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April 27, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 27 April 2024

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General Debate

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The Redbaiter

Paul Goldsmith has taken over as Media Minister after Chris Luxon fired Melissa Lee for reasons that remain unclear.

Mr Goldsmith’s first interview (on Radio NZ) was a train wreck. He stuttered and “you knowed” through a series of questions in a manner that did nothing to inspire confidence.

He was asked directly whether govt would bring back the Public Interest Journalism Fund. Given the general distaste for what was in effect Jacinda Ardern’s bribe mechanism, one would have expected that a firm denial would have been forthcoming. No such denial was made.

Later in the day Mr Goldsmith was interviewed by TV One and made the strange statement that PM Luxon had given him a “clear sense of direction” of what was wanted in the media sector.

If Mr Luxon has this clear sense of direction, then why can’t he himself say what it is, and why did he apparently not give Ms Lee the same instruction?

We are not being told the full story on Ms Lee’s sacking. IMHO there is something going on behind the scenes that Mr Luxon does not want the public to know about.
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April 27, 2024 8:00am
- cmm
  
  I still think that Luxon is trying to ride the fence and thinks he can do so by throwing Melissa Lee under the bus.
  
  Melissa Lee did come across as ineffective, but then we must consider that any image we have of her comes through the very media she is fighting.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:57am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Ineffective in the sense of not much in the media about what she was doing because she did not want media bending and twisting stuff. Fake News – Trump style.
    I am sure Melissa had a lot going on that we don’t know about. Luxon got wind of it and stopped her. I am talking about the Waitangi Tribunal. Many say I talk shit. I don’t care. Mr Chris Luxon will stop anything that interferes with his co-governance ideas with Maori. We know that Luxon has not followed his campaigning of stopping the Maorification of NZ.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:57am
    - Ghost
      
      You are so full of conspiracy shit, making shit up
      
      Melisa Lee was the broadcasting minister, she has nothing to do with the Waitangi tribunal. She was obviously useless in the job and not able to deal with the media
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:07am
      - peterwn
        
        And she has obviously not been useless in her other portfolios – she still has them.
        
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        April 27, 2024 10:32am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        You will find out more one day Ghost.
        As Redbaiter says “for reasons that remain unclear.” The Waitangi Tribunal are also advising the NZ media what to say and print.
        That is what I am trying to follow.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:51am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Exactly, now media have turned to Luxigave her a job he should have known she was not up too, but when you look at the way she skewered Curran day after day, and she also twisted Jackson into knots on several occasions she looked primed for that job. But she failed, all she needed too do was gave the measure of the media. But she failed.
        
        Luxon said ministers will be kept up too high standards or they will be moved on
        
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        April 27, 2024 12:10pm
      - Ghost
        
        Not from you Steve, you just make shit up, or you are so stupid you believe the con artist you give you pension to, and the Aussie who thinks he knows what is going on in nz
        
        This minister has nothing to do with the Waitangi tribunal except in your delusions.
        
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        April 27, 2024 12:30pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Ghost, you are not understanding me.
        Melissa Lee has nothing to do with the Waitangi Tribunal – yes, correct. She is NOT part of it. Melissa Lee was going to expose how the Waitangi Tribunal is using the media for censoring and lies. They are making shit up, not me.
        I don’t want to argue with you, but you should have a closer look. And have a closer look at the con artist’s work.
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:20pm
      - Ghost
        
        You just make shit up. You do this constantly. You’ve made up the mother of the missing children has mental health issues. You made up that the plane incident a few months ago was something it wasn’t. Stop
        
        Melissa Lee lost her job because she was not up to it. She was not about to expose anything.
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:30pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Ghost it’s pretty clear the treaty-grift industry have their tentacles wrapped around every govt related institution. Time for a cup of tea and a lay down (as Sean Plunket often asks)?
        
        And who is this “Aussie who thinks he knows what is going on in nz” of which you speak?
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:30pm
      - Ghost
        
        However it’s not obvious that some low ranked minister was fired from one portfolio for the conspiracy theory that is being invented. She has more to do with the treaty etc as minister for ethnic communities than broadcasting.
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:50pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      What do you mean Luxon got wind of it, she produced a cabinet paper that they all read, Winston Peters was the stumbling block, of course it’s all nasty ole Luxon that is too blame, Luxon said from day one any poor performance would be dealt with this way, and that’s as many here said he is not a leader
      
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      April 27, 2024 12:07pm
    - jkt
      
      Steve.
      Trump was 100% correct on fake news.
      He spoke with real authority on this matter!!!
      
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      April 27, 2024 12:29pm
      - jkt
        
        Trump was part of a conspiracy creating FakeNews. Nothing better than first hand knowledge.
        
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        April 27, 2024 6:47pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        And yet Hillary Clinton was the one who paid for the Steele Dossier which was compiled from Russian Disinformation and she used to create Election interference.
        It was leveraged by the Intelligence services to spy on the Trump campaign and the media used it to smear Trump and suck in gullible fools who had severe TDS.
        So funny how stupid all those people are.
        
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        April 27, 2024 8:05pm
    - julesnzuk
      
      Did he ever campaign to stop the Maorification of NZ? As I recall that was Act and NZ First. As I keep saying – National are weak as piss and it is beyond me why people keep voting for them. They’re just entitled establishment.
      
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      April 27, 2024 8:25pm
  - rouppe
    
    All I’ll say is that sometimes doing nothing IS being effective.
    
    I’ve no particular insight into Melissa Lee, what if any strategy she had, or what the outcome is that this government wants.
    
    But I reject the notion that government always has to do something about everything.
    
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    April 27, 2024 12:33pm
  - backster
    
    Exactly, I have always considered Melissa to be very capable. We should bear in mind that she almost won Mt Albert, and her demolition of Claire Curran. Even if she had given in to some of the Media Demands she would have been demonised by them. She was astute enough to recognise that.
    
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    April 27, 2024 1:01pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      She went down with the same possum in the headlights as Curran
      
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      April 27, 2024 1:49pm
    - Ghost
      
      She refused press interviews. She hadn’t met with media to discuss her plans. She failed to consult the other parties in government on her plans. She failed to get cabinet support for her plans
      
      Not long ago people were attacking her for thinking she was trying to save msm, now she’s at no fault to them, weird
      
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      April 27, 2024 1:56pm
- MCōs
  
  Maybe Goldsmith’s problem is there’s nothing going on behind the scenes. No direction. No job direction
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:00am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The direction was there. See my above comment to cmm.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:59am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Paul Goldsmith has a stutter. It is what it is.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:06am
  - The Redbaiter
    
    Stutter or not, it would have been comforting to hear Mr Goldsmith say plainly and simply-
    
    “The govt will not be bringing back the PIJF and we will not be subsidising NZ media with taxpayer funds in any way.”
    
    Ominous that he did not make this clear statement, something the public is anxious about, when he had a perfect opportunity to do so.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:29am
    - MCōs
      
      Do you favour deleting NZ On Air and the Film Commission and, I suppose, any advertising such as road safety ads?
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:03am
      - The Redbaiter
        
        MCos- “Do you favour deleting NZ On Air…”
        
        Of course I do. Govt should be confined to core duties like defending the realm, recording deaths, births and marriages and providing a functional system of law.
        
        Speaking widely and generally, any increase on this scope of duties is a left wing idea. The more such ideas the govt is distracted by the more left wing it is and the worse governance becomes.
        
        I’m a great believer in Davey Crocket’s idea that “its not your money”. Look it up.
        
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        April 27, 2024 10:16am
      - Stellaboxer
        
        MCos yes yes and yes
        
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        April 27, 2024 10:16am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        What do road safety ads have to do with NZ on air?
        
        Of course its time for NZ on air to go – its been totally corrupted by the luvvie class. Maybe if they made something people wanted to watch it would generate revenue to pay for it?
        
        So of course Luxon will protect them – there is something deeply masochistic about the way senior Nats desperately want to be loved by media luvvies. Hint little bald guy, they really do despise you. The media will never be your friends.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:41am
      - Surely Knott
        
        Yes. Delete them. Absolutely. How many movies do we need about Chloe and Jacinda.
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:36pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Mr Goldsmith will do what Mr Luxon tells him to do.
      There will be funding imo, as Luxon is in bed with Maori.
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:05am
      - Paulus
        
        If, as you suggest that this Government will continue to fund the media, and continue to support the Maori Renaissance, Luxon will be a one term Government PM.
        I shall not be one who will vote National again as I have done most of my life.
        I did not believe that is what I voted for and am not the only one.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:00am
      - Burtland
        
        whatever Lee was promoting in her multiple cabinet papers doesnt have cabinets backing – so Lee was clearly out of the loop on the intended outcome for the media
        
        her cabinet papers might tell us what isnt on the agenda – strange they havent been leaked
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:42am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Paulus,
        Looks like two ticks for Act in 2026 for me, unless National stop their wokeness.
        As you and I say – we are not the only ones.
        2026 nobody will believe National’s campaign promises!
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:56am
      - jkt
        
        Burtland:
        Was it FakeNews? MLee claiming to have a paper ready for cabinet! Ha, ha..
        
        Gives one confidence that cabinet is working when the minister responsible for developing a policy is replaced less than a week after presenting a paper to cabinet.
        
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        April 27, 2024 12:34pm
      - goNZ1
        
        Air NZ went into an orgy of wokeness under Luxon. I am surprised he didn’t change its name to Air Aoteoroa
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:37pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      All added funding too media has been ruled out. Stop making shit up
      
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      April 27, 2024 12:22pm
- Che Guava
  
  Our “liberal democratic” system relies on the public believing a fantasy. This fantasy is that the system is an adversarial contest where different parties with different agendas fight to control the direction of the country. This is only the case on a very superficial level. How liberal democracy really functions is that every key player (politicians, media, funders of politics etc.) all agree on the core tenets, the limits of “acceptable” discourse, and there is a policy of never seriously deviating from them, no matter how bad the real-life consequences of those core tenets are.
  
  Accordingly, National aren’t revolutionaries or revisionists, they are an animal of the system. There is only the appearance that the media is out to get them and want to undermine their agenda because, even though National aren’t leftist, they are a far better and softer alternative than something else that could organically emerge from a further-right, non-leftist place.
  
  Just like their so-called opponents on the so-called left, National too need a well-resourced, dominant and friendly media ecosystem that helps maintain the status quo. It is intolerable that there be no centralised source of “facts” and “truths” and “opinions” that isn’t, with only slight and occasional exceptions, on the side of the system.
  
  The alternative (a media landscape characterised by uncoordinated, de-centralised media content creators and “citizen journalists” providing the public with information and ideas) would threaten the status quo and those in it. More and more people, freed from the thought constraints applied by the monolithic media mechanism, will start to think differently, act differently, and want different things, and different leaders who will deliver them.
  
  In short, I expect that National will bail out the MSM at huge expense because of the relationship of inherent co-dependence and symbiosis I have described.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:07am
  - Jack5
    
    Che Guaga’s media ecosystem or media echosystem?
    
    News media’s just another industry. In a democracy it produces news and entertainment to keep advertising money flowing in. Democracy began millennia before newspapers, before town criers, the forerunners to radio pitter-patterers.
    
    NZ had a flourishing news media industry for a century or more before the State participated in it. Luxon should back the Government out of owning or subsidising news media.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:57am
    - Jake Dee
      
      The news media is not like any other industry, it’s fundamentally different.
      In an industry like mining or fishing your power is directly proportional to the resources you can extract from the land or the sea. In the media your power is directly proportional to what you can make people believe.
      A group of dedicated fanatics or enthusiastic billionaires can have a huge effect just by the power of belief.
      What are Elon Musk, George Soros and Michael Bloomburg doing with their money? What are the Falun Gong cultist doing with The Epoch Times?
      Sure, there were primitive political systems that could be called democracies before the rise of mass media, but of what type? In a pre-literate citizen’s assembly or council, one person might be able to talk to a thousand (with some effort) but could a thousand simultaneously talk to that thousand just with the power of the human voice?
      The political system was directly related to the type and strength of the dominant media used. As it was then, so it is today.
      
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      April 27, 2024 4:41pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They have ruled bailouts will not happen, snd media its self has stated that is not the answer. The level playing wild is what they want, why should social media be able to put up their work with no charge, no patent. That is where the problem is, it’s different platforms creating media problems, plus their vulgar issues with trust from the public ( bias) I think Lee wanted charges too social media, I can’t see why that is not fair
    
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    April 27, 2024 12:31pm
    - Jack5
      
      C from Dunners’ …. why should social media be able to put up their work with no charge, no patent.
      
      Does Meta’s Facebook no longer want news?
      
      Meta now says that just 3 per cent of viewers want news. This is a lower proportion than in 2021.
      
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-03-08/why-not-enforce-news-media-bargaining-code-meta-facebook/103554982
      
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      April 27, 2024 2:55pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    I generally agree, although it should be noted that ALL political systems are based on a fantasy (legal fiction, foundational myth etc.) of some sort or another. It’s just how the human psyche works, it’s a series of abstractions to make sense of and operate in this world. Society can’t work without myths any more than it can work without language, which is another series of abstractions.
    Any political faction that doesn’t use the power of the media is just ceding power to any faction that does.
    It’s worth looking at the influence of the media in the events of the European early modern period, like the English Civil War or the French Revolution. Any lunatic cult or political party that could get a printing press working also had an army in the field.
    Each faction would hide their printing presses and demand free speech when they were in opposition and bust up printing presses and enforce censorship when they were in power.
    There have been plenty of people who have opined that digital communications are doing to the 21st century what the printing press did to the 16th & 17th.
    
