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 …
Open Mike 26/09/2026
64 comments on “Open Mike 26/09/2026”
Comment numbers have changed to permanent references. Older quoted numbers may no longer identify the same comment.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/1565011/maori-words-in-curriculum-shouldn-t-be-controversial-principals-say
Stanford is a corrupt racist peace of shit that needs to go.
John Campbell does not let the Secretary of Education Ellen MacGregor-Reid deflect his questions and persists until she answers specifically. It's a great interview.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019053334/education-secretary-on-oia-avoidance-allegations
It's implausible that MacGregor-Reid and Erica Stanford were unaware of MOE managers' repeated instructions to staff not to write down discussions and criticisms of the curriculum.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/1549468/more-claims-of-education-ministry-staff-trying-to-avoid-oia-come-to-light
Something I probably do align with on most here.
I retired this year. As part of my effort to bring my costs in line with my reduced income I have just put a 13.5 kw solar system on my roof (end of July). Along with that, I purchased a 2021 Nissan Leaf. I didn't want to over capitalise on the EV, and should only be about a $5k difference when selling my petrol car. Though, not that easy to sell petrol cars at the moment to be fair.
I have to say, it has been a great change. The way I look at it is that it is much better to put the money on the roof and save 15% pa or better rather than leaving it in the bank at 3% less tax or whatever.
We generated 70kw the other day. Our deal with Meridian (via powershop) here is an export rate of 13 cents per kw. At that, it doesn't really make batteries worthwhile yet. Though, I do have the battery in my EV which I try to charge up for free with the sun as much as I can.
So, the solar isn't only saving me on electricity costs. But, also on petrol costs. I worked out the other day that the actual cost of charging my car for a month was only about $30. To travel the same ks in my petrol car would have cost me about three tanks of petrol!!
I have noticed there seems to be a lot more EVs around now since the petrol prices have gone sky high. In a perverse way, perhaps Donald Trump is helping green the planet lol.
EVs also helping with our balance of payments! There are more of them on our roads.
tsmithfield – have a look at Octopus – export rates are better and their account/usage monitoring app is excellent.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/09/15/electric-vehicles-save-nz-90m-in-oil-imports-amid-fuel-crisis/
Yeah. Might have a look at that.
One of the good things with Powershop, here in Canterbury anyway, is that Powershop offers excellent off peak rates as well.
So, even if the sun isn't shining, we try and schedule as much as we can for between 1am and 6am. One of the really cost effective things to do is to get a Shelly relay installed. That allows water heating to be scheduled at off peak times, or for peak solar times. It only cost $160 to have installed at the same time as our solar system.
I will probably put batteries in within the next year or two. I will be looking seriously at power arbitraging then.
At the moment, batteries aren't really cost effective when the export rate is high because the sacrifice of the export rate has to be considered as well. At the moment, the batteries would need replacing before they have paid for themselves.
But, with battery prices coming down, and technology improving, it will definitely be an option going forward.
Octopus is the UKs largest energy company and they are revolutionising how consumers manage their usage. We've been with their NZ operation for 18 months now since we got our EV. It was a great change for us too.
We don't have solar but our hot water is on timer and we charge our EV at night rates too. 75% of our usage is on night rate.
For people at home during the day, they offer a 3 hours 7 days free power plan which is well worth looking into. Just in three lines areas at the moment but will be expanded.
I had a look at Octopus and ran our details through. I think we are still better off with Powershop.
It is a bit tricky to work it all out though. I think the daily charge is better with Powershop. We don't have a limit on our solar export, whereas from what I can see, Octopus has its best plan for less than 10kw systems. And, at the moment, we get the same peak rate for export as well.
But, either way, both those plans work really well for people who are prepared to manage their power usage. Not so good for people who just want power without having to think about it.
In respect to batteries, I'm not sure if you are ready for the plunge to disconnect from the grid. That would bring the cost of the daily or line charge into effect, making the equation more attractive.
You are right about battery tech moving. In our last upgrade we committed to lead carbon sealed cells (no maintenance) but sodium ion looks to be the next step in both home storage and EV batteries.
