General Debate 19 April 2024 | Kiwiblog (2024)

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  • mikenmildagain

    40 years ago today, Australia got its very own national anthem, Advance Australia Fair.
    In good time for the Olympics, where it was played four times, though I seem to recall God Defend New Zealand was played more often.

    • Benedict Yu

      Incidentally, Advance Australia Fair became the Australian national anthem in 1974, 50 years ago. However, God Save the Queen was reinstated in 1976, as the PM, Malcolm Fraser set out to erase as many as possible of his predecessor’s achievements. It required another change of government for the anthem to be adopted permanently in 1984.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Australia_Fair

      • mikenmildagain

        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

        • MCōs

          When I was a kid our National anthem was God Save the Queen and it still is because NZ is one of only two countries that has two official national anthems.
          Typical NZ; can’t make up our mind, thus the RMA and nobody prosecuted over Cave Creek, Pike River, CTV bldg and nobody knows what to do about Chch Cathedral, neglected infrastructure and so on

          • julesnzuk

            MCos – The fact we have two national anthems has nothing to do with “not being able to make up our mind”.

            (I’m with you on the other stuff).

          • septic skeptic

            We need a third – these two are too boring.

        • G the giant from Dunedin

          I use to swim against some of the guys competing at CHCh, and never once could they say they were not proud to stand snd have god save the queen to them as winners, I know you lefties think we are Marxist NZ but no we are not. We are British run King Charles the third NZ.

        • julesnzuk

          Milky – Birds may have had to pretend, how about New Zealanders? I’m sure they were all perfectly happy with it. With respect, you don’t seem to have much respect for or appreciation of our national identity or our heritage. God Save the Queen/King is still one of our two national anthems – and long may it stay that way because it’s preferable to the other one which is a God awful dirge (and singing it in Maori doesn’t make it any better). Advance Australia Fair is crap also.

          • julesnzuk

            Ghost – try reading your sentence again and think about how naff and infantile you sound. Also, Milky (or whatever his/her name is) didn’t call himself “kiwi”, he used it in lieu of “New Zealanders” (which probably has too many syllables for him) ie all of us. Some of us are sick of dumbed down language, it’s not remotely disrespectful to challenge people for using it. I’m not going to be cowed or muzzled by the likes of you.

        • lifesgood

          Goodness…why do you have to be so nasty. You must be a miserable person.

      • G the giant from Dunedin

        Yes, they have played advance Aussie fair since I remember, I watched 72 Munich, but can’t remember if Aussie played Advance Aussie fair, but they did at Montreal in 76

        • Manu-Rau

          Really? Australia didn’t win any gold medals at the Montreal Olympics.

          • MCōs

            Did they have a team there.

          • Manu-Rau

            @ MCos. I would assume so. A team called Australia played NZ in the Men’s Hockey final….and lost 1-0.

            It was the first time Australia had failed to win a gold medal. They responded by establishing the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, to support elite sporting development. You’re welcome.

        • Benedict Yu

          Your memory might be faulty. Australia won zero gold medals at the Montreal Olympics. A source of much national embarrassment. It led directly to the establishment of the National Institute of Sport which generously funds and trains elite athletes.

          • G the giant from Dunedin

            I never said I heard them play it, and I wasn’t sure about 72 , for the record NZ got two hoo, John Walker 1500, and NZ Hockey men.

            I seem to remember Waltzing Matilda, but that may have been before the ABs

          • crikey

            Yes, and to my great delight we beat Australia in the men’s hockey final. That was one the Aussies thought they had in the bag.

      • G the giant from Dunedin

        I thought they played that song about the Billy bong

    • NeverMindTheBollocks

      As recently as that? Seems like we’ve been hearing it forever.

      • G the giant from Dunedin

        He got it wrong by 10 years74 is the year, 50 years ago

        • Benedict Yu

          Did you read my comment? He didn’t get it wrong.

          • G the giant from Dunedin

            Yes I read further down later about Fraser changing it back

      • PeeJay

        Suspect it will be because ‘young’ indicates the country is a young country, only coming into existence with the first settlement in Sydney in January 1788. With the growing recognition that the aboriginal peoples have been there between 40,000 to 65,000 years, the use of ‘young’ in this context might seem a little insensitive I guess.

        For what it’s worth, I’ve been over there a bit of late and had a right good yarn with a few miners doing the FIFO, what some on the left would describe as redneck types, and their attitudes were pretty insightful on this – all of them voted no in the voice referendum but pretty much every single one of them respected the aboriginal culture – one bloke even said ‘You can’t argue with them being indigenous when they’ve been here for around fifty thousand years’.

    • Tony Stuart

      Your recall is faulty mikenmild. New Zealand got a total of four medals at the Sydney Olympics, or which three were bronze (no anthem) and only Rob Waddell’s was gold.

      • Mike

        I apologize. I meant to refer to the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

  • hmmokrightitis

    Question for those smarter than I. Te Papa is removing its (according to the media) “controversial” Treaty display. I’ve not seen rainbow crossings referred to in the same way, but clearly they are. Double standard?

    • Damocles11

      Painting over a ‘rainbow crossing’ is a form of protest, not ‘a hate crime’. I personally don’t want any form of political or societal statement on something that is supposed to be about road safety & is as iconic as ‘the zebra crossing’. I don’t want slogans on STOP signs, I don’t want politicised banners hanging from traffic lights. The ‘painter’ had to fork out $16,000 for his purported ‘hate crime’, but what of the anarchists who attacked a Wellington car dealership with paint protesting ‘luxury emissions’? (A vehicle emission is a vehicle emission, protesting ‘luxury emissions’ is clearly about a marxist agenda). What about the anarchists gluing themselves to roads, causing immense disruption?
      The problem is that the police and judiciary are politicised: some protests – the ones by Leftists – are apparently ‘legitimate’. All other protests are ‘hate crimes’. And the MSM frame it that way as well. Personally I believe there is a great deal of hate towards our society involved when people attack historical documents and peoples businesses (livelihoods).

      • MCōs

        I don’t recall any of our historical documents being damaged
        Hōne Heke chopped down the flagpole, I suppose
        Someone cut down the pine tree on One Tree Hill

        • Damocles11

          So the attack on the english version of the Treaty at Te Papa never took place? Ok then.

          • MCōs

            It was a representation of an historical document, not the real thing

          • Liberty

            MCōs
            Acording to your logic A painted rainbow is not a real rainbow.

          • MCōs

            “Personally I believe there is a great deal of hate towards our society involved when people attack historical documents”
            It’s certainly not an historical document
            It’s a multi coloured pedestrian crossing
            Let’s not get all PC!

    • Ford Prefect

      I went to the Patagonia Dinosaur exhibition at Te Papa and tried very hard to enjoy myself. About 20 years ago Te Papa had a similar exhibition of dinosaurs from China, which I very much enjoyed.
      The enjoyment this time was taken from me by the shear mass of Maori translations and constant Maori speeches plumbed in to the sound system, as if these 250 million year old fossils were ancient Maori relics. For a start they were from Patagonia, so possibly a Spanish translation would have been more appropriate.

      The Wokeness at Te Papa is overwhelming, with the ticket collectors wearing masks and the Museum Shop only stocking Maori wears.

      The dinosaurs were great, the atmosphere unbearable.

      • lifesgood

        Don’t go to Kelly Tarlton’s. Same thing.

      • imalwaysright

        I’m not going until they put the Egyptian mummy on display like a proper museum should .

  • Pope Punctilious II

    Rachel Evans ponders the possibility of whales suing the crown, if they are granted “legal personhood”.
    https://theconversation.com/what-if-whales-took-us-to-court-a-move-to-grant-them-legal-personhood-would-include-the-right-to-sue-227335

    So many questions. Would the whales have to appear “in person”, or could they Zoom in to the court? Who would do the translating from Whalish to English or Maaori? If translation proves problematic, how can we be sure the whales’ true wishes (and feelings) are being respected? If the judge finds in favour of the whales and awards damages, what form of payment might be acceptable to the whales (apart from krill)? Can anyone help me out here?

    • Jethrod

      Damages will be paid in koha

      • artemisia

        Krill koha.

    • 7kiwi11

      No doubt their will be a surge of people identifying as whales and anyone who dares say that they are not a whale will be labelled a specieist. There will then be a Ministry of Whales created (but called by its native title ‘AAhhooo MMMpphh whhaahh barppp) and a growing industry of lawyers and consultants who specialise in getting taxpayers to pay millions of dollars to whales due to systemic specism and inequities faced by whales since the ocean was invaded by white people.