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    April 27, 2024 4:23pm
- Jade Warrior
  
  This all pulls at the central problem the government faces in terms of the issues currently affecting the media sector. Nobody disputes that the broadcasting industry has its problems but even so, is there anything the government can really do to fix them? It doesn’t surprise me that Mr Goldsmith is already stuttering and stumbling on this question.
  
  Of course, the government could throw a lot of money at the problem and choose to subsidise all these media organisations, but what impact would this have on the credibility and the independence of the media? We have already seen courtesy of the PIJF that many media companies were all too keen to sacrifice at least some of their independence in exchange for public funding. These problems would increase by a factor of ten if the government started funding them directly.
  
  And in the end – it’s because of poor choices the media organisations made many years ago that explain why they are in the mess they are today. Does any journalist concede that they have failed to properly adapt to how New Zealanders today read and digest media? Do they concede that they are too left leaning in their political coverage? Is too much of our media coverage now opinion masquerading as fact?
  
  It is up to the media to fix these things, not the government.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:08am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If the Govt funds the media it is bye bye in 2026
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:12am
    - wsk12345
      
      Not least bc the media will learn nothing and go harder and harder left.
      
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      April 27, 2024 11:46am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They have ruled that out, why do people not have memories unless it is covid jab bullshit
      
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      April 27, 2024 12:33pm
      - wsk12345
        
        You think that the millions and millions being paid out by ACC for covid jab injuries are a joke? They are “bullshit”?! I can assure you that they are not bullshit to people who have heart damage, died or live in fear of the next blood clot. I can assure you that the 10 year old children of my friend (who is a single mother, their father is dead) don’t find it terribly amusing, to the point that my friend holds off seeking medical attention when she feels a new clot bc she doesn’t want to alarm them. Despite the high likelihood that one will kill her eventually.
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:48pm
- Inandout
  
  Red, Luxon is corporate and in my experience reasons are not given by the big boss as to why X or Y has left the company or been moved sideways. Luxon has seen Lee behave poorly when interviewed and has ‘taken advice’ from certain fellow travellers. Politics is a savage business and no person is too important to be rolled, even the boss.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:16am
  - jkt
    
    She has looked like a possum in the headlights. She should have been better prepared.
    The party should have done better.
    
    But …. this is not kindergarten. If you are not prepared to front the media then do not pretend you are man enough for the job.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:12am
- Stellaboxer
  
  Simple. If Luxon funds the media in anyway whatsoever I would withdraw any support for a National party he leads. His trying to be everything to everyone is becoming tiresome. He needs to take a good hard look at the Canadian Pierre Poilievre listen and learn instead of trying not to upset his opponents. If he wants to help keep media outlets alive that the vast majority of this country see as biased leftwing activists in the hope they may start producing balanced informative news content then I suggest he is delusional. These outlets are failing because they do not provide anything the public want so why should we fund them? If I wanted to support leftwing drivel I would subscribe to stuff. I don’t want to subscribe to them by some back door . We do need a healthy media in a democracy but keeping the corpses that we have alive with continual blood transfusions from a taxpayer otherwise unwilling to do so is not the way forward. If they did their job they wouldn’t need the help and any help the taxpayers give them enables them to carry on in their disfunction .
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:35am
  - Prince
    
    Is that Pierre Poilevre, the Leader of the Opposition in Canada.
    I agree, if Luxon wants to be Leader of the Opposition, he should follow your hero’s path.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:10am
    - Stellaboxer
      
      We shall see. The polls in Canada would suggest otherwise.
      
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      April 27, 2024 3:43pm
  - AitchW
    
    Traditional media are failing because the world has changed and advertisers, having recognised the change, are placing their ads where they will get the most views.
    There is a strong argument that linear tv is a sunset industry, evidenced by both TVNZ and TV3 increasingly focussing on their streaming services. It makes no sense to demand that the tax payer be forced to prop up a dying service.
    My own business relies on a particular hydrocarbon for a large part of its income. Will the taxpayer subsidise me if there is another captain’s call to turn the taps off on that hydrocarbon? I think not. Rather we are investigating new income streams in the same way the broadcasters are increasing their online presence.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:38am
    - Jake Dee
      
      Those hydrocarbons are literal power and influence. If you don’t extract them you are losing that power to whoever will.
      Same with the media, if you don’t tell your stories then you are giving the power away to those who will.
      
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      April 27, 2024 4:48pm
  - Paulus
    
    But Canada does not have Maori, as well as so called Media like we do !
    
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    April 27, 2024 1:37pm
    - Jack5
      
      Canada’s indigenous people make up just 5 per cent of the total population, compared with Maori making up 17.1 per cent of NZ population in 2021.
      
      This includes the Metis “First Nation,” which comprises 625,000 people of blended “Indian”and White ancestry. They have their own language, Michif.
      
      https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/maori-population-estimates-at-30-june-2021
      
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      April 27, 2024 3:07pm
  - Ghost
    
    I’d suggest listening to Paul goldsmiths interview on zb where he says “the old ways are coming under pressure in some areas, and that doesn’t mean that government should subsidise the old ways to return to some path that is gone”
    
    https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/paul-goldsmith-new-media-and-communications-minister-on-the-challenges-facing-the-sector/
    
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    April 27, 2024 1:42pm
- Chris R
  
  You are trouncing reality with an unsupported load of hints etc..thereby rendering your comment little more than a muddled conspiracy theory. It is time you found a fresh hobby.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:42am
- Prince
  
  IMHO. Yeah, right.
  
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  April 27, 2024 10:08am
- Ghost
  
  Nothing wrong with the interview, as he says he has only had the portfolio 2 days
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018935825
  
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  April 27, 2024 10:12am
- peterwn
  
  Let’s get this straight. Melissa and Penny are still Ministers they have lost only ONE portfolio each. They still have their other portfolios. Anyone reading MSM news items would think that they had lost ALL their portfolios and been demoted to the back bench wop-wops. If they were totally incompetent they would have lost all their portfolios and Chris would have read them their horoscopes (a Royal Navy term meaning that you have no future in the Navy). Penny was not in Cabinet anyway so she lost nothing there. Melissa was kicked out of Cabinet probably because Chris could not justify keeping her there with one less portfolio. I have a shrewd idea why Melissa was relieved of the portfolio – she was having trouble handling the extremely complex matters and relationships in the portfolio, that requiring an extremely experienced and skilled Minister. If Melissa can stay on top of her other portfolios she would very likely be back in Cabinet in due course.
  
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  April 27, 2024 10:19am
  - MCōs
    
    Being booted out of cabinet is no small thing
    
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    April 27, 2024 11:19am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Exactly, and he was over seas and had not plan or idea, Red spouts crap about Goldsmith and trainwreck, but funny enough hearing people ring radio they said he was a breath of fresh air and most stated Lee was possum in headlights just like the woeful Curran
    
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    April 27, 2024 12:38pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yes, and Lee was probably also the lowest rank on cabinet so would have too go anyway, interesting I haven’t heard she has been replaced in cabinet, so that is interesting, maybe another may emerge when they all sit at cabinet again
    
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    April 27, 2024 12:41pm
    - peterwn
      
      Simon Watts (Revenue Minister) replaced Melissa. Chris Luxon announced the two changes together. The MSM attention span ceased after Chris announced Melissa’s departure from Cabinet.
      
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      April 27, 2024 1:17pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  What utter bollocks, for a start Goldsmith is in Britain, some stuff may well be hard for him to attain from there, don’t say he is not in Britain like lefties are trying too say, because there are photos of him on Anzac Day with the Prince at the day of remembrance.
  
  Stop suggesting they will add to the broadcasting fund, all extra funding has been ruled out, and indeed media have said money is not the answer.
  
  You continually attack Luxon as a yellow and pink card carrying Act supporter. Luxon has stated exactly why she was stood aside, there is no yet to be determined anything here, Winston Peters is the one that shut down her plan, what is the point of you hatred and vitriol
  
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  April 27, 2024 12:02pm
- Damocles11
  
  If National attempts to bail out the MSM then I am done with them. It’s just so disappointing that there aren’t just firm denials and the media isn’t told very bluntly that they must get their own house in order without taxpayer money. The public are not behind the MSM. Let Willie Jackson rage into the void. Stuff them.
  What has happened that has been so disastrous in the MSM that justifies the months of endless handwringing and now the sacking of a minister? TVNZ made a loss and Newshub is going off the air….but will be replaced by a news bulletin produced by Stuff. By the carry on and hysteria you would think that all MSM media companies had collapsed and the world was ending. If Luxon continues with this attitude that he must win over the MSM and he effectively answers to them then he is going to end up looking absolutely pathetic. Sacking two ministers is apparently ‘strong’…..what happens if another couple of ministers trip themselves up; suddenly this really will look like an inept and incompetent administration & the opposition and media will then have a field day…..and Luxon will have played right into their hands.
  
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  April 27, 2024 12:05pm
  - peterwn
    
    What are you going to do then? – Vote Labour?
    
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    April 27, 2024 5:11pm
    - julesnzuk
      
      Peter – Have you been living under a rock and thus not heard of ACT or NZ First?
      
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      April 27, 2024 8:31pm
peterwn

Seems Health NZ (the outfit set up by Labour to run NZ’s public hospitals) does not seem to be on the same wavelength as the Government with regard to budget cuts. Now the whole idea of these cuts is to trim down the back office areas of the public sector such as communications consultants, advisers, etc. It was not to cut back on public facing services. However some of Health NZ’s cutback proposals seem to be directly aimed at front line services – which means less care will be delivered. Seem Chris, Nicola and Shane could have a big headache on their hands dealing with this.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515300/hospitals-asked-to-save-total-of-105-million-by-july-te-whatu-ora-confirms
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April 27, 2024 8:01am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Warning; confronting metaphors appears in the next paragraph.
  
  Not really. The Govt has handed out rope & these people are hanging themselves.
  
  The Minister now needs to demand accountability for the disregard of a direct instruction.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:10am
- pdm
  
  pw – more or less what I said over at Homepaddock’s blog a few minutes ago.
  
  `HP I think the devious Public Service Heads are intent on shafting the Coalition Government and are not getting rid of the many middle managers who should be cut.
  
  Instead many (but probably not all) are are targeting services that are, if not directly on the front line, then right behind the front line and providing essential back up.
  
  In support of my argument I ask this – how many backroom Public Service Managers earning between $100,000 and $300,000 have gone?
  
  Taumata Arowai is my main bug bear – why is still operating?’
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:13am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Taumata Arowai is still there because Chris Luxon doesn’t want to upset Maori.
    He really needs to get unwoke.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:19am
    - jkt
      
      Let’s all be very honest, we were desperately in need of a centralised water regulator. The RMA and Public Health Act have failed us.
      
      I am not a particular fan of the wishy washy mandate given to the regulator. The regulator should focus on setting minimum standards and ensure that authorities are working towards meeting or exceeding these standards.
      
      But at present the body has been captured by activists …. a few more months …… then we can judge where Luxon is steering us.
      
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      April 27, 2024 11:19am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        The water regulator with some voted to the Board and some ‘appointed’ (with the power of veto) is what they want.
        Apartheid.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:58am
      - jkt
        
        Steve, spot on:
        Why on earth would one need ideologists to determine what water treatment and quality should look like? This is a technical matter of public health and environmental management.
        
        In its current from the regulator looks like a religious synod when what we need is people who understand economics, risk, public health, water quality …… There may well be a place for HooDoo science or VooDoo somewhere in government but water management and quality does not benefit from religion.
        
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        April 27, 2024 4:33pm
    - waripori
      
      Taumata Arowai is the National Water Quality regulator. It sets and maintains safety standards and gets involved with things like the Queenstown problems. It audits drinking water quality regularly. It has a Maori name but is not part of the last Government’s three waters reforms. You must be getting confused with something else.
      
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      April 27, 2024 12:10pm
      - wsk12345
        
        So why do they need all the Maori advisors?
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:55pm
- I remember when
  
  Right from the start there does seem to have been suggested cuts in areas, that was not the government’s intention, that allowed attacks from the media.
  Was this political as an attempt to ‘tar’ the government, or was the aim to pressure on them into reducing redundancy numbers.
  Either outcome makes departmental management look as if they are fighting for their staff, while covering any failings of their own.
  Also, the media have helped departments to justify their increases in staffing numbers, by failing to ‘dive’ into the areas where there have been large increases.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:19am
- MCōs
  
  I see Canterbury has made a saving of 1% according to a chart in that article. Don’t they have a whole building lying empty because they can’t afford to kit it out?
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:20am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Now the whole idea of these cuts is to trim down the back office areas of the public sector such as communications consultants, advisers, etc. ”
  
  Health NZ has not been asked by the Government to make any budget cuts, back office or otherwise. It is a Crown Entity. It is not subject to the across the board cuts.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:32am
  - peterwn
    
    Are you sure? Health NZ is almost completely funded by the Government (apart from car parking fees and foreign patient revenue) and therefore would be susceptible to budget cuts like Government Departments. Health NZ would have been advised of its proposed budget cut via the responsible Minister.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:06am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes I am positive. The Minister says:
      
      “”Health NZ is not subject to the same government directive for savings as some other departments.”” That seems clear enough.
      
