+ heaps more! —See full list of tickets
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The Liberal Agenda – Basement Theatre
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Political Caption Competition
I can ride a bike with no hands AND destroy egalitarian NZ for my corporate masters at the same time
The Daily Blog Open Mic – 19th November 2025
Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.
The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog, 3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing.
All in all, TDB gives punters a very, very, very wide space to comment in but we won’t bother with out right lies or gleeful malice. We leave that to the Herald comment section.
EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist abuse, homophobic abuse, racist abuse, anti-muslim abuse, transphobic abuse, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird Bullshit about the UN taking over the world and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.
In Occupied Palestine – 16 November 2025
In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 16 November 2025 until 08:00, 17 November 2025
Sanction Israel
Gaza‘s death, injury and sickness totals continue to rise
Victims 15 November – 16 November 2025:
Total killed 69,483
Total wounded 170,706
The daily average number of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 90 and, that of those injured, is more than 221. A UN report states that, as of 14 January 2025, around 70% of those killed in Gaza were women and children.
Deaths of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody
Nearly 100 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since the start of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, according to a new report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. The report documents 94 cases, between 7 October 2023 and August 2025. Of these, 68 were from the Gaza Strip and 26 from the Occupied West Bank or held Israeli citizenship. At least 46 Palestinians died in Israeli Prison Service facilities, and 52 more died in military custody. Physical violence, including bruising, rib fractures, internal organ damage and intracranial haemorrhage have been a leading cause of death, followed by chronic medical neglect or denial and severe malnutrition. The report said the actual number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody is likely to be significantly higher, given the Israeli military’s practice of enforced disappearances. No one implicated in the cases has been held accountable to date. “This unprecedented toll, together with extensive findings and evidence of deaths caused by torture and medical neglect, points to a deliberate Israeli policy of killing Palestinians in custody,” the report said.
Israeli troops fire tear gas canister into a 14-year-old boy’s face
Israeli troops fired a tear gas canister into a 14-year-old boy’s face as he waited for a bus last month, according to a new investigative report from Haaretz. The troops were part of a slow-moving convoy, and the shot was from close range: after opening the door of the Jeep in which he was riding, the report says, a soldier fired upon the boy, Nazih Masalma, from roughly five metres away. The victim lost his eye and had significant reconstructive work done to his jaw. He spent six days in intensive care and still struggles to sleep, speak and tolerate noise. His neighbours videotaped the attack, but they fear releasing a video of the attack might provoke Israeli Army retaliation. The full report . . .
West Bank
Since midnight on 07 October 2023, Israeli Occupation forces have been imposing a complete closure of the West Bank, with the exception of approved diplomatic and international missions and humanitarian requirements.
Israeli Army attacks – refugee camp: Jenin – the Israeli Army, firing live ammunition, continued to storm the city as well as the refugee camp.
Israeli Army attacks – 1 youngster killed – 3 other people wounded: Tubas – 15:50, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed the al-Far’a refugee camp, killing a 15-year-old boy, Jadallah Jihad Juma’a Jadallah, and wounding three other residents: Qusay Jihad Al-Ghul, Muhammad Salem Saeed Abu Al-Rus and Muhammad Anwar Muhammad Sarhan.
Israeli Army attacks – refugee camps: Tulkarem – Israeli soldiers, firing live ammunition, continued to storm the city as well as the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, invading and occupying homes.
Home invasions: Jerusalem – 03:00, Israeli Occupation forces invaded the town of Beit Anan and searched a number of homes.
Home invasions: Jenin – 20:10, Israeli forces raided the village of Dhar al-Abd and searched several houses.
Home invasion: Tubas – 01:20-02:25, the Israeli Army raided the city and searched a home.
Home invasions: Tulkarem – 18:25-20:50, Israeli troops raided the Aqaba area, north of Quffin, and searched several houses.
Home invasion – woman resident assaulted: Nablus – 01:05–03:35, Israeli soldiers raided Urif village of Urif, searching a home and assaulting a resident’s wife: Salam Saadi Najeh Al-Safadi.
Home invasions: Bethlehem – dawn, Israeli Occupation forces raided the town of Za’tara and searched four homes.
Israeli police and settlers’ mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, Israeli settlers, escorted by Occupation police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.
