About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

August 22, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 22 August 2024

Like this:

Like Loading...

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment251

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (251)

Login to comment or vote

NeverMindTheBollocks

Christopher Luxon tore local government a new one. At the LGNZ conference at the new Wellington convention centre:

“The building we’re in today is a classic example. With pipes bursting and other infrastructure under pressure, Wellington City Council decided to spend $180 million of ratepayers’ money on a convention centre, which, according to public reporting, is now losing money,” he said.

But you can’t teach some people:

Greater Wellington councillor Thomas Nash called Luxon’s speech “one of the most mana diminishing, paternalistic and visionless speeches to a group of people I have ever heard”.

So, financial responsibility is mana diminishing, eh Thomas?

What a tosser.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350385950/christopher-luxon-swipes-councils-taking-aim-white-elephant-hes-speaking
66 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:01am
- Damocles11
  
  Thomas Nash epitomises the problem with many councils in NZ, they are overrun with Leftist bilge spouting numpties. Here’s a ‘vision’ for you Thomas: get back to providing the basic services that ratepayers need and pay for, and chuck your rainbows and unicorns bull dust in the rubbish bin where it belongs.
  
  55 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:44am
  - AitchW
    
    Surely ones earns mana by ones actions. Mere words can’t diminish such a powerful and cherished taonga.
    
    17 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:06am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Surely ones earns mana by ones actions.
      
      Not necessarily so in the Maori world.
      
      Mana is also inherited through Family (chiefly) lines.
      
      2 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 5:02pm
      - julesnzuk
        
        Exactly like the British aristocracy then.
        
        0 0
        Report
        August 24, 2024 2:58am
  - Ian Boag
    
    they are overrun with Leftist bilge spouting numpties
    
    Elected numpties I guess. Elected by more numpties I suppose. Obviously there is something that stops the non-numpties from voting …. 🙂
    
    I guess it’s a lot easier to whinge from behind a handle than it is to get and and try to influence who gets elected ….
    
    5 7
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:38pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      So Ian – ze criticism ist verboten.
      
      5 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 1:52pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        You are perfectly free to criticize any democratically elected folk. Although calling then “numpties” is a pretty juvenile way of saying “I disagree with them” …. 🙂
        
        And of course you could just criticise the policies that grind your gears …
        
        3 3
        Report
        August 22, 2024 4:17pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Ian
        Looks to me like Damocles was describing them rather than disagreeing with them
        Numpty means silly or stupid person so Leftist Bilge spouting silly stupid person is probably an accurate description of many Councilor’s
        I think the low Voter turnout (a different subject) is probably due to people dissatisfied with who stands and that no matter who stands the Council Executive ignores them anyway- entities like Auckland Transport as an example
        But hey, you troll away as your want.
        
        3 1
        Report
        August 22, 2024 5:40pm
    - Damocles11
      
      Can I call Labour politicians ‘numpties’ mate? Let me know. Someone called ACT supporters ‘bootlickers’ yesterday, that seems a level above ‘numpties’. Sorry to upset your delicate sensibilities by using such profane terminology to describe our wonderful elected representatives, in hindsight I agree with you: they are all marvellous.
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 5:09pm
- Biscuit
  
  Never heard of the chap before.
  
  But a quick check of his bio reveals a political bias:
  
  thomas.nash@greens.org.nz
  
  33 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:52am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    That explains everything.
    
    14 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 12:12pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Yet people are saying it is one of Luxon best public speech? Just perhaps the fool that commented is part of the problem
  
  26 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:54am
- rjay
  
  A curia poll found that half of local councils are above average and half are below average. That was valuable information to spend ratepayers money finding out.
  
  Local government issues poll
  
  [Mod – fixed link]
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 12:58pm
- John Loveridge
  
  I said something yesterday to the effect that the moans and groans epitomised councillors’ utter contempt for ratepayers. Nash deserves a kick in the arse.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 6:50pm
- wisteria
  
  He was interviewed by Heather du Plessis Allen tonight and I couldn,t believe how pathetic he was. He would not take any responsibility for decisions made by previous Councils.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:01pm
Simon

Who poses a bigger threat to NZ? China or DNC run Merica.

The threats from DEI US come in the forms political, economic and cultural. In time it might even be military.

Compared a Democrat run Merica with the harm to NZ , China poses no threat at all.

Trump should win this time, but the writing is on the wall. Check Luxon’s speech in Sydney. He could have been talking about Merica.
12 13
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:02am
- cmm
  
  Or, maybe just the CIA/ military industrial complex run America.
  
  Them bastards cost me two years of my life wearing browns in the SA Army.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:43am
  - mawm
    
    Didn’t you get the 15 years afterwards? That’s the bit that cost me dearly.
    
    0 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 3:20pm
- Lance
  
  WTF are you on about?
  As fas as I can see the threat to NZ are ruinous tariffs Trump wants to put on imports.
  
  8 16
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:17am
  - alphabeatrium
    
    It really irks me that the Republicans claim to be on the side of limited government, lower taxes, etc. but also want to raise tariffs. I’m pretty much on board with much of the GOP, except on trade policy.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 11:17am
  - Jake Dee
    
    Name one lunatic ideology or ghastly social trend that has hit New Zealand in the last 25 years that wasn’t transmitted here by the USA.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 6:09pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

It’s only a matter of time before an EV fire breaks out overnight in an apartment building car park, killing more people than at Loafers Lodge.

What will the EV advocates say then?

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/525817/residents-evacuated-after-fire-in-auckland-apartment-building
31 3
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:03am
- p5
  
  Overwhelming leading cause of house fires are stoves and heaters.
  
  https://fyi.org.nz/request/21626/response/82118/attach/5/OIA2023%2000009936%20Residential%20Structure%20Fire%20statistics%20since%20Jan%202021%20Response.pdf
  
  “What will the stove advocates say now?”
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:11pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Not the point, P5.
    
    I’m referring to apartment building fires, not surburban house fires – quite a different beast. More specifically, I’m referring to runaway fires in the basement parking area, caused by an EV battery burning out of control.
    
    Put another way, how many stove fires have caused the sinking of car-transporting ships in the last three years, compared to the number of ships lost through EV battery runaway fires?
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 6:04pm
    - p5
      
      Ships aren’t packed with operating stoves. Around 90% of fire deaths come from cooking and heating, equivalent to countless loafers lodges each year. While there is a risk from EVs that should be mitigated, suggesting that EVs shouldn’t be used on account is no more logical than suggesting that we shouldn’t cook.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:40pm
- Hard Cheese
  
  I say that there have been only 455 verifiable fires caused by battery thermal runaway in an EV, globally, since 2010.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJkOk2q5lEw&t=454s
  
  https://www.evfiresafe.com/_files/ugd/8b9ad1_01aa449ee5074086a55cb42aa7603f40.pdf
  
  According to data from the NTSB:
  
  Battery-electric vehicles are only .03% likely to ignite, compared to 1.5% for gas-powered vehicles and 3.4% for hybrid vehicles.
  
  1 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 3:14pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    EVs were few in number in 2010, so it’s a misleading comparative.
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 6:05pm
    - losingtheplot
      
      No, it isn’t. The figures were calculated per 100 000 vehicles sold of each type, so it was like for like. EV fire risk is much lower than petrol. This holds in studies from other countries.
      
      https://www.kbb.com/car-news/study-electric-vehicles-involved-in-fewest-car-fires/
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:14pm
    - p5
      
      “Since 2010” also includes 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and some of 2023. Some of the highest years on record for EV sales.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:42pm
Matt Long

A very good speech by Christopher Luxon to the LGNZ rort, as reported by Jordan Williams of the taxpayers union.
Note, we ratepayers paid for 45 minutes of Powhiri before wokefest began.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=817548300542544&id=100068621452845
70 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:07am
- Matt Long
  
  The key part of wokefest from LGNZ’s point of view appears to be fighting to prevent local voters having a say on Maori Wards.
  https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/08/22/council-leaders-vote-to-challenge-new-maori-ward-polling-law/
  
  63 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:10am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Councils wanting Maori Wards want Democracy, but Democracy only once the Council has implemented the Maori Wards without the local vote on whether they should have Maori Wards or not.
    Strange sort of Democracy to me.
    
    50 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:32am
    - AitchW
      
      It would appear that some democracy is more democratic than others.
      (Apologies to George Orwell)
      
      20 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 10:09am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Democracy about how you elect (or don’t) a council that wants (or doesn’t want) Maori wards.
      
      I reckon there should be referenda on rates increases like “shall we have 5% or 20%?”. Here in Palmy it would be “shall we persevere with what is happening on Featherston St?”. So many chances for some serious democracy.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 1:42pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Typical diversion Ian Boag. Best you read my comment again.
        Featherston St in Palmy? Wow man, wow!
        
        0 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 4:23pm
  - all true
    
    That’s happens if you vote in the Greens, Labour and if you still have a Maori Board instead one vote each person.
    
