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6:00 am, June 20th, 2026 - 17 comments
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Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Step up to the mike …
What the fuck? Simeon Brown has sacked a huge proportion of the Nursing Council. Where do you start and what is all this about? My guess is that it’s a tiding-up before a sell off, like you do with a house or business, getting rid of those who will oppose. This is a prelude to a sell off to American health insurance interests, the only people with enough money to buy it outright. We can only, and must get rid of them.
To reduce the Maori presence on it (6 to 1).
https://kaitiaki.org.nz/article/exclusive-whitewash-at-nursing-council-board-as-maori-chair-members-slashed/
Nobody tell Christopher Luxon that he can improve his approval rating:
https://theconversation.com/why-are-we-so-obsessed-with-charismatic-leaders-285380
Nobody tell Winston Peters to go woke:
Nobody tell journalists to ask hard questions of politicians and government Mandarins:
Hope everyone is gearing up their MP campaigns today. Doing good profile work with their candidates.
We have a shot at this.
If there’s one thing becoming clearer by the day, thanks to Scrutiny Week, then it is that ideology trumps everything else for the Coalition. Occasionally, they try justify their decisions with some light sprinkling of science and research but this merely is cherry-picking of what suits their narrative – all criticism, even constructive criticism is swatted away and fobbed off like pesky little flies.
As with all ideology, it’s feels & vibes over facts. Rhetoric and smirks (aka grin fucking; HT to Matthew Hooton) are the weapons of choice for those populist loonies.
Incog-the "force through legislation that is extreme and if many voters don't like it who cares" approach does not win elections.
They can't win with the votes of the richest 5%, the votes of the farmers, also 5%, with the loonies that vote for Seymour and with the gaga pensioners that vote for Peters.
The CoC has simply pissed too many people off. They are toast.
I think we need much more genuine scrutiny and accountability in NZ politics and more openness and transparency would go a long way achieving this.
About Scrutiny Week:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/607427/political-machinations-on-show-as-scrutiny-week-comes-up-for-review
Hope is an idle passive stance – without real passion, commitment, and action, it is merely dreaming and wishful thinking that’s a great form of escapism into a world of make-believe and fantasy.
None of this has to be big, earth-shattering, or transformative – every journey starts with a single step and every story starts with a single word (written or spoken), as do prayers.
Best scrutiny is election time.
Luxon is coming to Hawea in a few days and OMG the local Facebook invitation is so shat on it may as well have Irritable Bowel Syndrome,
Just like Trump's visit to Scotland.
Election time (?) is less scrutiny and more snapshot. Scrutiny is a continuous and critical part of the process, to give it legitimacy and to build trust & confidence – confidence is not about perfectionism and infallibility but about self-moderation and self-correction. Politics is [about] process as much if not more than [about] outcomes, i.e., the process (pseudo-measurable quality) is, in a way, a key outcome (quasi-measurable quantity) – the neo-authoritarian Coalition’s view & approach are back-to-front.
Nah it holds to account nothing. It may occasionally get 1 minute tops on TV1. It's worse than the budget debates.
This government is fully in election mode already. Budget is done. Legislating is done with more proposed legislation axed, everything except the Omnibus law tweaks shunted down the Order Paper.
The only process of any use for the next 5 months is the election. That's where policy is actually contested like it's a real thing that NZ voters ought to care about.
That proves my point precisely plus it makes the point that the media, independent or publicly owned or whatever (e.g., so-called Fourth Estate), should do their job even if it doesn’t add [much] to their ‘bottom line’.
Good policy dies with shitty PR & coms. Policy that survives the cull, and negotiation between parties, dies with shitty execution & implementation.
What voters ought to care about and what they do care about is heavily influenced if not controlled by PR & coms teams and the media. Luckily, Kiwis keep their eyes on the ball.
https://business.scoop.co.nz/2026/06/19/trade-me-search-data-captures-kiwi-sporting-fever-over-fifa-super-rugby-and-the-nba/
The scrutiny has to be all the time – NZAO can no longer be a 'Sunday' democracy; that is having one special time to go through the motions of being committed to an organisation that has values and practical ways to live them in daily activity. Then look after No.1 the rest of the time. Is this next a text used to explain the workings of government for the NZAO people?
That was copied from the Samaritans NZ website. They appear to be following a kindly and practical baseline which I think is what we need in this country – simple and balanced and at our backs would see us be a thriving country with less money-mounds being spent on folderols for the wealthy and self-ennobling class.
You really think the powder puff liberalism many on this sight espouse is going to help anyone in the face of this government? Grow a spine folks – don't give up on the global south, stand with our brothers and sister across the globe and reject this western colonial bullshit it's institutions, ideology and laws – once and for all.
Well obviously you bleeding idiot we live in the global south and deal with its politics ever day.
We don't live in the Global South, and the fact you don't get that political term is a worry.
Oh please let's not waste time with playground games, get distracted and look over there and have our ball pinched from under our noses. But let's face it, it has already happened, and we have to get our own ball back before we can join in the game again.
We're just a bunch of potato heads getting cooked and will end up in mash soon. I like butter with my mash; we have sold that produce business, for a bunch of beans. Soon we mightn't have potatoes either; they could get a blight and we will be left to starve as the Brits imposed on Ireland. Wake up you dreamer, today's politics have different steps to the folk dances of the past.