Israeli Army assault – 2 people injured: Jenin – 16:55, an Israeli Army vehicle was deliberately rammed into a vehicle, injuring two occupants, Abdullah Taher Mahmoud Dawasa and Jawad Hakam Sadiq Thaminat, while passing through Haifa Street, near the entrance to the city.
Israeli Army – destruction, using explosives: Tulkarem – 05:00, Israeli Occupation forces used explosives to destroy a cave in the garden of a home in the suburb ofDhnaba.
Israeli Army agricultural sabotage: Salfit – 10:40, Israeli forces uprooted approximately 135 olive saplings, in the Wadi Qana area of Deir Istiya.
Occupation settlers raid – women and children terrorised: Jerusalem – dawn, Israeli Occupation settlers raided the Al-Tina Bedouin community in the Khan Al-Ahmar area, east of Jerusalem, stoning homes and property as well as terrorising children and women.
Occupation settler violence: Ramallah – 16:50, Israeli settlers assaulted residents, in the Jabal Abu Sadiq area near the town of Beitunya.
Occupation settler plunder and agricultural sabotage: Ramallah – 20:55, Occupation settlers stole agricultural equipment from a farm, near the village of Al-Mughayir.
Occupation settler terrorism: Tubas – 22:35, Israeli settlers raided the Al-Bureij and Al- Maytah communities in the North Jordan Valley, roaming around and between homes, terrorising residents.
Occupation settler land-grab: Tubas – Israeli Occupation settlers began fencing-off land, east of the Tayasir checkpoint.
Occupation settler – vandalism of mosque: Nablus – 17:00, Israeli settlers invaded the Khirbet Tana area of Beit Furik and removed the main entrance door to the Beit Sheikh Mosque.
Occupation settler terrorism: Jericho – 10:50-12:20, Occupation settlers stormed the Al- Auja Waterfall area, terrorising residents as they walked among their homes.
Occupation settler stoning: Jericho – 12:00, Israeli settlers stoned passing vehicles, on the al-Mo’arajat Road.
Occupation settler plunder: Bethlehem – 22:10, Israeli Occupation settlers invaded the Khallat al-Nahla area, near Wadi Rahal village, and plundered a poultry farm.
Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage – racist vandalism: Hebron – 09:10, Israeli settlers, invading the Old City Khallat al-Natsh area, felled a number of olive trees and spray-painted in Hebrew racist insults on the walls of homes.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 18:15–22:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided the town of Abu Dis, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Ramallah – 13:00, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Sinjil.
Raid: Ramallah – 14:35, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the town of Silwad.
Raid – stun grenades fired: Ramallah – 15:10, Israeli troops, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled the village of Al-Mughayir.
Raid: Ramallah – 21:55, the Israeli military, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled the village of Shuqba.
Raid: Jenin – 14:40, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the town of Qabatiya.
Raid – surveillance: Tubas – Israeli Occupation forces, accompanied by settlement council crews, invaded the village of Al-Maliha in the North Jordan Valley, raiding its school, detaining an employee and photographing facilities inside the school.
Israeli Army raid – 2 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 03:05, the Israeli military raided the town of Anabta, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – dawn, the Israeli Army raided the town of Allar, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 19:10, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the town of Hablat.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 01:50, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Hajja.
Raid – 3 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Nablus – 00:55–03:35, Israeli soldiers raided the Balata refugee camp, taking prisoner three people.
Raid – stun grenades fired: Salfit – 20:15, Israeli Occupation forces, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled the town of Deir Ballut.
Raids: Salfit – 19:55, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Al-Zawiya, as well as the village of Rafat.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 11:15, the Israeli Army raided the city, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Hebron – midnight, Israeli troops raided the town of Beit Ummar, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 04:15, the Israeli military raided the town of Tafuh, taking prisoner one person.
“Te Pāti Māori Calls On Aotearoa To Stand As The Moral Compass”
Te Pāti Māori is calling on the Government to act after a credible, multi-source Situation Report from the State of Palestine confirmed that killings, aid blockages, and human rights abuse are continuing 38 days into a ceasefire.
The report draws on independent evidence from B’Tselem, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, UNOCHA, UNRWA, MSF, ITV and The Guardian.
Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says, “Aotearoa cannot stay silent”.
“Children are being killed during a ceasefire. Seventy-five percent of aid is being blocked during a ceasefire. Families are suffering in flooded tents because they’re denied shelter during a ceasefire. These aren’t disputed claims, they’re verified by international human rights monitors. Any Government that claims to stand for justice must act.”
The report details:
• civilians, including children, killed despite the ceasefire
• deliberate obstruction of aid and medical supplies
• new Israeli laws entrenching apartheid and silencing media
• verified testimonies of sexual torture
• settler arson and forced displacement
Ngarewa-Packer says, “New Zealand must take a principled stand”.
“Aotearoa must condemn these abuses, support UN investigations, expand humanitarian pathways, and push for full aid access. Our foreign policy should reflect who we are; a nation that stands for humanity, dignity, and justice.”
Luxon government backtrack on climate recognised at COP30 – Greens
Aotearoa New Zealand has today been recognised internationally for all the wrong reasons, presented with the ‘Fossil of the Day’ mantle at COP30 over the Government’s regression on methane targets.
“Christopher Luxon’s Government continues to embarrass our country on the international stage, this time after shredding climate progress,” says Green Co-Leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
“Climate targets are not just numbers on a page. They are the scientific fundamentals necessary for life on earth as we know it.
“Staying within planetary limits needs international cooperation, which requires every nation to do their bit. We cannot expect, let alone enforce, that others fulfill their responsibility if our Government shirks ours.
“Climate change is a cost of living disaster, and Christopher Luxon is fanning the flames by enabling more methane emissions.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. The Greens have shown our plan to rapidly reduce emissions, reduce the cost of living and increase New Zealanders’ quality of life.
“It is entirely possible to have an economy that supports the wellbeing of people and planet, instead of exploiting and exhausting both,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.
New Zealand sinks even further in global climate action rankings – Greenpeace
Fresh off its humiliating “Fossil of the Day” award at COP30 in Brazil, New Zealand has again been called out on the world stage for backsliding on climate action.
The latest Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) – published annually by Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute and Climate Action Network – shows New Zealand dropping three more places, from 41st to 44th. Analysts say the slide is driven by the Government’s climate rollbacks, including repealing the oil and gas ban and weakening methane targets.
Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Amanda Larsson says the fall is a stark warning.
“New Zealand was once seen as a climate leader. Now we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel thanks to this Government’s war on nature.
“We’re a country with a proud history of punching above our weight. It’s humiliating that our current crop of political leaders are trashing that legacy to let big polluters profit from wrecking our environment and our kids’ future.”
Since taking office, Christopher Luxon’s Government has paved the way for fast-tracking coal mines on conservation land, promised taxpayer subsidies for offshore oil and gas drilling, and bowed to livestock industry lobbyists by weakening rules for the country’s most polluting sector – intensive dairying.
CCPI analysts singled out the erosion of New Zealand’s previously bipartisan climate law as an example of weakening climate action, pointing specifically to the decision to weaken methane targets despite clear opposition from scientists, the Climate Change Commission and other political parties.
“Luxon’s Government has torched sensible climate policies – from cleaner cars to support for manufacturers to move off coal – and offered nothing credible in their place.
“Luxon and Simon Watts keep regurgitating the same old lines about being ‘committed to Paris’, even as they push policies that increase climate pollution. It’s a pretty transparent attempt to gloss over the fact that they’re letting polluters set the rules in their own interests – while ordinary people, including our kids and grandkids, bear the consequences.”
Denmark – which last year introduced a livestock emissions tax and has fostered a world-leading offshore wind industry – remains at the top of the index, followed by the UK and Morocco. Petrostates including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and the United States rank at the bottom.
As in previous years, the top three positions remain empty because no country is acting fast enough.
Unions call on Govt to pass corporate manslaughter law – NZCTU
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is calling on the Government to honour the memories of the workers who lost their lives fifteen years ago today at the Pike River Mine by supporting a corporate manslaughter law.
“Corporations should not be above the law. If they are responsible for workplace deaths, they must be held criminally liable,” said NZCTU President Sandra Grey.
“We are today releasing a policy that calls on the Government to introduce a new crime of corporate manslaughter. This would hold corporations guilty for acts of culpable killing and give the public confidence that corporations and their managers will be held to account.