    26 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:00am
  - JJ56
    
    In Kapiti it appears that their idea of democracy is a Maori Ward that has 4,930 population per Councillor, while the rest 6,690. A couple of district wide Councillors for all rounds it off.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 12:40pm
- Yabster
  
  Yes have read the speech – very good, the comments by the Wellington Mayor re Maori wards (politicians shld decide according to her) was typical of her focus.
  
  Glad Chch has pulled out of the socialist LGNZ (they supported 3 waters) -apparently at the end of the speech the audience and Sam Broughton was very disrespectful -what Selwyn voters see in communist Sam is beyond me. As Luxon said all ratepayers want is for councils to do the basics well – focus on that!
  
  44 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:17am
  - pdm
    
    Everyone should email it to their local Council CEO’s.
    
    I did last evening to the Hastings District Council CEO just in case he missed it.
    
    23 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:32am
    - Paulus
      
      Remember the CEO is the sole employer of all Council Staff – Mayors and Councillors have no say there whatsoever.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 2:15pm
  - Damocles11
    
    Sam was wearing a massive pounamu pendant in one photo I’ve seen. This is the new symbol ‘Te Tiriti Marxists’ use to signal to one another. Chloe is another one: dressed up in Parliament in standard TPM clobber of a black funereal dress & obligatory massive greenstone pendant; she desperately wants to be Maori.
    
    35 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:48am
    - Cassandra
      
      Plus the Arab scarf. Strange people – in much of Arabia gay people are mistreated – killed – yet the Greens support them. “Catholics for the KKK!”.
      
      16 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 10:33am
      - Conservatarian
        
        “Chickens for KFC”
        
        15 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 11:38am
    - Rigby
      
      Chloe’s attire is not surprising. There is a split in the greens and Chloe was referenced as being a fragile white woman from within her own party. She will be desperately trying to not have that stick. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her ditch the scarf and start wearing feathers around her neck.
      
      16 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:12am
    - Grunter
      
      Yep – Grant Robertson has his dangling around his neck as well. Just to make it clear that Otago Uni is the central indoctrination centre for ‘Te Tiriti DEI Marism’.
      
      Don’t send your kids there, they will almost certainly come out completely brainwashed beyond repair.
      
      18 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:21am
    - crikey
      
      If she wants to be Maori she can be merely by asserting. No need now to have a little maori in you.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 12:35pm
  - grumpy
    
    Yes, Sam has turned into a far left shill. Thank God he is not standing again.
    
    21 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:05am
    - PeeJay
      
      From some contacts I have who work with and for Selwyn District Council, there is some seriously odd stuff going on there. Allegedly there has been at least one SFO investigation into a senior staff member, very odd procurement practices, some manager signing his staff’s names on documents, some pretty intense bullying and so on. Apparently some staff are so concerned about some managers that they have raised their concerns at CE level only to be told to work through the system and bring their concerns about their managers to their managers! Nothing on record and none are stupid enough to put their neck on the line and raise formal complaints and lose their roles (which seems to be local government approach – fire the bullied and protect the dodgy). I’ve suggested to a couple of folks I know out there that they should get in touch with the Taxpayers Union but so far they are being pragmatic and looking for new roles. Very concerning from the sounds of it.
      
      10 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 10:56am
      - Paulus
        
        As before the CEO is the only employer of all Staff !
        
        0 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 2:17pm
    - Bloody Dago
      
      He’ll turn up in another trough around Wellington somewhere. Marxists commonly assimilate by parasitic symbiotic relationships where they eventually financially suffocate the host. (Wellington Ratepayers are his last victims) so beware of these carving wearing fraudulent fakes asking/taking your money🤬🤬🤬
      
      14 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 12:15pm
  - Paulus
    
    Doing Basics well is not in the vocabulary of many Council staff, and some Councillors, and they will fight lie and cheat, as usual, to get ratepayers money for pet themes.
    Corruption is sadly now found in New Zealand.
    Well done Helen Clark, and the now American, Jacinda Ardern.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 2:14pm
- Swifty
  
  This is quite revealing.
  
  Wellington Regional Councillor Thomas Nash who said that Luxon’s speech was belittling, gets absolutely caned on X.
  
  https://x.com/nashthomas/status/1826119741695734034
  
  Heh.
  
  38 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:21am
  - Damocles11
    
    Tuku Morgan now speaking out against special rights and privileges for part-Maori:
    
    “We are citizens of this country, and we have the same rights as everyone else.” 🫶
    
    https://x.com/dbseymour/status/1826376549375111660
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:11pm
- pdm
  
  Matt on the subject of Powhiri.
  
  I see that a Powhiri was held at Omahu Marae (Fernhill) when a team went out to fix potholes on the Napier to Taihape Road.
  
  What utter bullshit.
  
  57 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:21am
  - alex Masterley
    
    Panuku Auckland are upgrading the breakwater at Westhaven Marina to provide better protection from adverse weather events and predicted sea level rises.
    4 different Iwi groups turned up for the pre-commencement blessing (and tea and cakes afterwards). There was a bit of a barney about who had priority.
    The police had to be called to separate the groups.
    There was quite a bit of sniggering from the sidelines
    
    69 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:27am
    - Swifty
      
      Hahahahahahah!
      
      20 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 8:35am
    - Grunter
      
      I wonder what they were arguing about? Who had the most quantum of Maori blood, or who had the right Maori blood?
      
      Maybe some of them just weren’t the right Maoris?
      
      24 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 8:58am
      - Dave
        
        Or maybe each ostentatiously asserting their exclusive rights to that piece of the coast?
        
        4 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 2:56pm
    - kowtow
      
      Widely covered by te media paahti ………
      
      18 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:02am
    - PurplePen
      
      Correct. South Island Maori don’t particularly like North Island Maori or the central and northern tribes of North Island. They drove them south to cooler climes and likely ate quite a few in the process.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:14am
  - Conservatarian
    
    I led a technically focused training session yesterday in my government job. I did not start (and never have started) the session with a Maori prayer and no pronouns were shared. I just focused on the technical job at hand.
    
    No-one died. No-one complained. Skills and wisdom were imparted.
    
    21 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 11:42am
- artemisia
  
  Local Government. Who is reading the Wellington room?
  
  Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: “Ratepayers are sick of the white elephants and non-delivery. So, my challenge to all of you is to rein in the fantasies and to get back to delivering the basics brilliantly.”
  
  Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau: “Barking at us that we need to be better is tired and unhelpful”
  
  Green Party Maori Ward councillor Nīkau Wi Neera: the Government’s announcements were an “unbelievable executive overreach”.
  
  Green Party regional councillor Thomas Nash: “Luxon’s speech was “one of the most mana diminishing, paternalistic and visionless speeches to a group of people I have ever heard”.
  
  60 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:23am
  - alex Masterley
    
    The Prime Minister should have announced the removal of the power of general comptence given to Local Bodies by the Helen Clark led Labour government.
    The reaction would have been funny to watch.
    
    53 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:29am
    - Swifty
      
      That’s when the rot really started in my humble view.
      
      I was at Auckland City Council when that came in and, in my youthful ignorance, thought “what can be wrong with that?”
      
      I’ve woken up since. It was an open license for do-gooders to flood to councils wanting to change the world, rather than focus solely on the core essentials.
      
      I remember a few years back looking in some detail at the bios of Wellington Council candidates immediately before an election – whole legions of them wanting to get elected on social justice, BLM, trans rights and climate agendas and with not a peep about pipes or other infrastructure.
      
      37 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 8:47am
    - Cassandra
      
      I think he did indirectly. GBL.
      
      12 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 8:52am
    - Southtop2
      
      Good call Alex. I know I harp on about it but the 2002 Local Government Act has caused this country to slide into near third world status in many regions and no amount of amalgamations or Luxton talkfest will repair it. A deliberate move by Clark to increase taxes but not having central government blamed.
      Repeal the Act – change the rules so they must focus on core services!
      
      28 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:22am
  - Warren Murray
    
    I thought Nash was a Labour-affiliated councillor. Regardless of which looney-leftist cult he identifies with, his grizzles were music to my ears.
    
    I’m also very pleased to hear the conference is devoted to fighting allowing voters a say on Maori Wards as it’s a battle they’ve already lost. Every council that pushes on with having a referendum on it next year will be setting the stage for a multiple defacto local referenda on the Treaty itself, which will be good for Act and NZF while giving Luxon food-for-thought.
    
    33 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:31am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Time for quite a few people in Wellington to grow up.
    How about facing the increasingly urgent issues that need to be addressed rather than taking everything personally?
    The time for hurty feelings is over.
    Get on with providing realistic regional governance.
    Fix the pipes.
    Be professional.
    
    51 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:35am
  - Eastlander
    
    They all think they’re running miniature parliaments entitled to tax and spend and ‘transform’ without regard to central government or even their own constituents. Incidentally, a key Blairite Labour strategy was to devolve as much power as possible away from parliament to QUANGOs and local authorities dominated by Labour activists, in order to make their changes impossible to reverse. It is hardly necessary to mention that Ardern worked in Blair’s office.
    
