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March 17, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 17 March 2023

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General Debate

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Clyde

16 Billion for Lake Onslow? Plus the inevitable cost over-runs. Call it $20 billion. And NONE of the current energy providers thinks its a good thing. But the current Minister of Energy is still plowing along spending money like water. What is it with this lot?
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March 17, 2023 8:05am
- Blog-aholic
  
  I may be wrong but I do think I read somewhere that the electrical output will be about as much as the input required from the pumping. That’s what I guess is a zero sum game?
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:21am
  - Spam
    
    Incorrect. It will be less. Pesky laws of thermodynamics.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:12am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Yep – losses due to inefficiencies in pumping and generation.
      
      It’s all about timing – pumping is done off peak (plenty of power available) and generation is done at low wind/sun times. It’s a rechargeable battery …..
      
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      December 17, 2022 9:29am
      - Jethrod
        
        That’s fine…..but perpetual motion doesn’t exist!
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:29am
      - colinm
        
        Currently, there isn’t much of a difference between peak and off peak pricing. There needs to be a marked price split between peaks to make this remotely viable. As mentioned above, the inefficiencies between generating and pumping need a low price off peak.
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:30am
      - JohnRidd
        
        A very very very expensive rechargeable battery.
        
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        March 17, 2023 11:21am
      - peterwn
        
        Pumped storage does stack up under the right circumstances. You would get out about 80% of the electricity you put in. The problem with Onslow is the scheme is too large and poorly placed for its purpose at least in the initial decades. This means it would be over-capitalised and the electricity customers would have to bear this deadweight cost in the form of higher tariffs. Alternatively the Government finances it and bears that deadweight cost, but that is effectively a subsidy for electricity.
        The purposes of Onslow would be:
        1. to iron out short term variations with wind and solar power. This aspect is currently managed by using storage capacity of existing hydro stations and there is significant spare capacity for this purposes before ‘saturation’.
        2. to provide peak load capacity assuming renewable generation (and / or Huntly) is available off peak.
        3. To iron out long term variations of water inflows to existing hydro stations. The required capacity to cover this would need to be sufficient for three or more ‘dry’ years. Trouble is, there may not be sufficient ‘input’ in wet years to replenish Onslow.
        The objectives would be more effectively and economically met by smaller storage schemes built around NZ as and when needed. They could either use hydro (assuming consents can be obtained), batteries or stored hydrogen. By placing them nearer loads they would also augment existing power transmission and provide resilience if a transmission line fails at a critical time.
        
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        March 17, 2023 2:30pm
      - comm4nder
        
        Why not spend some of that money building another hydroelectric dam instead. It would cost less because you wouldn’t have to pay for the pumps. You could just turn it on when the wind wasn’t blowing and the sun was not shining.
        
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        March 17, 2023 2:35pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Spam, Thermodynamics is Old Science, The new one being rewritten is about the New Discovered Indigenous Science and will explain all in a perfect logical sense.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:54am
  - Grunt
    
    It is a means of storing energy and yes, more energy is spent pumping than will be recovered. As for cost – at least double what they are proposing!
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:16am
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      Probably not double. A similar Aussie scheme in Snowy River is assessed at $20 billion, so maybe that. Still extraordinarily expensive compared to the original $4 billion, which at least looked plausible in an economic sense. But not at $20 billion.
      
      If it was double it would be approaching the cost of Hinkley C, currently under construction which will produce 3,200 Mw. About a third of New Zealand’s entire output.
      
      I commented on this yesterday, noting the the costs the govt is getting for Light Rail ($30 billion) and Onslow ($16 billion) make these schemes utterly unaffordable. Also they have enormous costs compared to major schemes in other developed countries. Cross Rail in London for instance.
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:32am
      - kevn
        
        Why don’t they ‘consult’ = ask Brian Leyland. A voice of reason.
        
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        March 17, 2023 9:47am
      - CJames
        
        Wayne, the original cost for Snowy2 by Turnbull was $2B and 2000GWh. Now cost is around $10B and 400GWh. The other $10B is for extra transmission lines to actually use the power. Of course, that doesn’t include all the generation that will need to be built to have a surplus. Right at this minute, they are having to run their coal fired plant harder than normal because the renewables haven’t provided much today.
        Hinley C will produce power Onslow and Snowy were only ever going to store the power produced elsewhere. Big difference.
        
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        March 17, 2023 1:56pm
      - AitchW
        
        I wonder what a small nuclear power plant might cost?
        
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        March 17, 2023 8:03pm
      - AitchW
        
        Or maybe some run of river generation, like the Greens killed in the South
        Island…..
        
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        March 17, 2023 8:04pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    E= MC2. The amount of work done can not be increased to more than that work. When the work is done, it is finished. It will be less.
    Best we listen to Physicist Dr Megan Woods.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:19am
    - Ian Boag
      
      E= MC2
      
      It’s not a nuke …..
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:32am
    - comm4nder
      
      Huh?
      Where is the mass being destroyed?
      
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      March 17, 2023 2:37pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    No,
    At Lake Onslow it will be less than 75%.
    
    Modern pumped storage schemes can have round-trip efficiencies of up to 80%. Onslow will be less than that, perhaps 70-75%, because of factors such as long tunnel length and evaporation loss.
    
    see end of comments section:
    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/earl-bardsley-lake-onslow-pumped-hydro-flipping-a-4b-coin
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:22am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      The comments are great.
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:31am
    - surfing
      
      It sounds much better to make things up though. Don’t bring your facts into this please!
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:11pm
    - cmm
      
      80% is exceedingly good for PS. That’s the sort of result you get from a perfectly engineered solution built in a perfect location.
      
      70% for a highly constrained design would be more typical.
      
      At 70% it meany you need to input almost 1.5x as much electricity as you get back.
      
      It is funny seeing Bardsley trying to give it all credibility by saying the IPCC gave it a thumbs up!
      
      I’d rather get an endorsement from the Mongrel Mob!
      
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      March 17, 2023 1:02pm
  - surfing
    
    Blog-aholic, yes you are correct that you are completely wrong. Not just wrong, but, out by a whole order of magnitude. You can’t even mathematically calculate the extent of your wrongness because you’d get a division by 0 error.
    
    Here is the Switzerland experience…
    
    “Pumped storage in Switzerland – an outlook beyond 2000
    
    Pumped storage [1, 10] is considered when natural water input to the storage dams is not sufficient. Water is pumped from the
    tailwater in low demand periods and let out through the turbines in peak hours. In the course of this process, numerous fosses must
    be taken into account and lead to an overall efficiency of typically 70 % :
    •Transformer, motor and pump losses efficiency 0.88
    •Penstock losses in pump mode 0.97
    • Leakage / other losses of headwater reservoir and conduits 0.96
    • Penstock losses in turbine mode 0.97 also for natural storage
    • Turbine, generator and transformer losses 0.88 also for natural storage
    • Overall efficiency of pumped storage cycle 0.7”
    
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    March 17, 2023 12:04pm
    - CJames
      
      Surfing – before you crticise others, best learn the subject yourself.
      Pumping water out of the tailrace with the unit at grid speed and wicket gates closed is done when running the units as syncons and fast reserves – called tailrace depression. Many hydros in NZ already have this facility. Nothing to do with pumped storage.
      The efficiency of Francis impellors either pumping or generating depends on where you run on the efficiency curve. But generally when optimised, the round trip efficiency of pumped storage is 80-85%.
      
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      March 17, 2023 2:05pm
- pdm
  
  Clyde under this lot it is likely cost over runs will be at least double the original cost.
  
  $4billion is very conservative.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:22am
  - rouppe
    
    I agree. Everything has cost at least double the original price
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:25am
    - kevn
      
      @rouppe… Ngai Tahu have yet to clip the ticket.
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:57am
  - Ehlana
    
    Have no fear pdm. The team bringing you this are the same people who promised light rail down Dominion Road by – um, when was it again?
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:11am
- Simon
  
  “What is it with this lot?”
  
  Excuse for no money for tax cuts, also expansion of govt. They get away with it because of the most piss weak opposition party National.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:23am
  - Prince
    
    Yep it’s all National’s fault.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:17am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      ATM yes it is.
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:21am
  - Debsta
    
    Come on Simon, they get away with it because of the stupid people that continue to vote for them surely.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:31am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  Just boot RioTinto & their multimillion aluminum smelter energy & emission profit subsidies out of Manapouri & install NI transmission for a fraction of the cost. Problem solved.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:25am
  - Colville
    
    Isnt it a lazy $10bil and 10 years to hook Manapouri into the grid?
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:22am
    - Matt Long
      
      Move Auckland to Bluff, no more floods, no volcanoes, no transmission energy loss, congestion free travel from Northland to the rest of the country.
      Everyone wins.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:51am
      - thirteenstars
        
        “Everyone wins.”
        
        I’ve just spoken to my friends in Invercargill and they would prefer you didn’t even so much as joke about such a plan.
        
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        March 17, 2023 11:43am
    - Paulus
      
      When Ngai Tahu control the South Island section of 3/5 Waters then they will control all the lakes, dams, rivers, and of course then the Power supplies from them.
      Where does nearly all New Zealand’s power come from ?
      
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      March 17, 2023 1:27pm
- cmm
  
  The point is to make it impossible to solve the problems.
  Keeping the problem alive (ie. not solving them) keeps the trough going for the consultants.
  They get to charge many hundred dollar an hour consulting fees without ever having to build anything.
  
  On top of all of that, it makes the consulting fees look cheap.
  
  If Lake Onslow might cost $20bn, then spending “only” $50 to $100 million investigating alternatives sounds like a great deal.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:26am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Robertson on radio this morning, it’s okay, because it’s over 9 years, 1.8 billion a year is okay right(sarc) this project has gone from 4.8 billion yo 16 billion what price in 10 year’s time ffs
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:37am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Robertson has no financial qualifications. [ Mod : leave the rest out ]
    
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    December 17, 2022 9:09am
  - Matt Long
    
    How will the get all the electric powered earthmovers to build lake onslow I wonder, or are we going to burn millions of tons of fuel doing it?
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:48am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The difference between a million and a billion is three zeros, and as zeros have no value, there is no extra cost.
    AOC
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:13am
    - RichardX
      
      This is just like your Trump troop claim.
      
      Are you able to produce evidence of your claim or are you a victim of your failed epistemology?
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:18am
    - PeeJay
      
      Genuine question Steve, do you have a link to that – would be good to check it out if so.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:21am
      - Ghost
        
        It was a meme that appeared on Facebook and long discredited (I googled]
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:26am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  32 billion
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:58am
- RoboRob
  
  Megan Woods needs to be able to claim they are doing something to deal with NZ pending electricity shortage. It’s ‘green’ and makes it look like she is doing something so why not?
  
  We need Nuclear and / or more hydro and we need to start building 3-5 years ago. Ideally we would have more base line power coming online next year but probably it will be 10-15yrs as none of the planning has started.
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Agree. But we have to get the crazy Greens to understand that Nuclear Energy in 2023 is Green Energy.
    Good luck with that – they are crazy.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:25am
    - RoboRob
      
      Not just the Greens. The Anti nuclear stance of the 80s is still very strong, even in non Greens. People dont seem to grasp the difference between energy and weapon, that the production is very safe and the waste is tiny and easily dealt with.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:21am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The need for more reliable electricity is in the North Island…..specifically the Greater Auckland area.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:25am
    - thirteenstars
      
      Which is why a big juicy nuclear plant would work very well in the wide open spaces between Hamilton and South Auckland.
      
      The luvvies would love that. And, oh my, the size of the koha required. Koha-nui! Tu meke!
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:38am
      - Ian Boag
        
        a big juicy nuclear plant
        
        Not sure how big and how juicy, but I understand it is considered a bad idea to have a single power plant more than 10% of the grid. Single point of failure and all that ….
        
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        December 17, 2022 9:43am
      - RoboRob
        
        @Ian Boag
        
        Who said anything about a power plant > 10% of the grid? Red herring?
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:23am
      - Don Beckett
        
        All we need is a couple of the Rolls Royce small nuclear units, which could be installed at the appropriate location within a couple of years.
        Should be ordering them now, and prepping the sites.
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:27am
      - thirteenstars
        
        “All we need is a couple of the Rolls Royce small nuclear units”
        
        Oh, no doubt, but the realities of the insane world we live in are that any such project would have to jump through so many legal, ideological and protest hurdles that one site with a bigger capacity would be easier to get approved and built.
        
        And kept secure from sabotage.
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:38am
      - CJames
        
        Ian is right – no single unit on grid bigger than 10% preferrably 5%. That is also the reason why the DC capacity is limited to well below cable rating.
        The problem with nukes currently around and proven design is they are too big. They would be maybe 25-30% of grid at night. Maybe if the 200MW SMRs come along, they will be good, but they aren’t running yet.
        
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        March 17, 2023 2:10pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @RoboRob
        
        Nukes start at about 1000MW. Total installed generation in NZ is about 10000 MW ….
        
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        March 17, 2023 4:07pm
      - CJames
        
        Ian There is a big difference between installed capacity and actual power being generated. At this time of year, it is typically 3000MW at night and 5000MW at the peaks. In winter add 1000MW to both of those.
        Go to Transpower System Operator site for actual current numbers
        
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        March 17, 2023 6:45pm
  - Burtland
    
    how is wasting 25% of this energy green ?
    
    the changing water levels upstream/downstream will make the waterways unusable
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:37am
  - NZL Fusion
    
    Yes a small clean nuclear power station at Huntley will service all the countries needs.
    