“Tragedies such as the Pike River Mine disaster demonstrate that corporations can and do kill workers. It is past time that our law is updated to ensure justice for victims.
“New Zealand has a terrible record. One worker dies every week on the job, and 17 more from work-related illnesses. Every single death is preventable.
“This law would mark a paradigm shift in how health and safety is recognised and enforced at every level. It would ensure that the most extreme breaches of health and safety obligations result in criminal liability.
“The work has already been done. All the Government needs to do is support Adrian Rurawhe’s Members Bill, the Crimes (Corporate Homicide) Amendment Bill.
“We acknowledge the incredible work of campaigners including Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osborne who have fought tirelessly for justice. Government needs to listen to them,” said Grey.
New footage exposes devastating cruelty behind pig-caging Bill – Safe
SAFE has released new footage from a Taranaki piggery that lays bare the day-to-day reality of farrowing crates – the same cages the Government is seeking to legalise through the Animal Welfare (Regulations for Management of Pigs) Amendment Bill.
Filmed in November 2025, the footage shows animal cruelty, with mother pigs confined in steel crates so small they cannot turn around, move freely, or care for their piglets. One pig has open pressure sores consistent with prolonged confinement on hard flooring. The footage also captures bar-biting – a well-recognised sign of distress – and unhygienic conditions, including dirty water troughs and waste bin filled with dead piglets.
SAFE CEO Debra Ashton says the footage provides a timely and confronting reminder of what is at stake if this bill passes.
“These pigs are suffering exactly as welfare scientists, veterinarians, and the courts have warned for years. The harm is written on their faces.” says Ashton.
The footage was shared with the Primary Production Select Committee by SAEF on Friday September 14 as it finalised its report on the Bill. On November 18, the committee recommended by majority that the bill proceed without amendment despite nearly 90% of submissions received opposing the Bill.
Under current law, farrowing crates were due to be phased out this December, following a 2020 High Court ruling that found the systems unlawful. The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC), the Government’s own independent advisory committee, has repeatedly advised that farrowing crates and mating stalls do not meet the purpose of the Animal Welfare Act.
“This Bill doesn’t just ignore welfare science; it rewrites the law to suit industry,” says Ashton.
“It’s a blueprint for how not to make animal-welfare policy.”
Last week, SAFE lodged a complaint with the Prime Minister urging him to reassign the animal-welfare portfolio. SAFE says the development of this Bill has been rushed and opaque, and heavily influenced by industry, which highlights exactly why Minister Andrew Hoggard’s longstanding industry affiliations are a serious conflict of interest.
“You cannot have credible oversight of animal welfare when the Minister is so deeply tied to the industries he is meant to regulate,” says Ashton.
“This is a textbook example of conflict of interest at play, and it has real-world consequences for animals.”
A 2025 Verian poll found that three in four Kiwis oppose the use of farrowing crates.
SAFE is calling on MPs to listen to their constituents, stand with mother pigs, and reject the Bill.
“MPs now face a simple choice: uphold the law that protects animals, or entrench the cruelty that harms them,” says Ashton.
Marama Davidson Mining Revocation Announcement Speech
Today, we are announcing that a Green Government will commit to revoking any consents or permits handed out under the fast-track process for coal, gold and seabed mines.
These projects, if approved, will have been through a process that categorically fails to meet our standards of transparency, accountability, and environmental responsibility.
We don’t believe that’s acceptable.
More importantly, these types of mining are profoundly destructive. Each leaves behind polluted water, scarred landscapes, and divided communities.
They extract resources from our land, ship them overseas, and leave our people to deal with the
aftermath.
We believe our country, our whenua, is worth more.
We believe in a country where the natural beauty, biodiversity, and cultural heritage are not sacrificed for the short-term profits of the few. A future where economic development builds our country up, rather than tears it open.
We believe every community must have a stake in building a liveable, sustainable future.
That’s why we are choosing a different path.
We can make what our communities need to live good lives. Our work and livelihoods in Aotearoa, can be based on renewable and sustainable industries.
We can have an economy that employs people without destroying the ecological basis of our existence for the profits of the few.
We have already announced our Green Jobs Guarantee, which would ensure that every worker has access to training and secure employment in sectors that sustain our economy and our environment.
