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Pic 3.AI analysis
Ha, that’s a pretty sharp joke — plays on the idea that an AI trying to be neutral/factual with someone (rather than just validating them) would go over about as well as the guy in the photo mid-“well actually” moment.
The stock photo itself is a classic “mansplaining” meme template, which adds to the punchline.
Wow, that is so good. Can you analyse the middle one now, especially for a friend – S.B.
why? im in that top part same as you.
im just not a pos retard that several years after the bullshit is still bleating on about a jab i never took
How the joke works:
Why it lands (or doesn’t) depending on audience:
If your co-blogger wants to write about it, the interesting angle is less “is this true” (it’s clearly satire, not a claim) and more about how sincerity gets inverted when a joke format travels outside its original in-group.
^ viking fell off the pyramid of intellect and gotta let AI do everything for him.
Like your tractor its a tool of the job. Except you have to have good tools. whats the state of yours?
Dr. Anthony Fauci: —-
“Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record.
Of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys,
I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.“
So when the lady in Rotorua chastised the shiny domed dwarf the other day, she was right about the lack of money.
Three Rotorua hospitality businesses close within days amid rising costsThree Rotorua hospitality businesses have closed within a week of each other, highlighting the challenging trading environment facing the sector.
Hello Stranger Cafe, Ambrosia Restaurant and Bar, and Piccalo Cafe announced closures within days of each other.
Owners cited a mix of increasing operating expenses and reduced customer spending as households “grapple” with ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
On Monday, Hello Stranger Cafe announced its closure on social media.
The post said rising food costs, wages, rent, utilities and other expenses made it difficult to survive.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/three-rotorua-hospitality-businesses-close-within-days-amid-rising-costs/premium/SAYLRQBGQJHSTB75SLGDEN2QCM/
do you see the trend tho?
who the fuck wants to spend $15 on a sandwich or $10 on a small slice of cake.
hospo and retail, fuck that the writing was om the wall end of covid. habbits ans budgets changed but the businesses refused to acknowledge or evolve.
the country cant get rich selling coffees cakes and houses to each other.
construction/builders are struggling too, like hospo/retail they too are one of the top rippoffs in nz. theyre pricing themselves outve a job/business.
No mention of that native tereo only place being open yet? KFC will be very wary//
I don’t think paying $25 per hour for a dish washer who left school 10 minutes ago is a recipe for success.
If he’s a full-time dishwasher @$25 an hour over a split shift, 3×5, that’s a grand a week plus. Hell, even I’d do that.
the problem is many kiwis are shit unproductive workers or shit employees. now dont take it to heart like you did last time, i said many not all… if you get upset or disagree then perhaps it is the likes of you in refer to.
why hire/pay that in a declining business environment? surely the answer would be to increase productivity.
instead of 1 employee @$25 they could give the 5 other staff a $3-4hr payrise and incentivise them to absorb the load. win win…. but reality is the employer would just make existing staff absorb without any payrise, cant retain staff, quality and service drops then they go to nz media and havd a cry theyre closing the doors and blame the govt for it.
on the flip side theres lots of kiwi workers that are just dead weight dragging businesses down. they shouldnt be employed but its too hard to sack them and with min wage you cant actually pay them the $12hr theyre actually worth.
i guess the answer lies somewhere in the middle but what that looks like, fuck knows.
to keep all the retail, hospo, builders going then kiwis need to get ontop of bills and have meaningfull disposable income… can you imagine what min wage would need to be to do that??? 35bux? 40 maybe…. yeah nah, nz is toast. its easier and the better option to let the businesses fail.
Until it’s yours, but then you will never have the guts to have a go at a real business; meanwhile, you rip the taxpayer off with a hobby farm. Like so many. You’re a fuck wit whe it comes to the real world. selfish actually.
HEAR YEE!! VIKINGS NOT SLEEPING WELL!..HEAR YEE!!
When did you do a real business then? What would your mate Horncastle think of your ways? Would he employ you as a hard-working contractor or would he send you off to the pub?
Blame Helen Clark who started this process in 2001 when Labour moved 18 and 19 year old’s to full adult minimum wage and 16 and 17 year old’s were put on a narrow “new entrant” wage band.
But also note that any National Government has done nothing to change the situation since then.
Politicians know best or think in their own small mind, they do, particularly people like Helen Clark who fucked the Sheltered Workshops in New Zealand with this Legislation. I certainly hope when she gets to meet St Peter, he puts her in the most miserable place he can find and lets her rot there.
