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May 6, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 06 May 2021

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General Debate

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Happychappy

Public Service Association outraged at Government pay freeze for workers.
While I have no time for Unions or those on the public tit really they have reaped what they sow and this is how your Celebrity Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wants to pay you for your loyalty.
We have a shortage of Doctors and Nurses now in health, this dispite Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and many other Labour Party Ministers repeatedly blaming National for.nine years of neglect and under investment nearly four years later.
Labour and Jacinda Ardern keep promising to fix thing but keep repeated the mistakes so you need to play your part just like everyone else.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/public-service-association-outraged-at-government-s-pay-freeze-for-workers.html
You have to remember the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
Gathered Labours Vote from the centre of New Zealand Politics and promised them plenty and there is no way in hell the Unions and those that have supported Labour all of their lives will change that now she has complete power, as she will always blame others , lie and decieve to stay in power as long as the star struck continue to treat her like God.
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May 6, 2021 8:01am
- Paulus
  
  Please advise me, when Ardern/Robertson say no increases for three years does this mean in fact that the Public Servants will get no increase money in their wage packets ?
  As I believe the PS works entirely on Pay Scales – does this mean that the pay scales will get no more money for three years – but the PS will as usual go up within their pay scales and they will in fact get more money in their pay packets as usual ?
  Have never understood the whole thing.
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:26am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    People will still go up the scales. I used this approach in Defence during the GFC. I knew that just about everyone, especially in lower ranks, went up one level on the scale each year. So while there was no general percentage pay increase, most people employed in the NZDF did get more each year. Of course if someone was already at the top of the scale they didn’t get an increase, unless they were promoted to the next rank.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:14am
    - cmm
      
      So it’s basically a way to deceive the population. Tell Joe Taxpayer that you’re making pay freezes when, in fact, you aren’t.
      
      Joe Taxpayer, of course, has no such luxuries. Pay freeze means pay freeze.
      
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      May 6, 2021 11:11am
  - Ehlana
    
    I suspect automatic increments will still happen.
    
    Remember public servants belong to Unions, who will negotiate on their behalf with their employer, our servants the Government. Imagine the bargaining environment created by this announcement – especially given that the Labour Party is supported by Unions.
    
    We could be in for a winter of discontent.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:16am
    - Local Miller
      
      I suspect we will see a lot of PS strikes over the next year or two.
      Wasn’t this the PTPM who promised no strikes on her watch?
      
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      May 6, 2021 9:46am
      - doggone7
        
        No.
        
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        May 6, 2021 10:12am
      - cmm
        
        She doesn’t use a watch anymore. She has a cellphone. See – heaps of wiggle room!
        
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        May 6, 2021 11:13am
    - Maxx
      
      Also a lot of those contracts have forward looking increases already set e.g. 5% increase this year, 3% next. And if it’s in a contract they can’t go back on it.
      
      Those organisations who are due to renegotiate though will have unhappy staff. Still, they’ll vote for Labour, or as a protest, Greens.
      
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      May 6, 2021 1:30pm
  - MCos
    
    In the good old days when I was a public servant my salary increased every year because I moved up a pay scale due to having another years work experience.
    But then I started straight from school & I left after about four years by which time I knew a lot more about what I was doing.
    Basically there was a promotion after every year. I expect once you get up into the areas where the current freeze applies it’s a different ballgame & a promotion means a new designation with added responsibility. Someone could stay for years in the one position.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:24am
  - igm
    
    They suffered no losses under the illegal lockdowns, so why are they whinging now?
    Time to drain the swamp, there being an extra 10,000 put on so far, under this useless government’s reign of incompetence.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:54am
  - peterwn
    
    In many cases an employee will become more skillful and productive as the employee gains experience and this is the rationale behind pay increments. Of course this is a rather blunt HR implement since an employee may be in a job (eg a factory assembly line) where these attributes make little difference to the work being performed. Contrast with a Treasury person preparing reports for Ministers and Cabinet Committees. A beginner would need significant guidance on this and could even be a slight liability but a person who makes the most of the position, gains experience and understands ‘culture’ becomes more and more useful in the role even though there is no formal promotion available in that role. So it is only reasonable the employee’s pay should be incremented annually as the employee becomes more valuable. Up to 1961, the Public Service did not have these wide salary bands and employees had to seek formal promotion by applying for positions and this resulted in an excessive number of public servants each year needing to re-locate to different towns to obtain pay rises which was overall inefficient.
    What would be appropriate is if employees could have their pay decremented if they become less productive such as when nearing retirement, but this is not going to happen. The Snowy Mountains Authority (responsible for building a string of hydro power stations in the Snowy Mountains, NSW) practiced this.
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:13am
    - Flossie
      
      Why would you imagine someone becomes less productive as they get nearer to retirement? Often these employees have so much to offer in teaching newer staff members. Seems ageist to me.
      
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      May 6, 2021 2:08pm
- MCos
  
  “I have no time for . . . . those on the public tit”
  
  Is that right?
  
  You might be able to do without the police, firefighters, teachers, health workers, whoever processes National Super, and all the other public servants in this country, but others might struggle.
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:37am
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    MCos many public servants do a bloody good job but if you look at the wording Happychappy is calling out those who are not these types and are in fact on the public teat offering very little in return.
    Even you should be able to agree that there are far too many of this type in government departments and they give the good staff a bad name.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:29am
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      There is also a little thing called pay parity, once one gets it, the freeloaders pile on in behind them.
      
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      May 6, 2021 12:40pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    You’ll be alright though, after all you have a whopping 4 years’ experience on the public tit.
    
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    May 6, 2021 3:22pm
- rockape
  
  The nurses union is being a bit two faced. They had a month ago accepted pay rises for the lower paid and just under inflation for most. Now they have a strike planned just the timing to decide so expect trouble. Not just unions v the Government ( the nurses union are joined at the hip with Labour) but nurses v there union.. If 6ou think waiting lists are long now watch what happens in a couple of months at the height of winter.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:04am
  - JackRabbit
    
    I disagree rockape. There will those who want more money and these people never progress themselves.
    
    In the past, I have always viewed the nurses striking as greedy types simply trying to extort more money. However for many dedicated and registered nurses they are there because it is their calling. They work in what a significant percentage of the time is a thankless task, save for the outcomes when people get well. Many suffer burnout trying to do the right thing. And when trying to do the right thing becomes too overwhelming, standards slip and people cut corners.
    
    I have been aware for a couple of months of the upcoming nurses strike, which is not only about money. The primary reason is the screwed up systems and management that drives them bonkers that they are unhappy with. If this was not this factor, there would be no strike. Asking for more money is a natural consequence to make up for the crap they have to work under. People will actually work for less money if they are not made to work in an environment that resembles the mad hatters tea party. And it is only going to get worse under Little’s management and centralisation of control.
    
    We should take heed of when Richard Branson started Virgin Air, staff left British Airways in droves to go work for Virgin Air for a lot less money. Why? Because they were sick of the bullshit at British Airways.
    
    I think the freezing of wages is deliberate. It will create discord and resentment and end up in lower quality outcomes. It is all part of the Labour agenda of shared misery on the path to communism and control.
    
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    May 6, 2021 1:28pm
    - rockape
      
      I disagree it’s not about money. I see all the unions mail to nurses plus some of the feedback. Burnout is an excuse, it’s all about money. Yes I am married to a nurse at the top of her profession in the most stressful department. So I have an idea. The nurses suffering burnout are the ones who can’t cope because they have done nothing to improve themselves since qualifying. She recruits to her ED and gets nurses who don’t want nights, don’t want weekends because the boyfriend won’t like it.
      
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      May 6, 2021 2:00pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        That may be true from reading the union’s email, and maybe your wife is a real stalwart who is not impacted by the games that people play, but not everyone is probably as resilient as her. From personal experience, there are a lot of very good front line staff, but also glaring inadequacies in the management and systems that not everyone can deal with.
        
        We all know that unions are a scourge on a free society, and will do anything to make themselves important, instigating striking to show they “care” about the union members. Everyone is however not equal, so the further away from unions and union based wage negotiations we can get, the better. I do not approve of unions or strikes, but was merely pointing out that the impetus for the upcoming strike was not merely money. I have never found the withdrawal of labour a solution, unless the withdrawal of labour is tendering a resignation on the journey to a better job.
        
        The British Airways example shows us that not everyone favours money at the expense of personal sanity and/or quality of service to the customers or patients.
        
        We should not therefore lump all and every concern raised by nursing staff as simply a militant reason to get more money. Unions of course don’t give a shyte, they just act to justify their own existence.
        
        “She recruits to her ED and gets nurses who don’t want nights, don’t want weekends because the boyfriend won’t like it.”
        
        Your statement above actually confirms what I am saying.
        
        This is a management issue, as from day one, no-one should have given these nurses the expectation they could avoid working nights, and at some stage, someone in management went soft and started making exceptions, which then became an ingrained habit. Shift work is a part of any business or service that operates 24/7.
        
        Bad employees, like weeds, need to weeded out early in the process, so it never impacts the customer (patient).
        
        Personally, if I was being attended to by your wife, and I heard about the lazy staff, I would encourage her to stand her ground with HR and demand change.
        
        When we fail to demand change, we become part of the system we depise. I have no doubt your wife is very capable, having reached the top of her profession, but burnout takes many forms. Giving up on challenging the system is just another form of burnout. I have a lot of empathy for what your wife must have to put up.
        
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        May 6, 2021 4:03pm
- doublehappy
  
  The swamp will still vote for her. They know which side of the fence will create a bigger and bigger swamp and who will bribe the swamp creatures with higher and higher amounts of dollars and privileges.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:06am
  - MCos
    
    Who exactly is this swamp you refer to?
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:26am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      You better make an appointment at Specsavers
      
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      May 6, 2021 10:19am
- NoCash
  
  BTW, have the ministers had their salaries cut like they had promised yet?
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:55am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    And you believed them, silly you.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:42pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  The great unwashed of NZ still worship her. So expect a Labour-Green gummit in 2023.
  
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  May 6, 2021 12:54pm
  - NoCash
    
    Also don’t forget the wedding… the wedding.
    
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    May 6, 2021 1:26pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    No rational person should be expecting or looking forward to a “Labour-Green gummit” in 2023. That is just giving up hope. Once hope of a good outcome is gone, so is any action towards that good outcome.
    
    It is actually pessimistic and extremely arrogant to think “the great unwashed of NZ still worship her.”
    [1] It is assuming that the majority of people are thick and can’t think, and that they have not evolved to your lofty intellectual heights. You will never change or educate anyone if you hold the view they are beneath you..
    [2] Change happens when people, unafraid, and in the midst of what appears negative views, speaks his truths boldly and clearly. It is much better to not give up; to try and succeed; or try and fail; rather than be a total pessimistic loser who gives up before the journey has started.
    
    Giving up at the outset is the attitude of a loser.
    Calling them the great unwashed is arrogant. Perhaps it is you that is unwashed.
    
    “There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”
    
    “One free man will say with truth what he thinks and feels amongst thousands of men who by their acts and words attest exactly the opposite. It would seem that he who sincerely expressed his thought must remain alone, whereas it generally happens that every one else, or the majority at least, have been thinking and feeling the same things but without expressing them.”
    
    Two very apt quotes by Leo Tolstoy.
    
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    May 6, 2021 7:44pm
BeaB

I wonder what the tally is of announcements made but the job not done.
Not only has this government squandered millions, it has wasted years – time we can never make up.
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May 6, 2021 8:07am
Yvette

The House Speaker accused a man of sexual assault, after previously apologising to the same person for falsely accusing him of rape.
“That man’s life was destroyed when he sexually assaulted a woman,” Mallard said.
Police told 1 NEWS the matter the Speaker was referring to last night was fully investigated, the evidence was thoroughly assessed, and no charges were filed. – TVNZ

It would seem from these statements that Mallard has mislead Parliament – accusing a man of a crime when investigating Police have found nothing to lay a charge against.

Otherwise, Mallard surely mislead Parliament, in admitting he knew his initial allegations were false, by his own admission, 24 hours after he’d made them. But Mallard did not correct the position until 18 months later and after a defamation battle cost taxpayers $333,600, with further costs still possible through other legal action.