This includes establishing a Ministry of Green Works to provide large scale green infrastructure that will support thousands of stable, well-paid jobs.
It includes major infrastructure investments in rail, renewable energy, and housing.
We will reinstate jobs for nature, native afforestation programmes, and freshwater improvement programmes.
We will establish a Future Workforce Agency to plan for future workforce needs.
Real, tangible, lasting, and sustainable jobs to ensure people and the land thrive.
Before today, we have said that we would review, and potentially revoke consents for projects in this fast-track process. However, the Luxon Government’s extreme focus on extractive industries and denial of climate change is a massive step backwards for nature and people.
This goes against the core values of who we are as New Zealanders.
So today, we are taking a stand against the fast-track, and the most destructive forms of mining – by definition one of the most extractive industries there is.
Yes, this commitment to directly revoke consents is exceptional.
However, what has happened in the last two years has been nothing less than a government and big business-led war on nature. The correction necessary to address the twin evils of the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis is exceptional.
And so, we are putting the Seabed mining, Hardrock gold mining and Coal mining industries, and their investors, on notice. Your Fastrack consents are not safe and they are not secure.
A Green Government will revoke them.
We do not want to see the seabed of Taranaki destroyed by sucking up millions of tonnes of sand and dumping it back into the ocean over 35 years.
We do not accept that a plan to crush the spectacular 40-million-year-old sandstone ecology of the Denniston Plateau – for export coal – is at all acceptable.
A greedy search for gold in the conservation land of the Coromandel and the beautiful, rugged landscape of Otago is futile.
The Greens are making this announcement today, before any consents are issued, to ensure complete transparency.
With that, I want to acknowledge the environmental organisations here today and commend you for your advocacy.
To the people in Taranaki, in Coromandel, In Takaka, in Otago, in Northland, on the] West Coast, and everywhere else where local iwi and communities and activists have stood in defence of our precious nature and fought these mining projects – in some instances for years – we salute you. You stand for all of our futures. And we have heard your calls for decisive political action.
This announcement is to make it crystal clear that the Green Party of Aotearoa stands with you in defence of Te Taiao.
The Bradbury Group with Debbie Ngarewa-Packer + ‘Q’ + Simon Wilson + Teanau Tuiono
A Māori Party co-leader, a Marxist, a Herald columnist, a Green Party MP and ‘Q’ all walk into a bar and the barman says,
“What is this”? The Bradbury Group?
Welcome to the new weekly Political Podcast, The Bradbury Group, proudly sponsored by Waatea News (Journalism you can trust) live 8pm Tuesday’s on ROVA, Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Waatea’s main Facebook page.
1 on 1 in 10 tonight is Māori Party Co-Leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer
Political Panel tonight is:
NZ Herald Columnist Simon Wilson
Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono
New TOP Leader Qiulae ‘Q’ Wong
TOPICS:
- IPSOS Polling + 4.7% food inflation = 1 term Government?
- The McSkimming scandal
- Green Party strikes back on Fast Track projects and Winston sounds nervous
- Is the Regulatory Standards Bill the worst legislation ever passed?
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
Dr Labour vs Dr National
Labour selects Dr Gary Payinda to take on former Health Minister Dr Shane Reti
A high-profile emergency doctor has been selected to stand for the Labour Party against the incumbent Whāngarei MP, former Health Minister Dr Shane Reti.
Dr Gary Payinda said he felt compelled to do something about what he saw as the government’s ongoing attack on essential public services.
“I’ve been working in the public health sector 18 years, and understaffing and infrastructure problems come and go – but an assault on a broader array of public services is a new thing.
“We’ve got a government that’s bent on tearing up the social structure.”
Payinda said it was a wrench to consider leaving medicine.
“But there are some things that are more important than even treating one patient at a time – and that’s trying to protect thousands of patients, and tens of thousands of people, if I can get a chance to do that.”
Labour’s plans for three free GP visits a year would be “a game-changer” in healthcare, helping people before their conditions worsened and they ended up in hospital, he said.
“It’s a privilege to live and work in Northland, but over the past two years I’ve watched the National government drive inequity, undercut public health and make visiting the doctor more expensive and out of reach for many people.