My argument for years. We need to bring back youth rates in an intelligent way.
But what do I know? Fuck all, it seems.
I get young people coming in here looking for work that can barely speak, look absolutely slovenly and are clearly only there to tick the box for WINZ. Minimum wage is one of the biggest thieves of motivation ever visited on young people and the sad part is a fair percentage actually think they’re worth more.
It’s not the minimum wage that’s the issue; it’s the level it’s set at, and it’s the devaluing of young people by telling them that they are not employable by forcing employers to pay an amount for a young, untrained person’s services that makes it uneconomical to employ them. Hence, we have these people never coming into the workforce, which can afford the time and effort to train them.
Businesses get no respect either.
Compare what a young person would get paid in a factory in China with the wages needed to be paid here. That’s where your jobs have gone.
Good example is learning to drive. Many kids these days have to pay for driving lessons; many can’t afford to, and that is a big barrier to young people. Just one example. Another that concerns us.
We are a rare beast when it comes to the work we do. There is no out-of-school training for our work, so we have to train, but it costs, and it would be nice to have some recognition for that effort. But not any more. Ask around and find out how many young ladies can sew a straight seam. It’s a learned skill, but no longer do we have businesses that train that skill.
The thing that pisses me off is that the solution is obvious, repeatable and simple.
And it is the rights that were removed by the communists in all parties.
In the past we have employed some really good people and some really horrible people. The problem is that the employment laws make it extremely difficult to get rid of the bad ones. It is a very confrontational process and we found it was much simpler to downsize the business.
The moon has a new arsehole. (or black eye, depending on your point of view).
SpaceX unintentionally slams four-ton rocket stage onto moon surfacefour-ton piece of a SpaceX rocket unintentionally crashed into the Moon on Wednesday, a collision that posed no danger to Earth but is expected to leave behind a lunar crater.
While there is not yet official confirmation that the Falcon 9 upper stage struck the lunar surface, it had been expected to make impact on Wednesday afternoon (New Zealand time).
The rocket piece, part of the Falcon 9 mission to deliver two lunar landers, was supposed to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere but instead fell into an irregular lunar orbit.
Nasa and its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter probe and South Korea’s Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter were planning to take images of the site after impact, but it may take days to receive that information.
Scientists and amateur stargazers alike had been looking forward to observing the sunlit plume of rubble and debris created by the smash.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/spacex-unintentionally-slams-four-ton-rocket-stage-onto-moon-surface/NEGZMRNA6ZHCJP5NRBTCBUJKYA/
Just as well no one was in it, or they would bge slatterd!
“It’s just a sense of blankness,” says Jardine. “There’s no washing out. Where are the kids? Where are the families?”
Christchurch: Are we building a liveable central city?“That’s not what a thriving inner city looks like.”
Christchurch City Councillor Nathaniel Hertz Jardine is standing in the residential heart of a rebuilt Christchurch. During the earthquake recovery phase, this, it was promised, would be a place for people – the “most liveable city in New Zealand”. The problem is that most of the time it appears empty.
A wide swathe of the centre of Christchurch is now made up of rank upon rank of new-built apartments. But most look shuttered and barely used. Green areas designed for people to gather are empty. Streets are devoid of foot traffic.
Over this scene of unease looms the new One New Zealand stadium, projected to generate more than $50 million annually for the local economy. For a few hours on game days, which come around once a week at best, the streets here are pumping. But when the crowd goes home, silence returns. And herein lies the problem.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/frank-film-south-island-stories-episode-12-christchurch-are-we-building-a-liveable-central-city/SATGFZGZIBAINH63ZDXJITW4IU/
Oh and they are not the only ones.
City slums.
We are being infested with them, not out where the jobs are, but around town.
Who would want to buy these Dwellings. They look like they were designed by an 5 year old new entrant who was in a in a Special Needs Unit at a Primary School and this was their first attempt with a crayon.
Architecturally appalling.
weve gone from building modest family homes and housing people want/need to building either mc mansions or chicken coops to maximise the developers profit.
those potential slums are a very bad solution looking for a problem. if they were 100k then yeah good stepping stone into ownership but im betting they cost more then i paid for my house and 25acres.
Not many people know this but these dwellings were designed by the well known firm Ardern & Chloe Architects. Obviously I’m a huge fan and I’d have one tomorrow. The only thing holding me back is they aren’t big enough to hold my teddy bear and floor to ceiling mirror collection.
