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January 29, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 29 January 2023

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General Debate

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Warren

While I have never been a fan of what Damien Grant pens for our media mainly Stuff I would have to say his article on our Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is one of the most honest and well written accounts that has been published by our outright biased media.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/131079029/damien-grant-under-arderns-guidance-we-became-the-nasty-team-of-5-million
You know all we ask of our media is to be honest but all we got was dishonest and fawning on every word the former Prime Minister gave that has devided New Zealander’s and ruptured New Zealander’s way of life that now will take decades to repair.
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January 29, 2023 8:01am
- Simon
  
  No political opposition by National to Ardern’s worse excesses. National flushed human rights away over that absurd stupid jaxx as much as Cindy.
  
  National, Court eunuchs in Cindy’s Covid palace. National along with Labo will always be garbage.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:27am
  - Ghost
    
    National, Act, Greens, Māori all went along with it, only one that didn’t was Winston First
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:30am
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      He was the one with nothing to lose and the opportunity to pick up his 5% for the next election.
      
      The only ones who stood up to Ardern were Simon Bridges and Judith Collins – although JC embraced zero Covid insanity. Both were eaten up and spat out by Labour, the MSM and from within their own parties.
      
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      January 29, 2023 9:39am
    - Sparrow
      
      One other Matt King ex Northland MP. Many of his ex electors were rightly demonstrating their democratic right to protest. As a fully vaccinated person I fully supported their right to protest and was disgusted at the behaviour of our politicians and will never forget especially the Nats and ACT who preach freedom but don’t practice it. Understand Matt getting strong support whether strong enough to unseat our invisible MP who knows. Could split the vote.
      
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      January 29, 2023 9:48am
      - Surely Knott
        
        Matt will have my vote. It will depend if he can win North land. When Nz’s totalitarian biomedical state was ushered in, every party and media source spoke from the same globalist song sheet, even when the cracks in the science were well and truly showing. We need minor independent parties to provide alternate opinions and debate because clearly our checks and balance On govt overreach didn’t work. Nz was the only western democracy that had no opposition or debate to the mandates , or questioning over vax safety in parliament or media. We had no representation. Exception to Simon O’Connor who gave a passionate speech in parliament against the draconian pandemic laws being introduced and is the Nats best performing mp.
        
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        January 29, 2023 10:09am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Strong support? He has never once registered on a poll, a vote for King is virtually helping Labour sneak back in
        
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        January 29, 2023 10:11am
      - Pavel
        
        “Nats and ACT who preach freedom but don’t practice it”.
        To damn right. If you look closer they are quite authoritarian. Seymour (a supposed libertarian) is always going on about the gangs and all these laws he wants to pass to control the gangs. Always remember that laws that control gangs actually control everyone. If you replace the word gangs with people everytime he talks it makes alot more sense.
        
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        January 29, 2023 10:34am
      - The Boss
        
        If National were smart they will not stand a candidate in Northland. Give it to Matt Epsom style and he might bring another MP along to join a Nat/ACT coalition.
        
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        January 29, 2023 4:48pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      NZF were not In parliament, Mallard forced MPs to sign a gag order
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:09am
      - Matt Long
        
        “Forced”
        
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        January 29, 2023 10:27am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        “forced” – did he threaten to bar them from normal social activity, going to bars and restaurants? Or did he threaten to play the Macarena and turn the sprinklers on them?
        I wonder if he would have put the riot squad onto them?
        
        Poor things. No wonder they signed…..//
        
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        January 29, 2023 11:02am
      - PHC
        
        Get boosted Bishop must have really been forced aye? No National are just spineless jellyfish.
        
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        January 29, 2023 3:55pm
  - yossarian
    
    You have to look at what happened to Simon Bridges to understand why National and even Act towed the ‘Covid is a death sentence, do what you’re told’ line.
    
    Bridges was basically Hitler for even questioning things like, oh I dunno, the legality of the first lockdown. He found nil support from any media outlet and the media and online hate he received was disgusting. The media basically ran a campaign that “Simon wants to kill your grandma!” The irony was he was correct, it was illegal…and not one apology from anyone for destroying a political career.
    
    However, what this did was send a shot over the bow of any politician, the media drew a line in the sand, “you have been warned, step out of line from the Covid narrative and we’ll unlease hell on you!”
    
    Is it any surprise that they shut up? You could say “well where was their bravery?” Simon was brave, and look what happened to him, no best to shut up, and pick your battles.
    
    Look overseas now. Many countries are starting to question the effacicy of the vaccination, the UK has a new no need for a shot for under 50s, no one in NZ even dares suggest this.
    
    That $55 million has a long tail.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:58am
    - Colville
      
      Spot on
      There are plenty of people on this site that have very selective memories and are happy to make comments with the benefit of perfect hindsight.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:09am
    - Matt Long
      
      Simon’s difficulty was not the opposition but his ememies who now sit prettily in waiting for their ministerial warrants.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:29am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        Agreed – many of the National Party are tarnished from not standing behind their leader/s. Many supported the ill-advised Muller takeover. But as you say Matt, their reward will come after the next election.
        
        Hipango was another who tried to show support for the anti-mandates movement and got closed down by The Party.
        
        National supporters on here keep pulling out the “a vote for anyone but National is a vote for the current government.” No way! National lost our trust and respect and they are going to need to work hard to get it back.
        
        I’m not affiliated to any party, but I think a vote for ACT gives us a stronger chance to correct and an opportunity for some new thinking in the mix and might help Nats from going too far left.
        
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        January 29, 2023 10:57am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      I agree re the NZ media being a complete failure, but “shut up and pick your battles”? – the truth doesn’t “pick battles.”
      
      The truth stands alone, and those who stand up for it will be those who will be acknowledged as honest and honourable, whilst those who hid in fear will be remembered as the cowards they were.
      
      Maybe some of them could take a leaf out of former Conservative MP, Andrew Bridgen’s book. (Similar name to Bridges, now ironic.)
      
      https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1162915&post_id=96220461
      
      A Conservative Woman post described it perfectly.
      
      It appears that the political establishment has circled its wagons and decided it will make a stand against any and all who voice questions regarding Covid vaccine. No gradual rolling back on vaccine efficacy or safety, but a doubling down on the dishonest propaganda that espouses the importance and essential need for the vaccine and ongoing vigilance, and acceptance of Government as the only source of truth for future emergencies (e.g. catastrophic climate change).
      
      The expulsion of Andrew Bridgen is a shot across the bows of any other MPs who might consider raising their heads above the parapet. The claims of vaccine safety and effectiveness will be amplified, false data re-asserted as truth, and opposition quelled by any means.
      
      This is authoritarianism coming out into the light, ready to use its recently found power over our lives. Over the last three years it has taken control over almost all aspects of our lives, and now it has decided it is going to go on the offensive to cement its position of dominance over the shaping of all our futures, and it will not be forced to relinquish its grip without drastic action by us, the electorate.
      
      So you are saying everybody should accept this state of affairs, where nobody is allowed to speak the truth? Nobody dares oppose a “single source of truth?”
      
      The editor’s comments regarding the treatment of Bridgen are very worth reading and absorbing.
      
      “Parliament has shown itself to be a criminal conspiracy against the people of this country. It no longer represents the British people or their interests in any way at all and its main ambition appears to be no less than to enslave and impoverish us. This was a fuse lit in the 1945 General Election in the misguided belief that Marxist-Socialism would improve the lot of humanity. It has come to a head almost 80 years later in the strangling of free speech, the betrayal of medical autonomy, the imposition of state controls and the wanton destruction of the energy supply and economy.”
      
      Why are the opposition not speaking out about this? It’s not a country I want to be any part of.
      
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      January 29, 2023 11:31am
    - Jimbob
      
      Exactly, I was sceptical from the first announcement in March 2020. I said it was a bad flu, boy was I told in no uncertain terms where to go, by some of my family. I had a brother in-law and sister who were thinking the same. But I had to comply. I backed Simon Bridges on this, but his own colleges tossed him out.
      The protest and reaction to it lay all on Ardern’s lap, she was evil right from the start. Listening to the protests and telling them these mandates will end would have defused the whole thing.
      I had a friend who was in his 80’s at the time, said Ardern would be a disaster. She’s worked as a communist and didn’t have the experience to run a country.
      He was spot on in his judgement.
      
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      January 29, 2023 1:08pm
    - Paulus
      
      Looks like a $55 million refill is on its way as curent account obviously very low.
      
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      January 29, 2023 1:54pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  Young female reporter on TV3 last night telling us that those who deny climate change Auckland was the evidence. No you dumb person. It was a Weather event NOT climate change. Go check the OED (Oxford English Dictionary to you). And dont lecture your elders and wiser on matters you dont understand. You report events NOT create them.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:22am
  - Nickc2
    
    Our Education system turns out myriads of such people each year. Some go on the become leftist Journalists, some go on the become School Teachers and further the leftist cause, most attempt to become leftist Politicians, and the rest, well they just do ram-raids without consequence to get what they want eh?
    
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    January 29, 2023 11:50am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Alice was virtually hysterical on Saturday, standing in the rain, looking soaked yelling at the camera.
    
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    January 29, 2023 2:18pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  From Damien’s article:
  
  “Ardern will forever be popular among those who are delighted not by what she did, but who she was.
  
  In this she was the perfect post-modern prime minister for a generation who believe your identity matters more than your character, and where your intentions carry more weight than the outcomes of your actions.”
  
  Nailed it.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:21pm
- Sir Henry Morgan
  
  There is still plenty of awful stuff in Damien Grant’s article.
  
  The anti-mandate protests at Parliament were far from an “act of insanity”. On the contrary, the protests saw citizens exercising their free speech rights and making personal sacrifices to defend the foundations of New Zealand’s democracy. Yes, there were a few wacky elements but that’s par for the course at pretty much any protest. Collectively the protesters were heroes.
  
  I disagree that Charlotte Bellis was courageous. She seemed more like a media insider exploiting media connections and shifting public opinion. Her apparent seeking sanctuary with the Taliban was a transparent publicity stunt – and perhaps positioned her conveniently in Afghanistan for a freelance journalistic gig or two as she waited for necessary paperwork to enter New Zealand. (Might simply marrying her Belgian partner have offered a more conventional path to keeping her family together?) Great that the government backed down, but as ever the media had to make it all about one their own. Plenty of normal citizens experienced far more misery than Charlotte Bellis without a fraction of the media attention to their varied plights.
  
