all government information in French and English. Not in Frenglish. ?

You would not have seen this even 12 months ago.
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March 30, 2021 9:13am
- Gravelroad
  
  @Benedict Yu-
  Send the report back to its source and ask them to provide an English only version.
  See what they say.
  Maybe time for some push back on all these demands being made by a few on the many.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:56am
  - Tall Man
    
    Even better, ask them for a full maori version then ask for funding to translate it. It should run to about $50k each way 🙂
    
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    March 30, 2021 3:13pm
- cmm
  
  The big difference is that there are actually people in Canada that can function in French.
  
  Nobody in NZ can function in Maori. A scientific document written in Maori would be rather pointless.
  
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  March 30, 2021 1:18pm
- Rich Prick
  
  RNZ’s weather forecasts have gone a step further, Maori only place names. They’re meaningless, and I have no intention of going to the trouble of finding out what they’re on about. Thankfully we don’t have this problem with weather apps.
  
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  March 30, 2021 3:15pm
- tf78
  
  Benedict – you mean it should have only been 100 pages!
  
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  March 30, 2021 6:22pm
Swifty

The CHC mosque massacre was an appalling crime which led to nothing but tragedy and misery on a grand scale – and I have nothing but the greatest sympathy for the family and friends of those affected.

Subsequent to the tragedy I think New Zealand has, on the whole, done a pretty good job taking care of the victims and their families and I would hope those here who have been affected make use of the support we make available.

I do see today however that the father of one victim, tragically killed, is saying that ‘New Zealand has abandoned him’ and that we need to give him more money to replace the money his son used to send him and his wife.

“Elderly Pakistani parents of a Christchurch terrorist attack victim say they have received no support from the government and are struggling without their son’s salary.

Accountant Syed Areeb Ahmed sent $2200 a month to his elderly parents in Karachi, Pakistan, before he was killed at Masjid An Nur (Al Noor Mosque) in the March 15, 2019 attack.

His father Syed Ayaz Ahmed is now calling for the New Zealand government to step up to support him and his wife as their money fast runs out.”

“He is among several overseas family of victims who have spoken to Stuff about feeling abandoned by “cruel” government criteria that only supports families within Aotearoa through ACC and other agency support.”

“Ahmed and his wife have received no financial or social support from the Government, in a country his son knew as fair and just, he said.

“I feel I have been abandoned by the Government,” he told Stuff.

He is grateful for donations from the public, which he used to buy the home he and his family rented.

But those donations are fast depleting, and he is scared of their future in a country with no elderly welfare system.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124684088/nz-has-abandoned-me-elderly-father-of-terrorist-attack-victim-says

While I am sympathetic with his position, just what role should New Zealand play when citizens of other countries suffer loss or harm when one of their family meets misfortune in NZ?

If a bungy cord breaks on a Pommie tourist, or a holidaying Japanese couple die when they run their rental off a bluff, if a Chinese tour bus rolls and some travellers are killed or if a Yank couple freeze to death on a high-country tramp – do we now believe New Zealanders should now be taxed and money given to overseas families affected? And what, for a limited period or for life?

Just what does this gentleman in Karachi expect?

One thing I do know is that if New Zealanders lose a child, of any age, there is no great pot of money sitting in Wellington for distribution for them other than in privately-initiated life insurance and our workers compensation scheme which all workers pay into.

So it seems that Mr Syed Ayaz Ahmed wants compensation for him and his wife, both Pakistani citizens, not even accorded to New Zealanders in their own country!

I get the feeling Mr Syed Ayaz Ahmed is just a bloody chancer. I think he’s trying it on.

And I must say looking at what seems to be a fairly recent picture of the family, while he is described as ‘elderly’ Mr Syed Ayaz Ahmed doesn’t look that old to me. Nor his wife. What are they? 60? Late 50s? What is he and his wife doing to remedy their situation themselves? Do they work? The article is strangely silent on this. Have they struck out into the job market since the tragedy? Have they taken in boarders in the house they’ve recently purchased? If not, why not?

This whole insinuation that ‘New Zealand has abandoned me….’ just gets my goat. I’m terribly sorry but I believe we owe this man nothing over our greatest sympathies and best wishes for his and his wife’s futures.