Not built for families that’s for sure. More for the single,blue haired, no car mob who work from home with their laptop for company.
My mate Horncastle builds these shitboxes. I’ve told him they are shitboxes and that he is only building future slums, but he can only grin. I must review my mate list.
Wha? No above the bed mirror. I would have thought for someone of your ilk, that would be a first.
Yer, so he can ly back in his kingsize bed, surrounded by his teddy bear collection.
Don’t forget that famous doll
Not my fault I’m a teddyophile with a doll fetish problem. I’m off to find a ceiling mirror on Temu.
Not teddyophile, arctophile please.
You’re obviously not a true collector, but just a teddy fetishist also – I don’t want to know about the mirrors.
It’s also known to treatment providers as ursusagalmatophilia. More detail at https://drmarkgriffiths.wordpress.com/tag/arctophilia/
They are not designed for anyone with children, friends, cars, or a life.
When they get everyone working from home (or on enforced home detention), with all needs delivered by robotic means, they will be able to cram a few more of these chicken coops on the unused roadways and shopping centres to house the influx of migrants from countries with unused open spaces.
With space for a mosque or marae of course, can’t be racist.
it’s the prelude to 15 minute cities.
You just wait for the cathedral to be finished the people will flock.
Do you think the Catholics will finish there’s first!
M.A. Rothman
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐀 “𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑” 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐒 𝐑𝐔𝐁𝐈𝐎 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐔𝐙
Britain’s brand-new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is flying to Washington to plead with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This is the same Ed Miliband who once branded Donald Trump a 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘨𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳.
The reason for the sudden humility isn’t complicated. Iran’s war has choked the Strait of Hormuz, British gas prices just hit a 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡, and the man who sneered at Trump now needs Trump’s team to bail out his own country.
Sky’s own panel said the whole trip hangs on 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘻 — the waterway 𝐓𝐞𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭 as this war raged. Every extra pound British families lose at the pump traces straight back to Iran.
So the insults get quietly filed away, and the lecturing stops at the water’s edge. When your economy is bleeding, 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝐑𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.
Closing North Sea Oil & Gas, No fracking, plus Oil refineries being taxed to oblivion. Net Zero, the supposed goal.
Miliband FORCES Labour MPs to SHUT DOWN the North Sea
https://youtu.be/vtryHOMstm4
18 mins : May 20, 2026
Today Ed Miliband forced Labour MPs to vote to shut down the North Sea – the single greatest act of industrial self-harm we have seen in a generation.
Only an ideologue would respond to a supply shortage by shutting down their own oil and gas industry.
We are in the absurd position of the Labour Chancellor thanking Canada and Norway for increasing their oil and gas production while her own Government is shutting British production down.
And why? So we can be more reliant on higher emission gas from Qatar or the US?
So we can send billions of pounds to Norway to import gas from the very same basin that we could be drilling ourselves?
And they call that ‘Energy Independence’?
Cutting production does nots reduce consumption.
Just think of theincreasing numbers of the new immigrants, living in hotels etc…
Well BP sees the writing on the wall for North Sea development.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/bp-seeks-sell-north-sea-110741280.html
Makes one wander, as NZ has a cold winter now, & how will it shape for the UK closing in on winter, “a white Christmas?” & particarly January & February next year.
That will be fun for them
There are a lot of solar installations going in. We have them as customers on an add-on we have built. They are going flat tack.
I have a problem with the Pyramid of Intellect – in no way should all the degree holders be ranked above someone who completed high school. A degree does not imbue intelligence, nor does a high school diploma mean any lesser intelligence just less time in a classroom being indoctrinated.
Can we not have a brick wall of intelligence? All being bricks in the wall with people who didn’t take the covid jab as the coping stones.
I will ask Claude later if I remember.
see claudes reply.
There’s actually two separate claims tangled together there, worth pulling apart.
The first — that a degree doesn’t equal intelligence and a diploma doesn’t equal less of it — is pretty defensible and not that controversial. Formal education measures a lot of things: access, discipline, ability to navigate institutions, subject mastery in specific domains. It’s a poor proxy for general intelligence, and plenty of very sharp people never finished a hierarchy of schooling, while plenty of credentialed people are narrow or incurious outside their lane. Most people would nod along to that part.