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    March 17, 2023 6:52pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Minister Megan Woods will continue with her stubbornness. That’s just how it is.
  Onslow will be her legacy. With the current Labour mob one can only hope it turns to shit before it is even started.
  
  One day NZ will wake up and go nuclear. Small Modular Reactors.
  https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-are-small-modular-reactors-smrs
  Probably when is is too late and more expensive. Won’t happen in my lifetime.
  
  Dis you hear that noise? A whole lot of Greens fell over backwards and are now rolling around on the floor.
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:11am
  - Ian Boag
    
    One day NZ will wake up and go nuclear. Small Modular Reactors.
    https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-are-small-modular-reactors-smrs
    
    One day some of these might exist …..
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:35am
    - RoboRob
      
      So Ian, whats with the red herrings? There are plenty of modern well designed options, many of which not in production because of the Green movement. What does that have to do with the fact that we need more base line power and are running out of rivers to dam.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:25am
      - Paulus
        
        I believe that in the UK Rolls Royce Engineering have 27 Mini Nuclear power plants currently under construction.
        
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        March 17, 2023 1:31pm
    - colinm
      
      They may be old tech, but pebble bed modular reactors have been around for quite a while.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:37am
      - CJames
        
        None that are running generating power
        
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        March 17, 2023 2:10pm
    - Libertarians are right
      
      Which is funny because that is the entire basis behind most “Green” policies, relying on technology that doesn’t yet exist – just not nuclear.
      
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      March 17, 2023 11:21am
    - I remember when
      
      No nuclear-powered warships will be allowed into our territorial waters until our fear of the enemy is greater than our fear of nuclear.
      
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      March 17, 2023 1:57pm
  - Sideoiler
    
    ….One day NZ will wake up and go nuclear. Small Modular Reactors…..
    
    Molten Salt reactors might be the way to go, they already exist although only research reactors have been built so far.
    A lot of advantages over current reactor technology.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:53am
- Monty
  
  We were told by Megan woods in 2020 that this project would cost $4b. Why the increase of 400% in les than three years?
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:37am
  - Matt Long
    
    Covid, floods, war in Ukraine.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:54am
    - fisho
      
      Not to mention the nine years of neglect the previous National government subjected us all to.
      From what I’ve been told numerous times over the past 5 years, I’m actually surprised we managed to make it beyond 2018 without actually imploding.
      Thank god Jacinda, Grant and Chris came along to save us from guaranteed ruin. There’s nothing quite like a safe set of hands to make me feel positive about where we’re all heading.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:45pm
- Phronesis
  
  The Clutha already has serious issues with sediment buildup. Roxburgh is nearing the end of its design life and there is no plan for its decommissioning. When the Alpine fault goes it will most likely destroy or seriously damage the entire SI hydro network. At the very least the increased sediment flow will make most dams too dangerous to operate.
  
  It would be the definition of insanity to build more vulnerable infrastructure in the SI when what is needed is energy in Auckland.
  
  (The odds on the Alpine fault popping over the design life of a project like Onslow are over 50%)
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:54am
  - rangitoto
    
    If the alpine fault goes, no doubt it will be blamed on climate change.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:12am
    - thirteenstars
      
      Oh, that idea already has great traction:
      
      https://www.greenmatters.com/weather-and-global-warming/does-global-warming-cause-earthquakes
      
      And the results returned from searching “earthquakes climate change”:
      
      https://www.google.com/search?q=earthquakes+and+climate+change
      
      In a Clown Car world where Maori religious superstitions are included in the NZ science curriculum, attributing quakes to climate change seems quite reasonable.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:44am
  - CJames
    
    That is just wrong Phronesis
    
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    March 17, 2023 2:12pm
- rangitoto
  
  You can build a decent nuclear power plant for that sort of money.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:10am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    Not really. The latest UK plant is NZ$50 billion. With one reactor (1,600 MW) it would be $30 billion.
    NZ might go nuclear once the current small modular reactors have been approved and a few of them built.
    Effectively that means no nuclear stations in NZ till about 2050 at the earliest. Basically 25 to 30 years away.
    In the meantime we probably need about 5,000 Mw of additional capacity. A fair chunk of that needs to be baseload. Hydro or Geothermal
    It does make bringing Manapouri into the grid quite tempting. That immediately adds 800 Mw base-load into the grid.
    
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    March 17, 2023 12:07pm
    - colinm
      
      All very nice Wayne, however, getting the Manapouri generation up north here will require significant amounts of money.
      You need to build some new circuits to get it moving north in the quantities needed.
      Also need to factor in the necessary upgrade to the Cook staight cables which run at near max already. Perhaps the billions needed for this has been factored into the Lake Onslow costing??
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:36pm
    - Jack5
      
      …It does make bringing Manapouri into the grid quite tempting. That immediately adds 800 Mw base-load into the grid….
      
      And wipes another billion dollars a year off our exports when we are running huge deficits. At present NZ virtually exports Manapouri electricity in the form of “green” aluminium.
      
      Then there is the transmission loss, which might be 5 to 8 per cent given the under-sea link and the 1200km of often mountainous terrain between Manapouri and the big market, Auckland. Our poster, Ian Boag, an electrical engineer, I think, from his posts, might have a knowledgeable view of transmission loss.
      
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      March 17, 2023 4:41pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  Aussie are trying the same thing. Called Snowy River 2. Started out under Turnbull as $2B now up to $20B and rising. The tunnelling machine is stuck in the mouth of the first tunnel they tried to bore. Been there for a year as they cant figure out how to remove it.
  As I keep saying this net zero by 2050 wont happen. It will keep on being extended. Aussie needs 9 times the current wind farms and solar farms it has now. NZ will be the same. Wind and Solar farms last 25 years. The materials then have to be disposed of. China is a biggest supplier of wind and solar farm materials so we are enriching the most polluting country to try and reduce our emissions that are a fraction of one per cent of the total. Go figure.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:15am
  - thirteenstars
    
    Well said, and all of which makes no sense if the goal is to reduce emissions and create a cleaner world.
    
    But that’s not the goal at all. The goal is end capitalism, the middle class, and humanity as we know it.
    
    Until the luvvies learn that, they will continue to vote for their own impoverishment and destruction.
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:08am
- NothingLeft
  
  I really can’t understand how it can be so high. An earth dam a few hundred meters long and 60m high isn’t that expensive, nor a 10-20km pipe and pumping/turbine setup of 1-2GW, and HVDC Grid upgrade. I could maybe see that at 5Billion – like early estimates.
  
  Where does the extra $10billion go? I’d guess some nice-to-have but not actually essential environmental feature – perhaps dust control measures for large lake with big yearly water level rise.
  
  Anyway, it’s clearly dead in the water at that price. There are (or will be) cheaper ways to store energy, like deep ground heat storage for large institutional winter heating users.
  
  At the moment best play would be to just install way more grid PV ($16 billion = ~10GW peak PV, more than enough to provide for all renewable electricity and full EV car fleet) and in 5-10 years when ‘green’ hydrogen production has reduced in price (coming down quickly, and expected to cost as little as $0.03+electricty price/kWh to make hydrogen using electricity in a few years) use summer excess to store some hydrogen for winter consumption.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:28am
  - Ian Boag
    
    use summer excess to store some hydrogen for winter consumption
    
    In fuel cells to make electricity I presume. Lots and lots and lots of them.
    
    If you take some volume of natural gas and figure how much heat you get by burning it, you need 8x the volume of hydrogen to get the same amount of heat. Avogadro figured that one a long time ago..
    
    Hydrogen doesn’t really work as a combustion fuel. Storage of a large quantity would be quite a feat.
    
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    March 17, 2023 4:18pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  So a massively expensive boondoggle!
  
  Yay, another Labour “investment”
  
  $20bn here, $40bn there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:49am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Remember when 500 million for a hospital was a financial hurdle.
    
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    March 17, 2023 1:27pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  How much electricity could we get for $16bn from Huntly?
  It might be nice to get an idea of what the money could have paid for.
  It might also be nice to know how long it would take Onslow to pay for itself (assuming it can).
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:08am
- Lance
  
  Does this new proposed scheme actually have any catchment itself or is it all just pumped up to be released later?
  
  3 0
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  March 17, 2023 11:25am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I can’t believe that Onslow doesn’t have a Maori name yet.
  
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  March 17, 2023 7:01pm
Tomtoddy

Some things to know about the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank:
1. It donated $74 million to social justice issues including Black Lives Matter
2. The executive director of Consumers’ Research said, “SVB was focused on woke virtue signaling instead of protecting their customers’ deposits. Companies that are the most concerned with ESG scores and woke politics do the worst jobs serving their customers”.
3. A feature of their Annual Report was “We are 67% diverse, including 45% of the total workforce being made up of women, and 40% minorities”.
4. Another quote, “We are on a journey committed to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion. 67% of our workforce is diverse. 50% of senior leaders are diverse. 69% of our board members are diverse”.
“Diverse means anyone self-identifying as Black, Hispanic, native Alaskan etc.

This is where NZ is heading. Utterly distracted by irrelevant, virtue signalling nonsense while the vital necessities slide further and further into disarray.
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March 17, 2023 8:06am
- Matt Long
  
  Sounds like the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
  
  59 2
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  March 17, 2023 8:08am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    AKA the tane mahuta of the NZ banking system….
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:49am
- sirknz
  
  Just like my grandfather used to say, “Get woke, go broke!”.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:09am
- Maggie Pie
  
  And they wonder why ‘Credit Suisse’ is in deep do-do’s 😀
  
  https://twitter.com/suzseddon/status/1636136833041018885
  
  36 2
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  March 17, 2023 8:17am
  - virtualmark
    
    Credit Suisse is the opposite of woke.
    
    They’ve been involved in almost every immoral illegal look-the-other-way scheme since at least the 1930s, and it’s catching up with them now as banking standards and transparency tightens.
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:58am
    - Surely Knott
      
      Woke doesn’t mean you aren’t involved in dodgy dealing or climate warming activity. It means you promote woke issues publicly -it’s like a climate offset program for virtue.
      
      8 2
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      March 17, 2023 9:56am
      - virtualmark
        
        Please define “woke issues”.
        
        1 6
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        March 17, 2023 10:17am
      - waikatosinger
        
        Yep. Buying indulgences.
        
        6 1
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        March 17, 2023 10:58am
      - leoj
        
        VM:
        
        Woke issues are those dreamt up by smug university graduates who have nothing better to do, such as pouring soup over paintings, sure that that such actions will make a difference. In the meantime, they achieve useless degrees, overseen by out-of-touch-with-the-real-world professors.
        
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        March 17, 2023 11:04am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    I thought this was a much more flattering photo. What a banker……
    
    https://www.finews.com/news/english-news/50725-credit-suisse-pippa-bunce-diversity
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:17am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That sheila is a bloke.
      
      12 2
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      March 17, 2023 9:30am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Showed my partner that one Clan….said “he would” 😛
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:34am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        My old mate used to say, “all men are dogs”, I think he might have had a point……lol
        
        6 1
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        March 17, 2023 10:14am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      So brave! and stunning….
      
      Funny how the more senior the batshit crazy ones are, the more likely the institution is to fail?
      
      Might be an immutable law in this somewhere?
      
      9 1
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      March 17, 2023 10:52am
  - kevn
    
    @Maggie… Looks like a ‘banker’ to be avoided.
    CS now bailed out by Swiss Govt to the tune of 57 billion.
    
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    March 17, 2023 6:51pm
  - Scooter
    
    I read this description of “them”. So by using the plural are they inferring there are multiple personalities, a form of mental illness?
    
    Pippa “Pips” Bunce are a British banking executive. Bunce, who are non-binary and genderfluid, are a senior director at Credit Suisse. They serve as the Head of Global Markets Core Engineering Strategic Programs and as the Co-Chair of the LGBT Ally Program at Credit Suisse
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:49pm
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  Not to cast aspersions on your statements, but some links to sources might be of value here.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:18am
- Nickc2
  
  They are obviously following doctrine from the Orr & Robertson manual of Finance for Dummies.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:43am
  - crikey
    
    Are you sure Orr & Robertson have a manual. More likely they make it up as they go.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:03am
- virtualmark
  
  SVB crashed because of (i) depositor concentration and (ii) duration mis-matches.
  
  SVB’s execs were Republican supporters, not Democrat supporters … although personally I think political allegiances have little to do with professional ability.
  
  SVB did not give $74m to BLM. I know that’s what Fox News is saying, but Fox News lies. They are wilfully mis-interpreting a Claremont Institute database.
  
  SVB committed, but did not spend, $50m on a programme to connect minorities to the VC industry. They spent $20m on full-ride needs-based scholarships to 4 Silicon Valley universities. They did give $250,000 in donations to the ACLU and NAACP.
  
  https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1636345680938639360
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:50am
  - RoboRob
    
    I have no idea what political allegiance of the SVB execs. I would say as their client base, the tech industry, is predominantly Democrat and the state govt is Democrat, then they would want to at least appear woke. I am sure that they did give money to woke projects but as you say that’s not why they went bust. It’s a side-line issue.
    
    The scary thing is the California FED knew for months they were in trouble and left this to the last minute. Some of the people pushing for a full bailout of depositors were depositors (Gov Newstead) and so had a conflict of interest. Top exes of SVB sold out there shares pre collapse and the staff were all paid out large bonuses 2hrs before they were shut down. It was only last year the SVB hired a risk manager!
    
