David Seymour Dodges Truth on Mass Kiwi Exodus

New Zealand is bleeding talent, and the National-led government’s ineptitude is squarely to blame. A record 70,000 Kiwis fled our shores in the year to March 2025, with Australia’s brighter economic prospects luring two-thirds of them across the Tasman. The 18-30 age group, particularly young professionals and high-performing students, is driving this exodus of people seeking better career and educational opportunities abroad.
 

Yesterday, RNZ reported:

Number of New Zealanders leaving for Australia reaches highest level in more than a decade

The number of New Zealanders who left for Australia last year was the highest in more than a decade, according to Stats NZ.

Just under 30,000 New Zealanders left for Australia in 2024, which Stats NZ said was "marginally higher" than in 2023.

It was the highest level of emigration to Australia since it peaked in 2012 at nearly 44,000.

Traditionally, there had been a net migration loss from New Zealand to Australia. This averaged about 30,000 a year during 2004 to 2013, and 3,000 a year during 2014 to 2019.

Stats NZ data had also shown the number of migrants in New Zealand fell to a two and a half year low in May.

It said there was a net gain of 14,800 in the year ended in May compared to more than 84,000 the year before.

The slowdown was driven by fewer non-New Zealand citizens settling and record levels of people leaving the country, it said.

Let’s be clear: the Kiwi exodus isn't a lingering symptom of Covid-19, as Seymour would have us believe. The pandemic’s restrictions lifted over three years ago, and the world has moved on. New Zealand, however, remains stuck in a quagmire of economic stagnation, thanks to the National-led coalition’s myopic policies.

Unemployment has climbed to 5.1%, a four-year high, while real GDP per capita continues to decline, leaving Kiwis poorer in real terms. The cost-of-living crisis, far from easing, is squeezing households with rising food prices and unaffordable housing, with 46% of renters now spending over 30% of their income on rent. 

Meanwhile, Australia boasts higher wages, better job prospects, and a per-person GDP a third higher than ours when adjusted for purchasing power. Is it any wonder young professionals are packing their bags for the lucky country?

 

Policy Changes Driving New Zealanders Overseas:

• Scrapping of housing intensification reforms 
• Rejection of a capital gains tax  
• Changes to interest deductibility for rental properties  
• Cancellation of the foreign buyers tax  
• Sacking of thousands of public sector workers  
• Delays in infrastructure projects under the National Land Transport Fund  
• Introduction of the Regulatory Standards Bill  
• Funding cuts to Family Start (25% reduction)  
  
• Repeal of fair pay agreement legislation  
• Changes to the Employment Relations Act to constrain collective bargaining  
• Reduction in funding for public transport initiatives  
• Repeal of the Affordable Water Reform (Three Waters) increasing rates
  
• Reduction in support for vocational training programs  
• Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act reducing tenant protections  
• Reduction in funding for cultural and arts programs

The National-led government’s slash-and-burn approach to the public sector is a key driver of this downturn. Since taking office in 2023, they’ve sacked thousands of public sector workers, from healthcare professionals to educators, under the guise of “fiscal responsibility.” These cuts have not only gutted essential services, hospitals are overstretched, schools underfunded, and infrastructure projects delayed, but also sent skilled workers fleeing to Australia, where their expertise is actually valued.

The coalition’s austerity obsession, coupled with their failure to invest in high-value sectors like technology and renewable energy, has left New Zealand’s economy languishing. Low R&D investment, 1.47% of GDP, ranking us 26th in the OECD, further stifles innovation, ensuring our economy remains tethered to overseas products and volatile markets.

Seymour’s attempt to blame Labour’s supposed “economic mismanagement” is a tired trope that collapses under scrutiny. Labour’s Covid response was one of the best in the world, keeping New Zealanders safe and cushioning the economy with wage subsidies that preserved jobs. Their investments in housing and infrastructure laid a foundation for recovery, which National has systematically dismantled.

Yesterday, RNZ Reported:

Labour hits back at Seymour's claim NZ is still 'digesting' Covid-19 pandemic 'hangover'

(Megan) Woods said it was "somewhat surprising to hear them now claiming that that is the cause of the economy that they are presiding over".

She said the government could be doing "so much more".

"At the very time that we're seeing people struggle to find work, we're seeing a government that has scaled back on its own building program, for example, and it's no surprise we're seeing construction jobs disappear and those workers leave New Zealand."

She said the whole government needed to "front up" and "do the job they were elected to do".

"That is making sure there are good jobs for Kiwis, providing that cost of living relief for Kiwi families, and we're just not seeing that."