      The operating budget is $22.9 billion. They are forecasting a deficit of $105 million so need to make those savings. That is 0.5 percent of operating expenditure.
      
      This has noting to do with the 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent across the board cuts to government departments.
      
      Without understanding their business I would be not be second guessing what they are doing to stay within budget.
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:26am
    - artemisia
      
      Seems some DHBs have blown their budgets, so sounds like they are expected to come back to within budget. Seems reasonable.
      
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      April 27, 2024 11:02am
      - MCōs
        
        When I was in hospital last winter more than one senior working doctor told me they were seriously short staffed in medical personnel
        If they were miraculously able to achieve a full complement where was the money going to come from?
        I was also told they were appreciative of whanau they came in to help and take the weight off the nursing staff
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:34am
- Stellaboxer
  
  Peterwn these clowns are cutting front line services rather than the back office to make the government look bad plain and simple. They are infected with woke progressives who are unable to accept the democratic wishes of the NZ public and see it as their duty to resist the governments policies. Sack some high ups very publicly regardless of having to pay for broken contracts and the like and regain control of the public sector. Alternatively allow them to morph into the blob that the civil service has become in the UK and find ourselves effectively with a leftwing administration for ever regardless of who we vote for. Remember these people are in contact with each other it’s an international playbook.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:49am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    “They are infected with woke progressives who are unable to accept the democratic wishes of the NZ public and see it as their duty to resist the governments policies.”
    
    The “Government’s policies” have had zero impact on Health New Zealand because the Government has not cut its budget or sought any savings.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:28am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Which is why their performance is still in the doldrums.
      
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      April 27, 2024 11:19am
    - rouppe
      
      Well yes and no…
      
      Yes insofar as you have said, they are not targeted for % savings.
      
      No insofar as their budget is likely going to remain fixed, and they’ve been told, or read the tea leaves, that they won’t be bailed out of overspend anymore.
      
      That they are saying the cuts are to suicide prevention is telling. There must be legions of managers in that organisation. You could drop 50 of them, and the remainder pick up one or two more from their reporting line. Easy.
      
      Drop 75 and you could add some more medical staff. Stop wasting money on cultural matters and hire a few more.
      
      And so forth
      
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      April 27, 2024 1:04pm
- AitchW
  
  Sabotage by disgruntled left leaning public servants is rife at the moment. Ministers need to have some very frank discussions with the relevant “Sir Humphreys” in regard to the behaviour and performance of their senior staff. A few heads may need to roll “pour encourage les autres.”
  
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  April 27, 2024 10:43am
kiwikidsnz

“Free speech vs hate speech: Victoria University postpones debate after student backlash”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515322/free-speech-vs-hate-speech-victoria-university-postpones-debate-after-student-backlash
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April 27, 2024 8:01am
- ClanMcleod
  
  The irony…..
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:10am
- I remember when
  
  Isn’t it great.
  If you are arguing the ‘free speech’ case you get one representative on the panel.
  While for ‘hate speech’ diversity allows multiple members.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:27am
- artemisia
  
  Salient sub-editor Henry Broadbent and other precious student petals may not yet be aware of Saul Alinsky on ridicule as a potent weapon.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:57am
  - jkt
    
    I think that may well be their bend on this matter.
    
    They probably argue that debate can only be of value if you have ideologues presenting their views on any given matter.
    
    How can the poor students know which side to jeer and which side to cheer.
    
    This is discriminatory in the extreme. … Expecting students to pay attention to a debate and value the opinions on merit! Shit, what have we allowed to be created at our institutions of higher learning.
    
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    April 27, 2024 11:29am
Tomtoddy

Here are some interesting stats. The Biden Administration wants all trucks to be electric by 2028 – all those big rigs that crisscross the country. In preparation a paltry 38 charging stations have been built in two and a half years despite $7 billion being thrown at it.

To meet the Biden target it will need 15,000 stations built per month from now on. The chances of that are zilch – about as likely as Biden learning how to read his teleprompter accurately.
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April 27, 2024 8:09am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I thought that was just for the postal trucks.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:19am
  - jkt
    
    66,000 fully electric postal trucks. Imagine that. Getting post delivered at your door. This is taking e-mail to the next level of stupidity!!
    
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    April 27, 2024 8:48am
    - pdm
      
      jkt imagine the tangle of those extension cords.
      
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      April 27, 2024 9:15am
      - jkt
        
        One can bank on it that the post office will mess anything they touch up.
        
        6 1
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        April 27, 2024 10:21am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      At what cost? Huge I imagine, if you factor in all the support and change costs involved. I’m sure that’s going to help the postal service survive! /
      
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      April 27, 2024 3:58pm
      - jkt
        
        The business case says it is more affordable.
        But who cares about business cases, right!
        
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        April 27, 2024 4:42pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Yes having a business case on the face of it is a start.
        
        But when it comes to highly ideological projects I’d be suggesting a forensic analysis of that “business case” from people skilled in unearthing unrealistic BS.
        
        I’m sure those who spend billions of taxpayers money on wind and solar say they have a solid business case as well (as in they are delusional).
        
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        April 27, 2024 9:24pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    The ideological green idea that EVs will ‘save’ the planet is dying, and not before time.
    
    When it comes to the reality of transport of goods and travel for pleasure or business, EV’s are nothing more than an expensive virtue signaling exercise. They do more net harm than good to the environment.
    I’m not saying anyone who owns one is virtue signaling, many are. But as with covid, many very well meaning people were conned by a deliberate, persuasive, well funded and planned narrative control movement.
    
    It’s collapsing under it’s own lies and hubris.
    
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    April 27, 2024 8:49am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Sales are slowing because for most people they give terrible value for money. If you want a small efficient passenger car, a hybrid gives much better value. Toyota has made it clear that it will be focusing on continually improving hybrids rather than investing in EVs.
      
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      April 27, 2024 8:54am
      - Rich Prick
        
        Honda is taking the same path. Plug-in technology will probably go the same way as the CD.
        
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        April 27, 2024 8:59am
      - CJames
        
        Anyone want to buy a second hand Tesla? There are a heap of them out there and the prices are going through the floor. Now why would that be.
        EVs are more likely to be the Betamaxes of the automotive world. In ten years’ time, they will just be a better looking Edsel.
        
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        April 27, 2024 9:18am
    - kowtow
      
      Yep , as in most things the market will decide this , not the deluded tyrants of Davos .
      
      And all that taxpayer money that should have been spent on defence ( or some other worthy cause) wasted .
      
      And none of the idiot politicians will be held to account because ; saving the planet .
      
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      April 27, 2024 9:06am
    - Piniwi
      
      Right just another of so many Green influenced changes that have unintended consequences. Banning the burn of of slash, banning selective logging of native timber, stopped Pike River Mine from being open cast and more.
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:11am
    - jkt
      
      Horses for courses. An EV works very well for me. I can imagine that we will see EV postal delivery “trucks” rolled out here very successfully to lower cost and improve productivity.
      
      Replacing bicycles with electric delivery trucks will create a much bigger carbon footprint for every letter and package delivered.
      
      It will not directly impact on anthropogenic climate change! But improved productivity is a good thing, right?
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:30am
      - JackRabbit
        
        The Norwegian “Paxster” electric deliver vehicles are already being used to deliver direct to our letter boxes – it started in 2016.
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/82826530/nz-post-introduces-paxster-postal-buggies-to-auckland–starting-with-the-north-shore
        
        And many vans gone electric.
        
        https://www.nzpost.co.nz/about-us/media-centre/media-release/nz-post-tackles-carbon-emissions-with-60-new-electric-vans
        
        https://www.nzpost.co.nz/about-us/sustainability/electric-vehicles
        
        https://www.nzpost.co.nz/about-us/sustainability/electric-vehicles
        
        However, intercity trucks are another thing altogether.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:05am
      - AitchW
        
        They’re already using little electric buggies in town. They have removable plastic screens for wet days, I’m sure the posties are much happier and more efficient in these vehicles than on the old Raleigh 20 type bikes they used to ride.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:37am
      - Flossie
        
        AitchW. When was the last ime you saw a postie on a pushbike nevermind a Raleigh20! It’s been motorbikes for ages and now some have those electric golf cart type vehicles.
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:38pm
      - Ghost
        
        Friday, delivering our one letter a month. Our postie only has a pushbike, not even electric
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:43pm
      - jkt
        
        JR:
        I agree that the business case stacks up. Horses for courses.
        You can bet your bottom dollar we will see these rolled out here in NZ also. There is a significant productivity gain.
        
        Intercity mail transfer is a different matter. That is another business case. I just use electronic mail and keep the death off our roads.
        
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        April 27, 2024 4:47pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      If another material to manufacture storage is not found, EVs will die. There is not enough of the existing battery materials to provide EV battery storage.
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:38am
      - AitchW
        
        I’m still convinced that hydrogen will overtake batteries as the power source du jour. Yes, there are storage and distribution challenges but I’m sure none of these is insurmountable.
        How ‘green’ power cells are compared to batteries I don’t know.
        I believe I heard recently that NZ is sitting on large reserves of green hydrogen. Whether the usual nay sayers will allow its extraction is another story. Perhaps the government will use the new fast track consent process to get the ball rolling. It certainly seems to meet the criteria.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:41am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        AitchW,
        Storage is the problem with hydrogen. It leaks and sort of seeps through steel containers. As a gas capacity of 10,000 psi is needed. As a liquid lost of insulation is needed.
        Might have to go back to cars running on CNG (car no go)
        
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        April 27, 2024 12:07pm
      - AitchW
        
        Steve Otto as I said there are difficulties in storage and distribution of hydrogen, but these are not insurmountable. Pipes and vessels can be, and are, lined to prevent such leakage. Trucks carrying CO2 and liquid nitrogen routinely travel our roads, and I believe that there is at least one hydrogen tanker on the road already. Hydrogen is coming.
        
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        April 27, 2024 12:16pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Unfortunately there is on old dude name of Avogadro standing in the way of hydrogen tanks in cars. Something to do with energy per m3 of the stuff.
        
        If we go back to the old CNG which ran at about 200 atmospheres the range sucked.
        
        CNG has a mol weight of 16, hydrogen has a mol weight of 2. So a tank of hydrogen at 200 atmospheres has 2/16=12% of the stored energy compared with the same tank of CNG. Take it up to 500 atmospheres – a truly awesome pressure and that figure gets to 2.5×12 = 30%. Allow for the H2 being run through a fuel cell with an efficiency of 50% rather than the ICE 20% and the 500 atmosphere H2 tank might give a result almost comparable with what the CNG tank the same size used to.
        
        The sums don’t work …
        
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        April 27, 2024 2:01pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Ian Boag,
        The car no go CNG was satire. Most here would know I was pulling their tit.
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:25pm
      - AitchW
        
        Ian Boag, there’s no way 500 atmospheres is doable. That’s a little over 500bar in numbers that I understand, and I wouldn’t want to be near anything at that pressure. We go up to 300 bar and that’s quite enough for me!
        What I don’t understand though is, if what you say is true and I have no reason to think that it isn’t, why are major vehicle manufacturers like Hyundai persevering with hydrogen?
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:25pm
      - jkt
        
        Aitch, there I was thinking green hydrogen was all about using solar or other forms of renewable energy as the energy source to produce hydrogen gas.
        
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        April 27, 2024 4:52pm
      - JohnRidd
        
        No Aitch W.
        
        Hydrogen is not going to be a thing. We could have used Hydrogen years ago. We didn’t because it is expensive and dangerous. To produce, to transport and to store. Hydrogen is a low density fuel so needs to be compressed or refrigerated, both of which require energy.
        
        H2 is very small so it gets between other molecules. It makes metals brittle, so leaks and explosions happen.
        
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        April 27, 2024 7:18pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      Well, we will be debating this one for a long time and it has certainly been covered on KB in great depth, but I’ll repeat what I’ve said before.
      Everyone is forgetting about China (and Asia generally).
      Standard size EVs are expanding massively, the national high-speed rail, inner city metro lines, public buses and many more types of transport are all electric. There are thousands of different situations in which plugging a small vehicle into the grid makes more sense than hauling around an internal combustion engine with you everywhere you go.
      Expand and diversify your power grid with fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear and you are set for development and expansion plus better air quality even before you calculate climate change.
      
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      April 27, 2024 5:08pm
- Colville
  
  Tom.
  Do you have a link for that?
  It seems incredibly unlikely given that USA’s competitive advantage is its independence from world oil prices/external supply.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:48am
  - softail 1450
    
    Rich Prick ,actually “ plug in” is where they’re all going ,plug in hybrids which have a far smaller battery that’s charged from the wall or from the onboard charging system,most have a limited range under 80km which is more than most use on a daily basis anyway. Toyota have been producing them and perfecting them for what must be 20 years now.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:16am
  - jkt
    
    66,000 postal delivery vehicles …..
    Look it up on the internet.
    
