The Daily Blog Open Mic – Thursday – 19th December 2019

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Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.

EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist language, homophobic language, racist language, anti-muslim hate, transphobic language, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.

10 COMMENTS

  1. Interesing reactions to Ron Brierly’s arrest for possessing child pornography.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/405806/former-associates-reflect-on-sir-ron-brierley-after-he-was-charged-with-possessing-child-abuse-material

    I recently read an old book by Stevan Eldred-Grigg, “The Rich: A NZ History” (1998).
    In it there is a quote from Yvonne van Dongen, probably from her 1990 Biography on Brierly…
    “He enjoys encounters with young women, often teenage prostitutes,
    not as demanding physically and emotionally, as an older woman”.

    Yet we still have people like Fran Sullivan, on TVNZ last night,
    saying they are “shocked” by the arrest of such a pervert.

    • I reckon Frangipani Sullivan is willing to flog any old wrinkly horse if it gets the neoliberals over the line, including trampling on morals and human collateral. This week she is using both the Wayback machine and the DeLorean to suggest John Key is the man to watch in 2020.

  2. Going slower and more traffic fines under Labour and Greens.. what an election winner.. sigh.. out of touch to stop safety when corruption is now rife for licenses!!!

    Road to Zero strategy leak: improved roads, more cameras, lower speeds
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/405807/road-to-zero-strategy-leak-improved-roads-more-cameras-lower-speeds

    Nothing about stopping bribery and corruption in our system which could be contributing to road deaths!

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/114283545/bribes-for-driver-licences-deportation-order-issued-for-star-witness-and-youtube-sensation

    Bribes for driver licences: Deportation order issued for star witness

    “The testing officers would then pass the applicants, some of whom didn’t even turn up to their tests.

    The typical cost for a full driver’s licence was about $300 but a heavy truck licence could cost as much as $2500.

    One applicant lived as far away as Christchurch and paid $2000 for his heavy truck licence.”

    The scammers are not even deported because the NZ immigration system is so pathetic and is more interested in helping criminals than stopping them from living here appeals being the norm!

    “Immigration New Zealand has told Stuff that Brar was issued with a deportation notice back in April.

    He has since appealed the decision to the Immigration Protection Tribunal.”

    “But since the scam was uncovered, Brar has become a YouTube sensation, starring in videos that attract millions of clicks and often involve guns, flash cars and women.

    One of his videos, titled Jail, shows Brar at a mansion surrounded by prestigious cars.”

    I surprised Labour and Greens don’t use Barr to star in recruitment drive for immigration NZ! sarcasm!

    Txt 0800 keepacrim to Chis Faafoi or iain Galloway for immediate assistance!

    COL really know how to send messages for criminals to thrive in NZ and keep living here after criminal activity!

    Quite happy to work urgently on some legal and policy changes in NZ, but certainly not stopping criminals stay in NZ! We love them here!

    • Surprise, surprise also sounds like little in the 10-year Road to Zero report to try and stop trucks on the roads killing people, even though they are over represented in fatal crashes and of course the statistics will be far greater now that in the last 3 years trucks have bloomed everywhere on NZ roads and the bribes for licenses scams fruiting…

      Previous years for trucks…

      In 2016, 75 people died and a further 850 were injured in road crashes involving trucks. This was 23 percent of all deaths and 7 percent of all reported injuries on our roads.
      Because of their large mass, trucks tend to be over-represented in serious crashes. Deaths from crashes involving trucks make up around 20 percent of the total road toll (5 year average), while just over 6 percent of the total distance travelled on New Zealand roads is travelled by trucks.

      2019 – what is in the NZ plan to stop trucks killing people and people on fake licenses with poor maintenance..,… fame via youtube videos promoting criminal activity???