      • Paulus

        Walk around some parts of South Auckland and there are some Whales to be seen in many places already.

        • Keith White

          They’re safe – harpoons are banned.

      • softail 1450

        7kiwi11, & Paulus,LMAO ,and don’t forget the worrying rise in popularity of the new white extremist political party the “whale harpoonists league” ..

    • RockyJ

      They are being declared legal people because this is what the indigenous people of Australia and the Pacific want. I wonder if anyone will consult with Inuit as well? I am sure their opinion would be interesting

      • softail 1450

        RockyJ .Whales won’t have to worry about their dental health as IWI are expert at removing whales teeth painlessly already ,🐳 🦷 🔪

  • Damocles11

    According to a snippet on-line from The New Zealand Marxist Herald –

    ‘Shortland Street executives eye taxpayer money to keep the popular show alive.’

    The shamelessness of these parasites is breathtaking. Judging by the comments I’ve seen on-line, that show is not ‘popular’ at all: the majority of the public nominated it, Breakfast, and Seven Sharp as the shows that should be axed and Sunday and Fair Go retained.

      • Damocles11

        If it’s one of the most popular ‘commercial’ shows…then why would it need taxpayer dollars to stay afloat? Something fishy about this and ‘age ranges that matter’. Sunday is the second most popular show…..but not the second most popular ‘commercial’ show. Anyway, hope it can all be resolved without the taxpayer getting screwed over.

    • MCōs

      The “Marxist” Herald
      You’ve really got yourself into a state of high excitement today, mate

      • Damocles11

        Simon Wilson, Emmerson, Craig Renney / Rennie, the journavists and editorial staff….if it quacks like a duck all that.

        • MCōs

          Not to mention Richard Prebble, Mike Hosking, Heather du Plessis-Allan,

    • Flossie

      Does anybody have the viewing numbers for Breakfast?

      • MCōs

        Off the charts
        At the wrong end

        • Flossie

          Almost out the door…?

  • Matt Long

    Scotland, which has been vying with Trudeaustan and the former Ardernistan for stupidest nation on earth, has been forced to concede its climate change goals are off the wall crazy.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-68841141

      • Local Miller

        I’d not put a lot of store in IQ levels. In my sphere of work I’m surrounded by people with high IQs, and I have a brother and son with very high IQs. This just means they can achieve in some intellectual assessment and do very well. It doesn’t mean they can actually understand the world and make good discissions.
        In fact a lot of high IQ people also have Asperges Syndrome which means they tend to have a narrow view on their area of expertise and often can’t see the interconnected nature of the world. They therefore tend to make discissions based on too limited a range of data.
        I know a lot of high IQ people who are as stupid as…(you fill in the blanks)

        • bennerg

          As a tertiary lecturer, I found that the A and A+ students, while brilliant, the least likely that I would employ (I also had my own business). It was the B+ students that were the best to employ, as they had enough intelligence, but had to work hard to get their grade, and had thus developed a strong work ethic. And yes I did employ a number of them and was very happy with their performance.

          • KH

            EQ is a better indicator of success than IQ

        • MCōs

          Serbs

      • JimBobJoe

        Thanks for that Mike… just confirms the highly intelligent are as easily swayed by authoritarian bs as the less intelligent.

        Often said some smart people on the Left… but their smarts lead to delusions of grandeur and dreams of being a benevolent dictator – in other words they think a lot about how superior they are and that leads to disaster

        “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity”

        And those who believe in socialism and authoritarianism are definitely the worst

      • G the giant from Dunedin

        That’s the huge Asian community lifting the IQ

      • cmm

        IQ only identifies mental capability – not whether it is used effectively.

        From what I saw at university, many of the highest IQ students bombed out because they had managed to get through school in idle. The people who did the best and learned the most were often the people that got Bs and had to develop a good worth ethic to get through university. They’d probably also make good employees.

        But at the other end of the spectrum are the sub 100 IQ people. They’re not going to be the engineers or doctors or whatever of the future.

        Our brightest are leaving the country at a large rate. Around 70% of recent engineering/computer science graduates in NZ have left the country.

        That means that those left behind are increasingly the lower IQ.

      • Observant Octagenarian

        Interestingly, if you ask ChatGPT about world IQ averages by nation, it obfuscates about the methodology for measuring IQ, stating it is ‘unsafe’.

      • peterwn

        Australia 16th, NZ 22nd – Rob Muldoon had it wrong. He said that people moving from NZ to Oz raised the average IQ of both countries. Sorry, Rob, it is the other way round.

    • MCōs

      My Croatian friend thinks Serbs are stupid

  • artemisia

    March quarter 2024 ‘Jobseeker – Work Ready’ sanctions are up 20% on March 2023 quarter. Of the 7509 March quarter 2024 sanctions 72% were because of failure to attend appointments.

    Some pilots in the UK found unemployment benefits cancelled by some recipients who were unable to turn up to the daily few hours required by the pilots. Determined that most of them were working under the table so too busy to turn up.

    https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/2024/benefit-fact-sheets-snapshot-march-2024.pdf

    • G the giant from Dunedin

      Also this morning they stated job adverts are up 11% since January, this may very well be the start of a turnaround for the economy because the new government is making it more attractive to invest

  • G152

    If they cant turn up for their dole cut it as its obvious they dont need it

    • Flossie

      As I understand it nobody needs to turn up for a benefit payment. It is simply credited to their bank account.

      • MCōs

        Can confirm

      • peterwn

        In the old days you collected your benefits from the Post Office. Some benefits were paid on the first and third Tuesdays and others on the second and fourth Tuesdays. There would be an announcement on the radio at 9am that particular benefits were availavle for collection. Almost all Post Offices were run directly by the Post Office, there were few sub Post Offices in shops like the type Mr Bates ran in the UK. Cash for Post Offices was sent by registered mail, sometimes on NZR bus services.
        Child benefits could only be paid to mothers and in one town the local doctor got his nurse to stand outside the Post Office to stop husbands hijacking the child allowances off their wives.

        • MCōs

          You were obviously before my time on the dole

    • mikenmildagain

      I thought the US government isn’t allowed to fund religious education.

      • thirteenstars

        It isn’t. Title IV allows students attending schools to receive grants and loans. The schools themselves are not being directly funded.

        This is quite proper as the parents of those students pay taxes, too. Many non-religious parents send their kids to such schools for the quality of education and culture. I have friends who did exactly that at a Catholic school despite being atheists.

      • G the giant from Dunedin

        They should be allowed to teach gender bullsh*ttery either but they do, and refuse to tell parents

        • G the giant from Dunedin

          Sorry, shouldn’t be allowed to gender bullsh*ttery

          • Paul

            Are you using “text to speech” without spellcheck, GGiant Dunners ?. You don’t do yourself any favours if you have a message and it comes out garbled.

      • G the giant from Dunedin

        My post should have said shouldn’t teach gender bullsh*ttery

  • Steve Otto(North Shore)

    This came to me by email. Images are missing.

    Dr. Roderick Mulgan Council Chair Free Speech Union.

    A semi-interesting fact about me is that I believe I am the only individual in New Zealand who is both a practising doctor and barrister. While the two professions often require different skills, I pursued both for the same reason.

    My desire to care for people.

    It’s the same reason that led me to take this role of the Chairperson of the Free Speech Union. I simply can’t sit by and see injustice occur.

    That’s why I’m writing to tell you the story of a case we’ve just taken on, standing with a man called Paul Burns who I’m defending in court on behalf of the Free Speech Union.

    You may ask why he is before the Court. Good question.

    Well, (brace yourself, now) according to the police, Paul engaged in a debate in a public place. For that, the have arrested him and charged him with a crime of speaking with “an intent to offend”!

    If he is convicted he will be fined $1,000 and acquire a criminal record.

    You can’t make this stuff up… punch a granny in the face at a protest, and you’ll be discharged without conviction. Dare ‘offend’ someone with your opinion, and the police will turn up with handcuffs.

    Is it just me, or has the system got its priorities incredibly wrong?

    Paul Burns has a strong view on abortion – one that, personally, I don’t share. But far be it for me to let that get in the way of us defending his speech rights.

    Paul feels so strongly about abortion that he wants debate it in public, and he puts his own money on the line to do so.

    Tapeing $100 worth of cash to a sign, he offers this money to anyone who ‘proves that slavery is more evil than abortion.’ He stands on the street in Wellington with his sign and debates his opinion with anyone who chooses to stop and engage with him. He is forceful but polite and respectful, and only locks horns with people who are interested.

    Several weeks ago, he was speaking with a group of young people, when one of them claimed that abortion is not only not evil, it is a good thing, because there are too many people in the world.

