JoJo

YouTube video by Dr Gary Payinda The dismantling and privatisation of public healthcare in NZ: Not on our watch.

2.9 Billion dollars was set aside for property investors. That could literally pay for every nurse and every doctor vacancy to be filled immediately, and provide free dental care for every citizen in New Zealand.

Paraphrasing @garypayunda.bluesky.social here youtu.be/UFINgoFNnQE?...

#NZpol

Government members on Finance and Expenditure Committee just voted to use an AI bot to read submissions on the Regulatory Standards Bill🙄. Turns out democracy under this government is real people making submissions and computers reading them. 👎

Well said 🙏
As Pākehā I am so embarrassed.
We are a really stupid country.
We are going backwards not looking to the future
#nzpol

#NZ Y’know the idea is to *invest* in the future… *sigh*

Christchurch is NZ’s largest city, and still growing.

If you can’t read the article, there’s some excellent material online too 🧵⬇️

1/n

⭐ New Zealand polling update⭐

As we wait on new polling data following the recent budget here in New Zealand, I thought I'd crank the handle on my model that aggregates political polling data and infers the "average" levels of support for individual parties.

Loved the analogy of the spreading roots of the kahikatea trees – it was a powerful speech.

If we're going to keep this "run a govt like a household" thing, govt debt isn't a credit card: it's a mortgage.

You get a mortgage to buy a home & it's seen as an investment. Refinance to cover the cost of important repairs or renovations.

#nzpol

Look at them!

But if rules are for regulating behaviour, that also points to a deeper purpose: they reinforce the authority of those who make them. Rules aren’t apolitical, or neutral. They protect the powerful. We all know this, we learned it when we were little children. What else did we learn when we were young? Naughty people must be taught a lesson. And by “taught a lesson”, we don’t mean “given a special educational opportunity”. We mean punished. We cling to that one, even when our culture is full of warnings of what can go wrong. Everything from the Abuse in Care report to movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople and We Were Dangerous reminds us that punishment is often meted out not on merit, but to reinforce power. That’s what’s happening here: a reminder of the hierarchy of power is being visited on some “uppity” people who won’t sit down, won’t show contrition, won’t shut up. And what of the rules themselves? Both Luxon and Judith Collins, who chaired the committee, have hung their desire to punish on the suggestion the haka prevented Act MPs from voting. But Act had already voted. Given that, why has Collins not apologised and recalled her committee to reconsider its decision? If the committee was a proper court and not a politically motivated circus, the manifest falseness of this “they were stopped from voting” argument wouldn’t survive half a second on appeal.

Very good article from Simon Wilson in NZH this morning

POLITICS / COMMENT & ANALYSIS The House: Parliamentary privileges - Race as an aggravating factor?

Although still with the tag: POLITICS / COMMENT & ANALYSIS the second incarnation of this story has a new note - ‘This article has been updated to remove the opinion of the author’. The headline has changed to ‘The House: Why was the Privileges Committee so harsh on Te Pāti Māori MPs?’

You know that great RNZ article from RNZ’s The House NZers are sharing? It’s still a strong indictment of Collins, but some of it has been watered down. I just happened to have had the old version up when I opened the ‘updated’ one, thinking it was a new story.

BROWNLEE is mad about the punishment for TPM?

*Brownlee.*

*BROWNLEE?!*

THAT Brownlee?!

Chat, I am aghast and agog at how badly the coalition has fucked up that it is forcing BROWNLEE to decide a "gone too far" line exists and that they're on the wrong side of it. #nzpol #kikorangi

It's honestly what fucks me off about a lot of attitudes to "AI" the most. It's a tool. There are uses.

But the idea you can use it to cut out entry level skills isn't just anti-society. It assumes expertise just appears. It doesn't. You get good at a thing by learning less complex stuff first.