Seymour’s claim that we’re still “digesting” a Covid hangover conveniently ignores the coalition’s own policy failures, like scrapping Labour’s housing intensification reforms and delaying critical infrastructure projects under the National Land Transport Fund. These moves have exacerbated the housing crisis and choked economic growth, pushing Kiwis to seek greener pastures.

The coalition’s deregulatory zeal, led by Seymour’s ACT Party, is another nail in the coffin. His Regulatory Standards Bill, dressed up as a fix for red tape, risks prioritising corporate profits over public welfare, further alienating workers. Meanwhile, the government’s refusal to address wealth inequality, through minimum wage and welfare increases to match inflation, ensures people continue to struggle. 

But one of the main problems, which has been further exacerbated by the current government's pro inequality policies is the housing market remains a playground for speculators, locking young Kiwis forever out of homeownership.

Seymour’s finger-pointing at Labour is a desperate distraction from the coalition’s own failures. New Zealanders aren’t leaving because of the Covid pandemic, now a distant memory for all except the most cooked of cookers; they’re leaving because this government has prioritised austerity over opportunity, cuts over investment, and rhetoric over results. 

If National and ACT want to stem the tide, they must abandon their ideological crusade and focus on creating jobs, boosting wages, and making New Zealand a place where ambition can thrive. Until then, the Kiwi exodus will continue unabated.

PM Claims Suppressing Wages Will Bring Kiwis Home

If you happened to have seen the Herald NOW Christopher Luxon’s interview with Ryan Bridge yesterday, you'd agree that it was an exercise in spin, whereby our PM was allowed to dodge New Zealand’s real problems with his numerous empty platitudes. Boasting an “awesome plan” to bring back the 70,000 Kiwis fleeing our low-wage economy, Luxon bizarrely implied that his pay equity cuts, costing low-waged workers $12.8 billion, would lure people home. This is utter nonsense. The National-led coalition’s wage-crushing policies, token minimum wage hikes, and slashed budgets are actually driving New Zealanders away.


Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says a ‘productivity problem’ is driving skilled Kiwis offshore

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he has a plan to build a country where Kiwis want to stay, but healthcare, safety and productivity are holding us back. Luxon told Herald Now’s Ryan Bridge that we have a serious productivity problem in New Zealand.

The problem is that keeping wages low isn't going to increase productivity. Luxon’s pay equity overhaul, rammed through under urgency, trashes 33 claims for 150,000 workers, mostly women in underpaid sectors like health and education. By raising the bar for proving gender-based undervaluation, National’s slammed the door shut on fair pay, leaving many New Zealand workers to continue scraping by. Luxon claims this has saved $12.8 billion from ballooning debt, but National’s borrowing has soared regardless. Delaying pay equity hikes isn’t progress, it’s a deliberate wage freeze that pushes skilled Kiwis to better salaries in places like Australia.

Luxon has further eroded wages by ignoring MBIE’s recommended minimum wage increase to $23.60 per hour. Instead, the adult minimum wage crawled from $23.15 to $23.50 in April 2025, a pathetic 35-cent rise. Workers who are starting out or training get a measly bump from $18.52 to $18.80. That’s $14 extra per week before tax for a full-time worker, worthless against years of inflation eroding real wages. Under Labour, minimum wages jumped 7.3% annually; Luxon’s coalition delivers a stingy 2% in 2024 and now 1.5% in 2025. There is no question that the coalition of chaos funnels pay equity savings into tax breaks for landlords and corporates, not workers’ pockets, and not towards paying of government debt.

Luxon’s claim that he’s building “a country where Kiwis want to stay” is pure fiction. Real-term education cuts have gutted schools, with plummeting attendance and achievement. “The key to his plan was ensuring the education of young people,” Luxon said, yet his government starves the system needed to deliver even edible school lunches. How does this entice back the 70,000 Kiwis who’ve bolted over the past year? It doesn’t…it screams a future of low-wages and dead-end prospects that Chris Luxon’s word salad cannot dress up.

Ryan Bridge let Luxon’s propaganda slide, his matey banter failing to probe the 70,000-strong exodus or the wage-killing reality of pay equity cuts. Where were the questions about families crushed by low wages, high rents and the soaring cost of living in New Zealand? Bridge’s softball approach let Luxon peddle his “long-term plan” rubbish unchecked, leaving viewers clueless about the true extent of National’s failures. Luxon’s claim that “in recessionary times, people will go overseas” glosses over how his own policies have fuelled that flight.

