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March 11, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 11 March 2023

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General Debate

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Simon

Why don’t Trump’s political opponents, GOPe / Dems release a fake video equivalent of Russia collusion. A fake vid of Trump calling a fast food worker the N word.

Because the GOPe / Dem don’t have to. They can just illegally ballot harvest again.
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March 11, 2023 8:03am
- Paulus
  
  Anything. anything. anything to stop Trump from stading for President again.
  Get him into jail at anycost or pretext.
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:36am
  - virtualmark
    
    Why would the Dems want to stop Trump from standing for President again?
    
    If I were the Dems then, firstly, I’d be looking forward to Trump eating De Santis’ liver on-stage with some fava beans and a nice chianti. And, secondly, I’d know that having Trump as the GOP candidate is the best thing to energise my base to turn out. And, thirdly, all the polls say Biden would beat Trump in a head-to-head … as he did comfortably in 2020.
    
    The silent centre of American politics is sick and tired of the Trump chaos. Heck, most of the GOP is sick and tired of the Trump chaos. Heck, **Fox News** is sick and tired of the Trump chaos. The only people cheering for Trump to return are the 10-15% of the population in Team Crazy and the 5% of the population in Team Fascist.
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:08am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      #TRUMP 2024
      
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      March 11, 2023 11:08am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    #TRUMP 2024
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:08am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  #TRUMP 2024.
  He is coming back, just watch the liberal tears, screaming, and rioting
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:09am
Matt Long

Several things came to my attention last night that have changed my mind about Luxon, first this from The Platform and Ian Wishart, who is apparently New Zealand’s only investigative journalist, https://youtu.be/uW-3ZxKmMSE setting out how NIWA has failed to keep the country informed of the many more severe storms than Cyclone Gabriel that New Zealand has experienced. This compares with Luxon’s, this storm was caused by climate change and minimisers need to be silenced speech.
The other things are the polls, particularly the Roy Morgan poll.
Formerly I was of the view that Luxon is a liability, but by voting ACT he could be neutralised.
Now I believe he could cost the country another three years of Labour, Greens, Maori Party, and he needs to go
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March 11, 2023 8:10am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Sadly, I think you are right. Maureen Pugh asked a reasonable question and he has her re-educated communist style.
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:14am
  - Yvette
    
    What many people still miss is that Maureen Pugh asked Shaw to provide evidence for a local council setting rates, and it was on behalf of the local council that Pugh made the original request of Shaw for – not in relation to her own views. Luxon did not acknowledge that.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:23am
    - Nothelen
      
      Exactly, I watched the video of that WCRC meeting and it was before Christmas. They wanted an official reply to the question, how much climate change in NZ is attributed to human activity ? How can James Shaw not know the answer ?
      
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      March 11, 2023 10:25am
      - farbeyond
        
        Because it is one of those answers for a question that shouldn’t be asked. It is a ‘consensus’ answer, an ad populum falacy, not a scientific one.
        
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        March 11, 2023 10:46am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “How can James Shaw not know the answer ?”
        
        Because he not only has no science background he has not a scientific way of thinking much like Luxon.
        
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        March 11, 2023 11:36am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    And it turns out Pugh’s question was on the money. NIWA “appear to be” (wink wink) playing silly buggers with the facts in support of the mob narrative. Presumably so the cancel lynch mob won’t come after any of them (isn’t that why everyone these days is paying homage to silly/dodgy/dangerous crap?).
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:51am
- kowtow
  
  Kate MacNamara at NZME does excellent work.
  
  But the editors usually bury it at the back of the paper.
  
  Today’s a good example.
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:17am
- Colville
  
  Moron.
  It’s a binary choice.
  Luxon or Hopkins.
  Pick the least worst.
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:18am
  - Matt Long
    
    ☺️☺️☺️
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:15am
  - Matt Long
    
    That’s interesting because just over a month ago it was a binary choice between Luxon and Ardern, who had similar favorables, and the National brand could overcome Luxon’s short comings.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:19am
    - Colville
      
      …and after a few months change of leadership bounce Hopkins will be on a downward slide.
      How about you gird your loins and start pissing away from the tent instead of into it?
      
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      March 11, 2023 9:27am
      - Matt Long
        
        Just to be clear Luxon is pissing in my tent, and the question is if he’s the least worst choice in National caucas.
        
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        March 11, 2023 9:38am
    - Matt Long
      
      What you are doing is hoping the Hipkins loses his gloss and falls to Luxon’s level, there’s a bit more at stake I think than to just hope Hipkins fails.
      
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      March 11, 2023 9:33am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        What has Hipkins done to deserve these favorables, he is constantly caught out lying, Luxon appears to be getting the better of him in Q time, he smeared the people of HB, and he has the worst mess in the main portfolios he has had, Education, police, and Health, if you think these numbers will hold up as we ho into a possible recession, and the threat of higher taxes then ge my guest
        
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        March 11, 2023 11:27am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        I am replying to giant. The is much the same as Chairman Dan in Victoria.
        
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        March 11, 2023 12:27pm
      - leoj
        
        G: Look at the latest poll.
        Nats are treading water.
        Because Luxon and co have failed to stick the knife in, they have come off as being the weaklings they are.
        Then again, maybe they haven’t the will to stick the knife in because their policies are not that different?
        Historically, they don’t wipe out previously-passed bad Labour policy.
        That’s why the polls are so close.
        
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        March 11, 2023 1:16pm
      - Matt Long
        
        Hipkins has done nothing of substance to earn the favorables, most voters are very shallow and base their choices on very limited knowledge.
        Prime ministers normally get a big boost in favorables because people hear of them for the first time and aren’t aware of their past.
        Luxon has been around a while now and not gotten any cut through.
        
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        March 11, 2023 1:27pm
  - Dave
    
    A binary choice would mean picking the less worse, though why I have to choose between a New Zealand politician and a Welsh actor is a bit of a mystery.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:25am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    That’s like picking a two star service provider rating over a one star rating.
    
    Vote ACT. They are nuts on a couple of issues but generally better than the two main woketard parties. Probably at least a three star rating.
    
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    March 11, 2023 12:42pm
- Matt Long
  
  Wishart’s interview is that not only has NIWA not bothered to research storms that go against the catastrophic climate change narrative, but have failed to inform authorities how to prepare for dangerous storms.
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:37am
  - Matt Long
    
    https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/graham-adams-how-cyclone-gabrielle-mugged-the-greens-and-labour?postId=c440b3e4-4c60-4ffd-bb9f-a78ca33134b7&cid=db970c6d-6f12-48e2-a04d-5c512f666dee
    Another article showing that Luxon has a tin ear when it comes to public sentiment.
    
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    March 11, 2023 8:39am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      So Hipkins had the tin ear for days over crime in HB during the storm, Luxon said the people were right from what h ex was hearing on the ground, but you say Luxon has the tin 👂
      
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      March 11, 2023 11:29am
      - Matt Long
        
        Nice piece of “whataboutism,” obviously Hipkins is a useless Regressive failure. Luxon used a natural disaster to push climate alarmism and attempt to shut down people who are questioning the narrative.
        In the meantime according to the article, sane people are more interested in actual resilience to natural disasters than playing the climate alarmism , we need to mindlessly destroy the economy game.
        
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        March 11, 2023 1:10pm
      - lifesgood
        
        Matt Long you sound very much like a Labour plant. You constantly throw your toys because Luxon doesn’t do exactly what you want…or do you…is it all because you really, really want labour back in power. If that’s the case you are going the right way about it.
        
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        March 11, 2023 2:46pm
      - Matt Long
        
        I’m sorry that it offends you that I aspire to good leadership for New Zealand.
        
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        March 11, 2023 3:04pm
  - tedbear
    
    NIWA has also failed to remind New Zealanders that all the weather NZ gets originates somewhere else.
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:55am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      It’s almost like the colossal nuclear heat and radiation spewing machine in the sky has a little of no influence on the climate. Go figure.
      
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      March 11, 2023 11:55am
- Bloody Dago
  
  Have you weighed up the consequences of another 3 years of the Marxist clown car running amuck in this country. Clearly not… We want all the key infrastructure fixed. The health system,the roads, the education catastrophe, the climate bullshit gone, the WEF creeps banished from this country, sign-off and complete all TOW BS, there’s more but thats all you can fit into 20 years
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:52am
  - pdm
    
    Dago – Luxon will not stop the Climate bullshit. In fact he and Muller may ramp it upa few notches.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:18am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    Climate change policy will hardly change. The education disaster was well underway in the last National Government with Hekia Parata and Nikki Kaye in charge.
    
    What is the plan to fix it?
    
    Has National articulated a transport strategy? Are they going to continue the absurd EV subsidies?
    
    Do they have any plan to repeal the Local Government Act? Will they finally fix the RMA?
    