    Type in Biden .. mail …. trucks ….
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:34am
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘On March 29, 2024, Good Friday, Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out its new electric truck mandate, which will require that electric semi-trucks make up an increasing share of manufacturer sales from 2027 through 2032, similar to its recent rule for passenger cars. EPA’s rule would effectively require electric models to account for 60 percent of new urban delivery trucks and 25 percent of long-haul tractor sales by 2032’
      https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/biden-administration-releases-its-electric-truck-mandate/
      
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      April 27, 2024 2:10pm
      - jkt
        
        The conversation is about phasing out all fossil fuel trucks by 2028 as posited by TomToddy. He attributes this dumb policy to Sleepy Joe Biden – when no such policy exists.
        
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        April 27, 2024 4:57pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        My link shows that Bidens EPA has a policy to start replacing diesel long haul tractor with 25% of new sales to be Electric by 2032.
        Tom had the numbers/dates wrong but there is a Policy to replace Diesel trucks over time…
        Wont happen of course.
        Reality will bite
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:46pm
- jkt
  
  The 66,000 postal trucks will be charged overnight at the local post office depot.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:51am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Powered by a dozen D series locos, parked on a siding close by.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:58am
- virtualmark
  
  I don’t disagree with you that it would be impractical to have all new trucks sold in the US be electric by 2028.
  
  But where is that a policy of the Biden Administration? I can find lots of mentions that Biden wants 50% of new trucks to be electric by 2030, but nothing like your claim. Source?
  
  Look Biden’s too old, and he should have stood down rather than run again. But just making shit up and then saying it’s Biden’s fault … well, surely we can do better.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:21am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    4 more years
    
    4 more years
    Pause
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:39am
  - CJames
    
    virtual
    Not disagreeing with your comments about Biden, but most of the policies are being pushed out by his underlings. I do not think he even knows what he is signing (going out under his signature) or even saying. He is just a puppet – the discussion is who is pulling the strings.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:02am
    - jkt
      
      Does it actually matter? He is still smart enough to ask for advice before pushing the nuclear button, one would hope.
      
      Trumps only ever signs stuff that he knows exactly what it is for.
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:38am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Obama pulls the strings.
      
      11 2
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      April 27, 2024 10:42am
      - Colville
        
        Steve.
        Is that meant to be a joke?
        Obama didnt have enough brainpower to pull his own strings let alone be an evil mastermind.
        
        5 1
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        April 27, 2024 11:04am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Exactly. Joe is Obama’s 3rd. term.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:25am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        No joke Colville. Muslim Obama hates America.
        Don Beckett is correct as well.
        
        6 3
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        April 27, 2024 12:09pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Colville,
        
        There is a video. Obama pulls the strings and sometimes Hillary pulls Obama’s strings.
        Obama has no choice, he has seen Hillary in action.
        
        https://www.thepoliticalglobe.com/biden-and-obama-join-forces-for-fundraising-event-with-george-04-26-2024/?
        
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        April 27, 2024 3:28pm
    - virtualmark
      
      CJames,
      
      Biden is a very experienced politician, who’s on a par with McConnell & Pelosi in terms of knowing how Washington works and how to get things done. So I don’t buy the “Biden is just a puppet” thing.
      
      Case in point … Biden was prepared to make historical compromises on Dem border security preferences in order to get military aid for Ukraine. In the end Biden out-manouvered Speaker Johnson and got the military aid for Ukraine, Israel & Taiwan for no Dem concessions. The GOP under-estimate Biden’s knowledge of how to get things done at their peril.
      
      3 8
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      April 27, 2024 12:09pm
      - softail 1450
        
        Virtualmark “ I used to shower very late at night so I didn’t have to shower naked with him”, a quote from Ashlee Bidens diary about her father , “Dad started giving me strong liquor on my 12 th birthday <~~~~~ a quote from Hunters latest book talking about his father ,Virtualmarks favourite candidate for POTUS..
        
        5 2
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        April 27, 2024 2:20pm
      - Ghost
        
        Are you sure he isn’t a truck driver?
        
        https://www.express.co.uk/news/us/1892209/joe-biden-gaffe-lies-18-wheeler-speech
        
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        April 27, 2024 2:24pm
  - softail 1450
    
    Chuck Bird , I had no idea there were so many Biden supporters who have downticked your comment 😂
    
    3 3
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    April 27, 2024 2:10pm
- JackRabbit
  
  The push for Electric Vehicles has nothing to do with “saving the planet” and everything to do with “people control” and “15 minute cities”.
  
  An EV that is internet connected can be switched off and/or location ring fence controlled.
  
  There are any number of prophetic Sci-Fi miniseries that predict how this will work. Along with prophetic Sci-Fi miniseries that predicted what we are now living through.
  
  We can be distracted about dangers of Lithium Ion, range, lack of charging stations, battery chemical pollution, EV’s not being net zero, etc, etc, as it is all about control.
  
  You would be lucky if Biden’s IQ reached 50, the man is a vegetable.
  
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  April 27, 2024 10:16am
DimChappie

Victoria University postpones Free Speech debate after student backlash

Salient sub editor Henry Broadbent says Jonathan Ayling of the Free Speech Union supports “hate speech’’ on topics including anti-trans and anti co-governance.
He said Ayling’s inclusion compromised the safety of marginalised groups on the campus.

“The speech that [the Free Speech Union] are looking to defend is consistently speech that fits under the United Nations’ definition of hate speech, and this is the concern that we have with the university. Why is that you feel hate speech is a legitimate discourse that shouldn’t be suppressed?”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515322/free-speech-vs-hate-speech-victoria-university-postpones-debate-after-student-backlash
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April 27, 2024 8:11am
- imalwaysright
  
  From article:
  “…that has made it challenging to even schedule a conversation about how to have challenging conversations”.”
  
  That’s the words of someone whose head is disappearing up their own backside.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:58am
  - jkt
    
    That sentence makes a lot of sense in isolation so one can only think that there must be some irony in there somewhere.
    If it is a quote by a “Karl Marx type” then I am with you.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:49am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Personally, I really like the idea of some international body deciding for me what I’m allowed to say and what I’m not.
  No, wait, the other thing.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:59am
- Damocles11
  
  ‘Thoughtcrime’ (Wrongthink)
  ‘In the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, the word thoughtcrime describes a person’s politically unorthodox thoughts, beliefs, and doubts that politically contradict the tenets of Ingsoc, the dominant ideology.’
  
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  April 27, 2024 12:40pm
G152

And do they have enough generating capacity?????
10 1
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April 27, 2024 8:11am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Who?
  
  10 1
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  April 27, 2024 8:54am
- JackRabbit
  
  No, but that does not matter.
  
  5 1
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  April 27, 2024 10:20am
Benedict Yu

Reading the selected quotes from this interview, Paul Goldsmith could be Melissa Lee in disguise.

“Part of the solution is to try and level the playing field as best we can between what you might describe as traditional providers and the streamers,” Goldsmith said.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/515239/paul-goldsmith-starts-as-new-media-minister-replacing-sacked-melissa-lee

What is a “streamer”? Does he mean Google?

Maybe Winston should be the Media Minister.
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April 27, 2024 8:27am
- Albie
  
  I think he is referring to The Platform and Rabbit Hole Radio.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:38am
  - kowtow
    
    Rabbit hole radio ?
    
    Are you Sean Talk Over Everyone Plunkett ,
    
    Tell ya what rcr did some great interviews.
    
    15 3
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    April 27, 2024 9:12am
    - Notsofast
      
      The Platform and reality check radio have interviewed scores of well informed people the Public fund essentially banned.
      
      14 1
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      April 27, 2024 9:32am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    What part of RCR content has you giving it that sarcastic title?
    Try listening to Plunket screaming and calling anyone who dares question any of the multitude of failures of the covid response a ‘cooker’.
    
    No doubt partly due to the fact the relevant NZ authorities are still playing the ‘hear no vax damage, see no vax damage, speak no vax damage’ monkey game in the belief that ignoring it means it will eventually go away.
    
    It won’t. Other countries are at least mature enough to acknowledge there is a problem and attempting to at least address it via various compensation schemes.
    
    The Platform isn’t bad, but Plunket’s hysterical abuses of people with alternative opinion on the topic means I can’t tune in any longer.
    
    RCR has a few alternative presenters, but isn’t that what the public discourse is meant to encourage? It doesn’t mean having to agree with everything they say.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:28am
    - redeye
      
      Only Chris Lynch giving this the airtime it deserves. Not Stuff or NZH, nor Sean ‘interuptus’ Plunket.
      
      The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in New Zealand has paid out over $9.6 million to 1,664 people injured by the COVID-19 vaccine.
      
      https://www.chrislynchmedia.com/news-items/acc-pays-out-96m-for-covid-19-vaccine-injures
      
      14 2
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      April 27, 2024 10:03am
      - jkt
        
        Thanks for sharing this story. It should be on the front pages of newspapers. The debate should be raging.
        
        I guess the mainstream media will argue that these claims result from covid denier doctors trying to harm the legacy of Jacinda.
        
        Why on earth keep raw data out of the public domain?
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:45am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        So that is compensation to one person in 10,000 shots (13.1 million COVID vaccine shots in New Zealand. Most of the injuries are minor – infection at site, sore arm etc. Others are more serious – allergic reaction, myocarditis.
        
        The question is – have the injuries caused by the COVID vaccine been at a higher incidence than all other vaccines, e.g. the measles vaccine? Probably not. Severe allergic reactions in measles vaccinations are – surprise – at a rate of about 1 in 10,000.
        
        https://www.elsevier.es/en-revista-allergologia-et-immunopathologia-105-articulo-hypersensitivity-reactions-following-measles-mumps-rubella-vaccine-S0301054610001084
        
        Indeed ACC has been paying folk for vaccine injuries caused by flu, measles and all other vaccines since 2005 – at about 120 injuries per year. (Yes that is lower in absolute numbers than for the COVID vaccine injuries, but we don’t give out 13 million flu and measles vaccines each year.
        
        5 3
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        April 27, 2024 12:11pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        It should not be on the front pages because it is neither surprising or concerning that 1 person in 10,000 vaccinated received compensation for mostly minor vaccine adverse reactions, at a rate not disimilar to payments that ACC has been making for adverse vaccine reactions for the last 20 years.
        
        6 4
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        April 27, 2024 12:14pm
      - 2ic
        
        @Benedict
        You’re being very misleading with your figures here, confusing reported serious adverse events with accepted ACC claims.
        
        There is a very high bar for ACC claims to be accepted. Over 4,000 claims have been made, so over half have been rejected. And we know from recent OIA’s that the number of reported SERIOUS adverse events is in the tens of thousands, so only a small minority even go through the process of an ACC claim.
        
        I’ve made posts in the past comparing the Government’s own data for the influenza vaccine and Covid vaccine and the rate of SERIOUS adverse event reporting for the Covid vaccine is 50x higher.
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:05pm
      - jkt
        
        Yu, Benedict!
        Over and average of $5,000 per claim.
        Sounds like a story to me.
        
        Who are you batting for? Let’s keep the bastards honest. A balanced media! Yeah, right.
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:06pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      Sean Plunket and his abuse of people, reminds me of the character Bart Harris, played by William Conrad (also the star of Cannon) in the Glenn Ford movie “Brotherhood of the Bell”.
      
      The film depicts a successful economics professor, Dr. Andrew Patterson (Glenn Ford), who discovers that an elite fraternity he joined as an undergraduate is really a callous banking and business cabal that obtains wealth and power for its members through nefarious practices.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brotherhood_of_the_Bell
      
      Bart Harris has a TV show in a similar vein to the Platform, where he appears to be supportive of outing corruption and exposing the truth, but once on his show, becomes abusive and demeaning, and labels Patterson as a “conspiracy theorist”.
      
      A very prophetic movie for 1970. “The Skulls”, 30 years later is similar, but the Brotherhood of the Bell was groundbreaking at the time.
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:29am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Yeah, sorry, I can’t stand Plunket, a nasty little man, who really has failed at every job he’s had in media.
      
      Shouting over people isnt a good business model.
      
      RCR had a few good presenters, sorry it seems to be struggling
      
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      April 27, 2024 11:53am
    - Albie
      
      Jeez Clan, take a chill pill! We all know Plunket can be an arrogant bugger with a want to constantly talk over his callers, but you have to admit that Rabbit Hole Radio, apart from Peter Williams and Cam Slater are a bit out there. Even my mate Rodney has gone a bit tropo of late!
      
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      April 27, 2024 5:47pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    No he is not:
    
    “”You’ve got some real challenges with the massive power that the big streaming companies have, and the impact that that’s having on revenue,” he said.”
    
    The Platform does not have “massive power”. I am sure he means Google and Meta. Or Netflix. Who knows? I preferred Melissa. 🙁
    
    If they go down the path of trying to make Google and Meta to pay for New Zealand media, it will go the same way as Canada. Google and Facebook will just remove all links to New Zealand media.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:31am
    - Omni Consumer Products
      
      If they go down the path of trying to make Google and Meta to pay for New Zealand media, it will go the same way as Canada. Google and Facebook will just remove all links to New Zealand media
      
      If that hastens the demise of our legacy media would that really be a bad thing? I suppose the answer to that would depend on what fills the vacuum…
      
      3 1
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      April 27, 2024 10:59am
      - jkt
        
        Google and Meta should pay taxes on revenue that they generate.
        Asking them to show some altruism … ha, ha.
        Time that governments get their heads around this and tax these businesses and distribute the taxes raised fairly.
        To rush in slowly after others who rushed in early is smarter but still stupid. This is a matter that can only be dealt with through an international treaty.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:54am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “Google and Meta should pay taxes on revenue that they generate.”
        