This coalition of chaos isn’t bringing Kiwis home; it’s shoving them out the door. With wages frozen, education slashed, and $12.8 billion redirected to the wealthy, Luxon’s out-of-touch government betrays everyday New Zealanders. To stem the exodus, we need fair pay and real investment in people, not austerity and corporate handouts dressed up as progress. And for that we need a change of government.

Watch Ozzy Man Destroy Some White Supremacists

Gather round, you bloody legends, and let’s talk about a true Aussie icon who’s taken a wild detour from his usual topics. Ethan Marrell, better known as Ozzy Man, has been a YouTube juggernaut since 2014, dishing out side-splitting commentary with that larrikin charm and a voice that could make a tax return sound like a yarn at the pub.

His channel, Ozzy Man Reviews, is a treasure trove of foul-mouthed takes on everything from wildlife brawls to epic sporting fails, with the occasional piss-take of Game of Thrones or viral internet idiocy thrown in for good measure.

Whether it’s a kangaroo throwing haymakers or a bloke botching a backflip, Ozzy’s rapid-fire wit and unfiltered Aussie slang turns the mundane into comedy gold. He’s the mate you wish was narrating your life…crude, clever, and always bloody entertaining.

 

But here’s the kicker: Ozzy’s gone and got a bit political, and it’s as surprising as finding a vegan at a barbie. Known for steering clear of the heavy stuff, he’s now waded into the deep end, and his latest video is a glorious smackdown of some absolute dropkick white supremacists trying to hijack an Anzac Day dawn service. Yeah, you heard that right. These neo-Nazi numpties thought they could disrupt a sacred War Memorial event with their hateful nonsense, but Ozzy wasn’t having a bar of it.

In his video “Neo Nazis Fark Off” (posted April 2025), Ozzy tears into these clowns. Their “protest” was a pathetic attempt to whinge about a Welcome to Country ceremony, a respectful nod to Indigenous culture that’s about as controversial as a lamington at a morning tea. Ozzy calls them out as “Neo-Nazi” drongos, ripping their bigotry to shreds with his trademark blend of savage humour and no-bullshit clarity. He points out the absurdity of their booing a cultural gesture at a day meant to honour fallen soldiers. Not one to mince words Ozzy Man rightfully points out that these fascists are a disgrace to the Anzac spirit.

This isn’t just Ozzy being a loudmouth; it’s a non-stop factual statement on current affairs. For a bloke who’s built a career on laughing at drunk animals and dodgy dance moves, taking on white supremacists is a bold pivot. It’s a reminder that even our funniest voices can step up when it matters, calling out hate and defending what’s right. Some might say he’s lost the plot, but I say good on him for using his platform to kick these bigots where it hurts. Ozzy Man’s shown he’s not just here for a laugh, he’s also got a spine, too…just like our ANZAC forefathers. So, here’s to you, Ethan Marrell: keep telling it straight and giving those supremacist galahs the flick. Crikey, you’re a national treasure.

The Great Aussie Reckoning

The 2025 federal election wasn’t just a contest of political ideas; it was a bloody massacre, with Peter Dutton’s Liberal-National Coalition copping a hiding so severe it’s left them scrambling for the smelling salts. The opposition leader’s loss of his own seat of Dickson (held for 24 years) to Labor’s Ali France, is the kind of political gut-punch that’ll echo for decades. This wasn’t just a defeat; it was a repudiation of everything the right wing and Dutton stood for.

Today, RNZ reported:

 

Australian election: Voters reject Peter Dutton's vision, giving Labor a remarkable victory and Liberals a difficult future

Australia has fired Peter Dutton into the sun, taking much of the Liberal Party and its future with him.

Standing in the vapour wake stood a euphoric and unimpeded Anthony Albanese, whose campaign was as devastating, driven and determined as Dutton's was dreadful, deluded and doomed.

Albanese stands atop a dominant and remarkable victory that will surely change the country as profoundly as Bob Hawke and John Howard did in their time.

The main driver of this electoral apocalypse for Dutton and his Liberal-National Coalition was the cost-of-living crisis, which hung over voters like a dark cloud. Dutton’s mob tried to exploit it, but their campaign was an incoherent mess. They didn’t have a plan. Just a grab-bag of half-baked ideas and Trumpian bluster. His nuclear energy push, for one, landed like a lead balloon. Aussies, it turns out, aren’t keen on glowing promises when the science and economics don’t stack up. Meanwhile, Labor hammered home a steady-hand message, promising tax cuts and healthcare boosts that resonated with voters, who backed Labor for better schools and hospitals.