    It also appears that over the weekend there was at least one other party ready to take over control of SVB but the govt didn’t except and bailed them out anyway. The assumption is the deal of the takeover wasn’t good enough, perhaps the new owners wanted depositors (over 250k) to take a 10% haircut. The political power of the depositors (most of big tech) was obviously enough to override that.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:20am
    - virtualmark
      
      I’m not obsessing about who the SVB execs voted for … I doubt it had anything to do with their (puzzlingly poor) banking decisions.
      
      They certainly did benefit from Trump loosening the banking regs, although that laid the foundation for their demise last week.
      
      Yes, there was a clusterf%(k of overlapping regulators, between local, state and federal regulators. The Californian state regulator seems to have been the “proper” regulator, and also seems to have been asleep at the wheel.
      
      I think the way the Fed resolved this was good. Depositors were made whole, which stopped a disruption to the economy and, more importantly, stopped a run on other regional banks. But shareholders and other capital providers got wiped out, as a lesson pour encourager les autres. Note that that is the same balance struck by the Key government here when bailing out the likes of South Canterbury Finance.
      
      From the Fed’s point of view … no need to rush to sell SVB at the weekend. The Fed can take it over, stabilise it, then sell the “good bank” assets at its leisure … which basically means “at a time when the US citizens aren’t panicking about whether their bank is next”. I expect you’ll see a sale of the SVB assets in 6-12 months.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:08am
      - RoboRob
        
        Agree with most of your points, wasn’t trying to say you were obsessed with the voting preferences of the execs. Fox and others shouldn’t be trying to make the discussion about that.
        
        re ‘They certainly did benefit from Trump loosening the banking regs, although that laid the foundation for their demise last week.’
        
        Apparently they lobbied for smaller banks to be exempt and Trump allowed that. However all the regulators agree, including ‘Franks’ of ‘Dodd Frank’ fame, that the regulations wouldn’t have protected them from this issue. The proof is that ‘Franks’ was on the board of Signature bank that also went bust!
        
        The Trump line is kind of the Dems version of Foxes ‘they were a woke bank’. Same as with the train crash, yes Trump changed some rules but it turns out none of the changed rules actually had any impact on the crash. Its all a bit of a red herring.
        
        The Trump line is kind of the Dems version of Foxes ‘they were a woke bank’. Same as with the train crash, yes Trump changed some rules but it turns out none of the changed rules actually had any impact on the crash. Its all a bit of a red herring.
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:30am
      - virtualmark
        
        US banking regulations are a bit of a mess. Personally I think that also reflects the US banking industry, which is a bit of a mess of small regional banks plus a few big nation-wide banks.
        
        They could do a lot worse than import many of the regulations the RBA and RBNZ impose down here. They won’t, because the US has a fatal case of “not invented here syndrome”. But they should.
        
        Many here will hate hearing this, but the US could do a lot worse than let Senator Elizabeth Warren re-write the banking laws. Yes yes I know you don’t like her. But banking regulation and bankruptcies and consumer protection etc is her specialist field, and she knows what she’s talking about.
        
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        March 17, 2023 11:08am
  - kowtow
    
    The run started cos advisors were urging clients to pull their funds.
    
    I wonder how many banks could withstand that sort of attention.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:33am
- Littletramp
  
  Here’s the big “thing”.
  The global arm wrestling we (Joe Public) are witnessing from the sidelines, is between the western financial system (read: all those who have no oil/gas & function on debt) who are riding the Climate Change narrative (plus pushing the pro Ukraine bus) vs the Russia/China/Saudi mob who have all the money – i.e. it’s all about energy.
  The Climate Change guys forgot when they decided to reduce demand for oil/gas use (to hurt the wealthy team oil/gas) via global covid lockdowns, then deliberately shrinking nations economies via higher interest rate theories, that they themselves were bathed in debt & are now getting burnt big time – Duh!
  The USA has oil/gas but is internally torn (Trump vs Biden), deciding which side they are on as Wall Street muscle battles the WEF “old money” of Europe, who has few natural resources (not hard to guess which team has paid for Biden). EU wants America back & they also want the colonies back to control resources they are short of.
  So which side do we think Luxon is on – clue, it ain’t the oil/gas nations, sick of American hedgemony & coincidentally it’s the same team Ardern was on?
  Should we be playing in this game, or going for neutrality with our unique little island miles from anywhere advantage?
  This is all politics, power & money and we just gotta watch it unfold because it will go where it will go, and there is no good outcome for you & I.
  
  13 2
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  March 17, 2023 8:59am
  - virtualmark
    
    No.
    
    The global arm wrestling we are witnessing is between liberal democracies vs autocracies.
    
    10 6
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    March 17, 2023 9:11am
  - Bloody Dago
    
    You have that buncha Marxists that “escaped” to the West after the Berlin Wall fell to blame for the current global mess. Stasi operatives fled like a plague of locusts to imbed themselves in every Western democracy and start their destruction of what we have now and soon to lose.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:13am
- Prince
  
  Their depositors were mostly Tech start-ups, hence the need to appear woke.
  When the rumours started those start-ups stampeded for the exits, and SB was stuffed.
  Tells you something about the ‘new wave’, socially aware business types.
  Plus ca change…
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:22am
Matt Long

Todd Mullers has confirmed again his party wishes to introduce a fart tax at the Federated Farmers industry meetings.
In the Netherlands the Moderate socialist have taken a hammering in elections, perhaps National’s strategists should take note.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/european-farmers-fed-climate-policies-shock-political-establishment
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March 17, 2023 8:07am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Who is Todd Mullers? Is he related to John Keys and Mike Hoskins?
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:09am
  - sirknz
    
    Luxtons mate, I think.
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:13am
  - Matt Long
    
    Sorry about the typo Captains v
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:17am
    - Mike
      
      Mr Wainwaring is always very strict at the bank with Mr Wilson and young Pike about spelling customers’ names correctly.
      
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      March 17, 2023 8:24am
  - cmm
    
    Less worry about their names. More worries about their loss of direction.
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:28am
    - I remember when
      
      Where is the pole on a moral compass?
      
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      March 17, 2023 8:50am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    One of the Egg Head Twins
    
    4 2
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    March 17, 2023 8:59am
    - kowtow
      
      Of the party which made egg prices egtortionate.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:23am
      - Ghost
        
        Can’t blame any party. National changed the regulations and most farms had shifted or were shifting to that. Then the supermarkets demanded that the farms change again and they would only sell free range.
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:29am
- pdm
  
  Please Todd – do New Zealand a favour and leave politics. We do not want you dumping on agriculture just to keep the Greens happy.
  
  Go and join the Greens even, you seem better suited there.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:25am
  - peterwn
    
    If National goes into climate denial mode it is guaranteed to lose the next election. Anyway if the farming industry is reducing farts by appropriate breeding then proclaiming a fart tax (when farmers are reducing farts) is a cunning political move. Politics 101, my friend.
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:32am
    - Matt Long
      
      That’s not what Muller is proposing and you should know it if you’re going to comment.
      
      8 1
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      March 17, 2023 8:50am
      - Matt Long
        
        HWEN proposes a levy at processor or farm gate based on theoretical methane emissions.
        HWEN does not count actual emissions, does not count soil carbon, or various other carbon sinks.
        It will not take into account methane reduction strategies like diet change, genetics or methagen inhibitors.
        It is, as proposed to be implemented by National, a blunt tax that can only be reduced by reducing stocking rate or/and production.
        NZ production will be replaced by production in countries that have a far higher carbon footprint per unit of food and the whole country will be poorer for it.
        
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        March 17, 2023 9:12am
      - Matt Long
        
        Last I saw, the minister would determine the rate of the levy as recommended by a minister appointed group.
        Industry Representatives would have no say.
        
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        March 17, 2023 10:26am
  - pdm
    
    He must have heard me.
    
    I have just heard Muller is not seeking re-election. Did anyone else hear that?
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:53am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      You must use your power judiciously, pdm
      
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      March 17, 2023 7:27pm
  - Stellaboxer
    
    Your wish appears to be his command pdm. He announced only this morning that he won’t be standing in the next election.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:14am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Hooray
      
      14 1
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      March 17, 2023 10:40am
- Gravelroad
  
  Todd Muller as Minister of Agriculture?
  No thanks.
  ( And that’s not because of any personal/health problems he may have/had. It is because I don’t believe he will prioritise primary production, and the workers who achieve it, over corporate and political grandstanding.)
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:27am
  - GBC
    
    It’s in the Herald this morning that he’s retiring from politics and won’t stand at the next election.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:12am
    - Matt Long
      
      That’s great news, and the best thing Todd has done for the National Party.
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/national-mp-todd-muller-wont-seek-re-election/ORNIDIJFW5GGRFWREWET7HWL24/
      
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      March 17, 2023 9:25am
      - Observer of Life
        
        Oh God, he really does come across as a sap. And couldn’t he and Luxon be brothers!
        
        1 0
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        March 17, 2023 9:01pm
    - Tommo
      
      Good, he was embarrassing
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:03am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Just another mess looking for places to happen. Parliament is full of them.
        
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        March 17, 2023 11:54am
- Simon
  
  National party wet dream is a coalition govt with the Gweens. The virtue signaling would be blinding. What National really want is to be liked by the left.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:29am
  - peterwn
    
    The brutal reality is National needs to be liked by the soft left if it is to win the election. As I have said before all the ‘founding principles’ and ‘growing a pair of balls’ is not going to win the next election for National. Sorry, Redbaiter and co, this is the way things are and all the downticks in the world is not going to change the situation.
    
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    March 17, 2023 5:29pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The party have stated clearly they want to let farmers decide, farmers have stated they want to contribute to keep government off their backs, they had a deal with Ardern and she shafted them, this puts Labou stupidity on the back burner and by the time farmers work a deal, the cost will be minute
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:45am
  - GJM
    
    Farmers had no choice. The carbon scam does not take into account the grass, trees or soil in the calculations. These calculations are purely theoretical, and of equivalent robustness to the “80000 grannies will die” covid calcs.
    I look out my window at grass paddocks, native trees my parents planted, trees i have planted, the QE2 covenant bush block, and none of this counts. According to the carbon credit scam, this is the Sahara desert with no greenery that counts.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:26am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      The only time greenery counts is if you want to do something with your land. Then it means you can’t.
      
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      March 17, 2023 11:56am
- Nickc2
  
  Todd Muller’s just driven another nail into National’s Coffin.
  FFS, someone put a muzzle on Muller! He’s not the leader anymore and should check with higher authority before he opens his mouth.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:50am
  - Nickc2
    
    WOW, that was quick!
    Muller has just announced (09:00 AM) that he will not be standing at the next election.
    Someone is following KB eh?
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:10am
  - GJM
    
    Not at all. By shooting off the mouth, he pulls back the curtain hiding the real national party… and look, it is Labour / greens in blue drag.
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:27am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Doesn’t matter any more, Toddy from middle management has done a runner (again).
  
  Kid crumples like a cheap suit at the faintest hint he might need to work for a living.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:56am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  There was a study out of Auckland a few years back that found that NZ agriculture is already net zero.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:17am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

It’s always Trump’s fault. TDS idiot never give up.
Investing in US Government Bonds was probably not a good idea.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/is-donald-trump-responsible-for-the-second-biggest-bank-crash-in-us-history/ss-AA18H6sp
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March 17, 2023 8:10am
Paulus

SVBank
Which is why investors in Kiwisaver should find out how much of their (currently depleting in a number of cases ) goes save the world ideas, invariably reducing the return to Kiwisavers.
Surely the Kiwisaver Managers should do all they can to increase the return to the savers and not go out to invest in lovely things.
Some of the noisy ones do not do that it would appear.
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March 17, 2023 8:12am
- Matt Long
  
  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/desantis-forms-alliance-18-governors-combat-bidens-esg-push-direct-threat-american-economy
  Imagine if National said Kiwisaver accounts had to maximise returns to investors instead of playing the Energy deprivation, Starvation and Gutting the middle classes game.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:32am
  - Mike
    
    You want the government to regulate the types of investments people can choose?
    
    2 14
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    March 17, 2023 8:37am
    - Nickc2
      
      I don’t want the Govt to have anything to do with my Money.
      
      22 2
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      March 17, 2023 8:57am
    - Matt Long
      
      Fair comment, as long a there are options that are clearly explained as far as prospective returns for Kiwisaver investors, fund manergers should be able to offer woke funds for wokesters.
      The Government Super Fund is another thing altogether.
      
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      March 17, 2023 8:59am
      - Mike
        
        GSF closed to new members in the 1990s, didn’t it?
        
        4 2
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        March 17, 2023 9:57am
    - Local Miller
      
      No, that’s not what Matt’s comment said. Where the Kiwisaver fund is generic (i.e. the individual doesn’t have any control over how their funds are managed) the managers should have a statutory obligation to “maximise returns to investors”. They can invest in anything they want as long as they can show this is maximising returns.
      If some woke, oil from food company is giving massive returns, then invest there, I don’t really care. What I do care about is the fact my Kiwisaver is going backwards because of poor management decisions driven by a woke agenda.
      I’ve been doing a lot of reading on what companies are considered unacceptable investments based on weapons, oil, animal cruelty, ESG Score, etc. as I’m looking for a fund that I’m happy with AND isn’t woke. Turns out almost every major company on any stock exchange in the world has some negative woke rating.
      I’m thinking of putting my money into gold and silver coin, and keeping it in a hole in the ground.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:27am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Wasn’t Adrian Orr’s timing immaculate in getting out of overseeing the NZ super funds….
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:41am
- Simon
  
  Within 5 to 10 yrs investment will only be viable within Russia / China alliance countries.
  