    The entire local government edifice has got to be dismantled and rebuilt from scratch. Practically all council staff have to go because nothing is ever going to convince them that they are there to serve the public through boring stewardship of boring things. Confiscating the personal assets of certain incompetent mayors and CEOs would of some help in filling the budgetary holes they have created.
    
    Better to do it now while there are still a few bastards old enough to remember when things were done properly.
    
    22 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:48am
  - G152
    
    Denial is such an amusing thing when those denying should be fixing
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:55am
  - RoboRob
    
    Kevin McNulty from Labour was on breakfast TV this morning. Claiming that the issue was central governments, that the fix was to change the ratings system and Three waters.
    
    The Labour loving muppet interviewer cut the interview short and didn’t allow the National guy to reply. To be fair the National guy was pussyfooting around the issue anyway.
    
    Things wrong with the Labour argument…
    
    a) If the problem was government then why blame National who have been in for less then a year. After 6 years of Labour and the biggest rate rises in living memory.
    
    b) Changing the rating system doesn’t mean people pay less, just that different people pay more. If councils are short on money, regardless of how they get their money, they still ‘take’ the same amount in the end.
    
    c) The issue with rates ISNT water system repairs. Most councils, especially Wellington, just aren’t doing them. They are spending the money on cycle ways, rainbow crossings, raised crossings and convention centers.
    
    d) Three waters was never going to work and was essentially a government bail out. Where exactly was the government going to get that money?
    
    30 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:03am
  - Grunter
    
    It was a very good speech by Luxon. Almost Melei esque. But it’s only words at this stage…..he needs to borrow Melei’s chainsaw!
    
    I would encourage Luxon to practice what he preaches at a central govt level. Here’s a list of White Elephants that Luxon should have axed by now instead of his softly-softly, grow more debt approach;
    1. Axe all sex-based and race-based Ministries
    2. Axe Public Servant head count to be at least the same as 2017
    3. Axe all laws that provide any race special rights not available to other races.
    4. Axe all climate change laws and activities.
    5. Stop school lunches
    6. Axe (or sell) all govt entities that could be run by the free market economy (hint, that’s all of them)
    7. Pass a law that replicates Singapore’s constitution and their Government Securities Act which prevents the government from spending any funds raised through debt securities (in Singapore, Govt debt can only be used on infrastructure etc, not govt consumption)
    
    That’s just a start…..I’m sure others can add much more?
    
    35 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:17am
    - bennerg
      
      This speech by the Singaporean Prime Minister on woke culture is so refreshing:
      
      https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1826165038669087062
      
      “… it does not make us a more resilient, cohesive society with a strong sense of solidarity. We must be more robust”
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 10:29am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      He has put them on notice, they now have no one to blame but their selves if commissioners are brought in
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:05am
      - Paulus
        
        Careful about Commissioners look what they did for Cyclists and no Parking in Tauranga.
        What a mess they left !
        Council staff loved them though as they got what they and not the ratepayers wanted through them on huge salaries and numbers.
        
        3 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 2:24pm
    - Scott
      
      Grunter – that’s unrealistic I’m afraid. For example if National had before the election pledged to get rid of all climate change targets they would have been unelectable.
      
      Remember National is a broad church party that has a lot of wokesters and faces a hostile media.
      
      I actually think Luxon is doing very well and his speech on local government is a classic.
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:31am
    - Ghost
      
      So what you are saying is you want labour to be the government at the next election as you want the current government to lose the centre vote and not be re-elect able. Oh and all of that will be reintroduced by labour at the next election once the vote for the current government collapses.
      
      5 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:37am
      - Grunter
        
        Ghost & Scott – yep, I agree, I am being unrealistic, it will never happen in NZ. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, just means we will always be mediocre at best.
        
        5 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 2:05pm
      - Paulus
        
        Media remain committed to do everything and as often as they can to get the Labour Government back next election or sooner, if they can break the Coalition, but they cannot do anything on their own so the Media Party will continue to use Taxpayers money still via New Zealand on Air as the conduit, as hard as they can.
        See the idiot Gower has joined stuff along with Mihi Forbes, Tova (Pregnant), Jenna Lynch, Amelia Wade (pregnant?)
        I thought this taxpayer funding was to cease !
        We were told it would be but but but !
        
        3 2
        Report
        August 22, 2024 2:46pm
      - Ghost
        
        Being pregnant has got what to do with anything? Stuff are paying their wages, so what’s wrong with them joining stuff? Btw, the media has nothing to do with the fact that if the government do what people on this blog want them to do, labour will get back in at the next election. That is everything to do with the centre vote and that this country is not a right leaning population as some seem to think it is.
        
        3 1
        Report
        August 22, 2024 2:59pm
    - julesnzuk
      
      Nothing wrong with sex-based ministries – rightly or wrongly they’re probably still needed. They’re no good if they can’t grasp the scientific reality of biological sex (and the downstream implications of that) though.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 24, 2024 3:01am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Re. Wellington Council – how’s the footfall at Zealandia these days? Make money per the business case, does it?
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 12:51pm
  - AitchW
    
    As a long suffering rate payer I wholeheartedly support Luxon.
    I’m sick of paying for trips to sister cities in Japan and France, as well as stupid and pointless roadworks.
    Whanau and all the brainless left and green councilors can go away quickly.
    If they had any mana they’d do their jobs and stop wasting money on fluff and bullshit.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:02pm
- Rich Prick
  
  Speedhumps would have made a great theme for that gobfest.
  
  20 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:26am
  - pdm
    
    RP – not only speedhumps.
    
    What about roundabouts in stupid places as well.
    
    The one at the BP/`Kumara Pit’ corner on SH2 in Waipawa being the latest example of utter stupidity.
    
    13 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:00am
  - PurplePen
    
    And I read today the 2 million dollars or so to build a gold-plated 2-bus hub in 2-Para-umu. The idea being making public transport attractive. It has a garden on the roof as if anyone can actually climb up and enjoy that while they’re waiting for a bus in the rain. Councils are out of control and out of touch. Witness also the $78k? on a bike stand next to the pool in oriental bay in wgtn. Actually, it just occurred to me, no-one yet has suggested Oriental Bay needs to be renamed to a te Reo name. Ha ..
    
    19 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:20am
    - Taieri
      
      And I read today the 2 million dollars or so to build a gold-plated 2-bus hub in 2-Para-umu.
      ——–
      
      Peanuts!
      
      Dunedin shows the way. The cost of bus hub there was apparently about $7 million. At least according to this article:
      
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-12-transport-projects-that-will-change-dunedin/N5UGKHWL55SJI5FJ2RPTPR5RNA/
      
      And the other transport projects referred to in this article that were to change Dunedin, succeeded. Not that many years ago it was possible to drive from North East Valley to St Clair in 15 minutes. Not a chance of that now. Funnily enough, it used to be a city without congestion and traffic jams…
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 3:02pm
- alphabeatrium
  
  We paid for their flights and hotels before the powhiri eve began… when will they just get on with an online meeting? Or, maybe, skip this whole thing altogether as not being core business?
  
  20 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:10am
- surfing
  
  You have to pay for the powhiri?
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:21am
- kglm
  
  Continuing rate rises 3-5 times the rate of inflation are mathematically unsustainable. A 20% annual increase means rates doubling within 4 years. A current rates bill of $5,000 will become $20,000 within 10 years. The unintended consequences on the housing market will be enormous. Rents will become unaffordably high killing the rental market, the cost of home ownership will also skyrocket locking many out of the market. Ongoing rate rises higher than inflation will create a housing crisis much worse than what we currently have. Is that what Councils want to occur?
  
  17 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:44am
  - Burtland
    
    the average leftard on council is financially illiterate – your first sentence will have given them a brain injury and mind fog – theyre worried about rainbows and unicorns
    
    13 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:55am
  - Grunter
    
    You are dead right. Furthermore, most Councils are effectively broke already. They are all just digging a bigger hole.
    
    More rate rises and more debt is baked in…..mixed in with a bucketload of DEI & Te Tiriti Marxism!
    
    9 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 11:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It’s the type of speech and the right topic that will have caught voters ears, the topic will be very popular, then you get smug lefties like Tory flicking the bird, I hope she is torn a new one, people are so sick of arrogant councils that know better, apparently people in Dunedin are getting their new rates, they say $600 increase, that is unsustainable, and how many years of that increase before even people living mortgage free can’t afford their own house, or is that the bloody plan
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 11:03am
- Taieri
  
  A very good speech by Christopher Luxon to the LGNZ rort
  ———-
  
  OK. A good speech indeed. But will it be followed by action?
  
  11 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:11pm
kiwikidsnz

What’s wrong with this picture?