Which also raises the question, Can Prime Minister Ardern reasonably support a Speaker who may have mislead Parliament perhaps more than once – either May 2019 (accusing the man of rape) then for 18 months (believing himself wrong but not saying so), or now (accusing the man of another crime, while investigating Police say there are no charges)?

Is legal action still underway between the Staffer and his Parliamentary employer?
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May 6, 2021 8:10am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Is legal action still underway between the Staffer and his Parliamentary employer?
  
  Yes,
  this was confirmed in Tuesday’s debate:
  
  because we have had a revelation that there is a separate legal process under way, which is almost certain to cost the taxpayer more money, and that is—I now know and the chief executive wasn’t prepared to say it, but it is a personal grievance under the Employment Relations Act—that he told the Governance and the Administration Committee, on 10 March, that he was not prepared to settle. In fact, the Minister answered a written question about whether he thought settlement could be achieved before reaching the Employment Court. The one-word answer was “No.” When I asked Mr Gonzalez-Montero, “Why?”, he was quite bullish; he said he would rather lose the case and be right than settle with this fellow. Now, that is, I think, a reflection of a process that is going to lead to a significant sum of money needing to be paid by the taxpayer. It’s not his money. It’s not Mr Speaker’s money, either. It’s the taxpayers’ money.
  
  https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20210504_20210504
  
  Jacinda Ardern talks about natural justice for this ex-public servant…. but sure looks like he’s never going to receive it from her Government.
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:22am
  - I remember when
    
    MPI said it is currently in the process of working on a business case for creating biofuels from forestry waste.
    (Investigation in the use of ‘slash’ on the East Coast decided that the collection of such material was difficult and costly in hilly country.)
    NZ Forest Service says it will help the country transition away from coal and petroleum.
    Jason Wilson, director of sector investments at NZFS, said although a biofuels industry had potential for creating jobs and boosting regional centres, it would require ‘significant investment.’
    
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    May 6, 2021 8:42am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Im hoping Mallard doesnt resign and Cindy doesnt sack him (not that she would).
  Mallard has painted a big target on his forehead. Nats/ACT should go after him in every way. Ridicule him in the House at every opportunity. Get under his skin. Get thrown out. Leep highlighting the issue and that hw is unftit to hold office.
  At some point there will be cut through with the Sheeple there always is even though 99% of them are pig ignorant when it comes to governance and governance processes.
  The longer the Nats/ACT can drag this out hopefully until 23 the better.
  And we on KB need to keep it to the fore telling everyone and anyone that the so called Speaker of the House lacks the ethics and morals to hold the position.
  
  BTW that woman Prime is a trolley case and a nasty bit of works as my dear old Mum used to say.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:55am
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    A note of sympathy for Matt King, who had been a wonderful hard working honest constituency MP for Northland. To lose an election is tough luck. But to lose to a trolley case like Willow Jean must be a severe embarrassment.
    Last time I saw a result like that was when Stephen Franks, one of greatest MP’s, lost to an over weight derelict dickhead in Wellington Central, about 2008, or was it 2011?
    I recall Stephen saying that if I can tweak three pieces of legislation per year; that is, removing the ambiguity from them; then I have earned my keep. Because arguing about ambiguous law will cost each side of the argument about $60,000, and I will have saved them that money.
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:47am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Sheeple of Northland, Sheeple of Taranai, Sheeple of West Coast – We have lots of sheeple in this country. Oh please add Sheeple of Lower Hutt, who elected Gin Gin Ginny.
      
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      May 6, 2021 12:56pm
  - cmm
    
    While that might all score some beltway brownie points it won’t really matter to Joe Punter.
    
    All they will see is Act and National misbehaving and being thrown out of the house. Not a good vote winning strategy.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:17am
  - Paulus
    
    No, No, No, please keep Mallard best Ardern advert there is !
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:17am
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    I watched W-J Prime making a tit of herself in Tuesday’s committee, but also noticed the two people behind her who were in the camera shot concentrating on their phones. They probably wouldn’t have noticed if the fire alarm had gone off, and it occurred to me that if they were knitting they’d at least have something to show for the evening.
    
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    May 6, 2021 3:17pm
- Yvette
  
  The man was investigated by Parliamentary Services, which found the claims were unsubstantiated. [1]
  
  Accusations “unsubstantiated” in an investigation by Parliamentary Services, as well as –
  Police told 1 NEWS the matter the Speaker was referring to last night was fully investigated, the evidence was thoroughly assessed, and no charges were filed. – TVNZ
  
  How many investigations does Ardern need before she acts?
  
  [1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/trevor-mallard-apologises-for-accusing-parliamentary-staffer-of-rape/EO7VZ74CHYC5S3C42RTPDRJW5Y/
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:52am
Maggy Wassilieff

Looks like Mallard’s senior colleagues tried talking some sense into him…

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pms-failed-bid-to-rein-trevor-mallard-in

but, as with most of their endeavours, it was a FAIL.
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May 6, 2021 8:16am
- Maggie Pie
  
  The left-wing Twitterati are really pushing the narrative that Trev is on the side of the Complainant…..but National have come out on the side of the Perp.
  Even vids of JK pulling ponytails are trending again!
  
  In the wrong hands Twitter can be such a cesspit 🙁
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:33am
  - Lance
    
    Twitter has been crap for years now.
    
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    May 6, 2021 8:48am
    - Tall Man
      
      Think I mentioned the “spinning turds” on twitter the other day.
      
      Must have hit a nerve, made Maggie rather cross….
      
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      May 6, 2021 10:14am
  - Martin Williams
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Trev is on the side of the Complainant…..but National have come out on the side of the Perp.
    
    Patently true. The Law and Order party smashes the hypocrisy meter with this one.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:46am
    - Batman
      
      The lefts spinning of this angle is so patently ridiculous that I do wonder how any of you lie still on bed at night
      
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      May 6, 2021 9:51am
      - Martin Williams
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        National are desperate to keep the sexual harasser in the news, as is he himself, and his agent, Barry Soper.
        
        It can only be for political reasons.
        
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        May 6, 2021 9:54am
      - Batman
        
        Or its just that Mallard smeared a public servant and then lied about it, losing a defamation claim on that way through.
        
        But you’re right… It must be a political conspiracy against the blameless Labour Speaker ?
        
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        May 6, 2021 10:40am
      - Tall Man
        
        At least you noted that they do in fact “lie”…..
        
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        May 6, 2021 10:15am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Or its just that Mallard smeared a public servant and then lied about it, losing a defamation claim on that way through.
        
        Not the first time Mallard has done this either. Does anyone remember Erin Leigh?
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5638025/Whistleblower-wins-defamation-appeal
        
        Mallard engineered her sacking, then smeared her under parliamentary privilege. Ms Leigh went all the way to the Supreme Court to win the right to sue Mallard for defamation, although she later elected not to file suit; the win in the Supreme Court was vindication enough.
        
        But there does seem to be a certain pattern to Mallard’s bully-like behaviour, which is why he was never a good fit for the role of Speaker.
        
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        May 6, 2021 11:48am
    - graham
      
      Trevor is only on one side – his own.
      
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      May 6, 2021 9:56am
    - BeaB
      
      Anyone who doubts the truths in Animal Farm just needs to read Martin Williams’s contorted ethics as he defends to the end the indefensible.
      The ‘party of law and order’ is in fact standing up f0r due process, not a deranged kangaroo court by a hysterical middle-aged man who can’t keep his temper in check.
      Parliamentary privilege was never intended to allow bullies like Mallard to wilfully blacken the names and reputations of citizens.
      Whatever the truth of the matter, the police and the man’s employers found no case to answer.
      To add to the folly of Martin Williams and his other useful idiots, what planet does Gonzalez-Montero live on where losing your case proves you are right?
      
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      May 6, 2021 10:47am
- Local Miller
  
  The choice of picture to head this Newsroom article is telling. An old photo with the PTPM holding Neve, who at almost 3 years now is a lot older than in this photo. Which begs the question, why use such an old photo and not a more current on? I’d suggest:
  1) It has baby Neve in it.
  2) Ardern looks less worn out than she currently looks.
  I thought the aim was to not use neve for political purposes!
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:50am
  - kowtow
    
    TV3 “news” led with a feel good story about a missing child found .
    The real story , a few down the listings was of course the Bully Mallard , 4 th in order of precedence under the constitution , acting totally out of order for his position .
    
    But hey , it’s only the constitution , so the Teddy Bear Cultists will always be more impressed with relatively shallow feel good stories ………. unless it’s an attack on the Nasty Nats , you know the people who’d have killed us with the virus.
    
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    May 6, 2021 8:57am
    - Paulus
      
      Well it is only $105,000,000 !
      So top up needed.
      
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      May 6, 2021 11:20am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Are you not getting ready to attend the Queen of NZ’s wedding? Stop talking and get ready.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:58pm
- David Garrett
  
  Maggy (or some other kind person): I have tried in vain to follow various links to the ENTIRE debate involving Mallard the other night…I haven’t been able to.
  
  Would you kindly post up a link or links here, or give me step by step instructions on how to view the content? So far all I have been able to see is 4 minutes odd of Chris Bishop…I would like to see Mallard melting down.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:15am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    It’s not easy to locate as a one-off… as it is happened in the Tuesday evening Annual Review debate…
    You’ll find the written account near the end of Tuesday’s Hansard
    
    https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20210504_20210504
    
    The video clips that encompass this are from Video 85-90s
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:49am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20210504_20210504/tab/video?page=3&mode=form
      
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      May 6, 2021 10:56am
  - Paulus
    
    Sorry cannot see the Mallard breakdown – video broke down then.
    Need more batteries at $105,000,000.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:21am
- gravedodger
  
  Normal delivery Maggy
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:19am
kowtow

In an Orwellian twist of newspeak parliament voted to condemn human rights abuses against one single minority in the one party state the PRC .

Well knock me over with a feather , what about the fact that human rights aren’t some thing anyone there enjoys .
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May 6, 2021 8:22am
Simon

Implementation unit headed by Robertson. To get this new office off the ground Labour will have to bring in outside help.
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May 6, 2021 8:24am
- kowtow
  
  Implementation Unit Department.
  
  IUD and Robbo’s the inserter .
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:27am
I remember when

When did the Manifesto mix-up happen?
Labour now going gangbusters on ‘climate change’ and the environment.
Two areas where there is always someone else to blame and the targets aren’t too definite.
In the meantime, the Greens are spending all their energies arguing on behalf of the poor, disadvantaged and on welfare issues.
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May 6, 2021 8:24am
- mandk
  
  Labour have no right to justify anything on the grounds that it was in the manifesto.
  
  The manifesto wasn’t published until a few days before the election date, when more than half the votes had already been cast.
  
  Labour’s election was an endorsement of how the government had handled COVID.
  
  Labour had no mandate for anything else.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:14am
  - I remember when
    
    So the election was an endorsement of the fact that we are a little, isolated, group of islands and Labour intend to keep it that way?
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:03am
  - Paulus
    
    Look, Robertson is not in charge he is only the puppet of Ardern and her cronies who does only what he is told.
    He is for the ultimate fall not Ardern.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:23am
  - Paulus
    
    Early voting must be reviewed – sorry that is not what Ardern wants.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:24am
Tomtoddy

The Mallard debacle tell us more about Ardern and labour generally than it does about Mallard himself. We already knew he was a vicious bully, unfit for any role in Parliament – even a toilet cleaner – a long term trougher driven by vindictive behaviour.

What it does confirm is that Labour could not care less about basic truthfulness, integrity, care of others, women’s rights and those who serve them.

It also confirms that Ardern is not a leader, has no moral compass, no fortitude for taking action, no appreciation of the rule of law, tradition or the integrity of Parliament.
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May 6, 2021 8:25am
- Cinematic
  
  Labour doesn’t have to care. That’s the awful reality. A healthy majority and a feeble media means they can do pretty much whatever they like.
  
  30 0
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  May 6, 2021 8:27am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Excellent observation and thanks for finally seeing the truth which I have been preaching for the last few years.
    
    2 1
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    May 6, 2021 3:15pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Ardern has shown she has no moral compass on numerous occasions.
  