        Right. Do you think that Fonterra should pay tax in China on the “revenue that they generate” in China from selling milk powder? Also, since when does any company pay tax on revenue?
        
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        April 27, 2024 12:16pm
      - jkt
        
        Do you have a better idea?
        
        Taxes based on the share value of the companies?
        Taxes based on equity?
        Taxes on income? Transactions tax? Excise tax?
        
        No tax?
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:13pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Media should be the business of the people , not the government .
  
  The only function of the government is to ensure freedom of speech and freedom to hear.
  
  20 2
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  April 27, 2024 8:38am
  - Che Guava
    
    Despite what we are told and what many seem to believe, we don’t live in an actual democracy. That’s just a label we use. We may get to vote but the people are not genuinely sovereign because public opinion (via the media arm of government) is formed from the top-down not the bottom up. But as the legacy media finally dies, this is beginning to change on an increasingly widening scale, which is why some call the death of the MSM “a threat to democracy” (if “democracy” implicitly means the pseudo-democracy as I describe it). If that is how we understand democracy, then yes, it really is threatened.
    
    In our so-called “democracy” government and media are fairly indistinct, despite outward appearance. They are both advancing and maintaining the same status quo. Because of their mutual dependence, what may die next if the existing media system is left to die? Very possibly the existing governmental system. That’s why they are all so averse to the idea of a post-MSM era.
    
    4 3
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    April 27, 2024 9:37am
    - jkt
      
      Whaaaaat, is your argument?
      Post modernist democracy, critical democratic theory, ……, neo-critical post modernistic democratic theory….?
      
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      April 27, 2024 6:59pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The media think they control the Government.
    “No matter what we do or say, the pols are not changing.” or something.
    Who said that?
    
    9 1
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    April 27, 2024 11:08am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Come on, it was Katie Bradford!
      
      2 1
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      April 27, 2024 3:30pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Winston already has an informal portfolio as Minister of Blaming the Media for Everything.
  
  4 30
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  April 27, 2024 8:39am
  - softail 1450
    
    MM ,Oh yeah MM do you mean the same sort of minister that for 6 years the tyrant Ardern administration didn’t need because she was the medias and your personal darling who was completely blameless ??
    
    22 3
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    April 27, 2024 8:46am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Love his work. May he continue to slap them around.
    
    3 1
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    April 27, 2024 3:34pm
- pdm
  
  BY – yesterday with Andrew Dickens (who was filling in for Mike Hosking) Goldsmith said exactly what Melissa Lee had been saying.
  
  I have said for a couple of weeks that I felt Lee was being shafted – was it Peters or Luxon who let her down?
  
  Having said that her hesitancy in front of the cameras did not help her cause.
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:55am
  - Damocles11
    
    How could it possibly be Peters? Give me a break. Some people are in such a state of cognitive dissonance over the ‘corporate manager’ we have as a PM it is just not funny.
    
    2 1
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    April 27, 2024 12:50pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  What on earth gives him the idea that the government can provide the solution to legacy media’s woes? Their involvement (i.e. PIJF), is part of the problem!
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:02am
- Piniwi
  
  Streaming is the best option for most TV these days and there are hacks that enable direct reception of almost any digital channel. The media party have really shot themselves the foot and lost their audience.
  
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  April 27, 2024 10:22am
Gravelroad

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350258865/victoria-university-postpones-challenging-free-speech-event
Whaaaaah, I’m scared I might hear “right wing voices” turn them off, turn them off.
Although some more student grant money and benefits paid for by rich suckers might help me cope.
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April 27, 2024 8:27am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Why does the university cave to this?
  
  “Student association president Marcail Parkinson said that context had not been clear and people “freaked out” when they saw the panel line up, which looked like a platform for “right wing voices”, with the involvement of Free Speech Union president Jonathan Ayling and the New Zealand Initiative’s Dr Michael Johnston.”
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:33am
  - Tricati
    
    The students would likely struggle with an intellectual debate so likely to avoid the embarrassment by canning the event.
    
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    April 27, 2024 8:44am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      There are plenty of videos of the Daily Wire folk giving speeches at USA university campuses.
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ReQkUdNLkk
      
      The universities have difficulty shutting them down because of the First Amendment. They are quite entertaining to watch.
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:42am
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    Jonathan Ayling FSU
    
    “If students are not resilient enough or mature enough to be able to deal in ideas – even those that they find uncomfortable – then maybe they shouldn’t be at university.”
    
    I couldn’t agree more.
    
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    April 27, 2024 8:46am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Snap!
      
      14 0
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      April 27, 2024 9:14am
  - Observer of Life
    
    I truly despair for these young people. They appear to be afraid of their own shadows.
    
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    April 27, 2024 8:53am
    - kowtow
      
      I’d warrant the vast majority just want to get on with getting that bit of paper that certifies them as ‘educated’ or qualified or whatever.
      
      Meanwhile a tiny minority of a tiny minority are the Campus Kommissars ,who te media and the uni authorities give a hugely disproportionate amount of attention and false influence to.
      
      Those Campus Kommissars , like all fascists , know full well what they’re about .
      
      22 1
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      April 27, 2024 9:21am
      - Omni Consumer Products
        
        Being a student politician should bar you for life from “real” politics.
        
        12 0
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        April 27, 2024 11:02am
    - softail 1450
      
      Observer of life , they all walk around covering their bodies with their supposedly bullet proof armour,,their cell phones, don’t despair for them despair for what their ideologies will do to our country ..
      
      10 1
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      April 27, 2024 9:25am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Our future leaders. We are doomed!
      They want to rule their own Marxist way, with only their own free speech.
      
      9 1
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      April 27, 2024 11:14am
  - Prince
    
    Why does the Govt cave in and give money to corrupt, ignorant organisations like this ?
    
    21 0
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    April 27, 2024 8:58am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Buying votes, no matter which Party/s
      
      5 1
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      April 27, 2024 12:12pm
  - Damocles11
    
    It’s just garbage. The milquetoast Right just puts up with endless demonising by the demented Left. It is now ‘thoughtcrime’ to hold erstwhile ‘Right wing’ views. This has become a dystopia.
    
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    April 27, 2024 12:53pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  ‘… the university postponed the event with a notice saying “the mere framing of this event has surfaced a depth of feeling and a polarisation of views on how we should proceed, that has made it challenging to even schedule a conversation about how to have challenging conversations”.’
  
  What is wrong with these people!
  
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  April 27, 2024 8:38am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  This from Jonathan Ayling:
  
  “If students are not resilient enough or mature enough to be able to deal in ideas – even those that they find uncomfortable – then maybe they shouldn’t be at university.”
  
  Ouch!
  
  http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515322/free-speech-vs-hate-speech-victoria-university-postpones-debate-after-student-backlash
  
  26 1
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  April 27, 2024 8:47am
  - Scott
    
    What is the point of a university that won’t debate ideas? What is the point of a university that won’t even allow a debate on the concept of debating ideas and seeking the truth?
    
    The first university in the English speaking world was Oxford university where teaching began in 1096. It’s motto – Dominus illuminatio mea. The idea of a university was for seeking the truth, seeking enlightenment.
    
    Today’s universities appear to be taken over by Marxism, truth is what the party says it is. Truth to them is whatever advances the cause of Marxism as directed by the communist party.
    
    It’s time universities resumed their search for knowledge and for truth and for enlightenment. Otherwise there is no point to their existence.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:19am
- David Garrett
  
  Just reading the content of that link makes me feel very glad I am now living in Tonga, where nuttiness like this is unknown.
  
  And the language…when did having a discussion/debate about something become a “conversation”? For me, a conversation is an oral exchange between two or more people.
  
  And that fingernails-down-the-blackboard phrase “it is what it is”… What in God’s name does that actually mean when one is discussing something other than the condition of a car or a boat, or some other tangible item?
  
  27 3
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  April 27, 2024 8:52am
  - Cassandra
    
    DG I see you get a mention in dispatches from a Tova O’Brien, who has a novel interpretation of the verb to eke.
    
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    April 27, 2024 8:56am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: Yes…and just out of interest, has anyone here ever seen the word zhuzh ? I certainly never had, and I note that the automatic spell check on this blog doesn’t recognise it either. As I said in my email to O’Brien, even if that is a real word, I am confident 95% of people would not recognise it as such.
      
      18 4
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      April 27, 2024 9:08am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        No never heard of it.
        
        I knew “rizz” but only because it was word of the year.
        
        https://corp.oup.com/news/rizz-crowned-oxford-word-of-the-year-2023/#:~:text='rizz'%20is%20a%20colloquial%20noun,a%20romantic%20or%20sexual%20partner‘.
        
        9 3
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        April 27, 2024 9:38am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        ‘zhuszh’ is to make more stylish, as in “I would zhuszh (up) my hair but since i have none I will polish my scalp instead”.
        
        8 1
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        April 27, 2024 10:31am
      - artemisia
        
        Actually zhuzh (up) is a useful shortcut word.
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:18am
      - Jake Dee
        
        Very interesting that you mentioned that David, I was researching “Zhuzh” (zhoosh or tjuz) just a few weeks ago (words are kind of my thing).
        It came into wider English use via the underground slang or argot known as “Polari” which was used by the European theatrical, carnival and homosexual subcultures of the 19th and 20th centuries (lots of cross over there).
        More recently it’s been used in shows such as “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”. I think I first heard it spoken by the character Chandler Bing on the American TV show “Friends”.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari
        
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        April 27, 2024 5:37pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      1. As vaguely entertaining as it may be to relay the contents of private communications to all & sundry, it is bad manners.
      
      2. Tova O’ Brien likes to paint herself as a political journalist, but once again we find zilch discussion of the politics of the moment. … Nothing about the 3-Strikes law.
      
      3. I suspect Tova O’Brien is now completely out of the loop….she really hasn’t a clue as to what is going on in the corridors of power.
      
      (Disclosure: I’m with D.G. as far as the meaning of eke. … or to eke out is concerned.; but the flow of Americanisms into our language seems inevitable).
      
      18 3
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      April 27, 2024 9:49am
      - David Garrett
        
        Maggy: Talking of manners, this is the generation which thinks it’s quite OK to bray into cellphones in cafes, and to use a person’s Christian name in written communication when they have never met.
        
        YES I am an unashamed curmudgeon! Have been since I was about 30.
        
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        April 27, 2024 10:10am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        No language remains frozen in the vocabulary, meaning or grammar generally accepted at any particular period of time.
        
        5 4
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        April 27, 2024 10:27am
      - AitchW
        
        Maggie W, inevitable and deeply depressing. The English language, a cherished taonga if I may borrow a word from the local patois, is slowly being eroded by generations immersed in American pop culture.
        Split infinitives are now permissible, and text speak is peppered through the language.
        English is a living language which evolves and we should embrace that evolution, however I do find the ‘dumbing down’ sad.
        I remember the witty and erudite speeches from parliamentarians in the 80s then listen to the kindergarten screeching that we hear in the house now and I despair. How ironic that one of the most loquacious speakers is an NZF buffoon!
        
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        April 27, 2024 11:55am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Gosh, the emails read like a Steve Braunias satire of a politician’s diary.
      
      4 5
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      April 27, 2024 10:36am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    “when did having a discussion/debate about something become a “conversation”?
    
    It was one of Jacinda’s favourite terms.
    
    25 1
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    April 27, 2024 8:57am
    - kevn
      
      BY… “yip, yip, that’s what it is”.
      To be said with a smirk.
      
      16 2
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      April 27, 2024 9:03am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        That Jacinda smirk was a nasty one.
        I’ve got you and you can’t stop me smirk.
        
        7 2
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        April 27, 2024 12:14pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Yes a signature piece of disingenuous slime that “conversation” thing.
      
      3 0
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      April 27, 2024 3:36pm
  - Ehlana
    
    About the same time lessons learned became learnings?
    
    14 2
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    April 27, 2024 9:26am
    - David Garrett
      
      Ehlana: Yes, that one must surely be the absolute worst example of newspeak? I was stunned when I heard Amy Adams using it…and she has a firkin law degree FFS..
      
      14 3
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      April 27, 2024 9:33am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        My hate. Using “spend” as a noun.
        
        eg
        
        The Government increased the Health spend.” 🙁
        
        12 2
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        April 27, 2024 9:39am
      - MCōs
        
        I don’t like the words ‘summit’ and ‘medal’ used as verbs or ‘build’ as noun, but I’m in a minority on all those
        Also I don’t think ’schedule’ should be pronounced with a K. I think that might be an American corruption of the King’s English
        
        12 0
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        April 27, 2024 9:58am
      - Ian Boag
        
        ’schedule’ .. with a K
        
        Probably influenced by where you went to shool 🙂
        
        5 0
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        April 27, 2024 2:13pm
  - Yvette
    
    “It is what it is” emphasizes the acceptance of circumstances beyond our control. It carries an implicit recognition that some things in life are immutable, may have always been this way, have lasted an Ardernity, and that expending energy on futile resistance is ultimately fruitless.
    So it means you deal with it, because I won’t – an Ardernism
    
    12 2
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    April 27, 2024 9:28am
    - Omni Consumer Products
      
      Just checking, is an Ardernity 6 years that feels like 60?
      