    Because of climate change, depopulation is needed, so fewer births are good. To this, Paul asked him, according to that logic, why don’t you kill yourself? That is it. That is what he said.

    It’s a provocative question, for sure, but one that follows in the context of the discussion. If the world is overpopulated, how do you justify your existence?

    Apparently the police have not heard of irony. It is a standard debating tactic to turn a person’s own logic against them to try and show what is wrong with it. It is not meant to be taken literally.

    Paul was not telling people to kill themselves. He was arguing exactly the opposite: killing is wrong. A child of ten understands how arguments like this work.

    But Paul was arrested for it. His trial is scheduled for the 17th of May.

    Steve, when I was first approached about this case, I was sceptical. Every week, individuals approach us with stories of suppressed speech. Often, when we look into them, it’s quite a different story.

    But in this case we have the police’s word for it. The document below is the official Summary of Facts that is placed before a court when a person is charged with a crime. Read it for yourself.
    I will represent Paul in the Wellington District Court for free. The case will not cost him or the Free Speech Union a cent.

    There are some images that I can’t copy including a Police Summary of Facts.
    I can’t find this on the Free Speech Union website to get a link.

    • Cassandra

      This really is weird. The Police seem to be going out of their way to alienate a majority of the community qv Posie Parker, the woke Commissioner etc. They can’t keep us safe – they’ve never stopped a ram raid – yet they persecute this bloke!

    • pdm

      Not only punching a granny Steve.

      There is also the defacing a display at the National Museum (Te Papa).

      • Steve Otto(North Shore)

        While I don’t condone the defacing of the Treaty in English, It was not the true original Littlewood draft, it was the rogue James Freeman version.
        It will be interesting to see if Te Papa replaces the truth or the lie!

        • Paulus

          It will not be replaced as such with any Treaty Model, but a picture of such, as a Maori War.

          • Steve Otto(North Shore)

            So when will Te Papa have the true Littlewood Draft?
            Never is my view. Te Papa is infested with the Waitangi Tribunal, James Freeman propaganda version.

      • lifesgood

        The cops are bloody wimps and the force seems to be full of gays. How else do you eplain some of their ridiculous decisions. Our once proud and upstanding police force now cowers behind sofas for fear of upsetting gays, trans and bullies.

        • Steve Otto(North Shore)

          Oh boy, I can only uptick once lifesgood.
          You hit the nail on the head!

          • Steve Otto(North Shore)

            I got nearly 2 minutes of edit time and downticked.
            Mike, get some help, please.

    • ScottAndrews

      This is a terrible over-reach by NZ police, but a large amount of the blame lays with our politicians.

      There should be no such charge available to police as “speaking with “an intent to offend””. It is time that our current government overturned and removed any legislation that allows this kind of ridiculous charge.

      My thanks to Dr. Roderick Mulgan for taking this case on. I am a member of the FSU and would encourage others to join, this type of nonsense has to be stopped.

      • hmmokrightitis

        “speaking with an intent to offend”

        How is that even provable to anything approaching a high bar? Surely an easy defence is “I wasn’t.”

        Humans have no right of not being offended. If we did we couldn’t say anything for fear of some dumb arse being offended.

        • Flossie

          Quite right. And surely police and courts have more than enough real crime to be getting on with nevermind wasting resources on Hurty Feelings!

          • kowtow

            ‘More than enough real crime.’

            Indeed . The current Commissioner makes much of the Peel Principles , “policing by consent” but he’s perverted the notion totally ( when he used the notion to incorrectly justify illegal activity, the race roadblocks) .

            Slowly but surely the police themselves are in danger of eroding the trust the public has in them ( a core part of Peel’s principles ) by so many of these cases.( Posie Parker , rainbow crossings ,violently arresting peaceful counter protesters at Hamas solidarity displays)

            The latest being the comments of Ruth Money , victims advocate , in relation to police inaction re the murdered young woman .

            Her quote from today’s Herald front page re the police ;
            “thye need to understand that the public are their watchdogs and we’d expect much better”.

            Me thinks Ruth understands policing by consent way more than the Commissioner himself does.

          • Steve Otto(North Shore)

            Flossie, the Police are woke, chickenarsed wimps!

      • Damocles11

        Isn’t the Green marxists hate for our system and society propelling them to do ‘hate crimes’? When a Green criminal attacks someone’s business aren’t they driven by ideological hate? And surely the attack on a historical document was driven by hate as well, hate of ‘the Crown’ and purported ‘injustice’.
        Unfortunately the Left get to decide what equals ‘hate’ and what doesn’t, and the Police fall into line with whatever the Left decide.

      • G152

        So freedom of speech isnt

    • Rusty

      Steve- I assume Paul like Julian Batchelor are fundamentalist christians.

      Nothing wrong with that. Free speech applies to all NZers whatever their backgrounds are.

      • Steve Otto(North Shore)

        Doesn’t worry me if Paul Burns is a fundamentalist, the Police are charging him for “an intent to offend”
        That is the Police “overreach.”

    • thirteenstars

      Beat me to it, Steve. What a precious little country we live in, policed by woke cops.

      Here’s the police summary of facts:

      https://imgur.com/1Frfi0Z

      The sign that Paul Burns was holding up:

      https://imgur.com/AaZoGX8

      On the good news front:

      Police back down from unlawful arrest, but will they actually take responsibility?

      Police have confirmed that they have dropped charges against Daniel Maxwell for breaching the peace. We defended Maxwell after he was wrongfully arrested for counter-protesting at a pro-Palestinian rally in November last year, says Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union.

      https://www.fsu.nz/police_back_down_from_unlawful_arrest

      • Maggie Pie

        By the look of the sign, this guy sounds & looks like a total f**wit to me.
        Just saying.

        • thirteenstars

          Could be but he’s still entitled to his freedom of speech.

          • Fuzzysnuggleduck

            Yes, I dont agree with him as a inflexible starting point, but both sides have a point and a right to make that point.
            There was a debate going on, and it seems that rhetorical questions are now hate speech.

            If they guy was harrassing, screaming or cursing that is another matter.
            But being able to talk about morality is criticality important.

            BTW, talking this topic with a mate recently and we both objected to abortion being a form of birth control for the lazy, feral and stupid. The lazy, feral and stupid should not be breeding in huge numbers though – abortion in some cases would have been the best thing for some people we hear about in the news, but we thought that after a few abortions the doctors should be requiring the person who repeatedly comes in after being knocked up again to be spayed like the creature they are.

        • Debsta

          Does “go f*ck yourself” count under that law? Serious question! It’s beyond a joke now 😖

          • Steve Otto(North Shore)

            Good enough for Elon Musk then good enough for me.

        • Dave

          …according to that logic, why don’t you kill yourself? That is it. That is what he said.

          I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t see that as inciting, counselling, procuring or calling on people to commit suicide.

          This is evidence along with the Posie Parker meeting assaults, that police would rather appease the mob or the powerful, as the case may be, rather than interpret the law reasonably or protect individual rights.

          • lifesgood

            He probably should have said “How do you justify your existence, then?” But I support what he said anyway.

        • thirteenstars

          “they will have him on this”

          Can you read a police summary? He’s charged specifically under this statute:

          https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1981/0113/latest/whole.html#DLM53500

          “alarm, insult or offend”? You must be bloody joking. If that’s the case then all 2,000 activists at the Posie Parker event last year should have been arrested.

          Have you ever seen a public demonstration? Have you seen the signs? Heard the language used? Alarm , insult and offence is very much on display. It’s called exercising free speech in a democratic society.

          Under the Bill of Rights Act our courts are required to give an interpretation to any law which ‘least restricts’ human rights.

          https://www.hrlc.org.au/human-rights-case-summaries/nz-bill-of-rights-requires-courts-to-give-legislation-the-meaning-which-least-restricts-human-rights

          Paul Burns will not be convicted and neither should he be.

          • Ghost

            Calm yourself down. Of course telling kids to kill themselves is offensive. If you are so weak in your protest that is your go to then you are an idiot. Any capable person can argue for or against abortion without reverting to stupid statements like he made

          • Don Beckett

            I think you need calming Ghost.
            He didn’t ‘tell kids to kill themselves’. He asked a rhetorical question – very different.

        • Keith White

          He wasn’t counselling, inciting or procuring. He was offering an option, mentioning a possibility, and highlighting an alternative. Law is all about splitting hairs for lawyers to profit off it.

          • Ghost

            To tell kids over 10 times why don’t you kill yourself, he got what he deserves.