  She washed her hands of any knowledge of a sexual abuser in her inner group.
  
  She knew nothing of the abuse that had occurred at the Young Labour camp.
  
  She has been unconcerned that a parliamentary staffer was defamed by her speaker and continues to be denied justice.
  
  Our PM is a total embarrassment.
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:44am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    She supported Trevor Mallard’s election as Speaker, despite knowing his history of intemperate behaviour, and his visceral hatred of the National Party. That in iteself calls her judgment into question.
    
    49 2
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    May 6, 2021 8:59am
    - Martin Williams
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      His visceral hatred of the National Party
      
      Nothing wrong with that!
      
      2 44
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      May 6, 2021 9:52am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        Martin outs himself as an ignoramus. Again.
        
        32 2
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        May 6, 2021 10:26am
    - SB2
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Tony Stuart, and your visceral hatred of Labour.
      
      Aye?
      
      2 34
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      May 6, 2021 10:20am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        There’s only one thing I hate SB, and that’s brussels sprouts!
        
        And in any event, I am a mere citizen, not the Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament, where one of the key requirements of the job is to treat all members equally:
        
        Despite this, the Speaker of New Zealand’s House of Representatives is allowed to maintain links with their political party, but must not show political bias when chairing business in the House. The Speaker must not show either preference or disrespect for any political party, for the Government, or the Opposition. All members of the House must be treated equally.
        
        https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/office-of-the-speaker/role-history-of-the-speaker/role-election-of-the-speaker/
        
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        May 6, 2021 11:53am
- I remember when
  
  Wasn’t it great to see “Scuttle” Mallard trying to disappear afterwards.
  Scuttleduck
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:49am
Tomtoddy

Silly old duffer Peter Dunne says Ardern can not fire Mallard.

You are flat wrong, Mr Dunne. If she withdrew her support he would be gone by lunch time. In fact gone before breakfast. She keeps this disgrace in his high paid job every minute of his day.
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May 6, 2021 8:31am
- nathie
  
  Fully agree, Ardern is deflecting as usual and although she apparently doesn’t have the power to force Mallard’s resignation, if she withdraws that support then Mallard will be forced to reflect upon his situation and realise he ought to do the right thing and (voluntarily) resign as speaker. (Plus behind the scenes senior Labour staffers would “help” Mallard reach that conclusion).
  
  And if or when that happens, Mallard remains as an MP so will continue to draw a rather high salary, in other words unlike other MP’s that have “done something” and resigned, Mallard will still have his snout in the trough … which is a shame but basically he has nothing to lose.
  
  So all eyes are back focusing on Ardern to do the right thing.
  
  Funnily enough many of us here said this last year when this all last blew up, that is, if Ardern doesn’t act to withdraw support for Mallard then he will continue to be the dead albatross around Ardern’s neck.
  
  Oh dear, looks like Ardern is a very slow learner …
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:52am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Mr Speaker, a.k.a. Mallard, is an appointee of the House. Peter Dunne is probably correct. The House as whole would need to withdraw their support. I’m no expert on this procedural area. A threat conveyed to Mallard that Labour intend to move a motion for his replacement by another nominee may be sufficient.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:55am
  - Paulus
    
    But she has a majority for another two and a half years – so sod off.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:26am
  - tf78
    
    nathie, knowing the trougher he is, if he did leave he’d pop up in some Local Government roll before you could blink.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:47pm
- mandk
  
  I heard Dunne talking to Heather DPA last night, and I think he was making a different point.
  
  Of course she can, in effect, fire him, but that would turn the spotlight on her for a) approving him in the first place, and b) not showing the door earlier.
  
  It would bring her judgment and her management into question.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:19am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yep,
    Ardern and Mallard are co-dependants.
    
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    May 6, 2021 9:59am
  - Local Miller
    
    No, what Dunne said was that The Speaker is appointed by Parliament, not by the Government (Liebour), so Ardern can’t fire him a Speaker. This is why National & Act want a No confidence debate, so Parliament effectively Parliament would be asking him to resign, or fire him.
    Ardern should support the opposition in putting forward the NC debate and encourage her MPs to vote in favor. Better yet, tell the Duck she’ll do this if he doesn’t save himself the indignity by resigning first.
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:01am
    - mandk
      
      I did say that she could, in effect, fire him.
      
      The Labour MP sheep in her flock will do her bidding. If she signaled that she would vote against Mallard, so would he flock. And, if she made it clear she wanted to keep him, her flock would vote for him.
      
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      May 6, 2021 11:33am
Paulus

Still cannot see the reason for cancelling Public Service wages increases.
This looks like the Honourable Labour Voters being badly bitten by the crocodile that had been feeding them.
It will backfire !
20 1
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May 6, 2021 8:31am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Wage/price spiral. The beginning of the clamps.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:56am
- ex-golfer
  
  Did anyone se the day coming that Robbo would emulate Muldoon?
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:58am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Not possible.
    
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    May 6, 2021 1:04pm
Mike

Happy International No Diet Day!
7 16
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May 6, 2021 8:31am
- fernglas
  
  Bugger. I thought it was yesterday. Now I’ll have to pig out all over again
  
  15 0
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  May 6, 2021 9:15am
- Batman
  
  Six downticks on MMs comment?
  
  So are there six committed lifestyle dieters or is it something else???
  
  4 13
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  May 6, 2021 10:53am
  - Yabster
    
    whose mm Bats? that was posted by M wasn’t it….. or are you saying a poster for some weird reason is using two log ins…. not that he’s fooling anyone huh…
    
    8 2
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    May 6, 2021 11:25am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yeah, I’ve got two log-ins.
      
      3 4
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      May 6, 2021 2:14pm
      - Yabster
        
        why?
        
        3 0
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        May 6, 2021 3:36pm
Maggy Wassilieff

More details on the claims against the Parliamentary staffer and the “investigations” into his actions.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/barry-soper-trevor-mallards-outburst-this-week-questions-whether-he-understands-what-a-serious-sexual-assault-is/IDN3FBY3UJT5HHDCETCSL6R3LY/

No wonder Labour is so dismissive of sex assault victims if they think being raped or seriously sexually assaulted means that someone’s arms enclosed you for a few seconds.
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May 6, 2021 8:34am
- kowtow
  
  It truly is Orwellian newspeak .
  
  With socialists particularly , language is there to be manipulated and used in the idealogical / cultural revolution to whatever is the party’s agenda of the moment.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:30am
- Martin Williams
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Wow. No wonder women don’t come forward.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:57am
  - rangitoto
    
    Have many in Cindy’s office or the labour youth camp were silenced?
    
    18 1
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    May 6, 2021 11:19am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      If I recall correctly the talk at the time was that one or more complainant against the PM’s accused senior staffer had been bought off with a plum political appointment to keep them silent. Or maybe they figured that to move forward with the complaint would be public service career limiting or ending with vindictiveness of Labour and their strong hold over the public service.
      
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      May 6, 2021 12:14pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Well you do appreciate that a good looking gentleman holding the door open for a fair damsel is nothing but non-contact rape?
  
  (Of course I’m always just jealous)
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:40am
  - David Garrett
    
    Suze W: ” a fair damsel”?? Surely an outmoded, sexist and insulting term?
    
    I remember one of my very first instances of “trouble” was saying something about “dusky maidens” in Tonga who genuinely didn’t mind if a man was much older…immediate attack from Labour toadies and the MSM…
    
    I meant no disrespect to said dusky maidens…in fact I ended up married to one of them.
    
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    May 6, 2021 1:22pm
    - Suze Wainwright
      
      Isn’t ‘good looking gentleman’ outmoded, sexist & insulting now too…?
      
      5 0
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      May 6, 2021 1:43pm
- Ruawai
  
  Didn’t Labour sweep a sexual complaint under the carpet in their party in parliament? and the Labour camp children!
  
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  May 6, 2021 12:32pm
  - tf78
    
    Ruawai, Jacinda might have an open door policy because there’s so much swept under her carpet she can’t close the door.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:52pm
softail 1450

Peter Dunne may have a point ,I can’t think of one of the labour Caucus capable of running the Speakers Office ,not one.
Half of them couldn’t run a lemonade stand without help.
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May 6, 2021 8:42am
- Bobba Fret
  
  They would have to appoint a working group to run the lemonade stand.
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:23am
Maggie Pie

I hate to be mean, but when one of the girls from tennis sent this thru last night we did have to laugh 😀

“Pause vid @2.04 – can you spot ‘Ari’ from Planet of the Apes?”

https://vimeo.com/545300177
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May 6, 2021 8:46am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Is the PM feeding herself nuts in the that clip?
  
  24 3
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  May 6, 2021 8:54am
- MCos
  
  “I hate to be mean”
  
  ???
  
  4 19
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  May 6, 2021 9:05am
- Martin Williams
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  National party = Nasty party.
  
  2 41
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  May 6, 2021 10:00am
  - Batman
    
    Oh Marty, you’re reaching back into the archives for this one.
    
    Desperation is an unpleasant cologne.
    
    25 1
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    May 6, 2021 10:38am
  - Swifty
    
    “Martin Williams
    
    His visceral hatred of the National Party
    
    Nothing wrong with that!”
    
    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/05/general_debate_06_may_2021.html/comment-page-1#comment-2934742
    
    No, nothing nasty about that comment.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:25pm
  - tf78
    
    Martin, you sound just like Aunty Annette.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:56pm
Tony Stuart

Barry Soper puts the boot into Trevor Mallard, and connects:

Watching Trevor Mallard doing, what should have been his dance of death in Parliament the Tuesday night, reminded me of shooting ducks in a fairground arcade. They’re not always easy to knock down but when you connect, they disappear briefly and then reappear to be fired at again.

And the shots were certainly connecting with the Speaker who at the beginning of the onslaught sat there, intellectually moribund, refusing to take the call to get to his feet to answer questions which kept piling up until he decided to unleash his tirade, addressing few of them.

He had his own agenda, and he was sticking to it, to denigrate the man who he wrongly labelled a rapist. He was told time and time again he’d ruined this man’s life, destroying his career and making him fight a case Mallard knew from the beginning he himself could never win.

The only concession he made was the man’s life was ruined alright, but only when he committed a serious sexual assault against his accuser. Mallard’s pathetic and unbelievable excuse for wrongly calling him of being a rapist was that he didn’t understand the definition of the word.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/barry-soper-trevor-mallards-outburst-this-week-questions-whether-he-understands-what-a-serious-sexual-assault-is/IDN3FBY3UJT5HHDCETCSL6R3LY/

Barry Soper remains, as far as is known, the only journalist to have interviewed the man who was fired as a result of the allegations against him.

With Mallard having consciously and deliberately breached the confidentiality agreement around his defamation settlement with the man in question, you have to wonder whether Soper will be having another chat, this time with no confidentiality constraints. That could indeed be very damaging for Mallard, and for Jacinda Ardern, who continues to express confidence in him.