    Yes I agree that a National Government would be better than what we have now but that is an astonishingly low bar.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:30am
    - artemisia
      
      Pretty sure National (Ms Collins) had a Bill replacing the RMA ready to go in 2017. National tried in their last term but couldn’t get the votes.
      
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      March 11, 2023 12:58pm
      - Matt Long
        
        Why did they wait 8 years?
        
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        March 11, 2023 1:30pm
    - Paulus
      
      As neither Luxon nor Hipkins are my Electorate MP I cannot vote either for or against them.
      I will vote for the Party that has the ability to get us out of the current Arden/Robertson/Hipkins and others mess.
      Sadly it will take many years to touch the iceberg of stupidity, but as a very mature in my late twilight all I want to do is to get rid of this iniquetous Labour Green Maori Government.
      Sadly with what I see today they could well get back in – its all about money.
      I keep up with the pills until October with hope to still be here to vote.
      
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      March 11, 2023 1:51pm
- peterwn
  
  If Chris Luxon is dumped now, Labour is pretty well guaranteed to win this years election. Look what happened in 2020. There are insufficient climate deniers who can swing an election.
  Look at the latest Curia/ Taxpayers poll results. OK, Chris H is well ahead on popularity stakes but that means sweet all. National/ACT polled surprisingly well given the circumstances and on that poll would have formed a Government by a whisker. All things equal I would have expected that the change of Labour leader would have temporarily benefited Labour in the polls more than it did.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:21am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    At the end of the day what will trigger people is their wallet. There are folk now who borrowed 800 k at 2.5 percent during the height of the 2021 COVID property boom. Many of them will shortly need to refinance at 6.9 percent. By July it will be 7.4 percent. On a 800k mortgage that is an additional $670 per week. 😣😣😣
    
    The country will be in deep recession by August. Honestly if National cannot win the 2023 election, they never will.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:35am
    - Paulus
      
      Not so, – Employers will succumb to blackmail and raise their wages/salaries to whatever they want.
      Inflation will still run to close to 10%
      Law of diminishing return.
      More the wages go up so the more that inflation continues.
      Gonna be a bang somewhere – just because Robertson/Ardern chucked Billions of borrowed dollars into the market place without knowing where it went.
      I still see New Zealand abound with surplus cash.
      Plenty of new expensive Euro cars, expensive EVs, mobile homes and Caravans.
      
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      March 11, 2023 1:58pm
  - Matt Long
    
    I’m not suggesting you put Todd Muller up again.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:43am
    - Matt Long
      
      A divisive and polarising leadership spill would indeed be very bad for the country The second worst thing is Luxon stumbling along, in touch but not quite making it to election victory.
      A clean spill, like the way Adern was dispatched or Luxon doing the right thing like Little did in 2017 would do wonders for the party.
      
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      December 11, 2022 1:15pm
      - Matt Long
        
        A divisive leadership spill, thanks autocorrect.
        
        [Mod – fixed it for you]
        
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        March 11, 2023 2:54pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Decisive?
        
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        March 11, 2023 6:11pm
  - kowtow
    
    ‘climate deniers’ ?
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:17am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Agreed. Luxon has to stay for now.
    All we can hope for is more proven lies from Labour, more failures, and more imploding.
    Unless of course NZ wants SOCIALISM full on.
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:14am
    - Paulus
      
      Looks like it in the recent polls.
      Labour/Greens and Maori coalition close to winning again.
      
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      March 11, 2023 2:00pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      The list of Labour f*ck#ps, waste and skulduggery is huge. National and ACT have a huge amount of devastating ammunition to work with. Please ACT and National, put it to good use leading up to the election!!!
      
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      March 11, 2023 5:42pm
  - coge
    
    Under Luxon there is now a high chance National will be unable to form Govt 2023. These odds are getting a little higher by the day.
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:29am
    - Ghost
      
      You are 216 days away from the election, hold your knickers on because you are so far out todays polling means little
      
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      March 11, 2023 11:33am
      - coge
        
        By the time a grim realization sets in for the true faithful. It will be too late to do anything. Even then they’ll blame anyone but themselves, for not getting behind their man!
        
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        March 11, 2023 2:07pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        The poll that matters is on October 14th.
        
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        March 11, 2023 3:55pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Nats act would not have won by a whisker at all, the k eft were 4 seats away, an 8% disparity
    
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    March 11, 2023 7:42pm
- Philview
  
  The centre of NZ politics is to the Left, National tilted right under Judith Collins and Labour won in a landslide last election.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:58am
  - peterwn
    
    All Judith could do when she became leader was to do as much damage control as possible – she inherited an impossible situation.
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:16am
    - Matt Long
      
      The shambolic mess the Klutzes coup and JL Ross made of National meant that left or right didn’t come into it.
      
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      March 11, 2023 10:38am
  - Littletramp
    
    Labour won the last election because the population was under the covid spell. Ardern blocked any opposition from having a platform with lockdowns and social media censorship.
    Let’s see how they go now all that bullshit is being exposed and chickens are coming home to roost.
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:25am
    - Bob
      
      The Labour government still control (Fund) the media. ! They require full obeisance from media.
      
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      March 11, 2023 12:28pm
- coge
  
  Given the low census turnout, it’s reasonable to assume that public apathy will extend to the election. Hundreds of thousands are not feeling they have been represented, especially since early 2022. When the narrative turned. So a historical low turnout will be shocking for some. Whoever wins will do so with the slimmest of margins, with a bit of horse trading thrown in. Perhaps a very weakened Govt would be best for NZ.
  
  That all said, if the current trend continues (I believe it will) there is now less than a 20% chance of a Luxon led National pulling it off in 2023.
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:53am
  - Ghost
    
    You won’t know the turn out until people have posted their forms back. The way nz post works give it two weeks.
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:24am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Rubbish , people are waiting for Nats to deliver policy, they have begun to deliver policy and the TPU poll showed that thd Bats were up, it also showed as opposed to fools on here that there is only 4% difference between Luxon and a lying pm, I will say it again, only Key has lead a sitting pm in MMP era
    
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    March 11, 2023 7:46pm
- thirteenstars
  
  As I said yesterday after watching Plunket’s interview with Wishart:
  
  Luxon went off half-cocked, driven by his own agenda which is mainly modern corporate wokeism mashed up with vote grabbing.
  
  I guess his reading list–shoved down Maureen Pugh’s throat–was written by the same types that got this disaster porn epic clusterfuck so wrong.
  
  To be fair to Luxon, he’s entirely representative of the prevailing National Party orthodoxy. He just happens to be the leader… of the moment. Nicola Willis would be just the same.
  
  Other than the obvious drift ever-Left, the National Party have been captured by the Teals, and this is a function of the wider political environment, both in NZ and internationally. Witness the barely discernible differences between the British Tories and Labour, of the GOP-Democrat, and all over the Western world it’s the same, a few notable exceptions aside.
  
  We’ve entered the era of professional politics which is a function of the Deep State, a bureaucracy that is so vast and so captured by ideologues that even those elected don’t understand how it works and have little ability to change its essential direction.
  
  Which is why when a Trump comes along every rent-seeking part of society jump to the attack. They understand the threat. The boat can’t be rocked. The cosy arrangements can’t be disturbed.
  
  Luxon, and all of his type, desperately don’t want to be cast as a Trump. So they go along to get along. It’s only the true Left that prospers as they don’t mind advancing a radical agenda. Hipkins’ pullback from some policies is all smoke and mirrors. Secure the election and get back on track. And by 2026 the electorate will have moved even further in their direction.
  
  And National move with them, flattering to deceive, but they’ve long-accepted the tacit agreement between all professional politicians that it’s business as usual and policy differences and debates are mere superficial necessities to promote the illusion of true choice.
  
  This breeds apathy in the electorate. They know something is deeply wrong but can’t intellectualise it. In those conditions they run to safety, to the familiar, to the comfort of groupthink.
  
  With no real alternative, no inspirational leadership, they’ll vote for the devil they know rather than for the devil they don’t.
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:17pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Not one person I know or speak yo cares a shut about the Pugh thing, it’s never mentioned
    
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    March 11, 2023 7:48pm
    - thirteenstars
      
      I also have no doubt that very few people you “know or speak yo” praise the Labour Party, or criticise the National Party.
      
      If they do, I’d like to hear, from you, a Nat stalwart, what those criticisms are.
      
      So, what are the failings of the National Party, its leader, Chris Luxon, or the reasons as to why despite five years of Labour fucking up this country, the National Party has not been able to gain more traction?
      
      It’s a bloody draw, man. At this stage, the win is anyone’s, and it shouldn’t be. It should be a cinch for National. They should be riding high. But, no, they are seen as equal to Labour in their appeal.
      
      My, God, what else do you need to see how low National has fallen?
      
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      March 11, 2023 8:02pm
Chuck Bird

A number of polls have the left and right coalitions in a dead heat to one winning by one seat.

If there is a draw on 15 October it would be difficult to organise another election before Christmas.