        • NZer In Exile

          Except his purpose appears not to be to encourage people to actually kill themselves but to get them to think about and compare their moral choices. Seems pretty obvious?

      • Steve Otto(North Shore)

        Thanks for adding those images.
        Wish the FSU had this on their website.

        • thirteenstars

          I’m in IT so I’ve quizzed the FSU a few times about their emails not being necessarily available on the website, which is nuts if they want to spread the message since we a forced to quote large pieces of text instead of merely linking to it.

  • Maggie Pie

    ‘BUSINESS CARD’
    ————————————-
    Tova O’Brian.
    Chief Political Correspondent.
    ————————————

    ‘It is understood the higher ranks of WBD feel Newshub has been too left-leaning
    in it’s approach to the News and want to see it ‘straightened up’.
    This will be one of the biggest of many challenges facing STUFF’

    – NZ HERALD. 19 April, 2024.

    • Damocles11

      WBD think they’ve seen ‘left leaning’, they ain’t seen nothing yet. 😂

    • G the giant from Dunedin

      WBD are very left leaning anyway, what they want too see straightened up and and we wish for will be two different things

  • AndyW

    Wellington’s Cranfields is closing and the owner, Nicola Cranfield, is not too impressed with the council…”Like other business owners, she had lobbied politicians and attended council meetings to make submissions ‒ a process she found discouraging.
    Many councillors used their phones during submissions. “They don’t look up,” she said.
    Some appeared to take the view that people like her were “greedy capitalists” only interested in making money, she said.”

    The arrogant, ideologically driven/naive, ‘green’ muppets on council are slowly, but surely, destroying the city.

    • AitchW

      These are the people who sneer that business owners are only in business for the money, ignoring the fact that the money is what allows them to employ staff and pay them a decent wage. Of course we’re in business for the money, nobody would mortgage their house expecting to go broke!

    • Damocles11

      The arrogant, ideologically driven/naive, ‘green’ voters that elected the muppets on the council are slowly, but surely, destroying their own city. Giving the middle finger to ‘capitalists’ while neglecting water infrastructure in favour of greeny cycle lanes is the ultimate in blowing your own foot off.

      • Paulus

        Tauranga Commissioners have again petitioned the Minister that we should not be allowed to democratically vote for a new Councillors in July.
        They believe that only they, after five years, know best and want a dual Council led by a Commissioner type person.

        • Damocles11

          ‘The effort to remain in power in Tauranga was rejected by Simeon Brown, who said democratic council elections and representation would return after the July 20 election.
          “The people of Tauranga have been clear that they want to see a return to a fully elected and democratically accountable council. I am pleased to confirm that this will happen at the upcoming election in July,” Brown said.
          “I want to confirm to the people of Tauranga, and the Commission, that there will be no hybrid model of governance following the July election,” Brown said.
          “Nor will there be Crown observers. Tauranga will return to being a full democracy.”

          • Paulus

            The Minister has been asked again, with a letter last Friday, continuing the request.

    • zulumonster

      Not that slowly to be fair …

    • lifesgood

      We loved Cranfields. A big loss to Wellington. Gee I’m glad I don’t live in that hell hole.

  • Chuck Bird

    Why does the government stop its funding?

    Newsroom has a variety of revenue sources apart from subscriptions and donations. Advertising, content partnerships with leading companies and public funding from NZ on Air and the Public Interest Journalism Fund.

  • artemisia

    Those voluntary redundancies in the Public Service can be highly lucrative, especially if those folk are older with long service, a decent salary and contributions to the generous Government Superannuation Fund (GSF). And some will be over 65 so there’s that too. GSF can pay out an untaxed pension from age 50.

    Ka-ching. And retirement for the smart.

    • cmm

      “And retirement for the smart.”

      No, a retirement for the immoral and corrupt.

      • imalwaysright

        Correct.
        I know one, 72yrs, $100k+ on a four day week doing f*ck all and has a part time job as well as the pension.
        Offered redundancy and didn’t take it! Thick.
        Moans its skint!

        • Damocles11

          Apparently such people were known as ‘cabbages’ way back in the day when my mum worked for the tax department. They came to work to eat their lunch and that was about it. It was a thing then and it’s a thing now.

    • Matt Long

      Not necessarily early retirement, I’m told at least one Police Arms Officer took his redundancy and Perf (Police Early Retirement Fund) money and was back in the same office as an independent contractor almost immediately, during another of the endless restructurings 20 years or so ago.

    • Ian Boag

      Not a lot of people retiring on the GSF pension these days – access to the scheme was turned off in the early 1980’s. Those already enrolled could continue but as that was 40 years ago so most of them will have come out the top by now too. It was pretty sweet – if you had a long service period (like 30-odd years) you could get a (tax-free) pension of about 50-60% of your final pay level.

      I get some $$ from it myself as I was in the scheme for 15-odd years 1975-1990. Not a lot though. We did pay into it though – I forget the % of salary.

      If you look up the govt accounts, the current cost of the remaining GSF scheme is not a lot – a small percentage of what the normal pension costs. Of course GSF recipients get the normal pension too.

      • Benedict Yu

        The GSF closed in 1992. So there will be quite a lot of people aged about 55 and older who are members.

      • artemisia

        3,273 GSF contributors as at June 2023. Age 52 to 78. 78! Fewer now I guess, but still a signif number.

  • NeverMindTheBollocks

    Interesting story. Council wanting to keep rates low proposes cutting rescue helicopter funding. Central Govt already pays 86%. Question:

    Should Council mandate the other 14% via rates?
    Should Central Govt pay the lot?
    Should public fundraising be the go?

    No right or wrong answers here, unless you think rescue helicopters are unnecessary.

    I do think that this is a discussion that needs to be had. Councils are quite right to point out that Centrsl Govt had been loading tasks on them; this costs money. OTOH, local decision making is generally a good thing. At some point, the rubber hits the road.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/514671/plan-to-ditch-ratepayer-funding-for-northland-rescue-helicopter-attracts-record-submissions

    • Grunter

      Rescue helicopters (and ambulances) should all be user pays. Take insurance cover if you like, just in case. That is the only system that is fair and accountable.

      By all means, allow philanthropy (voluntary) as well.

      • Benedict Yu

        I disagree. AFAIK no country charges victims for search and rescue services, including the USA. IIRC some usa states bill people who have been grossly irresponsible. For example gone hiking in an alpine area with no proper gear.

        Charging folk for search and rescue would have a serious impact on outdoor hiking. It is not a risk that is easy to insure for. An insurance company knows the risks it faces insuring a 55 year old for illness or car accidents. However outdoor activities carry wildly different levels of risk.

        So no not happening 🙂

        • Skippytony

          You pay for ambulance rides in Aus. You can buy insurance.

          • Benedict Yu

            I was not referring to ambulance rides.

          • Flossie

            I don’t know about “Australia”.
            It’s a collection of states with separate health, police, education systems. When I lived in Queensland up to a just a few years ago ambulance rides were free. I even took one of those rides

    • newview

      Hawkes Bay has a charitable trust to run the helicopter service. many sponsors the Lowe Cooperation being the main one. We donate on a personal level but there are also many fund raising activities.

    • Tom Hunter

      Council wanting to keep rates low proposes cutting rescue helicopter funding.

      Just another standard polli/bureaucrat trick. You suggest to the public that, while regrettable, funding to front-line services that the public, know, understand and support, will be cut.

      Then you use the response to keep the funding for the front-line – and all the rest of the bullsh*t that you really care about.

      I’ve seen that stunt a million times – and with variations in the private sector.

    • cmm

      It is imperative we don’t forget the massive traditional Maori contribution to literature, mathematics and science.

      • mandk

        It’s a team leader position.

        There’s a whole team of them!

      • Maggie Pie

        OMG kev! Isn’t that exactly what this Coalition government campaigned against?

        Could it be ‘Purapura Whetu’ never got the memo perhaps…..

        • RoboRob

          Seems to me a who heap of organisations are continuing on their progressive agenda regardless of the governments clear intentions. I don’t know the level of funding this organisation gets, if its none then go for gold. If there is funding coming it should be cut.

          Now is the time for the govt to be ruthless, they have the opportunity to make ‘unpopular’ decisions right now.

        • Don Beckett

          What’s the matter with the Muslim community doing it for themselves?

    • Tom Barker

      “thort” “lotz” “Wot”
      You failed at least two of those Rs, didn’t you, Maggie?

      • JimBobJoe

        Lordie, you missed the pointed humour in those words…

        No surprise there with you though TB…

        • kowtow

          Yeah well , Tom’s barking up the wrong tree.