Massive increase in number of drink drivers avoiding conviction

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350385530/massive-increase-number-drink-drivers-avoiding-conviction
8 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:07am
- Rigby
  
  There is a lot more to that graph, but will it be picked up by media? An increase in avoidance of convictions but at the same time less charges. The stark change and timing of it is very hard to ignore. This from a Labour government that had a road to zero strategy.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 11:24am
artemisia

More 5-year-olds starting school with low speaking skills – teachers

Too many five-year-olds start school unable to talk coherently, teachers say, and they blame Covid-19 and excessive screen time. Teachers of new entrant school children and early childhood teachers report seeing more children than ever with poor language skills, research by the Education Review Office published today shows.

Said to be worse in poor neighbourhoods.

How about time to stop blaming covid and take a good look at who in the household is shackled to their phone. Devices cost, talking is free.

Not fair to lay the whole remedial burden on teachers. My suggestion – once these littlies are identified at ECE or school a phone call is made to the parents. They are simply asked to talk more to their children to improve their language skills. The call can be from admin with a script. That is a cheap solution and will work at least sometimes. Call it social investment.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/525811/more-5-year-olds-starting-school-with-low-speaking-skills-teachers
20 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:11am
- hookerphil
  
  What mixture of language is being spoken at home in regards to “English”
  If a child is being brought up with a mixture of rap type pidgin “English” would they be able to understand spoken English at a calm quiet level.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:22am
  - Paulus
    
    Our new local Primary School as was, now Kura has a great problem in that many starting cannot speak nor understand English but they are being taught all the Maori themes.
    They are refugees and immigrants from other speaking countries.
    But at least they will understand Maori as everything is exacted that way.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 2:52pm
- cmm
  
  “They are simply asked to talk more to their children to improve their language skills.”
  This is only a solution if they actually do it.
  
  You are expecting the same useless parents that hand a kid a tablet or a phone (so that they don’t have to interact with the kid and can play with their phone) to actually put in the effort to interact with their kid instead.
  
  Ain’t going to happen.
  
  27 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:23am
  - artemisia
    
    I am slightly more hopeful! But parents are sometimes unaware. A cheap nudge is better than nothing and even if it works for only a few the future for those children (and their teachers) is improved.
    
    Of course could leave it to unions and the Ministry to come up with a few working groups and expensive solutions.
    
    14 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:28am
    - Gravelroad
      
      All kids are different though.
      We see a lot of two here – brothers.
      One can talk like a politician – has done since he was three.
      Other one not so much. Only says what he needs to say and leaves it at that.
      Same parents and upbringing.
      
      14 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 8:40am
      - artemisia
        
        I doubt that is a problem. The article referenced talks about inability to speak adequately.
        
        6 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 9:19am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Kids like the latter can talk ok, they just decide not to because kids like the former doing the talking for both of them. When the time comes, he’ll speak just fine.
        
        4 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 12:55pm
      - Conservatarian
        
        So one of them is offering you free stuff to divert your attention while simultaneously reaching into your back pocket for your credit card.
        
        I hope you act accordingly in your will!
        
        [I’m sure you love them both dearly]
        
        2 1
        Report
        August 22, 2024 1:26pm
  - greybeard
    
    There seems to be an assumption that all parents can read and write, can speak articulately and most importantly, I think, actually have books available at home.
    Sadly this is far from true.
    
    16 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 8:41am
    - Nigel Kearney
      
      Yup. The real answer, sadly, is that many of these children should never have been produced in the first place and the parent(s) could never have raised them adequately.
      
      9 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 8:58am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Money is the cause of the production.
        
        3 2
        Report
        August 22, 2024 10:02am
      - Burtland
        
        the UNs solution to this is to educate women – in the west their heads are being filled with marxism – maybe someone wants to keep them for breeding a revolution.
        
        1 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 11:12am
  - MCōs
    
    A lot of kids come from families where English is not the first language. In fact it might not be spoken at home at all.
    I worked with an Indian guy who lived near me. When I went round to his house I was ever the only pakeha there and his mum couldn’t speak English despite living here for 30+yrs
    I know plenty of Thais who don’t speak English if they can help it and don’t you worry the reverse applies over there.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:01am
    - artemisia
      
      I am sure that is true. But if the children in those households are language impaired do those parents realise? Most families want to do the best for their children, and as per my suggestion a nudge might be enough.
      
      4 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:16am
    - PurplePen
      
      I have a friend, yes just 1. Been living in France for 20 years or so and barely speaks French, just enough to get by at retail shops, tradespeople etc. Wife is fluent in 3 languages as are the kids.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:24am
      - Burtland
        
        this seems to be common for all immigrant groups
        
        5 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 10:11am
  - cmm
    
    We are now at a stage where baby’s cribs and strollers come with built in ipad holders.
    
    * Books? You can borrow them from the library for free if you bother. Second hand books are almost free (and free if you ask nicely).
    * Can’t read? There are huge number of adult literacy programmes for anyone that can be bothered.
    * Parenting lessons? Lots of free stuff through libraries, church groups etc? If you’re bothered to show up and use them.
    * All schools have parent/teacher meetings and countless other resources for anyone who can be bothered to access them.
    
    What is lacking is not access to resources. It is the get-off-your-arse factor.
    
    14 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:02am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Weren’t universities offering remedial literacy courses for new students?
      Apart from parental responsibility, the problem seems to be incompetent teachers allowing incompetent students to go to the next year.
      And, as we read recently, some of them go on to be teachers.
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 10:49am
      - Taieri
        
        Weren’t universities offering remedial literacy courses for new students?
        —————
        
        How can someone with literacy problems be admitted to the university?
        
        2 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 1:13pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        They will take anyone
        
        0 0
        Report
        August 23, 2024 7:42am
  - Paulus
    
    You are assuming that Parents can speak English intelligently at least, as without that they cannot understand ANY other language.
    Seems to be the position and will not change – ethnically and hereditary.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 2:54pm
- rouppe
  
  That phone call will be blasted as “profiling” and “racist”
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:23am
- surfing
  
  Screentime, smart phones.
  
  That’s the primary problem. Do we even need research to state the obvious ?
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:25am
- Grunter
  
  This awful problem emerged well before COVID. Friends who teach new entrance kids say they spend more time now teaching some kids how to talk than anything else in the classroom. And it is not kids where English is a second language. It is not an ethnic issue either.
  
  It is a useless parent issue. When the issue is discussed with parents they are told to F-Off!
  
  Still, a lot of kids turn up on day one that can speak, write their name, count, and add/subtract. Their parents attitude to life shines through.
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:27am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Professor Elizabeth Rata made a frightening statement.
    She said we are now seeing pupils at college level who don’t have a vocabulary sufficient to express their thoughts!
    
    13 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:54am
    - Burtland
      
      so our education system produces useful idiots – mission accomplished comrade
      
      5 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:21am
      - sherp
        
        And the lastest generation getting to schools now has been screwed over worse than any before it as they had limited social interaction and most people they saw as their brains were developing had their faces covered. It’s really not an overstatement to point out cindy destroyed the country for generations.
        
        1 2
        Report
        August 22, 2024 12:27pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Sherp,
        Spot on.
        While not wishing to minimise the physical and mental abuse of those people in government care, is there any appreciable difference in the damage done to the nippers being isolated from their community by the criminal adern and her criminal cohort?
        
        0 1
        Report
        August 22, 2024 1:31pm
      - Paulus
        
        Well done Helen and Jacinda ~!
        
        0 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 2:55pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  But, but, but – wasn’t Covid lockdown when families spent 24/7 in each other’s company & would have been yakking away together. One of the few benefits of lockdown, I would have said.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:00pm
cas

I thought Jacinda’s gushing on TV 1 news last night was worse than the burst Wellington water pipes. With the revelation she is living in the States and the gushing, I imagine she is hoping to get a job in the administration if Kamala becomes President.

It’s still unbelievable that she could bring a country to its knees and walk away unscathed and rich.
33 2
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:12am
- Yabster
  
  she makes my skin crawl when I see a pic- no way I am ever listening to a word she says ever again…
  
  17 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:08am
  - lifesgood
    
    I never listened to a word she said. Despicable woman.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:47am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  She should be in jail for what she has done to our lovely New Zealand.
  Fucked the Country over so much that she does not want to live here.
  Next stop USA to advise how to screw the Country and not go to jail.
  
  21 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:08am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Note she now suggests she lives in the states. The anger and hatred towards her finally kicks in
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 12:19pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      If you had just finished your Prime ministership of your country of birth, would you say to your daughter lets go and live in America.?
      She is an embarrassment and a criminal and, if we had a leader worthy of the title, there would be extradition of her to answer for her actions in court.
      
      5 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 1:36pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Can only uptick once, sorry.
        She is a criminal!
        
        2 1
        Report
        August 22, 2024 4:25pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “She is an embarrassment and a criminal and, if we had a leader worthy of the title, there would be extradition of her to answer….”
        