Would it not make sense to have one less list MP to prevent this from happening?
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March 11, 2023 8:10am
- pdm
  
  How would you do that Chuck?
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:25am
- Matt Long
  
  Under MMP te pati Maori is liable to have an overhang if they get the Maori seats off Labour. This would change the overall numbers anyway.
  Would you change the number of seats after the election for a tie breaker?
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:32am
  - Paulus
    
    From the census Maori could get another seat anyway – what do you think the census was all about ?
    
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    March 11, 2023 8:38am
    - Matt Long
      
      That wouldn’t change the total number of seats, but the mix.
      
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      March 11, 2023 9:25am
    - peterwn
      
      The Census just held does not leave enough for boundary changes for the nest election. So the next election will be with the same boundaries as 2020.
      
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      March 11, 2023 10:50am
    - Ghost
      
      Boundaries for this election were set in 2019
      
      https://www.parliament.nz/mi/get-involved/features/have-your-say-on-proposed-new-electorates/
      
      Māori boundary review is next year
      
      https://www.elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/what-are-electorates/how-are-electoral-boundaries-decided/
      
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      March 11, 2023 11:27am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Good point.
    
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    March 11, 2023 8:46am
- peterwn
  
  Presumably a ‘dead heat’ is where National and ACT would have exactly 50% of the seats and is not prepared to go with Winston. The Governor General would not necessarily call a fresh election just because of this but would want to give ‘space’ for the MP’s to form a government of some sort. That was similar to the 1998 situation when Jenny Shipley broke with Winston Peters and asked the GG for an election which he refused. Jenny managed to entice a few NZ First MP’s and an Alliance MP away which enabled her to re-form the government.
  In a ’50/50′ situation, Chris Luxon would try a similar move and entice a few MP’s away. If I was in Chris’s shoes I would try and get James Shaw on side first since his career with the Greens seems to be in twilight stage. I would then go after a few NZ First MP’s. There would be a constitutional stoush with this because of the ‘waka hopper’ law (which inston wanted specifically wanted for this sort of situation) but that law is unlikely to prevail (Simon Bridges considered it was vulnerable to attack with respect to JLR). So National and ACT and a few others would have a workable majority.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:43am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    She never asked the GG for an election. She thought about it, but most of her colleagues said no. The view was we would lose.
    
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    March 11, 2023 12:09pm
    - Matt Long
      
      And if the GG was to ask a Leader to attempt to form a coalition agreement, the current Prime minister would be asked first. Some former Labour members who have tried on Blue would probably be easy targets.
      
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      March 11, 2023 12:54pm
      - peterwn
        
        Sir David Beattie who was the GG at the time of the first MMP election set out guidelines and principles of how the GG would handle MMP. He was well placed for this being a former lawyer and High Court Judge. He had the discretion to invite the leader of the party most likely to be able to form a government to do so. The Prime Minister becomes a caretaker prime minister following the election and the GG need not heed the advice of the caretaker PM regarding government formation.
        
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        March 11, 2023 10:37pm
      - peterwn
        
        Oops – I goofed in my 10.37pm of 11 March. The Governor General at the time of the first MMP election was Sir Michael Hardy Boys, not Sir David Beatie. Like Sir David he was also a lawyer and a judge. My apologies.
        
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        March 12, 2023 7:24am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The only poll that matters is the one on October 14th.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:17am
Southern Raider

Yesterday media reported a Hamilton man who was being sentenced for assaulting two females, burglary and other charges.

The second women was assaulted while on bail for the first assault. She refused to have sex with him so he drove around to her house, put her in a headlock, punched her over 10 times in the face, then proceeded to drag her around in her own house and then hit her with a chair and a bat.

The court used a cultural report to reduce his sentence.
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March 11, 2023 8:15am
- kowtow
  
  I wonder if victims have a ‘cultural” characteristic that’s worth protecting in the way the criminal’s is .
  
  Those scales of “justice” are very unbalanced .
  And Lady Justice no longer has a blindfold, she has very tinted lenses.
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:21am
Chuck Bird

I will be having a look a this tomorrow. It is in the Waikato near Cambridge at an open day. Anyone can register.

Cassie’s Farm

Have you ever wondered what forestry might look like in New Zealand if we planted native trees instead of pines, eucalypts or redwoods? At Cassie’s Farm, for sixteen years, we have been planting a wide variety of native trees on all those areas of our farm where the land is too steep to drive a vehicle safely. The rest of our farm, the flatter land, is being kept as pasture and grazed by cattle.

https://www.openfarms.co.nz/event/cassies-farm/
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March 11, 2023 8:18am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  If you get the chance, could you find out how much maintenance (pruning, thinning, weed release) is being carried out each year on the established trees?
  
  And when do the owners expect to harvest the first logs from their planted natives?
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:08am
  - Colville
    
    Would you expect ever Council to allow logging of native forestry? irrespective of its planting origin.
    I wouldnt.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:15am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      It is permitted at the moment if it is sustainable forestry.
      
      https://www.mpi.govt.nz/forestry/native-indigenous-forests/
      
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      March 11, 2023 9:38am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    It could be a long time as many native trees live for 1,000 years.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:25am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep,
      
      but for timber production of planted Beech (red & Silver), Rimu, Totara, Puriri, Tawa, Kauri, etc, most folks are looking at a harvest cycle somewhere between 60 to 150 years.
      
      (Dependent on fertility of sites)
      
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      March 11, 2023 9:44am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Maggy, this research shows when pine logs are harvested much of the CO2 goes back into the atmosphere due to branches, bark, sawdust, etc.
    
    When things like trucking are taken into account the pine trees only keep the CO2 while they are growing.
    Native trees would keep the CO2 for centuries.
    
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309459572_Material_flow_and_end-uses_of_harvested_wood_products_produced_from_New_Zealand_log_exports
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:43am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep,
      
      and one of the rationales for pushing for native plantings will be the C-credits native plantations will accrue.
      
      https://www.motu.nz/assets/Documents/our-work/environment-and-agriculture/climate-change-mitigation/emissions-trading/Supporting-native-plantation-forestry-in-the-NZ-ETS-final-report.pdf
      
      However, I think C-credits are a grand scambo…and they’ve led to inappropriate planting of radiata pine on erosion-prone land as well as good agricultural land.
      
      No credit is awarded to permanent forests planted for erosion control/soil and water protection/biodiversity, etc.
      
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      March 11, 2023 9:51am
      - virtualmark
        
        No credit is awarded to permanent forests planted for erosion control/soil and water protection/biodiversity, etc.
        
        Maggy, why is that? I understand that is the case, but it seems nuts.
        
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        March 11, 2023 10:11am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        This is where farmers and particularly those in Groundswell should lobby.
        
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        March 11, 2023 10:46am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        but it seems nuts.
        
        It is nuts.
        
        I’m not too clear about the reason for it (still checking out background)… but somewhere along the line (Very soon after NZFS disappeared), enterprising folks in NZ realised that they could make money out of what should have been protection forests. (Cyclone Bola forests were established to protect the land.. Hard to believe that they were allowed to be converted into production forests…
        
        areas of clear-felled forest are vulnerable to the impacts of storms for about eight years,….It’s during this period the foresters cross their fingers and hope there’s not another Cyclone Bola.”
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/102228269/forestry-meets-farmland–30-years-on-from-cyclone-bola
        
        Erosion control has dropped off the radar in the last 15-20 years as Governments have focused on our Emissions Trading Scheme.
        C- Farming seems to have won the day.
        
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        March 11, 2023 10:57am
    - kowtow
      
      CO2 sequestration .
      
      2 bald men fighting over a comb.
      
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      March 11, 2023 10:23am
  - rouppe
    
    I doubt they intend to harvest. They can get paid carbon credits though
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:21am
    - GJM
      
      I doubt they get carbon credits. We have the same situation on our farm, and unless it is over several hectares, and planted for the purpose it doesn’t count. The big area of replanted, covenanted native bush that was planted instead of returning it to paddocks from pine trees doesn’t exist.
      
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      March 11, 2023 10:51am
      - Bridgenag
        
        And very likely to be taken over by the special people… QE2 covenants cost alot to maintain.
        
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        March 11, 2023 1:11pm
- Its only I
  
  We are doing the same thing except we use nitens to create a windbreak from a very strong North West wind. Its fast growing and fuels the camps water boiler. Natives are planted behind and given the best start we can then the gum is felled behind leaving bush highways for the wildlife.
  Nothing nicer than a chorus of bellbirds.
  
  One thing never talked about is the pest maintenance of the new tasty little bush block. You cant just plant a forest and pat yourself on the back and leave it to itself. The maintenance of pests is never ending.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:25am
Simon

Gain of function research “The Science” killed 6 million people.
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March 11, 2023 8:20am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Gain of function.
  Not sure where I read this, China item or Pharmaceutical Research items.
  There is more ‘gain of function ‘ research going on with viruses.
  One is 20 times more potent, and another 60 times more potent that the Covid one we have now.
  Are these people trying to kill all humans? Seems like it.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:36am
- NothingLeft
  
  Global excess deaths since covid are closer to 15-20 million I think. Getting up toward WW1 levels.
  