          Innit.

      • Flossie

        Sense of humour missing Tom?

      • Maggie Pie

        Well spoted Tom 😀 😀 😀

    • RoboRob

      One of the many hard left principals that the media regulary go to for opinions.

    • Libertarians are right

      Article 3 – everyone has the same rights and obligations.

      That’s it. That’s the only article that truly matters in the school setting.

    • Grunter

      From the article…

      Topp said the education system needs to honour Te Tiriti.

      “If we don’t confront our unconscious bias with third-party support, because you can’t do it on your own, we are not going to be able to do that,” he said.

      But Seymour said: “Having public servants sticking their beaks into how people treat each other has made us a more complicated and divided country.”

      Hmmmm, so this dickhe*d Dep. Principal believes we all need 3rd party support to ensure we all think the correct way.

      Definition of Indoctrination: To force somebody to accept a particular belief or set of beliefs and not allow them to consider any others.

    • Stellaboxer

      The crown honours the treaty the school educates children.

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      John Topp should be one of those in the job cuts.
      He doesn’t seem to be interested in teaching the basics. The Treaty is not in the basics.
      Yep, A grade plonker.

    • Paulus

      Are there not more PIs at Porirua College than there are Maori ?

    • rouppe

      The fact Maori have the same access to the public education system as everyone else is evidence of honoring the Treaty

    • NZer In Exile

      ““The education system needs to honour Te Tiriti”

      I presume he means the imaginary one made up by lefties, racists and grifting arse-kissing pollies, not the real one.

  • Paulus

    Heard that some of the older redundancy payout people expect, after a while, to get their jobs back as part of silent the deals being done in Wellington.

    • RoboRob

      Wouldn’t be surprised at all. I expect the deal is, next year when we get more funding we will hire you back as a consultant. In the meantime you have 2 years redundancy pay to live on.

      We hear all this discussion about the ‘deep state’ in the US but it is becoming clearer and clearer that our public servants are a law unto themselves and are at best paying lip service to the new governments agenda. We have councils still erecting 30km speed limits as fast as possible, Maori names not dropping from organisations until the actual law is passed and cell phones in schools right up until the last allowable day. The ‘departments’ appear to have gone on a hiring spree in the last 9 mths so that they can appear to cut staff but in reality they are just returning to the status quo from 9mths ago.

      • Stellaboxer

        RoboRob I fear you’re correct . Some examples need to be made. Start by sacking the head of an offending department very publicly. If we don’t we’ll end up with the UKs civil service.

        • Paulus

          No Minister can sack any Public Servant – they can show displeasure to the State Service Commission only

  • imalwaysright

    From yesterday GD:

    “Steve Otto(North Shore)
    I just had an email from Don Brash/Hobson’s Choice about Facebook deleting posts.

    “As I write this I still can’t believe this has happened to us. We hear of political interference happening overseas, but today Hobson’s Pledge has been the target.

    Facebook has deleted all of our posts that sent supporters to submit on the Fast Track Approvals Bill including paid advertising we were running.”

    “At first our team thought there must have been an error and attempted to post again. It became clear that anytime we used the link to the Government website to make a submission on the Bill, Facebook either blocked us or removed the post minutes after it went up.

    As we were aware that the Māori Party were also promoting submitting on the Bill, we checked out one of their posts and found that there we could access the Government submissions page with no problem at all.”

    Who has info on this or am I being scammed?
    It looks like Political Interference with Facebook blocking links to the Govt websites.

    Fill ya boots”

    Apparently during covid the adern regime were given access to a Facebook portal so that they could censor information posted.
    This may be the reason for the hundreds of “public relations” staff employed by the regime.

    It is possible that this portal is still accessible by regime sympathisers and they are actively censoring Don Brash and possibly others.

    • Master Mariner

      It is very obvious that Governments have access to what you can see on Facebook, X, etc.
      This is why we need an in depth Inquiry into Covid to clear this once and all.
      The enquiries from the Senate investigations exposed Social Media Collusion for the interference they were.
      What do you think the “Dis information” group administer ?

    • Stellaboxer

      It never ceases to amaze me that the left always claim that it wouldn’t be the same this time when faced with the evidence of where socialism ends up yet are already happy to engage in censorship and canceling before the even get hold of the reigns

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      I think you are correct about that FB portal.
      I had comments removed from Labour’s page. I assumed it was the FB jailers.

      • imalwaysright

        No, Steve.
        Your posts were removed by the Ardern Sanitation Service.
        Fully funded by the public of New Zealand .

  • sirknz

    I might receive some hate for this but if you are a ‘Tech Expert’ and you are using Xtra for your main email account, you kind of deserve this.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/spark-apologises-after-mans-xtra-mail-blunder-loses-30-years-of-family-tree-research/5ZEJ4PHPZ5EX3MYP4X7RWZPIWE/

    There was no way you could’ve paid me to use Xtra for my email as their behind the scenes stuff meant that you would likely miss essential emails from people and companies unless you had specifically added them to your whitelist and contacts ahead of time. If you were a small business and used Xtra to run your business email, I can guarantee that you will have missed out on many customers over the years, both corporate and residential due to email either not being delivered or being incorrectly classed as spam or junk.

    • Paulus

      As a once problem, I bought an external 2gb hard drive which continually updates everything, including all my emails, which is Xtra,

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      I use Xtra and have done since late 90s.
      Using Xtra for cloud storage is not that wise. When Xtra is working it is fine nut over the years when they f*ck things up they do it big time. Help is well known for lying and can send you on a wild goose chase.
      My storage is on 3 separate external 2TB drives. If the computer sh*ts itself I still have email and everything else saved.
      Two trips to Alaska via Hawaii I have over 12,000 photos as well.
      The drives are not really expensive.

      Thinking about ancestry, my daughter does that. She uses Ancestry dot Com cloud server I think.

  • Maggy Wassilieff

    The PSA is upset that Contractors will review the NZ Curriculum.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/514645/psa-astonished-education-minister-expects-hiring-of-contractors-to-review-curriculum

    I don’t recall the PSA making any comment last year about Contractors from Waikato University being used to draft the new Science curriculum …. (which received a big thumbs down from science educators).

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/fears-proposed-science-curriculum-will-turn-out-ill-informed-students/LWUHI37MSNEBFAZVRHG7OAPT3I/

    • Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes

      As well as hiring a huge number of pen pushers, the ministry also outsourced the work that these new employees were supposed to do. Does anyone know if Hipkin mother was an employee or contractor when she miraculously got her QB honour? Or was it after her work was rubbished by actual teachers in school? Or was it after the PSA complained that teachers were spending to much time working on developing the curriculum?

    • Benedict Yu

      The PSA are morons. Why would the government get public servants in the Ministry of Education to review the history curriculum? They are the problem. 😡

      The public servants who designed the history curriculum should be out the door.

      • RoboRob

        100% agree. The MOE is not fit for purpose.

    • gravedodger

      Clearly there are at least two classes of “contactors” Maggy.

    • Benedict Yu

      There is a case working its way through the USA courts. It involves a young school student who was suspended from school for wearing a tee shirt with the message “There are only two genders”.

      https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/02/09/two-genders-t-shirt-case-goes-in-front-of-federal-appeals-court/

      The arguments centre on the student’s right to free speech vs the alleged harm he imposed on other students. These alleged harms extend to inducing students who are neither male nor female to take their lives.

      It may well end up in the Supreme Court.

      • mandk

        If the wording on a t-shirt induces people to take their own lives, it’s a sign that they were mentally deranged, not gender-confused.

        • Che Guava

          Gender confusion is most likely a symptom of underlying mental issues in the first place. In cases like this, they harm themselves or worse because of the pre-existing mental state that “makes” them transgender, not because of other people’s reactions or denial of their transgenderism or the very possibility thereof. It’s reasonable to infer that they don’t believe or seriously doubt their own claims, given that they are so insecure about challenges to those claims.

          • G the giant from Dunedin

            Mental illness? Is brain washing a mental illness?

          • Che Guava

            Everyone is generally subject to the same brainwashing campaign as everyone else, but it tends to be only the most mentally unstable who are susceptible to it.

          • All_on_Red

            A rare moment of self awareness from Che

        • Benedict Yu

          Indeed.

          I have recently been watching interviews with American veterans of WW2, all recorded in the last 4 years in an effort to capture their stories before they are all gone.

          https://youtu.be/BeDCTthCBCQ?si=xGt_Av3dQ2ICLSnU

          At an age not much older than these triggered high school students, they were bailing out of B17s over Germany.