Tragedy happens to us all. It’s called life. And I resent it when citizens of other countries, who have never even set foot in the country let alone contributed to it, try to guilt trip us into taking money from New Zealand families to keep them in the lifestyles they’ve become accustomed to.

But in recognition of the tragedy that has befallen this family I would like to reach out to Mr Syed Ayaz Ahmed and encourage him, and his wife, to check the wonderful pots of gold to be found here:

https://pk.indeed.com/jobs-in-Karachi
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March 30, 2021 9:36am
- Paulus
  
  I thought I understood that the man who died in the tragedy was an employee of PWC, a major New Zealand employer.
  I would expect that such an employer would have some sort of Life Policy on its employees.
  
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  March 30, 2021 1:36pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    Most unlikely these days. Employee though could of course have had one himself. Any such benefit would be taxed as a fringe benefit anyway.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:16pm
  - Tall Man
    
    And if not, he would have been more than capable of effecting a cover fpor himself …. Oh wait, muslims don’t believe in life insurance so ………
    
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    March 30, 2021 3:11pm
    - sooty
      
      Over at YSB blog, they told him to take a hike and send the bill to Scott Morrison, c/o Parliament, Canberra. As Brenton Tarrant is an Australian citizern and its got nothing to do with us!
      
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      March 30, 2021 5:46pm
  - david
    
    Generally such policies require that the death is associated with the person’s employment. Not likely in this case.
    
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    March 30, 2021 9:30pm
- Rich Prick
  
  Perhaps they should check with the Pakistani government for some welfare. As a New Zealand taxpayer, I have nothing to do with their situation.
  
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  March 30, 2021 3:07pm
- alex Masterley
  
  NZ Tax payer here.
  I am sorry about Mr Ahmed’s loss, but I see no reason why the NZ taxpayer should maintain he and his wife.
  Perhaps enquiries should be directed to the Australian government given the national origins of Mr Tarant.
  
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  March 30, 2021 3:48pm
- hilaryt
  
  ACC covers folk on NZ soil for personal injury by accident, and so if a person is killed their Kiwi dependents may claim a portion of earnings-related compensation. No ERC is paid out of the country unless to injured employees of Kiwi principals based overseas. That’s the law. This couple are fortunate they have benefited to the tune of buying their home from other sources. They know this of course but still they have their hand out. Who in that shot looks needy? They’re having a laugh.
  
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  March 30, 2021 6:44pm
bythesea

The newspaper circulation audit is going to be published for the March 31 ending quarter after a 6 month break.

http://newspaper.abc.org.nz/audit.html?org=npa&publicationid=%25&mode=embargo&npa_admin=1&publicationtype=19&memberid=%25&type=%25

Not sure when we will see the figures , but any bets on who get the biggest bath (decrease).

I unsubscribed a few years back from The Press but i think a few of you ditched papers this year?
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March 30, 2021 9:36am
TripeWryter

I felt some sadness this morning that Pike River families have at last accepted that the show is over.
What they demanded and campaigned for so successfully and emotively, and few had the heart to stand up to them, was never going to happen.
It was obvious in 2010 and it was still obvious 10 years later.
Perhaps Sir John Key deserves an apology from them because some of them vilified him because he tried to tell them as gently as possible that what they demanded was impossible.
A cousin of mine remains entombed in the mine. Two of my brothers-in-law were offered jobs there. Both declined. It was well known on the Coast that Pike River was a dangerous workplace.
Let it be. RIP.
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March 30, 2021 9:36am
- kevn
  
  @Tripe… The mysterious 350 tonne/cubes of concrete would have sealed their Pike mine.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:44am
Jack5

Culture War bulletin …

The censors of political correctness have led to a graphic novel from the “Captain Underpants” series being withdrawn.

And to the author, Dav Pilkey, apologising. He says the work saying it “contains harmful racial stereotypes” and is “wrong and harmful to my Asian readers.”

The Woke Suppression resembles Stalin’s 1930s show trials in not only censorship, but in the public apologies.

Publishers in the Woke Age wouldn’t get away with Ming the Merciless of the 1930s comic series, Flash Gordon.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/captain-underpants-passive-racism-author-vows-donatations
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March 30, 2021 9:42am
SB2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
To some of the ill-informed counsels of doom and despair heading KB first thing this morning,.