  There has to be a very harsh reckoning. While I am somewhat sympathetic to the initial lab leak fuckup, the subsequent Chinese coverup was quite evil/malicious – they knew it was out in Sept2019 but did nothing to protect the world when a hard Wuhan quarantine then and there could have stopped it, and they kept flying internationally after they instituted internal quarantines in China
  
  Fauci et al have done evil in their coverups and corrupt debasement of scientific and medical ethics as well.
  
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  March 11, 2023 4:50pm
- kisekiman
  
  6 million…where have I heard that number before?
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:32pm
Chuck Bird

This is very interesting.

‘If you send me back I will die’: Dramatic escape for first defector to NZ since Cold War

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/chinese-defector-if-you-send-me-back-to-the-consulate-i-will-die/BDC6W4WVGJHXPJFGWYWQBYSFLY/
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March 11, 2023 8:24am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Paywalled.
  What baggage does he bring with him. That is the important thing.
  A lot of immigrants get residency and show their true colours. (plane hijacker from Soamlia)
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:56am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    We must look at what information can he give us and the west in general.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:01am
I remember when

Racial abuse may drive NRL star out of the game:
No it will not.
The answer being that most NRL players can not make anything approaching the same income from any other source.
No, a fifteen year-old should not be making racist slurs (after all he might be voting next year) but
sensational headlines are hardly the answer.
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March 11, 2023 8:26am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Now this is the kind of gender equality I can get behind. In fact, for equity purposes, it must be mandatory.

#freethenipple!

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2023/03/berlin-authorities-to-allow-women-to-go-topless-in-public-swimming-pools.html
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March 11, 2023 8:41am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Having reached my 7th decade and with a swimming buddy in her 80s, I can assure you that certain parts of the female anatomy should NOT be on general view.
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:11am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  When you get to 70 it seems if you have seen one tit, you have seen them all.
  It is no big deal. I am not going to run around public pools or beaches looking for boobs. Over it.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:41am
- NothingLeft
  
  Meh, anyone who wants to see boobs (and more) can do so in a few seconds online. I just don’t think it matters anymore – with one exception; large number of men with who get off on displaying their penises in public makes it reasonable to generally forbid it outside of venues where there is an expectation/acceptance of it.
  
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  March 11, 2023 4:57pm
redeye

The life of a consultant under this government.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/131457477/former-consultants-reveal-ridiculous-500anhour-charges-to-government

Meanwhile, a senior manager in a large government department has talked of a contractor working for four hours then billing for up to 12, and another simultaneously working for two public entities.

…

Jamie, a senior manager in a large government department, said one consultant charged for 10 to 12 hours on a day he worked just four, then went to his holiday home

…

Jamie knew of some that had essentially worked in the same job for years but stayed on consultancy fees by moving around teams while doing the same job.

I’m sure the IRD would be interested in this guy.

John had stopped doing government work after alleged “dishonesty” he saw. One job was to make a department look to Treasury like it was spending its money well.

Cleary this is the culture in Wellington at the moment.
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March 11, 2023 8:43am
- JimBobJoe
  
  Ducking Treasury oversight is a very old game in the Wellington bureaucracy.
  
  The classic is avoiding the business case thresh hold which merits an in depth Treasury review – not for the hundreds of million dollar things but at the lower end.
  
  Its done by Splitting programmes of work up in to small projects, when a programme business case should be done to properly assess the economics and set proper business benefits
  
  Then the benefits and the cost to benefit ratios get lost and over spending happens… but Treasury are kept at arms length
  
  Then add in that lots of Government managers are incapable of writing a business case – and you have a recipe for consultants whether Business Consultants or Project Managers being on a circuit of Ministries and Agencies making very good coin for minimal effort
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:20am
  - Gravelroad
    
    @JimBob-
    Have been told that the much vaunted carbon credit market on the farm is not audited by MPI if the area is less than 100 hectares.
    It is rumoured that a number of land owners, managing thousands of hectares, have divided land up (on paper) into forestry right areas of less than 100ha.
    This means these people will not be audited by MPI.
    Gaming the system is not only in Wellington.
    Those who play by the rules are required to have the growth of vegetation audited to assess the number of eligible carbon credits produced.
    By using an under 100ha block regime, there is no current requirement for audit and land owners (who are not always farmers, by the way) could claim credits which may, or may not be there.
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:50am
- Southern Raider
  
  But the rabid left wing supported claim NatACT will cause babies to go hungry, old people to die through lack of health care etc if any cuts to public service budgets are made.
  
  Would it be such a bad idea to just make them all redundant, bring in some professional management and start again? What would actually stop in NZ if Wellington disappeared overnight
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:30am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    There is a middle ground between sack everyone and do nothing. Wayne Mapp thinks the mess can be fixed with a recruitment freeze. I have made it clear I disagree with that. I have had over a decade of experience working with senior managers in many government agencies. I’m not a dreamer.
    
    Many agencies are now bloated but they have thousands of the wrong sort of people.
    
    Wayne is just wrong in saying that this cannot be done. In 2009, the Treasury was restructured. Every single member of their senior leadership team was made redundant and replaced. All of them.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:53am
    - cmm
      
      Recruitment freezes are exactly the wrong way to cut numbers.
      
      The quality people leave and are not replaced.
      
      The rubbish hold on to their jobs as hard as they can.
      
      You end up with a department staffed by the worst.
      
      When the hiring freeze thaws, potential new employees take a look at the mess. The good ones decide they don’t want a bar of it and stay away. The troughers see there’s a lot of gravy for useless people and join.
      
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      March 11, 2023 12:17pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  The managers that sign these contracts need to be sacked. I would add that not all government contractors are gougers. I charge government clients well under $200 per hour. I recently increased my rate by $10 per hour, the first increase in 5 years. I cap the contract at 35 hours per week. Beyond that if I need to put in additional hours I do it for free..
  
  I’m just saying not all contractors are criminal. The hard working honest ones with scarce skills can offer good value for money.
  
  Advertisement over 😂
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:48am
  - artemisia
    
    Quite so. Managers who employ the wrong people need the DCM. However, managers may be following the instruction of their bosses, including Ministers. And hiring the right people to deliver those instructions.
    
    But most likely incompetent managers. There’s a lot of them about.
    
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    March 11, 2023 1:02pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Perhaps the Labour Party might think about cutting back the $millions spent on consultants and pay the teachers more instead?
  Consultants have already benefited from a credible education system which has enabled them to make big money by milking the system.
  I would like to see the same educational opportunities afforded to my grandchildren.
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:22am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Once again, something I read but can’t remember where.
  Some MPs are their own contractors and consultants. Raking in the fees.
  Any truth in that corruption?
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:48am
- Paulus
  
  Some 25 years ago in WEllington I did a report for an NX Subsidiary of an Australian Company in respect of a specific understanding and the tax implications.
  I charged $400 an hour because if challenged by the IRD I would to be in court to explain.
  Never was thankfully.
  
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  March 11, 2023 2:06pm
Inandout

Luxon has taken National to a state where it is generally seen as pale blue with a tinge of red. This all things to all people mish mash merely leaves an open door for Winston Peters to slip in with statements made for voter consumption. Any citizen who is astounded by Labour’s complete lack of expertise in governing must vote tactically in this election. Peters by all indicators will drag his Party over the 5% and we post election will be in for a most interesting scenario.
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March 11, 2023 9:11am
- Southern Raider
  
  Anyone who votes for Winston instead of Seymour is an idiot. Winston will refuse to work with Seymour and so will drive a 4 party coalition of the left and losers.
  
  If you don’t like Luxon the simple and pragmatic solution is to make ACTs party vote as high as possible.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:32am
  - Inandout
    
    SR, one possible solution would be for Luxon to drop his ‘inclusive’ mantle and give voters a definite ACT/National alternative. I mentioned Peters because he sniffs the political air and retorts.
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:07am
  - coge
    
    Seymour participated in the great segregation of 2022. So he’s now unviable to hundreds of thousands of Kiwis. Some of us chose not to abandon our principles, and we’re not going to start now.
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:02am
  - Paulus
    
    You would be an idiot if you voted for either.
    
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    March 11, 2023 2:07pm
Nukuleka

I see RNZ has decided to run a hate campaign against Julian Batchelor and his Stop Co-Governance organisation. Their coverage of the disruption of the Dargaville meeting by activists is the usual lopsided propaganda in which RNZ plays the man rather than the ball with no attempt at balance or at analyzing the issue of ‘co- governance’ itself. Colour me surprised.
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March 11, 2023 9:12am
- MCōs
  
  I heard a report about a disruption to one of his meetings.
  Has there been more?
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:36am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The disruptions came from racist Maori hecklers.
    Yes they had their mics turned off.
    The idea was for them to ask questions, not give their own racist speech.
    Have a look at the wepsite MCos.
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:58am
- I remember when
  
  Nukuleka:
  Surely not.
  “Anti co-governance.
  there are still attitudes like this.
  utter blatant racism.
  to sell and distribute books suggesting people have been ‘conned’ by the Treaty of Waitangi.”
  