  Rather than Ardern’s handling of the Christchurch terrorist attack being some kind of “zenith” I thought it was a real low. Instead of simply blaming Brenton Tarrant (I say his name by the way), who was the foreigner solely responsible for the attack, she instead got busy suggesting “racism”, “intolerance”, and “white supremacy” in New Zealand society were somehow causal factors. It was a disgusting piece of libel that ignored the facts of the case – namely that Brenton Tarrant moved to New Zealand specifically to commit a crime, and appears (based on his “manifesto” – which nobody is allowed to read on pain of a 14 year prison term) to have been a white separatist (and incidentally environmentalist) rather than a “white supremacist”. As ever, Ardern was play acting, misrepresenting the truth, and lobbing libel at vast swathes of society.
  
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  January 29, 2023 6:06pm
Tomtoddy

Spare me!!! Hipkins has screwed up. Not enough hugging of Auckland’s flood victims. Didn’t learn from the “master hugger”. He is off on a bad foot already.

Just remind me how hugging brings down inflation or gets houses built?
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January 29, 2023 8:06am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Tomtoddy – ask the 50% sheeple who voted for Cindy in 2020. They will tell ya.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:18am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If you can find them. Getting anyone to admit they voted for Jaspinda is almost impossible.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:59am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    That 50% is down to 27% and Hipkins will not lift the numbers
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:13am
- Its only I
  
  Perhaps he doesn’t like damp people?
  
  Any way the papers are going after brown this morning. Carrying on with what they learned politicising Covid.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:21am
  - Ruawai
    
    Wayne Brown needs to look at how Sir Bob Parker ran the post quake disaster communications in Christchurch.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:56am
    - DeepBlue
      
      No comparison. Sir Bob was an experienced TV personality: Brown, well, probably best suited to letter writing.
      
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      January 29, 2023 11:18am
      - MCōs
        
        He’s the Mayor of our largest city now.
        Maybe he should have done some media training.
        It’s been clear ever since he took over the job he’s not confident in front of the cameras or on the wireless when faced with hard questions.
        
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        January 29, 2023 12:32pm
    - Graeme Hall
      
      True Wayne should do the opposite. After the 1st quake (no casualties, bit of damage) Bob Parker used the event to campaign unopposed & benefited accordingly. After the major quakes started he had been elected & was nowhere to be seen or heard (I live in ChCh central) & I gather he had hurt his back while on the 6th floor of the Civic Building. Much of what you read of Parker’s PR is a myth. A hard man to stomach.
      
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      January 29, 2023 12:51pm
      - kingerstinger
        
        We must have lived in completely different universes Graeme (although I too lived in central Christchurch at the time, red zoned and booted out in the state of emergency). Throughout all the significant earthquakes (and aftershocks) Parker was present and providing information. I suggest your preconceptions of Parker from before the earthquake have coloured your memory somewhat.
        
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        January 29, 2023 3:52pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Didn’t Wayne Brown walk away from the media?
    They must be pissed off so they hassle him.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:02am
    - Colville
      
      He was lead away by a minder.
      I think he is a bit like me… If left in there a bit longer he would have reacted badly! 😎
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:11am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        You mean there would be a horizontal reporter?
        Why not?
        
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        January 29, 2023 11:38am
  - kowtow
    
    The te media pardy while attcking Brown have simultaneously trotted out any number of “climate experts” to tell us that unless we stop flying/driving , unless we kill our cows and economy etc then at some distant future inexact year perhaps one two three even 4 decades away we’ll have a climate apocalypse.
    
    But the same “experts” couldn’t warn the mayor that a huge storm was only hours away .
    
    Te media pardy are giving the wrong person the hard questions.
    
    And anyone with more than a couple of working brain cells can see why.
    
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    January 29, 2023 11:48am
  - kingerstinger
    
    And so the papers should go after him. Absolutely hopeless – couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery and that airhead Desley Simpson no better.
    
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    January 29, 2023 3:53pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      What is he meant to do?
      
      Jax and the media have through the contrived stand up press conferences have created situations where we are prepared for and sit waiting to hear the political leaders truck out solutions to whatever is befalling NZ/Kiwis at any given time for whatever is happening.
      
      This b*****it! It is setting unrealistic expectations, most of which, will never be fulfilled, and then New Zealanders sit around moaning that ourbpolitical leadership is no good. In the current situation what is Brown suppose to do? Ask the rain Gods to stop the rain, because a bunch of Aucklanders want a long weekend?
      
      He can’t just conjure up more emergency service personnel, or have available emergency accommodation, just because a bureaucrat advises him to sign a piece of paper sating Auckland is having a state of emergency!
      
      The media party and a lot of Aucklanders need to get real, and look at themselves. For the past week we have been told this weather is coming, and will be with us for some days yet. What are you going to do about it?
      
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      January 29, 2023 9:56pm
      - Ghost
        
        Have a look at stuffs photos of the flooding, in one photo a little girl is swimming in the flooded park, other photos people are walking through surface flooding to get to the Elton John concert, I saw one photo yesterday of idiots standing in inches of flooding waiting for the concert. Many Aucklanders never took the weather seriously.
        
        https://embed.scribblelive.com/Embed/v7.aspx?Id=3023395&Page=16&overlay=false
        
        Here are the idiots standing in water with their drinks at the concert https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/auckland/elton-john-devastated-as-second-show-cancelled-what-ticketholders-need-to-know/
        
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        January 29, 2023 10:12pm
- Im Right
  
  It has long ago become a media must (not just for NZ but the world in general) to be in front of news cameras and radio microphones when you are A) the current minister of said ‘disaster’
  B) the PM at the time
  And woe betide if you are on holiday (a well deserved one even!) As it seems the quickness of you turning up in front of said cameras determines whether you really do care or not.
  
  On a personal note….I have always found that a minister/PM turning up to a natural disaster to be more about them, and their PR teams, and a hindrance to any planned and in motion actual rescue/disaster management staff plan.
  Everytime the ‘workers’ are getting on with their good work being hauled into some room so the cameras can see them all one by one explain what the plan is and first and foremost Is always a minister/PM.
  Perhaps 1st rule of Disaster Management is no political interviewes allowed until it’s deemed time to do so, by the DM team??!!
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:23am
  - Prince
    
    Don’t forget ‘bring along a few lackies to nod in unison as you intone the latest weather forecast, or such nuggets as ‘our hearts go out to all those affected’.
    Then back on the plane home safe and sound.
    Apparently this is ‘Leadership’.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:19am
  - Nickc2
    
    Sound thinking Im Right.
    Message to Politicians: “Stand aside children and let the professionals do their jobs.”
    Message to Journalists: Fuck off out of here! When you can be trusted to tell the truth, you may be allowed back.”
    Message to Emergency Services professionals: Just do your jobs and make your reports as required. Don’t be mislead or dictated to by Journalists or Politicians. They have hidden agendas”
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:28am
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      Nick
      You misunderstand the role of political leaders in events like this. They are there to reassure people that the system is working and will be there for them. A large number of people watch these conferences and want to know someone calm and assured is in charge. Think of the Christchurch earthquake and John Key, and I know some will hate this, PM Ardern in numerous emergencies. It is almost always the case that the political leaders are better communicators than the officials.
      In contrast the press conference yesterday was a complete shambles. No-one came out looking good, including the two main players, the PM and the Mayor. Will Mayor Brown learn from this? I wouldn’t hold my breath on that. Will the PM learn from this? More likely to do so.
      
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      January 29, 2023 1:03pm
      - Ghost
        
        When you compare Hipkins with Clark, Key or Ardern he lacked any presence. You could be forgiven for not know the prime minister was there.
        
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        January 29, 2023 1:19pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Different strokes for different folks Wanye.
        I don’t believe Wayne Brown has anything to answer for.
        Whilst not knowing who the journalists were or who they worked for (but it can easily be assumed), they had an agenda and that was to crucify Mayor Wayne Brown for anything they could and show the new PM as being in charge and on top of the situation!
        To me, that indicates our MSM has sunk to the likes of other leftist media outlets in the US, UK, Canada, and Aust.
        
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        January 29, 2023 2:25pm
      - Wayne Mapp
        
        Nick,
        Compare the press conferences of any of the recent PM’s with the one yesterday. Surely you can see the difference. Probably one of the worst press conference by senior leaders that I can recall. Especially when the public needed reassurance.
        
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        January 29, 2023 3:44pm
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        Wayne – Auckland didn’t vote for Brown for his media skills. Aucklanders voted for Wayne Brown to get rid of Labour, take control of the outrageous spending and to deliver outcomes that Aucklanders want. Crisis management was a factor in the voting but economic crisis not natural disasters.
        
        The pile on of the leftist media is just standard practise to destroy and cancel a non-leftist mayor. But that supposedly right of centre people like you are doing this shows why we have lost trust in the Nats. The leftist pile on is going to continue for as long as Brown is in power. For my part I am thankful he has a thick skin.
        
        We don’t elect the Mayor or PM for crisis management. That’s what we pay the professionals to do. That is what Civil Defence is for. We do elect them to oversee that civic services and budgets are managed well. In fact with our last PM using crisis to lift her personal brand and meanwhile screwing up the management of the country, many if us are over that type of leadership.
        
        These comments about the state of emergency taking too long to declare are bogus. Rainfall and surface flooding cannot be compared to abrupt, clearly defined events like earthquakes, volcanoes or mass shootings. How many weather warnings have the met service issued for them to amount to nothing? I hear them and automatically think it won’t be that bad. And for a fair comparison, how soon after each of these abrupt events have we seen televised political leadership? Certainly not as it is occurring.
        
        I was at work astounded by the heavy rainfall at about 3pm. But I had no thought it was going to cause mass carnage. At 6pm I enjoyed a light run of traffic home but with heavy surface water and low visibility. Still no thought this was a catastrophe developing for many. I certainly wasn’t switching on a radio or television to see if someone wanted to talk to me about the rain.
        
        We need to get back to a free market media. One where the Government isn’t the biggest customer.
        
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        January 29, 2023 8:09pm
- Ehlana
  
  Tomtoddy, in today’s climate, it’s probably not a good idea for a middle-aged white male who identifies as a man to go around hugging people.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:11am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Very true. Also, sadly, record everything. You never know when you will seriously wish you had.
    
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    January 29, 2023 5:02pm
- nathie
  
  The Right nailed it early on (5-6 years ago), it’s all about feelz.
  
  If someone can master that (like Arden), you have the MSM literally eating out of your hand.
  
  Thankfully though there probably won’t be another person like that.
  