The Evergreen has been freed and Suez will shortly begin operations again,

Ship in Suez Canal has been freed

Updated 2015 GMT (0415 HKT) March 29, 2021

https://edition.cnn.com/africa/live-news/suez-canal-shipping-crisis-03-29-21/index.html

Surely an occasion of shared rejoicing.
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March 30, 2021 10:09am
- rangitoto
  
  The ships name is “Ever Given”. Evergreen is the name of the company.
  
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  March 30, 2021 12:42pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Surely an occasion for unjustified gloating by SB2.
  
  Your reading comprehension seems poor.
  Rather than anyone claiming “doom and gloom”, I saw a discussion around the challenges of navigating such huge ships, visibility from the bridge (or cameras) being clarified after the initial post, and several noting the fact the media made a lot more about the blockage and the difficulties then was probably justified.
  You act like you are on a high horse, and looking down on the entire KB user community, when really you have just crawled out from under a rock.
  
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  March 30, 2021 12:59pm
  - Nickc2
    
    No second opinion necessary Fuzzy!
    
    9 1
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    March 30, 2021 2:16pm
    - sooty
      
      The boar will be towed to some port and unloaded. Then sold for scrap!
      They won’t trust it under its own power.
      To sit on the beach at each end and bow in the middle from that weight. It’s knackered!
      
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      March 30, 2021 5:51pm
Maggy Wassilieff

There is a call for Maori to run their own Health affairs..

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/03/creation-of-independent-m-ori-health-authority-picks-up-pace-set-to-go-to-cabinet-in-coming-weeks.html

If they do, I wonder if they will equal the success of the last National Government—-

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/maori-life-expectancy-has-increased-at-twice-the-rate-of-non-maori-in-last-10-years/VEOPQNF3N6H26X6SIR4E64DUMY/
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March 30, 2021 10:16am
- Nickc2
  
  I don’t have a problem with Maori running their own Health system providing it’s only funded by Maori taxpayers.
  It will never get off the ground.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:28am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Maybe it should be staffed with exclusively Maori doctors and surgeons. So I don’t have to worry about dealing with a Maori doctor who only got into med school through the race based quota.
    
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    March 30, 2021 12:06pm
    - kevn
      
      @septic… Not just got in as a maori/PI, but got out the other end as a graduate as well.
      A mate has a son that went through the whole process and the ‘special’ was prevalent all the way, while he slogged and got there under his own steam.
      
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      March 30, 2021 4:36pm
  - tf78
    
    Nick2 – Maori like their ‘white’ workers.
    
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    March 30, 2021 6:32pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  So are there going to be exclusively Maori hospitals?
  
  This just sets up a race based fight every year for scarce health dollars. Is there any substantive evidence that Maori are not treated equally in terms of access to the health system?
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:35am
  - Paulus
    
    I believe that a part almost separate of the hospital in Whakatane is effectively Maori, due to large population locally.
    And unless I imagined it they want xxx Billions for their designated Health scheme.
    
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    March 30, 2021 1:39pm
  - tf78
    
    Benedict – staffed by only Maori doctors and nurses of course, good luck to them.
    
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    March 30, 2021 6:33pm
- Jack5
  
  In the Newshub piece Maggy W. linked to:
  
  Waitangi Tribunal claimants who’ve championed an independent Maori Health Authority say it must come with commissioning rights, including a separate budget, with the ability to choose and buy the services of health providers.
  
  Next, a separate Maori version of Pharmac, then Maori hospitals.
  
  Apartheid reborn.
  
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  March 30, 2021 10:50am
  - Rich Prick
    
    What’s the bet we won’t see a Maori IRD to fund it all? Separatism is going to be a one way street.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:56pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Maybe using traditional Maori medicine? (Good for about 30-40 years of life on average)
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:02am
- Philview
  
  Per the Vision 2040 roadmap, the Maori DHB is another separatist stepping stone towards an independent State. The media have reported the Maori DHB getting a $5 billion budget and no doubt all the other DHBs will still have to be bi cultural in scope. I am not opposed to spending money to improve the health outcomes of Maori but am opposed to this Labour Government advancing agendas with very little discussion or analysis.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:15am
  - tf78
    
    Phil, they just have to get their butts out of bed an attend their appointments, that would be a great start.
    