          • In Vino Veritas

            Or just flying and dying in B17’s Ben. I not long ago, finished Donald L Millers “Masters of the Air”. In late ’42, through ’43, they were literally slaughtered. The B17 had skin that was the thickness of a credit card, pretty much anything would go through it. During the 2nd Schweinfurt raid, the 305th bomb group lost 13 of a 16 plane combat box within 10 mins. That day, the 305th lost 87% of its crews that day, MIA, PoW or KIA. The crews knew there was a very high chance of dying. At one of the airfields, the squadron Padre would have them write letters home and leave them on their bunk. If they made it back, the letters were thrown away. If they didn’t, they were posted. The recollections of crew members in the book were pretty bloody harrowing.

          • Benedict Yu

            Yes I just watched the TV series Masters of the Air.

          • kowtow

            The producers of that show had an agenda to demean the RAF .

            Don’t know why.

    • MCōs

      Know anyone your age who boarded at Dilworth?

      • Maggie Pie

        You weren’t one of the downtickers were you Cossie? 🙁

  • nathie

    Is another “geriatric”* former politician cuddling up to China?

    https://www.politik.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Clark-and-Chinese-2.jpg

    * Those with memories of the Lange Labour Govt might understand the reference! But nowadays the shoe fits on the other foot!

    Will the MSM ask if a particular “Foundation” receives donations from the likes of China? Note I’m not alleging anything, but surely it’s in the public interest and a matter of transparency for the MSM to ask of course! (You bet they would if it were a National Party politician)!

    Now despite the rhetoric on possible direct conflict with China, Taiwan and the US (therefore concerns about dragging NZ into such a conflict), one can read plenty of articles talking about such conflicts but I believe the following article is a good representation of why there will not be conflict.

    (Eg as it could be the end of the CCP due to domestic unrest resulting from international sanctions and the economy tanking).

    https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/why-china-remains-unlikely-invade-taiwan

    Sure there will be continual CCP “grey zone” type activities undermining Taiwan and other ASEAN nations bordering the South China Sea, as well as ongoing hacking into democratic nations infrastructure and IT systems (but hopefully no outright “war” as such) and that is why NZ needs to remain engaged with ASEAN nations and Australia and the US to keep these activities in check. Strength is in numbers and keeps bullies at bay.

    Why can’t these “geriatric” former politicians see this?

    And how utterly despicable (but predictable) of Chippy and Labour by doing a 180 degree turn by blasting National for, in essence, continuing with engagement with the likes of the US. The same engagement that Ardern and Hipkins initiated themselves when they were Labour PM’s!

    • Paulus

      Listen you lot, Helen Clark is back in power, so that Chippy can continue to do sweet fa, as he does now.

  • Benedict Yu

    There is a lyric in the anthem…

    “”Our home is girt by sea””

    “girt” is an obsolete word. It is the past form of “girth” and means ‘surrounded by’.

    When I heard the song many years ago, I thought that the line was…

    “Our home is DIRT by sea”

    Which seemed completely intuitive. 😅

    • Biscuit

      Benedict, I always chuckle over the first line in that anthem:

      ‘Australians all, let us be Joyce…’

  • Chris Nisbet

    I was told that there was a news article last week about the fragile state of our electricity grid, and that we might not have sufficient capacity if we get a cold winter.
    I’m reminded of a story last year about the extra demand placed on the grid by new data centers. At the time we were told…
    “MBIE has defended its overview based on what power distributors were saying: “There are not currently concerns about shortfalls in generation capacity to meet increased demand from data centres”.”
    Can both stories be correct?
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/499883/how-much-power-will-new-data-centres-use

    • Hugh Jarse

      I was down in the McKenzie country and central Otago recently, the hydro lakes are very low with no snow melt to top them up before winter. More Indonesian coal to be imported ?.

    • Flossie

      That sort of news makes me twice as sure our decision to go with a petrol powered vehicle is the right one. For us at this point in time anyhow.

      • Chris Nisbet

        Every Autumn I wonder if this is the year I’m going to kick myself for not buying a generator to power the fridge/freezer to cover the periods when the blackouts come.
        Hopefully (if that’s the right way to put it) they’ll keep the lights on in Auckland and sacrifice some of the smaller regions first.

        • peterwn

          Frozen goods will survive for some hours as long as the door is kept shut (ie do not open the door every few minutes to check). If there are cuts, each lines company would be expected to do its fair portion of cuts.

    • Tom Hunter

      Ah! I had wondered why I’ve been getting emails from my power company congratulating me on using less power (or warning me that I’d used more), plus the times and days of the week when I use the most, plus helpful suggestions for reducing it.

      I had assumed that this was just slow-cooking me for the day when Net Zero screws us over with blackouts and brownouts. I had no idea it was more immediate than that.

      It’s also a great example of how even the supposed capitalists, the power companies in this case, are so captured by this bullsh*t that they’re afraid to even try and use it to fight back in their own interests, which they certainly could if they were honest about why this situation is developing and why it’s going to get worse.

      But they’d rather warn me, their consumer, and then screw me over, than take the fight to the activists and the government. Mind you, when you see former CEO’s like Luxon, well……

    • nova

      Storage capacity is not the same thing as grid capacity, getting the power from Manapouri up to Auckland continues to be a challenge. In the case that Tiwai Point shuts down, having a local use for the power in the form of a data center is sensible, especially given that the location is also ideal for cooling.
      In reply to Hugh Jarse, lake levels were low a few weeks ago, but are now back up to normal: https://www.transpower.co.nz/system-operator/notices-and-reporting/weekly-reporting/hydro-information
      But it is a good point that total storage in the lakes is quite low so it only takes a dry spell for a few months to affect security of supply.

      • Hugh Jarse

        Thanks for that Nova, good to hear that there has been some improvement but as you say we may not be out of the woods yet.

  • Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes

    Imgaine if Luxon introduced legislation that Politicians could not get a pay rise during cost of living crisis – the politicnas pay rise is infaltionery. or, a politicans can opt out of reveiving pay rise? The debate would be hilarious.
    Is a solution to the police pay situation to offer that all servign police, while employed as police only pay 15% tax rate on police salary.

    • Jethrod

      Perhaps all the opposition would go on strike.
      OH WHAT…… they don’t work now?

  • Maggie Pie

    Just been drying my hair and got thinking to myself….

    If a goat charges and kills a couple of people on a farm, it gets executed on the spot.

    Yet if a person shoots and kills say 50 people, they get free accomodation, fed, clothed,
    and looked after for the rest of their lives.

    No wonder the West is in such decline 🙁

    • MCōs

      I just finished a book about the Crewe murders, which happened in 1971. Ten years after capital punishment was abolished in NZ
      Thomas was arrested and convicted far quicker back then, on dodgy evidence. An appeal was heard and he was granted a new trial and reconvicted in short order
      He would have been executed if that option was available, but instead he went on to get a pardon & he’s still alive today
      In the meantime the police disposed of most of the evidence so it will remain a cold case

      • Maggie Pie

        Do you ever stop and consider the old adage Cossie…

        ‘For the greater good’

        Which of course extends to benefits far beyond the individual, often for the betterment of society, or the world.

        • MCōs

          That’s commie talk

      • Jethrod

        Len Hutton’s offsider knew “a lot” about who did it in 1970 .

    • Benedict Yu

      In the case of Breton Tarrant, he is in solitary confinement with access to a caged exercise yard for one hour a day. For the next 50 to 60 years. I’m not sure that is a better fate than death.

      • Tom Hunter

        I agree, and I’m opposed to the death penalty because I don’t trust the State to get it right.

        But (always the but)… scrapping the death penalty was predicated on sentences like the one you describe actually being carried out for violent crimes, especially murder. Something like 50-60 years in the clink, meaning even a youngish man will likely die there, is an exception in our system. Most of it seems to be twenty years, out in ten – at best – for murder.

  • Ghost

    Strange, I’d expect he would know better

    Closed our Xtra accounts last week after making sure I had 3 backups of them just in case

    Former IBM cloud computing executive Phil Sheehan has a message for others leaving Spark’s Xtra Mail, the formerly free web mail service that will incur a $5.95 per month fee for those who want to stay after May 16.

    Article

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      Spark says customer Phil moved the Xtra emails off the platform.
      Where did he move them to?

      • Ghost

        It says he was shifting them to outlook. I’m guessing not the client but outlook.com. you cannot shift your emails to outlook.com, not unless you have a business account.

        I think spark will close xtramail

        • Steve Otto(North Shore)

          My saved ones end with .eml
          When I want to open them it is the ‘open with’ then, wait for it – Windows Live Mail!
          Old but I know it inside out.
          The emails will of course open in other email clients.

  • PeeJay

    Just reading online about some of the Serene bathroom wall heaters finally being banned by WorkSafe. One of the rare, good articles on Stuff – shock eh? (apologies – can’t do links but easy to find).

    Concerns have been noted around these since 2017 apparently. Yep – 2017. It’s only taken 7 years and a few fires before WorkSafe finally banned them as the models in question don’t meet safety standards – although only models from 2018 seem to be banned, despite some in the industry raising concerns a year earlier in 2017.

    So, effectively, a product that hasn’t met the required safety standard, has been imported, sold and installed in goodness knows how many properties for 6 to 7 years before the regulatory authority finally acts. And then acts in a timid sort of way, asking if retailers wouldn’t mind terribly if they could look at a voluntary recall, please. Pathetic.

    What is the point in having the building sector so heavily regulated if they don’t actually bloody perform?

    [Mod – adding link to worksafe for you]

    Further action on Serene bathroom heaters

    • Maggie Pie

      My dad had a word for crap products like that, he’d say….”LGAS”

      (Looks Good, Ain’t sh*t)

    • PeeJay

      Thanks Mod!

    • slijmbal

      Installed 2 Serene bathroom heaters in 2016/2017 – trying to work out whether the older heaters also had issues. Contacted worksafe – the response was essentially a copy of their press release – not very helpful

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      Looking at getting one for the bathroom.
      Thinking of the ‘Tevo’ brand. Have one outside over the spa area and it works fine even in the rain. Yep us weirdos go in the spa with umbrella hots on when it rains!

    • grumpy

      It’s not just their fan heaters either. Looks to be falsification of Test Results/Compliance Certificate in China.
      Correct that Energy Safety were very slow to act. Surprising because normally they don’t act at all.

  • Steve Otto(North Shore)

    Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

    “Unfortunately National’s Education Minister Eric Stanford does not know her history. She is relying on “Ministry of Education” staff to ‘advise’ her on what is right and wrong. But what if they ‘advisors’ are white woke bureaucrats or Maori activists who are simply there is further Maorification and co-governance? What then? Answer? The advice Erica is given is polluted / tainted. So what the solution? Eric needs to read widely on NZ for HERSELF. It is a known fact that Claudia Orange is an activist. So taking what she says about our history needs to be done pretty much like eating a pre-cooked chicken – take the meat and leave the bones. Erica ought to read the controversial comic herself and decide for herself whether it’s historically accurate or not, not rely on others to tell her. Surely, she is not that naive to blindly accept what her ‘advisors’ are telling her? Who are the academics who can be trusted for an accurate account of our history.”

    https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/why-nationals-education-minister-eric-stanford-is-a-big-problem/

  • Maggie Pie

    O.M.G! Horrors from the ‘October 7 Holocaust’ keep surfacing.

    The-Daily-Mail has just released a new vid and images, showing missing Israeli father of ‘Hama’s youngest hostage’ covered in blood…. and being beaten by Palestinian civilians who even pose for selfies while abducting him during the Oct7 massacre 🙁

    https://mol.im/a/13323521

    • imalwaysright

      You may have to get over the fixation on the tanned swarthy ones. The truth just rode into town on a cruise missile.

      • mawm

        Israel, keen on starting WW3, have sent a few quadcopters with firecrackers attached into Iran. Nothing good is going to come from this.

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      Where are the womenfolk? Are they just not crazy and stay away at home?

  • sungsamning

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sucMm15SpmU
    Iran’s Bizarre Actions Just Screwed Itself, Russia and China.
    Fantastic update Tom on the Middle East, with Israel & Iran, thought provoking & exceedingly informative.

  • sungsamning

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_z41WVs3Q
    Mexico Prepares For War On The US-Mexico Border With Military Base
    The cartels run legit businesses as fronts for crime. Most of their money comes from drugs, and human trafficking.

    • Swifty

      Feral behaviour.

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      So where is the video? The Herald should have obtained security footage to publish the woman’s face. Shame the woman.
      Unless it is now a Police matter.

      • sirknz

        The worker didn’t want to go to the police which indicates a couple of things to me.

        1. The woman is known to the manager.
        2. I’m picking there is possibly a gang link.

        I’m going to also guess that the feral customers are likely to be ‘special people’ with ‘special rights’.

        • Bobba Fret

          Yes I did wonder if the person who threw the cup is not a European NZer.

          • Fuzzysnuggleduck

            ….Cooper said her cafe manager was calmly trying to handle the situation.
            “The lady was just not having it and she said: ‘Nope, we’re going to deal with this right now’, and she apparently turned around and threw the hot Americano in [our manager’s] face, followed by the cup….

            “deal with it” = violence (rather than a simple $ credit for the mistake). It suggests a certain upbringing.
            Use you fists. React with rage. Dare I say Once Were Warriors?

            Sadly, it is fitting a certain type of stereotype – and that is not to say that stereotypes are wrong; they are potentially useful ways to navigate the world. Whether you are a landlord reviewing a tenant, or a person walking on the footpath.

            A mate of mine with Maori heritage heard me talking about the KO houses near me occasional screaming matches at 1am-3am, “F-k you B-h! “F-k you C-t! for all to hear.
            His comment was just “Horis”.
            So I think we all know it – but none of us can say it outside hushed or private conversations.

    • Benedict Yu

      It is everywhere.

      Yesterday I was driving on a highway. 100 zone. I came to roadworks with a 30 temporary limit. I slowed to 45. Next minute an SUV overtakes me in the roadworks zone, loose chip and stones flying everywhere, driver making an obscene gesture. ☹️

      • Maggie Pie

        But you’d have come to expect that by now wouldn’t you Bene?

        What year’s that Celica again 😎

          • Maggie Pie

            I’ve never owned a Jap car… but that GR SUPRA could be a bit of me.
            Unfortunate that it only comes in yellow 🙁 Sooo asian.

          • Fuzzysnuggleduck

            I know you are a bloke and you are a parody account like Sir Cullen’s Sidekick just doing your bit, but sometimes your bit is rather boorish and probably shows something of the man you really are.

          • Benedict Yu

            “I know you are a bloke and you are a parody account like Sir Cullen’s Sidekick…”

            Are you referring to me?

          • Maggie Pie

            LOL! You wish Fuzz 😛
            Everyone knows you’re as ghey as a cling-wrapped cucumber.

          • Steve Otto(North Shore)

            Magie don’t like the Lexus too.//

  • Burtland

    seems Helen Clark is still 1st woman of the nation …

    – she christened the new AC yacht, Taihoro

    Google translates Taihoro as Slow Down 😳
    – didnt they pay enough koha?

    • Steve Otto(North Shore)

      Taihoa*

      • NothingLeft

        Expect many jokes about Thai prostitutes as Cup progresses.

        • Steve Otto(North Shore)

          Jesus I am slow. That took a while.

          • Steve Otto(North Shore)

            Downtick for me, thanks Mike. I know you are there.

  • NoFax

    What’s changed? In a job advertisem*nt for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it reads:

    “Ideally you will also have a good understanding of tikanga (Māori customs and protocols), with the ability to weave te ao Māori (the Māori worldview) into your work.

    If you are just starting on this journey that’s OK too – as long as you have a willingness to learn and a desire to develop your cultural capability. As a Te Tiriti o Waitangi partner, this is important to us and we offer training and support.”
    https://www.seek.co.nz/job/75222739?type=standout&ref=search-standalone#sol=e7ab8b705eabe252d73d3b8f27065575e24d619c

    This is for a sanctions enforcement role but it’s true for all roles at MFAT. Does this government have the actually willingness, let alone strength, to actually to tackle this nonsense?

    • Benedict Yu

      Winston Peters as Foreign Minister could kill this stuff stone dead if he wanted.

      There will be competent people who will not apply for this role because they have no interest in applying “Te ao Māori” to their work. Indeed what would that look like, in practical terms?

      I agree. Nothing has changed. NZTA is NZTA again. Big deal.

      • PeeJay

        100% agree Benedict. Some of these agencies & departments are losing out on great talent because of this crap.

        One of my civil engineering friends had been asked to consider joining NZTA – he looked at the advert & job description and couldn’t actually figure out what, if anything, he would actually be doing – lots of crap about treaty this, partnerships that and so on, but square root of zero in relation to actually planning, designing, building or operating infrastructure.

      • imalwaysright

        That’s a very good point. The talented people won’t apply to be part of this.
        The public service is eating its own tail.

  • Steve Otto(North Shore)

    From FB. Can’t do a link.