    • Unfortunately @SaveNZ, its a system designed to encourage scams, get rid of the very people we need, and penalise and put blame on any of its victims. Unfortunately its becoming increasingly apparent that I L-G has succumbed to capture by his ‘officials’ (See yesterday’s Open Mike).
      As has always been the case, policy advice is often simply copied or plagiarised around various jurisdictions (especially within the former empires) by the unimaginative. Boris Johnson for example is suggesting a ‘points’ system – not unlike our own which means if you’re rich (and corrupt, or not) you can always buy your way in. It’s dressed up as ‘best practice’ policy – purely on the basis that it’s common around the former empire, and its often administered by people parachuted in with very little understanding of lil ‘ole NuZull that punches above its weight. Apparently NZ doesn’t have existing capable folks, and anyway – it keeps the old “we need to pay our CEO’s according to the international market” mantra alive.
      It’s a system that protects the scammers – and even when caught, slaps them with a wet bus ticket, whilst penalising those that can least afford it. This is not the first time the old drivers’ licence scam has happened There were cases over a decade ago.
      When I see PTE after PTE not properly monitored (even offering to pass people for a small fee and it gets reported); when I see Labour Hire companies and other businesses exploiting their employees brought here under false pretences then threatened; when I see all the other little bits and pieces going on that you obviously know about; AND THEN I SEE:
      Officials calling victims of it all as “SCUM”; and I see ‘officials’ assuring us there are enough Labour Inspectors shortly before the election, then having some sort of epiphany afterwards; and I see people who’ve been brought here under false pretences and promises that are patently untrue being penalised whilst their abusers are given a free pass; and I see a huge turnover of staff managed by some of these Master of the Universe managers; and I see no warnings given where the scammers operate – not even any attempt to do so; and I see ‘officials’ blind faith in automation and cost cutting in areas where greater resource is required; and I see the very people we need (such as in areas of science, sustainable living, the arts, etc.) having to give up and leave, and often having lost everything; ( I could go on) …… I’m not sure we’re going to get things fixed anytime soon.
      A bloody big monolith with a huge backlog of visas; an agency that can’t properly monitor immigration advisors or differentiate between the genuine and the bullshit artists – including convicted fraudsters being allowed to continue to operate; when you see the genuine get tarred with the same brush as the scamsters, AND THEN you see ministers who seem to believe in some of the bullshit artists – I don’t really hold out much hope for reform. We’re losing the best and being left with the dross AND we’re completely shitting on the people who least deserve it and who can least afford it.
      For the first time in my life, it’s going to be a difficult decision re who to vote for in 2020. Again, public service reform was probably the very first thing this current government should have tackled – there are quite a few (including in academia, but elsewhere) that have seen the problems and who have some good ideas as to reform
      It was somewhat naive to think we could be “kind and transformational” with the senior ranks of the PS as they are

      • Totally with you OnceWasTim

        “We’re losing the best and being left with the dross AND we’re completely shitting on the people who least deserve it and who can least afford it.”

        This is one of my favourites on how we are losing the best migrants! AKA Wellington Hospital lost its leading cardio-electrophysiologist, Dr Alejandro Jimenez Restrepo. Born in Colombia and trained in the US, Jimenez had arrived here in 2012 with his wife and young family, intending to settle permanently in New Zealand. Within two and a half years, he was gone. http://werewolf.co.nz/2014/12/public-health-the-silent-crisis/

        What do you suggest needs to be done OnceWasTim?

        The whole process has been derailed in my view by allowing so many people to be able to work in NZ which has now become a major business where thinly veiled people traffickers and scammers charge $50k for the visa, then keep the Ponzi going by charging $50k for the fake job to get points for residency, etc… Then the $20k per year for the fake degree, $30k for accomodation etc etc

        I have no issue with genuine migrants doing proper degrees and real skilled work that employers might genuinely find hard to find in N(aka cardio-electrophysiologist).