  They didn’t say the comments were fair and reasonable – only that they were made by some at the meeting.
  I’m sure the article would have taken a similar if it had been a co-governance meeting.
  
  Still no explanation of exactly what co-governance
  actually means or what it is going to achieve.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:41am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Go to http://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi and have a look. We are actually in the middle of a Coup. By the time we find out it will be too late.
    Democracy gone, and ruled by Elite Maori Tyrants.
    There is a road tour of NZ. Go to a meeting, it costs nothing to listen.
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:53am
- Philview
  
  Interesting that the journalist made inquiries into Mr Bachelor’s occupation and implied that he was faking his listed occupation. If an employer could be located based on a couple of other recent cases, easy to assume the media would have something to say to his employer.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:37am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Radio NZ lied 7 times about the Dargaville meeting.
  The stop co governance site plays their audio and points out the lies.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:55am
Ghost

Awww, I bet it was an Oprah moment. The tax payer will buy you a new desk, you get a new desk, you get a new desk, you get a new car, whoops I mean desk

Almost $300,000 of taxpayer money has paid for courthouse office furniture, including expensive wardrobes and desks to furnish the home offices of some judges, in a spend-up being labelled “public sector wastage”.

The ministry’s furniture invoice
33x ‘Zurich 5′ workstations, between $2500 and $4850 each
3x shelving/wardrobe units, at $7298 each
3x cupboard/shelving units, at $6183 each
1x shelving/wardrobe unit, at $8725
2x shelving units, at $5685 each
1x cupboard/shelving unit, at $13,240
1x shelving/wardrobe unit, at $14,285
6x ‘Zurich Runway’ desk, $4625 each
2x ‘Zurich Runway’ desk, $4504 each.
3x ‘Zurich Runway’ desk, $5070 each
1x ‘Shanghai 2-seater’ – $2535
1x ‘Sector 2 table’ – $5275.

Nz herald
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March 11, 2023 9:22am
- Southern Raider
  
  Those Judges need a comfy desk for when they are reading those cultural reports in detail before sentencing.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:34am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Can’t believe they didn’t receive any….. ‘discounts’
  
  If they were applied at the same rate they are handed out to violent-offenders…. the cost would have been less than half 😀
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:05am
  - cmm
    
    There was likely a discount – negotiated at the pub after hours.
    
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    March 11, 2023 12:19pm
  - Jim
    
    And payment suspended for 12 months too.
    
    But why worry when it’s other peoples money?
    
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    March 11, 2023 1:22pm
  - Paulus
    
    Somebody may have received the discount elswhere.
    
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    March 11, 2023 2:09pm
MCōs

I’ve never had shingles, but many people I know have and it’s most unpleasant.
In the last few years a very effective vaccine has become available to prevent the disease.
Of course if you distrust vaccines in general this is of no help to you.
The vaccine is free, but only in your 65th year. Otherwise it’s in excess of $300 a pop and two are required.
Maybe someone might be interested.
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March 11, 2023 9:31am
- Inandout
  
  MC, yes my wife and I paid $200 each a few years back for this tried and tested vaccine, after seeing an elderly relative with this painful condition. Back then vaccines were not released on the public until all possible side effects were explored, and this could take up to 10 years. My, how times change.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:37am
  - mandk
    
    Yes, we don’t need to test vaccines properly as long as the PM can assure us that they are safe and effective.
    
    Myocarditis amongst young men. Who cares? It’s a price worth paying.
    
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    March 11, 2023 9:55am
    - virtualmark
      
      I remember Pfizer, in 2020, being clear that their vaccine carried a risk of myocarditis, which in some cases would be fatal. I can distinctly remember the number “5” but what I can’t find in my notes is whether that was an expectation of 5 fatalities across New Zealand’s population or 5 fatalities per million. I recall it being 5 fatalities per million, but I can’t find that detail now.
      
      So you basically have the trolley problem. Do you accept 20 deaths from myocarditis in return for saving several thousand deaths from Covid and other causes arising from an overwhelmed hospital system? These are the questions that grown-ups need to decide on.
      
      Except it’s slightly simpler than that. The risk of a young person dying from myocarditis due to a Covid vaccine is **lower** than the risk of a young person dying from myocarditis from a Covid infection. The reason the vaccine risks myocarditis is that myocarditis is one of the “features” of Covid, and the vaccine is basically giving you a weakened version of Covid.
      
      The medical risk that wasn’t expected, and which only came apparent once large populations were being given the vaccines, was the clotting problems from the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. Which is why that vaccine was largely pulled from use. We’d ordered it here in NZ but hardly used any (a little, for those that really didn’t want the Pfizer vaccine). Australia had gone large on the AZ vaccine but then stopped that roll-out and scrambled to order Pfizer instead.
      
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      March 11, 2023 10:21am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        A lot of older people in Aus got the AZ vaccine as that was the first one widely available. Many many people just wanted to get the F out of the ridiculous lockdowns in any way possible.
        
        What you don’t mention in your lavish advocacy for these prototype vaccines is that compared to other vaccines they are very new.
        
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        March 11, 2023 12:02pm
      - Taieri
        
        The risk of a young person dying from myocarditis due to a Covid vaccine is **lower** than the risk of a young person dying from myocarditis from a Covid infection.
        ————
        
        So, what is the risk for each category? Is it an absolute risk or a relative risk?
        And how were these risks assessed?
        
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        March 11, 2023 12:25pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Not lavish advocacy. Just “but for the vaccines a lot more people would have died” pragmatism. For example, personally, I wouldn’t have made a big deal of vaccinating the under-40s (unless they had significant risk factors like morbid obesity).
        
        The mRNA vaccines are a new approach. But in terms of effectiveness, manufacturing etc they’ve been proven to be game changers vs the traditional ways to manufacture vaccines at scale. That’s just science & technology improving over time. In terms of vaccine science … the Covid pandemic was akin to WWII hot-housing the development of the jet engine and rocketry … stuff that would have happened eventually got accelerated faster than it ordinarily would have been.
        
        My prediction … within 20 years all vaccines will be made using these mRNA methods.
        
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        March 11, 2023 12:31pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Such a wonderful technology that you need ongoing boosters every few months to well sort of protect you from the disease they were created for.
        
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        March 11, 2023 12:55pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Taieri,
        
        All I can pass on is that I’m 95% sure the myocarditis risk among the population was 5 per million, or 1 per 200,000.
        
        And yes, clearly, that risk was more pronounced in younger men, so their risk was higher but I don’t have any firm estimates on what it actually was.
        
        But again … trolley problem. 20 likely deaths vs thousands of likely deaths. Be a grown-up, make a grown-up “least worst” choice.
        
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        March 11, 2023 3:31pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        I don’t think the evidence on relative risk of myocarditis between covid and vaccine is clear, as it is age and sex dependent and has not been studied as extensively as it needs to be – it is hard to now that everyone has had covid, and subclinical myocarditis has far higher prevalence than initially thought (a lot of indications of damage from vax in various studies of Troponin etc). Heart tissue does not repair itself (weird stuff ) it scars, so any damage is cumulative and impacts your likely longevity.
        
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        March 11, 2023 5:03pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Take a look at the NZ Immunisation Schedule (https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/preventative-health-wellness/immunisation/new-zealand-immunisation-schedule) and see how many times you need to be re-vaccinated for Diptheria. Or Meningococcal B. To use two examples.
      
      It is quite normal for immunity to wane over time and need to be boosted.
      
      Too many here complaining that the vaccines aren’t perfect when the sensible question is “Are they good *enough*”. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
      
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      March 11, 2023 3:28pm
- artemisia
  
  Have heard that acupuncture is effective against shingles especially in the early stage. No personal experience but worth a try.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:45am
  - MCōs
    
    I was talking to my sister just yesterday.
    She’d gone to an acupuncturist who’d provided some relief.
    Still a most unpleasant affliction.
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:13am
- Surely Knott
  
  Of course shingles is also a side effect of the last experimental vaccine (I mean are we still calling it a vaccine) that was forced on the public violating medical ethics and our bill of rights. So yeah sure, have another vax to stop the side effects of the mRNA vax. Have they got a vax against strokes, myocarditis and guillaine Barr syndrome.
  
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  March 11, 2023 9:55am
  - Inandout
    
    SK, I think Justin Beiber’s cancelling his shows because of ongoing Palsy and his refusal to blame the covid vaccine shows a certain idiocy. His singing career of course is pretty much over.
    