Dr Gary Payinda is a principled public health champion whose perspective from the frontline is essential to the public debate.
Dr Shane Reti is a sell out who helps National brown wash their mutilation of public health. He was moved on because he wouldn’t amputate the way Simeon Brown can. He is an enormous disappointment to everyone who is a dr.
It shows Labour are gearing up politically with candidates worth their mustard while National scramble to prevent the humiliation of a one term Government.
Right wing Trolls be getting nervous now.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
New Poll shows Government failing on real issues that concern Kiwis
As food inflation hits 4.7%…
…the latest IPSOS Poll shows voters believe Labour have the answers, not National…
Labour now more trusted to solve the big issues, new survey shows
Labour is now the most trusted party to respond to eight of the 10 most important issues to voters, according to the latest Ipsos Issues Monitor survey.
The results will come as a major blow to the coalition Government, which is almost entirely absent when it comes to the survey.
For the 20 most pressing issues for Kiwi voters, NZ First and ACT were not deemed the most capable parties to manage any of those issues. National was only deemed the most capable manager for two issues – the same result as the Green Party.
Inflation and the cost of living remained the most pressing issue for New Zealanders, the survey found. That was the same issue that propelled the National Party to power in 2023, after this survey showed a complete opposite result. Back then, when Labour was heading towards defeat, National had won the public’s trust for 15 of these 20 top issues.
…it doesn’t get much more damning than this…
…remember, all National has left is asset sales as a vision.
That’s vandalism, not economic policy.
Watching Luxon and Winston attack each other over the meltdown they have created is just glorious…
Luxon brushes off Winston Peters’ asset sales attack
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has waved away New Zealand First’s criticism of National’s economic plan, saying Winston Peters has many entrenched views.
…they have underfunded public services while borrowing billions for tax cuts, landlord tax loop holes, gas and oil subsides, tobacco subsidies and Michelin Star programs.
Their decision to destroy Labour’s infrastructure pipeline has had a cascade effect throughout the economy that has seen 73 000 flee the country and the destruction of 30 000 jobs in the construction sector.
National’s response to this is mass importation of cheaper labour from exploited migrant workers while allowing multi millionaires to buy $5million mansions.
Look.
NZ is 3 huge sparsely populated Islands.
We simply don’t have the population density for free market dynamics to generate the competitive advantages that they can provide, NZ has ALWAYS required the State to step in as the foundation stone.
National and ACT want to kick that foundation stone out from under us and pretend that’s not economic vandalism.
Unemployment reached a 9-year high of 5.3 percent, it’s 10.5% for Māori, 12.1% for Pacifica and 15.2% for 15-24year olds while an increasing number of disillusioned job seekers are opting out of joining the workforce altogether.
Winston is one of the best political players in the game, to date he has leaned heavily into culture war conspiracies to hate on the Trans, hate on the vaccines, hate on climate change, but he is smart enough to know that his knuckle dragging supporters can’t eat their hate and that the economy is suffering right now.
He will have watched what happened recently in America and the crucifixion of Republicans in the most recent elections.
For example, of the 480-plus contested races in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, Republicans only won 11.
In Pennsylvania’s Bucks County, voters elected a Democratic district attorney for the first time since the 1800s, part of a Democratic sweep of every county office, including controller and recorder of deeds.
In Georgia, Democrats ousted two Republicans on the Public Service Commission, the party’s first capture of a non-federal statewide office in Georgia since 2006.
In Connecticut, Democrats took control of 28 towns from the GOP.
In New Jersey, Democrats won their biggest majority in the General Assembly since the Watergate era.
Much of the attention last Wednesday NZT focused on the Democrats’ big United States election wins in the Virginia and New Jersey governor’s races, as well as in the New York mayor’s contest.
But the party also won hundreds of lower-profile state and local contests – often swamping Republican incumbents with overwhelming turnout.
…I love this comment by a Republican strategist…
“I think we need to heed what the voters are telling us – they want us to focus on pocketbook issues, which is part and parcel of how Trump got elected in the first place,” Nicholas said.
“Perhaps we have run enough ads on the trans issue for a while.”
…Winston is sensing the same change in NZ.
Hating on the trans and the woke is fine and dandy while you have money in your pocket, but not even demented NZ First voters can pay the bills with their spite.
