General Debate 28 February 2025

Like this:

Like Loading...

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment205

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (205)

Login to comment or vote

CJames

A podcast / speech well worth taking notice of given by Sir Paul Marshall to ARC earlier this month where he points out the Net Zero luxury belief is driving the western world/ liberal democracy to collapse. This was the conference that Sean Plunket, among other NZers went to.
https://singjupost.com/britain-and-germany-are-the-patsies-of-net-zero-paul-marshall-transcript/?singlepage=1
An extract to give you the flavour “Britain and Germany are the patsies of net zero. Creating abundant clean power is a great thing as long as it works and as long as it is commercially viable. But Britain and the EU especially have combined it with policies deliberately designed to make energy use prohibitively expensive. So expensive that it is driving companies out of business or overseas. ”
The same applies to New Zealand, We are not as far down the road to ruin, but the government has its foot on the accelerator to catch up.
34 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:00am
- CJames
  
  His speech at same venue two years ago is just as good on the benefits of free market capitalism and the mutants of capitalism destroying it.
  https://singjupost.com/fighting-the-3-mutant-capitalisms-paul-marshall-transcript/?singlepage=1
  Sir Paul is the owner of GB News and The Spectator so a firm believer in free speech. If you want to binge out on sensible clear-headed thinking, find Douglas Murray’s speech at the 2025 ARC. There is a great example of a person who will call things what they are.
  I believe Family First website also has conference links.
  
  28 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:06am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Good luck trying to convince the “Bluegreen” Nats on this. They have swallowed the Koolaid regarding this.
    
    31 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 8:10am
    - kowtow
      
      Would be good to have a list of the nat MP’s who attended .
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 9:08am
      - Dougal10
        
        They are all teal .
        
        7 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 9:23am
  - Grunter
    
    Very good links CJames. Thx
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 8:26am
  - Mark Hanley
    
    Nz already runs on 80 to 85% renewable energy, economically!.
    
    In better news NZ has climbed out of the recession required to purge us of the lingering effects of the Labour Hierarchy’s (disastrous for nz) self enrichment program.
    
    A prioritized and budgeted infrastructure plan has been developed = More work and better productivity.
    
    The fast track resource consent legislation will allow things to actually be built in a reasonable time frame.= More work and better productivity.
    
    Luxon just orchestrated the elevation of the New Zealand-Viet Nam relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. = More trade and income for NZ!
    
    The coalition is taking action to reduce energy prices by stopping generators discounting when supplying their own retail operations = Lower costs for NZ.
    
    Expect the good news to keep rolling.
    
    8 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:13am
    - Graeme Hall
      
      Only a Govt creating an environment that makes increasing supply less problematic will lower prices, anything else is play acting.
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 9:28am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Agree Graham… in other words, productivity needs to improve.
        
        Increasing produtivity is an expensive long term task. E.g. roads improve Productivity. Cheap energy helps improve Productivity, IT (eg data centres) improve Productivity.
        
        I listened to Seymour the other day explaining all the facets of government currently working to increase foreign investment…. there are a lot of government cogs spinnng furiously… which we can’t see until the money starts rolling in.
        
        6 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 10:54am
      - Graeme Hall
        
        Mark: cheaper energy is fundamental to improving an economy. All economic activity requires energy. So tinkering around with pricing and re-allocating an existing supply among users does not improve the situation. It is false policy. Too many politicians, journos, and commentators get tied up in knots on policy detail and forget this simple point.
        
        5 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 2:59pm
    - wsk12345
      
      Are you kidding? They have done NOTHING to deal with energy prices. When they encourage (or at least stop discouraging) building of firm power which raises energy and capacity supply, then they will have done something useful.
      
      People can already save hundreds of dollars a year by switching – I do it every year (at least check prices). Takes about a minute. Strangely switching has increased this year because people are feeling the pinch more. That’s what it takes, not anything the government does in the power sector (other than supply side as above).
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 10:39am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        I agree wsk.
        
        The government improving electricity price information with the powerswitch website and making switching easier improved competition.
        
        The goverment stopping generators favouring their own retailers will step competiton up another notch.
        
        Now about your government has your done nothing claim…. pls see above.
        
        5 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 11:39am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Ps. I’ve been searching your “hydro electricity is expensive” claim but can’t find a shred of evidence to support it
        ….. can you?
        
        2 1
        Report
        February 28, 2025 11:41am
      - wsk12345
        
        I honestly don’t know if the documents still exist. I saw them in the ECNZ library some decades ago when doing research. I particularly remember one report which set out the levelised life time cost of hydro because it was so astounding.
        
        Who knows what happened ed to all of that. All I know is that it hasn’t got cheaper to build big damns.
        
        2 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 3:57pm
    - sungsamning
      
      Yeah, I just watched a YT video on the Vietnam deal.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:12pm
    - JJ56
      
      I think you meant ‘electricity’, not ‘enery’.
      
      70% of our energy comes from fossil fuel.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 1:45pm
    - CJames
      
      No Mark we are only 80-85% renewable electricity. For renewable energy, that drops to somewhere in the 40s%
      And if you want to wear the more staunch Greens hair shirt, they don’t consider hydro or geothermal renewable.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 1:54pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Fair point cj. I should have been more specific.
        
        Clever greens have a place in society. That excludes chloe swarbrick, her green party colleagues, and anyone who votes for them.
        
        1 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 2:11pm
      - CJames
        
        Isn’t clever Greens an oxymoron?
        
        8 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 2:49pm
  - RichardF
    
    I recommend Konstantin Kisin and Oliver Anthony’s speeches too.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:19am
  - cmm
    
    A large amount of our electricity gets consumed by the Tiwai Point. Around 13% of our electricity ends up there.
    
    Exporting aluminium is really exporting electricity in raw form. At least it creates around 3000 jobs.
    
    Other than that we don’t really benefit. There is little down-stream manufacturing industry turning that aluminium into products.
    
    The data centres that Luxon wants are largely the same – except far worse. Data centres are massive users of power. They employ far less people though and pretty much all the employment around the data centres will be placed offshore because everything comes and goes via the internet.
    
    15 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:19am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Not sure this really matters. If we have abundant electricity in a form (green) that rich foolish markets want – exporting electricity whether it be aluminium, data, or biofuels is probably quite a good idea.
      
      The key is to extract a decent premium.
      
      10 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 10:31am
      - wsk12345
        
        Get rid of comas o buys us years of plentiful supply. Means that other businesses do t go out of business.
        
        I get why Meridian signed – Transpower has about 5-29 years to get the HVDC upgrade approved and built – but they should have limited it to that timeframe, not extended it 20 years.
        
        3 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 10:41am
      - Jack5
        
        Re CMM’s comparison of Tiwai Aluminium and data centres…
        
        Will data centres contribute any export income for NZ?
        
        Exports of aluminium bring in a about one and a half-billion dollars a year. Useful in a country that hasn’t earned enough to pay way its way in the world for almost half a century.
        
        The Tiwai smelter allows NZ in effect to export electricity. Will data centres do the same?
        
        Aluminium exports face some uncertainty with Trump on a trade rampage, but data centres also are in a state of change.
        
        Here’s a AI search quote answer from Google:
        
        “A significant trend in the data center industry is a move towards regionalization, where data centers are being built closer to major population centers and data sources to reduce latency, improve data security, and comply with local regulations, driven by factors like increased data usage, stricter privacy laws.”
        