The second part is different in kind — it swaps “intelligence” for “correct contrarian position on a specific medical intervention” and treats vaccine refusal as evidence of superior insight. That’s not really an argument, it’s an assertion of a conclusion by fiat. Whether someone took the COVID vaccine or not doesn’t track intelligence in either direction — plenty of highly intelligent people made either choice, often for defensible reasons (risk tolerance, personal medical history, distrust of institutions, or just calculated risk assessment), and plenty of less-informed people did too. Putting “didn’t take the jab” at the top of a pyramid of intellect is doing the same move the blogger is criticizing — just building a new hierarchy with a different in-group at the top.
So it reads less like a coherent critique of credentialism and more like using a fair point (school ≠ smart) as a runway to smuggle in an unrelated in-group signal. Is that basically your read too, or did you take it differently?
But did they eat their meat just to get their pudding?
Err am I missing something here, or am I a pervert too.
Bloke takes a photo of a girl playing netball and popo gets called and he gets charged with “making an intimate visual recording”.
70-year-old man charged over photo incident at North Harbour Netball centre – NZ Herald
Bugger I have taken hundreds of photos of my daughters and their friends playing football? Is taking photos of woman playing sports now illigal in NZ? I was under the impression that anyone could take a photo of anyone in a public place.
In New Zealand, it is generally legal to take photographs or videos of people in public places (like streets, parks, or beaches) without their consent, provided you are standing on public property and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
When It Is Legal
When It Is Illegal or Restricted
I suspect there is more to this than what was reported.
Depends on the knickers, the girls mother bought for her.
Were they acceptable to be wearing when their skirt is up around their ears.
I bet they weren’t the big black bloomers of my day.
The photographer was whistling part of Bach’s Air On A G String as he took the photograph.
Were your bloomers comfortable, Sootz?
Next time I pinged by a speed camera I might make a complaint I’m sure they’ll get right onto it.
My wife got a text from one of her housewife friends who manages a cafeteria at a technical school in Auckland. Shock. Horror!
The cafeteria chef (some Kiwi guy) will cook sushi tempura for the students’ lunch today. Apparently this is all the rage at the moment. Ref: Deep Fried Sushi Roll Recipe || Crispy Tempura Sushi #viralvideo #sushilife #food #sushi
My wife had not been this upset over food since she discovered canned rice pudding in the supermarket 20 years ago.
It’s like some Japanese chef creating black pudding sushi or miso mushy peas!
she’ll be fine.
i suggest you get Ai to tell her to get over it and calm down tho, safer then you having to do it.
JD walks in on Trump & Rubio in deep debate, over a sheet of paper covered in notes.
JD: “What’s the discussion?”
Trump: “We’re discussing how we can deport 3 million liberal white women & 4 beagles.”
JD: “What did the beagles do?”
Rubio: “See? I told you no one would care about the liberal white women.”
JD walks in on Trump & Rubio in deep masturbation, over a sheet of paper covered in notes.
“Professor” Arday (the lying negroid at Cambridge University) has resigned. Plagiarism detection software says his resignation letter was entirely written by AI.
Hahahahaha, you couldn’t make it up could you?!
In today’s episode of Baldy puts his foot in it:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/894691/christopher-luxon-defends-using-air-force-flight-after-attending-national-party-fundraiser
Did the Air Force pickup Baldy from the Wanganui Airport or was he driven at high speed to Ohakea Air Base, (which is not far away) to connect by his minders.
Flat high-speed road, so he could do his homework in the back!
Taking the Piss of idiot academics around climate change. One could replace the top of that pyramid above with Climate Sceptics. ( it would have to be made larger though…)
https://www.joannenova.com.au/2026/08/are-you-a-loser-with-no-friends-blame-climate-change-and-build-a-windmill/
i see the weatherporn doomers are having kittens about a cold patch in winter. i honestly dont see why the fuck weather has become such a constant and growing part of msm?
aw well they can fuck off and stop reminding me of how much better the weather is here in aussie, really not looking forward to going from 24-25° days to fucking -5° like it is at home this morning… im gunna be whinging more then a snowflake leftard until i readjust to crappy and cold nz weather
-3º predicted for the Waikato in the morning.
No worries, I won’t get out of bed until the sun is up 🥶 ☀️☀️😎
Luxury…….when l was a kid…
Snowflake leftards accept your challenge. Pronouns at 10 paces – let battle commence!
hilarious, the bald pos has done it again!!!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361016593/christopher-luxon-says-hell-hold-referendum-mmp-if-re-elected
dumb fuck still cant grasp why voters are fleeing both of the main parties and rolling with the smaller parties.
hes a turkey voting for xmas then asking why we cant have xmas every day.
this is just a very desperate attempt to try win back some dud boomer votes, the dumb fuck nats need to work out how to use mmp properly and they may have better chances at success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffAvKgnXgi0
There’s something we both agree on. Luxon is a dumb fuck.