Now you have an EV, you may join the rest of us that have scorn for this administration. The contrast between their promises for the charger network last election versus the reality of underinvestment.
Yeah, I have been looking at sodium as the next thing, especially for stationary storage as the extra size required for the same power doesn't matter so much. But, the cycle life is way better which is probably the main thing. Though, I think the cycle life on the lithium ones is improving a lot as well.
I am not personally bothered about the charging stations. Ours is only the 40kw model which is good for about 270km on a full charge when new. So, we have a petrol car which we use if we need to do long trips. But, most of our travel is around town which is where the EV is great.
And, the fast chargers aren't that great for battery life. So, we just keep ours charged up and available.
I am not sure how cost effective going totally off grid would be. I guess for someone with a remote location it would likely be way cheaper than having to run electricity to the property. But, for us city dwellers, it might be the first 90% that is super economic, and after that it might be too expensive to get the last bit.
cool story. That's several thousand dollars per year back from the power companies? Or do they deduct from your power bill?
We get a credit each month. Probably be over $80 this month I expect. Of course, I could export more if I wasn’t charging the EV. But, trying to use as much as possible when it is available is generally better than exporting.
And, in the summer, I will probably be building up a good credit towards the the winter months next year.
Something I have learned through this is that I am lucky to be living in Canterbury. Meridian Energy here are much more flexible with respect to solar, and pay good export rates. But, I understand, that in the NI exported solar power is often seen as a nuisance.
In theory, even though solar dumps a heap of power into the system at the middle of the day, it should actually mean less draw down from the lakes. So, the lakes become like a big battery.
But, apparently the generation in the NI isn't set up to be able to take advantage of that. Whereas, Meridian in the SI has a lot more flexibility with how it balances solar and hydro. And, actually Meridian is building a lot of solar farms themselves at the moment.
Very encouraging thankyou TSmithfield
Did you mean – Where I would probably align with most on here?
The meaning of SOMETHING is some indeterminate or unspecified thing.
Footnote.
Publishers provide editors once they agree to publish a work.
That I expect would align with Green environmental values.
Technical law question.
If someone sexully assaults someone and buys their silence. Then that knowledge becomes public , are the police duty bound to investigate?
investigate the assault? I think there has to be a complaint, unless the person assaulted is a minor or there are clear public interest reasons. Or did you mean investigate the buying off?
But depends eh. For instance, in the case of Dirty Works, the police can't investigate that because there are no details.
Investigate the assault, , I'd say they absolutely should have to,
are you thinking about the allegation in Hager's book?
Yes ,but in general, just because an attacker has conned , pressured a woman into taking a payout, it shouldn't protect them .
I'd be interested to know ,
you can't sign away your statutory rights (eg to report a crime), and such an agreement can't legally override legislation. Irrespective of any payout or agreement, if a crime was committed police can investigate and the state can prosecute.
I suspect a payout agreement would be around things like not talking to MSM, or writing about it publicly.
However in this case, where there is no complainant publicly known (because she presumably hasn't gone to the police), I can't see how police can investigate.
Also, even in clear cases of sexual assault, women are frequently very reluctant to engage in or pursue a criminal case. The process all too often results in revictimizatuon through the court system.
Without a victim who is prepared to make and follow through with a complaint, the police are hamstrung. There is a reason why most sexual assault cases don't go to trial.
I said I had finished commenting on this. But just this one point…
My understanding is that the accusation Hager referred to was sexual harrasment not sexual assault. And, I understand that sexual harrasment is more of a civil/employment type of issue, and not necessarily criminal. Though, those with more knowledge around this could probably clarify that.
Sexual harassment is unsettling, distressing at times and demeaning. My generation had no choice but put up with it. We should have had avenues available where we could safely report it but we didn't. The better part of valour was to stay quiet because we knew it unlikely we would be believed or at best, we were making vexatious complaints.
Sexual assault is far more serious and is now recognised as such by the police. It should be remembered it was not that long ago when brave women tried to report them to the police and were told it was their own fault etc.