      7 2
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      April 27, 2024 11:08am
      - Yvette
        
        “It is what it is” always
        
        3 0
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        April 27, 2024 4:03pm
  - Dave
    
    “having a conversation” is newspeak for old-fashioned ‘I talk, you listen in silence, except to express assent.’
    
    14 1
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    April 27, 2024 9:57am
  - lifesgood
    
    Hear, hear David Garrett. I also find the use of “conversation” when what is really meant is “discussion:”, intensely annoying. Same goes for “It is what it is”…means absolutely nothing.
    
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    April 27, 2024 1:32pm
Philview

I see Tova has written an entire article about David Garrett. Although I don’t often agree with Tova’s viewpoints I am drawn to reading them. I give her credit for a sense of humour even if it does have nasty undertones.
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April 27, 2024 8:30am
- David Garrett
  
  Phil: I am just patting myself on the back for being very careful about what I wrote to O’Brien. If she could put my weights up with the NZ Law Society I am quite sure she would, without hesitation.
  
  And the political journo of old who I recommended her to as a lesson on how disinterested political journalism should be done was Lindsay Perigo – long before her time of course.
  
  I was astounded to learn – after he had resigned from TVNZ, calling it “braindead” – that Perigo’s personal politics were well to the right of mine. One would never have guessed from his interviews; he was as hard on right wing polis as he was on left ones.
  
  The contrast being Perigo and O’Brien is stark, and shows how debased and partisan political journalism has become in 40 odd years.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:14am
  - David Garrett
    
    Bugger! “The contrast BETWEEN Perigo and O’Brien is stark… “.
    
    Should have taken my own oft given advice and proof read my comment.
    
    18 4
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    April 27, 2024 9:20am
  - pdm
    
    DG it would be great to see Lindsay Perigo back on TV running interviews again.
    
    Mind you most current politicians, especially the Labour/Greens/Maori Party ones, would fall in a jibbering sniveling heap if confronted by him.
    
    24 2
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    April 27, 2024 9:23am
    - David Garrett
      
      pdm: Perigo was always polite, never raised his voice, and was adept at framing his questions in different ways as politicians obfuscated and otherwise didn’t answer. Quite a different technique from Mike Hosking’s, but often more effective.
      
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      April 27, 2024 9:28am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      He was unintentionally amusing on the short-lived Radio Liberty.
      
      2 13
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      April 27, 2024 10:38am
- Prince
  
  I won’t read O’Brien’s columns.
  They might make me feel unsafe.
  
  26 3
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  April 27, 2024 10:22am
  - Paulus
    
    She is getting the publicity that she craves – so anything including crap gets her heard.
    What is said is irrelevant.
    
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    April 27, 2024 3:47pm
- Sponge
  
  Curiosity got me to go against my better judgement and have a look at it. I haven’t bothered reading Stuff for a long time.
  
  I have read some truly pathetic articles on Stuff but that has to be the most feeble article I have ever seen. If this woman purports to be some sort of quality journalist then she is deluding herself. It is writing I would expect from a year 9 student (and not a bright one at that).
  
  Anyway it reinforced to me why I should give Stuff a miss.
  
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  April 27, 2024 11:36am
Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes

Latest RNZ example of bias and bullshit.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515308/most-horrific-threats-rainbow-storytime-tour-cancellation-draws-outrage
The tag line didn’t include that the outrage is from shaneel lal.
The story didn’t include that Lal is a labour party employee.
The story didn’t include any reference to Lal’s promotion of violence against Posie parker at Albert park.
The story didn’t include the fact Lal is in a state of continual outrage at anyone who disagrees with him.
Other than that, the story was just about some whining drag queen looking for a payout because he was cancelled. Boo f##king hoo
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April 27, 2024 8:56am
- Gravelroad
  
  Perhaps it is the constant direct targeting of children by adults with an agenda that is the problem here?
  Why don’t the drag queens organise a story telling tour around Rotary Clubs or retirement villages and see how they are received?
  Why does it always have to be children who are used as their target audience?
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:19am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Why does it always have to be children who are used as their target audience?
    
    Because they are cradle snatchers. They need to get to children BEFORE they reach puberty, so they can get them on puberty blockers.
    
    Children under the age of puberty are very impressionable sexually. Once puberty kicks in, with all the hormones, boys become boys and girls become girls.
    
    If the sexual deviants can corrupt the children before puberty, they can convert them.
    
    Like docking lambs, if you put the sheep rings on and get rid of the gonads, the rams never get to be rams, just plain old sheep.
    
    Do that to humans and the population become like sheep, with no strong male figures to fight slavery and totalitarianism. A society of eunuchs.
    
    Add in the fertility blocking Covid vaccines, and the human race is doomed and easy to control.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:47am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Yes, its quite simple, predators go where the prey is.
      
      There is no innocent reason for middle aged gay men in drag to be normalising their sexual fetishes with with little children.
      
      12 1
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      April 27, 2024 12:02pm
- Ehlana
  
  That one has to be read to be believed.
  
  First: “helping any children who might eventually discover they are rainbow feel safe and loved.”
  If you thought cats in the classroom were a problem, imagine accommodating a rainbow.
  
  Then this gem: “Rainbow community advocate Shaneel Lal said it was a shame that queer folk had to cancel something to keep both themselves and their communities safe.
  
  “I do not understand why religious extremists are allowed to threaten queer people to an extent that we have to cancel our events but if we showed up to churches every Sunday and demanded with violence and disruption that they shut down it would not be tolerated.””
  
  I do not understand why transgender extremists are allowed to show up at peaceful public assemblies of people who want to share and receive information, drown out and disrupt the speakers so that the event was shut down by the organisers, then violently attack attendees while police stand by and do nothing.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:33am
  - Che Guava
    
    It’s not an extreme position (nor necessarily grounded in religion) to think that the LGBTQI ideology and its manifestations are bizarre and, taken to their logical conclusions, dangerous for society. If anything, theirs is the extreme position.
    
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    April 27, 2024 10:15am
  - Gravelroad
    
    “that we have to cancel our events” says Mr Lal.
    And there we have it- getting dressed up and making public appearances is all about “events” for drag queens.
    And here was me thinking it was a public community service to read nice stories to little kids/
    The point of it is two-fold: “Look at me, look at me, look at me”. And maybe put some ideas into little heads.
    
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    April 27, 2024 1:00pm
- Notsofast
  
  I doubt it included Shaneel Lal’s stated desire to criminally prosecute parents who resist giving their children puberty blockers. This is remarkable given they are now banned in Wales Scotland and England. A gender confused youth dripping in pronouns, in charge of public health policy, it must end badly.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:42am
NeverMindTheBollocks

NZ needs to get tough on immigration scams. Anyone found here on a fake visa or paying for a job needs to be sent packing, no exceptions.

It should also be made a condition of PR or citizenship that anyone convicted for any migrant exploitation scam has that status stripped & sent packing, no exceptions.

Once the message gets around, perhaps the scams will stop, or at least diminish.

http://www.1news.co.nz/2024/04/27/fake-visas-and-jobs-for-sale-among-latest-nz-immigration-scams/
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April 27, 2024 8:58am
- kowtow
  
  Talking of immigration scams I see the Micks are miffed at the number of scamsters crossing the Northern Ireland border into the Republic to escape pending Rwanda deportations from the UK .
  
  They can freely cross cos it was the Micks themselves who insisted the border be seemlees as it were . ( border do matter)
  
  Thefunny thing is these scamsters will have entered the UK from France , an EU state ,where they could claim asylum and are now fleeing to another EU state , where they may be forced to claim asylum.
  
  11 2
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  April 27, 2024 9:30am
  - mogg
    
    They are benefit shopping. Believe it or not Ireland is a softer touch than England.
    
    11 1
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    April 27, 2024 10:38am
  - NoFax
    
    “Micks” – that’s rather repulsive. I see it’s still acceptable to use racist slurs against the Irish.
    
    5 5
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    April 27, 2024 12:18pm
    - mogg
      
      I’m 100% Irish descent, and you’re an idiot.
      
      11 2
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      April 27, 2024 12:55pm
      - NoFax
        
        I’m 100% Irish including being a citizen. “Mick” is clearly a slur so stop your self hate.
        
        2 5
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        April 27, 2024 3:13pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        I know kiwi people who think they are in a Scottish family because a great great grand parent came from there. All seems a bit desperate for a unique identity to me.
        
        2 0
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        April 27, 2024 3:41pm
      - julesnzuk
        
        NZer in exile – are the “kiwi people” half bird, half man? Sounds like something out of the Chronicles of Narnia.
        
        Most of us are ethnically (and ultimately culturally) British (which is probably why we still have the Union Jack on the flag) – that’s our identity. (Note I say “British” rather than trying to split it up into English, Scottish etc).
        
        2 1
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        April 27, 2024 8:44pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Come on now Jules. We all know what Kiwi means in this context.
        
        0 0
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        April 28, 2024 9:03pm
    - kowtow
      
      Tell that to the Irish Guards .
      
      But begob and begorrah , tish a term of endearment , me boyo , aroo araah , and don’t ye be takin’ everyting to heart .
      
      This blog was once dedicated to fomenting happy mischief. innit.
      
      btw What are your feelings re Shakespeare’s “repulsiveness” towards the various ethnic Capts in Henry V .
      
      Macmorris in particular ;
      
      ‘Of my nation! What ish my nation? Ish a villain,
      and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal. What ish…’
      
      But then there’s Fluellen and Jamy too ……not that I’m trying to put myself in such augustcompany as the Bard .
      
      Friendly advice . Don’t get your fax in such a twist.
      
      It’s all just a bit of harmless fun or is you from some university student union or other …….
      
      3 1
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      April 27, 2024 2:48pm
      - NoFax
        
        kowtow, you got called out for using a outdated racist slur and instead of taking it you double down and talk about the Irish guards – I’m not in the guards and neither are you so what’s that got to do with anything?
        Friendly piece of advice, be a man and take criticism and accountability rather than play silly games. This blog is a place for adults.
        
        2 3
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        April 27, 2024 3:19pm
      - kowtow
        
        The Micks ( the Irish Guards ) call themselves Micks , mate.
        
        Stop taking yourself too seriously.
        
        And while I obviously hold no remit for mogg , ( hi mogg, top o’ de mornin’ to ya) you’re an idiot, or should I say eejit , for telling him/her that is a racial slur ( it’s not , it’s a bit of fun) and engaging in ‘self hate ‘, which term is bollocks pseudo psychology .
        
        Get a life.
        
        4 1
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        April 27, 2024 4:01pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

As evidence that tough measures work: the headline says it all. Ditto Australia’s policy of housing illegal migrants on Christmas Island.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/rwanda-bill-causing-migrants-to-opt-for-ireland-deputy-pm-says-13123078
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April 27, 2024 9:03am
Matt Long

“Climate Crisis is destroying the Great Barrier Reef!! 😭”
Climate Crisis also known as Crown of Thorns Starfish causes die back of coral polyps, this can be reversed by selectively killing the starfish.
Who knew combating climate change would be so easy?
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-culling-starfish-great-barrier-reef.html
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April 27, 2024 9:06am
Maggie Pie

Was it one of them again Yogi?

Dudge gives violent offender 45% discount for hitting two Police Offiers (one of them a woman) on the head with a frying pan, leaving them both bloodied and permanently disfigured…..

https://tinyurl.com/4p7ef7z6

The state Labor has left this country in after 6 years of being soft-on-crime still permeates the judiciary. As minister of justice Goldy needs to act. And now!
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April 27, 2024 9:15am
- David Garrett
  
  MP: And totally unrealistic action do you think “Goldy” should take?
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:24am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Not sure if that’s a question or not DG?
    Could you ask it again without moving your lips.
    
    9 2
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    April 27, 2024 9:27am
    - David Garrett
      
      MP: Sorry, I missed out the word “what” from the my comment which should have read:
      
      “And what totally unrealistic action…”
      
      Much as some of us would like it to be the case, governments cannot simply sack judges for handing down decisions they don’t like. The only thing governments can do is appoint judges who have more than a passing acquaintance with the real world, and hope for the best.
      
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      April 27, 2024 9:38am
      - Maggie Pie
        
        I already knew that DG but thort I’d give you a wind up 😀
        
        But honestly, can’t the government take away the ability for judges to hand out these ridiculous ‘discounts’ for violent crimes such as this?
        You can only imagine how the poor cops must be feeling 🙁
        
        18 3
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        April 27, 2024 9:45am
      - David Garrett
        
        MP: As you will know, the government can indeed legislate to set maximum levels of sentence discount etc. I think there is some draft legislation around already; one can only hope it’s better than the disastrous new 3S Bill
        
        12 2
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        April 27, 2024 9:58am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        DG. Can the Govt legislate ‘minimum’ penalties that Dudges have to hand out?
        I see that as something to stop this discharge without conviction after violent crime is committed.
        
