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164 comments · +2,604 / −698 · rank #386 of 40,276

I dont happen to agree with Don Brash because the inevitable result of his idealism is that Maori would most likely loose their identity. His idea of one nation one people is a great one but a little naive. Some Maori however want one nation one people so long as Maori do it their way. Carmen sounds like one of those. Those people incite unrest in their own way. They also can be dangerous. None so blind as those who cannot see.

+164−20

She cant push back unless Winston agrees. She will need the numbers to get anything done. The other huge problem she has is that she campaigned on honesty and compassion. She has been found out on both counts . The only thing that will save jA is if some of those working groups produce policy that the general population thinks is really worth while. She is going to need a fair bit of that to succeed at the next election.

+143−14

In opposition labour liked nothing National had done in office. No social justice and rundown infrastructure. National were caught napping after recovering slowly after several major and expensive earthquakes and the gfc. In opposition labour new what it wanted to change but had done no homework and so now we have hundreds of expensive working groups. When National came to power they did the same but nothing on this scale. If they dont get some of it right they are finished and as this inexperienced new government has found out making good policy and getting it implemented is extremely difficult. Add to that a laughable col and indisciplined ministers and it isnt looking good for them.

+103−7

She might have fooled you and stuff about whats been achieved but normal half intelligent NZers can see having an international chat about climate change where they will stroke each others egos and achieve stuff all except more taxes for all of us is not much to celebrate.

+83−12

The trouble is these new world young politicians cant help trolling through comments from both their peers and the public. If they spent that time running their portfolios with the same enthusiasm they would be much better off. But like others that cant stay away from social media they are more worried about how they are perceived than what they achieve.

+66−2

Interesting ironies in this article. This super connected digital world we now live in is producing the loneliest self absorbed generation ever. The lack of language skills is the result of digital dumbness where our language has been edited to fit in a Facebook txt. Not understanding the word trivial is not an issue in itself but shows that our English is loosing its descriptive colour bit by byte. The spoken words are clipped so we can speak faster. Realidy instead of reality. English has more descriptive options than most but the reality is that teachers are struggling to teach it because a lot of them can barely spell or use the language correctly themselves.

+48−0

It makes more sense not to have it at all rather than trying to make it work. Capital gains tax has never been a big money earner anywhere else. Just an administrative nightmare. Its being considered because bean counters cant stand the thought of individuals benefiting from the increased value of their hard won assets without the government being able to click the ticket. Those who dont have the assets will think its a good idea. Does that make it a good idea. No just mean spirited.

+56−9

Its 1 our reliance on phosphate is high. Until now it has been the only way to fertilise large areas of difficult to get at land but there are alternatives out there, eg seaweed based fertilisers that have been around for years. Trouble is they have struggled to be as effective. If phosphate and nitrogen fertilisers were stopped agriculture production would slide with many farms not making it. That means as a whole this country would make way less money and all that infrastructure that everyone wants updated wont happen. Tourism and forestry have their own issues as we are finding out so the answers to the problem arent simple.

+56−14

Youve got it bad. Anybody would think youre running the PR firm. The fact that Labour needs one in its first year in power after winning the election with a lot of popular promises makes you wonder. Could it be all those promises were unrealistic. pR firms are about image regardless of who is using them. Labour needs to forget the image and do what they promised.

+39−2

She took the job on. Let her deal with it. He has nothing to answer to. By the looks of her she should take another three weeks off. She was elected to do a job. She better get on with it.

+45−9

Persisting with this refugee issue is supposed to show the world we care. But in reality it is grandstanding. The numbers involved won't impress those overseas but will antagonise those struggling for jobs and accommodation here. If this government had built one extra house it might be more acceptable.

+36−1

He has his opinion you have yours. I prefer his. He is clever and insightful although I dont always agree with him. He enjoys playing devils advocate because there is always another point of view. That point of view isnt always popular but hes happy to be unpopular as well. Good on him.

+45−11

The trouble Winstons got is as the writer tells us he needs the conservative NZF voter at the next election. The ones that would otherwise vote National. His attempts at impressing them with his show of power against Ardern wont wash with those voters at the next election. Most voters of any description are sick of his power plays. Labour will be thinking that they will be beaten by sticking with him and wont make it without him. Of course if they make everyone happy by the next election all this chat is meaningless but the chances of that happening are slim.

+31−0

Your point? Go anywhere in pisspoor weather and your not going to get the best experience. A bit like Mt Cook in a blizzard or Milford Sound with no visibility and 50mls of rain per hour.

+32−2

I take your point and yes theres truth in that however Im not a minister of the crown or politician supposedly representing the public. This is the only social media I use. No Facebook no Twitter or instagram. Ill take your criticism but I get the feeling youre reply to me is possibly reflecting and defending your own use of social media.