Hard to believe now but it was true.
Can you bribe someone not to report a sex attack you committed on them? I doubt that very much. In fact it is tantamount to admitting guilt.
I recall an HRF Keating title, 'Bribery, Corruption Also'. I think we are capable of following that story.
Completely off topic Grey, I loved your Robert Frost poem yesterday.
as per above, you can't contract out of statutory rights. People have a legal right to go to the police or courts over sexual assault or harassment.
But I'm guessing that it's possible to contract to not discuss publicly etc. See my comment above.
I don't know much about out of court settlements. This seems more likely for harassment than sexual assault.
It seem I missed a key fact that it's harassment not assault.
But I reckon you easily could bribe someone out of reporting it,,look at the supposed victim of Williams, she'd know she's got the full weight of a rich dirty to the core operation to go against. They'd drag her through the mud and probably mentally destroy her, if she didn't take the money.
Greenpeace opposition to seabed mining in the South Pacific (after victory in the Taranaki basin).
They may be over-egging the use of the rare earth minerals as for military purposes – mostly it is economic security (China's rare earth mineral access weaponisation).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361038584/nz-being-us-puppet-greenpeace-boards-research-vessel
The minerals is why US is getting NZ to pay $100 mi towards a deep-sea harbour in the Cooks ie a de facto US naval base. Good one, Winston.
This could be the other book, Lucrative Lobbying.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/09/25/inside-the-supermarket-duopolys-full-court-press-against-political-interference/
Thanks for that link, Incognito.
Funny how the same old names turn up, but not getting their hands dirty. Hence the name of Hager's latest book I suppose.
"Hager had shown that Graham appeared to be engaged with Slater in a deceitful and slanderous campaign to discredit the health advocates, using blogs on Slater’s website Whale Oil Beef Hooked, and that his client was the Food and Grocery Council (FGC).
The FGC is the industry group representing supermarket suppliers. It is dominated by the large companies, including Coca-Cola Amatil, Fonterra, Heinz Wattie’s and, of course, those in the biggest sales sector in supermarkets: alcohol companies.
Originally, the FGC and its chief executive, Katherine Rich, also faced defamation charges. The FGC and Rich settled in October. The terms of their settlement were not disclosed and no apology or acknowledgement of wrongdoing has been made public."
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/14-03-2021/the-scandal-that-lurks-beneath-the-dirty-politics-trial
Only ACT opposed
It is a big issue with TOP
The impact of pay equity as per retaining workers, reducing poverty and economic growth is not quantified by the current government.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361086505/nearly-half-voters-would-support-delaying-return-surplus-year-restore-pay-equity
CEO Luxon's reflexive lie – "Don't know who he is" – maybe our CEO is a bit forgetful?
DPM Seymour on Hager – "does this every three years" – although Hager's last book was published in March 2017. Seymour is a habitual liar, but he knows who Hager is.
The Hollow Men, Dirty Politics, and now Dirty Work. Braunias' on Hager's latest warning.
The old boat is back!
The ever-defiant (or ever-deviant?) Winston Peters feels vindicated about his fumbling ferry fiasco and you can feel the palpable sigh of relief from Nicky-no-Boats.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/ferry-perfect-storm-fails-arrive
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions/1574244/kaitaki-interislander-ferry-returns-after-winter-maintenance-in-singapore
This is what real governing looks like: staving off cataclysmic calamities!
https://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=160356
It’ll be plain sailing all the way.
Not mentioned is the fact that for three and maybe four years there are no rail capable ferries, or the fact that if the contract hadn't been cancelled two brand new rail capable ferries would just have been delivered.
Peters telling lies by omission as usual. Vote the racist dinosaur out.
Hear, hear call all the sentient audience about The Grande Olde Man Win-at-all-costs Peters.
I hope there was some reliable ‘retainer’ keeping an eye on Our Boat from a nearby hotel in Singapore. Any word on the best mid-price restaurants?
The Kaitaki (and its fleet partner, the Kaiārahi) cannot carry train wagons directly, so KiwiRail uses a process called road bridging.