        6 2
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        April 27, 2024 11:31am
      - David Garrett
        
        Steve O: In theory at least, governments can legislate for anything, and the convention – i.e. long standing practice – is that the GG will sign it into law on behalf of the King.
        
        We were taught in law school that that convention would hold up so far as a law allowing torture, which the GG would probably NOT sign.
        But in the real world, in that event he or she would simply be replaced by someone with fewer scruples.
        
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        April 27, 2024 1:47pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    From the article: the starting sentence for these crimes was 14 years imprisonment.
    How about doing that then and back-peddle on the excuses which included that the defendant was illiterate, had a very bad background and had fathered his first child at age 13.
    So summon his parents (if they are known) and the organisers of his time in state care to the court with a “please explain “ – seeing as they are to blame for his offending.
    Not going to happen obviously.
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:33am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Why should those factors contribute to a discounted sentence?
      
      Quite the reverse, I would have thought. Start at 14 years and add on a couple more for gathering a child that I’ll bet the traditional servo pie that he has not supported in any way, shape or form (because if he had accepted fatherhood responsibilities then he wouldn’t be bashing cops with a frying pan).
      
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      April 27, 2024 10:00am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, nothing changes until important people get savagely attacked and I stand by this statement as being typical of human nature.
  
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  April 27, 2024 9:36am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    You are sooo right there I&O.
    One of my partners besties is a cop who tells people…. that given his time over again, he would rather have been a list MP for the Greens.
    And he’s not even ghey!!
    
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    April 27, 2024 9:55am
- NZer In Exile
  
  There must be a hell of a lot of victims of violence (and the ridiculous state of the justice system) hurting in silence. Perhaps they should get together and stir up the govt.
  
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  April 27, 2024 3:45pm
Inandout

Michelle (aka Big Mike) shops at a Target store and well, just watch the video.
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/arts/michelle-obama-came-to-a-st-louis-target-and-left-us-a-present-42364845
Good one Michelle, the tight pants are great and so is the yellow top which covers the nether regions well.
6 3
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April 27, 2024 9:26am
- Che Guava
  
  Re-stocking the shelves with toilet paper.
  
  4 3
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  April 27, 2024 9:50am
- Maggie Pie
  
  I’ve watched the vid twice now @ 200% and she
  definately has a 5 o’cock shadow. Is that normal?
  
  6 3
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  April 27, 2024 10:05am
Bridgenag

Friday Funnies: Become Ungovernable
in the face of tyranny

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/friday-funnies-become-ungovernable?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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April 27, 2024 9:55am
Stellaboxer

Poor old blighty . Up to its neck in problems that literally threaten its very fabric it’s supposed centre right Conservative government adopts an anti smoking policy lifted wholesale from the books of the most authoritarian leftwing government New Zealand has ever had. A policy thrown out by an incoming centre right coalition due to the fact that it was ridiculous and unworkable. God help them. The globalists really need to work out that the plebs have the internet as well.
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April 27, 2024 10:03am
Che Guava

Why is a foreign leader demanding that the authorities in a country other than his own act to prevent protests aimed at his country?

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Wednesday that protests at U.S. universities against Israel’s war in Gaza were “horrific” and should be stopped, using his first public comments on the subject to castigate the student demonstrators and portray them as antisemitic.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/us/netanyahu-israel-us-college-protests.html

“The protesters’ main policy demand is that the U.S. government stop sending military aid to Israel. Some students have also called on universities to stop investing in weapons manufacturers and to sell, or divest, holdings in funds and businesses they say profit from Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian lands.”

“Mr. Netanyahu appeared to equate protests against his government’s prosecution of the war Gaza with hatred of Jews. He said the protests on American campuses were “reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s,” an apparent reference to ideologically militant pro-Nazi student groups that, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, worked with the security forces to carry through Hitler’s agenda.
“It’s unconscionable,” he said. “It has to be stopped.””

It tells us a lot about who is really calling the shots in the US when in 2020, the country had months of violent and destructive riots all across the country, including protests at many university campuses, yet almost nothing was done about it. Obviously, the political will was insufficient.

By contrast, you now have a (rapidly growing) group of students legitimately and reasonably protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza (and more so, the American taxpayers’ seemingly limitless sponsorship of the same) and, at the behest of the Israeli PM and the US Jewish Lobby, the authorities are sending in the cops to quickly shut it down.

From their perspective, this cannot be allowed to get out of hand and seriously affect American attitudes towards Israel, because they are going to need US public support (and lots of their money) if they are to continue to wage war throughout the Middle East, which is their intention. Therefore, the 1st Amendment has to go out the window because it undermines Israel.

Think about it: it is evidently more acceptable to criticise the US government in America than it is to criticise the Israeli government in America, a foreign nation. How do we explain this?

Doesn’t this starkly demonstrate my contention that, if you are a US politician, your principal obligation is to act in the interests of Jews and Israel, rather than what is good for America and Americans? Yes, it does.
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April 27, 2024 10:06am
Chuck Bird

I have registered for the one in Te Awamutu. I have a few interesting questions to ask CCC some interesting questions.

Methane Science Accord

It is very important that farmers have their say at these meetings. Do try to attend if at all possible and let the CCC know how their ridiculous recommendations will affect our industry:
Climate Change Commission methane targets consultation meetings.
The Climate Change Commission is running sessions across New Zealand, starting next week, on its consultations on the methane reduction targets and related issues, as mentioned in last week’s e-diaries. The sessions will provide further information and the chance to ask questions and make comments.
Locations: Masterton (Mon 22 Apr), Whānganui (Mon 22 April), Inglewood (Tue 23 Apr), Taupō (Wed 24 Apr), Te Awamutu (Wed 1 May), Wellsford (Thu 2 May), Nelson (Mon 6 May), Gore (Mon 13 May), Oamaru (Tue 14 May) – registration required (click on the location link) and for any questions email. engagement@climatecommission.govt.nz.

https://www.facebook.com/methanescienceaccord
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April 27, 2024 10:21am
Maggie Pie

Took the baby for walkies at Waiata Reserve earlier.
Got talking to one of the girls up there and she asked, “Did you adopt your dog?”
I said… “No no, she’s my biological dog”
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April 27, 2024 10:21am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

NZ does not have a written Constitution.
The Waitangi Tribunal must be abolished.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/how-newshub-and-the-waitangi-tribunal-are-collaborating/
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April 27, 2024 11:01am
Maggie Pie

And remember yesterday, I posted the story on GD where a Judge in Louisiana not only sentenced a Pedo to 50 years imprisonment, but also ordered he be surgically castrated.

How lucky is this guy he chose the UK to live…..

https://twitter.com/RadioGenoa/status/1783548406276755916
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April 27, 2024 11:37am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Can’t even get a man pregnant in prison!
  
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  April 27, 2024 12:16pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  Talking of Pedos.
  
  Top 5 Most Disgusting Facts about Prophet Muhammad!
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm8SlfY4g74
  
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  April 27, 2024 3:53pm
Benedict Yu

This is a long comment, so feel free to skip.

A few days ago I commented that Government agencies seem to be doubling down in their insistence that candidates for jobs be on a “te ao Maori journey” when being on such a journey is (a) tenuous in relation to the demands of the position, and (b) would exclude 99 percent of potential candidates.

To illustrate, I am sharing advertisements for two jobs. One at the Wellington Regional Council. A second at Health New Zealand. One is easy to follow and seems sensible. The other is not.

Wellington Regional Council

“The Advisor Strategy and Performance is responsible for providing advice and supporting the development of strategy and policy relating to issues of strategic significance to the Council, and Executive Leadership Team. It plays a key role in aligning strategic objectives across the organisation to assist in improving organisational performance. …..

“You will ideally have experience with researching and interpreting legislation and knowledge of public policy; political awareness; strategic and conceptual thinking and skills; and highly developed written and oral communication skills, including the ability to effectively communicate with a wide variety of groups and individuals.”

https://www.seek.co.nz/job/75357537?type=standout&ref=search-standalone#sol=4f1e80ca09b8e42b28a84fb10e9b958e3b761ff4

On a quick read, it is clear what the position entails and the skills they are looking for. Good job 🙂

Now Health New Zealand

“The Operational Policy and Strategic Issues team applies their deep policy and advisory capability to work on projects or initiatives of high or future significance to the organisation. In addition to time critical deliverables, the team connects teams and work programmes within Health NZ and with external partners to ensure alignment and consistency, and to support the organisation to participate in and influence strategy and policy decisions that impact Health NZ’s operational priorities. “…

“You will utilise your extensive senior-level networks, interpersonal and relationship building skills to better lead complex, vital pieces of work. Strong internal and external senior stakeholder management experience along with strategic thinking and a high level of analytical ability will be key to success in this role.”

“You will bring:

A commitment to being a good Te Tiriti partner in all your actions. This includes an understanding of the significance of and obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the ability to apply Te Tiriti principles in a meaningful way in this role

Competency with te ao Māori, tikanga, and te reo Māori or a commitment to starting your journey and taking ownership of your learning and growth.

… and about Health NZ

“At Health NZ we acknowledge and respect our people’s diversity and spiritual needs, ensuring a safe workplace that is a whānau orientated and supportive environment. We are working towards a system that better meets the complex demands of a growing population, addresses the persistent inequalities experienced by Māori and ensures greater access, experience and outcomes for those traditionally not well served by the system – Māori, Pacific and Disabled People….”

and it goes on….

https://www.seek.co.nz/job/75336526?type=standout&ref=search-standalone#sol=2841777aef51e24d216ee39ca27e4532701cdda8

The two positions share some similarities. However, the first position is described in a way that is intuitively easy to understand. The second is not, and it has this the “te ao Maori” journey requirement.

They finish off by insisting that your cover letter tells them about your “whānau life, community or mahi aroha”. Why is it their business, or relevant to the job?

Such job specs did not exist in the state sector even a couple of years ago, unless the positions were specialist Maori roles.

Does this matter?

Yes.

Assuming that this person is supposed to be lifting health outcomes, they will need hard analysis skills and an understanding of, and commitment to, Government health targets.

People are everything. I have little doubt that this doubling down on te ao Maori requirements is Health NZ rebelling against the new Government.
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April 27, 2024 11:50am
- AitchW
  
  Good grief. No sane, thinking rational person would even consider answering that litany of buzzwords and wokistry. I hope the new government succeeds in winkling out the drones who produce such dross.
  I fear they will not given that the public service appears to be full of jobsworths protecting their little patch.
  
  13 1
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  April 27, 2024 12:06pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    ” I hope the new government succeeds in winkling out the drones who produce such dross.”
    
    This is a bold and depressing prediction. I think that this problem will worsen over the term of this government rather than be eradicated.
    
    13 1
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    April 27, 2024 12:20pm
    - Inandout
      
      BY, sadly you are correct because government departments appear to simply give the fingers to the Coalition over Maori dross saturating all aspects of health care. The frustrated workers simply up sticks and emigrate.
      
      8 3
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      April 27, 2024 12:42pm
    - AitchW
      
      Benedict, it was an expression of hope, not a prediction. I fear that the left leaning public service will sabotage every government initiative that it can using the time honoured death by a thousand cuts.
      It’s become abundantly clear that “Yes, Minister” was a documentary not a comedy.
      
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      April 27, 2024 3:41pm
- wsk12345
  
  Having worked as an analyst, manager of analysts, or some version of this in public and private for a n decade or 3, and had some time off after being fired during the mandates, I’ve thought about getting back into the workforce. But 99% of the jobs I should be “qualified” for require idiocy such as this. Doesn’t matter if it’s in dairy, utilities or health – your willingness to support woke rainbow shit and woke Maori shit is critical.
  
  They are going to miss out on a lot of good people who have options that don’t involve kow towing to this sht.
  
  17 3
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  April 27, 2024 12:16pm
- virtualmark
  
  Great examples. And so disappointingly unsurprising.
  
  But isn’t this a Nicola Willis responsibility as Minister for the Public Service (previously known as the Minister for State Services)?
  
  Not that it’s her job to write the job advertisements … but the Govt is currently recruiting a new Public Service Commissioner and that’s the perfect opportunity to bring in a new broom who’d set some new standards.
  
  Wonder if Steven Joyce would like the job? He’d certainly bring a different approach.
  
  (Narrator: I very much doubt Steven Joyce would want the job)
  
  9 4
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  April 27, 2024 12:18pm
  - virtualmark
    
    This appointment of a new Public Service Commissioner will be one of the most consequential decisions this Luxon government will take. It will have more influence on whether they get their agenda implemented (or not) than practically all of the Cabinet appointments.
    
    Whoever they appoint will drive the appointment of the other public service CEOs and will set the overall tone and culture of the public service.
    
    Get it right and you can rebuild a smaller leaner public service that is focused on delivery. Get it wrong and you will have a public service that writes more job adverts like the one Benedict has shown above.
    
    9 3
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    April 27, 2024 12:43pm
    - Mike
      
      Do you have any confidence this government would appoint someone such as you describe?
      
      6 1
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      April 27, 2024 12:49pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Hmm. Perhaps one of us should apply.
      
      Not Milky, obviously.
      
      3 1
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      April 27, 2024 2:53pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Health NZ rebelling against the Govt needs to be nipped in the bud.
  It is pure racism.
  Just think, the Net Taxpayer is paying for a certain group to make that shit up.
  