        Thanks for sharing your fantasy. The Prime Minister has no power to prosecute suspected criminals, let alone request extraditions.
        
        1 1
        Report
        August 22, 2024 9:36pm
- sherp
  
  She’s in the states as she can’t show her face in public in NZ… how nice that she tried to segregate a proportion of the NZ public from social life in this country yet has ended up having no ability to have a social life in this country….
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 12:30pm
- Philview
  
  I am glad I missed that. I did see a comment that she said she lives in Boston. Does the rest of the family live with her?
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:12pm
- mawm
  
  She and Kamila will surely get on well together. I can just imagine the conversation will be at the level of a 5 year old.
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 3:48pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Mixed word soup waffle, yep they understand each other.
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 4:26pm
- John Loveridge
  
  I experience an actual physical revulsion when I see or hear her. She makes me sick. Let the Americans keep her.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 7:23pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Luxon’s big calls.

Luxon finally said it – Maori ceded sovereignty to the Crown.
” He has laid down the challenge to the activism of the Waitangi Tribunal. He cannot walk it back.”

Then LGNZ.
“The building we’re in today is a classic example. With pipes bursting and other infrastructure under pressure, Wellington City Council decided to spend $180 million of ratepayers’ money on a convention centre, which, according to public reporting, is now losing money.”

https://peterallanwilliams.substack.com/p/luxons-big-calls
24 3
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:18am
- MCōs
  
  How’s the neverending billion dollar Auckland convention centre coming on?
  Or should I say never opening.
  No light rail
  No new harbour bridge
  No EW link
  No international cricket ground
  
  8 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:01am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He has always stated the country is two peoples coming together as one, that right there means government is sovereign
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 12:20pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Who are the two peoples?
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:39pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    No the government is not sovereign. That would be Parliament. Totally different things.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:38pm
cmm

It is interesting how statistics can almost always be framed to support a narrative.

Yesterday we had a whole lot of nonsense claiming that Maori were being profiled and over-tazed by the police when, indeed, the statistics can be reframed to support the opposite: Maori need more tazing.

There were also these two statements that seem to be contradictory:

Hipkins: “the vast majority who go onto a benefit come off a benefit within six months”
Mitchell: At a given point-in-time (let’s use June 2024) 72 percent of beneficiaries have been dependent for more than a year.

Both of those can be true at the same time.

For example, consider a hypothetical case where at some point in time there are 100 beneficiaries of which 72 have been on the benefit for 2 years and 25 have only been on the benefit for 2 weeks and will be off the benefit in 3 months or less.

Clearly in that situation Mitchel’s statement is true: 72% have been on the benefit for longer than a year.

But, also, over a year there would have been over 100 beneficiaries who have cycled through the system only being a beneficiary for 3 months or less. They would be the majority.

In other words we have a system where the majority of people going through the system only do so for a short time, but the majority of the people in the system at any one time are there for a long time.

Therefore both can be true.

And herein lies the problem with statistics. If you don’t look deeper you can come to completely opposite conclusions.
28 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:19am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Interesting example in Oral Questions on Tues afternoon.
  
  Tākuta Ferris: Can the Minister explain why 10 percent of the rangatahi who are now involved in her new boot camp initiative left the programme, and can she guarantee us that the other 90 percent won’t?
  
  https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20240820_20240820
  
  Wow…. 10% drop out rate within a couple of weeks!!!!
  
  or, in other words, one of the remandees had exited the programme by personal choice.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/teenager-pulls-out-of-boot-camp-pilot-after-two-weeks/I3JNBKJWDJCT3G65YJUO7WYHYM/
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 8:59am
  - pdm
    
    Maggy – I am sure I heard Karen Chhour say that another remandee took his place this week.
    
    So the trial still has a full muster.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:03am
    - cmm
      
      If you think you can drop in replacements into a bootcamp, it isn’t much of a bootcamp.
      
      The whole point of a bootcamp is to give these people a joint challenge that they overcome together. If you’re swapping people in and out you do not build that camaraderie.
      
      7 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:46am
      - Cassandra
        
        Govt is changing the law. Dropouts will not be permitted when that happens.
        
        4 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 10:41am
      - rouppe
        
        Having a feral presence in the programme is also negative for the group overall.
        
        Clearly someone thought they didn’t need to do anything except turn up, and even the most basic of requirements (get up on time, make your bed, and do some tasks) was too much for that person.
        
        Better they get tossed out for a person more motivated to improve themselves.
        
        I reckon, anyway.
        
        3 0
        Report
        August 22, 2024 11:20am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      yep,
      Hon KAREN CHHOUR: I have been assured that that young person has been supported to complete their sentence at another youth justice residence. I’ve also been advised that there is one other young person who will be joining the programme, so now there will be 10 young people within that programme, and all of them are doing well.
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:15am
      - imalwaysright
        
        As cmm alluded to the number of graduates isn’t the point.
        The point is to have rules that can’t be broken and a camaraderie to help each other to not break the rules.
        A chain is made of links. None is dispensible.
        
        0 1
        Report
        August 22, 2024 1:47pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Correct
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 12:23pm
  - cmm
    
    Anyone calling this a “bootcamp” should wash their mouth out with soap and mustard.
    
    Bootcamps – the real ones – work because there is no quitting. You’re under military law. You can’t tell the corporal to get stuffed. You’re forced to go through the hard part to get to the “build you up” part.
    
    What they call “bootcamp” is doomed to failure because they can just walk out any time they want and go back to their old ways that they are comfortable with.
    
    13 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:07am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      LSV Limited Service Volunteer is like that.
      When my grandson did his 6 week course there where about 15% that just could not handle it and walked away. Dropkicks, and they will be dropkicks all of their life.
      Grandson completed the course and thoroughly enjoyed it. Made good friends that he otherwise would not have.
      They could start with something similar and not call them “bootcamps.”
      If you walk away it is noted.
      
      3 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 10:29am
    - julesnzuk
      
      Not sure how it worked when you were in the Army (South Africa in the 1970s??), but when I was in (New Zealand and Britain, this century) people were free to quit training if they wished. There was no “law” compelling them to stay. Whether it is (or should be) different in these youth justice facilities is another matter.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 24, 2024 3:13am
  - artemisia
    
    I see this ‘boot camp’ programme as an opportunity to stay out of the big house and have a decent life. If the opportunity is not taken, that’s on the participants / leavers.
    
    No guaranteee, obviously, Takuta Ferris. Opportunity given, outcome up to the young people.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:08am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Apparently that kid had other issues and they were expecting them to pull out, all good though, they have someone to take their place
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 12:22pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    I do not understand. How can they just decide to drop out?
    Surely that’s like a prisoner at Mt Eden prison saying “I’ve had enough I want out!”
    What happens to them when they do drop out? I understand they wont be allowed to drop out soon.
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 12:23pm
- PurplePen
  
  I wonder if the stats for Maori on all the problem areas don’t actually apply to all Maori and are really only a result of life in tribes from Gisborne, Northland and Bay of Plenty. The result being the statement “Maori are disproportionately affected by.. ” being almost a racist statement against Maori.
  
  I’ll give you an example. Life expectancy. It keeps getting reported that Maori life expectancy is 7 years less than others. But it turns out this only applies to Maori in Gisborne, Northland and Bay of Plenty where it’s 8 and 9 years. For South Island Maori it’s less than 3 years which is within what you’d expect with genetic differences. Otago and West Coast Maori it’s only 1.2 years. Also this is only when compared to NZ European life expectancy which it turns out is 7 years less than NZ Chinese and NZ Asians – from Stats NZ.
  
  12 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:32am
  - cmm
    
    Certainly.
    Maori that “act white” (ie. go to school, do their homework, get a job,…) have the same outcomes as everyone else who do the same.
    
    Similarly, whites that “act Maori” have all the poor outcomes too.
    
    For the best results we should all “act Asian”.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:37am
  - Yabster
    
    Hi Purplepen- do you have a link to those stats- had a look at stats nz but can’t see the by region life expectancy for Maori.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:43am
    - Burtland
      
      maybe here
      
      https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/national-and-subnational-period-life-tables-2017-2019/
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 11:48am
    - PurplePen
      
      https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/national-and-subnational-period-life-tables-2017-2019/
      
      You want Subnational period life tables: 2017–2019
      
      Filename is Subnational-period-life-tables-2017-2019.xlsx
      
      The file above includes data for 2012 which I used as anything across the COVID years is somewhat screwed.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 1:29pm
  - Cassandra
    
    My BoP Maori friend died at 88. His European friend is unlikely to make 85.
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 10:43am
    - PurplePen
      
      There are always exceptions in biology. Plato lived to 80 or 81 and that was 2000 years ago.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 1:33pm
  - Cantabrian
    
    What gets me going on the ‘7 years’ claim is that death rates today are likely to be the result of life style and health issues earlier in life – perhaps even 50 years ago. It is not fair or accurate to repeatedly complain that part-Maori growing up today will have a life span similar to their parents.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 11:49am
    - Swifty
      
      Don’t overlook too that Maori infant mortality rates which are higher than all other ‘races’ drags their averages down markedly.
      
