11 Comments

Wow, a regular festival of disappointing comments, sigh.

Thanks for the clear an insightful roundup, Bryce.

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I had hoped people here would be interested in investigative journalism, it appears we cannot escape the keyboard warriors adamant to disrupt decent conversations.

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Thanks for this well researched and comprehensive post. Corruption of this nature has been in gestation for a long time as I have recorded re Mercury's Turitea wind farm. Now the mask is off and it's being mockingly thrust in our faces.

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The Bard had an expression that fits like a glove here, in fact he used it to name one of his plays, vis: “Much Ado about Nothing”. The fulfilment of the tenets of democracy do not demand a town meeting about every action plan. Before now, all too many sensible projects have been scuttled by vociferous, minorities with an inflated idea of their own utility and good judgment. In fact zealotry in relation to their ideology, rather than common sense have been their drivers.

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All very legitimate concerns, and I like Farrar's suggestion.

But it's hard to take a word of Labour's criticism even remotely seriously given their egregious treatment of Covid legislation and procurement.

Closed door meetings spending billions of dollars? Check. Arbitrary fiat by self-nominated poentates such as Ashley Bloomfeld? Check. And then the Iwi-fication of the entire country without a mandate.

It's extremely difficult not to see it as - in the words of Galloway - "two cheeks of the same ass"

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You are comparing expert advice during a global pandemic when a government tried to implement regulation for the good of all, I doubt if you have actually read this article? The rules were time limited relating to one issue and reviewed, if you voted for change on the ground of protest against Covid rules you have assisted in this total loss of democracy and will live to regret it. Nobody will come to your aid when adverse weather events damage your existence and a wrecked health system will mean only the well off will get medical help, the bottom feeders can just die.

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Or simply the lesser of two evils - elected government or un-elected iwi.

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Thank you for this comprehensive article, it reminds me of the old days when reading my weekend newspaper (in the Netherlands) filled with similar content from politics, arts to science and everything in between. This is what investigative journalism looks like. The Dutch news hour at 10 pm still does this with background information and academic guests with expert knowledge. You would be a welcome guest there.

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Muldoon got stuff done. Stuff that this country is desperately reliant on, to this day. Can do, can equate to must do attitude. Loving the change in direction.

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Yeah Muldoon bankrupted the country and killed the superannuation fund that would have by now made us one of the richest countries in the world. All those big ideas were sold off to billionaires.

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The Bard had an expression that fits like a glove here, in fact he used it to name one of his plays, vis “Much Ado about Nothing”.

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