        No source, no attribution, but presentably written.
        
        DPF will be able to dispense with us all while his Wall of Freedom paints itself with posts 24/7.
        
        4 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 11:59am
      - cmm
        
        Aluminium is bauxite (a relatively cheap mineral of around $60 a ton) + a shit load of energy used to refine it.
        
        We import the bauxite, add the energy component, then sell the resulting aluminium.
        
        There has been no extra value added or downstream industry connected to that (eg. exporting door frames or wings for aircraft or whatever). Essentially that electricity has been sold wholesale.
        
        That $1.5bn dollars of aluminium exports sounds a lot, but that has consumed 13% of NZ’s electricity. Perhaps we could do far more industry – employing more and making more profits – with that electricity.
        
        Data centres are far worse. The worst sort of those are the AI machine learning centres. Machine learning in USA consumes around 80GW – about 9x NZ’s peak electricity production.
        
        Unless NZ taxes the outgoing AI models (almost impossible to do, because they’re just data) then we’re going to be getting very little value out of the electricity. effectively selling it offshore at wholesale prices.
        
        The other sort of data centre are the servers providing various services like Amazon, Tiktok, Youtube etc. Sometimes there is reason to regionalise those but that doesn’t make much sense in our neck of the woods due mainly to our very low population.
        
        It makes a lot of sense in, say, Europe where EU regulations are different to USA regulations and they have hundreds of millions of users.
        
        Internationally the main growth is in AI data centres because they’re the most power hungry and on the look out for cheap power and water (water for the cooling). They are also less worried about network latency.
        
        Unfortunately most government types hear “AI” and think this is going to bring a massive boom to the economy. Not so – everything is over the internet. If they want bulk, cheap, training staff then there’s some guy clicking a mouse in India at $3 an hour. There is absolutely no need for staff here – beyond a handful of people to keep the servers happy.
        
        2 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 4:53pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Just one point cmm.
      Aluminium is used in the manufacture of aluminium windows & doors, shopfronts, sheet roofing & other applications in the building industry. I’m sure more is used in other industries – so there is a benefit to us.
      
      10 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 10:34am
      - cmm
        
        Certainly a small amount is used locally, but it is a tiny fraction of production.
        
        What I meant was that we don’t add significant downstream value to that aluminium before exporting it.
        
        If we were exporting, say, 20% of the aluminium coming out of Tiwahi as door frames to Asia and USA or EU or whatever then we’d be getting a lot more bang for our bucks.
        
        Yes we make a few cans, door frames and extrusions for ourselves and sale to Cook Islands, Fiji etc, but those are inconsequential when compared to the amount of aluminium sold in billet form.
        
        4 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 5:04pm
  - Philview
    
    Sir Paul’s son Winston Marshall was forced out of the band Mumford & Sons for liking a right wing Tweet. He is now doing his own conservative podcasts which is heartening.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:56pm
- AitchW
  
  Now THAT is an inconvenient truth…
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:14am
- Paulus
  
  Hasn’t Starmer finally just given the OK for 8 Small Nuclear Reactors for power supply in the UK to be started.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:27am
  - CJames
    
    Not really. They say they will just reduce planning approvals like those that have strangled Hinkley Point.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-rips-up-rules-to-fire-up-nuclear-power
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 8:34am
- artemisia
  
  Very good series of posts this morning, CJames.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:46am
CJames

For those regularly driving the section of SH5 Rotorua to Taupo, they will have seen a new small housing estate being built at the Waikato bridge. They are on land next to a recently refurbished Waimahana marae. It is not housing for elders retiring to the marae but for families – one is five bedroomed. The houses have taken three years to build and are now about to be occupied. These are right out in the wops – no nearby industry except farms and dairy factory up the road. The forests are gone. Nearest shop and school about 10km away and supermarkets 40km so totally dependent on the people having a car. There is a school bus route though but the local schools aren’t kura. They are in Taupo. So where did the money to build them there come from? No points for picking the taxpayer, though it probably had some local Trust funding as well. But according to Willie, they are an investment. Yeah – right.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/government-supports-nearly-30-papakainga-homes-to-be-built-at-reporoa/JHCB55VIF6L3NLEAWL3R2SVJRY/
The houses cost about $1M each with nothing spectacular about them and they have been built on very cheap land. Where did the money go? Another legacy of Kiwibuild? And they are supposed to build another two but more isolated just like it.
43 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:04am
- pdm
  
  CJ – didn’t there used to be a garage and a general store plus a couple of other businesses on the Rotorua side of the bridge?
  
  I am thinking there was a sign `something springs’.
  
  It is 7/8 years since we have been through that way.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:43am
  - CJames
    
    That’s Golden Springs. They are all closed. All that is there now is a rundown motor camp.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:01am
    - pdm
      
      Thank you.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 9:11am
  - Local Miller
    
    Golden Springs Holiday Park?
    
    There’s a cluster of houses there that Google Maps doesn’t name
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:01am
    - CJames
      
      People will live where they can get accommodation. Look at Kaingaroa Village or Whirinaki. If one burns down or like, it wouldn’t be rebuilt. The residents still need to drive some distance for a bottle of milk, let alone work.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 9:06am
- artemisia
  
  Almost certainly social housing, income related rent, so no need to have a job.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:01pm
ecco

Interesting to see nzme is launching Ryan Bridge on a video streaming morning news show. I surmise that is to try and combat the growing popularity of the Platform. I noticed the Platform is getting a lot of traction on YouTube and I often watch their content on YouTube or on The Platform app.

They have some quality long form interviews from Plunket, and Laws, in particular. Laws is hilarious sometimes! outrageous! I listen to several of Laws’ weekly slots including Tony Randle, and Craig Stobo’s, always interesting commentaries on the state of the nz economy. Would be great if Garner joined the Platform.

I don’t mind paying the $30 a month to support The Platform. I know of others who are the same as me and are hooked on the channel! I even donated money to the Platform. I would have liked it though if Plunket had sent a semi personalised/automated note of thanks like you get with say Wikipedia donations, rather than just receiving an automated receipt. Never mind they must be busy…

Even though Hosking does a good job, conservative leaning people dont want to just hear the National Party, party line that you get on Zb. Zb also provide virtually no commentary on the huge racial divide created and left by Jacinda Ardern. Look at the lack of coverage on John Tamihere and the Manurewa marae data scandal, both by zb and other mainstream nz media. Or maybe they did but I’m just not listening to much on zb. I find they have too many ads. I do like their on demand functionality though. Wish The Platform would have that on demand function too.
16 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:08am
- imalwaysright
  
  “…huge racial divide created and left by Jacinda Ardern.”
  
  There seems to be an undercurrent of radicalization of younger Maori by activists in order to make it easier for the activists to get money from us via the government.
  That’s not a racial divide, as the media and the activists want us to believe. That is a scam that works by creating the perception of a problem and then offering a financial solution.
  Not only are the activists scamming us, they are also scamming the Maori people they purport to represent.
  
  20 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:16am
- kowtow
  
  I find the Platform very good in that it covers stuff the legacy media won’t and yes good long form interviews.
  
