The Standard

Open Mike 09/10/25

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 9th, 2025 - 32 comments
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32 comments on “Open Mike 09/10/25 ”

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  1. Kay 1
    9 October 2025 at 7:46 am

    I feel physically sick. I was one of those 18& 19 year olds that had to spend time on the sickness benefit (which the Nats eventually got rid of). After 2 years when it was clear my situation wasn't likely to improve in the short term, it was Social Welfare who sent me for the assessment for Invalid's benefit. I would never have survived with no income.

    Hundreds of teenagers with a health condition or disability could be cut off from the Jobseeker benefit as part of the government's welfare changes, official data shows.

    Luxon went on to say the government was "unapologetically" sending a clear message to young people that it wants them in work, training or education.

    Social Development Minister Louise Upston also defended including those with a health condition or disability under the new policy, saying they were affected by a "temporary condition".

    No, Louise. Illness/disabilities that start at that age are often not "temporary" and there is no way even medical people can be 100% sure of the progression.

    "They will be able to work within a two year period," Upston said. "Our expectation is that they are in further education or training or a job or their parents support them."

    You sound so sure of yourself there, Louise. You're going to tell that 18 year old having their first episode of serious physical or mental illness that we're not going to give you any financial help because you're going to be cured in 2 years time? You know for certain that episode is going to be a one-off, and not become chronic?

    Upston expected those with a permanent disability to be on the Supported Living Payment. She said there was also "ability for some discretion".

    Do you know just how difficult to get onto SLP?

    The Greens' spokesperson for social development, Ricardo Menendez March, said the government was "punching down on young people", disregarding whether they have ill health or are disabled in an effort to "simply cut people from income support when there are no jobs".

    He said targeting those on the Jobseeker benefit with a health condition or disability was a prime example that the policy was never about "incentivising employment" but about blaming young people for the job cuts the government had led.

    Exactly. They are nasty, sadistic and cruel, and completely incapable of empathy, meaning we are dealing with sociopaths.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/575358/hundreds-of-teens-with-a-health-condition-disability-may-be-cut-from-jobseeker-benefit

    • weka 1.1
      9 October 2025 at 11:09 am

      I had a moment of rage when I read their grossly ill informed and dangerous comments.

    • Patricia Bremner 1.2
      9 October 2025 at 11:48 am

      Kay, I thought of you when I heard that. He is a poor excuse for a Leader. To add to the sting by saying "We love these young people" I gagged. I understand this allows him to reach a goal set earlier. A bit like dropping people off wait lists.

    • gsays 1.3
      9 October 2025 at 12:08 pm

      I feel for you Kay.

      Fortunately I gave enjoyed relatively good health most my life.

      While I don't want them to release policy, I would love the shadow minister to articulate what you and others are feeling.

      Start a narrative.

    • tc 1.4
      9 October 2025 at 3:08 pm

      How very coalition.

      Unapologetically loading more burden onto households by the sorted. Those jobs are not there which of course they're aware of.

      Cruel only just begins to describe it.

  2. Stephen D 2
    9 October 2025 at 10:06 am

    Wondering why Andrea Vance is doing a hatchet job on Bryce Edwards.

    https://archive.li/8m0aU

    “In a sudden and unexplained move, the Integrity Institute – an organisation that billed itself as a watchdog for transparency and accountability – has been removed from the Charitable Trusts Register.

    Its once-public Lobbying and Influence Register, a database mapping political donations and elite connections, also appears to have vanished from its website, leaving only fragments visible via director Bryce Edwards’ Substack.”

    • Bearded Git 2.1
      9 October 2025 at 10:50 am

      The so-called "Integrity Institute" sounds like a complete shambles. Watch this space for more legal wranglings.

      "Left-wing pundit Edwards…."

      Bryce Edwards wasn't left-wing at all. Every article/opinion column I read by him was biased against the Left. Maybe he was influenced by his "wealthy Christchurch sponsors", the Nelson's.

      I did wonder why he had disappeared-now we know.

  3. lprent 3
    9 October 2025 at 10:16 am

    That's better. The site banner is back. Something didn't like the 30k jpeg I did back in 2008.