Jacinda Ardern may have thought she’d hosed down the Mallard affair yesterday by getting the Speaker in for a chat and a tut tut. In actual fact, she may have made things worse, and she may well discover that the stench is impossible to get rid of.
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May 6, 2021 8:53am
- Tomtoddy
  
  Scene: PM’s office.
  “Come in Trev. Whisky is in the cupboard beside you. Grab one for me too.”
  “Look, Cindy if you think I am backing down, girl you have another thing coming. I wont give an inch to that arsehole, Bishop. Forget it, kid.”
  “Its OK Trev. just wanted the Stuff team and our other mates to see you come in here so they will think I am whipping you”.
  “You can tell any of your Cabinet and caucus to keep their snotty noses out of this too. I’m the speaker and I stay the speaker and they better not even think of one second I am backing off. You got that clear, girl?”
  “Calm down Trevor. I will look after you. Drink up. I am in a hurry. I have another kindergarten to go to for today’s photoshoot”.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:20am
  - Nickc2
    
    Well said. Did you write for the ‘Yes Minister’ TV series by any chance? Your theme here is dead on target so it must be true. A fly on the wall perhaps?
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:40am
MCos

Here in NZ we sweat over whether Mallard should keep his job.
In Thailand a Deputy Minister keeps his job despite having spent four years in an Australia prison for importing drugs because it happened in another country.
https://www.thaienquirer.com/27143/thai-court-rules-drug-dealing-minister-can-still-hold-office/
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May 6, 2021 9:00am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Don’t give them ideas
  
  1 0
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  May 6, 2021 8:30pm
Happychappy

MP’s using sexual assault as a ‘Political Football ‘ not leading by example says Green Co- Leader Marama Davidson , with Aunties Charity Founder Jackie Clark.
Did we ever hear the same said about our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern when a deviate a senior worker out of the Prime Ministers office was accused of Sexual Assault , ‘NO’ the noise was deafening but now they need to be heard.
Both these ladies Marama Davidson and Jackie Clark now want to make statements agreeing that New Zealand’s top house of power is not leading by example when it comes to attitudes on sexual assault and victims of sexual assault.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/mps-using-sexual-assault-political-football-not-leading-example-marama-davidson-and-charity-founder
The pot calling the kettle black here especially after Jacinda Ardern promising to get Justice for the victims from the sexual assualt from a senior out of her office that was accused and with help of the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was sweep under the carpet so it did not tarnish her Leadership.
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May 6, 2021 9:13am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And did they give a stuffy poo when 2 females were assaulted during the Young Labour camp and hung out to dry by a lawyer during the Court case?
  
  LIKE HELL, they did!
  
  48 2
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  May 6, 2021 9:24am
  - Martin Williams
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Kids do silly things.
    
    Right wing, public servants should know better.
    
    1 36
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    May 6, 2021 10:13am
    - rangitoto
      
      Cindy employs right wingers for her office?
      
      12 1
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      May 6, 2021 11:21am
    - Ruawai
      
      Are you saying Trevs so called sexual assaulter is right wing?? Probably the reason he wants to take him down.
      
      12 1
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      May 6, 2021 12:37pm
    - Hollyfield
      
      Yes kids do stupid things.
      
      These were not kids. These were adults.
      
      Making excuses for people who commit sexual assaults perpetuates a rape culture.
      
      Next you’ll be blaming the woman for the length of her skirt or colour of her blouse, or because she was wearing jeans, or nail polish, or earrings.
      
      3 0
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      May 6, 2021 7:39pm
  - SB2
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    MW, typhoon in a teacup. Merely drunken party antics ,
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/labour-party-camp-scandal-guilty-plea-deal-reached-midway-through-trial/7XHZP62FEAKF63IHF7WGPDAI5Q/
    
    Put aside your wowserish hand wringing and like most us move on.
    
    1 34
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    May 6, 2021 10:30am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      and like most us move on.
      
      That’s a well-worn phrase isn’t it?
      Been used by abusers and enablers for centuries.
      
      27 2
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      May 6, 2021 11:09am
    - alex Masterley
      
      One persons drunken party antics are anothers alcohol harm. just sayn.
      
      10 0
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      May 6, 2021 2:26pm
- Nickc2
  
  Geez, you wouldn’t want to be alongside Marama Davidson in the trenches! Talking about biting the hand that feeds her.
  Then again, if she is instrumental in bringing down the Labour/Greens/Maori coalition Govt, it can only be good eh.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:32am
  - doublehappy
    
    Nick2; you must have hit a nerve. All three resident trolls down ticking instantly.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:24pm
rockape

Governments fail by the death of a thousand cuts. National are starting to ensure that happens now. The racist changes to health, local government and now the Mallard farce are providing plenty of targets. Labour’s majority is slowly eroding and if National keep up the work it will continue to do so. No civil service pay rises for three years and that’s after the next election isn’t going to help their chances either as the cost of housing and cost of living keep rising. There could be a major storm on the horizon before the next election if interest rates rise, rents rise and homelessness increases.
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May 6, 2021 9:25am
- Nickc2
  
  IMO it would be a vote winner if Judith or David were to say that if elected, their coalition Govt would repeal the pay freeze legislation/dictate within the first 100 days.
  
  14 1
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  May 6, 2021 10:27am
- SB2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  rock pe , that is only the longings inside a KB bubble .
  
  The latest Morgan poll suggests Judith’s tenure is dire and perilous.
  
  Focus on that.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:32am
  - rockape
    
    Gee here was me thinking you were a Labour insider not a National one! OR as usual just shooting your mouth off about something you have no knowledge of.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:43am
  - Badger
    
    Yip, they’re all salivating at the thought of life getting worse for the average Joe just so their team will win.
    
    2 3
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    May 6, 2021 11:50am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Roy Morgan poll 3/5/2021:
    
    Labour: 41.5% (down 4)
    National: 29.5% (up 6.5)
    
    If those movements were repeated in June (and with all the bad press Labour has had since this poll closed, that’s not unlikely!), National and Labour would be neck and neck. All the momentum is with Judith, and with four major speeches this month at National’s four regional conferences (I will be at the Lower North Island one this weekend), Judith will get some much-needed airtime. Right at the moment, I would suggest that Trevor Mallard’s tenure is far more “dire and perilous” than that of Miss Collins
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:03pm
    - Swifty
      
      Ardern can thank the CHC shootings, White Island and then Covid for her popular support.
      
      Barring an massive asteroid strike somewhere around Pukekohe it’s all downhill from here KS……
      
      15 0
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      May 6, 2021 12:15pm
      - Ruawai
        
        Why pick on Pukekohe??
        
        5 0
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        May 6, 2021 12:39pm
      - Swifty
        
        Heh.
        
        No particular reason!
        
        🙂
        
        4 0
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        May 6, 2021 2:26pm
    - Paulus
      
      Judith will only get airtime if the media’s free Bonus gets a top up !
      
      5 0
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      May 6, 2021 1:23pm
      - Bob
        
        Judith will only get airtime if the MEDIA’S FREE Bonus …DOESN”T gets a top up from Adern or Robertson.
        There corrected it for you.
        
        5 0
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        May 6, 2021 3:15pm
DeepBlue

Stopping public sector pay increases for over $100k and mostly over $60k salary, looks like a targeted tax in all but name. Public sector workers would normally expect an inflation adjustment at minimum.

Looks like good old flattening of the salary curve. No wonder Jacinds had to talk about a Summer wedding.
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May 6, 2021 9:27am
- Nickc2
  
  Who cares about the fuckin wedding? She hasn’t said there won’t be any increases to benefits for the next three years. IMO that’s where she will buy votes (beneficiaries).
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:22am
Maggie Pie

Just take my f-ing money! 😀 😀 😀

https://twitter.com/mercyastore/status/1389438282790965260
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May 6, 2021 9:31am
- hookerphil
  
  Gosh your twitter mates generally appear to lack a sense of humour or is that how a leftie floats in this world.
  
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  May 6, 2021 9:55am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I know! I’ve never met such a bunch of humorless twats!!
    
    Imagine waking up to someone like SB2 of a morning 🙁
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:11am
    - Badger
      
      I imagine it would be like waking up next to R2D2 or C3PO. “Morning, SB2!”
      
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      May 6, 2021 12:21pm
Libertarians are right

When the Derek Chauvin murder conviction came in I was concerned about the lack of the jury going back to the judge for clarifications on definitions and points of law. My understanding is that that was very unusual, especially in such a complex case.

Since then, two very important pieces of information have come out:
1) The juror who has outed himself lied on his questionnaire and looks like he might be a BLM activist (at the very least, he agrees with said activists and was definitely a prejudicial juror).
2) That same juror admitted that they would have come up with the guilty verdicts much sooner but one of the other jurors kept getting hung up over definitions etc.

So, a juror has issues with definitions but instead of going to the judge for clarifications (which is 100% what should have happened), the other jurors provide their “definitions” and the guilty verdicts are given.

This looks like there is a very high chance a pretty significant amount of bullying went on in the jury room to force the triple guilty verdict.
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May 6, 2021 9:31am
- fernglas
  
  The jury in the Chauvin case was given written directions on the law, which should have needed no clarification.
  The fact that someone agrees with BLM would not necessarily disqualify them. Half the US would fall into that category. If agreeing with BLM was a disqualification then logically, so would not agreeing
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:18am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    It clearly did though, as evidenced by one of the jurors struggling with definitions. It’s not the job of the other jurors to explain it to them – that’s the judge’s job.
    I agree with the fact that agreeing with BLM shouldn’t disqualify them, but lying on the questionnaire puts him into the group of committing crimes to further the BLM cause which should definitely disqualify him.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:16am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    It’s not a matter of agreeing with BLM fernglas. This juror attended BLM protests, dressed in BLM apparel. Quite how he could have judged Chauvin without prejudice is a real issue.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:05pm
- SB2
  
  10 hours of delibration is a good indication that the Jury had given the evidence and facts for them.
  
  Why the need to go back to the trial Judge.?
  
  Bullying in the Jury room? Evidence?
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:40am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    10 hours isn’t long at all to go through all the evidence they were given, plus the various definitions etc.
    
    To get help with points of law, especially since one of the jurors was having trouble with this.
    
    Again, if a juror is having trouble with points of law to the extent that it slows down the verdict, it’s the judge’s job to give them direction, not the other jurors. That the other jurors “gave direction” does point to a risk of bullying. As does the fact that one of the jurors lied to get on the jury (i.e. he wasn’t against doing the wrong thing to get what he considered the “right” result).
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:28am
I remember when

‘Government lays out 10-year plan for rail investment: Hamish Cardwell: RNZ’
‘The plan does not lay out definitive list of projects to get funding in the next decade, or include announcements about new money.
Some specific plans could include: reopening Stratford to Okahukura line.’
“Forgotten World Adventures guide, Dave Digby, begins -It all began 60 kilometres back at a railway crossing east of Stratford, where work on the Stratford-Okahukura Line (SOL) commenced in 1901.
You’ll follow the line east, crossing 91 bridges and passing through 24 tunnels.”
(Now used for a two day excursion using self-drive modified golf carts.)
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May 6, 2021 9:53am
- Nickc2
  
  What, 10 years? Another diversion away from the He Puapua Report and Mallard disasters IMO.
  I seriously doubt these bastards will still be in office in 2031. But, but, but, it’s only aspirational at this stage, no start date and no funding and not even shovel ready to coin an often ignored phrase.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:15am
Maggie Pie

I see where accused underage girls sex-traffiker Ghislaine Maxwell has had her trial delayed until the end of the year.
Not being someone who likes to stir, I think there is something in the timing of all this that doesn’t pass the ‘sniff test’.
In particular, I’m referring to to the separation of Bill and Melinda.
Although the news of the Gates’s break up may have seemed a bolt out of the bloo, there are hints that something has clearly been rumbling along in the background and could resurface again soon perhaps?

https://thesun.co.uk/bill-gates-jeffrey-epstein-lolita-express/amp/

Just saying.
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May 6, 2021 9:56am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Can’t get your link to work..
  
  but NYTimes did an expose a couple of years back
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:04am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    That is sooo strange! Even when I clik on yours, all I get is an ad for UGG Boots. How odd 😀
    
    Try this one – was working 5 mins ago….
    
    https://thesun.co.uk/news/9765834/bill-gates-jeffrey-epstein-lolita-express/
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:12am
- Nickc2
  
  Maggie, has been published that Bill has probably been performing horizontal gymnastics with a girlfriend from earlier times.
  https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/us-news/who-is-bill-gates-ex-girlfriend-ann-winblads-husband-alex-kline-all-you-need-to-know.html
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:05am
- mikenmildagain
  
  From the Sun:
  
  There is absolutely no suggestion Bill Gates was involved in any of Epstein’s sordid behaviour.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:13am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Because Bill Gates would sue them into the ground if they did.
    
    5 2
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    May 6, 2021 12:55pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Quite rightly, too. Somewhat unsurprisingly, most people take strong exception to being labelled as pedophiles.
      
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      May 6, 2021 2:17pm
- Inandout
  
  Joe will make it all go away because I would be willing to bet this pedo stuff goes deep into politics, and by connection must include big business. How this Ghislaine Maxwell is still alive and hasn’t had a bad accident amazes me. She must be a ‘names’ goldmine.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:29am
  - Batman
    
    Some Qoncerning Questions here Qinandout.
    