  The problem is Plunket , and yeah the Platform is Plunket , but he’s incredibly rude . Won’t let his guests have their head , always interupts , interjects his opinions and experiences and as to talk back ( while desperate to have callers ) often literally just hangs up on them or jumps in before they get their bit out . How many subscribers has he lost doing that ?
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:10am
  - PurplePen
    
    Agree. Can’t fault Laws and his content is excellent. Plunket on the other hand comes across as aggressive, rude, overtalker, yuge permanent chip on the shoulder, swift to bite the head off any caller all the while desperate to make friends. He’s a great journalist but there’s a lot of unresolved issues there that come through.
    
    However, Platform and ZB far superior to RNZ.
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 1:00pm
- sungsamning
  
  I like Laws; Plunket is so-so. Still far better than RNZ fake news. Then there is Reality Check Radio. time to defund RNZ.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:16pm
- Scooter
  
  I would say The Platform is one of the best media sites for up to date and breaking news. A prime example where it excels over MSM Newstalk etc is where it can have an in depth interview for 30 minutes like the one with Michael Laws this week with Michael Brooks whose wife died in a motorcycle crash. The interview by Michael Laws was an example of above all professional and compassionate journalism.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:25pm
- PurplePen
  
  I was listening to Hosking’s this morning and thought, taje out the ads and what seems to be ever increasing jocularity, the repeated news and you’re probably left with 15 minutes of decent content.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:56pm
CJames

The most recent Cranmer’s Substack shows just how the change of government dodged a very large bullet with the change of government stopping 3 waters. Thames Water. Mahuta’s model, has needed a $6B emergency time limited baleout because of $34B debt. As Philip writes “I asked the Department of Internal Affairs whether it wanted to comment on Standard & Poor’s view that Crown support (i.e. a taxpayer bailout) for the water entities under the Three Waters reforms was “highly likely” in the event of financial distress. A spokesperson told me that, “WSE (Water Services Entities) financial distress is a very unlikely outcome. Their failure is even more unlikely.” “
So it has been confirmed DIA don’t know what they are talking about. How unusual.
https://cranmer.substack.com/p/thames-waters-3-billion-rescue
21 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:09am
Cassandra

Among lots of other things – the Greens are going to announce an alternative budget – they emphasise “the need to honour Te Tiriti, do more for mokopuna, and addressing climate change.” I also have an alternative: Acknowledge the Treaty as an important historical event (and that’s it) which allowed Maoris to join civilisation, do nothing for “mokopuna” that we don’t do for anyone else and to accept that climate change is a perpetual natural occurrence about which we can do nothing. I’d add a fourth viz. clean up the planet – I’m all for reducing waste and pollution. No more flying off to European climate conferences. No more abandoned fishing nets. No more discharges into rivers. Discarding rubbish (what the Brits call, quaintly, fly tipping) to be a capital offence ie we’ll take your capital. Those things will do more for the planet than a hundred conferences or a thousand Teslas.
53 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:13am
- AitchW
  
  The greens are no more than high school student council members in long pants, greenstone necklaces, and keffiyehs. They have no idea about economics and finance.
  They have no concept of the consequences of their batshit crazy ‘policies’, and even if they did they don’t care because there is always an adult to come along and clean up their mess.
  It occurs to me that the same can be said of Labour except without the keffiyehs.
  The coalition should be hammering this blindingly obvious observation at every turn.
  
  31 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:23am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I believe the Speaker insisted Seymour remove a small Act thing from his lapel but allowed the Greens to wear keffiyehs, which are political and support terrorists.
    
    25 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:52am
    - Ghost
      
      They’re not breaking any standing orders.
      
      2 9
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 10:16am
      - AitchW
        
        No but they are breaching standards of human decency by supporting a regime which actively encourages terrorism and genocide.
        
        14 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 12:03pm
      - Colville
        
        No but they are breaching standards of human decency by..
        
        ..breathing.
        
        5 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 12:26pm
      - Ghost
        
        Im reminded of Gerry making a comment a few weeks ago that people were emailing him with complaints were people thought he had more power than he does. I think that is a problem on this blog, people complain about what he is doing but all he is doing is following the standing orders.
        
        3 1
        Report
        February 28, 2025 12:33pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Agree and agree on Labour. Hipkins said the other day public servants deserve and should continue to get their stepped pay increases every year. He provided a rationale for this and at the time I thought he has no idea of real world economics. And why would he. He’s never been out of the public service.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 1:06pm
- pdm
  
  Cass – re fly tipping.
  
  It has been in NZ for years. I remember my rugby coach in the late 1960’s telling a few of us this story.
  
  When he was 15/16 (so mid 1950’s) his father told him and his mates to take a few bags of household rubbish to the dump which was some miles away. The lads thought stuff this the dump is miles away so ducked down a country road, biffed the rubbish from the car and went off to more important things.
  
  A couple of days later a policeman turned up to see his father with the bags of rubbish as here was some personal addressed mail in amongst the rubbish.
  
  I cannot recall the consequences
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:53am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Have the Greens said anything about BP’s latest announcement?
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:04am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Fly tipping is usually done by dropkicks with no capital.
  Fly tipping is roadside dumping down banks etc.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:35am
  - kowtow
    
    In the UK it actually happens on an industrial scale .
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:12am
    - Colville
      
      The European Mafia trick is to lease a warehouse…fill it to the brim with industrial waste and then just stop paying the rent.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:28pm
- JackRabbit
  
  …the need to honour Te Tiriti…
  
  They can jolly wells start by acknowledging the fact the “Maori ceded sovereignty.”
  
  The Greens are puppet of the same Marxist elite that pull the strings of Te Pati, Maori and most of Labour.
  
  If NZ was turned over to Maori, NZ will fall apart, and the Marxist elite will just as happily put their jackboots on the faces of the useful idiot Greens as they will to everyone else, as they take over.
  
  That is the pattern. Those who don’t understand that, do not understand history. The Greens are useful idiots and architects of their own demise, and ours along with it.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:52am
  - sungsamning
    
    I wonder if any of the griftdigenous NGOs have a deficit now that USAID funding has been withdrawn?
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:19pm
  - PurplePen
    
    And there it is again “honour the treaty” and the other one is to be a “treaty led organisation” or “the treaty is to be at the centre of our”. But no-one explains what that means in terms of manifestation in said organisations.
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 1:09pm
slightlyrighty

In another example of sycophantic TDS. Republicans have proposed a bill to make a new $250 note with Trumps face on it.

It’s a bloody cult.

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/26/trump-250-bill-legislation
6 7
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:13am
- Northshoredoc
  
  One would hope that the voters throw these loathsome toadies out the next time State elections come around.
  
  Sadly, like NZ local body elections, turnout will be low, and a large proportion of those who do vote will vote for those they and their parents have always voted for.
  
  6 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:12am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  I have some gold $100 bills with Trump on them.
  Just another souvenir marketing thing.
  
  6 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:40am
  - MCōs
    
    Of course you do
    
    4 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:17pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      It is exactly this.
      https://www.etsy.com/listing/744551346/president-donald-trump-100-dollar-bill
      
      They were free, just pay shipping. Many other things were free such as Trump coins, hats, packs of 50 notes with 2020 on them, socks.
      2020, that stolen Election……
      Can’t get them now. Not even flags and banners. The domestic marker soaks them up.
      