  BRIC are alternative to the woke ruined Western corps.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:36am
  - virtualmark
    
    I strongly encourage you to put all your money into Russian banks and the Russian share market.
    
    8 3
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    March 17, 2023 8:51am
    - Mike
      
      But hasn’t the woke Western banking system cruelly shut off his choice to send all his money to the wise Russkies?
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:00am
- peterwn
  
  Interestingly it is the ‘conservative’ and ‘balanced’ Kiwisaver funds who could have lent money to the likes of SVB. Such lending is generally regarded as ‘low risk’. The ‘growth’ funds probably had little or no exposure to lending to banks.
  I remember the so-called ‘Diversified Yield Fund’ promoted by ANZ and many financial advisers. The yield was not high enough with conventional investments so they spiced it up by investing in sub prime mortgages.. Some investors lost 40% or so of their money. Others were more fortunate as they were reimbursed by ANZ if the obtained the ‘investment’ via ANZ.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:43am
RockyJ

A couple of years ago on Kiwiblog I released the news of the introduction of the new plastic card for exclusive use by Maori in accessing their growing list of entitlements. To recap the Brown card is like the Gold card only better. It is perfect for those bros who find it too much work to fill in forms.

The bright boys in Te Puni Koriri have been adding some new features to provide even more privileges. The bright boys found a surprisingly easy way to source the technology for a race based privilege access card. They discovered that the huge chip on the shoulder for those Maori who felt oppressed was perfect to be incorporated into the card.

The exciting new feature being announced today is an easy way for the bros to gain goods from retailers without paying. When you have found the stuff you want take it to the check out, produce your Brown card and go SWIPE.
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March 17, 2023 8:14am
Matt Long

Unilever showing that Ben and Jerry’s support for BDS is not a one off as Woke Corporations extend their tenticles and thought control across the world.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/dove-soap-brand-slams-oscar-winning-film-whale-using-fat-suit-want-better-representation
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March 17, 2023 8:20am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Yes we have the idiot box on play school TV1 Breakfast.
The speaker of the house insists.
Jenny-Mae Clarkson has laid off bastardising the English language with mumbo jumbo. Wonder if she got a talking to after my words here on Monday?
Let’s have our New Zealand back, with pure English.
28 2
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March 17, 2023 8:21am
- Mike
  
  Which dialect of English would you prefer – there are dozens to choose from if you reject New Zealand English.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:28am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Geordie, Glaswegian or Cornwall.
    
    All v difficult to understand.
    
    12 0
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    March 17, 2023 9:01am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Go away Mike. Stop being a pest.
    
    14 2
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    March 17, 2023 10:19am
- graham
  
  We watch TV1 News each night – SWMBO insists. My wife is always keen to know what the weather will be like, and has *always* relied on the TV1 News to get her information – unless Te Rauhiringa Brown is presenting the weather in the weekend.
  
  Te Rauhiringa Brown is the lady who frequently presents the weather using a significant amount of Maori language – which quite simply means my wife can’t understand the weather report. So she skips through it and checks the weather on her phone instead.
  
  Contrary to what Ms Brown might think, that’s not racism. It is a simple matter of being unable to understand or make sense of what is being presented. In our household at least, the service offering is just not fit for purpose. It’s not fulfilling its primary purpose, which is to inform viewers about the weather. So we don’t watch it. What’s the point of trying to struggle through a weather report that you can’t understand?
  
  Ms Brown has previously said that she sees it “as an opportunity to promote te reo Māori in a mainstream space.” If her employers are happy with that then so be it, but it’s not doing a very good job of promoting the language in this house as we simply ignore it. And I suspect there are other households around the country who do the same. They are the much-maligned “silent majority”, who don’t write letters or post comments on TVNZ’s social media sites – they simply switch off the weather and go elsewhere for their information.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:50am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    graham,
    Sorry to state the obvious but your wife needs to be educated in the benefits of TV3 news. Or is she a fan of government-controlled news?
    
    13 1
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    March 17, 2023 9:23am
    - pdm
      
      Yep we go to TV3 when that sheila is doing the weather on TV1.
      
      Pretty much the only time we watch anything on 3.
      
      8 1
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      March 17, 2023 9:58am
      - leoj
        
        Better yet……
        
        Give up the TV altogether.
        
        Within weeks you’ll thank me when you do.
        
        Metservice is infested with maori too, so try this:
        
        https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-table/2-2186223/New%20Zealand/New%20Zealand
        
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        March 17, 2023 11:24am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        I use Accuweather. Generally more specifically accurate in our remote spot.
        
        5 0
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        March 17, 2023 12:00pm
    - Lance
      
      But I will miss out on smarmy John Cambell making idiotic statements and lar left biased versions of events, especially politics… oh… wait
      
      5 0
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      March 17, 2023 11:35am
  - GJM
    
    You are making a fundamental error. Tvnz, Rnz and the government funded print arm Stuff don’t have to rely on viewer numbers or advertisers. They are funded by the Labour party using taxpayer funds. If nobody watched their programs, it would make no difference at all to the companies or the employee income.
    National need to stop funding the enemy immediately on winning an election, which probably won’t be the next one. Let them face the wind of competition for subscribers
    
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    March 17, 2023 9:36am
Matt Long

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/duck-dynasty-star-missy-robertson-slams-behavior-library-staff-kirk-cameron-event-tennessee
Library staff triggered by non trans people reading wholesome books, parents and children forced to line up outside in the rain because library staff won’t let them in to hear Kirk Cameron’s new book.
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March 17, 2023 8:24am
dave_c_

I see things this way:
NZ followed other countries (in just about every aspect) by implementing draconian and authoritarian control mechanisms during the Covid period.
Now – NZ is following other countries (in just about every aspect) by implementing policies to change their countries make up in all things, and introduce mayhem.
Looks like we are on the NWO bandwagon big time.
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March 17, 2023 8:24am
Maggie Pie

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS??

I see where the one time Hugh Wrights suit-salesman is hitched to former library assistant from the mighty Mt Roskill Library 😀

https://twitter.com/juliefairey/status/1636267075521122304
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March 17, 2023 8:37am
- Mike
  
  Those might seem like quite lofty pursuits to a night-fill supermarket worker.
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:40am
- Paulus
  
  Library Assistant is now on the Auckland Council so can keep brylcreem boy ahead of the goss.
  
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  March 17, 2023 1:40pm
Southern Raider

Across Herald and Stuff more articles today on retail theft and retail assault. Businesses closing up due to constant loses. Police admit there is 10% of youth offenders who are effectively untouchable and driving all the issues.

Yet our deputy PM is focused on ensuring all benefits increase every year at the maximum amount. Surely she should be focused on the link between the above retail crime and the backgrounds of the children coming from benefit dependent families instead.
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March 17, 2023 8:37am
slightlyrighty

Yesterday I asked if we can trust any numbers coming from this government.

Well, yesterday, we found that when Chippie was telling us Ram Raids were down by 75%, they were actually up by 551%

If these numpties repeated back my phone number to me after I gave it to them, I’d double check it.
36 1
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March 17, 2023 8:38am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They fiddled Northland ED wait numbers, they fiddled cancer patients waiting for treatment, they tried to fiddle crime in HB, and everytime the ministry or dept got the blame, it’s very strange these depts that usually have reliable figures are all stuffing up on mass.
  
  Do people really believe unemployment figures?
  
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  March 17, 2023 8:51am
  - leoj
    
    ….and the difference between job seeker and unemployed is what, exactly?
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:27am
O C Smith

Assuming Google is working correctly I am surprised that the most recent figures that are available on Job Seeker numbers are from Feb 2022. The Govt’s claim of low unemployment are pure fantasy.
22 1
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March 17, 2023 8:40am
- mandk
  
  It might be how you are searching – don’t pick up the first link that Google throws up.
  Here is the Benefit Factsheet for Dec 2022:https://msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/2022/benefit-fact-sheets-snapshot-december-2022.pdf
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:12am
  - O C Smith
    
    Thanks for that
    
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    March 17, 2023 1:37pm
Chuck Bird

It is interesting how climate change alarmists refuse to debate and just bad-mouth the opposition. I bet he will not debate on Kiwiblog.

From: Chuck Bird
Sent: Thursday, 16 March 2023 3:15 pm
To: James Renwick
Subject: Climate change alarmism
hy this is important

Hi James

I heard you on the Sunday show state that billions of people would die if the world did not drastically cut down on emissions.

I note you have science degrees. There are other people who also have science degrees in relation to climate change.

One is Dr Steven Koonin, author of the book Unsettled.

Would you be willing to engage in a debate with him.

Kind regards
Chuck Bird

James Renwick Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 8:45 PM
To: Chuck Bird

Kia ora Chuck –

Thanks for getting in touch. Yes I have science degrees, as many others do. I am aware of the book “Unsettled” and its author Steve Koonin. My understanding is that he misrepresents many aspects of the science of climate change, as discussed for instance at

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/05/a-critical-review-of-steven-koonins-unsettled/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-new-book-manages-to-get-climate-science-badly-wrong/

I do not feel inclined to engage in a debate with Dr Koonin over the science of climate change as I expect that would provide plenty of heat but little light. In any case, the veracity of our understanding of how the climate system works and how it is changing does not come down to a debate between two people of differing views. The breadth of the scientific literature is where we can assess our understanding of the science. A broad summary of that literature, as found in IPCC reports, is clear on the realities of climate change.

Regards
James
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March 17, 2023 8:43am
- Phronesis
  
  The bit about the billions dying is completely true. Of course billions will still die if we solve climate change as well. Climate change hysteria relies on taking natural processes and politicising them to justify whatever the politician wanted to do anyway.
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:04am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They refuse to debate the man made portion, I am anti the climate change bullshittery, climate has changed since I was a kid, but it’s cyclical, I remember not so long ago, the dun was the closest to earth in its 70 year cycle, it was 5million is bloater than in the late 70s, if that is not a simple fact that we can be warmer , then what is
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:04am
  - kevn
    
    @G… Apparently the moon is now closest to the earth since 1350 years ago.
    
    7 1
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    March 17, 2023 9:38am
    - Mike
      
      Lunacy is on the increase?
      
      11 4
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      March 17, 2023 9:54am
      - Paulus
        
        Lunacy is whatever it is called, cannot respond to the huge financial increases we have put into Mental Health in New Zealand.
        I would like to see some meaningful figures of the numbers, and where the money goes, and why has there been some enormous increase for the Mental Health needs. !
        
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        March 17, 2023 1:44pm
    - rangitoto
      
      Nope. The Moon is gradually receding. A particular full Moon, or new Moon can be unusually close if they happen to occur close enough to lunar perigee.
      
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      March 17, 2023 11:10am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    “the dun was the closest to earth in its 70 year cycle, it was 5million is bloater than in the late 70s”
    
    I don’t know what that means. 🙁
    
    It must be a hell of a long cycle. Every summer in New Zealand for the last 15 years has been warmer than the long term average.
    
    Go through these climate summaries and count the number of ‘below average’ temperature summers. Two out of 24 summers.
    
    https://niwa.co.nz/climate/summaries/seasonal?page=3
    
    My stats are little rusty, but the chances of that being a ‘random’ result are about 1 in 100,000.
    
    I am on record here as ridiculing many of the Government’s climate change policies, earning me the chagrin of Wayne Mapp :-). However I assure you that mean global temperatures are increasing, and that emissions from burning fossil fuels is the key factor. And there is not a damn thing that the New Zealand Government can do to change that.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:21am
    - All_on_Red
      
      We dont have to do anything to drop Emissions.
      De-Population will do that for us anyway.
      And that’s starting to happen now, especially in the Countries which are high emitters.
      *shrugs*
      
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      March 17, 2023 11:07am
    - leoj
      
      It means that G either:
      
      Has fat fingers, or,
      
      His brain is ahead of his fingers, or
      
      He is too keen to post without proofing.
      
      ALL things I am guilty of too.
      
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      March 17, 2023 11:32am
    - Phronesis
      
      The average of what? Clearly not the last 24 summers. It could very well be the same as saying that Hipkins is smart compared to the average Labour MP. Probably true but the very definition of damning with faint praise.
      
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      March 17, 2023 11:37am
    - Chris Nisbet
      
      “Every summer in New Zealand for the last 15 years has been warmer than the long term average”.
      
      Yay!
      
      7 0
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      March 17, 2023 11:47am
    - colinm
      
      I was wondering how we got to where we are regarding CO2. In the past, studies were done and found that the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere followed the increase in temperature by about 800 years (from memory). This was all proved by ice core sampling etc.
      Now we are at the place where we say CO2 causes the increase. Were we wrong before?
      An interesting documentary from circa 2006 called “The Great Global Warming Scandal” is a good watch.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:47pm
    - Local Miller
      
      Why are you only looking at the past 15 years? What was happening before then? Why are you not looking at the full historical record going back to the 1800s?
      Since we know when the CO2 levels started increasing, we should be able to clearly pinpoint the impact of CO2 on the temperature, but climate alarmists always cherry pick their data to show what they want.
      The historical records show that global temperatures hit a peak in the 1930s – 1940s, then dropped through to the 1970s, with scientists seriously concerned we were entering a new Ice Age, and Russia and the USA talking about covering the arctic with soot to reduce reflection of heat/light.
      Since the low of the 70s, temperatures have fluctuated and are now showing slight increases, but over the wider data set they are nowhere near the 1935/6 highs than no one claims were caused by CO2.
      