    Wink wink nudge nudge.
    
    7 4
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    May 6, 2021 10:46am
  - SB2
    
    Just a reminder Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide.
    
    Fact!
    
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/16/jeffrey-epstein-cause-of-death-coroner-report
    
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    May 6, 2021 10:49am
  - NoCash
    
    Surely Ghislaine Maxwell is on “suicide watch” right…
    
    5 3
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    May 6, 2021 11:06am
  - Paulus
    
    It is suggested that she has tapes hidden somewhere !
    I would if I was in her position currently.
    Called Insurance Policy.
    
    5 1
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    May 6, 2021 1:27pm
- SB2
  
  MP, I suspect you read too many gos mags and Wimmins Tennis club members titter tatter.I would add the sewerage overflow that is Twitter.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:43am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  I don’t understand why Gates gets so much hate. He could have spent the last 20 years sitting on his chuff doing nothing but being a self-interested mega-wealthy dick, but to his credit he has been trying hard to make a positive difference to the world. I don’t agree with him on some of his efforts but he is a genuinely great philanthropist trying to improve the human condition; he has certainly saved millions of lives in 3rd world through vaccine programs etc, is funding technology development to solve other big problems (like cheap nuclear power), and create cheap (ie economically competitive) ways of sparing use of fossil fuels and waste creation – which is a good thing in long term regardless of the the thermaggedonists pushing their bullshit. He has stuck a shit-load of his own money into trying to reduce the Covid19 deathtoll with the only approaches that had a high probability of success.
  
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  May 6, 2021 12:05pm
  - Batman
    
    Hear hear.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:14pm
- doublehappy
  
  There is a lot that is dodgy about Bill Gates; he does give to charity, but in my mind, that is a cover-up. After he sold Microsoft and said he wanted to help the world, his wealth has reportedly doubled. He is a leader in Agenda 2021 and UN 2030 and a globalist. All things that I find to be against the way most of us would like to live. Hanging around with Epstein looks like he has the same problem a lot of males have, the little head ruling the big one.
  
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  May 6, 2021 1:06pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    You write about Agenda 21, UN 2030 and globalism as if they were bad things…
    
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    May 6, 2021 2:18pm
mandk

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/05/ashburton-the-town-with-one-of-the-worst-slogans-in-nz-is-looking-for-a-new-one.html

How about some even crappier slogans for a town?

“It could be worse”
“Blink and you’ve missed nothing”
“The Queen didn’t stay here”
“We used to have a meat works”

Suggestions on a postcard, please.
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May 6, 2021 9:56am
- Pharmachick
  
  Ashburton, not Tokoroa…
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:18am
- mikenmildagain
  
  “Cashburton – we don’t have EFTPOS”
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:24am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  True story: A local told me that there was a sign on SH1 driving into Ashburton that read: “Ashburton, whatever it takes”, and someone had painted over the “it takes” part.
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:55am
  - Pharmachick
    
    There’s two small towns in Nevada on the I80, relatively adjacent to echother. Both very, very rural – most of the way to the Utah border – and very, very small. One is called Battle Mountain, the other is called Elko. When you drove through (at least in the early 00s) Battle Mountain the “welcome” sign said “Welcome to Battle Mountain, voted the armpit of America, make us your pitstop”… when you got to Elko it said “Elko, not Battle Mountain”.
    
    https://www.southpolestation.com/cis/nevada/armpit1.jpg
    
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    May 6, 2021 2:37pm
- rangitoto
  
  “This is not Huntly”
  
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  May 6, 2021 3:12pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Ashburton – better than you thought.
  
  Hang on, I think Hamilton’s already grabbed that one.
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:38pm
lazza

WORTH REPEATING:

THANKS Mr Blobby.

“Inept, incompetent, struggling to find words to describe this omnishambels of a government” …

then try ….clusterf*ck?.
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May 6, 2021 10:02am
- SB2
  
  Only in the kind of bubble that KB is!
  
  Outside a different story.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:47am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Really, then why did they need to create a ministry of delivery?
    
    10 1
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    May 6, 2021 12:57pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Why are you here?
    Just to get your daily fix of being a dick, and putting in the work to retain the title of “Kiwiblogs Dumbest Commentator”?
    
    12 1
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    May 6, 2021 12:58pm
    - Swifty
      
      His life is empty – this is his crusade.
      
      Snigger.
      
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      May 6, 2021 3:19pm
Martin Williams

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Excellent article here:

Discussion around New Zealand gangs must remember land theft, cultural suppression which led to their formation – academic

“Gangs have been responsible for murders, rapes, high levels of domestic abuse, sometimes sexual abuse, drug dealing, but we have to remember that the Māori gangs came into existence during the 1960’s as a result of the theft of Māori land, the suppression of Māori culture, particularly te reo Māori and the urbanisation of impoverished Māori families,” Taonui said.

So in fact it was colonial terrorism by white settlers and their puppet government which is responsible for the creation of gangs in this country.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/05/discussion-around-new-zealand-gangs-must-remember-land-theft-cultural-suppression-which-led-to-their-formation-academic.html
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May 6, 2021 10:08am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Except they didn’t. The Mongrel Mob for instance, were originally a bunch of European lads who formed the gang after being called a bunch of mongrel’s by a judge who banged them up in Napier prison. So the so called “academic” had better pop back to school.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:55am
  - Swifty
    
    “…some ideas are so foolish that only an intellectual could believe them..”
    
    Thomas Sowell.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:11pm
  - Cobolt24
    
    Maori petitioned the Government to stop their kids from speaking te reo at school because many Maori were living rurally and Rangatira or prominent Maori wanted them to get ahead, this wasn’t a case of those evil colonizers (as Martin would say) forcing Maori to abandon their culture. At no point were they forced to stop speaking te reo outside of schools.
    
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    May 6, 2021 1:00pm
    - Cobolt24
      
      “Suppression of Maori culture”
      I am a record collector and have hundreds of old 78s going back to the 1930s and earlier even of New Zealand recordings, if not Maori-related music, some by non-Maori artists still has Maori words included here and there. At which point did this supposed suppression of culture occur? The first feature film to be made in this country is called Hinemoa and that’s going back quite a few decades before most of those records of mine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinemoa_(1914_film)
      
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      May 6, 2021 1:15pm
      - alex Masterley
        
        Rudell Hayward produced Rewi’s last stand 2x.
        for what it is worth.
        I met Ramai many years ago.
        
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        May 6, 2021 2:52pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        We bought our Island Bay house off Witarina Harris..
        star of the 1929 film The Devil’s Pit (aka Under the Southern Cross)
        
        https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/kaleidoscope-nz-film-archive-1982
        
        When she made trips back to Wellington she’d now & again call in to check on the old place.
        
        She died at age 101.
        https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6h4/harris-witarina-te-miriarangi
        
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        May 6, 2021 4:00pm
      - Swifty
        
        Awesome Maggy.
        
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        May 6, 2021 7:02pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  No – it was choices by each and every gang member – that’s a fact.
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:10am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  There is a big time gap between 1840 and the 1960s.
  
  Quite a lot of things happened in that time….
  Social welfare payments..
  Change from a Labouring economy to one where skills were required,
  etc.
  
  Remember, most of the folks who arrived in NZ are themselves the victims of “colonisation” and they’ve got no land anywhere now to claim back.
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:19am
  - Nickc2
    
    Maggy, remember not so long ago, there was a group of Maori’s who set out to claim a portion of Paramatta NSW for themselves on grounds of ancestry. Whatever happened to that wee venture into stupidity?
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:54am
  - SB2
    
    The Brits have had a thousand years to get over the Norman occupation.
    
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    May 6, 2021 12:51pm
    - Peter S
      
      Effects can last longer than you think.
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8424904/People-with-Norman-names-wealthier-than-other-Britons.html
      
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      May 6, 2021 8:48pm
- Yabster
  
  you are so full of b/s Williams you don’t even realise it- the old we got screwed by the whitey so we can justify that by selling drugs, abusing woman, being violent and antisocial etc- does that rule only apply to Maori gangs?, can the Aussie gangs apply some bias, what about the road knights? no? just the Maori gangs huh-you are a complete moron.
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:20am
- fernglas
  
  I agree that the gangs arose as a consequence of urbanisation of Maori, as with Polynesian gangs. Similar trends appear in the US at about the same time, also arising from urbanisation. The problem is not the gangs per se, but the criminal activity they are involved with, and membership of which encourages criminal activity. What the academic is really saying is that criminal activity is a direct consequence of colonialism. I suggest that while colonialism may have led to urbanisation of Maori, involvement in criminal activity is a matter of choice. Urbanisation may have created a social environment which was conducive to people being tempted into crime, but it didn’t force them into it. Very little crime is driven by poverty.
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:25am
- graham
  
  “… but we have to remember that the Māori gangs came into existence during the 1960’s as a result of the theft of Māori land, the suppression of Māori culture, particularly te reo Māori and the urbanisation of impoverished Māori families.”
  
  Really? So I suppose that doesn’t include the Mongrel Mob then:
  
  The Mob began in the early 1960s as a small group of predominantly Pakeha youths from Wellington and Hawke’s Bay who went on to establish the gang’s name and some of its defining behaviours and symbols
  
  https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/content/9781869407292.pdf
  
  ** Edit: Apologies to In Vino Veritas and others who got in before me 🙂
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:27am
- Swifty
  
  Except that is not true.
  
  Taonui is a classic victim of the old saying “When all you carry is a hammer, everything looks like a nail…”
  
  Go back into almost all gang member’s lives and you’ll find their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were married, home-owning, working people who greatly hoped for the best for their offspring and who did as much as they could to disuade their joining of gangs.
  
  Taonui also has to explain if land theft and/or cultural suppression is the cause of gang membership and hang origin – then how come there are so many pakeha in gangs? How come so many pakeha created gangs?
  
  Men join gangs for the same reasons as they always have – to fill a perceived gap in their lives around brotherliness, membership of a group, self-identity, protection, excitement and adventure, and feeling like he-men.
  
  My sister’s youngest son is about to patch up with the Headhunters, despite everyone’s protestations. He grew up in Herne Bay to hardworking parents and went to bloody Kings – at great sacrifice and cost to his parents!
  
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  May 6, 2021 12:07pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Was colonisation really ‘terrorism’ in any sense of the word?
  Get a dictionary, dumb ass.
  Maori welcomed Pakeha amongst them for the most part, and intelligent chiefs could see the benefits – even of law, let along technology, innovation and products.
  Yet over time the deal didn’t look so good to some of them, as the balance of power shifted.
  There was never one opinion or one experience which was common to all Maori.
  
  To dumb the history of European arrival in NZ in just ‘colonisation’ is pretty sloppy thinking around the diverse impacts and regional variation.
  All too common these days.
  But to use the world terrorism, and your other adjectives – congrats, Goin’ Full Retard.
  
  Based on your posts I have seen lately, you dont have the quantity of posts of SB2, but on pure quality of dumarsery – You are perhaps Kiwiblogs Dumbest Commentator.
  
  Gangs are the outcome of land theft?
  Does this mean that tribes which didnt have land confiscated, like Te Arawa, have no gangs?
  Is there is sliding scale which shows correlation between what the government did and gang membership today?
  Are gangs more commonly caused by land taken by public works act, versus 1860’s confiscation, versus land which was gifted or sold to Pakeha?
  And so why the spike in gang membership just in the last few years?
  And what about primarily white gangs, like some of the outlaw motorcycle gangs – or the gangs establishing here which originated in Australia?
  
  So simple, so lazy, so appealing, so stupid an explanation for gang culture.
  
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  May 6, 2021 1:09pm
- alex Masterley
  
  Some-one really needs to fact check what some of these idiots who purport to be academics say. A lot is utter twaddle and bunkum in an attempt to rewrite history.
  
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  May 6, 2021 3:02pm
  - Swifty
    
    Exactly alex.
    
    His is just an opinion just the same as anyone else’s – with the exception that with a job title of (former) professor of indigenous studies at the Auckland University of Technology you can guarantee that his view is skewed far left and he has a barrow to push (it’s his livelihood after all) so you can take his views with a huge dose of salt unlike the views of your local taxi driver, barber, used car sales person or butcher.
    