      2 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:49pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        market* God, my typos!
        
        1 0
        Report
        February 28, 2025 2:04pm
- jacthecat
  
  Don’t you mean TAS -Trump Adoration Syndrome?
  
  2 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:31pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Does anyone know the total Government payout on Treaty Settlements since 1975?

Why do Official Information answers vary so much?

A regional director for this government entity put the total financial redress figure at $2.739-billion to February 1, 2025.

Yet figures extracted from treaty settlement summaries, which are also published by the Office of Crown Maori Relations, was $4.6-billion to March 31 last year.

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/02/mike-butler-treaty-settlement-total.html#more
29 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:17am
- CJames
  
  Have any of the figures been inflation adjusted? If so, to what index and year? $1B in 1990 is worth a lot less than $1B now.
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:29am
  - Spam
    
    Worth a lot MORE, not less.
    
    13 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 10:18am
    - CJames
      
      Yes you are correct Spam – I got that one wrong
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:59pm
- Jethrod
  
  Unfortunately we have the big one still to come…. the eye-watering, catch in the throat, swallowing the vomit, settlement for Ngapuhi, who can’t seem to agree who the boss is and settle for GODS sake.
  This will set off another round of “They got more than me” and “why didn’t we think of that”.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:40am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “This will set off another round of “They got more than me””
    
    Waikato-Tainui get “Relativity Payments”.
    That means that if total treaty settlements exceed $1 billion in 1994 dollars they get a top up to bring them up to 17% of total settlement value.
    In December 2022 they got an extra $101 million.
    Therefore it is in their interests for future settlements to be as high as possible.
    
    13 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 10:14am
    - kowtow
      
      The tribe that conquered the South Island maoris in the 1700’s also gets a perpetual top up.
      
      part of what was their 5 th full and final settlement .
      
      the guys who just got, what, $100 mil from the power companies ( which no doubt gets passed on to the long suffering consumer)
      
      9 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 11:19am
  - Paulus
    
    Ngapuhi are relying on taking as much time as they want on the basis the longer they wait for a decision the more money they will get, and theoretically their’s is the last settlement -sic.
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 10:44am
    - PurplePen
      
      You would think that as those at the bottom of the ngapuhi heap get older they would start putting pressure on those not settling as they’re going to miss out in their lifetime. And they’ve only got one earthly life to enjoy.
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 1:12pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    I think there are more than 10,000 new claims yet to be settled.
    
    7 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 10:44am
    - imalwaysright
      
      The girl who ran the occupation of the Fletcher owned land in Auckland said that claims will be generational , in that each upcoming generation will want their own claim.
      What a future they are building for their kids….
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 1:52pm
- Yvette
  
  Maggy
  What part of the Treaty of Waitangi did Maori contribute? – apart from affixing affirming signatures?
  So as a sacred living document, a few Pakeha back then had the wisdom to write rules for the then unimagined society we have now …
  
  No – the Treaty was a badly written real estate agreement, and we have been trying to engage with Treaty Settlements since 1975 – fixing real estate.
  
  The vast irony is that realestate personnel can now be penalised for not studying the Treaty.
  Irony is what makes the world go around.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:48am
  - RoboRob
    
    I dont think the treaty was badly written at all. In the English version it was clear and concise. Many of the Maori that signed could understand english. I have no ability to read the Maori version but from what I see Maori struggle to agree on what the wording means, a clear sign the language was unsuitable for contracts.
    
    Agree, it was never designed to be a constitution or bill of rights, that Maori activists (and I am including the National party here too) have made it.
    
    13 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 10:01am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      The English version the Waitangi Tribunal and the activists use is the James Freeman version, not the true original Treaty version known as the Littlewood Draft written by William Hobson and James Busby. That was the original version which was translated into Maori by Henry Williams and his son Edward.
      The Freeman version contains some text that was not in the Littlewood Draft or the Maori translation. The Tribunal uses it because the untruths suit their purposes.
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 10:57am
  - PurplePen
    
    it’s definitely not sacred. have you seen the actual signed document. it’s in tatters and great chunks of paper ripped out of it. And where are all the copies signed by the 500 or so chiefs up and down the country. if it was or is so revered it would be in mint condition.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 1:15pm
- kowtow
  
  Not to mention the annual budget amounts put aside for Ministry for Maori Development over the decades .
  
  Nearly $50 mil for maori dancing , over 3 years . Where’s our DOGE .
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:16am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Cripes, I wish the consequences of the settlements were simply financial.
  Look at the state of things now, after 50 years of redress.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:13pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Nightmare! I woke up this morning to the news that it’s 5 years since the first concave of Covid in NZ. RNZ then proceeded to play 15+ minutes clips of their heroic news readers interviewing She Who Shall Not Be Named and other anti heros.

Aaarrggghhh!
18 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:18am
- imalwaysright
  
  Five years of lost progress. Five years of damage to education, health, businesses and social harmony. Now we have increased emigration of our useful people plus a massive debt to pay off.
  The $100 billion of debt is small compared to the ongoing compounding damage that is still happening.
  By the time we are back on track the loss could be near a trillion.
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:32am
  - Paulus
    
    Actually it is something like the passage of time since 1975 when the stupid so called Pakeha Parliament, and like the idiot Palmer, agreed the Waitangi Tribunal formation, which as held New Zealand back since that time and has few signs of changing, even getting worse.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 10:48am
  - Flossie
    
    Five years of damage to kids – three grandkids now 15, 16 and 17 suffered all kinds of educational and social damage.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:01am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  You may be one of the 20,000 that was saved!
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:16am
  - Colville
    
    Saint Jacinda of the Plague.
    Praised be Her name.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:32pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  She Who Shall Not Be Named is still telling the World lies about how great she was saving NZ – and they believe her!
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:02am
artemisia

Barrister and University of Otago Law School lecturer Henry Benson-Pope is one of several worried about proposed changes to citizen’s arrest rules. Some of the reasons given for his worry –

– Brian Tamaki is enthusiastic
– No Bill of Rights protections
– People were simply not equipped to judge when to make an arrest.

However, he tells us “There are other better ways to explore preventing retail crime”

‘Other better ways’? Do tell. Retailers would love to know how to legally stop trollies of free fillet steak walking out the door.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/543227/brian-tamaki-s-enthusiasm-among-many-concerns-with-new-citizen-s-arrest-law
–
24 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:27am
- Yvette
  
  Brian Tamaki’s enthusiasm among many concerns with new citizen’s arrest law
  “How EXCITED I am that MAN UP is about to receive increased powers to police .. where law and order has failed,” the self-styled bishop [Brian Tamaki] wrote on X.
  Barrister and University of Otago Law School lecturer Henry Benson-Pope told Checkpoint Tamaki’s enthusiasm for the new laws was worrying.
  “I think it’s concerning any time a group in our community is excited or enthusiastic about using force against others. These reforms are supposed to be targeted at combating retail crime, and as far as I’m aware Mr Tamaki doesn’t have anything to do with that.”
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/543227/brian-tamaki-s-enthusiasm-among-many-concerns-with-new-citizen-s-arrest-law
  
  Is Brian Tamaki’s not-so-secret police going to stop “trollies of free fillet steak walking out the door”?
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:40am
  - MCōs
    
    If Brian Tamaki is getting excited about using his private army of Blackshirts to legally rough up suspected shoplifters, I wonder who else has the same idea?
    A marauding gang of Blackshirts might bump into a rival crowd of Redshirts
    
    2 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:40pm
    - PurplePen
      
      It won’t be shoplifters, it will be shirt-tail lifters that they’ll be arresting.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 1:17pm
- pdm
  
  art – Benson Pope is a (scary) name from the past.
  