Definitely not four year terms. If political leaders can’t prove after three years that your party is worth re-electing then the answer is clearly you and your party are not achieving what the majority voted for. Why give inept or partisan politicians even longer to f*k over the country. 🤬
Yep! If you can’t achieve in one hundred days, you should not set there twiddling your thumbs for four years!!!
Agree SB. I think Luxon has 2 issues. One he is not the sharpest political brain around and two, I think his advisors have no brains at all, or they are actively undermining him and he is too thick to see it.
I will go with both, but even if he was told, do you think he listens enough to take any notice? So I would give a little credit, perhaps to his helpers.
Yup. So not a referendum on whether the Maori seats should go. Not a referendum on the number of MPs. Not a referendum on any controversial MMP rules. Not even a referendum on whether the name of New Zealand should be changed to Aoteazuela.
Useless fuck he is all right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO0_6D8YZHw
Michael Laws asks: “if you’re going to have a MMP referendum, where’s the Maori seats one?”
An extra page to be handed out with the voting papers, being a binding referendum on all of those things, would not be a difficult thing to arrange between now and Nov 7.
Voters could vote for as many as they agree with and if it passes a given amount then it’s valid as from the date of the next Parliament sitting.
Would be even better if those voted in for the Maori seats, or the extra seats, turned up in Parliament and were then denied access.
FPP was dead in 1993 & nothing will bring it back to life. People had grown dispirited with a system that did nothing other than decide whether Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum would act like dictators for the next three years. The system had become so twisted that political promises were worth less than they are now.
But we threw out one dog of a system & replaced it with another. STV was the way to go in 1993 & it still is.
STV is used by the local council here. It is an abomination. The way it works, at least in the Far North: voters rank candidates in order of preference. Sounds OK until you realize that the lower rankings you give to candidates you don’t want are used to boost their total vote count – so you inadvertently wind up helping those you want to vote against. .
Crap. There’s no requirement to rank all candidates. You can pick one only if that is your preference. From https://www.fndc.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/18400/STV-Fact-Sheet.pdf
#. “In a STV election, you have one vote and rank the
candidates in order of preference. You give a 1 to
your favourite candidate, 2 to your second favourite
and so on. You can rank as many candidates as you
like – you don’t need to rank them all. By ranking the
candidates, parts of your vote may be shared
between the candidates you support according to
your preferences”.
Yup. Just did that the other day for the Internet NZ election to try and get FSU members on their board.
The political system is not the main problem. Look at the UK, still under FPP and their country is in worse condition or as bad as NZ under MMP.
It’s the quality of politicians being appointed, their lack of useful real work experience outside of politics or the Wellington “beltway, their limited abilities, economic ignorance, predeliction of lying to our faces, the socialist infiltration and racial preference for one special group over the rest of the us.
The system is broken because the politicians are not honest, reliable, competent and have an agenda that is not what NZers remember in earlier times.
Agree. I voted for STV. Pretty sure one of the reasons was it didn’t require an increase in MP numbers.
Easy way to cut the number of MP’s in the house, fire all the freeloading list MP’s! Easy Peasy!
Just saw a short YT video on my phone of Paul Henry talking to journalists. He asks them a simple question –” How much money do we need TODAY to pay the interest on the debt owed by NZ ?” Of Course no quick answer, so explains that we need $24.5 million every day, which we do not have so we have to borrow at least some of it. He relates to your household situation.
It is a short impactful video of about 1-2 mins max.
This is the basic message that Luxon and Willis should have been hammering for the last 2.5 years because the majority (not all) of the debt was racked up by Ardern/Robertson.
BTW. I read somewhere the other day that of the $60 billion borrowed by Ardern that $30 billion was spent on non pandemic related activities/projects. I think this snippet of information came out in the second Covid inquiry.
Went and applied for the old age pensioners rate rebate and got two thirds of this rate demand off!
Does that also depend on your income?
Here’s the rules.
To qualify for a pensioners rates rebate through the Tauranga City Council, you must be the named ratepayer living in your home on July 1 of the rating year, with total household income before tax under $46,400 for SuperGold cardholders. The maximum rebate available is $830.