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    March 30, 2021 6:35pm
- Black Propaganda
  
  With Maori doctors and nurses I hope as we cant be having any other races involved to ensure racial purity.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:25am
  - kevn
    
    @Black… At least 512th please. Should cover it.
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:41pm
- Fletch
  
  I will tell you what would happen. The system would be half-assed at best, and the higher ups would abuse their positions, spending on themselves and giving koha to family and friends until there was no money left and the whole thing went belly up. I hate to say so, but it’s true.
  
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  March 30, 2021 12:11pm
  - kevn
    
    @Fletch… add: new cars for all..
    
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    March 30, 2021 2:42pm
- cmm
  
  This would, effectively, be the most top heavy bureaucratic DHB in the land.
  
  Lots of trough, bugger all output.
  
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  March 30, 2021 1:55pm
- Ehlana
  
  Wasn’t there a separate, by Maori for Maori, mental health unit at Carrington some years back? IIRC, Titiwhai Harawira and her family ran it and it all ended in tears. What processes are proposed to ensure that does not happen again?
  
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  March 30, 2021 2:40pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    It didn’t just end in tears…
    Titewhai Harawira got a 9month jail sentence for assaulting a mentally ill man under her care.
    
    She got nine months in jail in 1989 for assaulting a mental patient in the ill-fated Whare Paia Maori mental health unit she was in charge of, in a poorly thought- out arrangement with Auckland’s Carrington Hospital. Four staff members were also sentenced for violence against the patient, two of them sharing her surname.
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/4667388/The-pity-of-Harawira
    
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    March 30, 2021 4:25pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      That is an absolute shocker. How she had the gall to show her face in public, I don’t know.
      
      Interesting that the media do not introduce her as “Convicted criminal Titewhai Harawera …” or “Former prisoner Titewhai Harawera ….”
      
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      March 30, 2021 8:41pm
  - cmm
    
    It ended like many Brongos with fingers in the till.
    
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    March 30, 2021 4:39pm
- NoFax
  
  I agree – everyone should run their own Health affairs. Privatize the entire health sector and we will get far better results.
  
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  March 30, 2021 3:31pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Success, it should be understood, as being measured in the number of taxpayer dollars extracted from the NZ health sector
  
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  March 30, 2021 8:35pm
Jack5

Culture War bulletin 2:

Will the issue of trans-gender competition in female sport be the zenith of the current cultural revolution?

South Dakota is the latest of several American states that are introducing, or trying to introduce, legislation barring trans-gender people from competing in women’s sport.

Two states have bills about to become law, and the New York Times says Republicans have introduced bills in two dozen other states.

New Zealand has yet to settle the issue of trans-gender competitors in sport.

Is the choice either to accept this, or to wipe out all distinct sports classes and events for women?

So far there’s been side-stepping and obfuscation. For example in the NZ Olympic Committee’s statement of inclusion in sport, the policy includes: ” To advocate equal opportunities for men and women through sport.”

That side-steps whether athletes born women have equal physique to compete against transgender women.
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March 30, 2021 10:25am
- Swifty
  
  While I have heard and read bucket loads of claims about ‘trans rights’ when it comes to trans-women competing with and against natural-born women – I am yet to hear anything about the rights of natural-born women to be free to compete against their peers, rather than against people who might well have been men up until just relatively recently.
  
  This is my fundamental reason for not agreeing with all claims for trans rights; that they come at the expense of the rights of others.
  
  I would have thought the HRC would have thought this too.
  
  But no.
  
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  March 30, 2021 11:43am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    You don’t hear much about the rights of trans women to compete against natural men, either.
    
    Funny, that.
    
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    March 30, 2021 8:44pm
- Nickc2
  
  Well, haven’t we already proved that if a male weight lifter can’t compete with males, he can always go and compete with female weight lifters?
  
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  March 30, 2021 2:23pm
Philview

Just read a story that the Dunedin Bus Hub has become quite a dangerous place with assaults and drug use. The bus hub is right outside the police station, but I guess it is easier to keep the crime stats down if the police stay in the station and the crims stay outside. Good old policing by consent.
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March 30, 2021 11:42am
- Black Propaganda
  
  At least they policing consistantly no where.
  
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  March 30, 2021 2:17pm
  - sooty
    
    Can’t do efective policing carrying a bag of doughnuts. Which is why they like the new cars for carrying the doughnuts!
    