  Is this character connected to the former Labour MP (of tennis ball fame) David Benson Pope?
  
  If he is I would not give him to much credence.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:17am
  - MCōs
    
    Different bloke in the same way you’re not PTSD
    
    0 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:30pm
  - Matt Long
    
    David Benson Pope had late life twins including a Henry Benson Pope. Dunedin royalty apparently.
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/perfect-attributes-for-career-path/TRID2LHHOK3FLC7YKE22SI5WRA/
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 7:41pm
- Paulus
  
  With a name like that I hope he does not play Tennis !
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:49am
  - kowtow
    
    Joining quite a list of “names” gracing the once esteemed halls of that woke treaty led institution.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:01am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq086M1PyE0
This Might Just Be The Craziest Idea That Trump Ever Had.
No place is safer than the US. Bring your money, invest, grow it here. Make companies, employ and produce goods here. Lets bring the smart, wealthy people that love freedom. Not the losers that are sneaking through the back door. Its a great idea.
10 5
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:30am
- imalwaysright
  
  Agreed.
  Meanwhile we are after old age pensioners who don’t speak English but can keep their 5 million and put it into government bonds.
  Not too sure how that helps us…
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:55am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, we should copy the Trump version, and use the money to pay off debt.
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:25pm
- cmm
  
  The money isn’t the issue. It is the clever people.
  
  $5M is a pathetically low amount if accompanied by a person who cannot speak English and cannot understand how to build a business/company in a Western setting. That money will not be effectively managed.
  
  Getting a broke engineer to come settle in NZ and live here a long time is far more valuable.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:29pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbRpkbHHwDA
DOGE Unmasks the Facade of the Radical Left!
Recover all the money , and those workers and ngos need to be prosecuted and thrown in jail. [ Dorothy and the gang have had a peek behind the curtain, and found out who the Wizard of Oz really is.]
5 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:31am
Ghost

I do not believe that the voters will support this 4 year term. It either needs to be 3 years or 4 years. Not 3 years with options.

Article

The way the bill is currently drafted, the standard would be for a parliament to last three years, but there would be the option for a government to extend it to four if it met certain conditions.

Those conditions would include handing more power over to opposition parties to chair select committees, to act as an extra check on the executive.

Under the proposed new legislation, a government would have three months to decide whether they want a four year term and pass a resolution confirming that they had met a proportionality clause which showed the select committees were stacked with MPs who didn’t belong to governing parties.
11 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:48am
- pdm
  
  I favour four year terms but am totally opposed to sitting Governments being able to extend by a year.
  
  Four is a four year term from election day.
  
  15 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:58am
  - kowtow
    
    I do too , but the problem is accountability and checks and balances .
    We should never have dropped the upper chamber .
    
    10 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:10am
  - James Stephenson
    
    If it’s 3 years with the ability to extend to 4 then I can’t see a government not going to 4 years.
    
    If you’re unpopular at the 3 year mark, you’re going to hang on and hope to turn things around.
    
    If you’re popular at the 3 year mark, you’re highly unlikely to risk annoying the electorate by making them go to the polls “early”.
    
    6 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 9:29am
  - cmm
    
    Just make it 4 years. They have always been able to shorten it by having an early election.
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:26pm
    - Colville
      
      I believe (the way it should be is) sitting government calls election and declares what term that election will be for.
      
      “there will be a general election on September 10th 2029 and that will be for a four year term”
      
      You know what you are buying.
      
      Also sitting govt gets to take a punt, if they think they will win they will call it long, they think they will lose they will call it short
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:37pm
- Inandout
  
  Ghost, we live in a tiny country and changeover should be simple given that the Opposition is aware of the state of the country’s books. If they foist 4 years upon us then a trade off would be to rid the taxpayer of a host of List MPs.
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:56am
- RoboRob
  
  Agree. I’m in favour of always four years. This whole, depends on the government think is a needless complication. Just make it compulsory 4 years and more opposition power.
  
  5 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:56am
- Don Beckett
  
  What’s the point of that ? A 4 year term is preferable – but if the govt. of the day is concerned about anything, they can call an early election – not claim an extra year.
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:51am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Why can’t NZ just do things the simple way?
  Referendum in 2026, “Do you want the Govt to have a 4 year term? Yes/No.”
  It is that simple. The people decide, not the select committees or the politicians. Everything is always a dog’s breakfast.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:22am
  - cmm
    
    If it isn’t a binding referendum then it is a waste of time.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:25pm
  - Bridgenag
    
    saves money as well
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:40pm
- greybeard
  
  I like the idea of the first term being 4 years and subsequent terms being 3 years, if same govt re-elected. I know that under MMP the re-elected govt can have a slightly different makeup but that doesn’t matter.
  
  2 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:52am
  - RoboRob
    
    If you have variable terms you run into issues with local and national elections the same year.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:15pm
- sungsamning
  
  No way, never, forget it, there’s not enough money on the planet to bribe me to say yes. No, nein, non, nyet, ani. Imagine eight years of Ardern.
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:27pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    But with a 4 year term, Ardern may not have got a second term. Public opinion was turning not long after that election, & with Winston missing out, he would have changed his strategy & gone against her. There could have been a different govt, but we’ll never know, will we.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 7:36pm
    - Ghost
      
      No. If an election was held in 2021 Ardern would win another 4 year term
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2023_New_Zealand_general_election
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 7:41pm
- Nobby2
  
  Just leave the Governments term at 3 years. If they are ok the people will elect them for another term and continue to do so until they get sick of them. If they are not ok the people will not vote for them and we can get rid of them asap.
  
  5 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 2:59pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yep. The one control we have over those rascals is that we can vote them out.
    
    Reduce that at your peril!
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 7:23pm
Chuck Bird

I heard Hosking talking about MPs’ expenses. I can accept alcohol when they are entertaining people. However, should we pay for their drinks at a minibar? Are private companies allow to change for alcohol? I wonder what the Taxpayer’s Union thinks.
15 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:52am
- Raphael
  
  I’ve never had a business refuse an expense claim that includes a beer or two as long as it is reasonable.
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:23am
- RoboRob
  
  We dont know what the mini bar expenses were. It could have been chips, coke and nuts etc.
  
  If people are out working for a company (or country in this case), its not unreasonable to feed and water them. If you would normally have a wine or a beer at the end of the day at home, why shouldn’t you be able to have one when travelling for work (within reason). I think most businesses dont need it itemised and just give a $ per day allowance for food and drink. Personally I never touch the minibar.
  
  Also as someone who has travelled extensively, Mike should know that laundry in hotels is crazy expensive.
  
  None of the stuff Mike listed sounded particulary outrageous. I mean a burger, oh nooooo. Honey and Wine etc, clearly gifts. If anything the list was refreshingly reasonable.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 9:51am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  I could never drink alcohol at work, why should others – especially at our expense?
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:24am
  - RoboRob
    
    I think the implication was that it was out of work (i.e. the hotel). But for work purposes lunches and dinners tend to come with drinks. Its not like they are truck drivers.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:18pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Or steel fabricators using machines like pressbrakes and guillotines.
      