+30−2

What an obnoxious comment. The NZ public are very tough on the all blacks if they dont play well or behave poorly. Conversely Reason rarely gives them a tick and if he gives with one hand takes away with the other. Very rarely does he pick apart the English teams with the same enthusiasm.

+24−2

Why is it the politicians who always have to solve our problems. Wouldnt it be nice if we had the brains to make the odd good choice in our lives. We blame everyone but ourselves and when it goes wrong we blame social services police and politicians. Dont you think were just a bit pathetic.

+21−1

Im sure Amy Nelmes Bissitt has met some people that act in way she describes but I sure dont know many. I think the way she has written the article shows she is more about getting a reaction from us. Is the article worth reading or helpful Im not so sure. The danger in writing these sorts of articles is embellishing the bits that suits your argument and playing down the bits that dont. She got a reaction from me so she succeeded getting my attention but has she achieved anything. Not really.

+18−2

Whats Richard griffin trying to say here. Should we be sorry for Clair Curran. No. Does he think its a shame surely not . Is he saying JA is a nice person for firing Curran slowly. If he thinks the Curran mess didnt leave lasting damage he may be right. The article seems pointless.

+14−0

I havent watched the program and dont want to. Im over sixty and find most of whats on tv trash. I watch Netflix to get away from it. I cant understand why the programmers are trying to entice young viewers. They are never going to watch a lot of tv. The older population is increasing and thats where market would be. But then the programmers are 20 somethings. slow learners.

+14−0

Exactly. JA is pm in name only. Any of the important issues are being trumped by Winston. He has her on a string where she cant upset him or nothing will be passed in parliament. If she goes along with him she will be seen as weak. Which of course she is. She will be hoping she can talk him round to her way of thinking on the refugee numbers. Interesting.

+16−2

Interesting article. We are prepared to eat subsidised grain from Australia and add to the global fuel and warming problems to get it here so that its cheaper for us. Its a bit like disposable nappies. Convenient but a dirty little secret.

+11−0

Some truth in what you say but not much. 60 years ago no one in the world new where it was heading. Like it or not our countrys wealth was built on it. Until technology gives us all the solutions we have two choices. Keep using it in the mean time or see your standard of living drop and it will. For everyone.

+11−3

Frankly I don't believe anything forest and bird say. They have no credibility with me. How a sail down the coast and a quick count up of plastic constitutes a scientific study beats me. Surely there are are whole raft of reasons why more rubbish around those areas. One possibility being shipping that not necessarily comes from here. I would also have thought that rubbish from the open sea is going to find land at some point except around the equator. I agree we all have a problem with plastic. I just don't take forest and bird seriously. Too many agendas.

+23−15

Why dont we make it even harder for farmers to grow their produce and then we can push them off the productive land completely and build houses all over it as is happening south of Auckland. Seems to me the councils can wave the big nitrate stick at farmers but are happy to completely pave over the land when we need more subdivisions. Do we really dislike our farmers that much because we feel they are ruining the land but find it acceptable to build over the same land. We are collectively a stupid species.

+7−0

Us nimbies have watched while buildings have fallen down in earthquakes with no one held responsible. And architect design homes in their thousands that dont keep the water out are still haunting their owners. You have. Stars in your eyes. Even if they do build it the nimbie designers wont be around in fifty years when the water does come in.

+8−1

Just give the spca more resources. Growing the government machine with a commissioner is a waste of resources. You donâ't want more chiefs here but more Indians. This government loves its discussion groups and enquiries. Just give existing agencies the tools they need.

+7−1

Teachers have a stressful job in some schools not all. They may feel that the time off is badly needed and a right but its not, and as the article explains once out of school work is done theres still lots of time left for holidays that other workers only dream of. Some of the pay issues would arise from their employer only wanting to pay them for time worked. The Auckland problem with affordable housing is a genuine issue, but apart from inflationary wage rises that should happen their antics come across as jumping on the me to band wagon. They wont all leave for Australia and they wont find other work with better conditions in this country.

+12−6

Generally the rule works until you are moving stock along roads and need the dog free to jump from Ute to road when required. MPI have a lot on their plate at the moment. I would have thought the Bovis and fishing stuff ups would require all their resources at present.

+7−2

Whats going on here. Since when did our DHBs have a social conscience beyond their brief. They cant keep their own cafeterias healthy let alone decide whats good for everyone else in the community. Parents that may want a beer or a wine at the conclusion of a breakup or similar function should not be under scrutiny from the local DHB. Ive attended many similar functions over the years and have found that they generally only last a short time and alcohol isnt included every time. There wouldnt be any children anywhere that wouldnt have witnessed social drinking of some description. If there is to be a change of the rules in this let It be a Government directive (that they can be judged on)and not some holier than thou know it all decision from a DHB that cant run itself properly.