  Clarification: it only works with the MSM if that person comes from the Left …
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:13am
- peterwn
  
  It is a good political distraction technique, similar t0 the Argie politicians focusing on the Falkland Islands to take peoples’ minds off internal political and economic problems.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:41am
- amospicton
  
  Or in fact declaring an emergency. I was stuck on the motorway for hours. Declaring a state of emergency would have made no difference. As an aside I’ve been surprised by how well Auckland’s much maligned infrastructure coped. It was 50% more rain in a single day than ever before and no real world system can be designed to cope with that. The recovery has been remarkably fast and pretty much everything’s still working.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:18am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    “It was 50% more rain in a single day than ever before”
    
    I get your drift, but the loony left corrupted media will go on about that forever. What they will fail to realise (and/or report) is the period that comprises human recorded weather in NZ is a very very tiny blip on the timeline of the geological existence of NZ. These deluges happen fairly regularly over hundreds or thousands of years. None of it is “unprecedented”.
    
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    January 29, 2023 2:00pm
  - maggiemay
    
    Agree amo. And the water flow pathways are there for a reason. To receive the flow of water when the drains cant. Grey Lynn park is anexample and was clear in the morning.
    Sadly though some houses have been built in those pathways. That needs to be looked at.
    
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    January 29, 2023 5:08pm
- Paulus
  
  Understand Hipikns has told some close lady media friends to call be Chris, not Prime Minister, as he is one of us.
  
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  January 29, 2023 1:56pm
Suze Wainwright

Auckland must be so angry knowing that Phil Goff could have put up his hand to command the storm to stop – with the full support of the current govt.
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January 29, 2023 8:08am
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  Auckland very angry that Wayne Brown didn’t get the airport terminal designed properly.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:13pm
Paulus

No, no, you do not understand the Auckland Weather Bomb is all Wayne Brown’s fault.
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January 29, 2023 8:22am
- Pavel
  
  I can only imagine the media reports if Efeso Collins had of been major and done what Wayne did. They would of been defending him like an special needs kid and making all sorts of excuses whereas they are attacking Wayne left right and centre.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:40am
  - artemisia
    
    Mayor Brown won’t care. He might not have the best word salad at pressers but he does hold a lot of power over the chequebook and contracted outcomes.
    
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    January 29, 2023 12:38pm
  - MCōs
    
    He isn’t the mayor so you’re talking out your arse.
    
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    January 29, 2023 12:51pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  Brown’s response, and the timing of the emergency declaration, were textbook. He was at his desk immediately, in regular close contact with the emergency services, and acted as soon as they asked him to push the button. They even said so at the stand-up, interrupting the “journalist” who only wanted to grill Brown on imagined sins of omission.
  
  The language they used to question him was so pejorative, implying “the team YOU LEAD” and “even your office itself” as being slow off the mark and not as communicative as a disaffected lefty churnalist might demand.
  
  Later, in the MSM, they use fluffy language about Chippy, even headlining one article “PM speaks on Auckland floods” or similar. I played the video under the headline. Chippy never spoke once, yet they make it all about him being the great communicator.
  
  Exhibit #3,724 (2023 figures only): another headline in $1uffed today: Decision 2023: A man at ease with being called Chippy, vs a man who makes people call him Christopher.
  
  Of course it was by Andrea Vance, a bitter sort of person, and she also managed to take yet another swipe at Wayne Brown. If it wasn’t so orchestrated it would be hilarious, and thankfully it won’t work.
  
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  January 29, 2023 11:26am
  - maggiemay
    
    Agree amo. And the water flow pathways are there for a reason. To receive the flow of water when the drains cant. Grey Lynn park is anexample and was clear in the morning.
    Sadly though some houses have been built in those pathways. That needs to be looked at.
    
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    January 29, 2023 5:09pm
kowtow

Whoreald has a go at [ Mod : no new derogatory nicknames ]
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January 29, 2023 8:23am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Glad you like the old ones 😄
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:03pm
mikenmildagain

Seems like some goodish news from Czechia: a pro-western candidate sees off pro-Putin candidate in presidential election,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/28/petr-pavel-wins-landslide-victory-in-czech-presidential-elections
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January 29, 2023 8:23am
- Cassandra
  
  Excellent news. He’ll be a good president. And a landslide is a good start. I look forward to a similar result here when Luxon becomes our PM. With a Deputy, Seymour, to give him some decent policies.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:52am
  - Blackbob
    
    The Czech Presidency has about as much political effect as the British Royal family.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:25am
    - Cassandra
      
      Nonsense. S/he has a great deal of influence and some power. This guy is a former Army Chief of Staff with much moral authority too.
      
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      January 29, 2023 9:54am
    - Blackbob
      
      It is a largely ceremonial position, no direct influence on the Parliament.
      
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      January 29, 2023 1:36pm
- john1234
  
  He’ll fall out a window in no time.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:03am
  - CJames
    
    Defenstration originally started in Prague didn’t it?
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:22am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      That’s exactly the sort of comment I come to KB for. Hard to believe any NZ ‘journalist’ under 40 would know of the defenestration of Prague, let alone work it into an article.
      
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague
      
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      January 29, 2023 4:47pm
the deity formerly known as nigel6888

Hope everyone is enjoying the “long hot, dry summer”.

For those in the wellington region, you were put on level 2 water restrictions last week because of the long hot dry summer ™

Remarkable really, cos it really couldn’t be that the leaking pipes are out of control could it?

Now I have a rain gauge at home. I record rainfall every day or so. My lyin’ rain gauge tells me that this long, hot, dry summer has had 210.5mm of rain since December 1 (to be fair 30.5 this weekend).

So who can I believe? official government announcements from trusted ™ sources like Stuff, Wellington Water and Metservice? Or my humble nylex rain gauge that I have checked every day for the last 12 years?

Tricky.

I guess we are all well on track for the hottest year on record ™, and all the rain and flooding is because of climate change, and nothing to do with not investing in drains or infrastructure for the last 50 years, while immigration has rocketed.

The Council had plenty of money for convention centres, rainbow crossings, light rail consultants and cycle ways, but nothing to fix the stormwater, the sewage and the water pipes, remarkable!
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January 29, 2023 8:29am
- krazykiwi
  
  Governments have lost the right to be trusted on the basis of any claim. If you have the energy then question, test and compare with other data. If you don’t have the energy then assume you’re being told lies and go on happily with life in that knowledge.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:25am
- Ghost
  
  This hot summer is costing people, they are having to burn their firewood early to cool down their homes at night……
  
  Down here our council have been replacing water, storm and sewage, apparently some Māori in Wellington wants to steal our infrastructure because some councils don’t do their job. Same thing happened with our hospital, always in the black and they want to steal that too because other hospitals can’t manage their budget.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:00am
- kowtow
  
  ‘So who can I believe?’
  ‘ assume you’re being told lies’
  
  Yep , they’re all jumping on the emotional , hysterical , fear mongering , controlling band wagon “climate change”.
  
  Yet it was just another weather event, a complex one with multiple factors .Is it too hard for the media and politicians to explain or is it easier to simply use these events for one’s own agenda .
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:09am
- Taieri
  
  “long hot, dry summer”
  —————
  
  Dry it is, at least down South. As for “hot”…11 deg C last night around 8 pm at Lee Stream in Otago.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:35am
Maggy Wassilieff

I hope Kiri Allan is listening..

Gisborne District Councillors don’t want the 3-Waters fiasco…and that includes the Maori Councillors who can see through the scam.

https://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/local-news/20230127/councillors-criticise-ridiculous-three-waters-reforms/
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January 29, 2023 8:31am
- Hollyfield
  
  If the reforms were genuinely about water quality (which is what they keep saying) wouldn’t it make more sense for the government to hire a small team of water experts, to audit each council’s water systems and then give a list of required improvements and a long term loan to the councils to fix whatever problems they have.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:38am
  - nathie
    
    Bang! You nailed it!
    
    Unlike the hundreds of consultants, ticket clippers and cuzzies claiming $millions in total! Because it’s one of Labour’s greatest ever shams!
    
    (Even saying sham is being polite … why isn’t it called C.rr.pt..n)?
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:21am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      3 waters is the mother of all gravy trains.
      
      You can’t build a house or a factory without water, you can’t run a dairy factory or a manufacturing plant, HELL, we’re all dead in 3 days if we don’t get water.
      
      3/5 waters is handing control over our lives to the Maori King, and control translates into money – our money!
      
      If 5 waters endures we can also expect to see a slew of ex Labour MPS in there riding the gravy train!
      
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      January 29, 2023 12:03pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    @Hollyfield-
    From what I know of Councils big and small – they all have staff qualified in water use and management – establishing reticulation and all the other aspects of drainage, testing for quality, compliance and so on.
    If they don’t have the staff to do the on the ground work, they get in specialist contractors.
    Council staff prepare plans and advise the electeds about what the staff experts recommend by way of expenditure on necessary upgrades.
    So staff might say $x needed to improve storm water drainage in this suburb.
    Then some single-issue councillor will assert – no, cycle lanes more necessary in that suburb.
    Vote needed.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:40am
    - Hollyfield
      
      Good points about the council choosing other priorities – but an external body could issue a list of enforceable requirements and require them to do it, or maybe the Ministry of Health or other department could require council water staff to submit documentation to prove the water systems provide safe water. My big point is to counter the “people are dying” comments and that we don’t need 3/5/6 Waters to give a huge bureaucracy and centralisation to fix problems in specific towns. Government providing a long term loan to the councils with substandard water systems would fix the problems in the areas that need fixing, and would stop councils saying they can’t afford to fix it.
      
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      January 29, 2023 9:56am
  - Ehlana
    
    It would also make sense for government to change the legislation under which local government operates to force it to focus on essential infrastructure, instead of nice-to-haves.
    
    And it would make sense to finally have the conversation about how to fund all of that. The old system of homeowners voting to keep rates increases down to the CPI rate and the current system of non-ratepayers voting for those who promise them nice-to-haves have not worked.
    
    The only thing I can see working long-term is users paying enough for directly chargeable services to actually cover the cost. That would work for water, wastewater, rubbish collection.
    Public goods like streets and parks are trickier.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:42am
    - Gravelroad
      
      In 2019, the Labour Government passed an Act to reinstate the four well-beings into the Local Government Act 1.
      This reintroduced what the previous National led Government removed in 2012.
      The four (community-based) well beings allowed the focus on essential core business to be diluted so that ratepayer resources could be more easily diverted into the “nice to haves’.
      Theatres, cycle lanes and libraries – sexy.
      Storm water drains, no pot holes and rubbish collection – not so much.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:40am
      - Bob
        
        ……………….not so much.
        Gravel you must know surely, that stormwater drains, no pot holes and rubbish collections don’t vote for nice to haves, therefore not important.
        