    At least with them you know none of their coin is at stake when they venture forth an opinion on matters like these.
    
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    May 6, 2021 4:58pm
Martin Williams

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
The right wing call Mallard a bully. Ironic, given their recent history.

Rather than him being a bully, I think he stands up to bullies. And the bullies don’t like it.
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May 6, 2021 10:20am
- Libertarians are right
  
  He destroyed someone’s life because he wanted to look like a big strong man and then when being held accountable, bullied the guy some more, and then when being held accountable for that bullying, he bullied the guy some more again.
  
  You really are delusional.
  
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  May 6, 2021 11:12am
  - Martin Williams
    
    What century are you from? [Deleted – Mod]
    
    Mod: Do NOT make defamatory comments on this blog. First and final warning]
    
    2 31
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    December 6, 2020 11:31am
    - Tall Man
      
      Mods, I am concerned that martin is being allowed to continually defame this guy who has been charged with nothing, despite a police inquiry.
      
      According to the rules we cannot call ardern a liar repeatedly, depsite her lying repeatedly, we can’t call an anonymous poster a fucking retard, despite is being completely accurate at times but this guy, who will be known to some on this blog, can be deliberately defamed and falsely accused by an anonymous labour poster as part of a labour led campaign.
      
      Seems rather incongruous to me but then my brain is a long way away from my feet 😉
      
      [Mod: Thank you for the heads-up]
      
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      December 6, 2020 1:30pm
      - Martin Williams
        
        I’m not a Labour poster and it’s not a Labour campaign.
        
        I am surprised you claim the staffer will be known to some here. Is the staffer in fact a Kiwiblogger, Tallman?
        
        2 19
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        May 6, 2021 2:45pm
      - Tall Man
        
        What was that rule about calling someone a fucking retard again ….
        
        I always work on the “shoe fitting thingy……”
        
        However, The mods have enough to do keeping an eye on steffy so I’ll behave ……. For the moment 😉
        
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        May 6, 2021 6:14pm
    - Ruawai
      
      Innocent until proven guilty is the law in NZ.
      
      14 1
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      May 6, 2021 12:45pm
    - Libertarians are right
      
      He hugged a woman in a stressful situation (which should have got him a reprimand but she didn’t complain until years later). He commented on a woman’s hair and he kissed a woman on the cheek when she left his home after having afternoon tea.
      
      What serial groping are you taking about?
      
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      May 6, 2021 1:01pm
    - Fuzzysnuggleduck
      
      Were you quite so concerned about REAL groping at the Young Labour event (which made its way to court), or the suggestion of bullying of both men and women by a staffer in the Prime Ministers office?
      Or are you so tribal that there is no moral equivalence between what someone does; it all comes down to political allegiance?
      In any case, there was no case to answer with the Police, Mallard never even spoke with the complainant, and the only account we have of what happened is that it was an unwelcome hug.
      
      Both Mallard and Williams seem to not know the literal meaning of words:
      Single instance doesn’t mean the same thing as serial.
      A hug is not rape.
      A hug is not the same thing as groping, and a hug is not a serious sexual assault.
      It has not even been suggested that that unwanted hug was persistent, or that the accused knew they were unwelcome. Because that would be an issue.
      Nobody has used the world bullying in the accusations against this man either. That is a different type of misconduct in the modern workplace.
      
      Some people seem to be actually unhinged to a degree that they can neither see any good nor any bad in others purely based on their own allegiances.
      Fanaticism and self-delusion, and ‘not knowing what words mean’ is a scary combination.
      
      14 1
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      May 6, 2021 1:27pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Martin, martin,
  Trevor was too scared to admit that he had made a very basic and silly mistake.
  
  he seems to have confused (? deliberately) the news about the sexual abuser in Ardern’s office with some reports of inappropriate behaviour revealed by the Francis Report…. and even after having the facts clearly spelt out to him, spent the next 18 months making sure his victim would suffer.
  
  34 4
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  May 6, 2021 11:25am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    You think you know more details about sexual abuse at parliament than Mallard does?
    
    3 25
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    May 6, 2021 11:29am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      No. We think Mallard is a bully who refuses to admit he’s wrong.
      
      22 2
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      May 6, 2021 1:02pm
    - Tall Man
      
      You are also sailing close to the wind in my opinion but also posing a rather inane question.
      
      Most people seem to know more than the silly duck.
      
      12 3
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      May 6, 2021 1:31pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      You think you know more details about sexual abuse at parliament than Mallard does?
      
      Heck no.
      I’m sure Trevor Mallard knows a hell of a lot more about sexual abuse and sexual harassment at Parliament than I can ever imagine.
      
      20 3
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      May 6, 2021 2:33pm
- Swifty
  
  Hahahahahahaha!
  
  Then why have members of his own team lashed him publicly?
  
  22 1
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  May 6, 2021 11:49am
  - Tall Man
    
    Nice one Maggy.Lashing is a labour thingy … You know, members only sort of thingy ……
    
    4 0
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    May 6, 2021 6:15pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Ask Erin Leigh if she thinks Trevor Mallard was a bully when he put her out of work:
  
  https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/11/the_attack_on_erin_leigh.html
  
  27 1
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  May 6, 2021 12:08pm
Harlequin

My first thought in reading of the 3 year pay freeze, the Government has run out of other peoples money.

The country is broke hence all of the deflections {Mallard, The Wedding, etc}.
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May 6, 2021 10:37am
- rockape
  
  But yesterday Robertson was asked a few patsy questions which allowed him to tell us how wonderful and stable our economy was so why a 3 year pay freeze ? Why isnt he being kind to Nurses ,teachers and the police?
  
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  May 6, 2021 1:12pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Come on, be kind.
    
    The nurses have a massive pay rise coming, almost at the level of inflation, teachers are being very well paid for not a lot of hours in front of kids plus an appalling outcome for their students and the police … well where else do you get to go to work and play your guitar…..
    
    So as I said, be kind 😉
    
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    May 6, 2021 1:38pm
curry4me

ASTERISK PRESIDENCY: Episode 16.
Direct from Harveywood, here is this week’s episode of Asterisk Presidency. Brought to you by the CCP, MSM, Wall Street, $oros, ANTIFA, BLM, and Burisma.
If Hunter writes a sequel; will it be called Mein Krackpf? Would he be under indictment by now if he was Hunter Trump? Will coke still be woke? Will sales recover? Will the MSM start ‘fact checking’ Sleepy Joe? Will ‘VP’ Harris visit the border? Will she bring copies of her book? Will Dems wash out in the net special election? Or was Texas an anomaly? Will Pierre Delecto, and Liz Cheney make it official, and put a D after their names? Which woke colleges will close this week?
Will President Trump run in 2024? Will Sleepy Joe let kids touch his leg hairs? Which sporting event will ban BLM ‘protests’ next? Who is Sleepy Joe’s worst enemy? Is it President Trump, Corn pop, or the Teleprompter? Will social media censor more ‘untrustworthy’ content for Sleepy Joe? Which state will ban private funding of election administration next? Will it be a blue one? Which blue state will introduce ‘equity math’ net? Will any red states follow suit? Will Mitch defend Liz Cheney from Republican critics? Can she move to Harveywood and play a Republican? How many ex cops will move to SD? Stay tuned folks!
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May 6, 2021 10:38am
- Batman
  
  Lol the fact you’re upset about dedicated conservative Republican Liz Cheney for not being sufficiently obsequious to the former guy is bloody hilarious.
  
  Circling the drain level stuff.
  
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  May 6, 2021 10:44am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Please, please let Tяump run in 2024 to make America Great Again, Again. But who to put on the ticket for VP – daughter-wife or one of the Fredos?
  
  4 19
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  May 6, 2021 11:12am
  - Jack5
    
    Milky, if you want to use a Russian character to satirise Trump, “Я” doesn’t substitute for “r”.
    
    “Я” is pronounced “ya”.
    
    For an English “r” the Russian equivalent is “Р”, pretty much the same as the English character pronounced “pee”.
    
    This may be what you are looking for: “Tрump”. Doesn’t work very well.
    
    In Russian newspapers, “Trump” is “Трамп”. That’s in the subjective grammatical case. You might even see Donald Trump written in another grammatical case: “Дональду Трампу”. Pronounced (roughly) Donaldoo Trumpoo.
    
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    May 6, 2021 11:55am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Thank you. Tяump looks better. I am grateful you are not castigating me for introducing any foreign element into written English.
      
      5 4
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      May 6, 2021 2:22pm
Maggie Pie

Just who is pulling Sleepy Joe’s strings ?

https://twitter.com/ExposeTheMedia/status/1389797964508323841/photo/1
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May 6, 2021 11:03am
lazza

How about some even crappier slogans for a town?

Auckland … the town that Planners totally screwed.

Auckland … Goff’s folly

Auckland … A Council receivership in waiting

Auckland Transport … The City of Snails
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May 6, 2021 11:09am
artemisia

I see Josh Hawley’s book The Tyranny of Big Tech was appropriately published on May the 4th.

This is the book that Simon and Schuster, the original publisher, cancelled before publication.

Oh dear, looks like it is rocketing up the Amazon chrts.
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May 6, 2021 11:19am
Jack5

The mess left by World War 2 authoritarians …

Three hundred people have been in a march in Ukraine celebrating the formation of a Nazi SS Division of Ukrainians 78 years ago.

The commemoration in the western Ukraine city of Lviv, was one of so-called “Embroidery Marches” held in Ukraine celebrating collaboration with Nazis.

This march marked the formation of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the 1st Galician. The Waffen SS was held to be a criminal organisation by the Nuremburg trials, but this division was not blamed for any atrocities.

At the end of World War 2, members of the division were held in P.O.W. camps in Rimini, Italy, so perhaps some fought against the 2nd NZ Division in Italy.

The prisoners, Ukrainians, were protected by their Polish captors and by the Vatican, from being forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union, and most settled in Britain or Canada. (About 8,000 went to the U.K.)

Lviv was part of Poland when occupied by the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War 2. At least one Polish war orphan who came to New Zealand in the 1940s, the school-age son of a Lviv police chief, was held a child prisoner of the Soviet Union before a party of Polish children were released to Iran, then New Zealand.

Lviv had a large Jewish population that was murdered by the Nazis after they seized the city from the Russians.

Ukrainian celebration of ties with the Nazis has soared since relations deteriorated with Russia. The large ethnic-Russian minority resents Nazi ties being celebrated.

About 78 per cent of Ukraine’s 44 million people are ethnic Ukrainians and about 19 per cent are ethnic Russians, or are of other Slav nationalities.

Ukraine’s president, Vlodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish, and the population includes about 47,000 Jews. About 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews died at Nazi hands in World War 2.

The pro-German stance of some Ukrainians originated in the mass starvation inflicted on Ukraine by Stalin. This, called by Ukrainians the Holodomor, killed as many as 3.9 million people.
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May 6, 2021 11:36am
- mikenmildagain
  
  There were quite a few other USSR nationalities that provided many volunteers for the Nazis (presumably on the basis that their enemy’s enemy was their friend) – Cossacks, Georgians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Belarusians.
  A NZ general, Steve Weir, was prominent in the forced repatriation of the Cossacks from Austria at the end of the war – many to face execution or long prison sentences.
  
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  May 6, 2021 2:12pm
  - Jack5
    
    The Cossack repatriation was brutal.
    
    It was in May 1945, and presumably the Communists threatened – openly or by implication – that they would hold the many Allied prisoners, American and British, unless America and Britain forcibly returned the Cossacks.
    
    In hindsight: with President Roosevelt dead on April 12, could Truman could have delayed repatriation until after Hiroshima was bombed on 6 August?
    
    Then he might have demanded Stalin return German-released Allied prisoners or face Moscow being levelled into radioactive cinders.
    
    The interval from Hiroshima until Western traitors passed on atomic secrets to the Soviets should have been a golden time for America in relations with Stalin.
    
    https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Repatriation_of_Cossacks_after_World_War_II
    
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    May 6, 2021 3:22pm
Bobba Fret

“Salaries for Wellington bureaucrats have increased by $1.3 billion in just three years of a Labour government. That’s $300 million more than they increased under National over almost a decade.”