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    March 30, 2021 5:59pm
Black Propaganda

Noticed Minster Woods has yet to release detail on the Government’s infrastructure funding scheme. Maybe the details include the need for an additional Development Levy on developers/builders. To be fair the Councils charge Development Levies and Reserves Contributions so it is logical Central Government would need to be recompensed if they are to contribute funds for local infrastructure. Collection of the levy would likely be at the time of registering new titles with LINZ.
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March 30, 2021 12:10pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://babylonbee.com/news/controversial-georgia-law-requires-poll-workers-to-check-voters-for-a-pulse?
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March 30, 2021 12:23pm
Maggie Pie

What a let down that was! 🙁

After waiting nearly 2 years to find out who the ‘Famous Entertainer’ was involved with the wealthy richlister just convicted of sexual assault charges – turns out it’s someone by the name of ‘MIKA X’

We’ve never even heard of her!! LOL.

https://twitter.com/NZStuff/status/1376650759597563904
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March 30, 2021 12:29pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh Mika has been connected to quite a few folk on the political scene..
  
  He even stood for Gareth Morgan’s Party
  https://www.teaomaori.news/actor-and-artist-mika-announces-candidacy-opportunities-party
  
  He’s been a buddy of Jevan Goulter who was also linked to the trial and practically every political party.
  
  Don’t know if he’ll be getting much Charity funding now..
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018665670/i-have-loved-me-a-man-biography-of-mika-haka-queer-performance-artist-released
  
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  March 30, 2021 2:37pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Dear God. Thanks for the links Maggz.
    
    It’s like my partner’s mum has often said…. “Normal people leading normal lives like us do seem to be the exception these days”
    
    Hard to argue.
    
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    March 30, 2021 3:16pm
  - Tall Man
    
    “He” Maggy … you do presume ……
    
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    March 30, 2021 6:20pm
- oldfella
  
  Maggie, I think Mika is a ‘him’.
  
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  March 30, 2021 2:59pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    No it is a What is it!!!
    
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    March 30, 2021 3:22pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Maybe someone should take a ‘look’
    
    5 4
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    March 30, 2021 3:32pm
    - sooty
      
      Up end it!
      
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      March 30, 2021 6:01pm
    - Tall Man
      
      You go for it… Me, I’ll have another rum thanks….. at least then I’ll know what made me sick 😉
      
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      March 30, 2021 6:21pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  I think its a him.
  
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  March 30, 2021 4:32pm
Black Propaganda

Mika X need I say more represents all that is wrong in NZ, woke and corrupt.
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March 30, 2021 12:37pm
- rererangihirihiri
  
  I give you Mika X and raise you a Javen Gulter.
  Grief.
  
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  March 30, 2021 2:00pm
- Rich Prick
  
  That odd character and Labour Party fanboy Jevan Goulter is involved too according to Stuffed. I’m not surprised.
  
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  March 30, 2021 2:43pm
Maggie Pie

BREAKING!!

Imagine the disruption if it had been across the narrowest part….

https://twitter.com/WakaKotahiAKNth/status/1376682442078179332
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March 30, 2021 1:22pm
- Don Beckett
  
  According to my limited translation of Te Reo, ‘Waka kotahi’ literally means ‘first canoe’. I realise that ‘waka’ has now morphed into other means of transport, like cars. But how, in hades, can it mean ‘Road Transport, NZ’? or whatever its supposed to mean?
  All bullshit.
  
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  March 30, 2021 4:00pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Just call every department, commission and quango Hangi Hongihaka.
    
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    March 30, 2021 4:56pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    Don Beckett:
    
    I remember reading a Stuff or NZ Herald article a few months ago that mentioned a “Senior Journey Manager” title – like this:
    
    “It’s been a long, stressful year for many people, and holiday traffic is predicted to be particularly busy this year from domestic tourism due to pent up travel demand and the lack of international travel options. Kiwis will be exploring our own backyard in record numbers, and that means the roads to and from our popular holiday spots are likely to be very busy,” says Waka Kotahi Senior Journey Manager Neil Walker.
    
    I guess that a junior journey manager wasn’t available, or wasn’t considered sufficiently senior enough, to state the obvious.
    