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        January 29, 2023 4:32pm
  - Nickc2
    
    You’re not permitted to make sense in the current political climate, you’ll be canceled.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:50am
  - Ruawai
    
    Agreed, each areas water is so varied from the next that central control will never work and only cost more money.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:00am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Yep Hollyfield, that’s what an honest and intelligent government would do. It’s a pity the Nats didn’t take up that baton when they were in power. Why not?
    
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    January 29, 2023 2:07pm
- cas
  
  I gather Kawerau, Whakatane and Opotiki Councils don’t want it either, all in Kiri’s electorate.
  
  Perhaps she will be another one to go on the list.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:38am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The average Maori person is not pushing for 3 waters, even those Councilors who can see the corruption. The average Maori never sees any benefit from the huge payouts.
  Elite Maori are pushing for this. The ones who get their mitts on the cash.
  Willie Jackson, Nanaia Mahuta, Special K, Tuku Morgan. John Tamaheri?
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:47am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    “The average Maori person is not pushing for 3 waters.”
    
    Possibly true, but it’s human nature that if you give some humans special rights based on immutable physical characteristics they were dealt at birth, they will happily go to the front of the queue fully knowing the whole thing is a completely corrupt and absurd crock. Especially in a country where only about 20% of the population are doing OK.
    
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    January 29, 2023 2:11pm
mikenmildagain

With all the fuss about Hipkins, it’s nice to see a nice story about another Petone Tech great:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/131069623/why-all-blacks-captain-andy-leslie-cleaned-his-teeth-with-coca-cola-on-first-big-sporting-trip
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January 29, 2023 8:32am
Brian McDonald

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Old Brownie couldn’t conceive that the public would have appreciated even updates in his hours of silence, meanwhile, Waka Kotahi switched off for the night until the Minister kicked its butt. Of course no revenue in ensuring road safety during a storm.
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January 29, 2023 8:34am
- Sparrow
  
  The Mayor has come across as a petulant bully. Unfortunately he has given ammunition to the media. Not a good start. All organisations have huge communication teams but only 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. So next time make sure rain stops at 5pm that should be easy for the army of spin doctors to organise.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:46am
  - Cassandra
    
    You’re right. I’d still vote for him though. But he’s not a natural politician ie a liar and a hypocrite. But he does need some PR guidance. Early, not late; hugs, smiles and kisses as well as his natural self of getting on with the job.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:58am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      Wayne Brown is a legend!
      
      I don’t give a toss about PR or how he comes across.
      
      In fact if 30% of Auckland Council stakeholders and 90% of (despicable) NZ reporters don’t dislike him then he isn’t doing his job right!
      
      When Wayne’s finished at Auckland Council and installed a successor, wouldn’t it be great if Luxon brought him on board to tackle some of the tough central government jobs!
      
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      January 29, 2023 12:51pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Perhaps Wayne could sort out the ministry of education and the teachers unions. Alwyn would appreciate that!
        
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        January 29, 2023 2:14pm
  - reubee
    
    5pm???. It needed to be earlier than that. It was a long weekend. You’ll probably find flexi-time was banked and people were out the door at 230 to beat the traffic.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:09am
  - Ghost
    
    No, the mayor has come across as someone who was listening to the experts, doing what they recommended and then being bullied and attacked by the media and the left for doing exactly what those in the field asked of him
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:12am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Only nine more months Ghost.
      Wonder if that has sunk into Hipkin’s head? 9 months!
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:51am
      - DeepBlue
        
        Seven months at most… given the electioneering shutdown.
        
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        January 29, 2023 11:26am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Who got bullied? The corrupt and useless media? Gee that would be sad!
    
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    January 29, 2023 2:14pm
- Hollyfield
  
  I always find it interesting how some people are able to use initiative and problem-solve. In this day of mobile devices and social media there is a plethora of information available. My daughter’s workplace, for example, had staff who had worked the early morning shift sending in updates and photos of what the flooding was like in their area. Staff working the evening shift were able to use this information to decide whether they wanted to try to get home late at night, and those who lived in, or would have to pass through, areas that were be difficult to get to had hotel accommodation organised and paid for them. That is a true society – people looking out for each other.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:48am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Pointless snark re Brown. What should have been done that wasn’t exactly?
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:58am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    I would like to know the practical effect of “declaring a state of emergency” at 10 pm rather than, say, 6 pm. The journalists criticising the mayor have not explained this.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:07am
    - john
      
      WC, a declaration conveys the powers to the CD Controller from Council BAU. Those powers are considerable including the ability to employ/requisition resources and cost recovery, require information be given, powers of search, forced evacuations, road/ area closures, dissemination of information, power to direct etc etc. So while resources were deployed as the event evolved the response was in a sense voluntary, potentially a little uncoordinated and lacking the associated powers to act. The most important functions as an event evolves are information, communication and the provision of confidence, an early declaration provides a bunch of that. My thoughts from six years of these events down south as a governor.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:37am
  - Hollyfield
    
    And Golriz Ghahraman is criticising Wayne Brown for saying “we need the rain to stop”. Does she think the situation would be better if the rain continued?
    
    It is very easy to criticise in hindsight that things should have been done sooner. However the floods happened very, very quickly, and if he had made the declaration too early he would have been criticised for that, too.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:31am
    - Widogast Corwin
      
      I was watching the BBC this morning reporting on the flooding in Auckland. Of all the people to interview they picked that Mexican Green MP. Of course he wailed about how it was all caused by climate change.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:05am
      - Hollyfield
        
        I grew up in West Auckland. Decades ago whenever there was heavy rain we would afterwards go to Henderson Creek to see the damage caused by the flooded creek, the long grass flattened, trees and fences down, bridges destroyed, bark washed away etc.
        Yesterday there were videos posted of Henderson Creek showing the exact pictures from my childhood, and blaming climate change. It looked no different than what I saw many times decades ago.
        
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        January 29, 2023 11:01am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Maybe then instead of sending political twits to useless climate conferences they should be upgrading road drains?
        
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        January 29, 2023 4:06pm
    - nathie
      
      Or is is a case of the urban liberal elite (represented by the likes of Golriz, Ricardo and some of the Auckland MSM) just not being used to “disasters” so freak out as soon as something untoward happens to them?
      
      (Like those rare magnitude 3 earthquakes that occasionally rattle Auckland and sees these urban elites hiding under the nearest cafe table)? //
      
      Pretty sure when there is flooding out in the regions the good people there don’t start freaking out wondering when their mayor & team will call a civil defence emergency, instead they just get on with things like protecting or preparing to evacuate their houses or moving stock to higher ground!
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:40am
  - Flossie
    
    The media are going to criticise all leaders not of the left.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:51am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      They really are that puerile. They are a menace to democracy.
      
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      January 29, 2023 1:26pm
  - Ruawai
    
    Agreed but he needs training in speaking to the media, he came all defensive about himself rather than focusing on the issue.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:02am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Lefties being lefties. Not smart enough to come up with ideas, so they insult.
    
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    January 29, 2023 11:01am
Philview

I don’t live in Auckland and am just wondering about your thoughts on Wayne Brown’s leadership. The media didn’t like him from day one for political reasons, so for us outsiders we don’t know if there is validity to criticism of his leadership. Any thoughts appreciated.
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January 29, 2023 8:35am
- Cinematic
  
  So far pretty good. Seems fiscally responsible. Stuffing unelected authorities at AT etc back into their box. A big improvement. I’ve never seen a mayor stop a storm.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:58am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Back into the box is no good. The boxes need to be removed!
    AT is full of no hopers on very high salaries.
    
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    January 29, 2023 11:03am
- Nickc2
  
  Akld Journalists are no different from any others in NZ’s current political climate. Creating controversy from trivia is their sole purpose in life.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:59am
- Surely Knott
  
  Not sure what difference a state of emergency would have made an hour earlier. All emergency vehicles were underway and at maximum capacity. Vector and watercare are flat out with repairs. The most useful info came from community Facebook pages as locals shared pics and live video of slips, flooding and road closures in real time. There’s no way the council could have matched the speed and quantity of info provided by locals. Plenty of local people offering to come and help dig out drains, rescuing pets and giving advice. Local councillors were facebooking relevant updates for their area.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:23am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Following Erica Stanford’s posts I think the main plea was for a list of Emergency Shelters being opened up overnight. But don’t we all know it is basically the local schools/ marae? Surely the duty CD person just opens these and doesn’t wait for the Mayor.
    
    I think this whole disaster was compounded by the long weekend with everyone decamped by 2.30pm if they were even working that Friday. Combined with the lacklustre rain warnings by Met Service.
    
    I think the four day working week in government middle management is going to be exposed to the workers.
    
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    January 29, 2023 11:35am
    - Ghost
      
      Problem with that as the mayor and the people beside him explained was they went to open emergency shelters they found they were under water and had to locate and set up new shelters.
      
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      January 29, 2023 11:37am
      - DeepBlue
        
        True. However the whole idea of CD is the locals know their neighbourhood. So in an unprecedented event, such as flooding of a CD centre it would still be faster for locals to redirect locals to higher ground than someone in a CD bunker disseminating that same info.
        
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        January 29, 2023 1:46pm
- Inthe09
  
  If he’d called it earlier the usual suspects would have been all over him for not ‘following due process’…
  
  He’s rattling a few cages and asking questions that no one on the left would have – he’s got whole organisations like AT against him so no easy task.
  
  AT well known in Auckland as being the place people go to work when they’re so hopeless no one else will hire them.
  
  (sorry for pressing ‘report’ instead of reply)
  
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  January 29, 2023 11:22am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Efeso Collins missed out, so the left and “their” media are having a hissy fit.
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:25pm
H. Upmann

More hate speech from Simon Wilson this morning. It is an almost daily thing : https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/simon-wilson-when-auckland-needed-him-most-where-was-wayne/BA3TLY23R5AQ5H4CH24ABENR64/
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January 29, 2023 8:38am
- Gravelroad
  
  Paywalled.
  But just reading the first ‘Teaser’ sentence made me glad I couldn’t read the rest of it.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:44am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Wayne was probably avoiding fuckwits like Simon Wilson. Good on him.
  
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  January 29, 2023 11:04am
  - Mark Hanley
    
    agree!
    
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    January 29, 2023 2:12pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Brian Easton wondered whether ex-Prime Minister Ardern had a read of some briefing papers over her long summer break.