      3 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:54pm
  - Colville
    
    Steve.
    
    What kind of engineer never had a beer at work??
    Got to wash the welding dust away somehow.
    
    I spent many many nights away for work and we always had a meal allowance.. so went somewhere that had a steak and beer deal. If you wanted a second beer you paid out of your pocket.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:42pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      I think you mean “After work”.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 7:37pm
kowtow

In 1961 when the Crimes Act was passed , NZ was a very very different country . Even then we seem to have made “citizen’s arrest” harder/more complicated than other common law countries did .

Come Covid , Labour , the Gangs , Black Lives Matter and any number of other long standing ‘soft on crime” philosophies ( see rubbish sentencing , easy bail ,youth crime regime) and we created a criminal social contagion epidemic that said
“It’s OK to steal” .

This is Broken Windows stuff , a social phenomenon , got nothing to do with poverty , race inequality or starvation.

At least this is finally one step in the right direction.To say ” No it’s not OK to steal and you can and will be held to account”

The police union don’t like it cos it will force them to respond and won’t be able to ignore it.

Lefty academics and pollies don’t like it cos they simply want to Hug a crim.

And the big chains don’t cos it will force them to be more effective with security guards ( really no one is expecting a part time school pupil on the evening shift at the till to stop the nasty drongos) .
15 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 8:56am
- sungsamning
  
  Security guards should get cuffs and pepper spray; along with the necessary training.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:43pm
rangitoto

President Musk offers Starlink terminals to replace aging US Air Traffic control network. How kind.
2 7
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 9:33am
Swifty

“Asked whether the arrival of the three warships was designed to occur just before Australia’s federal election, the ambassador insisted Beijing did “not interfere” with foreign democratic processes.”

That’s funny, I could have sworn I read that just this week China has insisted that the Cooks support China and Chinese appointees in all international agreements and bodies etc in return for Chinese investment.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/543284/china-tells-australia-to-expect-more-warship-visits-but-insists-its-navy-poses-no-threat

If that’s not interfering in democratic processes I don’t know what is.

Liars.
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 9:38am
Bridgenag

Interview with Prof. William Happer – Climate Scare Is Based on Lies
“There is really no threat from increasing CO2 or any of the other minor greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It’s all a made-up scare story.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/interview-with-prof-william-happer?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
13 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 9:59am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  A number that is not often used is 0.04% of CO2 in the atmosphere.
  That is 419 parts per million. Why would anyone want to reduce that? It makes the veges grow.
  I guess these liars and nutters can’t comprehend one million.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:36am
  - cmm
    
    Correct. Those are close to starvation numbers for plants.
    That is why growers pump CO2 into greenhouses – to give them food.
    The slightly elevated CO2 levels are helping plants grown in desert fringes – helping to reverse encroaching deserts.
    
    13 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:23pm
Yvette

Pharmacists revolt over ‘racist, woke’ cultural mandates—Minister steps in
Pharmacists across New Zealand are upset over new cultural competency rules imposed by the Pharmacy Council, which require them to perform Māori waiata, prioritise Māori voices, and advocate for Te Tiriti principles.
Critics argue these mandates are an ideological overreach, undermining scientific standards and placing unnecessary barriers on professionals. …

Minister Brown promised to demand an explanation from the Pharmacy Council, stating that professional bodies should focus on core competencies, not cultural mandates. “Kiwis expect safety and expertise from their pharmacists—not ideological compliance,” he said.

When is this “Minister steps in …” going to apply to something more basic: our water supply?
https://www.taumataarowai.govt.nz/about/our-team/maori-advisory-group/

“Whāngaia te iwi”. [translation…] “Sustain the tangata” [since when has a bloody translation needed translating?]
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 10:08am
- cmm
  
  Push the fast forward button a few years and you won’t be admitted into a hospital unless you sing a waiata.
  
  Nor will they empty your wheelie bin or hand over your post.
  
  And don’t even think about the barista making you a coffee or a teacher allowing you into a classroom or a judge hearing your case.
  
  You might laugh, but wtf does a waiata have to do with all the places it has infested already: government workplaces, pharmacies, estyate agents, etc?
  
  24 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:21am
  - imalwaysright
    
    From the internet : “During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese citizens were expected to own, read, and carry a copy of the Little Red Book at all times. Reciting passages from the book became a daily ritual, and people could face trouble for showing disrespect to the book or misquoting it.”
    
    Yes, fast forward a few years…
    
    “During the Cultural Revolution, Aotearoan citizens ….”
    
    17 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:09am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    The cancer is now malignant – past eradication.
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:43am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360596530/regional-development-milestone-tech-hub-opens-marlborough

Despite the stupid maori name I suspect it will simply be known as “The Tech Hub”.
8 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 10:20am
- cmm
  
  I suspect it will be repurposed for other things.
  
  When STEM was deemed elitist and excluded non-tech people it morphed into STEAM – adding arts. This has now make STE(A)M pointless.
  
  I expect the tech space will go the same way. Instead of focusing on the needs of tech people it will expand to be inclusive and will devolve into a space where people play rap music and do “maker space” stuff and will be Maorified.
  
  How the hell did this cost the taxpayer over $500k?
  
  11 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:27am
  - Matt Long
    
    Interestingly when grass is growing it has a stem, when it has passed through a bull it has steam.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 7:47pm
- kowtow
  
  Talking of stupid names , look at this for a mouthful.
  
  I doubt the good folk of Mozzers could be bothered .
  
  Though I do note a trend among “progressives” to put “Otepoti” in front of Dunedin these days . Anyway;
  
  ‘Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said police executed a search warrant at a Dunedin address at about 11am yesterday, in relation to an offence that happened at Mosgiel’s pool, Te Puna o Whakaehu, last month.’
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/first-gang-patch-arrest-city-mosgiel-pool
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:28am
Maggy Wassilieff

How can you kill a young woman just because she wore your t-Shirt?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ariki-rigby-murdered-by-jimmy-heremaia-after-she-wore-his-mongrel-mob-t-shirt/NKWIQZXFPRHUVKEKHBF6CW673I/

Is anyone keeping a tally of the murders Mongrel Mobsters have committed?

How many fellow Maori have the Mobsters now killed?
21 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 10:24am
- cmm
  
  That’s not any tshirt. That’s his MMob Tshirt.
  
  It is a massive disrespect for anyone other than the MMob member to put it on.
  
  Stop over reacting. The same would happen with a Lions Club Tshirt.
  
  21 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:30am
  - Swifty
    
    We’ve got the same rules in the Avondale Daffodil Club.
    
    There have been more than a few members who have become daffodil fertiliser over the years because of carelessness with club tee-shirts.
    
    Rules that are not enforced become merely guidelines – and we can’t have that.
    
    21 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 10:40am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Indeed, just ask a former President of the National Party.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:01am
  - Blog-aholic
    
    What an utterly inane thing the think let alone type it out so we all can see it.
    
    4 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:34am
    - Swifty
      
      He missed out the sarc symbols.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:25pm
    - cmm
      
      woosh
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 12:35pm
- Swifty
  
  What a totally sick culture.
  