    16 2
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    March 11, 2023 10:11am
    - virtualmark
      
      Justin Bieber’s Ramsay Hunt syndrome has nothing to do with Covid-19 vaccines. It’s a complication of herpes, not Covid.
      
      You guys are so pathetically desperate to pin stuff on the Covid vaccines.
      
      2 11
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      March 11, 2023 11:24am
      - Surely Knott
        
        And his wife Hailey Beiber was also hospitalised with a clot/mini stroke. Yip all coincidence. Nothing to see here.
        
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        March 11, 2023 6:56pm
- trout
  
  @mcos Yes, by all means get a vaccination against shingles but be aware the free one is not long acting; the $300 x 2 is lifelong.
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:38am
  - Matt Long
    
    There’s one that you need to avoid if you are immune compromised as it may actually cause shingles.
    
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    March 11, 2023 11:23am
- Nukuleka
  
  ‘The vaccine is free but only in your 65th year’. What tosh. I had it in my 71st year and it was still free! Mcōs talking out of his rear end as he so frequently does.
  
  Oops, I hope I didn’t misgender them.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:52am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Had my shingles vax at 65. Only one.
  Got chickenpox when I was a kid. Never had a vax for that. I think is was available, but we lived in the sticks, way out the back of Te Kowhai.
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:06pm
Brian McDonald

https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9202-nz-national-voting-intention-february-2023

Probably already been a post on this. But the interesting part for me is the male support of National/Act of the under 50s is lower than that of males 50 years plus indicating why the political pairing is considered the party for old white guys.
Secondly, is the reflection of the Key years when National relied on the MP, took advantage of it before blowing it as JK lost his way. On the current poll the MP vote could carry the election.
Of more interest is that while the main parties are generally on the same popularity levels their leaders are not – long term that could indicate the leadership issue of the Nats is far from settled and therefore other arguments are futile. A new question will soon circulate as to whether Luxon will hang around if he loses the election perhaps based on his lack of popularity.
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March 11, 2023 9:40am
- rouppe
  
  If any replacement for Luxon said the same sorts of things he is – ie not much – their popularity would be similar.
  
  It’s all very well to redistribute my tax differently (child funding) but I want to see a package of policies that sets this country back on a path of success and prosperity.
  
  Climate change isn’t that. Learning Te Reo isn’t that.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:35am
  - JJ56
    
    Just to add, I wouldn’t get too excited about climate change as a political issue. It will fix itself, probably over the next term when even the El Nino can’t get those temperatures up high enough.
    
    We’ll all move on, and if focus on abatement hopefully won’t have done much damage in the process.
    
    Leave them to play, think what damage they could be doing that won’t reverse itself.
    
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    March 11, 2023 4:30pm
Surely Knott

Multimillion dollar covid conflict of interest article. Why is this behind a paywall and not paid for by public interest journalism fund. Is that fund just for propaganda and behavioural nudges. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/the-conflict-and-the-covid-contract-the-165m-health-contract-and-the-spousal-relationship-that-raised-red-flags/4BINFLXUYBHAZCSAA3RKY4IGFE/
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March 11, 2023 9:58am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.
A few home truths on what really happened at the Dargaville Meeting.
Radio NZ lied – 7 times, and the NZ public just do nothing. RNZ should be prosecuted. There is an audio of RNZ.
Watch the video. Maori are using children to push misinformation.
https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/hard-proof-that-ordinary-maori-are-just-pawns-to-be-played-with-in-the-elite-maori-takeover-of-new-zealand/
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March 11, 2023 10:26am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  So, Radio New Zealand, when will you provide a report on what really happened, and why you lied 7 times?
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:27am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  A Report On The Dargaville Event By Former MP, And Former Police Inspector, Ross Meurant.
  Ross emailed me with a report. He said that 3 very prominent New Zealand figures with big hitting reputations were in the Dargaville meeting.
  
  Ross asked them 2 questions and they gave 2 answers. Here they are.
  
  “Q Did he get the message across?
  A Absolutely – in spite of maori interrupting
  
  Q Was there threat of serious violence?
  A No the police were keeping an eye on us white fellas
  
  A We are so pleased we went. He woke up many. He is a very brave fellow.
  He has woken up many – the grapevine is alive with what he was saying.
  
  There was a maori there who had his kids ripping the pages out of he books available.
  If that’s what we have to confront, NZ is Infor a bad time.”
  Thanks Ross for your intel.
  
  ——
  Ripping the pages out of the books!
  Once again, Maori using children to do their deeds. Kids can not be punished for destroying private property. Cowards.
  
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  March 11, 2023 10:33am
  - MCōs
    
    Who were the “3 very prominent New Zealand figures”?
    
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    March 11, 2023 10:45am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I don’t know, and yes I would like to know.
      
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      March 11, 2023 12:09pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Not very clear is it? Ross Meurant emailed Julian Batchelor and asked those questions. Ross did not email me.
      
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      March 11, 2023 12:42pm
ecco

What’s with the ferald burying Steven Joyce’s articles in the business section? Must be part of the Covid relief fund criteria for funding.
Joyce has written an excellent article today about how Robertson is going f*ck over NZ with more borrowed money election bribes.
This article should be made free to all nzers to read. Just like they make all the Wayne brown attack articles free to air.
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March 11, 2023 10:56am
- Nickc2
  
  Te MSM won’t bite the hand that feeds them.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:39am
- david
  
  Perhaps you are misjudging the proportion of the adult NZ population who can actually read as well as comprehend what they are reading.
  
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  March 11, 2023 11:01pm
Jack5

Josie Pagani is one of the more intelligent folk on NZ’s Left.

In a “Stuff” column about comments by public officials, such as Rob Campbell and Steve Maharey, she draws attention to comments of the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, biochemist academic, Juliet Gerrard.

This key adviser, Pagani tells us, regard’s NZ’s ‘linear’ economy as crap, and agreed at a recent symposium that the country needs to “transition to a circular bioeconomy”.

The concept of a “circular economy” was first advocated in the 1960s in an article called “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth”. It advocated a “closed economy”, in which resources would be recycled, re-used, and shared (not owned), with mining “bad, naughty, dirty”.

Pagani comments:

“It’s another way for the middle class to hector working people about the way you live, what you eat, your tastes and lifestyle. It has the credibility of homeopathy, by which I mean it sounds deep and meaningful to people who know they can shield themselves from the damage done by every Utopian theory.”

The “circular economy” is a pet concept of the European Union. A sceptical description is that it’s recycling on Green steroids.

Pagani’s column:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300826003/josie-pagani-rob-campbell-the-circular-bureaucracy-and-cultural-conformity
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March 11, 2023 11:19am
- Taieri
  
  This key adviser, Pagani tells us, regard’s NZ’s ‘linear’ economy as crap, and agreed at a recent symposium that the country needs to “transition to a circular bioeconomy”.
  ————-
  
  This key adviser practices what she preaches, I trust. Like wearing only recycled knickers and eating only recycled foods.
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:38pm
  - Matt Long
    
    And drinking only recycled water. ..
    
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    March 11, 2023 12:59pm
- JJ56
  
  Obviously she’s not a physicist else she would understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics better.
  
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  March 11, 2023 4:39pm
KiwiBattler

This is a start 🙂
Health Care workers successfully sued NZ Government over unlawful vaccine mandates

https://www.chrislynchmedia.com/news-items/new-zealand-government-successfully-sued-for-unlawful-vaccine-mandate?fbclid=IwAR2PJqCO-E15uYcuOZAy7pcrvvNvcB15OyQb2HeqjAuAMa1VBWjLxtEQAFY
19 1
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March 11, 2023 11:31am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Is this one of the reasons Jaspinda disappeared?
  We know that she never ever says “sorry”
  
  15 1
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  March 11, 2023 12:22pm
- kevn
  
  @KiwiB… Bring it on.
  Next up, most of the anti-mandate protest attendees. Only 12 months ago.
  
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  March 11, 2023 3:38pm
  - rouppe
    
    Never going to get away with throwing missiles and setting fire to property.
    
    Which was done largely by those that turned up in the last week.
    
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    March 11, 2023 5:18pm
CAKE FACE1

CAKE argued vigorously from the beginning of the Rona response with everyone that I know that New Zealand’s response was completely and utterly wrong.

I ask them about it now, from time to time.

Not one of them has admitted that they were wrong in their Covid beliefs. There are zero apologies for mistakes made. There isn’t even the concession that they might have been mistaken.

Some of them gaslight me. ‘You didn’t say that.’ Yes I did.

It is an interesting insight into human behaviour.

I’m now busy predicting that the New Zealand will suffer a massive economic collapse in the next three years. This prediction is met with incomprehension or derision.

No doubt if this event does happen as predicted, the people that I’m speaking to will have amnesia again…
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March 11, 2023 11:31am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Give it the jandal. Hold them to account and expose them.
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:24pm
- cmm
  
  Bugger, I gave you a down-tick by mistake.
  