This list suggests that the government faces numerous major technical policy challenges, compounded by severe political concerns and consequences which require major management.

https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2023/01/28/brian-easton-christmas-briefing-papers-what-was-the-pm-reading-in-the-runup-to-election-year/
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January 29, 2023 8:42am
- hmmokrightitis
  
  Simple really, and obvious to anyone with the slightest inkling of how this all works.
  
  November: Party tells (soon to be ex) PM the game is up and she needs to leave
  December: Internal shenanigans within Labour as they work through the shit fight quietly
  January: “Dont have enough in the tank” (read the body language, aka Ive been dumped)
  Also January: Ta da, look we are so efficient, we have a new leader who everyone loves and supports
  Also January: Labour ministers confirm writing is on the wall, led by Robertson who goes list.
  
  Wonder how it feels being dumped like that.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:51am
  - Nickc2
    
    She obviously didn’t shed a tear for those in her electorate. She left them without political representation rather than lose a bi-election eh?
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:05am
    - Mags
      
      Nothing new there, she didn’t even set foot in Auckland let alone her electorate for the majority of the lockdowns.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:21am
    - nathie
      
      Wouldn’t be surprised if Labour didn’t want a Mt Albert by-election because they foolishly tried to call out Dr Sharma for “forcing” the Hamilton West by-election last December and didn’t want to be seen as hypocrites now as it is still fresh in people’s memories.
      
      Regardless Dr Sharma wins again – Labour, who normally don’t care about hypocrisy, would rather leave Mt Albert constituents high and dry without representation rather than concede they got it wrong when they called out Dr Sharma (by having a new by-election).
      
      Aren’t Labour just despicable when it comes to looking after people, even their own kind or supporters!
      
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      January 29, 2023 12:04pm
      - Ghost
        
        She has done nothing different than Key. He also left 6 months prior to the election to not cause a by-election
        
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        January 29, 2023 12:10pm
      - CJames
        
        Ghost I thought he left earlier than that. A Labour MP left at the same time and both parties agreed not to hold a by-election in either seat.
        
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        January 29, 2023 4:27pm
    - greybeard
      
      I am sure there are several Auckland electorates which qualify for “bi-elections”, especially Auckland Central, but you may mean “by-election”.
      I apologise for my pedantic attitude but due to a surfeit of maori words lately I have taken a renewed pride in the beauty of the English language.
      
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      January 29, 2023 2:52pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Good on you! I guess I should get down on my knees and grovel for forgiveness but I won’t.
        Yip, my mistake. Why didn’t my spell checker pick that up is more of a worry to me?
        
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        January 29, 2023 3:05pm
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    Most of us (men & women) have experienced jilted ex’s who will say anything to avoid looking in the mirror at their own behaviour.
    
    The (ex)PMs’ PR spin people had several weeks to develop their misogyny narrative for maximum media dump distraction at the point when the polls confirmed Ardern had become net unfavourable with the electorate.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:10am
- Cassandra
  
  It’s a really good article. Easton nails Labour’s gross deficiencies.
  
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  January 29, 2023 8:54am
- Widogast Corwin
  
  “But the Prime Minister has a pile of briefing papers prepared just before Christmas, which have to be worked through.”
  
  In the case of the recently departed PM, I think it is most unlikely that over the Christmas break she devoted much time to reading briefs on the disasters she has imposed on New Zealand.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:04am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    The funniest Ardern story over Christmas was that NZIER made a big deal of their Prime Ministers Christmas reading list – did a launch at the local independent bookstore and all, got the media etc
    
    and then saw the story in the paper that the PM didn’t plan to read anything over Christmas.
    
    Add that to all the well-sourced stories from her officials that she never read her briefing papers anyway.
    
    NZ has had the most intellectually incurious PM in our lifetime.
    
    Its almost as though she simply switched her Mormon faith for Socialism, and carried on. It must be nice, even by this Deity’s standards, having that level of absolute certainty that you already know everything. It certainly explains a lot though.
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:11am
    - Widogast Corwin
      
      “Its almost as though she simply switched her Mormon faith for Socialism,….”
      
      I’m certain. Fringe religions discourage critical thinking. They encourage faith. Look at what she studied at university. “Communications”. I saw no evidence that she had the faintest grasp of science or economics.
      
      The “faith based” thinking led directly to the “single source of truth” and the plea at the UN to strike down non believers also known as spreaders of misinformation.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:11am
- john1234
  
  Great article, thank you.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:09am
- Gravelroad
  
  @MW-
  Learnt a new term from reading this-
  We have a government of “redisorganisation” now scrambling to make sense of all their own stuff-ups.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:14am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yes – it’s a good synonym for clusterfuck
    
    https://qz.com/work/1225213/the-difference-between-a-snafu-a-shitshow-and-a-clusterfuck
    
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    January 29, 2023 9:24am
    - gravedodger
      
      As expected Maggy W, finger on the pulse, well done you beaudy, alas only the one uptick.
      
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      January 29, 2023 2:56pm
  - greybeard
    
    “redisorganisation”: the 2020’s reply to the 1960’s “antidisestablishmentarianism”.
    
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    January 29, 2023 4:16pm
- Ehlana
  
  redisorganisation – now I know what Labour has achieved. Can we have this as the word of the last five years?
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:52am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You mean Jaspinda maybe took classified documents home with her?
  OK, get the FBI to search her house. Get the media creating fake news.
  This must be stopped.
  
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  January 29, 2023 11:07am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Why would Jaxxie have read anything as boring as Christmas briefing papers? She already knew she was gone.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:54pm
Surely Knott

Rachel Smalley says re the Wayne Brown Press conference. “I feel like I’m on the set of The Simpsons, and Mr Burns is running Auckland.”

Mr Burns is not known for being bumbling or slow if she was trying to criticise his response time. He’s a character known for being greedy and conniving. So I assume she’s talking about the way he looks and now that she mentions it he does look like Mr Burns and I can’t unsee it.

Is this different to the people who compared Jacinda’s looks to Mr Ed? Did a media person ever call Jacinda Mr Ed or comment negatively on her looks or is it only ok if they’re not from the left?

Smalley’s a media celebrity. Will her tv station make her apologise. This follows earlier in the week breakfast tv shooting at a Trump doll on national tv?

The media claim that abuse is gendered, and was specific to Jacinda, and that it only comes from the public on social media…it seems this is not true.
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January 29, 2023 8:59am
- Opie
  
  He is a middle aged white man with a functioning frontal lobe.
  
  You may call him what you like without fear of cancelation.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:46am
  - reubee
    
    I don’t think 76 is middle aged
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:07am
    - Flossie
      
      The closer I get to it the more it seems so! I am not ready to be termed “elderly” thank you very much!
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:28am
    - Opie
      
      You are middle aged while you still have your mind and the body to carry you. Lose either and your are elderly.
      
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      January 29, 2023 12:49pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        You are middle-aged when the top part of you still thinks okay, the bottom part of you still walks you around okay, but the bit in the middle is slumping and looking decidedly un-young. 🙂
        
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        January 29, 2023 2:13pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      “Rachel Smalley says re the Wayne Brown Press conference. “I feel like I’m on the set of The Simpsons, and Mr Burns is running Auckland.””
      
      And reporting is Sideshow Rachel?
      
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      January 29, 2023 2:22pm
- graham
  
  “The media claim that abuse is gendered, and was specific to Jacinda, and that it only comes from the public on social media…it seems this is not true.”
  
  Absolutely. I heard Simon Barnett on Newstalk ZB last week (very rarely listen at that time but just happened to be driving) musing that Chris Hipkins just doesn’t “look like a Prime Minister”, because he isn’t tall enough, doesn’t have the presence, and doesn’t have the “mana”.
  
  Basically, Simon Barnett was saying that Chris Hipkins doesn’t look like a Prime Minister …
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:57am
  - Ghost
    
    Watching the press conference yesterday you could be mistaken for thinking he was brown’s son just standing in the back ground. The guy has no presence at all. He’s not leader material.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:03am
Morry45

Geez, Simon Wilson is really doing everything he can to discredit Brown.

It’s becoming a little embarrassing to see the infatuation with it!
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January 29, 2023 9:00am
- nathie
  
  “Apparently” urinals with Wilson’s face stenciled on them are flying out the door at Bunnings and Mitre 10, seems to be their hottest selling item! 😉
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:26am
- Warren
  
  Simon Wilson has a problem and has been stalking Wayne Brown and Chris Luxon for months now in his articles in the Herald his hate is there for all to see, and the Herald have felt it was necessary to call out all those that apparently abused the former Prime Minister but sanctions Simon Wilson’s bullshit week after week.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:40am
  - Cassandra
    
    Living rent-free in Wilson’s head. But who reads his rubbish? As soon as I see his name I move on. Preaching to the converted is a waste of time (which is what I’m doing at present).
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:05am
- NZer In Exile
  
  The Rachel Maddow of the NZ Herald?
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:22pm
ClanMcleod

Tesco supermarket chain in the UK putting food into security boxes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp1-c2nTGqI
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January 29, 2023 9:09am
Yvette

Wasn’t “stormwaters” a part of “3 Waters”?
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January 29, 2023 9:37am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  3 Waters is all about money coming in, not going out.
  
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  January 29, 2023 11:16am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Last year there was discussion about it being 2 Waters, and leaving stormwater with Councils.
    
    Stormwater can’t be metered, and when it fails it floods everyone and is expensive. That’s not a taniwha Tainui/Ngai Tahu want.
    
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    January 29, 2023 11:42am
krazykiwi

I will be interested to see the root cause analysis of why the Interislander lost all power yesterday. The Interislander team will no doubt investigate themselves and issue some flannel designed to quash any further digging. Behind the scenes some sloppy engineering will be identified, a stern email will arrive in the chief engineer’s inbox, and the matter will be closed internally.

Had the loss of all power happened to an aircraft, Airbus for example would have globally grounded that aircraft type pending urgent and an independent investigation.
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January 29, 2023 9:40am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  It’s only sheer luck that it happened close enough to shore to drop the anchor. Otherwise they could be well on their way to the Southern Ocean.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:14am
  - DeepBlue
    
    They drifted one n.m. towards the rocky south coast before the anchors caught closer to shore.
    
    This was an incredibly dangerous situation that only ended when the power was reinstated. Listening to live to Maritime command and control, there was nothing that could be done, but standby to help rescue liferafts should they be deployed.
    
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    January 29, 2023 11:46am
- Taieri
  
  Behind the scenes some sloppy engineering will be identified, a stern email will arrive in the chief engineer’s inbox, and the matter will be closed internally.
  —————
  
  This sort of occurrence is supposed to be investigated by Maritime NZ and investigation report with recommendations published afterwards.
  