      Far, far more illuminating would be intensive studies into why many, many Maori die in their 80s and 90s, while many others are keeling over in their 40s and 50s.
      
      There you will find some real truths.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 12:30pm
  - Paulus
    
    So !
    What is a Maori as there are no full or real ones we are told, unless they are hiding somewhere ready to pounce.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 2:59pm
Matt Long

I’ve just completed reading Because I’m Not Myself You See by Ariane Beeston, a book about post partum psychosis, for reasons that have taken me though all sorts of difficulties, the family court most recently.
It’s illuminating reading, but Beeston is also into woke, so there’s tragic comedy about PNS in trans men who may be particularly prone to reality problems;
“and ‘difficult to handle’, particularly those related to their chests. Said one participant: ‘I felt completely in the wrong body, my flesh, the roundness and bulges. The way it felt and looked really frightened me, so foreign, like the more pregnant I got the more alien my skin felt. It terrified me. It wasn’t the femaleness of it. It was the intense changes, the physical changes.’”
6 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:23am
Pope Punctilious II

RNZ proclaims urbi et orbi “Women still facing gender inequity in workplace, study shows”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/525758/women-still-facing-gender-inequity-in-workplace-study-shows

A quick read shows the study “shows” nothing of the sort, as there are no real data – it’s based entirely on the reckons of a bunch of ambitious professional women. Ah, and apparently there are a lot of “gendered microaggressions” in NZ workplaces. Another case of idea laundering by the MSM.

Feminism in the West has become a racket that mainly serves the purposes of ambitious professional women. There are actually women in NZ who are genuinely oppressed, but they’re not these corporate types who complain about microaggressions. They’re the uneducated solo Mums who are brutally put upon by gang members, but the MSM is more interested in the travails of ambitious corporate executives and academics.
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:23am
- PurplePen
  
  If it is still the case, consider the Ministery for Women has been in existence for nearly 40 years. If they can’t fix the issue in 40 years, it’s time to go and take another approach.
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:34am
- sherp
  
  Strange I just looked at the figures for workplace deaths…. seems like there is gender inequality…. for men
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 12:34pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yes, funny that women are sprinting into legal, medical & policy roles; fishing & forestry not so much.
    
    It’s almost as if they don’t want equal representation in those industries.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:05pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Absolutely. In life expectancy in general. Men die years early on average than women. Men are also overrepresented in crime stats, prison incarceration, bad health, early school leaving, suicide. Yet, where’s the Ministry for Men, where’s the public outcry.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:37pm
  - julesnzuk
    
    Men are more likely to choose more dangerous jobs – but that’s up to them.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 24, 2024 3:17am
- Conservatarian
  
  The MSM is simultaneously keen to criticise the remuneration package of bank CEOs (of the major four Aussie owned banks, only BNZ has a male CEO)
  
  1 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:38pm
Yvette

Governance Charter
Te Pou Whakamana Kaimatū o Aotearoa The Pharmacy Council of New Zealand

… As a Responsible Authority, independent from the Crown, we have chosen to base this charter on the founding documents of Aotearoa, namely “He Whakapūtanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nū Tireni” – “The Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand” and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These founding documents act as a guiding framework to advancing partnership, achieving equitable outcomes, and enabling a collective well-being of Aotearoa.
The Declaration of Independence was signed before the Majestic British Resident of King George IV on Oketopa 28 1935, and then later acknowledged by the British government. It was a statement by Māori to both the outside world and themselves that Aotearoa was an independent state. As such all sovereign power and authority within the territory resided entirely and exclusively in the hereditary chiefs and iwi leaders
https://pharmacycouncil.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pharmacy-Council-Charter-Document-2023-Website.pdf.

______________

‘The Crown is sovereign’, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says
During Question Time, Green Co-Leader Chloe Swarbrick pushed him on the issue multiple times, asking “does the prime minister believe that Māori ceded sovereignty?” Luxon responded saying “our position is the Crown is sovereign.”

Does this mean the Pharmacy Council of New Zealand is spreading mis-information.
Is this a tip of an iceberg?
Should the Pharmacy Council Governance Charter charter a new course?
And are all others guilty of massive cultural appropriation – even if some Maori helped them in their cultural crime?
17 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:28am
- PurplePen
  
  I think they’ve been seriously ill-advised. I can’t decide if it’s a Maori elite that’s driving them, which would make sense but then so would some woke whitey that’s read a bit of our history here and there but not enough. Then again, I’ve not yet heard any Maori elite refer to that Declaration of Independence.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:38am
- Cassandra
  
  And the practical effect of this is what? I can’t see it making a scrap of difference to my local chemist whose only non-European staffer is an Indian. I’ve never seen any customer other than Europeans in the shop.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:47am
- Eastlander
  
  Strange that they should bring this episode up. The majority of Maori tribes did not join the Confederation, and to the extent it ever existed as a state it was absorbed by New Zealand as a result of the Treaty of Waitangi.
  
  Nor does it have any significance that ‘all sovereign power and authority’ resided with the chiefs as of 1835. Prendergast’s view in the Wi Parata case that Maori tribal entities had never been capable of possessing or ceding sovereignty stopped being widely accepted decades ago. All contemporary arguments have been over whether or not sovereignty was ceded under the Waitangi Treaty of not (it was).
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:29pm
- John Loveridge
  
  What does any of that have to do with pills?
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 7:30pm
cmm

Discharge without conviction for drink driving is up by almost a factor of 10 in the last ten years and road deaths linked to alcohol (and other drugs) are up by almost a factor of 3.

Certainly some of this can be justified. For example the limits were reduced from 80 to 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood and that it would make sense that those who are just over the limit get softer treatment for a first offence.

Still, it would seem that the real statistic for DUIs – number of road deaths – are on the rise and need to be discouraged.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350385530/massive-increase-number-drink-drivers-avoiding-conviction
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:33am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  Why should someone who argues they’d potentially “suffer” additional consequences be excused for the same crime as someone who can’t afford an eloquent lawyer?
  
  If they’re going to risk more then they should be more careful.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:01am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Between 50 and 80 is an infringement offence like speeding (fine and demerit points only) and cannot result in conviction. Anyone getting a discharge without conviction must have been over 80mg.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:03am
  - cmm
    
    Thanks.
    
    Have the other thresholds moved too?
    
    Presumably in the old 80 days, between 80 and, say, 100 was also an infringement. Has that 100 now moved down to 80? Or is this a whole new band that has been introduced?
    
    It would seem to me that if the conviction limits have moved that might introduce some grounds for leniency.
    
    But maybe it is all just a reflection of the general “soft on crime” environment we’re in.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:12am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      “Presumably in the old 80 days, between 80 and, say, 100 was also an infringement.”
      
      No.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 9:26am
- Chuck Bird
  
  ASIK, between 50 to 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood it is a fine and 50 demerit points.
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:07am
- Skippytony
  
  I am OK with a high number of discharges personally, with a few caveats.
  First offence? No, it should not destroy your career or prospects.
  Second offence should bring heavier penalties plus the original avoided penalties. If ever there was a case for a three strikes model…..
  
  Also, the data appears to be saying that reducing the permitted level has, as widely predicted, done NOTHING to reduce road trauma. So, the legislative change has not produced the desired outcomes so should be repealed.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:47am
Swifty

Islamic migration into the West is a leading cause of the rise in anti-semitism:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7YxOPlP1c

And Labour and the Greens want to allow more and more in – the latest being the calls for Palestinians to move here en masse.

I struggle to think of a more reckless policy. These people seem determined to make sure we go through the same ethnic and religious conflict as other European nations have.

Just madness.
24 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 8:33am
- Don Beckett
  
  Just ask Egyptians, Syrians & Jordanians why they don’t accept neighboring Palestinians into their territory to escape the warfare, & you will be told, “They are trouble makers – we don’t want them here”.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:57am
- Conservatarian
  
  Careful, Herr Sturmer might get wind of this statement and determine this to be a severe case of Islamophobia and “noticing things”. He will personally fly from 10 Downing St to NZ to oversee your arrest and extradition.
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:45pm
  - Swifty
    
    Heh.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 3:08pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Democrats tell Kamala Harris to keep her agenda secret.
“Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) once famously told Americans of Obamacare, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

“Democrats are now taking that approach to Vice President Kamala Harris by begging her to keep her policy agenda secret, essentially saying the American people need to elect her President to find out what she will do in office.”