  It’s more than reminiscent of Islamic honour killings.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 10:42am
  - Colville
    
    Except the Islamists wont be cooked on meth …
    but God told them to dontcha know.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 12:45pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Surely Harry Tam will provide some reasoned, expert commentary on this…?
  
  Whoops, sorry, I have to go – I’ve just received a NZ Herald alert: “Watch live: Labour leader Chris Hipkins visits school critical of new Govt lunch programme.”
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:02am
- Scooter
  
  She should have stayed home with family and away from gang scum, she had a hammer so knew she was in danger. However no excuse for their actions.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:16am
- rangitoto
  
  It’s captain Cook’s fault.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:30am
rangitoto

“Do you still think that Mr. Zelensky is a dictator?”

“Did I say that? Can’t believe I said that.”

Looks like Putin is in Donald’s bad book today.
7 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 10:37am
Jack5

Will the 300,000 submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill all be available to citizens, and how and when?

It would be no big challenge to put the written submissions up on a web site. Better still in a bloc for download. We need the right to read these. All of them.

The Leftist, State-supported media bloc seem to me to be biased in coverage of submissions.

The actual videoing now seems a little less prone to being a Maori Party circus, but we surely have the right to peruse all the written submissions. Free from political selection from the 300,000 or more.
14 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 10:46am
- Ghost
  
  As they are processed they are put online here
  
  https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/submissions-and-advice/
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:14am
  - Jack5
    
    Thank you for that.
    
    When the hearings are complete, Parliament should provide a convenient a way to download the submissions in total, or in sections.
    
    Three hundred thousand, one at a time will be daunting, and if only available for a limited time, impossible.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:22am
  - zulumonster
    
    Thanks Ghost
    Anyone looking for a laugh can select a submission at random … I saw the name Kiwi Searanke and guessed what the slant of his submission would be – but not the brevity. In total it was “this bill is not good” – thanks Kiwi!
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 11:43am
  - Jack5
    
    The Government should hire a reputable and relevant overseas expert to check the 300,000 submissions for those — or any — that have been generated by artificial intelligence.
    
    It would be easy to generate tens of thousands of submissions, and given the corruption now popping up in NZ’s electoral system, we should no longer take authenticity for granted.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 2:37pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Will the PM take some time from his busy schedule and pay the slightest bit of attention to the blatant racism displayed by some submitters and committee members?
  Of all the ways the PM has managed to disappoint, his attitude towards this bill might top the list.
  Maybe he agrees with the idea from some that being treated equally is racist.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:21pm
  - Eastlander
    
    Even the left-national types thought the green and maori party MPs behaved atrociously but good luck getting them to say so in public.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 1:46pm
- OlderChas
  
  I have watched a few of the submissions. The total disinterest from the Select Committe members is evident. They are going through the motions, and bringing in the heavyweights when someone ‘important’ is about to make their submission. The truly awful video of that clown eating with his mouth wide open, picking his nose (thankfully not eating that!) then digging debris out of his teeth and chatting to someone off-camera throughout sums it up for me. The whole process is a total farce. Have a look at the retired judge’s submission – Waititi didn’t ask a question at all – merely made contemptuous statements, which has been typical of others. I won’t be watching any more.
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:29pm
  - MCōs
    
    Who was that?
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 2:00pm
    - Swifty
      
      Ferris.
      
      One of Te Pati Maori’s finest.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 28, 2025 3:00pm
  - kowtow
    
    Disinterest?
    
    I watched Duncan Webb “question” the excellent , gentlemanly Gary Judd .
    
    The rudeness and hostility was palpable , even a tad disconcerting , coming as it did from an MP . But then he’s in the palestine camp , which to my mind explains an awful lot.
    
    I see Webb has put it on facebook .
    
    Ferris was downright smart arse as were his cackling support crew.
    
    God help us if these nasty specimens ever get back ito power.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 3:43pm
Fender

Thinking about the Trump Russia thread ,how much have we learnt in the last few years and how grateful should we be for Snowden, Assange and other whistleblowers to take some of the scales from our eyes on what our own side has been up to behind our backs. Of course it now creates disbelief and suspicion in the official narrative that can easily swotted away as conspiracy nonsense and seems to divide people more than was ever possible before.
You tend to believe what you want and nobody can actually prove their side anymore conclusively.

Today is Epstein release day so buckle up,
Apparently he had documented everything but they have now had years to scrub names like the Clintons. Will Andrew be made a scapegoat? does all the celebs bleating for Biden save any of them? Something has to be going on for DeNiro to have been so unhinged surely.
9 4
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 11:02am
- kowtow
  
  For all the shite that goes on, undoubtedly, in the west , that does not make Putin a choirboy , Orthodox or otherwise.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 11:31am
  - Keith White
    
    Strawman. No-one says it does.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    March 1, 2025 12:28am
Ghost

Phase 1 of the Epstein files begins. Not exactly sure this is something you want to be posing for a photo with and smiling

https://www.msn.com/en-au/politics/government/trump-s-biggest-maga-fans-seen-holding-phase-1-of-the-epstein-files-but-it-s-still-secret-from-public-and-congress/ar-AA1zWiEy?ocid=BingNewsSerp
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 11:51am
- sungsamning
  
  If I was Trump; I’d release about 25% of them, and sit on the rest. Then, I’d send the rest an email with pictures and phone log extracts. Lets say there are 100 of them. Offer half of them a pardon if they’ll turn states evidence. Keep the rest for a rainy day. Job done.
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:53pm
I remember when

Does Maori ownership of rivers mean that they will need payment every time a bridge is built?
How about part of the toll where bridges cross rivers on toll roads?
13 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 12:21pm
- Colville
  
  You jest…
  
  I would love to know the final bill for the extortion for the signoff from iwi on the bridge crossing the Manawatu River to the Gorge replacement road.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 12:51pm
- Cassandra
  
  Coming soon. I’m sure that it’s in their planning already. A clip on every ticket imaginable. (Adopts husky voice. “Kia Ora. I have an offer you can’t refuse”). Unless some brave person puts the kybosh on it. We need a political Elliot Ness. Mr Luxon’s successor? We live in hope.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 1:00pm
- cmm
  
  Bro, the taniwha says you will have to move the bridge 200 metres down stream. That’s going to cost at least $30 million right?
  If you gimme $2M koha I’ll have a chat with the taniwha and see if we can straighten this out.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 4:32pm
Swifty

How to funk in two minutes:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3vBwRfQbXkg

Have a great weekend everyone. I’m off to the Golden Shears!
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 2:01pm
Steve Otto N Shore

I think this is some bending and twisting by the media.
‘Beyond belief’: Musk ridiculed for ‘inane’ effort to rehire air traffic control workers.”
I see this as Trump firing DEI and useless air traffic workers and hiring retired control workers, not re-hiring the ones who were sacked.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/beyond-belief-musk-ridiculed-for-inane-effort-to-rehire-air-traffic-control-workers/ar-AA1zWmgt?
4 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 2:02pm
Prince

The daily whining about school lunches is indicative of what happens when people are given things ‘for free’ (ie paid for by someone else).

Today’s complaint – fish pie. Oh the horror !