Then there’s the “Trump effect.” Dutton’s flirtation with right-wing populism…cosying up to Pauline Hanson's racist One Nation party and parroting “Make Australia Great Again” vibes…was a fatal misstep. Dutton’s gaffes didn’t help: underestimating egg prices in a cost-of-living debate and accidentally clobbering a cameraman with a footy made him look more clown than contender. His embrace of One Nation alienated moderates, and the shadow of Trump’s tariffs and global chaos sent voters scurrying to the devil they knew: Anthony Albanese’s Labor.

The result? A Labor landslide, with projections of 85 seats and a thumping majority, making Albo the first PM since John Howard to win consecutive terms. Ali France, a para-athlete and disability advocate, unseating Dutton was the cherry on top. History has been made, as she became the first to topple a federal opposition leader at the polls. The Greens, despite losing two Queensland seats, still celebrated their highest-ever vote share.

So, hats off to Labor, Ali France, and the teals for reading the room and delivering. This election wasn’t just a win; it was a statement. Aussies rejected fearmongering and division, choosing optimism and pragmatism. Dutton’s out, the Coalition’s in tatters, and Labor’s got a mandate to tackle the big issues. Good on ya, Australia. Now, let’s see Albo make it count.

Nicola Willis’ Austerity Threatens New Zealand’s Future

I hate to sound the alarm, but New Zealand’s economy is teetering on the edge, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis is wielding her austerity axe with a reckless abandon that could plunge us into a prolonged recession. The 2025 Budget, with its brutal $1.1 billion reduction in baseline spending, is a short-sighted measure that ignores the needs of everyday Kiwis. Health, education, and vulnerable communities are set to bear the brunt, while mainstream media’s coverage remains woefully inadequate, leaving the public largely in the dark about the true scale of National’s mismanagement. Worse, these cuts are driving skilled workers overseas, and shrinking the tax base.

The coalition government’s obsession with cost-cutting has already slashed $7.47 billion in public sector spending since the 2023 mini-Budget, with 6.5-7.5% savings demanded across all agencies. Now, Willis is doubling down, citing the “weaker economy” she has caused and Trump’s tariffs as an excuse for deeper cuts. But this is no external shock…it’s a self-inflicted wound. Health NZ, already stretched, faces a $1.4 billion savings target that analysts warn cannot be met without gutting frontline services. Budget 2024’s $16.68 billion health funding over three years sounds impressive, but it’s a drop in the bucket against inflation, wage pressures, and an ageing population. The result? Longer wait times, understaffed hospitals, and a mental health sector on its knees…evident in the Mental Health Foundation’s looming and brutal cuts to staff numbers.

Education is no better off. Despite Willis’ claims of prioritising “frontline services,” the coalition of chaos axed $2 billion in school building projects, contributing to an estimated 8,000 job losses in the construction sector alone. Educational achievement and attendance are already plummeting and Willis’ further cuts will only worsen these problems. Schools are crumbling, teachers are overworked, and kids from vulnerable communities, particularly Māori and Pasifika, face shrinking opportunities. The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services warned that 400 Oranga Tamariki providers face funding uncertainty, threatening services for thousands of at-risk kids. But does all of that give Nicola Willis pause to think about her financial decisions? 

 

Yesterday, RNZ reported:

 

$1b cut to operating allowance coming in Budget, Nicola Willis says

The government has freed up "billions" of dollars through additional public service cuts to be redeployed into "New Zealand's most pressing priorities".

Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced at a speech to the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday morning the government is halving its operating allowance - the new money it has available to spend at the May Budget - from $2.4 billion to $1.3b.

That will result in only a small number of government departments receiving additional funding this year with Willis characterising next month's Budget as "no lolly scramble".

Vulnerable communities are being hit hardest. Budget 2024’s tax cuts, costing $3.7 billion, overwhelmingly benefit higher-income households, while cuts to housing, conservation, and Māori-specific programs exacerbate inequality. Pasifika and ethnic communities face disproportionate impacts from reduced Ministry funding, with NGOs sounding alarms about service gaps. Willis’ “social investment” rhetoric feels like a cruel joke when frontline providers are being starved of cash and cannot do their jobs properly.

The economic fallout is dire. New Zealand climbed out of a technical recession in Q4 2024 with modest 0.7% GDP growth, but Willis’ austerity threatens to reverse this. Unemployment is forecast to hit 5.2% by June 2025, up from 3.6% in mid-2023, and net core Crown debt is projected to peak at 43.5% of GDP in 2024/25, well above what National promised pre-election. Public sector layoffs aren’t just numbers; they’re skilled Kiwis packing their bags for Australia. This brain drain shrinks the tax take, with Treasury forecasting an $18.5 billion revenue shortfall over the forecast period. Less revenue means more borrowing, with debt servicing already gobbling up more than defence, law, and housing combined - $1 in every $16 of government spending. Willis’ promise of a surplus by 2027/28 is a fantasy; Treasury now predicts deficits until 2029, largely due to National’s economic mismanagement.