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      March 17, 2023 3:22pm
    - JohnRidd
      
      The question about whether we are warming or not depends on the time period you choose.
      
      The world is certainly warmer than it was 50 years ago but cooler than it was 5000 years ago.
      
      If you look at the ice core data you can see that the warmest part of the current inter-glacial is cooler than the previous one, so the long term trend is one of cooling.
      
      As to the question of cause, that is still being debated. Over all time periods, changes in temperature precede changes in atmospheric CO2.
      This suggests that the changes in the CO2 are caused by changes in the equilibrium relationship between atmospheric and oceanic CO2.
      
      “But the ratio of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere proves that humans are responsible for the CO2 rise”, you will hear them say.
      
      This isotope ratio argument is predicated on the assumption that natural sources and sinks are in balance. Since this is not necessarily true, the argument is invalid. We can observe that the natural sources and sinks are not in balance by looking at the variation of the rate of change of atmospheric CO2 and its correlation with changing temperature.
      
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      March 18, 2023 7:31am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    “climate has changed since I was a kid, but it’s cyclical”
    
    Well I sure hope the ‘cyclical’ component of the last 40 years turns around soon.
    
    https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:26am
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.14° Fahrenheit per decade’
      
      0.14 huh. That’s very precise. So what do they use to measure the temperature to produce such accurate and precise results?
      Please tell us.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:46am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        It’s incorrect. It should be 0.14C not F. The measurements are by satellite covering the period since about 1970.
        
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        March 17, 2023 12:04pm
      - Local Miller
        
        “The measurements are by satellite covering the period since about 1970”
        A very convenient base line since this was when the earth was going through a cooling period with concerns about a coming ice age.
        Where’s the pre-1970 data? Without it you don’t have a complete data set and the conclusions are invalid.
        
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        March 17, 2023 3:25pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Chuck – indeed, we witnessed the same thing over the last 3 years during covid. In fact it was worse.
  
  It wasn’t just a refusal to engage anyone daring to oppose the government narrative and “single source of truth”. it was the active and ruthless othering, smearing, deplatforming and shutting down of opposition. It was draconian, it still is.
  
  They will never engage in debate because they can’t, they will make fools of themselves if they ever try. All they can do is keep repeating their bs message ad nauseum until they achieve the Goebbelesque moment. Repeat a lie often enough……
  
  For some light entertainment here’s an author who wrote a book on “woke” being asked to define what it means. Epic meltdown moment.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GACYxX9xHo
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:52am
- The Redbaiter
  
  Chuck- “My understanding is that he misrepresents many aspects of the science of climate change”
  
  Whereas Professor Renwick may feel comfortable about smearing someone from overseas this way, maybe in your response you could ask him how he feels about the views of his fellow NZ Scientist Dr David Kear, who was once Renwick’s Senior at the NZ Department of Scientific & Industrial Research and who said the following-
  
  “The widespread obsession with Global-Warming-Climate-Change, in opposition to all factual evidence, is quite incredible. It leads to unfair treatment of some citizens, and a massive bill for all, for nothing useful. When will citizens revolt effectively against such callous disregard for their observations and wishes, by those who are essentially their elected employees? When will the perpetrators examine the basis of their ideology, and realise that it’s based on unfounded unscientific beliefs, not on confirmed, widely-available investigations by real scientists who abide by the moral standards of their profession?”
  
  Dr Kear’s whole paper opposing the Global Warming scam is on my blog.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:32am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Very interesting. Thanks for the link.
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:43am
- Wayne Mapp
  
  Chuck,
  Hmm, interesting that he gave you a personal reply. Quite impressive.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:00am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    As impressive as Slash Nash telling Hosking what he thought of judges.
    
    I have forwarded to a number of intelligent climate skeptics.
    
    It will go up on a few blogs.
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:42am
- Burtland
  
  the IPCCs 2022 report was 3068pgs of obfuscations
  
  James hides behind the IPCCs skirt
  
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  March 17, 2023 3:03pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Points to James for replying
  
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  March 17, 2023 7:35pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Guy gets free meal.
https://gopnewsfeed.com/trump-supporter-hands-liberal-cashier-20-cops-called-when-he-looks-at-the-back/

TDS is real bad. The note is defaced but not illegal.
Wait until the word gets out on how to get a free meal from that restaurant.
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March 17, 2023 8:45am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus says why SVB fell.
https://leadpatriot.com/home-depot-founder-slams-woke-bank-its-pathetic-this-is-why-they-failed/22158/

More will follow as this woke shit continues. Even in NZ??
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March 17, 2023 8:54am
- Phronesis
  
  The fact ESG doesn’t work is a feature not a bug. The ultimate intention is to destroy the system so it can be rebuilt as Marx envisaged it.
  Too many people assume that everyone wants more or less the same thing. i.e. steadily increasing standards of living for all. There are many who want the exact opposite of that.
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:09am
- virtualmark
  
  Sigh.
  
  SVB failed for two simple reasons.
  
  One, they had “depositor concentration risk”. Which is where you have a lot of your deposits tied to the fortunes of one particular industry. It’s a well-known problem with rural banks, for example. But in the case of SVB the concentrated depositors were VC-backed companies not farmers.
  
  Two, they had “duration mismatch risk”. Banks have to be careful that their liabilities (deposits) tend to be on much shorter durations than their assets (typically loans & mortgages). So as the yield curve moves so the cashflows and mark-to-market value of your short-term liabilities and long-term assets can get out of whack. In SVB’s case that was worsened because their customer base didn’t take out lots of loans, so SVB instead put the money into long-term US treasuries. Note that this problem basically wouldn’t happen in any NZ or Australian bank because our regulators (RBNZ & RBA) would require that interest rate risk to be hedged with swaps etc.
  
  The “SVB failed because it was woke” meme is baseless, and just says the people touting it know nothing about banking or finance.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:54am
  - Phronesis
    
    It really is that simple. Which is exactly why people are blaming the woke culture of the bank. Any idiot could see the flaws in the business model but the muppets running the place were so focused on woke bullshit that they let it happen. The only alternative explanation is that they are just complete morons who should never have been running a bank in the first place….but ended up running a bank because of woke employment practices.
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:44am
    - virtualmark
      
      I’m puzzled that people who were close to the Trump administration, and busy lobbying Trump for looser banking regulations, were also simultaneously “woke”.
      
      The Fox News Cinematic Universe bandies the “woke” word around so loosely and so prodigiously that it’s losing meaning.
      
      I have no time for the idiots in universities and publicly-funded entities that are obsessing about language and emotions and over-simplified interpretations. “Woke”. But I’m also running out of time for the “anti-woke”, who are just as intellectually lazy.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:08pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING TIKTOK…..

“Clothes maketh a man”

– Hamlet

And not a gang-patch in sight! 😎 😎 😎

https://twitter.com/David_Cormack/status/1636283574184992768
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March 17, 2023 8:54am
- mandk
  
  Cultural appropriation on a grand scale!
  
  16 2
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  March 17, 2023 9:00am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  One of those well-dressed chaps sure gave Tuku Morgan and his Tainui Mates a dressing down.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/kingitanga-tainui-challenge-at-te-matatini-was-about-mana-not-motuhake/JDNQ7EU23REM5AWN67HMXICF2A/
  
  (watch video clip from about 3:00 in )
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:16am
Bridgenag

Challenging Progressivism in New Zealand’s Culture Wars
Like it or not, the culture wars have entered New Zealand politics and look set to broaden and intensify.

https://open.substack.com/pub/cranmer/p/challenging-progressivism-in-new?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 17, 2023 9:01am
mandk

Cultural appropriation on a grand scale!
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March 17, 2023 9:04am
Tony Stuart

It has just been announced that Todd Muller will now be standing down at the election later this year. It opens up a pretty safe seat for National to bring more new talent into Parliament, alongside the line-up of candidates already selected.
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March 17, 2023 9:07am
- kevn
  
  @Tony… Just go muller. Should have gone ages ago.
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:35am
  - kowtow
    
    Methane Muller gonesky .
    
    Great.
    
    14 0
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    March 17, 2023 10:26am
- mandk
  
  Muller was a corporate bod at Zespri and Fonterra before politics.
  
  Mrs Mandk’s uncle knew Muller at Fonterra and rated him as solid enough, but not a leader.
  
  National needs an ag spokesperson who has actually had broad experience of the sector, not just businesses downstream from the sector.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:32am
RoboRob

Nash has been somewhat of a plus for Labour. His actions have taken all the attention away from their disastrous financial ‘management’ that has left NZ with some of the highest inflation in the world AND now one of the first to enter recession (we have had one qtr of -ve GDP and this qtr will be almost certainly be the same due to flooding).

The US and Europe have lower headline inflation and still growing GDP. What now for the researve bank? Keep pushing up rates in a futile effort to balance out the governments spending spree.
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March 17, 2023 9:07am
Maggie Pie

Read an earlier post on KB where Silicon-Valley-Bank gave $74 mill to the BLM movement!

Probably for the same reasons Ardern gave millions in taxpayers money to the Mongrel-Mob when she was Prime Minister 🙁

Given the sh*t the country is in now, wonder if Chippy asks nicely he might be able to get it back?
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March 17, 2023 9:29am
kevn

@Maggie…Protection money.
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March 17, 2023 9:34am
Bobba Fret

Good news. Muller is going!

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/national-mp-todd-muller-wont-seek-re-election/ORNIDIJFW5GGRFWREWET7HWL24/
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March 17, 2023 9:46am
- Widogast Corwin
  
  That is the best news I am likely to read today 🙂
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:13am
  - Jack5
    
    Pity pro-Muller plotters who undermined Bridges and Bennett don’t also quit politics – plotters inside Parliament, plus those formerly inside it.
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:27am
    - Matt Long
      
      Like number 2 and 3 in National’s line up?
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:07pm
Ghost

Damn

Mexican authorities have arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Chapito” for the drug-related killing of eight people near Mexico City, the federal Public Safety Department says.

The boy allegedly rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire on a family in the low-income Mexico City suburb of Chimalhuacan.

Stuff
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March 17, 2023 10:08am
- Phronesis
  
  Have a look at whats happening in Sweden. It’s literally impossible to charge a minor with a serious crime so kids are being recruited as gang assassins because they are untouchable.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:48am
  - Ghost
    
    Have a look at this one, primary school kids rob a liquor shop
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-crime-hammer-wielding-primary-school-aged-youths-raid-howick-liquor-store/YOQMLVVZEBEITEVGRJKANBF3TE/
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:55am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    would never happen here…… oh
    
    Gangs already recruit kids knowing they will never be charged under the “youth justice” system, and if they are charged, a judge will let them out because they were clearly traumatised by colonialism, or were good boys turning their lives around…..
    
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    March 17, 2023 1:34pm
ClanMcleod

If you ever wonder at the ineptitude evident in politics, media and our “experts”, this blog post will go a long way to explaining the rise of sub mediocrity.

the glorification of sub-mediocrity

it’s just basic human nature. excellence seeks to surround itself with excellence that it may achieve and mediocrity seeks to surround itself with sub-mediocrity that it may prevent itself from being supplanted.

there is nothing mediocrity fears more than excellence. it’s how you get turfed out of the cushy gig you do not really merit. positions of power are slippery and when you have one that consciously or merely instinctively you know that you do not deserve and are not truly qualified for, the last thing you want is some high caliber competitor coming up behind you, showing you up, and taking your chair.

It’s a wonderful post for understanding the insanity we are witnessing everywhere these days. The whole “woke” lunacy being a classic example.

the B’s who wish to remain atop the game will erect a legal system to thwart excellence and a bogus moral code that makes it seem like justice and progress.

this is literally what “woke” is.

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-glorification-of-sub-mediocrity?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

I posted this in a reply to Chuck Bird earlier, probably more apt here. This is an author of a book on “wokeism” melting down when asked to actually explain what it means. Glorious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GACYxX9xHo

Here’s another epic meltdown by a “liberal” NYT journalist. She is being interviewed on the Joe Rogan Experience. She calls Tulsi Gabbard an “Assad toady”. Joe asks her what that is exactly.

Go to 2 minutes 50 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GACYxX9xHo

These people cannot handle open, rational debate. This is why they shut it down and do everything in their power to control the narrative. As Ardern did and the government continue to do, particularly in regards to their disastrous actions during covid.
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March 17, 2023 10:12am
- Swifty
  
  Clan can you please post the Rogan link, looks like you’ve doubled-up on the anti-woke one.
  
  Many thanks.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:58am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Swifty – whoops. Here’s the correct link.
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szP972SyB1A
    
    2 mins 50 seconds in.
    
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    March 17, 2023 12:45pm
- NothingLeft
  
  A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s.
  
  You never ever ever want to work for a B’s and C’s type organisation (eg Labour, most public institutions) as they are insanely toxic/political, stifle talent and ability and underperform as a result.
  
  Outside of monopolies their intrinsic dysfunction means they inevitably die over the longer term.
  
  It’s a daily joy to work with competent people not concerned about others outcompeting them for their position
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:02pm
Creature from the river of filth

Everyday i have been searching for news about the NZ census failure, but i am coming up empty handed. I check the official stats for completed census’ at 9am daily (as of today it’s a tick under 3.6m individual forms). There are approximately 2 million people uncounted 10 days after census day.