Key Eligibility Requirements
Ratepayer Status: Your name must appear on the council rates assessment/bill for the property, or you must hold a licence to occupy in a retirement village. Residency: You must have lived in the home as your primary place of residence on July 1 of the current rating year. Income Limits: Total gross (before tax) household income for the previous tax year (including New Zealand Superannuation, other pensions, and partner’s income) must not exceed $46,400 for SuperGold cardholders. Application Deadline: You must apply directly to the Tauranga City Council before June 30 of the respective rating year. So I guess if you have a lot of income going to a trust, then you can squeeze in.
Depends on your gross annual household income. Full rebate of $830 if less than $73,575. It’s abated after that & is no longer available if you earn more than $80200.
Not much use to we poor old cockys worn out after a lifetime of hard yakka.
OMG. I might have to change who I vote for. Here’s Labour’s small business promise. Now, before you read this, I wrote to both Acts Cut the Red Tape outfit and to Willis about this with very similar suggestions. The main bit they have wrong is that they are not raising the GST registration rate sufficiently versus inflation. It should go to 100k, but read on.
Labour wants to scrap the Investment Boost tax policy if elected into Government, with plans to target that support towards small businesses.
On Thursday morning, Labour unveiled its latest election policy, called ‘Small Business Action Plan – A Fair Go’.
The policy pledges to make:
Big businesses pay small suppliers within 15 days on invoices of $25,000 or less, and publish how quickly they pay their suppliersLift the asset write-off from $1000 to $10,000 for businesses with an annual turnover below $10 million so small businesses can deduct the cost of new equipment from their tax billRaise the GST registration threshold from $60,000 to $80,000 which Labour says would mean 35,000 of the smallest operators would no longer have to register for GSTLabour said it would pay for this policy by “refocusing” Investment Boost, and the policy package was estimated to cost $1.56 billion over four years.
https://www.interest.co.nz/business/139697/labours-small-business-policy-aims-raise-gst-registration-threshold-help-small
National says ‘this is a huge blow for small business owners’
National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said Labour was shrinking down the support for businesses.
“Scrapping National’s $6.6 billion Investment Boost to fund a $1.56 billion fig leaf means business owners lose the incentive to invest in genuinely transformative, productivity-enhancing equipment. It is nothing more than a $5 billion tax grab dressed up as a business policy.”
Willis said, “This is a huge blow for small business owners”.
Well no, it’s not, and it’s not splashing cash around as she appears she wants to do.
This illustrates clearly that Willis is completely incapable of understanding the situation out here. Shovelling money into the big businesses is all fine, but there are a few compared to all the small businesses.
Just adjusting the GST threshold to what it should be based on inflation would cut compliance costs for SME’s and encourage those that sit under the threshold to keep growing. Once these guys get to that threshold its either cash or go to the beach.
“While they might be able to purchase a laptop or two under Labour’s policy, they will find it a lot harder to buy a ute, commercial coffee machine or manufacturing equipment that could genuinely transform their business without Investment Boost.”
Well, most SME’s don’t need huge capital injections to buy utes. The motor companies and lease companies will do that for them. TR Group and MTA Finance and others all do that as its there business. She’s a plonker, that woman.
“Scrapping National’s $6.6 billion Investment Boost to fund a $1.56 billion
How is reducing govt. spending a tax grab? The tax will be better if the SME’s can make more money and have less compliance. She’s a fool. Not sure how depreciating a 5k machine helps much when you do it over the next forever years.
No idea how SME’s work or think.
“While they might be able to purchase a laptop or two under Labour’s policy, they will find it a lot harder to buy a ute, commercial coffee machine or manufacturing equipment that could genuinely transform their business without Investment Boost.”
Plenty of ways to fund dopey shit like a coffee machine, and no, that’s not going to transform all the eateries that have closed since that airhead tart took the money bag.
Sooner these useless lot are gone, the better.
I blame the jab. It’s fucked their brains.
Hmmm. Maybe but:
#. “Big businesses pay small suppliers within 15 days on invoices of $25,000 or less, and publish how quickly they pay their suppliers”
Translation. No small business will be asked to supply anything to a large business. Ever again!
#. “blame the jab. It’s fucked their brains.”
I wouldn’t underestimate the cumulative effects of making the sign of the cross, kneeling before a crucifix, saying the rosary, undergoing confession & being sodomised senseless over the altar table either!