  I expect in a few years we’ll see the pro-vaxxers in the same camp as the pro-Nazi Germans (“oh we had to join the Nazi Party, we weren’t REALLY Nazis”) and pro-apartheid South Africans (can’t find many of those any more).
  
  Let me help them out:
  * “Well we followed the best advice of the time. We were lied to and mislead. We’re the real victims here.”
  * “We were not really pro-jab, we just had to go along with it.”
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:27pm
  - coge
    
    By 2022, it had become clear a better way was needed. Dehumanization, segregation and persecution simply isn’t the Kiwi way. I’d urge anyone who believes it is, should consider their future in NZ. International departures is the most practical course of action, for the eager segregationists in our society. Get that stuff out of here!
    
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    March 11, 2023 4:55pm
- kevn
  
  @Cake… The cream of our family are leaving NZ taking great skills and integrity with them.
  NZ is on a spiral. Downwards and in such a short time, 5+ years.
  Still plenty of ‘I’m all right Jack’ types, but the decline is in.
  labour = Rooted NZ.
  
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  March 11, 2023 3:35pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    The problem is, not many places were any better.
    
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    March 11, 2023 6:28pm
- virtualmark
  
  Cake, what would you have done? If you were King, and it’s 1 February 2020 again, what would you have done?
  
  3 7
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  March 11, 2023 3:38pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    If it were me (and these were suggestion I made then):
    -We knew in Feb-Mar 2020 that it was mostly a disease of the old and young adults + kids had low risk so:
    -Close border immediately, with improvised quarantine camps using tents and camper vans to buy time for better plans.
    -Ramp up ICU capacity immediately – draft uni students and train them to help in health system in return for pay/free uni degrees when things get back to normal.
    -Create plan to progressively expose younger new zealanders, families with kids, younger adults to covid and thereby get them back to normal productive life ASAP – hospitalisation rates were low so would not have overstretched hospitals, and would help move towards herd immunity quickly.
    
    Death toll would have been low from this approach and economy and schools would have been quickly back to normal.
    
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    March 11, 2023 5:17pm
NZer In Exile

“Not one of them has admitted that they were wrong in their Covid beliefs.”

Trust The Party Cake. Trust The Party. They know what’s best for you.
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March 11, 2023 12:11pm
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/131464835/i-immediately-regretted-it-students-first-nude-pic-ends-in-blackmail
Ok, so I am older, and brought up in a different era where personal reputation was a valuable thing.
But I am struggling to see the point in this.
Please help.
Why would a young man feel the need to send a photo of himself naked to a woman (alleged) who he doesn’t know and is never likely to meet anyway?
I get it that young people want to share such images and information with “friends”, but what was in it for this guy – except a photo of a naked stranger and a quick demand for blackmail money?
13 0
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March 11, 2023 12:15pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Back in our day if your personal reputation was attacked, they just got taken out behind the woodshed.
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:27pm
  - Sparrow
    
    Steve This story reminded me of true instance of justice at sea over 50 years ago. Not mentioning names of people or the shipping company but its true. Was on the bridge when the old man came to chat. Then the union delegate appeared grumbling about a multitude of non issues. The old took him to the back of the bridge. Heard a crash and saw the delegate stumble off. According to old man the delegate slipped on the deck !!!!
    
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    March 11, 2023 5:29pm
pdm

`Man smashes into ATM in front of people buying McDonalds and drinking beer’

Just another Burglary claims Chippy who says he (personally and single handedly) reduced ram raids by 75% when he was Police Minister.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/queenstown-bank-ram-raid-man-smashes-into-atm-in-front-of-people-buying-mcdonalds-and-drinking-beer/4HLIWTB6DZHU7B5AVZCOYY5S44/
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March 11, 2023 12:16pm
- Ghost
  
  Slight correction for you
  
  Chippy who says he (personally and single handedly) reduced ram raids being top news stories by 75% when he was Police Minister and made sure the stories were buried
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:18pm
  - pdm
    
    ooops I missed the bit about ram raids now being called burglaries.
    
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    March 11, 2023 12:31pm
    - Ghost
      
      burglaries, no no. Donations to the needy
      
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      March 11, 2023 12:39pm
Swifty

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/silicon-valley-bank-shut-down-in-stunning-300-billion-collapse/WGRFYFA6IVA4LBD4BWYZGTIQDM/

Let it fail.

I just do not understand why the US taxpayer should be on the hook for failing or failed financial institutions.

They gambled, they lost. So what.

Maybe if a few banks are left to fail it might cause the remainder to pull their socks up.

If banks failing causes the whole economy to crash (thereby requiring taxpayer intervention some say) then there is something fundamentally wrong with the whole set up.

Fix that, treat the root causes, rather then these seemingly never-ending taxpayer-funded sticking plasters.

Aside from socialist value-destroying brain-dead big government wrecking balls, nothing grinds my gears worse than cosy crony-capitalism where big business and big government act in cahoots to protect their respective interests.

Let them fail.
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March 11, 2023 12:19pm
- Ghost
  
  The bank is covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, banks fees to the FDIC cover the payouts. It doesn’t get any federal funding.
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:29pm
  - Swifty
    
    Thanks, I did see that and of course you are right.
    
    “The bank…..doesn’t get any federal funding…”
    
    Not yet anyway.
    
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    March 11, 2023 1:11pm
  - mainlander
    
    Well, apparently the bank had $173 billion in deposits (of which $151.5 billion are uninsured) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fq1Fgf3aEAEd-47?format=jpg&name=4096×4096. If so, the majority of depositors are going to take a bath.
    
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    March 11, 2023 8:06pm
    - Ghost
      
      The insurance scheme only pays up to $250,000 on each account.
      
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      March 11, 2023 8:12pm
      - mainlander
        
        Some more follow up on SVP’s rather rapid 48-hour collapse. Who’s next? https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/expect-mass-layoffs-real-world-impact-svbs-failure
        
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        March 11, 2023 8:43pm
- Taieri
  
  Let them fail
  ————-
  
  Would you still feel the same if it was the bank where you keep your money?
  
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  March 11, 2023 12:41pm
  - Keith White
    
    Nice straw man you have there.
    
    8 2
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    March 11, 2023 12:56pm
  - Swifty
    
    Yes.
    
    You will not hear me calling for NZ families to make good my losses.
    
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    March 11, 2023 1:03pm
Maggie Pie

A bestie from tennis retweets…..

Are lip-fillers racist?

https://twitter.com/MailOnline/status/1632797398878629892
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March 11, 2023 1:01pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Why did I click on that?
  
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  March 11, 2023 1:36pm
- Ghost
  
  She looks familiar Photo
  
  6 0
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  March 11, 2023 1:41pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    “You know what?” “What?”
    “I have never seen your face!”
    
    Billie T James.
    
    5 1
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    March 11, 2023 4:00pm
    - Ghost
      
      Neither have I, I look in the mirror and I see nothing
      
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      March 11, 2023 4:17pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

World Health Organisation has declared that dogs can not transmit Coronavirus, and there is no reason to quarantine dogs anymore.
W.H.O. let the dogs out!

I’ll get my hat and coat.
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March 11, 2023 1:09pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  3 hours later, and who has still got that stupid song in their head? LOL!
  
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  March 11, 2023 4:01pm
Maggie Pie

And I see where that useless Tamati Coffey is ‘retiring’ after six years of pretending to be a politician.
Can anybody tell me ONE thing he’s actually done since he became an MP?

He’ll find motherhood will keep him busy anyway.
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March 11, 2023 1:19pm
- Ghost
  
  Sure, he disrupted the house with a crying baby, but that was Trevor’s fault for allowing babies in the house.
  
  He convinced Trevor to feed his baby in the house because looking around he realised Trevor was the biggest tit in the house.
  
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  March 11, 2023 1:34pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  A “TV Personality” who as selected for the seat as he ticked the boxes.
  
  TV Personality TICK
  
  Maori TICK
  
  Gay TICK
  
  Then got married and had a child by Surrogate TICK
  
  Lost his seat to a Maori Racist when there was a Labour Landslide BIG RED PEN
  
  Then gets the DCM.
  
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  March 11, 2023 2:27pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Looks like quite a few in Labour best start looking for a job.
    Forget the Public Sector, it is way overloaded and will be culled.
    I guess the two guys will go on the dole.
    
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    March 11, 2023 5:10pm
Taieri

Can anybody tell me ONE thing he’s actually done since he became an MP?
————

Announced his retirement.
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March 11, 2023 1:26pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  😀 😀 😀
  
  12 0
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  March 11, 2023 2:02pm
- mandk
  
  Drawn $1 million plus is salary and expenses.
  
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  March 11, 2023 5:46pm
Swifty

A heart-wrenching story of a wife battering a husband over years:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11846275/Man-reveals-wore-make-hide-bruises-abuse-norm-marriage.html
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March 11, 2023 1:36pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  [Mod – deleted]
  
  3 4
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  December 11, 2022 3:50pm
  - mandk
    
    That’s pretty sick MP.
    