With the recent passing of the equal pay amendment act under urgency, it is important to recognise that the coalition of cruelty will likely do the same for the upcoming regulatory standards bill. I don't know how we stop that. Submissions are ignored. Protests are ignored. I'm tired, boss. #nzpol

What we’re seeing from this govt goes beyond austerity, this is deliberate ideological violence dressed up as fiscal discipline. Its not about balancing books it’s about rebalancing power away from te tiriti, equity & the most marginalised toward the privileged,white, able-bodied majority #oneterm

Bernard Hickey: The Govt’s retrospective law wrecks 33 pay equity deals. $17 billion in wages & back-pay will not now go to over 150,000 workers. That means the $14 billion of tax cuts going mostly to landlords & highest earners are being paid for by wage cuts for the poorest NZers, mostly women.

Listen I love democracy as much as the next person but I’m so tired of submitting to bills, signing petitions, and sending emails to MPs. Why can’t these people do their jobs competently by default. They get paid really well like I don’t want to do all this I want to call HR and fire David Seymour.

When I got my first decent pay rise, my treat was going to the dentist. We need to get our shit together.

That's a valid and interesting viewpoint. Personally, I'd rather that ilk were publicly shamed and faded into obscurity than made martyrs by this.

I agree that the RSB is a threat to democracy in NZ, but retaliation against politicians sets a precedent I don't want in this country.

I'd love to focus on sharing more about the threats of the RSB to make it clear to moderates that this is a scary prospect.

with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, I am Tangata Tiriti. without it, I'm just another fkn coloniser.

Don't worry about it. We win when we stand together, when we work against the divide and conquer tactics. You don't need to second guess yourself, just do as much as you're capable of 💜

It's time for the Left to take the ACT approach to politics.
Ask for things well beyond your wildest dreams -free dental/optical/medical for everyone. Best in class schools. Public transport. A million new builds for public housing and just freaking push until people are exhausted.
#NZPol

Third of emergency housing applications being rejected by MSD The Ministry of Social Development is declining more than 90 emergency housing applications a month because people have "caused or contributed to their immediate need".

NZ Ministry of Social Development declines > 90 emergency housing applications a month because people have "caused or contributed to their immediate need".

Will HealthNZ or NZ hospitals decline to treat patients with lung cancer if they are or were smokers?
#nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Instead of praising people for being “resilient” change the systems that are making them vulnerable Muna Abdi

I keep returning to words from Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw:

“We all have a role to play in framing the values that lead to the sort of community we want to live in - compassionate, responsible, inclusive, creative and wise.”

NZ’s systems are not safe - and upcoming elections will be our most vital yet.

Some thoughts on an absolutely damning report. | Trust in freefall: What 2025 Acumen Edelman Barometer reveals about New Zealand's future www.linkedin.com/pulse/trust-... (LinkedIn), sanjanah.wordpress.com/2025/03/28/t... (WordPress)

Otherwise
"Because in the end the bullshit is just right wing politicised wrestling kayfabe weaponized as cultist self indoctrinating shibboleth mantras of reality denying conspiracy theories to the deluded, deranged or just duplicitous."
#nzpol

Going backwards for growth Taking the living wage away from government contractors turns back the clock on a progressive step towards valuing essential workers.

The proposal to remove the living wage requirement from public sector procurement rules turns back the clock on a progressive step towards valuing essential workers,” argues Lyndy McIntyre. #nzpol

Recently, I decided to “mark” a transcript of one of David Seymour’s interviews as if it were a 100-level assignment. It failed — badly. Not because a TV interview needs to meet university standards, but because the logic was flimsy, unsupported by evidence, and full of misleading rhetorical tactics. We have people running the country whose words wouldn’t pass a basic university assessment. That should concern all of us.

In the last five years I can count on one hand and not use all my fingers the number of media pieces that have provided clear analysis, and clear, needed, vital warnings about David Seymour’s politics - this is one of them.

Thank you @etangata.bsky.social 🙏

e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-...