Mainstream media’s silence about all this is deafening. While outlets like NZ Herald and Stuff occasionally report on GDP figures or Willis’ lacklustre speeches, they gloss over the human cost…failing to connect the dots between cuts, job losses, and social decay. Prioritising landlords and roads over people isn’t governance; it’s economic vandalism. Willis’ refusal to adjust her $2.4 billion operating allowance upwards, despite Treasury’s warnings it won’t currently cover cost pressures, shows that the finance minister is terribly out of her depth.

Labour’s Chris Hipkins rightly argues for investment spending to stimulate growth, but Willis clings to a failed 1980s ideology of “smaller government.” New Zealand deserves better…a government that invests in health, education, and its people, not one that slashes and burns while skilled Kiwis flee and vulnerable communities crumble. Willis must reverse course, or her legacy will be a deeper recession and weaker economy unable to contend with the numerous external shocks analysts are predicting.

Attention seeking Simon

It seems we can’t even get through a week these days without the National Party's leader, Simon Bridges, making some sort of silly announcement about a policy that doesn’t actually exist.

Usually concerning Bridges’ gut instinct and the undoing of whatever the Government has recently announced, National’s reactionary opinions and uncosted policy announcements are scant on details and often don’t make much sense from an economic let alone political standpoint.

However every once in a while Bridges really outdoes himself.

Yesterday, RNZ reported:

National considers reciprocal deportations for Australians 

Opposition leader Simon Bridges says a National government will look at amending the law to allow Australians convicted of serious crimes in New Zealand to be deported.

Doesn't Bridges know that Australians convicted of crimes here can already be deported?

Bridges said, if elected, National would explore a policy based on amendments to Australia's Migration Act in 2014 which allows for people to have their visas cancelled on character grounds. 

He said, legally, the Australia government can deport Kiwi criminals and New Zealand needs to look into a reciprocal policy. 

"While Jacinda Ardern has labelled this issue as corrosive to our relationship with Australia, I don't agree," he said in a statement.

With the biased mainstream medias help, National is relying on people not digging any further than easily digestible little sound bites to gain the attention they clearly don’t deserve.

The reciprocal deportation idea for instance, where the difference between the two countries rules is in reality very minimal, has provided Simon with a platform to pretend to be tough on crime. Leaving Kiwis in New Zealand after they've been law abiding citizens for 10 years seems only fair and in my opinion we shouldn’t go changing our laws just because Australia refuses to change theirs. After all, two wrongs don’t make a right.

So this is obviously just another ploy to gain the medias attention to add to the growing list of all the other National Party's empty bravado and hollow promises.

Here’s another recent clanger that Bridges received widespread criticism for.

On Friday, Newshub reported:

Good news for Simon Bridges - his big tax idea is already happening 

And then he declared: "People on the average wage shouldn’t be paying almost 33 per cent in the dollar." 

Incredibly, simply by making that point clear, he managed to travel back in time and reset the rates of marginal and effective tax rates, and fortunately for several years now nobody has had to pay anything like that level of tax.

So Bridges can’t even get National’s big tax announcement right and has become a joke!

The opposition leaders' bumbling is causing National to flounder on topics they usually dominate on like law and order and tax reform. With nothing more than his own anecdotal evidence, Simon Bridges is failing to convince voters that his ideas are sound and therefore worth supporting.

Let’s take a look at another brain-fart from last month.

On Jan 29, RNZ reported:

Simon Bridges to announce potential coalition partners 'soon' 

Asked whether he would be giving the Epsom seat to ACT's David Seymour or anyone else from another party, Bridges again repeated he would be making an announcement. 

"As I say we'll make an announcement soon, I said we'll do that in election year because I think New Zealanders do require certainty but patience is a virtue and today's not the day." 

Pressed further about when that would be, he said: 'Soon my friend, soon.'

Does there have to be an announcement that National would work with the Act Party if they have the numbers? Or has Bridges realised that making an announcement about something everybody already knows makes him look like a damn fool?

Unfortunately for the media they also get egg on their faces every time they play along with Simon’s attention seeking. Perhaps in the future they might like to distance themselves a bit to gain some objectivity, because running off to Simon Bridges to get his hot take on every single issue is becoming extremely tiresome!