Maybe for now , but delivery day for the second new one would have been last week, so any and all fuck ups are on those two now, not to mention cheaper to run hybrid ferries would be handy about now.
Where’s Luxon, National’s weapon of self-destruction?
Licking his wounds from the non-coup that he never knew about?
Isolated on Goat Island for an intensive media training reset using the Seagull Attack method?
Writing the National Party Election Manifesto with ChatGTP 4.3?
Drinking a cup of milk at home whilst watching re-runs of Flying Doctors?
Holidaying in his holiday bach in Te Puke?
Relaxing in his basement room counting his money?
Reading HDPA’s only photocopy of a recently released book signed by Barry Soper and Mike Hosking?
On the campaign trail but his limo got stuck in a pothole on Molesworth Street and he can’t get hold of Chris Bishop or Simeon Brown?
Driving around the block in his wife’s Tesla until the battery dies?
You're a loose unit, Incognito and we feel blessed!
Luxon's in his Upper Room, touching base.
It's Not Okay to talk about this publicly, coz All Hell Will Break Loose, but hey, let's throw caution to the wind. Luxxy must feel suxxy right now; the glaze in his eyes must burn. Hager's blown his Luxxy's cover – his mates are scrambling like eggs. Jordan o Jordan has contacted his barber – what the !!! Talk about fringe! I predict; Farrar will drop another 10 kg and disappear altogether! Even ghouls fade, eventually… Brash though, back in spades! What a bastion! There's a lot at stake!
Reading Gwynne on Ukraine there are some pithy details that could apply here. https://gwynnedyer.com/2026/ukraine-democracy-and-corruption/
This year’s premier outrage featured people connected to the state-owned nuclear power company who misappropriated $3 million to pay bail for a former energy minister accused of money laundering. They have been arrested, as have been two senior state bank officials, while the deputy head of Zelensky’s office has been fired.
Shocking, shameful stuff, but it’s Standard Operating Procedure in post-Soviet political cultures where officials and politicians act as if they have the right to plunder the state. At least in Ukraine some of them are being arrested or dismissed, and Zelensky himself seems clean.
The Ukraine Defence Minister rotated out earlier this year by Zelenskyy is now a political advisor to Meloni, and to Palantir. Described as a weakness in the international media for Zelenskyy to fire him, but turns out to be the correct decision.
And the US as corrupt in terms of lobbying and corporate bailouts.
It’s very open now. Apparently the US President has made a million dollars an hour since the start of Trump 2.0.
In Ireland they now offer a grant of nz$3600 towards installing residential solar power and in the upcoming budget they will also offer a grant of nz$1200 towards a battery as pert of the solar system.
Come on Labour. Votes in this.
I agree with this idea. When the time and cost of building new generation, putting it on roofs seems like a no-brainer.
It does depend though. In some areas, the network simply isn't up to having generation pumped back in by houses exporting it.
I would tend to focus subsidies on batteries because they smooth out the demand. In our situation, we tend to use a lot of our power when the sun is at its peak. So, we use a lot of our generated power. A lot of people though, would either be losing it, or exporting it back at often very low feed in rates.
The thing is that batteries don't actually need solar to be effective in bringing down energy prices. If someone is on a plan that has low off-peak rates, the batteries can charge up fully during that period (and hot water heated as well) then the power from the battery can be used during peak times when power is expensive.
Depending on the plan, some families might reduce their power bills by 30% or so just by doing this, even without solar I expect.
Are you using less electricity than before, tsmithfield?
Yeah, huge difference.
My power bill for July was $710. I have two adult children living at home. And one runs a 3D printer virtually non stop. And, I didn't have an EV then.
My August power bill was $393 less about $70 of exported power. And that includes charging my EV.
This month, it looks like I will be well below $200 for the month.
Thus far for September (period ends for me on 5th of the next month) I have generated 1.26 MWh of power.
The load has been 1.54 MWh.
On top of that, the EV has been 160 kw.
I have exported back to the grid 585kw for that period.
Just to be clear, the exported power is not on top of the power generated from solar. So 1.26 MW less 585 kw for actual used solar.