Actually, with govt. contracts, there is already a system making that happen. Whether it can be made to apply to ordinary business is another thing.
Companies should make more profits and pay less company tax.
I would argue we should be like Ireland and NZ: based companies that are employing here should pay none but be required to pay their shareholders a minimum amount of the profits, which would be taxable in the shareholders’ hands and for overseas, then there should be a withholding tax on all money sent offshore.
A rate of around 5% would do the trick. Then let business become exciting.
Oh and I would limit how much motor vehicles could be valued at for any purpose and the amount that any lease could be deducted. Too much skullduggery and wasted money on new cars, etc.
The unfortunate female jogger who was attacked in Auckland yesterday has told her side of the story to https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361016778/jogger-allegedly-attacked-epsom-rampage-says-she-was-lucky-she-could-fight
#. ““He didn’t get to my neck because I managed to pull his arm down so he couldn’t strangle me,” she said.
“I fought with him for 5, 10 minutes,” she added.
She said she was initially trying to fight off her attacker with one arm while he pulled on the other and told her “it’s you, it’s you”.
“I was pretty much getting dragged. I mean, he’s 150 kg, I weigh like 58-60 kg.”
But here we learn what decades of prosecuting good people who try to help has produced:
#. “She said three people stopped, one with a camera, and she pleaded with them to say something to distract the “massive” man holding her tight.
“I told them to intervene, just to say something so I can loosen his grip.
“I just needed them to say something, not to stand there.”
Yes! This is what it has come to. A small woman getting the shit beaten out of her in public & no-one wants to risk their future freedom by getting involved. Leaving it to the Police only works when a large cop is on site but is absolutely fucking useless when a Kia with two teenage girls in blue is all that’s available to respond & they’re ten minutes away investigating hurty texts.
No news to date whether the woman at the centre of the attack will be charged with defending herself using undue force. There’s ample precedent but she may get off with a warning due to her gender. ///
Matriach in Peters family fraud prosecution arrested at airport.
A fraud-accused pensioner who left New Zealand weeks before charges were laid against her by the Serious Fraud Office has been caught at Auckland Airport.
Serene Miranda Peters, 68, was arrested on arrival, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said in a statement.
The statement said she appeared at Manukau District Court this afternoon and was remanded on bail without plea.
Her next appearance is scheduled for August 24.
Serene is one of five members of the Peters family charged over various mortgage and fraud investment schemes by the SFO. She left New Zealand weeks before charges were filed in late 2023.
Her charge relates to claiming $1.8 million handed to her or her son’s companies would be invested in private banking facilities and covered by insurance issued by Lloyd’s of London.
There was no insurance, and the investor lost the transferred sum.
The SFO prosecution alleges a total of $8.6m of mortgage fraud and investment fraud was conducted between 2016 and 2018 across six Auckland properties.
The SFO investigation started after the Herald began investigating the case of the late Sandra Rosolowski, a North Shore pensioner whose dealings with the Peters family resulted in her living in a home that she was surprised to find she no longer owned.
The central figure in the prosecution, facing the most charges, is Serene’s son, Gerard Peters.
Gerard had also left New Zealand, departing shortly after police first began investigating the case in 2019. Courts have heard he has an active warrant issued for his arrest.
Herald investigations suggest that some of his time abroad has been spent living in Zimbabwe.
Christopher Peters, another of Serene’s sons, pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court in May to four charges of obtaining by deception over the fraudulent obtaining of $4.5m in mortgage finance and participation in the $1.8m investment fraud scheme.
He will be sentenced on October 30.
Robert Peters, who was due to be tried alongside his brother Chris, had charges against him dismissed in May.
Francis Peters, another son of Serene, pleaded guilty in April 2024 to four charges and was sentenced to nine months’ home detention. As a result of his conviction, he was later struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors.
Gur Raj Singh Bhachu, no relation to the Peters, pleaded guilty to 12 charges relating to four of the mortgage fraud schemes and was sentenced to nine months’ home detention in September 2025.
Fisheries New Zealand will hold another public meeting on a proposed Bream Bay and Whangārei Harbour mātaitai reserve after the first consultation meeting drew a crowd more than double the venue’s capacity.
More than 200 people attended last Thursday’s meeting at the Marsden Yacht and Boat Club, despite the venue’s capacity of 80, Fisheries New Zealand (FNZ) confirmed.
Attendees complained that well over half the crowd had to stay outside and were unable to see or hear presentations about the proposal.