  4. gsays 4
    9 October 2025 at 12:05 pm

    @lprent above.

    Chur for yr mahi.

    I can comment but not reply on my mobile. Oppo.

    Will the option to switch to mobile be reinstated?

    Edit, I must have done something because after asking this question I could reply to Kay above. Probably operator error…

  5. lprent 5
    9 October 2025 at 12:30 pm

    For those who have been getting anti-spam messages recently. I have turned off the offending plugin.

    I will replace it with something else soonish. But I am a bit busy at present packing into storage, preparing for a week off work and preparing to drive a furniture trailer to Invercargill.

  6. Binders full of women 6
    9 October 2025 at 1:47 pm

    I'm kinda glad Bomber went there with the 'Spit in Food' encouragement. I was getting really tired of his blog and just needed a straw to break the back and NEVER go back. In that, he suceeded.

    • weka 6.1
      9 October 2025 at 10:49 pm

      it was quite something. Flat out gross, illegal, and puts workers at risk too.

      People who can't be told, end up going over the edge.

    • Bearded Git 6.2
      10 October 2025 at 8:51 am

      The trouble with Bomber is that, apart from his OTT expletive-ridden (sometimes disgusting} rants, he has some good stuff on TDB.

      The odd swear word is fine-it is part of the language. I called the power market in NZ "fucked-up" because it is. But talking about spitting in political opponents food is beyond the pale.

      So I will return.

  7. Tony Veitch 7
    9 October 2025 at 3:34 pm

    Just watched the maiden address by a new Maori member.

    Brownlee just suspended the House when a haka erupted in the gallery.

    Which got me thinking:

    How I wish we had the honesty and intellectual courage in this country to actually recognise the tangata whenua of Aotearoa.

    Like re-establishing the Upper Chamber, but making it one of iwi representation only, tasked with an oversee role in making sure all laws are fit for purpose – protecting the environment, establishing equity so all people could thrive and properly adapting to climate change, and other measures for the welfare of all people of New Zealand, not just those with the fattest wallets.

  8. Alan 8
    9 October 2025 at 3:55 pm

    So no comments yet about the peace plan having some success today?

    [I wouldn’t call shaking trolls from a tree a success. Don’t troll, this is your warning – Incognito]

    • KJT 8.1
      9 October 2025 at 4:15 pm

      The "plan" for Gaza/Palastinians to totally capitulate?

    • joe90 8.2
      9 October 2025 at 4:43 pm

      Felon, credibly accused rapist and suspected kid fucker child sex offender does deal to personally chair an Orwellian Board of Peace to divvy up Gaza with alleged war criminal Tony Blair as his 2IC….

      But the Trump family is not alone in profiting heavily from this plan. In July, the Financial Times reported that the Tony Blair Institute, Boston Consulting Group, and Israeli businessmen Michael Eisenberg and Liran Tancman developed an investment plan for Gaza that included building an “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone.” The investment plan called for cutting development costs by removing Palestinians from the territory. No surprise that the Tony Blair Institute has received at least $345 million from pro-Israel billionaire and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

      Under Trump’s plan, Palestinians would be required to relinquish all forms of resistance to Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide. While Trump’s “Board of Peace” would cash in on Gaza, it would delegate daily governance in Gaza to “a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” that would be “responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza.”

      https://archive.li/CKRtp

    • Incognito 8.3
      9 October 2025 at 4:50 pm

      Mod note

    • Bearded Git 8.4
      9 October 2025 at 10:09 pm

      It's a ceasefire not a peace plan.

      A peace plan would include a path to establish a Palestinian State.

  10. SPC 10
    9 October 2025 at 4:30 pm

    The government made a decision in the budget, the consequences which were known and now loom in the year/years ahead.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/575421/extended-prescriptions-may-force-some-pharmacies-to-close-industry-group-warns

  11. SPC 11
    9 October 2025 at 4:48 pm

    National is creating an ACC crisis. Why?

    1.unwilling to in crease premiums?

    2.wants to manufacture the grounds for a change?

    https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360849145/fresh-15-billion-deficit-leaves-acc-138b-red