A lot of the power I have used (not covered by solar) has been at off peak between 1am and 6am when I pay about 40% less.
So working really well for me.
What I'm asking is, are you using less electricity.
Probably that as well. The whole power thing makes me a lot more aware of what I am using and whether it needs to be on at the moment.
that's a good thing.
More Maori bashing…….
NZ First pledges 100-day plan to abolish Waitangi Tribunal | Stuff
It's Dirty Work, fomenting anti-Māori sentiment, but someone's got to do it. Pricele$$.
Martin Doyle, for Scoop, 14 August 2014
Wonder if Kiwis will learn any more about all those "dots that can't be connected."
I understand that Matt Burgess no longer works in CEO Luxon's office.
Sorry, I didn't check that last link, to the leaked Philip Morri$ lobbying strategy that named the Taxpayer$' Union and the NZ Initiative.
This RNZ link works:
Perhaps Winston just doesn't understand the vernacular……..
" joined a whole lot of dots" – dot-to-dot!
Heard that somewhere recently…
Some Kiwis simply can't join the dot$, and yet they're not all morons – it's dotty
https://thestandard.nz/police-scotches-dirty-politics-rumours-about-clarke-gayford/
Climate – I have been forgetting to look at what Gwynne Dyer's usual balanced critiques have been about. This is from Sept.2.
https://gwynnedyer.com/2026/climate-no-good-outcomes/
...Zeke Hausfather, a leading American climate scientist, warns that 2027 is almost certain to be the hottest year. It will be, he said, “a climate time-machine, temporarily driving global average temperatures to levels not normally expected until the late 2030s.” (Note the ‘temporarily’. We’ll get back to that.)…
…Back in the 1980s, when scientists first made climate change a priority, they really worried only about excess carbon dioxide slowly accumulating in the atmosphere. Later they added methane and some trace gases to the guilty list, but they still visualised the warming process as slow and steady: ‘linear’, as they would say.
That linear, highly predictable warming is still a major problem, and it is very hard to stop it if your civilisation’s principal source of energy is fossil fuels. But the scientists were also urgently studying past climate changes, and they were realising that changes in the past were often very abrupt and not at all temporary. ‘Non-linear’, in their language.
It’s not one mode of warming or the other; it’s both, operating in different ways. The 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide we put into the air each year causes the average global temperature to rise steadily at the rate of about one-tenth of a degree Celsius every five years. The ‘non-linear’ burst of warming we had in 2023 warmed it by three-tenths of a degree in one year.
The linear warming accumulates, and once in a while that warming triggers some non-linear event. It took a year to figure out what the trigger for the 2023 jump was: changes in a warm ocean current that caused further changes in low level ocean cloud cover. But the point is that a) we couldn’t predict it and b) it didn’t fall back again when that El Niño ended.
And here we are again. This El Niño, like the last, is just responding to the heating we have caused. Yes, it’s “the biggest in 500 or a thousand years” (Hausfather again), but that’s just because we have made the whole planet hotter….
[Cutting emissions.] That’s absolutely necessary for the long run but it’s far too slow to avoid possibly catastrophic warming in the short run. The only thing that can give us fast cooling is ‘geoengineering’: various techniques for reflecting some of the incoming sunlight that warms the planet. The techniques exist in principle. They need to be put into practice.
His book, Climate Wars, is a really interesting read.
Gwynn's Canadian, and it shows.
Cuba addresses the UN Hague Group on international law, calling out the US blockade, which is illegal under international law. Goods already paid for, including medicines, cannot sail to Cuban ports. Child mortality and life expectancy have significantly increased as a result.
Remember, there is no reason except “I’m taking over Cuba” given by Trump for this intense embargo, which forces millions in fines on anyone going against his desire to strangle an independent nation.
https://bsky.app/profile/saulstaniforth.bsky.social/post/3mwfqppj6qc2g
“Were the US govt allowed to destroy a small nation with the aim of changing its political system.. what would happen afterwards? Who would be the next victim?”
…life expectancy have changed for the worse..