With polling like this, you understand why the whispering campaign against Luxon and Willis has already begun.
The rumour mill is now leaning towards a National Party leadership spill.
Much plotting was done at Jim Bolger’s recent funeral which is ironic.
The phone calls are happening and the numbers are being taken.
The National Party factions realise 3 things.
1 – It has to be Luxon and Nicola Willis who go because it is Nicola’s insane economic direction that is killing them and Luxon’s wooden performance that its drowning them.
2 – It can’t be Erica because the National Party Mandarins know that we know.
3 – The compromise line up is Bishop as Finance with Louise Upston as leader.
The drive is to go back to Jim Bolger’s decent society rather than Luxon’s dead eyed KPI CEO speak and Nicola Willis’ free market cruelty.
With National now pushing a policy as overwhelmingly unpopular as Asset sales, all Labour need to do is appear half rational.
If there is a move in National, it will happen over the Summer, there is no way they would try it any later than March because they know that would just look like a desperate scramble.
They would want at least 10 months as a lead in for the new Leadership to rebrand National before an election.
Beyond March, Luxon and Willis will be cemented in and National will lose the election.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
I Told You Seymour Was Playing Us For Fools
Some weeks back I wrote an article called,
Is David Seymour Ignorant or Deliberately Misleading?
where I concluded by writing that ‘Seymour is playing us for fools and winning.”
A recent article about one of the new charter schools makes that very obvious. As usual I will highlight selections, however I encourage you to read the article.
Sunday Read: Wheels come off the charter school circus clown car
“Minister of Education Hon David Seymour announced that the Charter School Agency (CSA) had entered into a contract with the New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa Charitable Trust (NZPAACT) to establish the New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa (NZPAA) as a charter school from Term 1 2026, with the charitable trust as Sponsor.
The problem? There is no NZPAA Charitable Trust and never has been.”
See? How much more evidence do you need?
“That’s right, the Charter School Agency circus clown car signed a multi-million dollar legal contract with a non-existent entity and the Associate Minister of Education and charter school circus ringmaster’s official notice signed it off. Cock up, conspiracy or prat fall?”
I guess there could be a number of reasons for this, but it’s hard to come up with any that have any validity. However given this government’s commitment to open government, I’m sure we will not have any difficulty finding out….. oh look there’s that flying pig again.
“Yet, how would we even know? Almost every aspect of the charter school application, review and approval process is shrouded in obsessive secrecy at the insistence of the associate minister. We are all of us publicly funding these blatant schooling privatisations but we aren’t allowed to know who the applicants are, the dollar value of the contract or even the numbers of students on a charter school roll just because the associate minister says so.”
However I’m certain we can count on Seymour to explain this all for us…or not…. another pig just flew by…
“The associate minister’s explanation? He just shrugged it off.
On 13 November, in response to questions from RNZ, Associate Minister Seymour stated that the “administrative error” was “a bit of a screw up”, and that the trust existed (this was later corrected by his Office), but that “there’s not actually a problem to be addressed here”. In other words, nothing to see here, folks, just move on.
These and other reported comments by Mr Seymour in the same article do not give us confidence that he has full knowledge or grasp of events in this matter. For example, the same RNZ article reported that the CSA was unable to clarify the legal status of the contract. Mr Seymour said he had confidence in the agency’s processes.”
When will the sheeple of New Zealand open their eyes to what Seymour is doing, and to how Luxon is aiding and accepting of this?
How much more will it take for the masses to rise and say ‘that’s enough!”
“We pointed out that no such entity as NZPAA Charitable Trust exists and asked him the following questions:
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- Given that one party does not exist, how could the two parties have entered into a contract as the NZ Gazette notice states?
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- How could the Charter School Authorisation Board have recommended approval of a non-existent entity as Sponsor?
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- How could the said entity have presented an application as a registered Charitable Trust with no registered charitable trust number?
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- How could the due diligence processes of the CSAB, the CSA, and Associate Minister Seymour’s Office have failed to notice that the applicant had not provided the most basic evidence to prove it was what it claimed to be (i.e. a registration number)?
We received an automated reply.”
The article then goes into some detail over subsequent events and correspondence, too long to discuss here. It’s well worth reading!