I think NZ went through this in 2017 with Ardern, and boy oh boy, we found out!!

https://patriotpulse.net/democrats-begged-kamala-harris-to-keep-this-evil-plan-to-herself/?
13 4
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 9:01am
- imalwaysright
  
  Isn’t it childish.
  America should be watching the Kier Stalin regime currently destroying the UK.
  I’m fairly sure the Dems will be taking notes.
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 11:09am
  - Conservatarian
    
    Stalin is a highly appropriate nickname though I prefer Herr Sturmer (I wish I knew how to do the umlauts above the “u”). Of course, every June he will turn into Queer Starmer.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:47pm
    - Paulus
      
      Herr Sturmer will be replaced before Christmas by a Fraulein of course.
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 3:02pm
      - julesnzuk
        
        As leader of the UK Labour Party? Given the British left are a bunch of misogynists, I doubt it.
        
        0 0
        Report
        August 24, 2024 3:20am
Cassandra

HEADLINES: Saint Jacinda to address Democratic Party Convention!!!!
Total BS. Ardern is part of a panel in a side room.
21 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 9:11am
- cmm
  
  but, but, but she’s still amazeballs.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:23am
- mandk
  
  It was like when she “addressed” the United Nations.
  
  NZ’s MSM were ecstatic about it, but the reality was that she got to speak only after most people in the hall had left. There was only about 30 people there, and most of those were either reading newspapers or scrolling through their phones.
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:52am
  - Philview
    
    To be fair she made a UN speech that made headlines around the world except in New Zealand. Her views on dangers of free speech didn’t sit well in the rest of the free world. The NZ media didn’t want it to be known she was picking up a lot of negative publicity.
    
    11 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:19pm
cmm

For those saying how hard it must be to access the Nordstream pipelines and therefore some highly sophisticated navy must have done it…

The Nordstream pipeline is around 60 metres deep in the Baltic Sea. The average depth of the Baltic Sea is only 52 metres.

The Bayesian superyacht lies at a similar depth – around 50 metres and there is absolutely no problems accessing that.

People who were led to believe that only special forces etc from a highly sophisticated navy could do the Nordstream job had the wool pulled over their eyes.

Of course it is likely that a naval or special forces group did do it (since your average hobby diver probably lacks the motivation), but pretty much any tin-pot nation has the capability.
10 3
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 9:22am
- kowtow
  
  Have you seen the Germans have issued an arrest warrant .
  
  ‘A day after it was announced that Germany had issued an arrest warrant over the 2022 pipeline explosions, Kyiv denied advanced knowledge of the attack. Questions have risen over how the suspect was able to flee the EU.’
  
  https://www.dw.com/en/nord-stream-pipeline-sabotage-ukraine-denies-involvement/a-69945904
  
  Funny though , German panzers are rolling across Kursk again but Ukrainians shouldn’t attack enemy intrastructure in the Baltic.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:27am
  - cmm
    
    Yup, the Germans are entering an economic crisis of their own and don’t really have spare cash and equipment to give to the Ukrainians any more.
    
    Now that it comes out the Ukrainians bombed the pipeline and cut them off from cheap energy, they’re going to get a bit annoyed I would think.
    
    5 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 9:49am
    - Cassandra
      
      The Germans don’t have a financial crisis. They have a law which limits their expenditure. They simply need to stop spending on welfare and start spending on defence. Instead of allowing Americans and Poles to pick up the tab.
      
      5 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 10:51am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Biden:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVbEoZXhCrM
  
  2 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:52am
- David Garrett
  
  cmm: Not quite right…100 years ago I was a tender on a diving ship working off the Taranaki coast. Amazing as it may seem over 40 years later, with ONE DAY of training, I became ” the gasman”, entrusted with mixing gas for divers in saturation; the gas being heliox, a mixture of helium and oxygen. The percentage of oxygen in the gas becomes more and more critical the deeper the divers are working.
  
  Divers can only dive on air to about 30 metres – depending on the person – after that, mixed gas must be used because nitrogen in the air effectively makes the divers stoned – a phenomenon known as nitrogen narcosis.
  
  So diving at 50 metres is a very different proposition from diving at 30…but FWIW you are probably right; setting up a mixed gas arrangement IS probably within the rights of “every tin pot country”.
  
  But for the record, thank God someone checked the gas I mixed before feeding it to the divers. After three days on the job I got a calculation wrong, and mixed up a brew that would have instantly killed four guys if it had been fed to them.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 12:07pm
- Jake Dee
  
  Utter rubbish.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Nord_Stream_pipeline_sabotage
  Some of those Nord Stream blasts were at a depth of 75 meters. look at the diving operations at The Bayesian, they have a huge crew with robotic subs and even at 50 meters their divers only get 10 minutes at the wreck.
  Look at the details of the Ukrainian sabotage story we are expected to accept. That a 6-person team, none of whom are known to have any underwater demolition experience, travelled right across Europe with false documents, either carried all their gear with them including hundreds of kgs of explosives or purchased it locally. Then located the pipelines, dove down and attached explosive charges equivalent to 300-400kgs of C4 several times to locations 79km distant, all from the back of a rented 50-foot pleasure yacht.
  Then they all just disappeared with all of their diving gear, leaving nothing but a forensic smear of explosives.
  The combined intelligence and security forces of western Europe could not detect them before they did it and could not arrest them after they did it. A public alert about the perpetrators is only put out 2 years after the event.
  This is a totally ludicrous cover story. It is only being put out because something has to be, and no one ever expects this will be put to the test in a public court.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 6:48pm
Libertarians are right

Obama said ” Trump is a 78 year old Billionaire who’s been whining about his problems ever since he came down his golden elevator”.

His problems:
Being illegally spied upon by Obama’s DOJ
Having the media lie about his Russian involvement for years.
Having the media lie about the Ukranian Quid Pro Quo for years.
Getting impeached by the Democrats over those conspiracy theories.
Having the media and social media censor negative stories about his political opponents in the lead up to an election whilst repeating the lies above.
Having political activist judges and bureaucrats actively block his policies when he was president.
Getting charged for possessing documents he was legally entitled to have in his possession (that had “Top Secret” sheets added for affect).
Getting charged for possessing documents that were wrongly sent to him.
Getting charged for fraud for “overvaluing his assets” based on arbitrary valuations created by a judge who then hit him with unconstitutionally high fines and a ban on doing business.
Getting charged 34 times for paying hush money to a porn star as election interference even though the disclosures would only be required after said election AND the case was a novel legal theory to use a State misdemenor to go after a Federal felony.
Getting accused of insurrection for telling people the election was stolen.
Getting shot.

Those are pretty good reasons to be “whining” to be fair.
29 4
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 9:37am
- cmm
  
  Obama:
  The man who grew up white and tries to say he’s black.
  The man who lives in a multi-million-dollar sea side mansion and tries to say he understands the “black experience”.
  Race baiter in chief.
  etc etc
  
  26 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 9:52am
  - sherp
    
    Just imagine if Trump’s cook drowned in a pond behind his house in mysterious circumstances… the media wouldn’t let you hear the end of it.
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 12:39pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  I’ve now had a chance to read the transcript of his speech (I never watch or listen to any of these bastards, including Trump) and what I see is a guy who spent half of his speech demonising Trump and then the other half bitching about the polarisation of the USA.
  
  Admittedly that was always Obama’s primary schtick: attack opponents in a nasty but academic pose, and then extend that pose further to pretend to be above such things and call for unity.
  
  I haven’t read his wife’s speech because I figured it would be more free-wheeling, but I’ve seen clips and my favourite was a variation on her husband’s comment some years ago, in response to complaints about increased taxes, that “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”. Michelle’s variation was to say that her parents were “suspicious of folks who took more than they needed.”.
  
  The Obamas’ have homes in Hawaii, D.C. and Martha’s Vineyard (they may still have one in Chicago also, but I think they’re smart enough to have sold that by now) and are worth between $70 million and $135 million.
  
  15 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:33am
  - Conservatarian
    
    It’s just a matter of time and inflation before Obama himself becomes a billionaire.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:53pm
- kowtow
  
  Talking of property portfolios.
  
  ‘Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff have refinanced their luxury properties on the east and west coast ten times with loans totaling $13M.
  
  The second couple, both 59, have borrowed way in excess of what they’re worth – their joint fortune estimated at $8 million by Forbes.’
  
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13669199/kamala-harris-doug-emhoff-bank-loan-la-dc-properties.html
  
  10 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 11:33am
  - NothingLeft
    
    This has been a favored approach for receiving bribes by US politicians – take out a big loan on a family home then have loans mysteriously repaid by persons unknown. Rinse and repeat. Biden’s have been at this in a big way too
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:36pm
  - Drone
    
    And we care kowtow because ?
    
    3 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:39pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      Because it clearly illustrates that Harris is yet another hideously corrupt politician-for-sale to all sorts of nefarious interests in the same vein as Biden, Clinton, Obama etc who have all mysteriously gotten super wealthy on politicians salaries. Of course anyone who has been paying attention to Us politics for last few years would already know this.
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 2:44pm
    - kowtow
      
      Why you here then ?
      