Jeremy Clarkson - God is an arsonist

You've really got to wonder if Jeremy Clarkson is worshiping the right deity? I mean thinking that Australia is somehow deserving of the calamity that has befallen it in the form of unprecedented bush fires is one thing, but claiming God intentionally likes to cause people and animals immeasurable pain and misery is another.

Today, SBS News reported:

Jeremy Clarkson slammed for saying 'embarrassed' God has set fire to Australia

Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has attracted criticism for claiming that God "didn't want people to live in Australia" so has set fire to it.

In a column for UK newspaper The Sun, Clarkson tried to take a light-hearted approach to the ongoing bushfire crisis, which has so far claimed at least 23 lives.

What is it about Climate Change related disaster that brings out the worst in people who aren't being affected? Clearly Australia burning and people dying isn’t something for the privileged Englishman to joke about.

Clarkson said God created Australia "as a continent far, far away where he could house all his experiments that had gone wrong", before listing the saltwater crocodile, the redback spider and the nation's many snakes as examples.

"He even used this remote outpost to house some of his more ridiculous ideas. Stuff he came up with when he was drunk. Like those birds that can't fly and that otter with a beak.

Why would The Sun give column space to the ravings of a senile old fool? England is actually embarrassing itself internationally by publishing the dribbling inanities of someone obviously suffering from Narcissistic personality disorder. Instead of rushing to print such badly written clickbait they should do the right thing and get Jeremy Clarkson some help.

"And to make sure people didn't go there, he put a huge coral reef on the approaches ... For millions of years, this big, sandy cupboard under the stairs went unnoticed," he said, seemingly ignoring Australia's Indigenous history.

Seemingly ignoring Australia's Indigenous history? Maybe he actually means Aboriginal people as well? I mean it’s not the first time the idiot has been openly racist. This appears to be just another example of his unhinged bigotry!

"But then along came Captain Cook and now the world knows all about Oz and its stupid, dangerous creatures.

Nearly 500 Million wildlife creatures have died (not including insects, bats or frogs) in the Australian bush fires so far. Entire species have perished meaning Australia will never fully recover. Anybody making light of such a large disaster clearly needs a straightjacket.

"Plainly, God is embarrassed. Because he's decided to set fire to it."

What kind of entitled prat claims that God is an arsonist and that Australia somehow deserves to be punished right when they're hurting the most from these record-breaking fires? Clarkson is effectively trolling the entire nation of Australia. So let’s see what the Aussies say in response.

Festering maggot Jeremy Clarkson slammed for saying 'embarrassed' God has set fire to Australia https://t.co/reoLSuQ5Cj via @SBSNews

— John Little (@johnlittle) January 5, 2020

#JeremyClarkson not Funny mate actually its really fucked up What You said about the fires maby when someone in You family is fighting For their life after being Almost burnt to death You will know how it feels.... pic.twitter.com/cvezOGdebG

— freddyeddyescott WU (@freddyeddyesco1) January 5, 2020

How Jeremy Clarkson can poke fun at all this destruction is simply beyond me.

[Warning - this film is extremely upsetting] 💔#AustraliaBurns #AustralianFires #ClimateEmergency #bushfirecrisis #ClimateCriminals #AustraliaBushfires #AustralianWildFires pic.twitter.com/OgtnWPfeH3

— Brendan May (@bmay) January 5, 2020

turns out the worst, shittiest piece of writing on the bushfires comes from British dimwit Jeremy Clarkson

In what I guess is meant to be funny, he says "Perhaps humans are not meant to inhabit Australia?" & that the fires are because "God is embarrassed"https://t.co/eiAeA69UE3

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) January 4, 2020

Hey @JeremyClarkson any person whose immediate response isn’t compassion has a serious personality issue . #justsaying #JeremyClarkson https://t.co/XtHrm6xVWz

— Emilie (@paintsandsings) January 5, 2020

Apathy in the face of disaster

Warning: This article contains topics that might trigger right wing snowflakes!

Unless you’ve had your head buried in a billabong for the last four months you’d of heard about the Australian bush fires. The fires have been unprecedented, with approximately five million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land burned nationwide. More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed and 9 people have now tragically lost their lives.

The world is watching with ever increasing unease about Australia's climate change related disaster. Not just because the fires aren't under control, but because the Australian Government is sitting on its hands while their country burns.

Youth environmental leader Greta Thunberg succinctly summed their apathy up in one of the most iconic tweets this year:

Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action. How is this possible?
Because we still fail to make the connection between the climate crisis and increased extreme weather events and nature disasters like the #AustraliaFires
That's what has to change.
Now. https://t.co/DQcZViKJQz

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 22, 2019

So what are Aussie leaders doing to help fight these fires? Well going on holiday of course.