    [Mod – thanks for pointing the post out]
    
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    March 11, 2023 5:43pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Chivalry is one thing, abuse by allowing that chivalry to be abused is not good. It is not nice to hit a woman – even in self defense.
  Obvious he did not have a ‘Man Card’ Why let it go on for so long?
  The man is a train wreck now, and needs mental health help.
  The children? What happened to them?
  This happens here in NZ. Males are scared of ‘consequences’ Pussies? I really don’t know where that line is drawn.
  
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  March 11, 2023 4:28pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh dear, oh dear..

Richie Hardcore is a very inappropriate guest speaker.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/485754/women-s-rights-group-apologises-for-choosing-richie-hardcore-to-speak
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March 11, 2023 3:11pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  And I see where FOXY is upset with the choice of ‘RH’ as well 🙁
  
  https://twitter.com/FoxyLustyGrover/status/1634050319343845376
  
  4 1
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  March 11, 2023 3:44pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  There are a group of individuals surrounding him.
  Now, no names, but ‘read between the lines’
  
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  March 11, 2023 4:31pm
- rouppe
  
  The names of these organisations…
  UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand.
  Women in Urbanism Aotearoa.
  
  Just waiting for
  The People’s Front For Urbanised Women
  The Urbanised Women’s People’s Front…
  
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  March 11, 2023 5:14pm
Widogast Corwin

Just for fun I have been browsing Queensland Transport Department website.

https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/

It is sobering to compare what has become of the former NZTA with a first world transport organisation. Dozens of major roading projects in progress or in planning.

Something really interesting – search for “climate change”. There is NOTHING about climate change being a factor in guiding transport spending, except for making roads more resilient to severe weather.

I am sure I would find the same story with the other Australian states.
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March 11, 2023 4:12pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “making roads more resilient to severe weather.”
  Really? Waka Coathanger think different. Never mind fixing potholes – we must lower the speed limit and make a lot of ‘rules’
  
  I give up. With a change of Government, the decades old deadwood employees will still be there.
  DCM and apply for your job are what is needed.
  
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  March 11, 2023 4:39pm
DeepBlue

Despite David Farrar’s prediction last week Belich failed against White:

“Belich will win, for two reasons.

The first is that she is seen as a future senior Cabinet Minister, while White is seen as the person who failed to win Auckland Central.

The second is that Labour’s selections are not decided by rank and file members, but by unions and head office and Belich will have all the Head Office votes.”

I think polling and predictions are way off at the moment, in this upside down world.
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March 11, 2023 4:38pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  Good grief.
  
  “”Jacinda will go down as one of New Zealand’s great Prime Ministers and she has made such a difference in the lives of local people over her years as the MP for Mt Albert. “”
  
  https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/03/11/helen-white-selected-as-labour-candidate-for-mt-albert/
  
  I have no doubt that history will judge her to be the worst ever PM, by a big margin.
  
  … and how has she “made such a difference in the lives of local people”?
  
  Enriched long standing property owners by engineering a housing bubble? I can’t think of anything else.
  
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  March 11, 2023 5:12pm
  - Ghost
    
    The media are the only ones that think that. History will judge her much harsher. I wouldn’t be surprised if within the next few years she has to leave this country as her actions and how she has broken this country become more open
    
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    March 11, 2023 5:15pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Another LAWYER.
    
    8 0
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    March 11, 2023 5:52pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Two non local, trade unionist/ employment, middle aged, dyed blonde, female contestants. Hard to tell the one from the other, TBH.
      
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      March 11, 2023 6:34pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    Bugger me.
    I live in Mount Albert (about 800 meters as the crow flies from Arderns residence).
    She has not made a difference- at all.
    She has been utterly invisble as an MP.
    Helen White needs to have her head read.
    
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    March 11, 2023 7:10pm
    - MCōs
      
      How many urban MPs make a difference to their electorates?
      
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      March 11, 2023 9:22pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Camilla Belich will still be very high up on the Labour List… She’ll retain her position as a List MP and be spared the need to do a load of electorate campaigning.
  
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  March 11, 2023 5:58pm
Maggie Pie

WWYD?

It’s vids like this that make me wish we were one-back from the beach 🙁

https://twitter.com/vidsthatgohard/status/1634224837261500422
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March 11, 2023 4:43pm
kevn

@Maggie… One back and six floors up from the beach maybe?
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March 11, 2023 5:07pm
surfing

All day, gang motorbikes have been roaring around our suburb… including down our street once or twice.

I know this, because you can hear their bikes from a kilometer away, and more when they rev hard.

Where are the police? Surely a motorbike that can be heard several kilometers away must be breaking the legal noise limit for bikes.
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March 11, 2023 6:06pm
Dougal10

People talk about this government being very Orwell 1984 but it is becoming very much nz 1988/1989 . The main streets of towns are decimated , most stuff you need has to be ordered in and the government ministers are out of there depth .
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March 11, 2023 6:34pm
- kevn
  
  @Dougal… Yep, only took labour 5+ years. Add in the new phenomenon of racial tension that was almost not there.
  
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  March 11, 2023 6:54pm
  - Dougal10
    
    I’m waiting for national to find a new ruth richardson to be able to fix this mess but they coming across as a bit wet and woke to be able to find one
    
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    March 11, 2023 7:06pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/300827902/asteroid-has-chance-to-hit-earth-on-valentines-day-2046
Bugger ! I will only be 97 then ! What a waste of so many more years…
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March 11, 2023 6:40pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/300827948/fijian-drua-slot-late-penalty-to-upset-crusaders-in-super-rugby-pacific-thriller
Crusaders have now lost 2 out of 3 so far.
Maybe Robertson is so pissed-off he has told his players to cause a few upsets !
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March 11, 2023 7:04pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300827129/max-rashbrooke-reviving-a-modern-ministry-of-works-necessary-to-cope-with-modern-infrastructure-demands
Good article.
A lot of KB contributors will know all about the old MoW and the immense contribution they made to NZ’s infrastructure.

Just a small point:
he says “We should also restore the position of Government Architect and employ more engineers to ensure our public works meet high standards.”

I would say: “We should also restore the position of Government Architect and re-deploy many of our existing NZ-educated engineers who are wasting their talents on rubbish projects to ensure our public works meet high standards. “
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March 11, 2023 7:27pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Used to carry a load of their vehicles and heavy machinery every week on the Coastal Trader in the 1970’s.
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:03pm
Ghost

Well done labour……

Minimum wage-earners will only earn $1.99 less an hour than the pay received by starting teachers if teacher pay does not move by April 1.

Teachers are in negotiation with the Government at the moment and strike action is planned for next week.

Starting teachers receive $51,358.00 a year at present and have been offered $55,358. From April, a full-time minimum wage-earner will be on $47,216 a year and median wage-earners receive about $61,000.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300827906/starting-teachers-earn-199-more-than-new-minimum-wage
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March 11, 2023 7:52pm
- Swifty
  
  This is what happens when you allow the crazy situation of political parties setting pay rates.
  
  Of course they will abuse the privilege.
  
  Of course they will use it for maximum political advantage and all at no cost to them.
  
  We need our heads read.
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:32pm
Ghost

Hopefully the clowns in charge here tell him to Bugger off

An American entrepreneur making “cooling clouds” to counter global warming said he’ll be on the first plane to New Zealand if officials let him carry out his controversial experiment here.

Founder of Make Sunsets Luke Iseman says his plan to use balloons full of sulphur dioxide to reflect sunlight back into space is worth the risks in order to save lives and species collapse, but Kiwi scientists aren’t convinced.

Newshub
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March 11, 2023 8:01pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh Grief..
  
  Clearly this chap is too young to have ever heard of Acid Rain.
  
  https://www.epa.gov/acidrain/what-acid-rain
  
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  March 11, 2023 8:14pm
greybeard

I have been travelling around the South Island since last Tuesday: from Picton to Dunedin, then down through the Catlins to Invercargill , Bluff and at present am at Cromwell, and about to spend some time going up the West Coast and then back to Wellington.

The overwhelming impression I have had is that the South Island is on fire: countless tourists everywhere: in campers, on bikes, lots of buses, people everywhere in cars stopping at interesting sites.
Cafes and food places are humming.

The Kaikoura Coast is simply amazing. I have travelled through there many times, and to see what has been done post-earthquake is a tribute to the contractors and designers. A superb job.

What has impressed me the most is the incredible farm production: Canterbury, Otago and Southland are producing huge quantities of hay, maize, of stock feed, millions of sheep, huge volumes of dairy and beef cattle. It must have been a bumper season for hay, there are wrapped bales simply everywhere.

I’m a country boy by birth but have spent much of my life in towns. It makes me so proud to be a New Zealander when I see what the rural sector contributes to our life.
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March 11, 2023 8:31pm

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