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    March 30, 2021 5:08pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Actually, on reflection, when I studied Te Reo for a couple of terms back in 1975, we were taught that the word for ‘car’ in Te Reo, was ‘motoka’ – obviously a maorification of ‘motor car’ So why do they use ‘waka’ ??
      There are quite a number of english words that were ‘maorified’ – like soap – hope; sugar – huga; horse – hoihoi; and so on, which is understandable and reasonable, because Maori had never seen or heard of these things until the arrival of Europeans: – you know, those horrible peaple who brought these new things for Maori to enjoy, and also brought English Law, so the young men & the tribes stopped killing each other – one of the main reasons why the wise old chiefs chose the British to make a deal with & bring British Justice.
      
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      March 30, 2021 5:24pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        My H.M. Ngata ‘English-Maori Dictionary” has:
        
        car – kā and motokā
        canoe – waka
        
        My H.W. Williams “A dictionary of the Maori language gives 6 meanings for Waka:
        1. A canoe
        2. A long, narrow receptacle
        3. Medium of an atua (a supernatural entity)
        4. Crew of a canoe
        5. Tribe
        6. Flock of birds
        
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        March 30, 2021 5:47pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Lily4liberty (Lily Tang Williams) American Chinese immigrant. Conservative of course. This is from my FB memories folder. It had two photos of her visitors, you may find them on her FB. It applies here in NZ as well. Long – sorry.
Lily4Liberty
30 March 2018 ·
About two years ago, I had a few friends from mainland China to visit us and went to my campaign event for U.S. Senate. I took the initiative to drive them to a gun shop. At beginning they were really worried and kept asking me if this gun store is legal. I had to give them a quick lesson of our 2nd Amendment right in the car.
After we got there, I explained to the manager that these ladies from China never touched guns due to the ban of gun ownership by the government. I asked him if he could allow them to hold the rifles and teach them how to aim. The manager and staff were very understanding, they gave us lots of time to learn and play with different types of guns. My friends were so excited and happy like children with their sense of temporary freedom.
They know they are not free people in China even though they can afford to buy luxury goods in the U.S. They felt helpless and sad that they could not be trusted to have the right to bear arms.
The Chinese government keeps brainwashing its citizens “guns are bad for public safety”. 1.4 billion people are disarmed today while the “Social Credit System” was pushed down to track speech and behaviors, term limit of the president was thrown out, home churches were shut down, dissidents were silenced and locked up, etc. The oppressive tyrannical government can do whatever it wants to its citizens with their absolutely power of controlling guns.
Some people in America today want to “repeal 2nd amendment” so only the ruling class elites can control guns and protected by their armed guards. Many people including our students support gun control so they can feel safe. The truth is the big government loves for us to believe that so they have us totally controlled and citizens won’t feel safe at all when they live in a police state. They brainwash our naïve young students to cheer for their agenda like Mao used Red Guards to purge his political enemies. This is very and very dangerous.
I urge you, all the law abiding American citizens, the silent majority to speak up and push back. GUN CONTROL IS PEOPLE CONTROL. DON’T EVER GIVE UP YOUR GUNS.
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March 30, 2021 2:13pm
- Tall Man
  
  Switzerland and NZ have had similar ownership levels.
  
  Previously Switzerland had roughly twice the rate of Firearm deaths to that of NZ.
  
  Since the “highly successful buyback” ….. I wonder what our rate is now……
  
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  March 30, 2021 6:16pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Border control Breaches from June 2020 until 29 March 2021

https://sciblogs.co.nz/public-health-expert/2021/03/30/to-ensure-success-of-the-trans-tasman-travel-green-zone-we-need-to-reduce-system-failures-at-the-nz-border/
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March 30, 2021 3:14pm
Maggie Pie

Just take my money……. 😀

https://twitter.com/FlindersEmma/status/1376264400668090369
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March 30, 2021 3:24pm
- Tall Man
  
  For the shoes, the umbrellas or ….. the Hamster with the nice suit…….
  
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  March 30, 2021 6:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

“The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.” -Thomas Sowell.

Feelz, where have we heard that??
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March 30, 2021 3:34pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Whenever someone announces they are sympathetic to socialism, I make a mental note this is someone who would murder me and my children, and grandchildren, if they thought it would further their cause.
As has happened, but not yet in NZ?? Dunno about that
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March 30, 2021 4:01pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/300265848/waikato-university-to-cut-17-roles-from-its-science-faculty
But I bet that very soon they will announce a new faculty of maori-centric touchy-feely LGBTQ well-being climate-change green crap.
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March 30, 2021 4:40pm

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