        Firstly the government needs to decouple the residency bribe that goes along with education here. Because the polytechs and universities are now falling over themselves to downgrade the degrees to attract more foreigners who stuggle because they can’t speak the language well enough to get a real tertiary qualification and so we are getting ‘chef’ degrees or nurses that don’t speak English very well with a NZ nursing degree!

        All the degrees etc should be public education providers only, NO private tertiary or secondary schools allowed because they can be the biggest scammers!

        They should not be able to work while they study until they are in their final year of a real degree.

        Anybody giving a fake job or underpaying should be deported straight away and lose citizenship if they are a new migrant to NZ. They should also be fined 5 x the amount they gain from the transaction and used to pay back the money to the applicant, and the rest to pay to deport both parties as quickly as possible from NZ.

        No family or relatives able to piggy back of visas – everyone gets into NZ on their own merits and ability to contribute here.

        Taking 10+ years to get residency here and qualify for free welfare and free health care. 32.5 years of residency (aka half a lifetime before retirement) to qualify for super and gold cards, before then it is Kiwisaver only.

        There should also be a quota all NZ visas to make sure NZ is not being overrun for housing etc and also to stop the scammers when the pay off is now unlimited on NZ visas which is why there is such a backlog such is the demand for NZ visas.

  3. More Nat Lite policy Week in Politics: Billions to be spent and most of it on roads!

    What happened to the petrol taxes for commuter rail…

    Maybe the COL slogan could be “We’re doing it, Roads before People, Construction before Community, because that is what their major speeding and policy initiatives are saying!

    “The government seemed intent on living up to its new “we’re doing it” slogan this week when Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced a $12 billion infrastructure spend over the next four years.

    It will borrow and go into deficit to do it but with details due to be revealed in February and probably drip-fed during election year, Labour clearly wants voters to know it is delivering.

    And it will be delivering roads – $6.8 billion worth. That’s a big turn around and RNZ has reported scrapped National Party projects are in the mix.

    The previous government’s Roads of National Significance programme was scorned by Labour in opposition.”

  4. In the All Blacks…

    Apparently diversity for RNZ only means “group that recognised the different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds of the players, but it’s hard to say NZR have achieved that here. Nor even sought to.”

    Ok then, we have lost, sex, age and gender diversity going forward for RNZ as meaning diversity… seems like an agenda for RNZ that diversity solely means ethnic, religion and culture..

  5. Incidently @SaveNZ – what do you think should be the consequence of this if true:

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/405830/government-departments-consultant-spending-increases

    (the bit where it says: “Insiders have told RNZ agencies are using other means to disguise spending, for instance using what are known as “contracts for service” where it does not have to be accounted for the same way as contractors.”
    If true – I’d suggest at the very least a verbal warning – no matter the rank. It would show a clear intention to circumvent the policy of reducing the use of contractors.
    The PS has become so bloody corporatised and full of masters of the Universe, that many don’t even understand that they’re servants of the public (Public/Civil Servants – the hint is in the name) – and just like the Joe Blogg citizen, with the rights they’re given come certain responsibilities.
    Maybe the State Services Commissioner should be devoting his time to ensuring that the Code of Conduct in place is fit for purpose AND that it is actually enforced – or maybe it’s time for him to retire gracefully.

    And btw…..RNZ is doing some good stuff given the resources it has, as a small number of others considering the amount of shit they have to push uphill

    • I’ll have a look at the link OnceWasTim and reply tomorrow.

      RNZ have become too one sided on immigration which is a real turn off when they used to be respected. Recently they are being major immigration lobbyists which is not fitting for a so called news agency, and only reporting the ‘good side’ of immigration and burying the bad side.

      The anti Winston Peters campaign is going full guns at RNZ – there are plenty of donations to political parties seems a bit one sided to devote so much time to NZ First when the Natz were caught red handed selling list MP seat access! Transparency and fairness is key – they could have an article on the good, bad and ugly of donations for all the political parties and what they have been caught doing, but too much journalism effort for that!

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