  Not knowing the vessel is a bit hard to speculate as to the causes. But being twin screw with 4 Main Engines this vessel has effectively two separate propulsion systems so the fault would have to be common to both of them. Sulzer Z medium speed engines on Kaitaki are of excellent quality and if regularly maintained will operate well despite their age. Could be fuel contamination. Control system fault less likely.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:31am
  - Taieri
    
    As an addendum…some maritime incidents are also investigated by the TAIC (Transport Accident Investigation Commission). Not sure where the demarcation line between Maritime NZ and TAIC is.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:39am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    There seems to have been an unfortunate number of fuel “problems” recently. Wasn’t there an issue with some flights?
    Was the closure of Marsden Point anything to do with any of this?
    
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    January 29, 2023 12:09pm
    - Taieri
      
      Nothing to do with Marsden Point.
      Not sure what fuel they are running on. Probably some sort of LFO, which is a blend. If there’s a problem with fuel treatment equipment or bacterial contamination the consequences could be just that – blackout and loss of propulsion. As all 4 engines appear to have been affected the cause is common to all of them. And the only thing they have in common is fuel. The older versions of Sulzer Z based propulsion systems had electro-pneumatic speed control, with 3 way Westinghouse pressure reducing valves for control air. If such valve fails you’d loose the engine, but as I said before, not knowing the vessel’s set up, it’s all just a pure speculation.
      
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      January 29, 2023 1:38pm
Maggie Pie

Had to larf last nite 😀

One of the girls from tennis txt….

“What a cnut Elton John is”

Then I remembered Steph telling us they bought their tickets 2 years ago!
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January 29, 2023 9:55am
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… Contributing to Eltons retirement fund.
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:57am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    YIP! Poor ol’ Steph recons you could see the red tail lights of his private plane heading for Spain even BEFORE they announced the show was cancelled. LOL!!
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:05am
    - Ruawai
      
      Hawaii
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:12am
    - Widogast Corwin
      
      Planes don’t have tail lights.
      
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      January 29, 2023 10:15am
      - Ghost
        
        Not an Elton fan I see
        
        13 2
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        January 29, 2023 10:17am
      - Flossie
        
        Not to worry Maggie. I’m sure some of us got it.
        
        19 1
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        January 29, 2023 10:42am
      - Centrist
        
        Hint…
        Daniel
        
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        January 29, 2023 11:30am
    - Biscuit
      
      Hey, Maggie, TALKING of planes…
      Chris Hipkins has just been advised that his trip to Auckland to survey the flooding damage somehow OVERLOOKED a ‘This is unprecedented’ photo opportunity alongside your pool.
      He’ll be coptering by at Noon for a bit of ‘Feelz’ for you.
      Dress smartly and have some Diet Coke a few sausage rolls (with tomato sauce, of course) ready for him…
      
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      January 29, 2023 11:28am
kevn

@kk… Indeed… Twin propellor design, 1995 build. No power and having to anchor off the rugged Wellington coast.
Let be hearing what happened.
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January 29, 2023 9:56am
- Taieri
  
  Twin propellor design, 1995 build
  ————-
  
  TSS Earnslaw. Twin screw. Built in 1912. Still going strong.
  🙂
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:54am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Lost the coal, though
    
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    January 29, 2023 5:01pm
    - Taieri
      
      Still coal fired.
      
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      January 29, 2023 9:17pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Apparently Hipkins came to Auckland from Wellington by helicopter. Any truth in that?
Where are the 757s? Broken again?
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January 29, 2023 10:06am
- Ruawai
  
  Pretty sure he came by air force plane then flew around Auckland in an air force helicopter.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:13am
- Widogast Corwin
  
  I doubt that. It would take forever.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:16am
  - Inandout
    
    WC, depends on the helicopter.
    
    ‘The fastest military helicopter is the Eurocopter X3. This military helicopter is capable of flying at speeds of up to 487km/h’.
    
    To purchase one of those would probably completely deplete our military budget.
    
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    January 29, 2023 10:46am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      We have a Military Budget?
      Wow, who knew?!
      
      9 2
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      January 29, 2023 11:22am
      - Mike
        
        How many times do you want to be wrong in one comments thread, Steve? You live in Auckland. You may have noticed there is a naval base and our main airbase thete.
        
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        January 29, 2023 7:49pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Mike. I did ask if there was any truth in it.
        I heard it from my partner who heard it from the daughter’s neighbour’s second cousin.
        
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        January 30, 2023 9:18am
- wgtn_dude
  
  Flew to Ak in a C-130 Hercules
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:57am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The pic I seen appeared to be an airforce plane, he may have come from the airport in one
  
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  January 29, 2023 12:14pm
  - slightlyrighty
    
    Flew to Auckland in an Air Force c130. Flew around Auckland in a Navy Seasprite.
    
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    January 29, 2023 1:42pm
- Wayne Mapp
  
  C130
  
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  January 29, 2023 7:20pm
Gravelroad

An somebody please advise:
Can a Mayor independently declare a state of emergency when it suits him/her?
If not, why is there all this extreme criticism of Mayor Brown?
Is it just an opportunity for politics based hatred?
Declaring a state of emergency invokes wide ranging powers to many organisations and people.
I thought it was done on the advice to the Mayor and council given by the CEO and only after much consultation.
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January 29, 2023 10:14am
- Ghost
  
  https://www.civildefence.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/publications/Declarations/Factsheet-declaring-states-of-local-emergency.pdf
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:19am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Blatant politicization of the situation by those that should have known better (of various political colours) and a baying MSM – seemed pretty clear from the EM personnel comments at the press conference yesterday it was their call to recommend and he signed it off immediately. FWIW, I suspect that had he made a “captains call” earlier and overridden their advice the very same MSM would be baying – ‘dictator’, ‘doesn’t listen to advisors’, etc.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:35am
- Inandout
  
  Gravel, the Mayor is in the same MSM category as Trump. The man can never be permitted to do anything correctly; destroy..destroy.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:37am
- rangitoto
  
  He failed to get PR shots hugging people and ordering them to be kind.
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:10pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Didn’t Goff declare a climate emergency, and also start charging us all a bloody levy to combat this alleged emergency?
  Will Brown get rid of that levy?
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:19pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/why-ardern-is-leaving-others-to-clean-up-her-mess/
https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Blog-template-plus-sean-Caroline-sky-news.pdf

Jaspinda doesn’t have anything left in the tank? I don’t think the tank is that big!
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January 29, 2023 10:21am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Ardern’s ultimate legacy will be as a shirker of responsibility.
  So many trips overseas, at times convenient for her, when she should have been in Parliament. She missed 65+ days.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:30am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Chathams and Antartica to avoid public too. Maybe she even got harassed there.
    
    9 3
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    January 29, 2023 11:51am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      She went to Auckland and was only seen at the top of a ski field that was not opened to the public
      
      6 3
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      January 29, 2023 12:17pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Snowplanet up at Silverdale?
        
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        January 29, 2023 3:29pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    You have to acknowledge, she covered off the ECE sector like no PM before her.
    
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    January 29, 2023 5:03pm
Ghost

Pfizer late Jan. 28 responded to comments from a director at the company about exploring ways to mutate COVID-19 as a method to “preemptively develop new vaccines.”

“In the ongoing development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research,” Pfizer said in a lengthy written statement after days of ignoring queries from The Epoch Times and other outlets.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/pfizer-responds-after-director-says-company-developing-ways-mutate-covid-19
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January 29, 2023 10:32am
- herb1
  
  “ has not conducted gain of function….”. However the director was discussing their plans to do so in the future
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:57am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Ghost – here’s the best analysis of the whole shit show, including the Pfizer “response”.
  
  Pfizer didn’t deny anything that they’ve been accused of.
  
  Although Walker is clearly drunk and a little incoherent in the video, none of these remarks are improbable or surprising. Directed evolution of viruses is a real thing that virologists do. Rhesus and macaque monkeys are standard animal models in SARS-2 research.
  
  What this actually reveals, is that the Pfizer/BioNTech bivalent vaccine has been a total flop. Uptake is lower than ever, and within months of its rollout, BA.5 infections receded in the face of what will probably soon be the new dominant lineage, XBB.1.5. Because it takes so long to research and produce updated vaccines, you’re always vaccinating against yesterday’s variant. Vaccinator hysteria, however, has created an enormous global market for on-target Covid boosters, so you’d better believe that there are people out there right now trying to get ahead of the evolutionary curve.
  
  https://www.eugyppius.com/p/about-that-project-veritas-scoop?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
  
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  January 29, 2023 12:16pm
  - Ghost
    
    I loved where he claimed he was a liar and he was just trying to impress a date. Hmmm, who was he dating, Hannibal Lecter?
    
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    January 29, 2023 12:21pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Ghost – lol, great answer.
      
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      January 29, 2023 4:25pm
Maggie Pie

FOX NEWS contributor Roch-Decter tweets….

‘Prime Minister of New Zealand resigns and hits the night clubs’

https://twitter.com/GRDecter/status/1619053150673207296

My fave comment: “What a BADASS”

LOL!!
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January 29, 2023 10:38am
- Tricati
  
  I think Ardern’s TXT to Hipkins’ saying ‘tag you are it’ speaks volumes to the thought it was just a game to her. A frivolous comment like that shows how shallow she was and it truly was just about her image.
  
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  January 29, 2023 10:59am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, reminds me of that song ‘Who’s sorry now?’
  Certainly not Jacinda.
  
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  January 29, 2023 12:52pm
- greybeard
  
  Looks to me as if she is copying that hot PM from Sweden or Finland or wherever.
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:44pm
Parnell Gun Club

My summer holiday read this year is Paul Preston’s “Franco”, the biography of the mid-twentieth century dictator of Spain. It has been thoroughly engrossing and difficult to put down despite being as long as the Old Testament.

The following excerpt seems to resonate. It describes Spanish economic and political conditions in 1957:

“Franco’s loose, not to say non-existent, control of ministers encouraged overspending. The consequent shortages of government funds were met by resort to the printing press. At the same time, there was little in the way of monetary and fiscal policies to regulate demand. In addition to these inflationary pressures, the previous year’s wage rises had increased industrial and agricultural costs by more than forty per cent.”
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January 29, 2023 10:48am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Snap, I’m reading the biography by Payne and Palacios!
  
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  January 29, 2023 5:38pm
  - Parnell Gun Club
    
    Fascinating part of history aye.
    