  9 4
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  April 27, 2024 12:19pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    It won’t happen. If 6 months into the Government’s term things are getting worse, you can forget it.
    
    12 1
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    April 27, 2024 12:21pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  For the organization to be ‘rebelling’ against the government it would need to be ignoring legislation or specific government directions to its board. Otherwise, it’s a matter for the board to consider, among many other things, whether the chief executive should be eliminating references to te ao Māori in the organization’s recruitment advertising. You and I might disagree on where this matter should sit in the Board or CE’s priorities.
  
  3 4
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  April 27, 2024 12:30pm
- Ehlana
  
  Does Health NZ discriminate against applicants who don’t have families they approve of? How then does it serve the needs of single New Zealanders?
  
  And what is mahi aroha?
  
  4 0
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  April 27, 2024 3:13pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    mahi aroha… work you do out of love… not for payment
    
    … Voluntary work
    
    2 0
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    April 27, 2024 3:57pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Seymour on the cancelled ‘Free Speech’ event.
Students freaked out by right wing voices.
Poor little petals. They could just sit and listen at the debate. Turn the ears off when the hurty bits are said.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/seymour-decries-uni-s-postponement-of-free-speech-event-after-students-freaked-out-by-right-wing-voices/ar-AA1nK3wo?
7 3
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April 27, 2024 12:27pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump Tax Law to expire. Taxes will go up.

‘That tax cut is going to expire. If I’m re-elected, it’s going to stay expired.” Jo Biden.
Biden wants to be re-elected yet he says stupid shit like that.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/calculator-reveals-how-expiring-trump-tax-law-hikes-every-income-group/ar-AA1nJ1u3?
3 4
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April 27, 2024 12:34pm
- Mike
  
  What’s Trump’s plan to reduce the federal deficit and reduce the national debt?
  
  4 4
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  April 27, 2024 12:42pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Simple, Mike.
    MAGA. It worked last time, and would be working now except for a tiny little bit of nasty cheating.
    Sorry, you will not find that info on CNN, MSNBC. Not even your local “Strandard.”
    
    4 2
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    April 27, 2024 3:38pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Baltimore Bridge.
Imagine if this was Auckland Harbour Bridge. The engineers would still be out there in white coats, making notes on a clipboard. Three day meetings to combine idea. Another month of inspecting, more meetings
Although the Baltimore Bridge is not fixed, the city is now getting freight.
Americans can get shit done!

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/first-cargo-ships-pass-through-baltimore-bridge-after-collapse/ar-AA1nISQK?
6 2
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April 27, 2024 12:39pm
Andrew Worth

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515314/injured-man-gives-up-waiting-for-help-after-seven-hours-at-hospital-ed

Very similar to my experience of a couple of weeks ago.
A deep wound to a finger appeared to become infected with rapidly spreading swelling a week after the initial injury. So at 4 in the morning I went to A&E, though only one other person was in the waiting room, it was 2 hours before being admitted.
They were quick to take blood samples to check for infection, but after that, and an x-ray at 9am, nothing – apart from checking pulse and blood pressure until mid-day, at which time I removed the lure from my arm and walked out – by which time there were over 100 people in the waiting room.
My expectation going in had been cleaning the wound, which had gotten dirt into it a few hours before it appeared infected, antibiotics and a quick discharge with instructions to keep an eye on it.
So 8 hours in A&E without real treatment.
The next day I went to Lakes Prime Care and quickly got proper care and the required treatment.

A&E has become a joke where the junior doctors just piss about operating under a CYA regime, excuses can always be found for buck passing to the next specialist or the next shift, because if you don’t treat a problem, you can’t be accused of making a mistake in that treatment.
9 4
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April 27, 2024 12:57pm
- herb1
  
  I don’t think it’s that simple Andrew. There’s just not enough staff in A and E.
  I’ve spent a bit of time there in last few years due to accidents and medical problems. Last time just before Christmas I went in after a bike crash and aside from very little skin on one side and I bit of chest pain , thought I was fine. When I went through from waiting room I was being treated by 1 nurse , next thing after passing out I came to and there were 12 people there looking after me. Sent away for blood tests and scans at 10 pm. Then taken to a room were a nurse monitored me regularly . Wasn’t till 8 next morning they told me what was wrong. I’d broken a rib and had a heart attack. Doctor apologised and said they’d had a terrible night losing 2 patients they couldn’t keep alive. I was Ok and being monitored . They simply have to prioritise but as I
  Found out if necessary they’re there to help. One of my nurses who was incredibly attentive and cheerful had done 15hours at that stage because of staff shortages.
  
  11 1
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  April 27, 2024 1:55pm
  - Andrew Worth
    
    Your medical problem was not my medical problem, my issue was sorted with less man-hours spent on me at Prime Care than were spent on me at A&E. A&E did not provide treatment, prime care did.
    I could mention the previous time I was in A&E, when they misdiagnosed my problem – the attending doctor simply chose to not believe my description of the symptoms – a knee bending in a direction that knees are not supposed to bend – a subsequent MRI through my GP revealed an almost complete tearing of the ACL and MCL, the young A&E doctor decided I was just imagining the symptoms I described.
    
    6 0
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    April 27, 2024 2:51pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Keep off the bike, Herb. Those contraptions are dangerous!
    
    4 0
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    April 27, 2024 2:56pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVPvYryd3tc
Viral Video by Protest Leader is Shocking!
A shocking viral video surfaced (courtesy of the Daily Wire) of Khymani James, a student leading the antisemitic protests at Columbia University, declaring, “Zionists don’t deserve to live. . . . I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die.” The Sekulow team discusses the unhinged rant and the ongoing college protests, President Biden’s abusing the EPA to push a radical green agenda, an ACLJ case defending a teacher’s First Amendment right to prayer, the latest on President Trump’s legal cases – and much more. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also joins. [Reason 958 why governments should not be funding edgermacation.]
5 4
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April 27, 2024 1:03pm
- Inandout
  
  sun, here is the latest Columbia University finance statement and endowments are quite substantial. I would imagine any NY Jew hearing this would withdraw support for such a Nazi institution.
  https://www.finance.columbia.edu/news/financial-statements-released-fiscal-2023
  
  6 1
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  April 27, 2024 2:12pm
  - sungsamning
    
    I sure hope they do.
    
    3 0
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    April 27, 2024 5:54pm
- Che Guava
  
  Does some student “ranting” at a protest in America in any way detract from the appalling actions of Israel that the students are protesting about? I wouldn’t have thought so.
  
  While Zionists are pointing to what some student has to say and expecting sympathy for something that was said, Zionists are currently engaged in the 6-month old invasion of Gaza and already have killed tens of thousands of civilians in doing so. Obviously, the thing that is being protested against is far far worse than anything the protestors are doing or saying.
  
  1 4
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  April 27, 2024 3:30pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    ‘tens of thousands of civilians’
    Prove it or it didnt happen
    
    5 1
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    April 27, 2024 5:49pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enZI9Nslp-Y
The WHO’s Pandemic Treaty Is Collapsing!
The treaty is the one main threat to humanity that stands currently. Forget everything else for five minutes whilst we dismantle this absolute tyrannical treaty.
4 3
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April 27, 2024 1:04pm
MCōs

Maybe Mr Tamaki should tidy up his own backyard
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/destiny-church-member-ashara-kingi-jailed-for-stealing-377000-from-her-employer/NECY5JDQUFFTNAUVF6TGSSQ6GM/
8 5
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April 27, 2024 1:06pm
- Ghost
  
  $47,135 on fast food, damn.
  
  3 0
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  April 27, 2024 1:15pm
  - MCōs
    
    I worked with three women in positions of trust in various offices over the years who stole money. Two of them to cover gambling debts and the other because she could and it became an addiction
    
    3 1
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    April 27, 2024 1:39pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Sounds like you weren’t ‘tidying up your back yard’
      Surely if you claim Tamaki should have known about what one of his members was doing shouldn’t you have known about your work colleagues?
      Double standard much?
      
      4 1
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      April 27, 2024 4:04pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Straw clutch much?
  What has her theft got to do with the Bish?
  Clearly nothing whatsoever except she was a parishoner….
  
  6 0
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  April 27, 2024 2:43pm
- Che Guava
  
  How is her being a member of Destiny Church in any way relevant?
  
  8 1
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  April 27, 2024 3:14pm
  - Ghost
    
    She was hired because he knew she was a ‘respected’ member of the cult
    
    1 4
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    April 27, 2024 3:27pm
    - Che Guava
      
      So?
      
      2 0
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      April 27, 2024 3:33pm
      - Ghost
        
        So, it’s relevant you the story and the court case.
        
        2 2
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        April 27, 2024 3:44pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Could not read – paywalled.
  She stole from her employer. What has that got to do with Destiny and Tamaki? Did she give the stolen proceeds to the Church?
  As I said, I could not read the item.
  
  6 1
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  April 27, 2024 3:53pm
Maggie Pie

Tell you something else that really gets my goat… the number of Muslims who call their kids ‘Mohammad’. There was tweet yesterday from a devout Christian woman in Palmy who wanted to call her new born son Jesus and said she was turned down.
15 2
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April 27, 2024 1:32pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, that name is common in South America.
  
  6 1
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  April 27, 2024 2:03pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Would you believe it’s the most popular name in the whole wide world!
    
    Source – Wiki
    
    4 1
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    April 27, 2024 2:36pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Out over the west and south the kids are called “HEY!”
  
  5 1
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  April 27, 2024 3:55pm
- MCōs
  
  The issue isn’t whether or not Muslims should name kids Mohammad or similar, but why most Christians don’t find it acceptable to call their kids Jesus or similar
  
  2 0
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  April 27, 2024 7:18pm
Ghost

Sorry, but this is how you start to lose any support you had

Children scream ‘free Palestine’ during drag queen story time
10 1
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April 27, 2024 2:32pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Just watched that Ghost. Poor kids. They are happy, but happy with being brainwashed buy mentally disturbed retards. The parents are just as bad and let it happen.
  I do hope my 10 month old Great Grandson is kept away from this weirdness.
  
  4 1
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  April 27, 2024 4:53pm
- MCōs
  
  I would agree, but not worse than encouraging kids to parrot any pledge, creed, slogan or affirmation they don’t understand until it fries their brain
  
  2 0
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  April 27, 2024 7:32pm
lifesgood

Disgusting! How is this permitted?
3 0
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April 27, 2024 2:48pm
Chuck Bird

The Jews near the border of Gaza who helped those in Gaza were killed, raped and taken hostage.

Resolved to Finish the Job | Jerusalem Dateline – April 26, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJSzhljHvQA
5 3
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April 27, 2024 3:04pm
- All_on_Red
  
  They are going back into Rafah again soon.
  Couple more battalions of Hamas still to deal with.
  Looks like Israel is establishing a Refugee Camp near Khan Younis where screened Gazans can be safe from the battle.
  Just like when they moved them South whilst Israel fought above the Northern Line.
  
  5 2
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  April 27, 2024 4:08pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    The sanitation setup must be a nightmare in the tent city. Expect to see the likes of cholera show up sometime soon.
    
    3 2
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    April 27, 2024 4:28pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      More deaths Hamas will be responsible for.
      If only they had done nothing on Oct 7
      
      6 3
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      April 27, 2024 5:51pm
Maggie Pie

What’s going on at ‘The NZHorrid’ 🙁

Yesterday, they had Charlie dead & buried with the headline….. ‘Palace making preparations for King’s funeral’

Sky reporting today, he intends returning to ‘Royal Duties’ next week!

Klik bate?
11 1
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April 27, 2024 3:38pm
- AitchW
  
  Royal reporters interviewing their typewriters.
  
  6 0
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  April 27, 2024 3:46pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Yeah I saw that too. The palace probably has funeral plans for everyone, young and old, just in case. Can’t imagine they would be totally unprepared.
  
  7 1
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  April 27, 2024 3:53pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Indeed.
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Menai_Bridge
    
    3 0
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    April 27, 2024 6:24pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Must be a Klicker – you did MP!
  
  3 3
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  April 27, 2024 5:54pm
- MCōs
  
  He the same age as myself
  Of course he’s given some thought to his funeral
  
  0 0
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  April 27, 2024 7:09pm
NZer In Exile

US sperm donors are getting pinged for child support regardless of agreement that the donation be anonymous and/or without child-raising obligations.

MAN WHO DONATED SP*RM FORCED TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT! 40% OF HIS PAYCHECK FOR 18 YEARS TO EARN $150
https://www.bitchute.com/video/woo7d2RnyZw/

Probably wise to avoid being a donor in today’s clown world.
12 1
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April 27, 2024 4:19pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  That is sooo terrible! My partner’s a sperm donor.
  Said he’s calling the clinic first thing Monday morning and telling them he can’t come.
  
  10 5
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  April 27, 2024 4:57pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Yes we know you are a parody account. You might be a bot in Pakistan. 😅
    
    6 2
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    April 27, 2024 5:49pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Dry joke.
    
    4 2
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    April 27, 2024 5:55pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  What a wanker that US guy is.
  
  5 2
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  April 27, 2024 5:58pm
Ghost

Seems to be a push of bird flu articles the past few weeks…

One in five samples of milk from grocery store shelves tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced late April 25.

Article
3 0
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April 27, 2024 6:02pm

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