Wow, that is huge! I wondered where all the money goes.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-slam-governments-public-sector-pay-freeze-over-next-three-years-as-unacceptable-bombshell/6OKE6O3MCZJCKI7LMNHBQRU6IA/
28 1
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May 6, 2021 11:36am
- Yabster
  
  happens every time those socialists are in Government.
  
  24 1
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  May 6, 2021 12:17pm
- krazykiwi
  
  That’s a staggering increase, isn’t it? And remember, this figure doesn’t include the legions of contractors and consultants. This spend category has ballooned too, often as a result of hiring managers attempting to hide their burgeoning FTE costs.
  
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  May 6, 2021 12:40pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Wellingtonians in their bureaus.
  Once we had Public Servants with ability and professionalism.
  An executive Govt with sycophants as advisers and assistants is hopeless.
  
  11 2
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  May 6, 2021 1:09pm
  - Tall Man
    
    A bit unfair. Just because the advice they give is ignored doesn’t mean they are sycophants …… although …. 😉
    
    4 3
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    May 6, 2021 1:21pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      They don’t present with any get up and go.
      Ministers used to respect their HOD’s who were expected to bring a project to life. They also kept their Ministers out of trouble and helped them shaped policies consonant with the parties general flavour and mandate.
      
      3 4
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      May 6, 2021 3:31pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Maybe the get up and go has got up and went 😉
        
        3 0
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        May 6, 2021 6:19pm
- GJM
  
  10,000 exta seat warmers employed over the last 3.5 years by this government, to achieve nothing.
  That is some of the bill. There is a reason why wellington has the highest average income in nz
  
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  May 7, 2021 3:46am
Nickc2

Just when you thought this Govt couldn’t possibly become more of a dictatorship than it already is, it has. Rent controls and a Stamp Duty Tax are in line to be implemented. These dictates will result in more costs imposed on Landlords and Property Developers. This doesn’t make sense to me when they are screaming out for more houses to be built. Childish fuckwits the lot of them.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/government-is-mooting-prospect-of-rent-controls-new-documents-reveal/NCWXF67V6COYUHWQALZ25XU6JU/
Ah, but we mere peasants can look forward to the Wedding of the century between St Cindy and the Fisherman. Truly, an event of biblical proportions.
24 1
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May 6, 2021 11:40am
- artemisia
  
  According to Tony Alexander today, a third of investors buy without a mortgage. Some of those will buy using a pocket full of cash and no need for leverage. Easy peasy to take that fat wallet somewhere else.
  
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  May 6, 2021 12:56pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Now here’s an interesting question..
What rock are they under?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/441950/police-post-primary-teachers-unions-join-criticism-of-government-s-public-sector-pay-freeze

Are the unions implying that our Government members are spineless, slime-producing creatures

or just hiding under a coprolite?
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May 6, 2021 11:46am
- SB2
  
  MW, you obviously have a conveniently short memory,
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/key-sends-clear-message-for-pay-restraint/ENZ33NSTO3RSVKJM7ILYGUSBJM/
  
  For example, the public sector had a virtual pay freeze that lasted many long years.
  
  2 28
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  May 6, 2021 1:09pm
- Tall Man
  
  Oooo me Miss me …… The first 🙂
  
  7 3
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  May 6, 2021 1:19pm
Jack5

If it happens, this will end women’s-class weightlifting.

Stuff reports: Laurel Hubbard is on the brink of becoming the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympic Games.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/women-in-sport/300300886/nzs-laurel-hubbard-may-become-first-transgender-athlete-at-an-olympic-games
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May 6, 2021 12:19pm
- Jack5
  
  I notice in the Stuff piece about Hubbard:
  
  “The New Zealand Team has a strong culture of manaaki and inclusion and respect for all.”
  
  In Maori: “manaaki” seems roughly equivalent to “caring for”, or “support,” as in the equivalent of “Landcare”: Manaaki Whenua.
  
  In NZ Pidgin, “manaaki” sounds almost comic when referring to a transgender issue.
  
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  May 6, 2021 12:30pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Support for all ……. except biological women.
    
    17 2
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    May 6, 2021 1:18pm
  - mandk
    
    And where is the respect for all when Hubbard (XY), who has been through puberty as a man and completed growth as a man, beats real XX women?
    
    13 2
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    May 6, 2021 1:20pm
    - Tall Man
      
      And has also competed as a man previously…..
      
      12 2
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      May 6, 2021 1:41pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The mixture of Maori among English renders the expression an unofficial language.
    
    9 2
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    May 6, 2021 3:47pm
- Inandout
  
  Jack, I am glad the Samoan PM has spelled out his feelings on ‘either/eithers’. You see he is brown, so can say what he likes.
  
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  May 6, 2021 3:58pm
  - Jack5
    
    This is what Inandout is referring to: the Samoan PM’s views on Hubbard –
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/114420264/samoan-pm-tuilaepa-sailele-malielegaoi-hits-out-at-laurel-hubbard
    
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    May 6, 2021 8:09pm
Maggie Pie

I hear ZB reporting that transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has a good chance of winning an Olympic Medal in the wimmin’s Snatch.

You go gal! 😛
21 2
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May 6, 2021 12:41pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  There is a double entendre!!!!
  
  8 2
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  May 6, 2021 12:48pm
lifesgood

Jacinda might rue the day she gave Hosking the brush off. This morning he played out takes of interviews she did for bubble gum stations. My god it’s embarrassing.! She spends the whole time giggling like a school girl while she gets asked questions like “Do you have a Trade Me account?” And “Do you go and collect things yourself” and “When’s your wedding?” Not one single serious question. This is our PM, folks. What a complete waste of space. Anyway Hosking is loving it and says he will continue to play out takes in the future.
42 4
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May 6, 2021 12:42pm
- Martin Williams
  
  Remember when John Keys got into a cage with a bar of soap?
  
  5 22
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  May 6, 2021 2:37pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    That’s different – it was a funny joke!
    
    4 6
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    May 6, 2021 3:03pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Never happened.
    John Key did do that though, but he also answered real questions.
    
    8 1
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    May 6, 2021 3:23pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Who the hell is John Keys?
    Is he a distant relative of Martin William?
    
    17 2
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    May 6, 2021 3:54pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Alicia’s brother? Who gives a fuck?
    
    6 2
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    May 6, 2021 4:12pm
oldfella

Posted this in the wrong thread. Should have gone in GD:

Who’d have thought that incorrectly pronouncing a Maori word could get you into so much trouble? Seems a Rangiora car dealer’s jingle and way of saying their name was offensive. You can’t make this stuff up.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/125038987/incorrect-pronunciation-of-rangiora-prompts-complaint-about-car-dealers-radio-ad
So, logically, if your business is Waitemata (Wy-ta-matta) Motors, saying it that way on radio or TV will now be banned. You must say Wy-ta-ma-TAA Motors.
Or if you’ve always said Pappa-moa Motors, you must now call it Paa-paa-moa Motors.
How far from that to making the public mispronunciation of Te Reo a hate crime?
Not such a big jump at all.
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May 6, 2021 12:57pm
- graham
  
  oldfella, as I refuse to visit Stuff if I don’t have to, and can’t find the story anywhere else yet, can you please advise if this complaint was upheld?
  
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  May 6, 2021 1:44pm
  - kowtow
    
    ‘The ASA Complaints Board unanimously agreed the mispronunciation of a Māori place name caused harm to the language and was likely to offend consumers.’
    
    How can you cause harm to an inanimate thing .
    And who the hell says the ASA board can speak on behalf of consumers.
    
    BTW are they pronouncing “toyota” properly , exactly as a japanese would , and if not is harm and offence given.
    
    Long past time for this utter nonsense to be kicked into touch.
    
    18 2
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    May 6, 2021 2:53pm
    - graham
      
      Thanks kowtow. I mean, you’ve managed to depress me and annoy the hell out of me, but thanks anyway. Not your fault.
      
      Until you referred to the ASA Complaints Board I hadn’t thought to look there. Now I have, which is what has both depressed me and annoyed the hell out of me.
      
      I see that this decision states the following:
      
      Is the advertisement likely to cause harm or widespread offence?
      
      The Complaints Board unanimously agreed the mispronunciation of Rangiora in the jingle in the advertisement was likely to cause harm or widespread offence to both Māori and the wider New Zealand population. This is because te reo Māori is an official language of New Zealand and should be pronounced correctly in a broadcast environment.
      
      I further note – with utter bemusement – another decision just two months earlier, concerning the use of the word “yous” – which I would categorise as a mispronunciation of English.
      
      The Chair ruled there were no grounds for the complaint to proceed.
      
      The Chair noted the Complainant’s concern the use of the word “yous” in the advertisement was not correct English.
      
      The Chair said although the term “yous” is not standard English it can be used correctly as the plural of “you”.
      
      The Chair said the advertisement was not likely to cause serious or widespread offence …
      
      *Sigh*
      
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      May 6, 2021 3:16pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        How does anyone know what Maori pronunciation is? It varies by regions and tribe. TVNZ has it’s own peculiarities.
        We have no NZ standards for such. Even worse it is being mixed up with English. That mixture is neither English nor Maori so is not an official language but a bastardised unwelcome stranger.
        
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        May 6, 2021 3:42pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        “Can I buy yous all a beer?”
        
        “Why did you say yous all?…
        Is it because you think that’s a Maori way of talking?
        Are we supposed to fall in love with you because you suddenly start talking Maori English like we do – or like you suppose we do?”
        – Noel Hilliard: Maori Woman p.171
        
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        May 6, 2021 6:42pm
    - Jack5
      
      English language, unlike say French has traditionally been free of official regulation.
      
      Now we have Woke authoritarians telling business people how they can pronounce words in radio advertising they buy.
      
      Presumably this could be extended to print media, by forcing use of macrons, or even by forcing businesses to use NZ Pidgin rather than English.
      
      The Advertising Standards Authority says of itself that it comprises 14 member organisations representing advertisers, agencies and the media. I bet small advertisers like car franchises aren’t members.
      
      With Maorification now a priority for the authority, the Woke, State-subsidised or owned news media must be calling shots at the organisation.
      
      Is the “chair” of the Advertising Authority, Heather Roy, the former ACT MP (2006-2010) of that name? Presumably it is, because the authority chair uses the honorific “Hon”.
      
      Roy was a physiotherapist by trade, and later got publicity as a mid-life recruit into the Army Territorials.
      
      According to her Wikipedia entry, Roy is also non-executive chair of the board of the pharmaceutical lobby group, Medicines NZ.
      
      The Advertising Authority’s Complaints Board members are at:
      
      https://www.asa.co.nz/about-us/complaints-board-ascb-members/
      
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      May 6, 2021 3:48pm
      - Kiwi Dave
        
        All Maori words used in English must be correctly pronounced in accordance with the original sound. This is a Tiriti requirement and failure to do so will result in a visit by the Pirihimana.
        
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        May 6, 2021 6:43pm
    - Phronesis
      
      Referring to the French as French, calling the language they speak French and the country they live in France are all pretty offensive to the Frogs. Same is true of most countries for the simple reason that words are pronounced in English the way that english speakers choose them to be.
      
      6 1
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      May 6, 2021 4:55pm
    - Hollyfield
      
      Any consumer offended by mispronunciation can choose to take his/her business elsewhere.
      
      I choose not to give my custom to businesses with spelling errors on their websites.
      
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      May 6, 2021 7:57pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Even Maori have variants.
  
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  May 6, 2021 3:44pm
- MCos
  
  Try going to England and mispronouncing some of their place names that sound entirely different to some people to the way they are apparently written. Leominster, Worcestershire,
  
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  May 6, 2021 5:04pm
  - Jack5
    
    You are right about those quaint English names, MCos. But they are English names spoken in the English language.
    
    When speaking English in England, Italians typically will say “Rome”, “Milan,” “Turin” for the Italian “Roma, Milano, Torino”.
    
    Similarly Japanese speaking in English typically talk of their home country as “Japan” rather than “Nihon”, and Poles of their capital as “Warsaw” rather than “Warszawa” (pronounced Var-sava).
    