      1 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 3:13pm
  - fernglas
    
    It’s far from clear in the article whether the mortgage advances were simply refinancing existing debt or were cumulative.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 5:06pm
Damocles11

“In 1844, the Crown approached Hone Heke and asked if he wanted a block of land at Waitangi returned to him. He had previously sold this particular section to James Busby, the British Resident, and had signed away his rights to it.
All that Heke needed to do now was to agree that he had been underpaid by Busby for the land, and it would be returned to him immediately. The offer from the Crown was simple and tempting: sign up, and you will profit substantially.
So what did Heke do? He wrote to the Crown stating that he had been paid more than the land was worth by Busby, and that he intended to do what was right. He therefore refused to have the land returned to him, and confirmed the validity of the original sale.
Heke could easily have gone along with government plans and benefited financially from them, particularly as there was growing disquiet in the region and war between Heke and the Crown was imminent. But as he told his hapu, “Your children will remember you for doing what is right, not what is profitable.”
As children of Heke, we must do what is right, rather than simply act out of greed.”
– David Rankin, Ngapuhi Chief
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 10:26am
- Cassandra
  
  One of my favourite Ngapuhi. Another – S Jones – said in the House yesterday: “We have an energy crisis. We’re short of hydro, solar, wind – not personally of course – “. Shane is great. I never thought I’d write this – so is the Old Charlatan.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 10:57am
  - Grunter
    
    Never forget…..Shane and his mate Winston put Ardern into power and watched on as her ‘Captain’s Call’ harpooned NZ’s Oil & Gas industry overnight.
    
    Now Shane, why do we have an energy crisis again? (look in the mirror!!)
    
    9 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 1:46pm
Observant Octagenarian

Where is technology taking us?
Got a loan car from the dealer this morning (Lexus).
They had to show me how to open the drivers door from the inside!
How to open a frigging car door!
It’s all electronics now. No levers.
Nothing is intuitive now.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 11:24am
- sherp
  
  Lexus can alsoprobably brick your car remotely if you miss you payments…. oh and watch what you get up to in their…
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 12:42pm
  - Skippytony
    
    I bought a BMW I4 (yes, I know…).
    
    Its basically an App with wheels.
    
    Like a Tesla, there are hardly any physical buttons left in the interior.
    
    The dealer told me that in the States, because dealer finance is so ubiquitous if you miss a payment they can completely disable the car. likewise, if its stolen, the car (and BMW) are constantly “location aware” as they put it so they can shut the card down and there is no way you can bypass the software. Who knows who they share the data with?
    Want heated seats? in the States, Buy a subscription. Cancel it when you are not using it and they remotely disable the feature.
    
    The dealer rep thought they will end up with a full plan / subscription model soon – the idea of owning a car becoming less important to young folks.
    
    Sir wants dead trees and dead cows with that? Sorry, not available…
    
    The app is so feature rich I will never master it, but my 15 YO granddaughter just gets in and instantly changes all the settings to just how she likes it. She thinks its fab, and the car is designed with her in mind except, of course, its only old farts than can afford it.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 2:13pm
    - greybeard
      
      And all the time it is sending all of your conversations and routes and passenger details back to “The Supreme Controller”… oh, hang on, that is Chinese-made vehicles only.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2024 2:22pm
- Paulus
  
  Careful as you get out and accidentally lock the car because in my case wife could not unlock the door from the inside, and was panicking.
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 3:06pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Kamala.
“With the swipe of my pen.”
She is a power hungry tyrant and brags about it. Dangerous, very dangerous.
No wonder the Democrats wanted her.

https://x.com/Shawn_Farash/status/1824822708322140450?
7 4
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 11:30am
- sherp
  
  She’s more of a puppet than biden
  
  5 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 12:42pm
- Swifty
  
  I think you’re quite wrong to read it that way Steve.
  
  2 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:39pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Read again – not my words, sorry.
    
    0 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 5:24pm
- Conservatarian
  
  Well, Barry, Pelosi and Schumer (and the people who made Barry, Pelosi and Schumer) and the brass at the DNC wanted her.
  
  Your ordinary Democrat party member didn’t want her. Sure, that ordinary party member is a deluded fool, but he or she didn’t get a say despite voting in their state’s presidential primary election.
  
  2 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:59pm
thirteenstars

A motion has been passed at the Local Government NZ conference in Wellington asking central government for more powers to deal with vacant buildings in central business districts.

Quite what LGNZ thinks it will do with such shiny new powers they don’t say. Are they suggesting the owners of vacant stores don’t want to rent them?

Or is it the case that years of bad decisions, regulation and vicious rate increases by councils have made CBDs and other areas unattractive and too expensive for potential business operators?

Just give us more power, that’s the mantra of every little authoritarian who wants to become a big authoritarian.
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 12:06pm
- Grunter
  
  Let the confiscation of private property begin!
  
  It’s such blatant Marxism.
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:43pm
kowtow

Is it any wonder crime is out of control .

You can smash up a supermarket , intentional damage , barge into others , assault and then if it takes muliple Plod to arrest you , surely resisting .

And then be let off “because you’re having a bad day” !

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/man-who-ran-amok-countdown-having-bad-day

( But if you hold a placard in central Auckland , the Cops will assault , kidnap and charge you with disorderly!)
14 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 1:10pm
- Grunter
  
  Who would shop at Countdown Central Dunedin? It’s full of woke cops from the next-door Central Police Station!
  
  Way too risky – might catch something……
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 1:40pm
  - peterwn
    
    Similar would apply to New World in Thorndon – Police National HQ right next door.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 2:32pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

DNC Convention has a border.
Strange, the Southern Border is open….

https://rumble.com/v5bt9lx-watch-pro-open-borders-dnc-dont-allow-illegal-alien-in-due-to-lack-of-ident.html?
3 3
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 1:20pm
- Inandout
  
  SO, you know as well as I do that the Dems have one rule for them and one for others. Yet they still get suckers to vote for them.
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 3:50pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Same here. The left promise free shit………
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 22, 2024 5:29pm
Philview

That is interesting breaking news about Leon Macdonald. I wonder what the differences of opinion were and who was right.
2 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 1:35pm
- Damocles11
  
  I guess when it comes to coaching, any perspectives on ‘who is right’ will be entirely subjective. If the two men are not able to work effectively together then at least they have honesty to admit to that and one on them is moving on. You can hardly expect the newly appointed head coach to step down if such a situation arises, so it makes sense that MacDonald is the one to move on.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 3:12pm
Chuck Bird

Just 5 minutes. I would like to see any of our alarmist MPs here in NZ debate with Will Shackel.

17-year-old nuclear activist takes on Chris Bowen on ABC panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0VHQ6th23w
4 3
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 2:05pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  He has many good videos on that site.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 23, 2024 7:55am
Swifty

Self-described communist Emmy Rakete again demonstrates her extremism and wrong-headedness in equal measure.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/police-conduct-criminologist-says-racist-apologies-from-police-are-worthless-insults/4S555VRETFFGFMK6SLLUHFX3OI/

Not the sort of person I would think should be teaching our kids, but it seems our Universities are full of such extreme-left radicals who hate our society. The very society that pays for her lifestyle I might add.
11 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 2:09pm
- Damocles11
  
  The leftist Herald pumps out ‘stories’ like this daily now, presumably to stoke as much societal division as possible.
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2024 3:13pm
Swifty

Something I’d like to see more of in New Zealand – Willis or Crusher bitch-slapping Paddy Gower would be a great start!

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/watch-thai-mp-slaps-reporter-after-she-asked-question-he-didnt-like/O5WRAGKM6RBVZK7GAGUA5QAJQA/

Bring it on! 🤣

(Just joking Mods.)
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 3:11pm
greybeard

HDPA, on NewstalkZB, has just described Tory Whanau as the “the Queen of spending on stupid stuff” !
8 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 22, 2024 5:27pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« So close in the US

The Taxpayers’ Union are hiring! »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 37.4K other subscribers

Highlights

Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments
Health Target 3 – Emergency Dept Waiting Times
Health Target 2 – Immunisations

Links

Biden’s Curious Capital Punishment Stance is Vintage Biden
Utopia
Favourite day
Hompaddock
Open mike 26/12/2024
The Standard
A Happy and Merry Christmas To You All
No Minister
Merry Christmas Comrades – Peace on Earth and goodwill to all pronouns from the Team at The Daily Blog
The Daily Blog
United Rugby Championship Predictions for Week 9
Stats Chat
Mission creep at Diversity Works NZ leads to taxpayer-funded DEI activism
Point of Order
Fiscal failure and indifference
Croaking Cassandra
JUDITH COLLINS NAIVETY
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
NZCPR
"... a broader, decade-long 'crank realignment' in American politics."
Not PC
2024 OIA stats
No Right Turn
Jacinda’s “Act” of kindness has increased abortions 23%
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
About Syria.
Kiwipolitico
Misuse of land use planning
Offsetting Behaviour
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker
Angie Warren-Clark: Meet the Newbies
Dan Moskovitz

editor@kiwiblog.co.nz

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d

%d

Share this:

Like this: