The Official Aotearoa Politics Thread

[Guy Smiley]

Luxon accused outright of lying... a worthy read that covers a lot of bases.

https://thekaka.substack.com/p/health-n ... cuse-pm-of

[Enzedder]

Luxon accused outright of lying... a worthy read that covers a lot of bases.

https://thekaka.substack.com/p/health-n ... cuse-pm-of

Man that funding freeze on construction has screwed the building industry overnight 0 worst in the world (The Government has finally achieved something). Has directly affected us in that our son is unemployed as a result

[Guy Smiley]

I read Bernard Hickey most days he posts. I find his commentary well informed and definitely not mainstream, while the chat function allows and encourages some pretty decent feedback from fellow Kiwis who bring a wide range of experience and information.

As a sort of departure from his normal regular commentary, he has proposed a sort of future project to engage discussion on determining how we might fix the nation's ills. He's thrown this column open to all although you need to subscribe to comment or vote.

https://thekaka.substack.com/p/starting ... ct-of-2026

[Gumboot]

Former Minister of Immigration Aussie Malcolm has died aged 83.

I didn't agree with many of his political views (as Minister he authorised the issuing of visas to the 1981 Springboks touring party) but he sure was an interesting fella. In the early '90s I spent about 6 hours (spread over 2 days) being interviewed by him for a position with his consultancy firm, but I reckon he must've spoken for at least 5 and a half hours. Most impressive! Didn't even get the job at the end of all that...

Anyway, RIP

[Gumboot]

Former National Party minister and America’s Cup campaign director Anthony “Aussie” Malcolm was the subject of multiple complaints of historical child sexual abuse and was under police investigation at the time of his death, Stuff can reveal...

Malcolm was the subject of multiple complaints of historical child sexual abuse, which police were investigating at the time of his death...

It’s understood the investigation was launched as a result of matters raised during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care...

The allegations against Malcolm are thought to date back as far as the 1980s. The complainants were boys aged under 16 at the time.

[Enzedder]

National promised to have a plan for the Interislander ferries by today. Here’s their plan:

[Guy Smiley]

^^ That empty sheet looks to have more credibility than Casey Costello’s Ministerial advice files.

[Enzedder]

For those with Stalkbook

Here is the PM, hard at work, saving the country. Only problem is that he bowls like he leads - totally aimless and devoid of skill

[Certain Navigator]

For those with Stalkbook

Here is the PM, hard at work, saving the country. Only problem is that he bowls like he leads - totally aimless and devoid of skill

Lol, definitely not a pretty sight. But if cricketing skills and leadership skills are positively correlated, his exiled predecessor's delivery would have gone backwards. Under her watch, government debt as a % of GDP doubled to a scarcely believable 42%, NZ GDP growth ended up being ahead of only places like Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza etc (i.e., war zones), child poverty increased despite a vow to 'eliminate' it, house prices went through the roof before tanking, inflation hit peaks not seen in 40 years, and FDI fell to North Korea-type levels. Oh, and despite the totalitarian response, NZ is now in the top half of covid deaths per capita, despite being an island in the middle of nowhere.

[Enzedder]

What a load of boring tripe - get your facts off here and onto a Facebook thread - this is for taking the piss.

p.s. I wonder what the Nats would have done dealing with Covid - I am guessing the same but with a 10k death toll

[Guy Smiley]

NZ's death rate from Covid, according to Wiki, is 863 / million.

That places us at 120th on a list of 238. Technically the top half, I suppose. Notable that after sustained public pressure restrictions were lifted and relaxed further under this current govt... people got what they wanted in the end but any cursory look at graphs showing the rate of infection suggests the govt's actions in locking down worked a treat and stand in contrast to comparable (Western) countries who didn't lockdown as hard and suffered a much greater mortality rate.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavir ... w-zealand/

Govt debt under Ardern didn't double, far from it. It certainly increased as they scrambled to sustain the economy during lockdowns... hardly something to complain about as these measures kept the country afloat and the population at large relatively secure in being able to maintain the comfortable standard of living we take for granted here in blithe complacency.

https://www.focus-economics.com/country ... blic-debt/

Our public debt has been considerably lower as a % of GDP than our closest neighbour Australia's, even at the height of the pandemic. In 2014, our debt was at 34.2% of GDP. In 2021it hit 47.5%. Australia's comparable figures are 34% and 57% respectively.

Inflation has been running rampant globally since the pandemic and more recently since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There's some argument to be had suggesting the corporate world took an opportunity to increase profits way over any increase in costs coming out of the pandemic... but that is a global issue and NZ (and it's government of the day) are not immune from that influence Everyone is struggling with inflation... and neither of our main political parties seem to be interested in any serious structural economic reform. The current governing coalition seem to be intent on doubling down and further damaging the underlying economy for no serious, discernible purpose outside of simple ideology.

As for predecessor... perhaps it's a sign of how deeply Ardern rests in the psyche of some of our less complicated fellow citizens but Chris Hipkins is Luxon's predecessor, not Ardern.

[Guy Smiley]

From Bernard Hickey this morning...

https://thekaka.substack.com/p/dtis-set ... using-debt

Treasury has warned that the Government is embarking on its biggest fiscal tightening ever over the next three years to return the Budget to surplus and start repaying debt. The Government has also said it wants to fire up economic growth again. But how will that happen if the Government is spending less? Which sector of the economy will pick up where the Government left off? And how will that sector pay for it?

Finance Minister Nicola Willis told me a couple of weeks ago that interest rate cuts would do their magic and stimulate the economy again. The Government no doubt hopes that spending will come from business investment and household spending and investment, which is possible if they borrow.

But the recent history of business investment and borrowing is that it’s mostly to buy property, both residential and commercial, and it’s relatively small vs household ‘investment’ in new and existing homes, and the spending that is triggered by that on furnishings, renovations and all of the spending around a property transaction.

In an economy that is a housing market with bits tacked on, the way to engineer economic growth from the private sector to offset less Government spending is to engineer a surge in house sales and prices. That’s because business borrowing and investment on anything other than farm land and commercial and residential property is much less than it used to be.

At various points over the last 20 years, the Government has tightened fiscal policy and repaid debt, in both nominal terms and as a percentage of GDP. But it was only able to do it with economic growth when there was a surge in household debt, house prices and the population through migration.

Collectively, the Government is planning to pull around four percentage points of GDP worth spending out of the economy in the next four years. That’s about $20 billion worth of spending and debt that needs to be stacked up somewhere else by the fourth year, or around $50 billion over the four years. In the past, that was mostly done by households gearing up to buy each others’ houses, and by foreign investors buying assets here or investing in new assets — mostly Government and bank bonds.

The Clark/Cullen Government ran tight fiscal policy and repaid public debt from 1999 to 2007 just as the housing market really took off, thanks to increased bank lending. The Key/English Government tightened policy from 2012 to 2017, and Labour carried that on through to 2020. Over the last 25 years, household debt has sextupled from $60 billion to $360 billion, while business debt has only quadruped from $35 billion to $135 billion. Housing debt growth outpaced business debt growth by a rate of three to one. The fiscal tightenings of 1999 to 2007 and 2012 to 2020 were only possibly with sharp increases in bank lending against existing homes. The issue became so acute in 2013 that the Reserve Bank introduced Loan to Value ratio restrictions to slow the growth.

That difference in business and household borrowing is even starker since 2020. Household debt has risen $82 billion since January 2020, while business debt rose $14 billion. As these charts below show, the periods of fiscal tightening (pink above the line) were associated with asset sales to foreign investors and extra borrowing by households.


The problem for the Government is that it will be harder to engineer another housing boom through household debt growth due to lower interest rates because high Debt to Income multiple lending is limited now by the Reserve Bank.

From July 1 this year, the Reserve Bank has limited banks to 20% of owner-occupier lending to borrowers with a DTI ratio greater than 6 and 20% of investor loans to investors with a DTI ratio greater than 7. That hasn’t reduced lending much since July 1 because the limit was broadly set at current levels.

But to get an idea of how important high DTI lending is in creating any housing boom, here’s the chart showing that between 60% and 80% of the lending growth driving the 2020 and 2021 surges in house prices came of high DTI lending to existing owner-occupiers and investors. It means that rises in house prices can’t turbo-charge lending by increasing equity and therefore enabling high LVR lending. Incomes aren’t connected to house prices, especially when you don’t have to declare income from capital gains anymore.

[Guy Smiley]

Cat, these are the pidgeons you were looking at...

https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/10/31/n ... land-case/

South Island iwi have won a major legal victory for the return of land by the Crown.

The High Court has today decided in favour of the customary owners of the Nelson Tenths at the top of the South Island finding that property wrongly taken in breach of trust by the Crown, originally intended for the settlement of Nelson in the mid-1800s, must be returned along with compensation to the owners.

The exact form this relief would take was yet to be determined, the court said.

The decision in Stafford v Attorney-General was released by the court this afternoon.

Kerensa Johnston, project lead of Te Here-ā-Nuku | Making the Tenths Whole, said the judgment upheld the rule of law and important property rights that applied to all New Zealanders.

“Our legal strategy has always been grounded in the belief that the Māori customary owners of the Nelson Tenths Reserves, as New Zealanders and as property owners, are entitled to the full protection of the law in the same way as any other person or group in New Zealand.”

“We are relieved that this right has been borne out today and that property wrongly taken in breach of trust law will finally be returned to its owners.”

Johnston said plaintiff and kaumātua Rore Stafford had fought the case through the courts for many years on behalf of the legal owners, with the Crown continually taking a hardline approach that no trust property should be returned.

Following the court’s ruling, she said the expectation now was for the Crown to accept the decision without further delays and denials.

“We’ve been fighting this case in some form for more than 180 years. It’s time now for the Crown to do the right thing, honour its clear legal duty and enable us, finally, to turn our energy to the opportunity and healing that this resolution offers for our region.”

A regional map of Te Tau Ihu/top of the South Island which is an interpretation of early boundaries of the Nelson Tenths and occupation lands. The red section in Mōhua (Golden Bay) includes the rural sections. The red section in Nelson/Tasman includes the suburban and town sections.


From Stuff...

The sum could not be settled until the final acreage of land to be returned and other issues are determined, a press summary on the decision said.

The Nelson Tenths reserves refer to the 10% of land, some 15,100 acres, that the New Zealand Company agreed to reserve in the Nelson region for the Māori customary landowners in the 1840s, an agreement that was never upheld.

Their papakāinga (homes and villages), wāhi tapu (sacred areas) and cultivation lands were also supposed to be excluded from settlement.

But instead, less than 3000 acres were reserved and protected.

Earlier this year, iwi in the top of the South Island expressed disappointment the Government had allocated $3.6 million of taxpayer funds to appeal the High Court's then forthcoming decision in the case.

Asked if the Crown intended to appeal, Attorney General Judith Collins said the court had delivered an interim judgment, and as the matter was still before the court, comment at this time was inappropriate.

[Certain Navigator]

Cat, these are the pidgeons you were looking at...

https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/10/31/n ... land-case/

South Island iwi have won a major legal victory for the return of land by the Crown.

The High Court has today decided in favour of the customary owners of the Nelson Tenths at the top of the South Island finding that property wrongly taken in breach of trust by the Crown, originally intended for the settlement of Nelson in the mid-1800s, must be returned along with compensation to the owners.

The exact form this relief would take was yet to be determined, the court said.

The decision in Stafford v Attorney-General was released by the court this afternoon.

Kerensa Johnston, project lead of Te Here-ā-Nuku | Making the Tenths Whole, said the judgment upheld the rule of law and important property rights that applied to all New Zealanders.

“Our legal strategy has always been grounded in the belief that the Māori customary owners of the Nelson Tenths Reserves, as New Zealanders and as property owners, are entitled to the full protection of the law in the same way as any other person or group in New Zealand.”

“We are relieved that this right has been borne out today and that property wrongly taken in breach of trust law will finally be returned to its owners.”

Johnston said plaintiff and kaumātua Rore Stafford had fought the case through the courts for many years on behalf of the legal owners, with the Crown continually taking a hardline approach that no trust property should be returned.

Following the court’s ruling, she said the expectation now was for the Crown to accept the decision without further delays and denials.

“We’ve been fighting this case in some form for more than 180 years. It’s time now for the Crown to do the right thing, honour its clear legal duty and enable us, finally, to turn our energy to the opportunity and healing that this resolution offers for our region.”

A regional map of Te Tau Ihu/top of the South Island which is an interpretation of early boundaries of the Nelson Tenths and occupation lands. The red section in Mōhua (Golden Bay) includes the rural sections. The red section in Nelson/Tasman includes the suburban and town sections.


From Stuff...

The sum could not be settled until the final acreage of land to be returned and other issues are determined, a press summary on the decision said.

The Nelson Tenths reserves refer to the 10% of land, some 15,100 acres, that the New Zealand Company agreed to reserve in the Nelson region for the Māori customary landowners in the 1840s, an agreement that was never upheld.

Their papakāinga (homes and villages), wāhi tapu (sacred areas) and cultivation lands were also supposed to be excluded from settlement.

But instead, less than 3000 acres were reserved and protected.

Earlier this year, iwi in the top of the South Island expressed disappointment the Government had allocated $3.6 million of taxpayer funds to appeal the High Court's then forthcoming decision in the case.

Asked if the Crown intended to appeal, Attorney General Judith Collins said the court had delivered an interim judgment, and as the matter was still before the court, comment at this time was inappropriate.

Hardly a 'major legal victory' — they got less than 1/6 of what they were claiming. But what they have got is fair and just, and hopefully Crown Law won't waste more taxpayer money on appealing.

[Certain Navigator]

NZ's death rate from Covid, according to Wiki, is 863 / million.

That places us at 120th on a list of 238. Technically the top half, I suppose. Notable that after sustained public pressure restrictions were lifted and relaxed further under this current govt... people got what they wanted in the end but any cursory look at graphs showing the rate of infection suggests the govt's actions in locking down worked a treat and stand in contrast to comparable (Western) countries who didn't lockdown as hard and suffered a much greater mortality rate.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavir ... w-zealand/

Govt debt under Ardern didn't double, far from it. It certainly increased as they scrambled to sustain the economy during lockdowns... hardly something to complain about as these measures kept the country afloat and the population at large relatively secure in being able to maintain the comfortable standard of living we take for granted here in blithe complacency.

https://www.focus-economics.com/country ... blic-debt/

Our public debt has been considerably lower as a % of GDP than our closest neighbour Australia's, even at the height of the pandemic. In 2014, our debt was at 34.2% of GDP. In 2021it hit 47.5%. Australia's comparable figures are 34% and 57% respectively.

Inflation has been running rampant globally since the pandemic and more recently since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There's some argument to be had suggesting the corporate world took an opportunity to increase profits way over any increase in costs coming out of the pandemic... but that is a global issue and NZ (and it's government of the day) are not immune from that influence Everyone is struggling with inflation... and neither of our main political parties seem to be interested in any serious structural economic reform. The current governing coalition seem to be intent on doubling down and further damaging the underlying economy for no serious, discernible purpose outside of simple ideology.

As for predecessor... perhaps it's a sign of how deeply Ardern rests in the psyche of some of our less complicated fellow citizens but Chris Hipkins is Luxon's predecessor, not Ardern.

Yes, 120th out of 138 is in the top half. And yes, if you kill the economy by shutting it down, it's amazing what you can achieve in the short term. But as the numbers so starkly reveal, it's only in the short-term. Unsurprisingly, one never hears these days, apart from the public health quacks, about how exemplary NZ's covid response was. Everybody, apart from the public health quacks, knows it was a disaster. Not least in the extremely slow sourcing of vaccine supplies.

No, net core crown debt did double under Ardern/Robertson.
https://budget.govt.nz/budget/2024/bps/ ... y-debt.htm
"New Zealand's debt has increased rapidly in recent years. Some, but not all, of this increase was due to COVID-19. Using its own internationally comparable measure of debt, the International Monetary Fund estimated that debt in New Zealand rose more than all 33 countries in its advanced economy grouping over the COVID-19 period, apart from the United Kingdom and Malta."
Comparing debt levels with other much larger countries is like comparing apples and oranges.

And no, inflation is not running rampant everywhere. The only reason NZ's headline inflation figure is now back within the target range is because the imported inflation component is so low; domestic inflation is still running at close to 5%. This, as even an average Econ 101 student knows, is what happens when one responds to a supply shock (i.e., covid) by treating it as a demand shock and borrowing massively and debasing the currency (admittedly, the latter is the RBNZ's fault, not the government's) — far from keeping "the country afloat", it's actually sunk it.

The IMF currently has NZ 184th out of 195 countries in terms of GDP growth, hardly surprising given that we've been in a permanent recession for 2 years, which itself is a direct consequence of hopelessly misguided policy settings.
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO ... tober-2024

According to the OECD, NZ has the most restrictive FDI regime of all member countries. By a lot.
https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators ... eness.html
This wasn't started by Ardern & Robertson but, aided by Parker et al, they made it worse.

And no, trying to reduce the debt burden and get the books back in somewhat better shape is not "ideology", it's basic economics.

[Enzedder]

Hardly a 'major legal victory' — they got less than 1/6 of what they were claiming. But what they have got is fair and just, and hopefully Crown Law won't waste more taxpayer money on appealing.

Isn't that just the land still in Crown hands though - the compensation for the land now in private hands still to be calculated. I an guessing $1bn to $1.5bn

[Guy Smiley]

https://www.betootaadvocate.com/headlin ... ainst-him/

NZ PM Becomes First Politician Since Scott Morrison To Unite Farmers, Christians, Lefties And Anti-Vaxxers Against Him

The Kiwi version of Scott Morrison, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Luxon has this week managed to do what many thought was impossible.

This is making enemies out of just about every single Maori in New Zealand, after creating an environment so hostile that a vast number of political differences have been put aside to focus on opposing the Luxon Government.

New Zealand Parliament was briefly suspended yesterday, as Maori politicians of every stripe delivered a powerful haka in opposition to a controversial bill.

The libertarian ACT Party, a minor partner in New Zealand’s National Party-led coalition, has introduced a bill that will radically change how the Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted.

This comes as the Prime Minister’s far-right colleagues in the libertarian ACT Party, a minor partner that makes up the numbers is Luxton’s National Party-led coalition, introduces a bill to New Zealand Parliament that aims to radically change how the Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted.

Often described as New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement that was signed between the British Crown and around 540 Maori chiefs on February 6, 1840.

After years of conflicts and war, the Treaty aimed to define the relationship between Maori and Colonial authorities.

But in the era of radicalised right-wing social media algorithms and pointless culture wars, the ACT Libertarians claim that this document grants Indigenous Kiwis greater legal and political rights and causes ‘division by race’.

The bill has prompted waves of protests from a vast array of New Zealanders, from the working class to academics and lawyers – who worry these changes negatively impact Maori rights.

After months of marching, the protests against Luxon’s inability to stop his government from being puppeteer’d by white supremacists has finally spilled over into parliament.

Yesterday, the government attempted to rush the bill through two weeks before it was originally due to be scheduled.

As each party was called to provide their votes for the Treaty Principles Bill, Hauraki Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of the Te Pati Maori Party erupted into a haka. The furious old white men across the other side of the room failed in their efforts to stop the demonstration.

The entire public gallery and Te Pāti Māori MPs continued with the haka, as Labour and Green MPs stood in apparent support of the protest that was performed directly in front of ACT Party leader David Seymour who has been a vocal proponent of the bill.

By the end of the haka, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke had been joined by all factions of Maori politics, from farmers to environmentalists, Anti-vaxxers, Christians and full blown soap-dodging lefties.

Not since Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s dismal handling of the bushfires and pandemic has the world seen a government that is so incompetent in it’s attempts to divide the country that they have actually united the country against them.

The speaker then suspended parliament, later describing the haka as ‘grossly disorderly’ and calling it ‘appallingly disrespectful conduct’ inside a political institution that is in the throes of erasing their people’s history and culture.

[Jethro]

National promised to have a plan for the Interislander ferries by today. Here’s their plan:

Well they have a concept of a plan, which apparently is enough for today's low attention voter

[Jethro]

[Guy Smiley]

The internet lit up over Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clark's parliament haka, and rightly so. It hasn't taken long though... just yesterday I watched a real from some coloured guy in the US commenting on it full of respect and awe, and saying that if any meme lords decided to try and remix it up they should get fucked and leave it alone.

He's right. Piss that shit off.

[Jethro]

The internet lit up over Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clark's parliament haka, and rightly so. It hasn't taken long though... just yesterday I watched a real from some coloured guy in the US commenting on it full of respect and awe, and saying that if any meme lords decided to try and remix it up they should get fucked and leave it alone.

He's right. Piss that shit off.

Why? Can Maori not take jokes etc. Lets not be too snowflake about things, would actually buy the heavy metal version, perhaps any money raised could go to helping out the Maori situation.

The incident, as stated elsewhere, is a storm in a teacup. The ACT, the definition of a minor party, got their insane legislature to a vote, its going to be kicked to the curb, there's some over reaction happening. Surely NZ should be more concerned about housing issues, falling real incomes, and an economy with a case of the shakes, rather than whatever the ACT can dream up in their fevered dreams.

Having said that, all for a Haka in the house

[Guy Smiley]

I’ve just come off a week of nightshift and I’m not really up for detailed debate on it but it’s a lot more complex and nuanced than a simple minor party floating a doomed bill.

For a start, ACT is setting the national agenda right now and they’re doing that off 7% of the vote. Luxon is being led by the tail and looking increasingly weak.

The damage though, is in the effect this is having on race relations in the country with every red neck fucktard being emboldened and legitimised by this ongoing attack on Māori… and let’s not beat around the bush here, this government has declared war on all things Māori and are throwing 50 years of hard work and progress down the drain…

for what? To remove the impediment iwi control of natural resources presents to selling the joint out to developers and commercial interests. Let’s look at the state of Canterbury’s rivers for a pointer to how that will turn out.
This stinking mess has to be opposed at every turn so I’m not going to sit here and let your shitty take on it ( the clip) without challenging.

Fuck Seymour. Toitu te Tiriti.

[Jethro]

The damage though, is in the effect this is having on race relations in the country with every red neck fucktard being emboldened and legitimised by this ongoing attack on Māori… and let’s not beat around the bush here, this government has declared war on all things Māori and are throwing 50 years of hard work and progress down the drain…

Actually I'll concede that you make a bloody good point here.

For anyone wondering, the Treaty was signed between the British colonial administration and various Maori Iwi (tribe) leaders, and pretty much was an admission the colonial forces were not going to win what has been called the Maori land wars. Certain rights were ceded to the Maori in exchange for a cessation in hostilities, the Colonial forces finding NZ was turning into their very own Vietnam with the added fact the Maori could also fight pitch battles, and were a dab hand at defending fortified positions.

This is overly simplistic, and not all Iwi signed the document.

The Treaty is a foundation document for New Zealand, and what the ACT are proposing is a direct attack on the Country's principles. It would be like overturning the Magna Carta or the U.S constitution, something that should never happen.

[Guy Smiley]

One positive out of Seymour’s unpleasant bit of populist bullshit is the growing awareness of what te Tiriti is actually all about and as we saw with the recent hikoi, some substantial support across society for the preservation of what it stands for.

Interesting ‘snippet’, 5 years or so before the signing of the treaty, Māori organised a Declaration of Independence that was recognised by the UK and granted them international recognition. This is the origin of NZ’s first real flag, the ‘Tribes flag’. Check that out.

Then there’s the issue of te Tiriti itself. Famously, two versions were circulated, one in English, the other translated to Māori. There are issues of interpretation with that and importantly in the eyes of the Law, by far the majority of chiefs signed the Maori language version. The single most crucial difference between the two is the issue of ceding sovereignty. Put simply, Māori never did and the basis of society should have seen them retaining control over their land and self governance. Neither of those things happened.

When Seymour tries to talk about equal rights for all he conveniently sidesteps the issue of a contract between Crown and Iwi that has not been honoured and he conflates the rights of individuals with the rights of a people while missing the point that collective rights such as that of a group require responsibilities of the members of that group that don’t apply to those outside of the group.

We are in a shitty mess and our current PM is too gutless and ignorant to recognise or take charge of it.

[Enzedder]

Looks like those pesky Rotarians and Lions had better watch out - Mitchell is coming for you buggers.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3605062 ... -patch-ban

Not sure that Seymour, being the alleged libertarian, should be supporting a ban on types of clothing.

[Jethro]

Looks like those pesky Rotarians and Lions had better watch out - Mitchell is coming for you buggers.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3605062 ... -patch-ban

Not sure that Seymour, being the alleged libertarian, should be supporting a ban on types of clothing.

Reading through that reckon we could get Canterbury supporter gear banned, clearly a gang affair going on there. While we're at it those pesky Salvos have been copping it sweet for far too long, time to crack down.

[Guy Smiley]

We could do with more of this sort of thing...

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-kori ... iples-bill

young Maori voices speaking from an informed space spelling out the issues in a simple, easy to digest way. This girl is way cool.

[Gumboot]

Greyhound racing goooonnnne!!

Racing Minister Winston Peters has announced the Government’s plans to end greyhound racing in New Zealand.

“This is not a decision that is taken lightly but is ultimately driven by protecting the welfare of racing dogs,” the Minister said...

Peters said the greyhound industry had been on notice over animal welfare concerns for several years. There have been three reviews into the industry over the past decade, all recommending significant changes...

A landmark 2017 report by former High Court Judge Rodney Hansen QC found high rates of injury and euthanasia, high numbers of “unaccounted for” dogs, and low re-homing numbers.

“Despite significant progress made by the greyhound racing industry in recent years, the percentage of dogs being injured remains persistently high and the time has come to make a call in the best interest of the animals,” Peters said.

Finally!

[Enzedder]

Have to agree. Over 10 years ago I had a client (NZ League rep) who was a trainer and his dogs were bloody terrified of him.

[Enzedder]

The ferry plan is revealed - well, hinted at but it wasn't a reveal. It was an announcement telling us what we already knew, and hiding all the relevant info

Two new ferries announced by Government

The Government is establishing a new company to procure two new ferries for the Cook Strait.

The ferries are expected to begin operation in 2029 as the existing ferries reach the end of their operating lives.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the cost of the project is commercially confidential until procurement and negotiations for the associated landside infrastructure have been completed.

She did say, however, the costs are expected to be much less than would have been the case with Project iRex.

New Minister for Rail Winston Peters says that to ensure the best possible solution is arrived at, the private sector is being invited to put forward alternative proposals for a ferry service during the first stage of the procurement process.

Stuff revealed on Tuesday that Cabinet had agreed to set aside $900 million to buy new, smaller ferries.

WTF are they doing on buying SMALLER ferries. Getting stuff inter-island will get a lot more difficult to plan and pay a shit-load more is my guess.

BUT, they are forming a new company for a few of their mates to manage. So much for reducing costs, lets put in another layer.

[Guy Smiley]

Months ago Golriz Ghahraman was sacked as Greens MP after being caught in a shoplifting scandal. The case was celebrated widely in our cesspit media and political world before being cast aside for the next shiny thing like govt appointed oversight of Wellington Council or the need to sack a few thousand more public servants. Then a few weeks back, the story resurfaced after it emerged that Ghahraman had been apprehended in a PaknSave by store security BEFORE she had a chance to enter the check out because she'd been seen putting items in a tote back within her trolley. A lot of people do that, by the way... seperating items for a variety of reasons. In itself, this was a minor incident but then, months later, the police got publicly involved after it emerged an investigation had been carried out, apparently taking months to complete.

Weirdly, no-one could be found to own up to making a complaint or report. Ghahraman apparently left the store without bothering to purchase any of the goods in her trolley... I don't blame her. No crime was committed and yet, the police were involved and after a lengthy investigation announced no charges would be laid.

Personally, I found this story alarming and disturbing on several levels. I've found something to support my misgivings and I think you might share those feelings. Have a read of this...

https://substack.com/home/post/p-155713351?source=queue

Auror first came to my attention buried in a New Zealand Herald story about former New Zealand Member of Parliament Golriz Ghahraman being harassed while doing her groceries. A subsequent story revealed the supermarket didn’t tell the cops, but they did put it into “Auror”, a retail crime database.

Until this week, New Zealand Police refused to say how they learned about the incident or why they were even investigating it, given it wasn’t reported and would be — as a lawyer points out — exceedingly hard to prove anything since Golriz didn’t actually leave the store without paying for the goods.

This whole situation raises some pretty big questions about how Auror is being used, the implications for your privacy, and basic civil liberties in an age where the deeply authoritarian nature of Big Tech has made itself apparent.

Auror is not just being used in New Zealand. It’s in hardware stores in Australia, supermarkets in Canada, big box retailers in the UK, and gas stations across the United States.

Auror has partnered with all 28 state-level Organized Retail Crime Associations in the US. They’re in Walmart. They’ve partnered with hundreds of international brands and more than 3000 law enforcement agencies around the world.

The New Zealand police certainly use it, although their thoughts are hard to come by. In a recent Official Information Act request about their use of Auror, police redacted their own comment about how great Auror actually is.

All these reports, photos, videos, descriptions, car license plates, and whatever else goes into a huge shared database to become a great stalking tool.

Here is a quote which describes what happens once you’re in the database:

“My favourite feature in Auror would be the newsfeed. It gives you all the information about the offenders and the various vehicles they use. It’s all there for you. If you’re looking for the name of a person, you can put that in. If you’re looking for a particular vehicle, just put the registration in. If you’re looking for recent thefts, you can put those search criteria in and the information will just come up."

— Gillian Harrop, Security Manager, Mitre10 MEGA Westgate

It will all just “come up”.

By “come up” Gillian means all the times you’ve been into any store, your license plate number, your full name, maybe your address where you were previously… all go to someone who is the security manager at a hardware store.

So if Gillian’s added you to the database because you farted in the aisle while you were checking out power tools, what happens next? Nothing as far as you’re concerned. But maybe when you go into an electronics store a bit later in the day, you might notice a security guard trailing you around.

And it’s not just the electronics store, because in New Zealand almost all shops — and I’m not exaggerating here — literally 90% of retailers, use Auror. You cannot, if you want to live a vaguely normal life, avoid it.

A big part of this is because many retailers do not even tell you they are using this technology.

In Australia, Bunnings — a big box hardware store — got slapped for breaking privacy laws by not telling customers they were using the technology. The Australian Privacy Commissioner said they likely breached the privacy of hundreds of thousands of Australians (including probably me because I shopped there during this time period).

Auror has robbed you of your agency to consent to handing over very private information. You can’t change your face, and they’ve made it available to people who seem to froth over the power it gives them. You don’t even get the chance to scroll through an End User Licence Agreement and hit accept. You just have to want to buy something and suddenly that random store you walked into knows you like Snickers bars and went into a book store earlier and maybe where you live.

As far as I can tell, there is no real way to see if you are in their database. They say on their site you can ask them to remove you, if you’ve had no luck asking a retailer. Their very optimistically named “Trust Center” makes it clear “Auror cannot make a decision on your request”.

Which is wild because they’re the ones holding all the data.

Because many retailers are using it… what, you’ve got to go to every single store you’ve been into for the past 12 years (that’s how long Auror has been operating) and ask them to delete you, only for them to re-add you next time you go in?

There is seemingly no way to opt out other than to not go into physical shops.

They’ve gamified it, too.

Doug Rawson, the unsettlingly titled “Profit Protection Manager” for Woolworths New Zealand, is an illustrative case. Rawson recently was nominated for The Retail Risk Manager of The Year Award. Here’s what his nomination has to say:

“One of Doug’s standout achievements is his recognition as New Zealand’s top “dot connector,” having connected almost 3,000 profiles on the Auror platform this year.“

3000 people… just branded as quasi-criminals by a man tasked with protecting the profits of a company which made almost $100 million dollars in profit in New Zealand.

Quote from Doug Rawson at Woolworths supermarket: “Now it’s very much a closed feedback loop, where the feedback from head office and police makes store teams want to do more because they see the results”

I wish someone would protect my profits.

But were all these people actually doing anything wrong, or were many of them, like Gharaman, labelled as potential robbing ne’er-do-wells for something as normal as placing their shopping in a tote bag?

And even if a few of them were running portobello mushrooms through the self checkout as brown onions, do the marginal benefits of intrusive mass data driven surveillance somehow outweigh the very real costs in privacy to you and me?

When you get the law enforcement side of things, it gets even murkier.

In New Zealand, police are already looking up the database more than 600 times a day.

I am not alleging anything here, but here are some interesting facts about the Gharaman case:

The supermarket didn’t report the incident.

The police can search the Auror database.

They just happened to come across the report amongst the 200,000 reports logged every year in New Zealand

You can draw your own conclusions.

By crowdsourcing all this “intelligence” the police have basically sub-contracted part of their jobs to store clerks, and Auror is there to profit off of this devolution of a quite serious amount of state power to people like Gillian and Doug.

Just this week, the CEO of Auror went on a New Zealand radio station saying “we’re not a surveillance company.”

And I agree.

They’re way creepier.

A more accurate description would be that Auror is a privately held crowdsourced tracking and information database that allows police to farm out large chunks of their responsibilities to private security and potentially criminalise or at least breach the privacy of people who’ve simply had the temerity to walk into a shop.

[Enzedder]

Aaaaand, we've gone full circle to the Keys/English financial model.

Bring in lots of rich immigrants, tourists (and they've added workers) to lovingly spread their largesse in good old Unzid.

Man, we should be investing in research and specialised manufacturing - hell, if Ireland can do it, we can too.

[Gumboot]

Don't forget asset sales. Another relic of the Key era they'll reprise given half a chance.

And throw in a bit of benny bashing for good measure.

Oh, and privatisation of the health sector - they'll be all over that given half a chance.

It's the same old failed recipe, cooked up by a new generation of Tory chefs...

National's greatest talent isn't running the economy more efficiently; it's convincing the plebs they know how to run the economy more efficiently.

[Gumboot]

Funny how the Density Cult reckons that assaulting adults and terrifying young kids is perfectly acceptable "manning up".

These guys are really nothing but gutless gang thugs who, along with their Dear Leader the Bogus Bishop of the Ministry of Wealth, are hiding behind the tax-free veneer of organised religion.

Their cowardly bullying is the very antithesis of manning up, and the hideous, scammer Tamakis should be in prison, imho.

[Guy Smiley]

Won’t happen under this government. Luxon belongs to some sort of wealth worshipping cult that falls under the banner of church protection while Seymour is on record publicly supporting the EFTpostle and his Good Work.

They’re enabling this hate mongering under the guise of free speech and the really worrying thing about that is that it falls in line with actions of the hard conservative Right overseas that is moving to hold control in a widening number of so called democracies.

[Flockwitt]

Funny how the Density Cult reckons that assaulting adults and terrifying young kids is perfectly acceptable "manning up".

These guys are really nothing but gutless gang thugs who, along with their Dear Leader the Bogus Bishop of the Ministry of Wealth, are hiding behind the tax-free veneer of organised religion.

Their cowardly bullying is the very antithesis of manning up, and the hideous, scammer Tamakis should be in prison, imho.

This. The source of lynch mobs and self justified vigilantism by individuals.

[Enzedder]

Funny, there are not enough cops and we are in a worse position than a year ago.

Government solution - get the public to do the job for them.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3605943 ... n-make-one

Mitchell has to go

[Guy Smiley]

You can pick at this and that really but...

where do you even start with this coalition of cunce.

[Gumboot]

I see the criminal cult leader Bogus Bishop Brian has taken the govt's announcement as the state sanctioning Density's special brand of vigilante violence. Reckons they've now got official permission to go out and "police" any sinners they don't like the look of... as well as already having God's double thumbs up, of course.

Things are gonna get spicy.

[Guy Smiley]

That's exactly what will happen, of course.

Jesus in a handbasket. Seymour's going to be acting PM for a few days and then he'll actually be deputy PM in a few months.

I reckon Winnie might still throw a hand grenade yet.