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    May 6, 2021 5:47pm
graham

I saw a couple of days ago that Caitlyn Jenner – who, as we all know, actually competed AND WON GOLD at the 1976 Olympics – opposes trans girls competing in girls’ sporting events!

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/caitlyn-jenner-opposes-trans-girls-competing-in-girls-sporting-events/UNP25KMOFBVH66KXTMOWYNIG7A/

Jenner, 71, told TMZ: “This is a question of fairness. That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair, and we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”
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May 6, 2021 1:07pm
- cha
  
  True to her repug roots, she doesn’t really believe the things she says to try to get Republicans to vote for.
  
  https://www.comicsands.com/caitlyn-jenner-trans-girls-golf-2652867179.html
  
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  May 6, 2021 6:53pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I think Caitlin should challenge Hubbard in the weightlifting.
  
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  May 6, 2021 8:49pm
BeaB

Is anyone else sick of seeing all the bigwigs like the governor general, government ministers like Andrew Little, Ayesha Verrall and Chris Hipkins and a procession of self-important ‘leaders’- telling us hoi polloi that they are setting us a good example as they ostentatiously roll up their sleeves to show us what happens because none of us has ever been vaccinated before.
Do we really need to be solemnly told that an injection doesn’t hurt? How old/stupid do they think we are?
Do we really believe they are all being vaccinated at the front of the queue for our benefit?
I don’t think vaccine hesitancy is the problem in NZ. Many of us are feeling ‘vaccine impatience’ as we see vaccines being rolled out all over the world except here.
The other week I had my flu shot – an unsolicited text from my medical centre with an appointment, a brilliant ‘sergeant major’ to herd us all into line, in and out in 5 minutes.
Why not the same with the Covid shot?
Is it paranoid to think Jacinda wants to keep us all scared and grateful?
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May 6, 2021 1:14pm
- fernglas
  
  The vaccinator who gave us our jab said she could do between six and eight patients per hour. Maybe 50 per day? So if the whole population of this country were to get vaccinated (with two shots) it would require 200,000 working days. That’s 2000 vaccinators working for 100 days. Twenty x five day working weeks. It will be hard to get everyone done by the end of the year, by which time it might well be too late.
  
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  May 6, 2021 2:04pm
  - Inandout
    
    You are correct fern, by the end of the year it will be a distant memory and some other bug will be in the headlines.
    
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    May 6, 2021 4:04pm
  - Hollyfield
    
    6-8 patients an hour?
    My old workplace used to have a doctor come in and do flu shots for staff. She used to do 6-8 in 10 minutes.
    
    5 0
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    May 6, 2021 7:59pm
- Keith White
  
  BeaB: They may yet come to regret it. The implications of this next development are potentially profound: “Using a newly developed mouse model of acute lung injury, researchers found that exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein alone was enough to induce COVID-19-like symptoms including severe inflammation of the lungs.” (Paper presented at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics annual meeting in late April).
  
  Lessee – is that, like, the same spike protein that the Pfizer vaccine gets every cell in the body to incorporate, after vaccination? What should possibly go wrong?
  
  Never mind, I’m sure the Single Source of Truth, PBUH, will be right onto this to refute anything could go wrong…
  
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  May 6, 2021 4:06pm
- MCos
  
  “I don’t think vaccine hesitancy is the problem in NZ.”
  
  I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
  
  2 0
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  May 6, 2021 4:48pm
  - Keith White
    
    I’m hesitant to agree with you.
    
    2 1
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    May 6, 2021 5:34pm
mandk

No, it’s not at all paranoid.
Covid is the best thing that ever happened to Ardern and her gov’t has been absolutely useless at everything else.
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May 6, 2021 1:52pm
I remember when

A Belgian farmer inadvertently claimed land from France when he moved a rock out of the way of his tractor.
The 200-year-old rock was actually a border marker, and moving it made Belgium slightly bigger and France smaller.
The mayors of the towns on both sides were amused.
Mayor David Lavaux, of Belgian village Erquelinnes said, “I was happy, my town was bigger, but the Mayor of Bousignies-sur-Roc didn’t agree.”
The farmer has been asked to move the stone back into place.
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May 6, 2021 2:00pm
rererangihirihiri

[Deleted – try being constructive rather than all crude and OTT abuse. mod.]
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May 6, 2021 2:08pm
Maggie Pie

LOL!! One of the girls from tennis has just sent me this link.

The incredible thing is, we both played an interclub tourney against her on the North Shore 😛

https://twitter.com/TheSun/status/1390124156771991553
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May 6, 2021 2:45pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, it would be safe to assume she has private insurance.
  
  4 1
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  May 6, 2021 4:07pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Congratulations to the senior Hutt High School pupils and their protest at Parliament

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125044742/hutt-high-students-set-up-classroom-outside-parliament-to-protest-schools-toxic-mould-issues

Will our dear PM dare to visit them in their mouldy classrooms?
16 1
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May 6, 2021 2:55pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  It’s disgraceful that the MoE has ignored this problem for nearly 10 years.
  
  7 5
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  May 6, 2021 3:02pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Has the school even told them of it?
    
    5 4
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    May 6, 2021 3:34pm
- MCos
  
  The PM & Min of Ed visited the school two years ago according to the school Facebook page.
  No mention of what was discussed, but surely the mound was an issue at the time.
  Hipkins was also there a couple of days ago.
  
  8 1
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  May 6, 2021 4:20pm
Jack5

The Woke are out to cancel Napoleon.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/soul-of-the-world-and-the-demon-of-europe-macron-steps-into-culture-war-over-napoleon-20210506-p57pa9.html
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May 6, 2021 3:05pm
- kowtow
  
  I won’t judge Boney by today’s standards , I’ll rest on the opinion of the greatest soldier the British Isles ever produced , no lesser a person than the Irishman and one time MP for Trim , County Meath , Arthur Wellesley ;
  
  “His whole life, civil, political and military, was a fraud’.
  
  But if the Frogs want to celebrate a Corsican whose policies and strategies probably killed more Frenchies than the British ever did , then good luck to them.
  
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  May 6, 2021 3:44pm
  - Jack5
    
    The greatest British soldier?
    
    Probably Cromwell, so brutal though he was in Ireland that he’s still hated by the Irish.
    
    Cromwell’s New Model Army was the SAS, airborne, and marines of its day.
    
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    May 6, 2021 7:53pm
  - Mike
    
    Napoleon was a narcissist megalomaniac responsible for the death of millions.
    
    3 0
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    May 6, 2021 7:59pm
BeaB

The Herald’s afternoon quiz asks what colour Ardern’s eyes are! Brown wasn’t good enough – the correct answer was hazel.
Pass the sick bucket.

Mind you, they were probably still in shock after Emmerson’s cartoon- when did the fanboy suddenly wake up and start doing his job?
12 2
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May 6, 2021 3:07pm
- graham
  
  Shouldn’t the correct answer be,
  
  “Who cares? Why does this even matter?”
  
  10 1
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  May 6, 2021 4:05pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Now now, be kind ……
    
    Hate speech ya know …..
    
    2 1
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    May 6, 2021 6:16pm
- Tall Man
  
  I need to remove my eyes …. Thanks….
  
  4 1
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  May 6, 2021 4:13pm
Swifty

The typeface that told the stories of Chinese New Zealanders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSfj2uZaN5w&t=1s

(Attention Benedict – if of interest….)
5 1
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May 6, 2021 3:10pm
Maggie Pie

BREAKING….

WOW – things are getting deadly serious between Oz and the CCP.

This just appeared on Weibo 🙁

https://xw.qq.com/cmsid/TWF2021050600171000?f=newdc
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May 6, 2021 3:10pm
- curry4me
  
  Maggie Pie: Good to see.
  
  4 2
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  May 6, 2021 6:33pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    YEP,,,,Muzt watch boltys take on it tonite
    Hes resdy to declare WW3 😀
    
    3 2
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    May 6, 2021 7:00pm
Monique Watson

Ahh. It’s not Paranoia if it’s the truth leaking out. And the truth is the rest of the world is being vaccinated at a frightening pace. The vaccine is either being deliberately withheld in NZ or somehow despite a hotline to Pfizer MOH hasn’t secured the supplies. Three of my family were vaccinated in March and April, three weeks in between shots. It was beautiful it was such a smooth operation. My nurse confirmed on my first visit there were 700 hundred to 1300 shots administered a day at the clinic in Walnut Creek
Something stinks in Aotearoa.
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May 6, 2021 4:57pm
- Tall Man
  
  “Something stinks in Aotearoa”…
  
  You’re a bloody comedienne 😉
  
  The correct statement is “there are few things that don’t stink in aotearoa” …..
  
  5 2
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  May 6, 2021 6:10pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Umm. The Government?
  
  3 2
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  May 6, 2021 6:30pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

For those of you with severe TDS, don’t go here. Just get the keys off Mum and bugger off to the basement where you belong.
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/desk
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May 6, 2021 5:20pm
- Mike
  
  Wow, Trump started a blog! That’s so 2005.
  
  2 8
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  May 6, 2021 7:57pm
  - graham
    
    … says the man commenting on … a blog.
    
    4 2
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    May 6, 2021 9:09pm
Monique Watson

Mind you it could be, you know. Just the usual cock ups. Inadequate preparation. We had similar problems. Queue jumping. Spending a long ass time on the phone to get an appointment. But in California we always had I think adequate vaccine supplies in hand, it was a matter of getting scalability and then throughput. I am suspicious that you have vaccine supplies established for the daily load required to vaccinate the major centers.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018794102/northland-covid-19-vaccinations-struggle-with-huge-demand
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May 6, 2021 5:22pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Bill Gates is a dangerous man and must be stopped.
https://dailyheadlines.com/bill-gates-has-a-new-sinister-plan-for-population-control/?
3 3
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May 6, 2021 5:24pm
- Mike
  
  No, he isn’t, and no, his philanthropy should not be stopped.
  You really should stop reading those webshites.
  
  1 6
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  May 6, 2021 7:54pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You need to go to Specsavers with MCos
    
    1 0
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    May 7, 2021 8:26am
TripeWryter

I must be missing something …
I have just read a piece by Jo Moir, in Newsroom, of senior Labour Ministers talking to Trevor Mallard about what to say – and control his temper – before the debate that erupted on Tuesday night.
Moir – and Henry Cooke of Stuff – talked about the ‘victims’ and the women who alleged sexual assault.
This is my difficulty, though: what ‘victims’?
If the sexual assaults, although alleged, didn’t happen, then how could they be called ‘victims’?
Isn’t the wrongly accused man the victim in all this?
Or is it because he is a man he is at least guilty – because all men are guilty – or because he is a man he doesn’t matter?
Have I got it wrong?
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May 6, 2021 5:39pm
- Mike
  
  What makes you think that there were no sexual assaults?
  
  1 10
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  May 6, 2021 7:44pm
  - TripeWryter
    
    Mike:
    1: the police investigated;
    2: no charges were laid.
    Unless you know something different.
    
    9 1
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    May 6, 2021 8:16pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    We don’t know..
    but the cops found no evidence to charge anyone.
    
    Remember that other sexual affair Trevor got involved with?
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5118807/Hughes-claims-hang-heavily-over-Labour
    
    Trevor was very happy enough then to accept the Police finding of not enough evidence to charge Darren Hughes…
    
    8 2
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    May 6, 2021 8:21pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Cop who did a piss take on LeBron James was suspended without pay. $500K was raised for him, and now he gets to keep his job. There are some precious petals out there.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/cop-who-mocked-lebron-james-keeps-job-and-supporters-have-raised-nearly-500k-for-him/?
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May 6, 2021 5:49pm
70andstilllearning

MW – 38 calls and counting. Got a flu jab appointment 1st call ( GP) instead. May as well wait 14 days 🙂
4 2
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May 6, 2021 6:33pm
Wired-one

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/provincial-growth-fund-marae-upgrade-announcement-massively-fails-to-deliver-on-jobs.html

Anyone surprised? Just add it to the list.
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May 6, 2021 7:59pm
- sooty
  
  Just another day in labour!
  Another failure, why would you expect different?
  
  5 0
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  May 6, 2021 8:37pm

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