On 22 Dec, The Guardian reported:

Scott Morrison says Hawaii holiday was like taking 'that extra plumbing contract' on a Friday afternoon

In a series of interviews on Monday Morrison cited family commitments as the reason for his decision to holiday in Hawaii during the crisis, comparing himself to a plumber forced to choose between a Friday afternoon job or seeing his family.

Morrison returned to work on Sunday, cutting short the holiday by a day after the deaths of two volunteer firefighters on Thursday, but insisted he would not “panic” by increasing Australia’s ambition to fight global heating.

Asked about his judgment in taking the holiday, Morrison said the fires had been going since September – citing his earlier visits to bushfire areas – and “still have a time to run yet”.

Even before the bush fire season had officially started the fires had ravaged much of the Australian east coast causing widespread damage. That stark reality wasn’t enough for Morrison to stick around though. Instead he set about annoying environmentalists by saying burning and exporting more coal wouldn’t make any difference to Australia’s fire season. He then went on holiday to Hawaii.

Australian Prime Minister - Scott Morrison

With an ever-increasing body of evidence available you would think that a Prime Minister would make the simple connection between these unprecedented bush fires and climate change increasing temperatures in Australia. Not Scott Morrison though. He’s been steadfastly ignoring the numerous scientists and their warnings that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to Australia's fires becoming more frequent and intense.

So why would Morrison ignore the warnings and advice that Australia must curb its GHG emissions? Well money of course.

On 23 Dec, AFP reported:

Australia PM defends coal as climate-fuelled bushfires burn

Under-fire Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday rejected calls for "reckless" and "job-destroying" cuts to the country's vast coal industry in the face of a deadly climate-fuelled bushfire crisis.

Morrison's conservative government has fiercely defended the lucrative coal industry in Australia, which produces a third of global coal exports and provides work in swing electoral districts.

"I am not going to write off the jobs of thousands of Australians by walking away from traditional industries," Morrison told the Seven Network, in one of several morning interviews rejecting calls for further action.

"What we won't do is engage in reckless and job-destroying and economy-crunching targets which are being sought," he told Channel 9, responding to calls for more climate-friendly policies.

While Scott Morrison cites the potential job losses from the lucrative coal industry for not reducing Australia's record breaking coal production level, he blatantly ignores the many thousands of jobs that will be directly lost because of these bush fires. He also fails to consider the lost productivity because of record-breaking pollution levels.

On Dec 2, The New York Times reported:

Australia Burns Again, and Now Its Biggest City Is Choking

State officials have warned of the dangers. The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage said that “our network has recorded some of the highest air pollution ever seen” in the state.

In November, the department recorded 15 days of poor air quality, far beyond the monthly norm.  On Monday, the levels of PM2.5, the most harmful form of pollutant, were 22 times the accepted safety level — the equivalent of smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day. Pollution levels were expected to reach similar heights on Friday.

Even compared to the terrible fire seasons of 1994 and 2001, “this event,” state officials said, “is the longest and the most widespread in our records.”

It’s not just the human cost that should be counted either.

On 29 Dec, The Evening Standard reported:

Nearly 500 million animals killed in Australian bushfires, experts fear

Around 480 million animals are feared to have died in the bushfires sweeping Australia, including nearly a third of the koalas in New South Wales's main habitat.

Ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate around 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have been killed, directly or indirectly, by the devastating blazes since they began in September, The Times reported.

This includes almost 8,000 koalas, which are believed to have burnt to death on the state’s mid-north coast.

So what will it take to get Scott (Scumo) Morrison to act in the nations and environments best interest…one of Australia’s cities burning down? Clearly a change in Government will be required in Australia before we see any meaningful reduction to their coal exports, which account for a whopping 7% of GHG emissions worldwide.

There is no question that increasingly hotter temperatures are fuelling these fires...and despite underfunded fire-fighters best efforts, the numerous infernos look set to continue destroying homes and livelihoods across Australia with little to no intervention from their climate change denying Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

Who's to blame for Barnaby Joyce?

We all know that there are two sides to a story. But in the case of the Barnaby Joyce citizenship scandal there appears to be three.

First we had the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, trying to lay blame on the Labor and Labour parties in order to shift the focus off of Barnaby Joyce and their hypocrisy. Then we had the National party also trying to blame Labour’s Chris Hipkins for daring to even ask some generalised questions about citizenship.

However a third and correct side of the story is now being uncovered.