+5−0

So why have the principals only registered 120 vacancies when the outcry is for so many more that are needed. It appears the government has those numbers well covered. I realise there is shortages across all sectors but something doesnt add up.

+5−0

More people might eat them but not big numbers because a large part of the population think processed packaged food is more convenient and large numbers dont know how to cook properly and dont want to know. Until you change that thinking nothing much will change.

+5−1

The dancing is great if you like watching it. The rest of the show is rubbish. One day the general public might realise reality TV is about as unreal as you can get. But it's cheap to produce. Many of us yearn for well written dramas and documentaries. But they cost. The booming gaming industry provides great entertainment for our younger viewers who prefer the not so real world to the stark realities of the real world. The anomaly there is they are expensive to produce. The well written fictional series now are coming from Netflix etc. if it wasn't for the odd program like country calendar you may as well take your TV to the tip.

+4−0

I didnt say that now did I George. Read carefully and try to understand. Nobody is subsiding anybody. The farmers make as much as they can and so they should. What happens when the stock leaves his property is up to where he sells it. Try blaming them.

+4−0

You are still disregarding the difficulties and unpleasant working conditions a roofer has to face and I'™m sure you'™re not interested but the roofer isn'™t complaining or striking because he chose that job just like you chose yours. Oh and I'™m not a roofer or teacher.

+4−0

The only bizarre thought is that people like you think you can change the way the world has moved for the last 100 years in a generation. Worse than that you are like king Canute and think you will stop the tide of global warming coming in. We should change but in an orderly logical manner. Not a knee jerk idealistic brain explosion that will put us at an economic disadvantage with the rest of the world.

+4−1

Spoken like someone who is young and wont be needing the money for forty years. You wont be so confident when you are sixty plus and arent keen on losing your money and not having time for it to recover before you need it. Regardless of what fund you are in. In the last meltdown I lost a lot of money even though invested in a very conservative fund(not kiwi saver). The issue as I see it is that we are not given the choice of having this money in a bank account after age sixty, regardless of how low the interest is. In my experience and Ive had a bit, when you need your money you could have to accept the loss of good gains for only the reason that you arent able to withdraw it when you want. This could affect first home buyers and those rising 60 in the same way. Yes a lot of people dont manage their funds well but having your retirement funds locked into fluctuating market regardless of what fund you are in isnt right either.

+9−6

Cool idea but we need to cut down on phosphates where we can. Im retired sheep and beef and used some seaweed fertilisers 20 years ago. But for higher production you still have to go to phosphate. The new grasses our scientists came up with were greedy for fertiliser and only lasted five minutes. Dairy will always struggle with the new environment challenges but Im sure a balance can be found if we have a will to find it.

+4−1

So you build a large lake. A great recreational benefit. Then the produce grown because of water ends up at Hastings and Napier to be sold. It creates jobs. All those in the service industries have more money. The council can afford to put in water pipes that work. There's a new clothes shop because people need clothes. Those people want coffee. Get the idea now. And every body pays more tax so those without a job can live. Not so hard to understand I would have thought. But it's easier to be jealous of farmers and put them down. Some of the best food and wine grown in the world comes from this region but there are plenty of town dwellers who would prefer to by it all from somewhere else.

+4−1

You can eat all the genetic burgers you like. Im happy to pay for a real one. If the world starts making meat in a lab successfully they wont bother getting it from here as it could be produced in any old tin shed overseas. As for earning our keep with tourism well they are ruining the environment already. You better start worrying about what you wish for.

+6−3

I feel part of what Garner was trying to say was that apart from the social issues we all could do with a bit more physical activity in our lives. 50 years ago it just happened as there wasn't much else to do other than read or a family game. We may have to try a little harder as to stay healthy you need a balance which includes some physical stuff where possible even if it's just walking the side line watching your kids. I agree Nothing wrong with gaming with your kids some of the time

+3−0

It's not just sport. It's just getting outside and doing something real. There is nothing real on the internet. Even the news we are given is someone's opinion.it can be edited to suit someone's agenda. Social media might be enjoyable but it's not real. It's glossy opinion of somebody's life put out there to compete with all the other glossy lives. The world we live in is changing fast and not for the better. Gaming takes us as far from reality as is possible. In NZ we are lucky enough not to have a long way to travel to enjoy a relatively unspoiled outdoors. Better get out there and take advantage of it while it's still there.

+5−2

Show me some official figures and I might take you seriously. What your niece says doesnt cut it. There are many reasons that our produce might turn up on an overseas shelf cheaper than here. Seasonal variations and over supply of various markets are just two. We can most likely buy some of their imports cheaper over here at certain times. And you didnt mention who the greedy people getting rich were.