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    January 29, 2023 8:26pm
Maggie Pie

Another yuge advantage to living on one of the highest points of the Northern Slopes, is just how quickly the ground dries out. Even after torrential rain.
As my partner pointed out earlier, our garden-watering-system operates on a sophisticated sensor control, but it still came on at 5:30 this morning.

Just saying.
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January 29, 2023 11:40am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

From Dan Bongino.
https://rumble.com/v24kinw-you-can-kick-other-peoples-balls-but-you-cant-touch-them-in-order-to-avoid-.html
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January 29, 2023 11:48am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This is the same in NZ. Change of Govt Party but the swamp deadwood is still there.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+drain+the+swamp%2C+Liz+Wheeler
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January 29, 2023 11:57am
CAKE FACE1

The treatment of Wayne Brown by the Labour lickspittle Team of $55 million gives an important warning to Mr Luxon. The hit jobs leave a nasty taste in the mouth.

Even if National / ACT win the next election, these Pravda propaganda merchants will spend every day of the next three years dedicating themselves to character smears, hit jobs and abuse towards National and ACT.

Make no mistake – this is now a war, between the socialists and the freedom fighters. The socialists are winning. It is time to fight back.

The number one governmental priority for Mr Luxon should be to eliminate the Team of $55 million State subsidies and advertising.

Mr Luxon needs to privatise all State media, as his most important priority. If he doesn’t do this, his tenure will be short-lived. The Team of $55 million will slowly drag him down.

Mr Luxon shouldn’t announce this privatisation policy before the election. After the election, he should just ram it through, as fast as he can.

If State TV or State Radio need to be sold for $1, do it. The price does not matter.

The State needs to get out of broadcasting. For the future of New Zealand, privatisation of these Pravda acolytes is the most important policy Mr Luxon could introduce.

Make it so!
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January 29, 2023 12:54pm
- Its only I
  
  Click and dwell time is all that matters.
  If controversy brings the clicks then so be it.
  
  Act and National have always been held to higher standards than the left franchise. Is jumped to a whole new level since Jacinda rejigged the system.
  
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  January 29, 2023 1:23pm
- Swifty
  
  Our democracy is too important to allow any further the massive screwing of the scrum by tax-payer funded left mouthpieces saturating our universities, civil service, news media and other public institutions.
  
  We should have no objection to a fair debate of ideas in the public sphere by private individuals and either our ideas prove superior and survive or they are proven inferior and perish.
  
  This is a good and healthy situation.
  
  But currently we’ve an unhealthy situation where the left are given a massive advantage by having their ideas factories and mouthpieces in many, many cases taxpayer funded.
  
  The vids I posted of Waatea News yesterday are a classic example. Millions of taxpayer dollars going to pro-left and pro-separatist organisations to pay for them to spread their ideas – with the other side specifically excluded from the same funding.
  
  A total stich up.
  
  Close them down, turn off the money taps and let’s return to a (more) level playing field.
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:16pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Yep, privatised. Go through the lot.
  You are fired, FIRED!!
  The start the media again one by one, on credentials.
  Weed out the deadwood and commies!
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:34pm
- kingerstinger
  
  If Luxon does his job (and so far signs are good), he won’t need to worry about a ‘hit job’ that Brown suffered (spoiler alert, he didn’t suffer a hit job, he stuffed his first crisis up big time and rightly got slammed for it).
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:57pm
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION….

What will the government do with its millions of soon-to-be-expired RAT stockpile?

Asking for a friend who was stood down for refusing to be vaccinated.
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January 29, 2023 1:19pm
- Ghost
  
  Sell them to a pacific island country?
  
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  January 29, 2023 1:20pm
- Nickc2
  
  They will bury them in a landfill like they do with all surplus stuff. I wonder if Hipkins has that in mind for his Maori Caucus?
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:48pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Sell to Spain?//
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:34pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Our local pharmacy got sent cartons of them from the DHB about the time the Xmas wave demand dried up. So if you want some …
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:18pm
NZer In Exile

Time to cut the umbilical cord between the taxpayer’s purse and the media. They have become overwhelmingly partisan scum. Blow the money pipeline and let them sink or swim.
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January 29, 2023 1:50pm
Pineapple Lumps

In yesterday’s GD @Inandout and @Rusty implied they have no sympathy for Auckland — presumably for flood affected Aucklanders — due to the way Auckland responded to the lockdown. This was upticked by 17 KBers. I think you should hang your heads in shame!

Over the past 5 years we have seen divide and conquer politics like no other. Who wins from these divisions? We the grass roots people certainly don’t. So we have to stop allowing ourselves to be manipulated into these two team situations – Auckland/Rest of NZ, Maori/Pakeha, Urban/Rural, Landlords/Tenants, Male/Female, etc etc. Lets focus the energy on holding our leaders to account.

My biggest disappointment from the scamdemic has been the way NZ as a whole didn’t stand up against the tyranny of vaccine mandates. I dont care if people chose the vaccine or not — that’s their private medical business – but getting a passport so they could go to the pub or cafe while other people lost their jobs really hacks me off. We, my family, refused the passports and sat out last summer, unable to participate in society, play our sports, go to movies, libraries. I am a really proud Dad for the way my guys toughed that out. But our challenges were nothing compared to those who couldn’t keep their jobs, get into the country, see their elderly locked away in homes, not be with their dying family members.

With regards to the lack of respect for the way Auckland allowed the 100 day lockdown. I’d like to hear more about what you think Auckland should have done to stand up to the tyranny. But be balanced, what more could the rest of the country done to oppose the tyranny too? Remember not one part of the country had full BORA freedoms and rights. Remember it was the whole country who piled on to the couple who flew to Wanaka. All the scaredy-cats in small town NZ that whinged and whined every time people who could fled Auckland to spend lockdowns in their baches. How could we have fought against the hysteria and tyranny better? I’d like to know, because unfortunately I think we are going to need to do stand up to this sort of tyranny again.
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January 29, 2023 2:02pm
- I remember when
  
  Worse than the vaccination or no job was the failure to forgive and reinstate afterwards.
  Was it a warning for the future?
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:21pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Pineapple, remember most of your information comes from the commie NZ media, and the lies from Govt. The vaccine passport was the total “control” from Jaspinda, as was the childish traffic lights. She locked us down and put the Stasi at the borders!
  Fuck, I am surprised Jaspinda did not build wall (as in Germany)
  Standing up to Tyranny is hard – because those who want socialism have not seen WAR on our home land.
  Your rant is a bloody good one. Cheers!
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:53pm
- Inandout
  
  PL, I am certainly not going to hang my head in shame because I once lived in Auckland and enjoyed the cossetted lifestyle. In the 80s I had a brand new house and laid out the section with new grass seed only to see it washed away in torrential rain. The basement was flooded and I lost many precious photos to water damage but put it all down to ‘shit happens’. I am not of a mind to comment on the rest of your tome.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:57pm
I remember when

As the ‘tail-end’ of sub-tropical storms appear to be quite common.
Now might be the time to record totals from the Fiji Met Service: Facebook –
Fiji historical highest ever 24-hour rainfall.
Jan 1956 . Vatukoula – 663.7 mm
Mar 1997 . Monasavu – 610.7 mm
Dec 1938 . Nadarivatu – 571.5 mm
Feb 1938 . Nadarivatu – 546.1 mm
Dec 2012 . Monasavu – 529.0 mm
Jan 2022 . Nadarivatu – 524.5 mm
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January 29, 2023 2:17pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Probably not good days to do the washing.
  
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  January 29, 2023 2:30pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    It’ll be well washed, just hard to dry if it hasn’t disappeared out to sea. But in the northern Cooks I’ve seen washing not dry in a stiff breeze and fine weather because 100% humidity.
    
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    January 29, 2023 4:23pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      When it gets up to about 40C in the south states of Aus the humidity is usually around 5%. You can dry your clothes in about 40 mins.
      
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      January 29, 2023 5:06pm
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Yes, different worlds. Been warm and humid up here last few days but that beats downpours and floods. Looks like another scheduled for Tuesday.
        
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        January 29, 2023 6:33pm
Warren

How will Andrew Little keep his Health Portfolio after these figures have been released showing that record numbers are on the waiting list for our Hospitals.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/worst-ever-hospital-wait-lists-ensnare-67000/TSKAI5GKEBG7TIKFRTE6A6P7II/ What a record to have showing worst ever Hospital waiting list
Jacinda Ardern our Former Prime Minister has given the New Prime Minister Chris Hipkins a Hospital pass with inflation at a 36 year high, Crime at a all time high, Business demanding more immigration to fill our desperate shortage of workers, and to top it off the damage that has been caused by the latest weather bomb that has caused havoc in the North Island.
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January 29, 2023 2:21pm
NZer In Exile

From The Platform:

Julian Batchelor from Stop Co-Governance blocked from hiring a public venue (by NZ Labour and local council as I understand it from the discussion).

https://theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/julian-batchelor-from-stop-co-governance-blocked-from-hiring-a-public-venue
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January 29, 2023 2:28pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Exile man,
  Have a look at http://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi
  I bring the blog to Kiwiblog almost every day.
  If you have the time, go back to the daily posts from August last year.
  This is happening, and most Kiwis are ignoring it, or just don’t know.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:01pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Thanks. I’ll have a look soon. There are so many corrupt things going on that it’s hard to keep up!
    
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    January 29, 2023 4:04pm
Maggie Pie

My partner’s mum just sent this link thru.

https://mol.im/a/11688023

Recon’s that Rolling Stone’s ex-wife Bianca Jagger hasn’t aged well 🙁
Ma is a similar age but looks at least 20 years younger.
As she said, “You’d think someone who got millions from Mick in alimony could have afforded the very best cosmetic surgeons the US has to offer”
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January 29, 2023 2:43pm
- Swifty
  
  What a shit post Maggie Pie.
  
  She can age however she damn well wants to.
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:00pm
  - Mike
    
    Well said, Swifty.
    
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    January 29, 2023 6:24pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    You should see some of the shit I don’t post Swifty!
    
    It sits in a folder titled….I think this is hilarious but some uptight leftard wont.
    
    😀 😀 😀
    
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    January 29, 2023 7:04pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Better hair and makeup would probably make her look like a million bucks.
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:42pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  For some reason we all get old. Dunno why, have not figured that bit out yet.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:05pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Still looks better than Mick though, Maggie.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:26pm
Ghost

The only surprise is it has taken so long for them to get a petition together, thought it would be sitting waiting for something to whinge about

More than 2500 people have signed a petition to remove Wayne Brown as Auckland Mayor, while there are widespread calls on social media for him to resign.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/01/auckland-floods-petition-set-up-to-remove-auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-over-unacceptable-lack-of-leadership.html
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January 29, 2023 2:50pm
- Swifty
  
  How do they propose he be removed?
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:27pm
- artemisia
  
  The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about – Oscar Wilde
  
  Mayor Brown quietly smiling.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:02pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  They had their chance to vote against Wayne Brown: it’s called the local body election.
  