The media has found a new weapon to bash the coalition with. Hopefully, the meals will become so bad that parents might consider making lunch for their kids.
13 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 2:07pm
- Ghost
  
  The company was hired to make school lunches. It seems incapable of that when schools are having to buy the food in and now the provider is buying pre-made dinners and shipping them off.
  
  5 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 2:38pm
  - Keith White
    
    How about the very blunt principle – “don’t breed ’em if you can’t feed ’em.”
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    March 1, 2025 12:29am
Swifty

What a deeply unimpressive performance from Prof Lisa Te Morenga on school lunches etc.

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

And well done to Michael Laws for asking some basic questions – some of which the learned professor had clearly never had thought of herself despite her many years in academia.

I wonder too, whether state-dispensed nutrition, a direction the professor clearly favours and wishes to take the country, and away from parental and individual responsibility, is the position of Massey University or just of the professor?
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 2:42pm
Steve Otto N Shore

I have an email from ‘Nuclear for Australia’ that is not on their website yet.
In this newsletter:
1/ Nuclear goes viral
2/ US Secretary for Energy calls on Australia to go nuclear
3/ Let’s get to 100k signatures to lift the ban on nuclear power
4/ Nuclear News

1/ just goes straight to the website for donations, but in the email is a photo of bananas with the quote “You’re exposed to more radiation eating a banana than living near a nuclear power plant.”

2/ US pushes Australia on Nuclear.
”
At a recent conference the new US Secretary for Energy Chris Wright told Australian journalist Chris Ulhman “I would love to see Australia get in the game of supplying uranium, maybe going down that nuclear road themselves”.

He discussed America’s increasing investment in nuclear power suggesting that he has “maybe the biggest focus on nuclear, an energy dense reliable technology”.
Yesterday, he told CNN “we want to launch the American nuclear renaissance in this administration” and told Fox that “nuclear has been stagnant for decades but we’re going to get it moving again”.
This is a wakeup call for Australia. Under the Biden and Trump Administration nuclear power has had strong support. Now, with the ambition of Energy Secretary Chris Wright it is clear that the US is going nuclear, and Australia is going to fall even further behind.
It’s time for us to catch up with the rest of the developed world and embrace nuclear power for affordable, reliable, clean energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF9dSJEhx1Y&t=144s 13 minutes.
Australian discussion is late, about 11 minutes in.

3/ Goes to the donations again.
4/ is a link to the BBC about Japan post Fukushima. Let’s remember that this was cause by a tsunami yes, but cooling reactor pumps failed because of bad design, and were flooded. Greens will have you believe that the earthquake destroyed the reactor core.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yeyy3y1ejo
3 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 2:43pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/court-documents-detail-how-all-blacks-blues-star-caleb-clarke-fled-from-auckland-police/PLYGDPXFPFHWBEUDQRPK2PMH3U/

Crikey, I’d think a month in prison should be warranted. 150kph in a 50kph zone is showing total disregard for other people’s lives.

It is only sheer luck he didn’t kill that night.
8 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 2:50pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Caleb Clarke has friends in high places in the rugby world.
  This was apparent when he was selected for the last World Cup squad when many felt his form and ability did not warrant it.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 3:59pm
- cmm
  
  Sports figures are put on a pedestal and are expected to be some sort of role models.
  
  We surely cannot condone this sort of offending from them. Apart from jail time, there should also be sanctions such as being stood down for a season.
  
  I wonder what Altrad thinks about their brand being promoted by someone like this?
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 6:00pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I wonder who Altrad is
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 7:30pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Willy Jackson. Why He’s Parliament’s Most Notorious Liar.
How many KCs are there in New Zealand.? I would like their answers rather than Jackson’s lies.

Video 14 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPq03gFaQNQ
5 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 3:21pm
Swifty

Reincarnation is real!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18jSAicaCW/?mibextid=wwXIfr

//
4 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 3:46pm
- greybeard
  
  Mein Furrer !
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 3:51pm
  - kowtow
    
    Don’t laugh. The UK .
    
    ‘A man who filmed a pet dog giving Nazi salutes before putting the footage on YouTube has been convicted of committing a hate crime.’
    
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43478925
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 28, 2025 5:17pm
Gravelroad

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360595879/man-who-stole-cars-toyota-viciously-beat-ex-five-days
Here is another self entitled thug whose sentence was reduced because he pleaded guilty and there was a link between his violence and his addiction to meth.
Do the courts feel sorry for criminals who break the law because they are drug addicts?
What about the woman who was beaten up repeatedly?
He gets a lighter sentence because “poor me” was a self serving meth user.
She gets nothing.
13 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 3:55pm
- Ghost
  
  On a positive he didn’t get home detention…..
  
  But two things, breaching bail and resisting police should be a disqualification for discounts and see a tougher sentence.
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 4:00pm
Ghost

Interesting to see NZ so high

These Are The Highest Paid World Leaders
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 5:04pm
Gravelroad

Was driving down the road a short time ago and listening to newstalkzb.
The host was mocking Mr Trump because during the meeting with Sir Keir Starmer he was asked about orcas.
And Trump said “What’s that?”.
Turned out it was AUKUS they were talking about, the security agreement between Australian UK and US.
I thought they were asking Trump about the orca whales for some obscure reason.
Never miss a chance to diss Trump, eh.
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 5:32pm
cmm

Either this bloke has very bad acne or he’s another one who apparently needs his identity protected.

There is no contest that he struck and killed Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, so why the need to protect his identity?

According to Criminal Procedure Act 2011 there are various grounds for suppressing a defendant’s name. I fail to see any that could possibly apply here.

https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2011/0081/latest/dlm3360346.html

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/man-accused-of-murdering-nelson-police-officer-lyn-fleming-denies-murder-charge-admits-driving-charges/7UDA57RFMBFI7N6DGYNYTHGSZE/
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 28, 2025 5:55pm
- Ghost
  
  So his name suppression is continuing because X won’t remove posts naming him and his previous things he has done?
  
  Ummmm, Tim Jago’s name was all over social media during his name suppression. That didn’t seem to stop his name suppression being ended. They can’t say that it could prejudice his case unless they have also asked the media to remove any articles on him, which would be wrong.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 6:02pm
- Scooter
  
  I think he has form and has done the same before, this time ended in death.
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 28, 2025 8:20pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« Singapore and what NZ can learn re Maths Education

Hartwich on Ukraine and Trump »

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

Little's pitch
No Right Turn
Spare a thought for poor Nick Mowbray
The Standard
The US 'Rustbelt' explained
Not PC
The counter productive Pregnant People, People Against Prisons Aotearoa and the woke providing political ammunition for the Right
The Daily Blog
Breaking Views Update: Week of 13.4.25
Breaking Views
The future of Matauranga M?ori funding is under review – but meanwhile MBIE has named 2025 beneficiaries
Point of Order
Spin (and obfuscation)
Croaking Cassandra
Word of the day
Hompaddock
Sign Of The Year.
No Minister
THE WORKING FROM HOME RACKET BY PUBLIC SERVANTS
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Imagine if he did this to a left wing MP?
Utopia
‘LGBT-Indoctrination’ Shirt Day Is Coming
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
AFL Predictions for Week 7
Stats Chat
Uncertainty, Hierarchy and the Dilemma of Democracy.
Kiwipolitico
The Winds of Change
NZCPR
Maybe allow competition?
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