So somewhere in the vicinity of 35-40% of kiwis have not filled it in. Yet in our brave new world of official statistics, this is not newsworthy
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March 17, 2023 10:18am
- Ghost
  
  I figure you need about 2 to 3 weeks before you know the total judging on how slow nz post is. Also some are only just getting their forms now because of the cyclone
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/census-2023-forms-now-being-delivered-door-to-door-in-the-far-north/EYLTYYBONBCBFJTOSDV2EDZBTE/
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:21am
  - kevn
    
    @Ghost… Having already completed a genuine random Stats NZ household survey with very similar questions a several weeks earlier, I wasn’t that bothered. Even the same sexual orientation/change question in there.
    So, I almost binned our census forms but thought, wtf, it will be so screwed up anyway and will take years to conclude, by which time it will be seriously out of date. Just posted them.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:47am
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      I reckon this might the last census. Given our level of interconnectedness, future census like requirements will be be done by aggregating everything the government already has on all of us.
      
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      March 17, 2023 10:55am
      - Nukuleka
        
        That is a very concerning statement, Wayne, and I sincerely hope that you meant it to be concerning!
        
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        March 17, 2023 11:26am
      - NothingLeft
        
        They could probably just ask google + facebook for a data run-down on everyone in the country and get a more accurate picture.
        
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        March 17, 2023 12:05pm
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        It should be. The census is now a complete waste of money and time.
        
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        March 17, 2023 12:10pm
      - Wayne Mapp
        
        No, I did not mean it to be concerning. The government has a lot of stuff where there would be no real issue if it was aggregated.
        Of course some data, such as medical records, couldn’t be aggregated, but an awful lot of the rest could be. For instance births, deaths, electoral, passports, immigration, Mot, educational, etc. Some parts of Ird and welfare. Not the detail. But whether you are employed or not.
        They would get not get quite the level of detail on gender, but most of that was little more than virtue signalling. Way too many “woke” questions on it.
        
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        March 17, 2023 12:20pm
      - Ghost
        
        Oh they’d get the woke gender shit from the medical records Wayne. Did you know your medical records now have your pronoun on them, sigh.
        
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        March 17, 2023 12:22pm
      - rouppe
        
        @Ghost.
        
        Well surely they wouldn’t set a pronoun for people without asking them first?
        
        So since no-one has asked me, I’d expect it to be not set
        
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        March 17, 2023 2:50pm
      - Ghost
        
        Everyone has it on their medical record. Went in one day and the GP rather annoyed showed me the latest bullshit from this government.
        
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        March 17, 2023 3:04pm
- rouppe
  
  You’re also not accounting for the number of people that received 2 forms.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:57am
- artemisia
  
  There are folks out there who have lobbied for certain questions to be included. Why? Follow the money. Some of that money is for the usual suspects to grow the pie for their ‘identities’ but some are to provide data for funding public health or other research. Some with a clear agenda. Like does your home have mould bigger than a sheet of A4 paper.
  
  I have mentioned here before that after the 2018 census I had a mandatory face to face interview for Maori only. It was quite instructive. Did I mention follow the money?
  
  2023 census I did not tick that particular box.
  
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  March 17, 2023 1:42pm
- Paulus
  
  Looks as though Census results will need to be moderated as the number received are not as expected.
  Better than last time ?
  
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  March 17, 2023 2:05pm
Chuck Bird

Todd McLay would take over Muller’s agriculture portfolio. I wonder who will take over his climate change portfolio.

National MP Todd Muller won’t seek re-election

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/national-mp-todd-muller-wont-seek-re-election/ORNIDIJFW5GGRFWREWET7HWL24/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=nzh_fb&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1678997079
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March 17, 2023 10:22am
- Wayne Mapp
  
  I reckon more likely Andrew Bayly for Agriculture. Does Scott Simpson get climate change back? Or maybe Nicola Grigg, one of the newer MP’s.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:51am
  - Nickc2
    
    Why have a Minister for Climate Change?
    Man Made Climate Change is a myth/scam/woke religion so why bother wasting a Minister on something that doesn’t exist?
    We don’t have a Minister for Religion eh?
    Treat the Greens with the contempt they deserve, pay them no attention whatsoever.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:57am
    - H. Upmann
      
      100% Nick.
      
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      March 17, 2023 11:39am
    - Matt Long
      
      Just have a minister of woke scams and other government graft. There’s a lot of ministries could be combined under that.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:11pm
- oldpark
  
  Could be Greata Thunberg.Maybe he has read the room .Just like another waste of space MP named Nash .
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:20am
Southern Raider

I know we all give left wing MPs are hard time about lack of performance and outcomes, but can anyone here spell out anything Todd Muller has done to move NZ forward in a positive direction?

Even on the news early this week he was interviewed about what Nationals response to climate change was. He looks completely lacked energy, no passion and bumbled through his response. Hell his response only had 4 key points and he struggled to recall them.
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March 17, 2023 10:23am
- Ghost
  
  but can anyone here spell out anything Todd Muller has done to move NZ forward in a positive direction?
  
  He resigned?
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:27am
  - H. Upmann
    
    Luxon bravely stepped up and fired him.
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:57am
    - Matt Long
      
      I don’t think so, Luxon just appointeed him to agriculture, not sure when he got climate change.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:13pm
      - H. Upmann
        
        Sorry, left out \\
        
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        March 17, 2023 12:37pm
- NothingLeft
  
  I feel for him. He’s obviously been through a hell of a lot the last few years – a very public fail/break down for someone who had likely been a high-flyer his whole life. I’d bet he would have made a good minister, but whole episode has rendered him politically lame – would always have a target painted on his back for abuse by opponents. He’ll be far happier and more successful going back to industry.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:37am
- kevn
  
  @SR… He created some sunscreen spec rules. A wow moment indeed.
  
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  March 17, 2023 10:41am
Inandout

I wonder whether the real estate salespeople being required to endure 10 hours treaty training to ensure their continued license will see a surge in home owners selling their own houses? We have for a long time been fed the line that selling your own property is fraught with danger and agents have the expertise to give you peace of mind. I can only imagine te lingo will be displayed at open homes as you enter the dwelling.
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March 17, 2023 10:41am
- Nickc2
  
  ….and every completed transaction will require some koha to the closest Marae eh?
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:04am
Loddenthinks

I note a new study has established that “men and women have different risk factors, symptoms and types of heart attack and heart disease.”

This is of course a shock and raises some important questions:

1. Are they suggesting that there are biological differences between men and women, and that we categorise those differences by gender? I understood this was verboten, everyone knows that gender is fluid, on a spectrum, and entirely optional.

2. What does this mean for the “trans” community? If I develop a mental illness and insist I’m Martha and not Arthur, which heart treatment should I receive? If the doctors ignore my mental illness (surely a hate crime, the bigots!) and treat me according to my biological i.e. actual gender, are they not also mis-gendering me and denying me the right to identify as who I please?

3. Should the doctors then treat me according to the gender my mental illness has made me believe I really am, even if it reduces my chances of survival?

It’s all getting a bit fraught…
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March 17, 2023 10:46am
- Ehlana
  
  Gender may be fluid, sex is not. You’re born with either male or female sexual organs or, in a very small number of cases, intersex (a combination of male and female biological traits).
  
  What is confusing is that gender is described with the same labels we also use for biological sex. As far as I can tell, there is no objective way to determine gender and no-one seems to be able to describe how the various genders are actually different from one another.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:26am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    It’s easy.
    Born with a willy = male.
    Born with a vagina = female
    Anything else = mental illness.
    
    18 1
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    March 17, 2023 12:26pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Loddenthinks – if you want fraught, have a read of this.
  A doctor trying to understand a social media post from the Canadian Cancer Society asking:
  
  Cervical cancer. It’s not something that any of us like to think about, but for many trans men and people on the transmasculine/female to male/FtM gender spectrum, cervical cancer screening comes with particular concerns.
  
  https://viralimmunologist.substack.com/p/i-am-very-confused?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=592214&post_id=108823590&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
  
  Reminds me of the Monty Python scene when Reg wants to become Loretta because he wants to have babies. John Cleese in despair asks him, “where’s the foetus going to gestate? Are you going to keep it in a box?”
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgp9MPLEAqA
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:27am
  - Ehlana
    
    Isn’t a transman a biological female? But, presumably, such a person would have a hysterectomy, so cervical screening would be unnecessary.
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:41am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Ehlana – beyond my comprehension, but the post is by a doctor asking someone to explain the biology to him.
      
      At first, I thought that I must be holding onto an outdated definition of what a trans woman is. It was my understanding that a trans woman is biologically a male who self-identifies as a woman. But this would not make sense, because a biological male does not have a cervix and, therefore, any recommendation for screening for cervical cancer in a trans woman would be that they do not require this particular screening because they do not have a cervix.
      
      It is my understanding that trans women can have what is essentially a tunnel surgically implemented into their groin area. But, it is also my understanding that these ‘tunnels’ are not seeded with any cells that are specific to cervical tissue. As such, it would seem to be a misnomer to call any cancer that develops in this ‘tunnel’ a cervical cancer. Cervical cancers typically arise from cells that are unique to a biologically genuine cervix.
      
      The full post is interesting reading.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:20pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Monty Python, ahead of their time.
    
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    March 17, 2023 7:52pm
- Phronesis
  
  There are certain drugs that are funded by Pharmac for one gender but not the other. So there are cases where it would be advantageous for the patient to consider their gender identity.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:55am
Master Mariner

ESG marketing in Kiwi Saver funds shows how un productive it is yet again,
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/fisher-funds-loses-80m-in-bank-collapse
I can not fully comprehend the calamity that Kiwi Saver is.
If I want to invest in Oil and Gas, Then I bloody well should. Not “Pretend” to invest on my behalf in ESG Funds.
Further to add, look at the shambles of Carbon Credit pricing,
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/declined-no-winners-as-bids-fall-short-in-nz-carbon-auction/7GWHYWYTYBAVJKNLBTNYKLJZEI/

I really wished I could “pretend” to work to pay / Invest for my Pretend Kiwi Saver account.

No wonder a selected few MP’s can actually invest in there own Kiwisaver account, Because sure as hell I could do a bloody better job with no fees.
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March 17, 2023 10:48am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  I’ve wondered about investing some money in FF companies, but governments around the world seem so intent on f*cking up the market I don’t know if it’s worth the risk.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:54am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Just open a Sharsies account and invest directly yourself.
    
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    March 17, 2023 8:54pm
Widogast Corwin

Just in case you were unclear on the Greens and what the want to achieve in transport.

https://twitter.com/JulieAnneGenter/status/1635951193569792000?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

“I mean, if we go car free altogether they’re right, we don’t need the protected cycleways.”
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March 17, 2023 10:56am
MCōs

It’s interesting that the very same Todd Muller given an unceremonious send off on this forum was the bee’s knees three years when he was elected leader.
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March 17, 2023 11:01am
- Widogast Corwin
  
  “was the bee’s knees three years when he was elected leader”
  
  said who?
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:23am
- Nukuleka
  
  Utter nonsense. Many people on this forum were enraged about the departure of Bridges and Bennett.
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:30am
  - MCōs
    
    Here, have a look
    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/05/general_debate_23_may_2020.html
    
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    March 17, 2023 11:38am
    - Matt Long
      
      If I could be bothered I could find you posts going back 9 years saying Muller was not suited to be an MP, let alone leader or prime minister.
      The people who most benefited from the Klutzes Coup were Labour, NZ First and New Conservative.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:19pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      I looked, failed to find many posts remotely saying he was “the bees knees”. Most I read basically said he had more real world experience than Ardern and ergo would be a better leader.
      
      But you could equally make the same comparison between Ardern and Paul the Octopus who picked football teams at the soccer world cup. It wasn’t much of a challenge.
      
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      March 17, 2023 12:40pm
  - Guy Preston
    
    Indeed, and we were lambasted for it by the people MCos is talking about 🙂
    
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    March 17, 2023 12:13pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  MCōs – it sometimes takes a little while to reveal the real person. Ardern being an outstanding example.
  
  You don’t know it’s a turd until you try to polish it.
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:24pm
I remember when

Declined: No winners as bids fall short in NZ carbon auction:
And here was me thinking that the market would set the price of carbon credits!!
Does this mean is isn’t really an auction, it’s a sale.
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March 17, 2023 11:05am
- Matt Long
  
  It’s a market with a secret reserve price and demand constantly manipulated by politicians. Pelosi would be making millions, who else is, I speculate.
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:22pm
Jack5

Auckland Transport and City Rail Link have received the near-guaranteed approval of the Geographic Board to rename four train Auckland stations with Maori names.

The strategy behind this is either:

A Woke move, that offers no return in marketing or in customer benefits. It’s a bootlick to the Woke and to ethnonationalists by the two boards, OR

An attempt by the boards to divert attention from the latest billion-dollar blow-out in City Rail Link – New Zealand’s largest ever transport project, to tunnel under central Auckland city. The project’s cost is now estimated to be $5.493b, compared with the original estimate of $3.4 billion.

Here’s the board of Auckland Transport:

Wayne Donnelly (acting chairman), Mark Darrow, Darren Linton, Kylie Clegg, Nicole Rosie, Abbie Reynolds, Councillor Andrew Baker, Councillor Mike Lee.

And the board of City Rail Link:

Sir Brian Roache, chairman, who is also chair of Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency); John Bridgman, described as “delegate chair”, and who is also a director of Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency); Russell Black, an engineer with experience in Hong Kong rail projects and is a consultant on Australian projects; Malcolm Gibson an engineer with experience in Australia, and also with experience in Hong Kong; Brian Harrison, described by City Rail Link as having a legal background, and an international consultant; Anne Urlwin, an accountant and professional director.

The Geographic Board is speeding to replace non-Maori place names, though it has conceded that only a Government can rename the country.
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March 17, 2023 11:05am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/dr-john-robinsons-analysis-of-the-tv1-go-governance-poll/

Why Maori Activists Are Hypocrites. Good item on what happened at Kerikeri.

Someone who was at our Kerikeri event wrote a response to what the media said about the event and challenged. them on virtually every point made.

You can read the media report and the analysis HERE

How are the media dishonest?

There is no balance. They only report one side of the story.

They don’t report facts in an impartial way.

They are favouring activists.

They are favouring Maori.

They are misreporting crowd sizes.

The stories they write try and put the wind up venue owners and managers giving them the message “If you have these guys, people and property will be damaged”. They deliberately create fear.

So far, no one has been ‘damaged’ and no building has been damaged.

Conclusion? The media are liars. This is blunt, but it’s true. There is no other way of expressing the truth about them.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/NZH-article-and-brilliant-analysis-of-Kerikeri-event-1.pdf

The comments in red are from someone who was at the event.
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March 17, 2023 11:13am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  It is time the Maori People who have not seen where all of the money and assets started to ask the Elite Maori what has happened to the money. We are talking Billions!
  
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  March 17, 2023 11:22am
  - virtualmark
    
    Steve! I’m glad we’ve found something to agree on.
    
    Everyday Maori spent the 1800s being f#)(%d over by European settlers, only to spend the 2000s being f#)(%d over by their own tribal leaders.
    
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    March 17, 2023 12:11pm
I remember when

Dennis Reilly: Stuart Nash played to prejudice against Maori, gangs: NZH.
So all that news about gangs and meth wasn’t really true?
All the reported shooting and intimidation hasn’t happened?
(Gangs are simply misunderstood.)
RNZ: Pukekohe firearms incident was gang-related. Multiple gunshots reported. 13 March.
RNZ: Gang members arrested for illegal firearms, drugs and stolen boat. Gisborne, Wairoa and Hastings. 11 March.
Beehive.govt.nz: Milestone reached in crack down on gangs. As at 2 March 339 firearms have been seized.
NZ Police: Northland police have uncovered a myriad of stolen property, firearms and drugs.
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March 17, 2023 11:27am
- Cinematic
  
  Why has the Herald given a scumbag lifelong gang member a platform? Who gives a flying toss what this guys opinion is?
  
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  March 17, 2023 1:37pm
  - kevn
    
    @Cine… They will have the dirt on reilly as well. He is locked in.
    
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    March 17, 2023 5:45pm
Bobba Fret

Seems like the wild west is living up to it’s name. Hendersons turn today for the police event.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300832657/man-shot-by-police-after-fleeing-attempted-robbery-at-petrol-station

Good to know that according to government crime is down and all under control!
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March 17, 2023 11:41am
- Nickc2
  
  I blame all this on a woke Police Minister.
  Come on Megan, get off your arse and do something to stem the flow of gun-related violence in the country for which you are the Police Minister!
  PS: Don’t piss off the Judiciary and read the Cabinet Manual first.
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:12pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Well, Nikki Haley flies off the handle when asked a non-scripted question.
NZ had someone like that.

https://fb.watch/jjl0QjKS5K/
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March 17, 2023 11:43am
Maggie Pie

Tiktok to be blocked on all government devices from April 1st..

You’d have to ask what the fcuk Chynah is up to??
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March 17, 2023 12:04pm
- Ghost
  
  Why? Will they block Facebook as well? Tell you who I’d really block, those pesky 5 eyes countries using their ECHELON network to spy on people in Remuera.
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:19pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Funnily enuff I did have a Private-Dik follow me once when I broke up with my ex.
    
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    March 17, 2023 12:47pm
- cmm
  
  WTF are government devices being used to watch Tiktok?
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:45pm
surfing

Part of the problem is that large scale engineering projects in NZ seems to cost about 10 to 20 times as much as anywhere else.

Tunnel building is a case in point, Iceland built a 6 km tunnel under a fjord for 100 million nzd, in the late 90’s. Similar tunnel through the Kaimais, quoted at 1.5-2 billion NZD. I’d imagine going under water is a bit more complex too .
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March 17, 2023 12:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

If there was a contraceptive vaccine, but after taking it you could still get pregnant, and you still had to wear a condom, would you take it?

It really is that stupid. Fuck the NZ Govt.
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March 17, 2023 12:14pm
- cmm
  
  No, it is worse:
  * You had to take it or you lost your job, were not allowed to travel, etc etc.
  * Even though it didn’t stop you getting pregnant, it still caused many people to get the clap.
  
  But, hey, 80,000 grannies got saved from teen pregnancy!
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:43pm
Maggie Pie

My partner was saying with this government being so bereft of talent, rumor emanating from the Viaduct is that Marja Lubeck is being considered for promotion to Cabinet…. with a view to taking on the Police Portfolio.
It’s believed this follows Cuddles suggesting it to Chippie.
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March 17, 2023 12:35pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  In the words of the (in)famous John McInroe….
  “You cannot be serious?”
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:46pm
  - mandk
    
    Agreed.
    
    Lubeck has trouble reading patsy questions in the House.
    
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    March 17, 2023 1:04pm
- Ghost
  
  I’d like for her remaining few weeks Jacinda to be police minister so she can see what she has done to this country. Not that she’d care
  
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  March 17, 2023 12:56pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  OMG that’s laughable. Lubeck is lucky stupidity isn’t painful.
  
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  March 17, 2023 2:31pm
cmm

I see there was a teacher complaining she can’t afford to buy a new ruler after a “student” broke it.

Oh, FFS, 68 cents at Warehouse Stationery. 2 minutes at the minimum wage.

How can anyone take them seriously?

Maybe if she got a part time job during her 12 weeks of holiday (say worked 6 weeks of it) she’d completely change her life.

And she might encounter the Real World, be able to engage with her “learners” better and have better results.
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March 17, 2023 12:54pm
MCōs

St Patrick’s Day
When I was a kid there was a concert every year in our parish hall when anyone with some musical talent got up and played the piano and sang a song about a country they’d never seen.
A priest from the old country would make a patriotic speech casting aspersions upon the Protestants. This sort of talk had the effect of making us a little unpopular.
Dad, who had spent six years propping up the Empire war effort, wouldn’t let us play with non Catholic kids.
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March 17, 2023 12:57pm
- kowtow
  
  ‘A priest from the old country would make a patriotic speech casting aspersions upon the Protestants.’
  
  That’s not “patriotism” , that’s bigotry.
  
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  March 17, 2023 1:03pm
  - MCōs
    
    He would’ve thought it was patriotic.
    
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    March 17, 2023 2:22pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  My mother-in-law grew up in Rakia and the kids had to take the train to the schools in Ashburton. There were always fights between the Catholic and Protestant kids.
  
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  March 17, 2023 5:12pm
Swifty

Typical spin from the unions, wrapped up as societal concerns, on behalf of their members jobs:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486153/auckland-mayor-putting-city-s-community-services-under-threat-union-says

Everything is essential, nothing is more important than….(insert job or service here), civil breakdown will occur if these jobs are reduced, no mention of available alternatives (there’s such a thing as the internet) and Auckland families should be burdened with even more debt rather than the Council economising.

Pitiful.
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March 17, 2023 1:16pm
thirteenstars

Here we go again. The Greens and the “rainbow” community trying to prevent entry into NZ of a person with whom they politically disagree.

From the Free Speech Union:

Green Party MPs attempting to keep gender-critical activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull out of New Zealand

Just recently three Green Party MPs penned an open letter to the Minister of Immigration calling on him to deny entry into New Zealand to gender-critical activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, on the grounds of her views being allegedly transphobic. They called on Minister Michael Wood to deny her visa under s16 of the Immigration Act, saying she “poses a threat and risk to public order”, nevermind the fact that denying entry on the basis of her views would be a breach of the Bill of Rights Act.

By trying to prevent Kellie-Jay from even entering New Zealand, the Green MPs that signed the letter show their ideological weakness, refusing to stand on the strength of their own beliefs, rather resorting to cancellation and censorship. It is sad seeing such censorial attitudes coming from Green Party MPs today, especially when the Greens were once fervent champions for free speech.

During this debacle we came across a press release of theirs from 2004, where the Green Party stood for the right of holocaust-denier David Irving to enter New Zealand on principled free speech grounds, recognising that the best way to combat allegedly bad ideologies is to let them be publicly tested, and if necessary ridiculed. One can only hope the Greens will someday return to these roots.

In response to their calls for censorship, the Free Speech Union has written to the Minister ourselves to remind him of his obligations under the Bill of Rights Act. Kellie-Jay has the right not to be discriminated against by a government minister for her views, and the Kiwis bringing her to New Zealand have the right to hear what she has to say. We’re pleased that it appears the Green’s call for censorship has fallen on deaf ears, and the Minister has not blocked Kellie-Jay Keen’s visa.

Her crime is saying things like “a woman doesn’t have a penis” and defining a woman as “an adult human female”.

She was interviewed today by Sean Plunket on The Platform:

https://theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/kellie-jay-keen-tells-sean-plunket-that-woke-madness-isn-t-unique-to-nz

If not for the Free Speech Union there would be bugger all pushback on these tactics to silence dissenting opinions through the crude tactic of either preventing entry to the country or phoning in threats of violence to the police and intimidating the owners of speaking venues.
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March 17, 2023 1:24pm
- Nickc2
  
  Greens = fuckin hypocrites and oxygen thieves!
  
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  March 17, 2023 1:42pm
- mandk
  
  The Greens are, by far, the most authoritarian party around.
  
  In relation to their environmental policies, and the activities of their supporters, they are clearly fascists.
  
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  March 17, 2023 2:08pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  I have watched several of her videos. I would say I have an excellent understanding of her views. She is not “anti trans” or right wing. IIRC until a couple of years ago she was a life time member of the UK Labour Party! But now she is described as a right wing extremist. Just shocking.
  
  She has three simple positions:
  
  1. Biological men should not be allowed in women’s changing rooms, or women’s prisons, or other ‘female only spaces’.
  
  2. Children should not be given puberty blockers or have their genitals or breasts surgically altered.
  
  3. Biological men should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
  
  That is it. Literally. That is all there is to her views. What proportion of the population would agree with her? We will never know because most of them are too terrified to voice their views.
  
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  March 17, 2023 2:16pm
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    Addendum – in an event in Bristol, she expressed views 1, 2 and 3 above. She is currently under active investigation for ‘hate crimes’ as a result of a complaint made by someone at the event. She may well be charged in the next few weeks. The investigation is being led by a Detective-Inspector. This is a very senior detective whop would usually be in charge of very serious crimes.
    
    Make no mistake the left in the UK are determined to stop her. I fear that she will end up with a prison sentence for expressing her views, or worryingly, the victim of a serious assault. She now has security wherever she goes.
    
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    March 17, 2023 2:20pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      I think someone on the site once said that all fascism arises from the left. I’m not sure if that is true, but all of the most recent historical cases seem to support that position, and the insanity of the last few years of covid does nothing to change that.
      They really do lose their shit when push comes to shove. Hysterical doesn’t begin to describe it.
      
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      March 17, 2023 2:37pm
      - Widogast Corwin
        
        “They really do lose their shit when push comes to shove.”
        
        Yes that is the key. The Greens are determined to Keep Kellie-Jay Keen out of New Zealand.
        
        I think all of the Green MPs are varying degrees of bat shit crazy. ALL of their policies are highly damaging to New Zealand. And I would strongly defend these people against any attempt to silence them or rob them of a platform. I find most of their views offensive. They make my blood boil. However I have no right to be protected from feeling offended.
        
        That is the difference between me and the Greens, and they just do not get it.
        
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        March 17, 2023 2:46pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  You got to shake your head:
  
  ” Kellie-Jay Keen “poses a threat and risk to public order””
  
  She is a tiny, 155 cm tall woman. The threats to public order will come from the trans activists and communists who collectively lose their shit, and who would no doubt attack her physically if she had no security.
  
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  March 17, 2023 2:50pm
Bridgenag

jeez you guys, Texas Lindsay posted this video of this “fauci” guy on twitter.
i’m pretty sure it’s not a real person though. nobody would contradict themselves that much!

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/kitten-corner-that-fauci-guy?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webthe struggle session is real
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March 17, 2023 1:42pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Bridgenag – that’s brilliant, I saw it this morning.
  Not quite as impressive, but on a similar vein, here’s our very own liar Michael Baker arguing with himself re masks.
  
  https://www.bitchute.com/video/Ymw1YXbi1YVZ/
  
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  March 17, 2023 2:41pm
surfing

Peter McCullough is a god to many of the covid conspiracists on kiwiblog. He’s apparently in need of cash.

He has developed a potion to purge the vaccine from your bloodstream, including green tea extract , selenium, dandelion extract, and irish sea moss power, among other things.

You can buy a bottle for just $66 USD + postage, direct from the man himself.