  It is amusing when the twitterati tick some petition or other, like it means anything at all except to their ego. Who gives a rat’s arse.
  
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  January 29, 2023 5:14pm
  - graham
    
    Some years back I used to read a website by some guy who would take the piss out of just about everything. Someone, inevitably, got all offended and set up a petition demanding he be banished from the Internet.
    
    The guy who wrote the website did a satirical bit about it, agreeing that his humourous articles were obviously far more dangerous than all the other nasty rubbish on the Internet, and even went ahead and signed the petition himself. That was how much he thought of it.
    
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    January 29, 2023 6:06pm
Swifty

Check out Keith Richards’ T-shirt:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AqdIzTpxeU0

Quite cool.
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January 29, 2023 2:58pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  🤣🤣😆
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:37pm
Maggie Pie

And does Horrid columnist Shaneell Lal have a doodle?

https://twitter.com/shaneellall/status/1619434540937940992

Asking for a friend.
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January 29, 2023 3:25pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Wow. Pathetic stuff. Reminds me of a rabid feminist 21 yr old flatmate I once had years ago.
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:45pm
  - Swifty
    
    How many female Indian premiers have there been since independence in 1947?
    
    How many female Fijian premiers have there been since independence in 1970?
    
    If Mr Lal wishes to have a go at New Zealand’s past perhaps he won’t mind if we hold him accountable, and hurl abuse at him, for the astonishing cruelty and savagery present in India’s past, where women were routinely burned alive on the funeral pyres of their deceased husbands as but one example*.
    
    But of course we would never do that because that would be silly.
    
    *Until the Brits put a stop to it.
    
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    January 29, 2023 4:23pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Indira Gandhi?
      
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      January 29, 2023 5:16pm
      - Swifty
        
        That’s right.
        
        Indian Prime Ministers – one woman out of a dozen or so.
        
        Indian Presidents – two women out of a dozen or so.
        
        Mr Lal must be disgusted at the Indian patriarchy. I wonder how many times he has hauled them over the coals on Twitter.
        
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        January 29, 2023 6:16pm
NZer In Exile

Project Veritas sting on Pfizer Director of Research and Development – Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning:

https://odysee.com/@ProjectVeritas:7/pfizer-exposed-for-exploring-mutating:0

And then later, crazy town erupts:

https://odysee.com/@ProjectVeritas:7/pfizer-director-assaults-james-o'keefe:7
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January 29, 2023 3:48pm
- Ghost
  
  I’d like a follow up sting on him, he was so entertaining
  
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  January 29, 2023 3:50pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    I had a momentary feeling of sympathy for him. He would have been seeing his career dissolve before his eyes I imagine. As to the bigger picture here, that’s a whole different ball game.
    
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    January 29, 2023 4:06pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  NZerIE – great analysis here.
  
  https://www.eugyppius.com/p/about-that-project-veritas-scoop?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:49pm
kingerstinger

A lot of armchair comments here from people who aren’t in Auckland quite obviously.

My parents were completely flooded – water up to our chests, grab a few key things, turn the power off, get out. This was approx. 6pm. Driving to their place several arterial routes were flooded and it took me 40 minutes to do a 15 minute journey.

Not declaring a SOE until 9.27pm is absolutely inexcusable – and Wayne Mapp – not that I usually agree with him – is absolutely bang on the money. Brown’s job was to communicate, reassure, and provide clear information. Did none of that, just blamed everyone else and got irritable. Twat.
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January 29, 2023 3:55pm
- Ghost
  
  You yourself are an armchair expert. The experts were the ones who were out in the field and asked for a state of emergency to be declared when they needed it to be, and it was.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:09pm
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Well Wayne and kingerstinger are certainly in agreement with Todd Niall whose view is a Mayor’s job is to play politics What really surprises me is that neither mentioned the glowing Goff comparison.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300794530/analysis-wayne-brown-appears-to-have-missed-what-a-mayors-job-is-in-a-crisis
    
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    January 29, 2023 4:55pm
    - kingerstinger
      
      That would be because I look at situations regardless of whether someone is right-wing or left-wing!
      
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      January 30, 2023 3:31pm
- greybeard
  
  It is not up to a mayor to decide on a state of emergency: that is up to every local body’s Emergency Management manager.
  They decide on the severity, then they advise the mayor, who makes the public announcement.
  Emergency Management officers are permanent local body employees, who do this sort of thing year in and year out.
  That is their job.
  Mayors come and go.
  Enough of this Anti-Brown crap.
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:19pm
  - MCōs
    
    Here is the relevant Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 Factsheet: Declaring states of local emergency
    https://www.civildefence.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/publications/Declarations/Factsheet-declaring-states-of-local-emergency.pdf
    
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    January 29, 2023 4:34pm
    - Ghost
      
      So the question is Mcos, would you ignore offical advice and call a state of emergency early, or would you follow offical advice and call it when those on the ground doing the work ask for it to be called?
      
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      January 29, 2023 4:42pm
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      Yes MCos – Ghost posted that 6 hrs ago and it looks like Brown did what was required. But just a minor thought – if after the event the Minister is so upset about the locals not acting why did he not act? – he was in the loop, and had the power to override the local’s view. Agree with greybeard -pure political beat up.
      
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      January 29, 2023 5:23pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  As I asked earlier, what wasn’t done that could have been done if the SoE had been declared earlier?
  
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  January 29, 2023 4:30pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Disinformation or no information from those who ‘should’ be telling Wayne Brown?
  The left set him up right?
  Tell me this is not true….. Cunning as shithouse rats.
  
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  January 29, 2023 5:03pm
- Mike
  
  I think arguing about when a state of emergency misses the point.
  A civic leader needs to be visible and available in times of crisis. Conmunicating is surely one of a leader’s prime roles in an emergency. Sitting in the office waiting to be told that emergency powers were required was perhaps not the only thing required of the mayor.
  
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  January 29, 2023 6:04pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Indeed. The least he could have done was put on a hi vis jacket and hard hat, looked “sad” and feigned some empathy. That would have fixed everything.
    
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    January 30, 2023 6:39am
- kowtow
  
  Who’s job was it to forecast the weather .
  
  btw How can Brown know what’s happening across the city unless he’s briefed .
  
  Surely fire police transport etc should be feeding information up the line , did that happen , is there a central information place , if not why not .
  
  These muppets have been talking about cliamte catasrophe for long time ; where’s the emergency response mechanisms , if as they tell us it’s going to be so frequent .
  
  So many questions to be answered before put mayor in frame and giving armchair ex MP credit .
  
  If Brown has no info how can he “reassure” or communicate what he doesn’t know .
  
  Do we know yet why the airport flooded . Is that Brown’s fault.
  
  Oh I geddit , we need a PM to don a sou’wester and some goretex , put on an “empathetic face” and say “Don’t worry I’m here , I can calm the storm”
  
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  January 29, 2023 6:37pm
cas

Interesting article in the Sunday Star Times suggesting the people at Chris’s local Cossie club haven’t seen him in years. The paper headlined it as
‘Chris down at the Cossie; A long time between drinks’ .

But when I went to send it on to someone the stuff headline was a bit different.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131068204/chris-down-the-cossie-a-glass-of-wine-for-6-at-prime-ministers-local

Stuff not wanting to spoil the image of the boy from the Hutt though the punters have called him out.
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January 29, 2023 4:27pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Now you have to get to the very last sentence to be told the truth after all the fluff and flannel. What a disgrace to journalism Stuff is.
  
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  January 29, 2023 6:44pm
Maggy Wassilieff

I was listening to National Radio on early Friday Night as I made dinner.
Checkpoint (5:15-6pm) was all about Elton John’s big gig and how difficult it was going to be for folks to get to Mt Smart when KiwiRail had withdrawn trains for line maintenance .

There was an item on Flooding and damage to roads in Coromandel.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint

There was nothing to indicate that Auckland was heading into a disaster.
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January 29, 2023 6:57pm
- Ghost
  
  Stuff started their live reporting on the Auckland weather 7.40am Friday.
  
  https://embed.scribblelive.com/Embed/v7.aspx?Id=3023395&Page=16&overlay=false
  
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  January 29, 2023 7:19pm
- MCōs
  
  You must have missed this report at 5:16pm re the weather in Auckland and surrounds.
  Note that by that time there hadn’t been a peep from from Wayne Brown.
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018875398/weather-flooding-road-closures-damage-in-coromandel
  
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  January 29, 2023 9:28pm
Hollyfield

Wayne Brown being criticised for being tactless in saying that some of the flooded houses shouldn’t have been built where they were.

Then Eugenie Sage said the exact same thing but apparently she’s not being criticised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3m_faznfkA
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January 29, 2023 7:22pm
- Hollyfield
  
  From that same video, an urban design expert said we need more permeable land to soak up the rain. Makes sense I thought. I reflected that the property next door to me used to have one house and an enormous lawn and garden, now it has 7 townhouses and a concrete driving covering every inch of that property. No permeable land at all.
  Then the expert said we need more intensification in cities to leave the surrounding land agricultural to soak up the water. I’m really struggling to see how agricultural land 50km away in Pukekohe will prevent Auckland’s CBD from flooding when an excessive amount of rain falls in the CBD.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3m_faznfkA
  
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  January 29, 2023 7:31pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Wayne’s right of course Hollz.
  
  Look at the poor houses that were crushed at the bottom of Shore Rd.
  When those were built at the lowest-lying part of the street, you’d have to wonder how those morons in council ever gave approval for cantilevered tennis courts and swimming pools to be built directly above them on the cliff in Arney Rd.
  
  My partner has always said it was a disaster waiting to happen 🙁
  
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  January 29, 2023 7:52pm
Chris Nisbet

Hmm. SWMBO and I just got emergency alert messages on our phones. Apparently we might get some really heavy rain tonight.
No such alert on Friday night though. I guess this means it’s _really_ gonna heave it down tonight if Friday’s downpour didn’t even warrant a mention. Or maybe it’s actually Friday’s alert but just a bit late.
Seriously though, what use are these alerts if we don’t get one when we could do with it, but get one when we don’t need it?
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January 29, 2023 8:34pm
Maggie Pie

GO NOVAX!
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January 29, 2023 9:39pm

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