    The other night I was invited out for a night with the “girls”. I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, “I promise!” As time went by, the hours flew and the margaritas disappeared far too quickly. Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home. Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hallway started up and cuckooed 3 times.
    Quickly, realising my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times. I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution, in order to escape a possible conflict with him. (Even when totally smashed… 3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos= MIDNIGHT!)
    The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, I told him “MIDNIGHT”…. he didn’t seem pissed off in the least. Whew, I got away with that one! Then he said “We need a new cuckoo clock.” When I asked him why, he said, “Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said “oh sh*t” Cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another three times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted.

  • Maggie Pie

    I don’t mind sharing this with the group 😀

    Just received this ‘Pro-tip’ from Elon.

    “If you have to do a Google search, use ‘before:2023’ at the beginning of your string search. You get a completely different (and IMO much more usable) set of results”

    You can thank me later.

    • imalwaysright

      Elon Jon is brilliant.
      Man of many talents.
      When I’m looking for a viable string I google Elon

  • Jethrod

    Guiding NZ announced recently that Lizzie Marvelly is to be the associations new Permanent Chief Executive officer. She is looking forward to working with all.
    Of note, she is going to introduce a badge to all who pass, for being able to teach their male partners that they must hang washing and to do it correctly!

    • Paulus

      Isn’t she an open Lesbian so not really appropriate for the Guiding New Zealand ?

    • Blog-aholic

      One wonders what exactly the job involves because Marvelly appears to be highly underqualified for that specific role. Why is it also ‘permanent’ – nothing in this world is permanent. Does this mean she is like Xi, she has the job for life now? I would imagine if GGNZ was struggling to get little girls to join before now they have a real enrollment issue brewing.

    • imalwaysright

      How many girl guides have partners who share a washing machine?
      For f*ck sake. Someone call the Sweeney!

    • Benedict Yu

      Yes singlet and tattoos. I have to wonder how she a job as a care support worker for the elderly. 😳

  • artemisia

    So Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau received a please explain letter from Ministers Bishop and Brown. She responded.

    In a statement to RNZ, Brown said Whanau’s response addressed their concerns – but agencies would be “keeping a close eye” on the project and its ongoing development.

    Meanwhile the Mayor has renewed her Green Party membership. Few dots to be joined?

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/514700/government-sent-please-explain-letter-to-wellington-city-council-over-transport-disagreement

    • peterwn

      The Young girls for joint Commissioners of Wellington City!

  • Maggie Pie

    TRENDING

    ABC News reporting that Isreal has just launched a retalitory missle strike inside Iran. Unconfirmed as yet, but may have targeted a nuclear facility (?)

    Partner decides …to buy more gold and oil.

  • Ghost

    Israel has launched missiles against Iran in a retaliatory strike after being bombarded with rockets and drones last week, US officials said.

    US intelligence officials said Israel had struck Iran directly in what would be major escalation.

    Article

    • imalwaysright

      This is a corrupt leader trying to keep himself out of jail.
      Netanyahu is a self serving criminal who cares nothing for Israelis , jews, or anyone else on the planet.
      Hopefully Iran or the US put a missile down his gullet.

  • softail 1450

    Israeli jets are attacking facilities in Iran Iraq and Syria including Iranian nuclear facilities in southern Iran .

    • mikenmildagain

      US showing complete inability to rein in the client state. Time to turn off the money tap.

      • All_on_Red

        Agree. Obama and Biden have supported Iran for too long

        • NothingLeft

          Biden’s puppeteers will fight anything that reduces the ability of Russia and Iran to export oil. They’re desperate to keep global oil prices down to reduce inflation and give them a slightly higher chance of winning their election.

        • Mike

          You have a gift for simplistic thinking. All US presidents have bungled dealing with Iran since WWII.

          • All_on_Red

            I’m not wrong though
            Still missing out Mikey?

    • mawm

      softail – there are too many conflicting reports as to what is happening to make any concrete statements. Unfortunately Israel will reap what it sows.

    • kowtow

      Israel quite rightly telling the Mullahs we can hit you when you can’t hit us .

      Your move !

  • Maggie Pie

    Don’t know if I’ve just been unlucky or not…..

    but the last two ‘Mrs-Roger’s-Pepper-Grinders’ I’ve bort don’t work!

    Anyone else had the same experience?

    • JimBobJoe

      You have magic in your finger tips Maggie – every one of those I have bought works fine. Are you turning it the right way?

    • mawm

      One needs to open the lid first.

  • kowtow

    Creepy Joe caught out telling porkies ,again.

    This time an airman uncle “shot down, flying a plane near New Guinea who could have ended up as a delicacy for the local cannibals.

    Bzzzt .

    He wasn’t flying it , he was a passenger.
    It wasn’t shot down ,it ditched.
    No din dins for the locals , it crashed into the sea.

    Will NZ te media paahti lead the “news” with this.

    • Ghost

      Hope not. There are more important things too report on than a leader with dementia getting a story wrong.

      • Keith White

        Ghost: Would be true if BiDemento did not have a nuclear football within reach 24/7.

        • imalwaysright

          They wouldn’t put him within reach of a light switch let alone a nuclear switch.

    • surfing

      The deification of newsreaders in New Zealand is cringeworthy. It is a job any clown could do, standing in front of a camera reading from a script.

      This is what happens I suppose, when the media pat each other on the back.

      Mother of the nation, give me a break.

      • imalwaysright

        Most kiwis can’t read nor speak properly, that’s why these people are admired.

  • fernglas

    Israel has made a colossal mistake. I knew they were stubborn, but completely tone deaf?

    • kowtow

      Oh yeah , and what of the Mad Mullah’s tone , the loons behind the Oct 7 outrages.

      Remember this was about derailing Israel’s normalisation ie peaceful future with its Arab neighbours , something the Iranian shiites will not stand for.

      • Swifty

        Israel don’t take no Shi’ite.

      • imalwaysright

        “Israel’s normalisation ”

        You are clearly uninformed.

        • All_on_Red

          Says the guy who gullibly follows dubious sources…
          More Countries are allies of Israel in the ME than not.
          Your Jew hating is clouding your objectivity

    • surfing

      I was on Israel’s side until now…

      But, this direct military aggression against Iran is entirely of Israel’s design and they were warned by the US to leave the score even.

      Now it is time to contemplate leaving Israel to their own fate, since they are ignoring the voices of their military allies.

      • kowtow

        How do you think the US would have reacted to Oct 7 or the drone/ missile attack from Iran.

        • MCōs

          Are you meaning if Iran was located in the close vicinity of the USA?

  • Maggie Pie

    Is it still as safe to fly as it used to be? 🙁

    There was a report on 1Ewes last night about a whistleblower who had worked at Boeing….saying he would never fly on a 787 Dreamliner becos they could fall apart in the air!

    Now we learn that the windows fell out of Kings Charles plane in mid-air, after the frames were melted by a hot light….

    https://mol.im/a/13326187

    • Ghost

      Was Me Gain and what’s his name, ummm, frostbite Willy seen leaving a few hours before with a heat gun?

      • greybeard

        Harry, not William.
        Please strive for some accuracy if you must comment.

        • Maggie Pie

          Ghost is actually correct there Grey.
          If you read ‘SPARE’ you’d understand 😀

        • Flossie

          Yes Harry of the frost bitten willy

    • NothingLeft

      Take a solid business built on the back of focused and hyper risk-averse aviation engineers and put it under the control of MBAs living under the insane dictat of DEI infused HR and this is the end result.

      It’s going to take a long while to turn this around. Job one; fire everyone with even the faintest hint of DEI/woke about them. Hire and promote on competence and ability only.

    • fightingtemeraire

      The lights in question were lights for making an advert and they were considerably hotter than the outside panes were designed to withstand.

      This is a rehash of the original article and the plane returned to the airport within about 30 mins.

  • Sparrow

    Have not watched TV news for some time as disgusted with its bias. Tuned in tonight to see what was happening in the Middle East. A big bad mistake. After Middle East bit then TV1 had a go at Luxon for not bringing up civil rights with Philippines President, then a start of an attack on government policy to fast track projects and negative impact on iwi. Turned off immediately obviously another beat up. My own stupidity in increasing blood pressure. When is all this media sh*t going to end. Probably not until Labour Greens Maori become government. Its unbelievable bias. Never happened with previous government when it should have done. Have super glued off button.

    • MCōs

      When Ardern went to china the press asked why she wasn’t more forthright in her criticism of their human rights record
      Or have you forgotten?
      BTW
      The Philippines has a dreadful record and Thailand is not too flash either, by what is acceptable here

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