The overcrowding occurred amid strong debate over the proposed hapū-managed mātaitai reserve, which would span 116sq km of Bream Bay and Whangārei Harbour, becoming New Zealand’s largest. Some recreational fishers fear it could eventually lead to restrictions in waters popular with anglers.
FNZ director fisheries management Emma Taylor said the turnout highlighted the strong views being expressed and that another meeting would be held to give people an opportunity to hear about the applications and ask questions.
A date and venue are yet to be announced.
Taylor said the closing date for submissions, previously August 21, would be extended until after the meeting.
“Following consultation, we will assess the proposals against the Fisheries (Kaimoana Customary Fishing) Regulations 1998, taking into account submissions, petitions and other relevant information, including the effects of the proposed mātaitai on recreational and commercial fishing interests, before providing advice to Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones.”
Opponents have since launched a petition, Protect Bream Bay for All New Zealanders: Retain MPI Management, urging the Government to reject the applications and keep fisheries management in the hands of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
Taylor said FNZ was aware of the petition. However, she encouraged anyone wishing to provide feedback to do so through the formal consultation process.
Petition organisers argue the applications fail to meet regulatory tests requiring ministers to be satisfied a reserve will not unreasonably affect local communities’ ability to harvest fish, aquatic life and seaweed for non-commercial purposes.
They have also pointed to bylaws approved for Whakaraupō (Lyttelton Harbour) as an example of how future mātaitai bylaws could affect public access to fisheries.
The petition also argues MPI is best placed to manage fisheries because it has access to scientific expertise, stock assessment data and nationwide fisheries monitoring.
Patuharakeke Te Iwi Trust Board resource management spokesperson Juliane Chetham has said the proposal is intended to protect and restore customary fisheries for future generations, with shellfish management a particular focus.
She told RNZ recreational fishing could not be banned through the creation of a mātaitai reserve itself and rejected suggestions the proposal was intended to exclude recreational fishers.
Chetham said concerns about depleted pipi beds at Marsden Bank and Mair Bank were among the drivers behind the application.
She said discussions about mātaitai reserves had too often focused on race instead of sustainable fisheries management.
There are two applications under consideration.
The main application by Patuharakeke Rohe Moana Committee seeks a mātaitai reserve covering about 115sq km of fisheries waters stretching along the coastline from about Oakleigh and the eastern end of Andersons Cove at Bream Tail, including the full length of Bream Bay and extending up to two nautical miles offshore.
The second application by the Te Rerenga Parāoa Rohe Moana Committee is for an adjoining 1sq km mātaitai reserve covering the Marsden and Mair banks off Marsden Point.
Together, the proposals encompass the harbour entrance, inner harbour channels, Marsden Pt, Ruakākā, Uretiti and the coastline through to Waipu.
If approved, the Patuharakeke application would create New Zealand’s largest mātaitai reserve, overtaking the 70sq km Cape Runaway reserve established in 2020.
FNZ said mātaitai reserves do not automatically change recreational fishing rules.
However, tangata kaitiaki may later propose bylaws, such as changes to bag limits, restrictions on fishing methods or seasonal controls. Any bylaws would require separate public consultation and ministerial approval.
Commercial fishing is generally prohibited within the reserve, although exemptions can be considered.
An amendment to the Crimes Act has passed its final reading in Parliament.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says the majority of the legislation will take effect within a week.
That includes an expansion to citizen’s arrest powers, allowing members of the public to intervene in any Crimes Act offence at any time of day.
A person making an arrest would be allowed to use restraints “when reasonable”, but is also required to contact police and follow their instructions.
The bill is intended to crack down on retail crime by allowing security guards to detain thieves.
“Retailers and security guards face abuse and assault that no New Zealander should be subjected to, and we know the economic cost of retail crime is in the billions,” Goldsmith said in a statement.
The amendment also specifies a number of new, more specific offences, including for assaulting first responders and frontline corrections workers, and three new offences for “coward punches”.
“Where others may flee, first responders and frontline corrections workers run towards danger to help those who need urgent assistance. Assaulting them puts multiple lives at risk, so there must be greater consequences for these terrible acts of violence,” he said.
“We know how dangerous coward punches are. People can be killed or suffer lifelong brain injuries, yet perpetrators often receive lenient and insufficient sentences. That changes with this legislation.”
Goldsmith said the amendment also strengthened trafficking and slavery laws to close loopholes.