Following that correspondence, follow up questions were asked.
“Now very concerned about what we consider an absence of probity (honesty and doing the right thing) by government and its secrecy shrouded agencies, on 13 November we wrote to Associate Minister Seymour seeking responses to the following further questions:
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- What was the name of the sponsoring entity in the EoI submitted to the CSA dated 24 March?
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- Was it the same entity named on the full application submitted on 16 May?
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- Was it the same entity that was approved by the CSAB
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- On what date was the application approved by the CSAB?
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- Was it the same entity that signed the contract with CSA?
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- On what date was the contract signed?
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- Has the CSA notified the Audit Office (i.e. Audit New Zealand) of this issue of the non-existent NZPAA Charitable Trust?
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- In what respects have the actual CSA processes concerning this application differed from those assured by the Audit Office in its July 2025 final report to CSA?
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- Given its status as an official government record, why have you not yet withdrawn or corrected the NZ Gazette notice you authorised on 27 October?
We received an automated reply.”
Note that both sets of questions received an automated reply, and no other reply was forthcoming.
Anyone care to speculate why the Associate Minister didn’t reply?
“Given the associate minister’s apparent lack of urgency in this matter, AEC has also now decided to write to the Office of the Controller and Auditor General requesting an urgent review of the process of approval of NZPAA as a charter school.
The need for sunlight and disinfectant is urgent precisely because the school has now appointed a chief executive and a principal, and is actively recruiting staff and enrolling students.
The circus ringmaster says there isn’t a problem to be addressed here.
AEC says watch this space.”
To repeat, Seymour is playing us for fools, in this case over charter schools. However his record in this government shows it’s not just charter schools where he is playing us.
And there is no way of avoiding the conclusion that while Seymour may be the circus ringmaster, the bloke in charge of the circus is either negligent in his oversight, or very comfortable with the ways things are going.
Are you comfortable with the way things are going?
On the charter school issue, Brie Elliott (under her real name Brianna Anglesey) has started a petition about charter schools. The link is here:
“Petition of Brianna Anglesey: Halt the opening of new charter schools
Petition request
That the House of Representatives urge the Government to immediately halt the approval and opening of any new charter schools under the current process, and conduct a full independent review of governance, conflicts of interest, transparency, and public accountability before any further approvals.”
Please sign and share. Given what we’ve learned about the charter school shenanigans, this is something you can do to stop Seymour from playing us for fools.
The banjos are twanging and crosses burning bright at Whangamatā Community Board
Wait – WHAT?
Local board chair apologises after leaving meeting due to karakia
The chair of a local community board has apologised for the “offence” caused after he walked out of the first meeting of the new term due to the pre-meeting karakia.
Mark Drury and fellow Whangamatā Community Board member, Deputy Chair Neil Evans, left the room where the meeting was being held while the karakia was being recited.
The ears of redneck crackers are so brittle and fragile that they must rush from any room where a karakia is spoken just in case the mere mention of one word in Māori will be so damaging to the brain of Honky that it could trigger strokes, brain cancer and testicular swelling.
Deputy Chair Neil Evans said:
“I am a little bit uncomfortable with it, and I would prefer not to be part of that, So if you will excuse me, the alternative is, as part of our tikanga in the past we have not had karakia, and that would suit me.”
Deputy Chair Neil Evans then went on to explain that it wasn’t all karakia that he was allergic to, but just this one specific karakia.
Here is the translation that Deputy Chair Neil Evans found so impossible to remain in the room for:
“Come forth from above, come forth from below, come forth from within, come forth from the environment, vitality and wellbeing for all, strengthened in unity.”
Clearly horrific words for any redneck cracker to have to listen to.
Then at the end of the meeting when a closing karaikia was being recited, another Whangamatā board member again had to leave the room saying:
“I am going to step out for a minute. I don’t know how that works, but just did,”
Now some cruel people will want to viciously mock the easily triggered snowflake rednecks who had to leave the room in case their poor precious souls are forced hear one single word of te reo, but brittle ‘Honky Ear‘ is a serious medical condition, and we should feel sympathy for old white men being forced to hear the indigenous mother tongue of the land they live in.
Thoughts and Prayers for the Whangamatā Community Board in their fight against ‘Honkey Ear’.
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