+3−1

People like Paul and myself support environmental change but are sick to death of organisations like f and g and Greenpeace spreading miss information to push their cause. F and g lost all credibility with me when they sunk the Hawke's Bay dam on a technicality simply because they were philosophically against the idea. They have become experts in everything which of course they are not

+2−0

Your darling labour Government hasnt had to deal with any sort of crisis yet. Except the continual miss management happening on a daily basis from within their own cabinet. Their 1 test will come and if they can deal with it the majority of voters in this country will take them seriously. In the mean time the majority of voters will wait nervously.

+2−0

Just another article slamming the rural sector. It's becoming tedious. Farmers have been trying to clean their act up for years. The plastic pollution on the sides of the roads water ways refuse tips and the sea gets the limelight overseas but not talked about much here. You want our leaders to be more responsible talk to your mayor or MP Not farming industry leaders. The neglect of water infrastructure throughout NZ over the last 50 years has been staggering.

+8−6

Dont start that old BS argument again. Its been explained a thousand times. You imply its somehow the farmers problem meat is expensive. Buy a genetic burger. The farmers are being told that will be the future. Go for it.

+2−0

To indago. Our spring and summer their Autumn and winter. Our breeding season is opposite to theirs so our stuff arrives as theirs is finishing. That alone can have all sorts of effects on prices. To straight compare the products here and there at the same time is hard to do accurately. So that argument just does apply. The problem we have is people understanding the more money farmers make the more tax they will pay and also the overseas exchange makes us more competitive when paying for all the stuff we import. Stuff thats cheaper than we produce here. Dont be too judgemental of farmers. You may not like them but the money we make shuffling bits of paper around here doesnt buy much from overseas. Produce sold overseas does.

+3−1

Why would you want a meat replacement that looks like meat. If you dont like meat get off the show and find some millet to eat and leave people who actually enjoy a good steak alone.

+2−0

Wouldnt it be great if the parents of these kids with shocking teeth took some responsibility for their kids diet. I get sick of the excuses that good food is too expensive and fizzy drink is more expensive than water. Use water out of the tap. The parents have sweet tooths like their kids. You need some discipline. Cleaning teeth and cutting back on sugar drinks isnt hard. Some parents are way too casual when it comes to good choices. You only have to look at the food trollies at the supermarkets.

+2−0

So farmers should sell you their meat at a lower price than they can get overseas. So if you are a builder you should build a house really cheaply so everyone can have a house. So who pays your wages and should you take a pay cut because your boss isnt making enough to pay you more. Its dreamland reasoning.

+4−2

Me saying it too. Lots of tourists around. Economic conditions change, exchange rate etc half these cafes and restaurants will disappear if travel is tough. Quick money when times are good first out when hard times are here. Tourism and accommodation would nosedive if our economic conditions went to the dark side. Take it while its here.

+2−1

Well Davey current levels of methane will likely fall because good science is providing stock foods that will help stock emit less. Over time methane recycles so don't make the problem worse by talking it up. I'd be more worried about all the batteries that will require recycling as electric vehicle numbers increase.

+1−0

Still nothing stopping you enjoying being outside and interacting with other people. It's not the sport it's getting out and enjoying your surroundings. Even if it's just going out for a coffee or going to the local park or shops.

+3−2

Yes there is a divide and your nasty little innuendos make it worse. Farmers dont pay any less tax or get any more handouts than anyone else. And that goes for environmental damage as well. Im sure you and your waste has contributed to the worlds problems just as much as any farmer. You can find problems with every action we take if you try hard enough. The article was pointing out the differences in thinking between town and country and has succeeded.

+4−3

I couldnt agree more. Those who used the track and looked out at the view cant understand that most people looked towards the iconic landscape from a distance to admire the view. Like with other issues in this world its the noisy minority that try to get their way and get louder to try and drown out the opposition. And as for the Maori side of the argument I understand their point of view but Im not Maori. Now we find the track wasnt built within its own consents.

+1−0

What sort of person are you. I live in HB and have holidayed to NewPlymouth several times finding plenty to do and see from the mountain to the sea. It's a fantastic area with friendly people. Have been to the Auckland Tauranga area many times but the traffic , spread of housing and polluted water ways are reasons to avoid those areas now. Give me the Taranaki area any day of the week. Tourism will grow there just fine in spite of negative people like you.

+1−0

Its not town people writing the articles but who comment on them. Some of these people clearly dont like farmers. Thats cool by me as this forum is here for our opinion. Thats from both sides of any discussion. This article was always going to polarise people from different backgrounds and can give those with staunch opinions a look at the other side.

+1−0

Be careful now. A lot of those crops you want to eat require just as much water and some times more fertiliser than animal production. A lot of those big irrigators you see are on crop land. So when you eat your cereal in the morning don't go thinking it's all clean and green.

+1−0