Check out his new product for yourself, “Signature Series Spike Support Formula”…hilarious name….

https://www.twc.health/products/long-haul-formula?ref=QnsQEsLqrwlJu0

Conspiracy theorists had better get in quick, before you dissolve into a cancerous goo.
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March 17, 2023 1:57pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  surfing – you’re amazing, what a gotcha moment.//
  So you’ve obviously done the RCTs to prove that this product doesn’t work? You’ve got all the peer reviewed literature to back that up?
  
  You’re sad little diatribe and attempt at smearing an actually highly qualified doctor is pathetic in the extreme. As bad as the morons at the CDC ridiculing anyone considering Ivermectin as a treatment for covid.
  
  How about the important stuff like reading his book and telling everyone what he says that’s wrong in it according to you?
  
  https://www.amazon.com/COURAGE-FACE-COVID-19-Hospitalization-Bio-Pharmaceutical/dp/B09ZLVWMD9/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1679018265&refinements=p_27%3APeter+McCullough&s=books&sr=1-1
  
  The ridicule you’re attempting should be aimed at Medsafe, Ardern, Hipkins, Bloomfield and every NZ medical institution that bought into the grossly expensive, useless, dangerous experimental product that they paid hundreds of millions for. How many doses have gone to waste I wonder? Nobody wants the shit now, most people have figured out it’s not only useless, but it’s dangerous.
  
  Oh, and you have a choice whether or not to buy what he’s offering. Unlike the experimental “vaccine” which most people were bullied into taking.
  
  And I see you’re on about the old “conspiracy theory” thing again.
  
  I’ve been asking for many months now, what conspiracies are you actually referring to?
  
  That masks prevent covid infection? That “vaccines” will protect you from covid? That the virus came naturally from a bat shagging a pangolin in a cave in China? That Fauci didn’t do gain of function research and definitely didn’t fund a lab in China?
  
  I seriously need something new to justify buying a new roll of tin foil. All the old ones came true.
  
  Love your work. It’s great having someone on this blog capable of such intellectual and rational debate. Let me know as soon as you come up with that “conspiracy theory”. Also any examples of “misinformation”.
  
  You’re a champ.
  
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  March 17, 2023 3:05pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Surfing is usually OK but here the tinfoil hat was on and he did not know.
    Sorry man. I don’t usually downtick without reason. Stay with us, your comments add to the blog.
    
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    March 17, 2023 3:53pm
Maggie Pie

Looks like the piece of ‘Eurasian-Fluff’ got out at the right time.

My partner was saying MFB @22cents today.
Not such a great meal-ticket for investors 😀
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March 17, 2023 2:29pm
Maggie Pie

Nashie on final warning….demoted to #20 but still holds all Portfolios.

Marja Lubeck throws toys out of cot.
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March 17, 2023 2:54pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Maggie – there will be a lot of toys in her cot.
  
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  March 17, 2023 3:07pm
- Flossie
  
  Three strikes and he’s on a Final Warning? My 8 year old granddaughter would just know she’s got lucky escaping a punishment after THREE warnings! Absolute joke.
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:06pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    TBF to Nashie tho Floss…its not as tho hes broken any LAWS.
    The cabinet manual is nothing more than a set of rules – and rules are made to be broken.
    
    I actuallty quite like the way he’s prepared to speak out agaivst the-dregs-of-society. Unlike those arsehats Angry Andy and the useless Kelvinator who prefer to encourage them.
    
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    March 17, 2023 4:48pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Yeah it’s that vaccine thing again. One case is acceptable. 11000 is not.
https://thepatriotnation.net/a-top-cardiologist-has-revealed-exactly-how-damaging-the-vaccines-are-4/
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March 17, 2023 3:07pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Indeed. Dr John Campbell has gone fully 180 degrees on the topic. 18 months ago he was one of the biggest advocates of the “vaccines”. It has been a pleasure watching someone use their critical thinking to evaluate data and information and realise they were wrong.
  Not a single politician or state sanctioned “expert” in NZ is prepared to admit they were wrong. No matter, it will be proven eventually and those who pushed this hardest are well known.
  
  Dr Campbell – “It’s starting to look like theirs been an international conspiracy.”
  
  He’s right. No foil hats required. Evidence is coming out at an astonishing rate. The whole video is based on evidence from the US House select sub committee hearings. Dr Redfield’s testimony in particular is a bombshell.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYiy2pclRxQ&t=1026s
  
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  March 17, 2023 3:15pm
  - cmm
    
    “Dr John Campbell has gone fully 180 degrees on the topic. 18 months ago he was one of the biggest advocates of the “vaccines””
    
    That is what scientific minds do. They don’t just double down.
    
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    March 17, 2023 3:34pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    “Not a single politician or state sanctioned “expert” in NZ is prepared to admit they were wrong.”
    Hardly ever hear lefties say “sorry, I was wrong”
    The top ‘expert’ resigned and headed for the hills, rather than say “sorry, I fucked up”
    
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    March 17, 2023 3:46pm
    - cmm
      
      Those lefties include Chris “have a puff” Bishop. Possibly the most disposable MP in parliament, and that’s saying something.
      
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      March 17, 2023 3:55pm
    - kevn
      
      @StevO… Give the man a gong.
      
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      March 17, 2023 5:55pm
  - kevn
    
    @Clan… There seems to be a consensus of about one in eight hundred have an adverse reaction, with around one in ten thousand having a serious adverse reaction.
    Everyone knows somebody with a problem post jab. It can be called ‘long covid’ by some.
    
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    March 17, 2023 5:54pm
slightlyrighty

This is Hipkins first major mis-step. John Key would have cauterised the wound. Hipkins isn’t stemming the bloodflow.
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March 17, 2023 3:11pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  What does being demoted to the “bottom of Cabinet” mean in practice? No change to responsibilities or remuneration.
  
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  March 17, 2023 3:30pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    How does “absolutely nothing” sound? Still gets his $296,000 salary, still gets he $9000 perks, still gets a self-drive car and ministerial services pickups whenever he likes. Oh, and his workload has been reduced by 25%!
    
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    March 17, 2023 10:40pm
- nathie
  
  Agree Hipkins has stuffed up bigtime – massive fail.
  
  Chippie should have stripped all Ministerial roles from Nash and demoted him to the back bench.
  
  Then perhaps after some redemption and time out, Nash could have been reinstated to one or two Ministerial positions.
  
  What on earth was Hipkins thinking? He has seriously misjudged this!
  
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  March 17, 2023 3:47pm
Widogast Corwin

Good grief.

“Hipkins said Nash had breached the Cabinet Manual a third time, when he directly advocated for a constituent to Immigration NZ.”

“This latest instance demonstrates a pattern of behaviour which does not reach the standard I expect from ministers,” Hipkins said.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300832780/stuart-nash-demoted-but-stays-in-cabinet-and-on-final-warning-pm-says

Still not enough to to get rid of him!! A “final warning” 🙂 🙂

Helen Cark or John Key would have become incendiary.
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March 17, 2023 3:26pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  The other thing is – he would have done dozens of things like this without being caught. An analogy would be a drink driver who gets caught by the police. Typically, they would have driven drunk a hundred times without being caught.
  
  It is kind of funny.
  
  Offence 1 – “He assured me it was a one off incident”
  
  Offence 2 “Damn it you said it was one off :-(”
  
  Offence 3 “Now I am really cross. This is your final warning.”
  
  🙂 🙂
  
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  March 17, 2023 3:28pm
  - nathie
    
    Too bad (for Nash) that Jacinda wasn’t still PM – she would have titled her head and let him get away with offences 4, 5, 6 before acknowledging there is a problem!
    
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    March 17, 2023 3:50pm
Maggie Pie

I know I’ll have to seek forgiveness on Sunday…..
but I really hope that horrible prick dies.

Just saying.
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March 17, 2023 3:33pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  How come that sad old queen from the Hutt always disagrees with everything I say?
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:31pm
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… Which one? There so many.
  
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  March 17, 2023 5:56pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I can think of 3 Kevie….who will all remain nameless for the moment 😀
    
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    March 17, 2023 6:57pm
Bobba Fret

So Nash is on his final, final, final, final warning! He’s not the messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy.
But I assume he has promised to not do it again.
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March 17, 2023 3:57pm
- Ghost
  
  Yeah, Nash has officially Been told by his son “you wait until your daddy get’s home”……
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:00pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  How many Aaron Gilmores do you think Nash is up to now? 50? 60?
  
  Gilmore lost his career over saying “do you know who I am?”
  
  All of Nash’s “mistakes” were worse.
  
  Interfering in an active court case
  Interfering in an appeal in a court case
  Abusing Air New Zealand staff
  Abusing a fellow gym goer at the Parliamentary gym
  Interfering with MBIE
  
  He needs to go, and not just as a minister.
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:17pm
- Prince
  
  CH: Are there any other incidents I should know of ?
  SN: No.
  CH: What about this one ?
  SN: Oh yeah, that one too. But that’s it. No others.
  CH: And this other one ?
  SN: OK, yeah but believe me that’s it.
  CH: Thanks mate. Good to chew the fat. Back to the gym with you.
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:31pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/300833044/ten-cities-that-are-really-hard-to-pronounce

Here is another: “Tamaki Makaurau”.
I find it almost impossible to say those words.
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March 17, 2023 4:01pm
- Paul Marsden
  
  I have never uttered them and never will. If you want to try and perpetuate this nonsense that is driving our once, great little country apart, go right ahead.
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:18pm
- lifesgood
  
  It’s Auckland and as far as I’m concerned always will be. It was never a city before European times anyway.
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:23pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  I thought it was now Taamaki Makau Rau?//
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:40pm
- graham
  
  Somebody (might have been Benedict Yu) once pointed out that if you can refer to something or to a place using one of two words or names, usually the simpler one will win.
  
  “Auckland” vs “Tamaki Makaurau” – no contest.
  
  Outside of the media and virtue-signalling politicians, how many people actually use “Tamaki Makaurau” in real, every-day conversation? When I’m talking to friends or work colleagues, their plans for the long weekend NEVER include “Tamaki Makaurau”. They might be planning to escape from Auckland, or they may wish to go visit friends and so they hope the Auckland traffic isn’t too bad.
  
  Some of my friends might even fly down to Christchurch where they have family – but none of them have ever expressed a desire to visit “Otautahi”.
  
  The media can try to push these names all they like, but the vast majority of people will simply continue to use a name that rolls off the tongue easily. And “Tamaki Makaurau” doesn’t. Nor does “Otautahi”, “Kirikiriroa”, or most of the other place-names these poor saps try to wrap their tongues around.
  
  We generally refer to “Te Papa” instead of the “Museum of New Zealand” because it rolls off the tongue easily. But even then, how many people do you know who use the full name – “Te Papa Tongarewa”? Not many, is my guess.
  
  Anybody who dreams of “Auckland” one day being referred to as “Tamaki Makaurau” by the majority of people is in for one hell of a disappointment.
  
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  March 17, 2023 4:59pm
Libertarians are right

When Jacinda Ardern resigned there were a large number of Labour MPs looking to have a say on who the new leader would be but then, out of no where (even before the Maori caucus had met), Hipkins came out as the sole candidate/new leader.

What role did Nash play in this effective coup that he is now effectively untouchable?
12 1
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March 17, 2023 4:24pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

Bazza tells HDPA that Jamie-Lee Ross is running an Escort Agency by the name of ‘Sapphire Blue’

Apparently he uses the alias….Dylan Rose. LOLL!!

Check it out 😛

https://sapphire.blue.co.nz
5 1
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March 17, 2023 4:57pm
- Ghost
  
  He should go into businesses with Gilmore
  
  5 0
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  March 17, 2023 5:15pm
- Yvette
  
  “No good ever comes from putting others down, especially not in the bedroom. Remember that while your escort is a professional service provider, she is also a human being who deserves respect, patience, tolerance and discretion.”
  
  *This story was made with the help of the Public Interest Journalism Fund*
  
  5 1
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  March 17, 2023 5:17pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Wasn’t JLR the ‘Chief Whip’ at one stage?
    
    3 1
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    March 17, 2023 7:01pm
Swifty

Oh look, some of our children are a bit confused about themselves and their sexuality, I know, let’s hack and slash at their bodies and remove some bits! That’ll fix things!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=doaHPFWEa7E

FFS.
7 0
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March 17, 2023 5:07pm
- mandk
  
  Mutilating children to promote the trans cause.
  
  It’s beyond wicked.
  
  3 1
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  March 17, 2023 9:40pm
Hollyfield

Those damn Police – how dare they try to do their job and protect people, and prevent contamination of a crime scene!

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/henderson-gull-station-police-shooting-robbery-witness-recounts-flurry-of-gunfire/32EF4RZNHFCARP3FPREXIGDPWQ/

Barren said he attempted to get closer to the scene but was turned away by police.

“Police are very aggravated in their approach. They’re not giving us any reassurances, no information – just ‘Get out, who are you, what are you doing here, where have you come from?’”, Barren said.

“I went around the back and tried to sneak into the cordon. I saw ambulances, lots of police cars – but they’re trying to make it hard to see anything.”
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March 17, 2023 5:16pm
Maggie Pie

My partner just got in….he said “wait for Brownie to come out and override all that maori name sh*t for the railway stations”.

LOL!!
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March 17, 2023 5:28pm
Maggie Pie

Bit of a shame for Labor that Fong-r-ray MP Emily Henderson is retiring.

Other than her and Anna Lork there’s not much glam in the party 😀
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March 17, 2023 7:13pm
- mandk
  
  Another Labour coward.
  
  She’s ducking out because she knows that she will get smashed by Shane Reti in the election.
  
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  March 17, 2023 9:37pm

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