Today, 1 News reported:

Aussie journos had answers on Barnaby Joyce's citizenship nearly two weeks before Kiwi MP's inquiries

In a bid to set the record straight about who knew what about Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's Kiwi citizenship, the New Zealand government has released an official timeline of questions it received about the issue.

It confirms Australian reporters had answers on the matter nearly two weeks before a member of New Zealand's Labour Party even inquired.

Despite this fact, Bill English and Steven Joyce used the opportunity to attack Labour.

On Tuesday, Newshub reported:

Bill English condemns Labour's Chris Hipkins in Aussie citizenship saga

Prime Minister Bill English has criticised Labour's Chris Hipkins for interfering in Australia's constitutional crisis by looking into Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's background.

How much political capital National has made from such obviously incorrect accusations is anybody's guess. It’s probably not much being that most New Zealander's know that English is a bit of a fool!

It was pretty obvious the PM was in the wrong after the Minister of Internal Affairs, Peter Dunne, also made statements on the matter that contradicted the Prime Ministers.

Mr Dunne says it was questions from Australian media, not Labour's Chris Hipkins that led to the revelation, but Mr English says it's up to MPs to make sure they don't get embroiled in the politics of another country.

"I can't remember a time when an MP has done something like that that involves the politics of another country. It's just another misjudgement about what is actually a serious issue," Mr English told reporters.

It was a misjudgement of the National led government to think they could simply keep the fact that Barnaby Joyce is also a citizen of New Zealand a secret.

But what makes this all the more ridiculous is the Australian government attacking the Labour party over something that they also must have known about.

On Wednesday, Stuff reported:

Aussie foreign minister says she won't be able to build trust with a NZ Labour government after citizenship row

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop: "Should there be a change of government, I would find it very hard to build trust with those involved in allegations designed to undermine the government of Australia".

Hopefully there will be a change of government in both countries, because at the moment National as well as the Liberal Party of Australia are both looking rather dishonest.

Bill English really needs to stop blaming Labour for everything that goes wrong in government, including when things they've tried to keep secret are revealed.

The best way to ensure the blame game comes to an end is to vote National out. Vote to change the government this election.

Just how bad is the Trans-Tasman relationship?

As the finger wagging continues both here and over the ditch about Australian MP Barnaby Joyce being outed as a New Zealand citizen (oh the horror!) it's probably work pointing out just how bad our political relationship with our closest allies and neighbours has actually become.

Here's The Project's Jesse Mulligan summing up the Australian and New Zealand relationship:

AWESOME smackdown of the lying, incompetent, embarrassing Julie Bishop by @TheProject_NZ! #auspol #barnabyjoyce 🥝🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/9gyWEgvRAY

— Stephen (@TheAviator1992) August 16, 2017

What I find most strange about all this is that the NZ Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gerry Brownlee, apparently failed to inform the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, about the top secret information concerning a Liberal party MP being in breach of the Australian constitution. Under their rules he can no longer remain in Parliament.

Weirdly enough, Bishop and Brownlee were both in Fiji at a meeting of Pacific Forum foreign ministers together (after Brownlee had been briefed about Barnaby's dual citizenship), so either the right wing government's of both countries view each other with complete disdain or somebody is telling porkies!

Barnaby Joyce - Asshole of the Week

It came as somewhat of a shock when the Australian government attacked the New Zealand Labour party and its leader Jacinda Ardern yesterday, a personally attack over the fact that their Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, has dual citizenship and therefore under Australian law cannot remain in office.

They're even banging on like we aren’t all bloody related.

Rather than step down like the previous Australian MP's who hold dual citizenship, the swamp dwelling Barnaby bunyip is clinging to the lie that he didn’t know his father was a New Zealander. But if that wasn't bad enough, the Australian government is unbelievably blaming the Labor and Labour parties for their own incompetence, and using the word Kiwi to denigrate and spit tacks at us from over the ditch.

Yesterday, the Guardian reported:

Australia accuses New Zealand opposition of trying to bring down government

Australian government minister Christopher Pyne accused the ALP of being part of a conspiracy to bring down the government.

“Clearly the Labor party are involved in a conspiracy using a foreign government, in this case New Zealand, to try and bring down the Australian government,” he said.

“How many other foreign governments, or foreign political parties in other countries, has the Labor party been colluding with to try to undermine the Australian government?

If this brings down the Australian government, they have nobody to blame but themselves.

Despite their accusations of treason, the Australian Liberal party trying to re-attribute blame by levelling their attacks against the opposition and the next Prime Minister of New Zealand has backfired, with the truth of the matter quickly being revealed.

Yesterday, Radio NZ reported:

Australian media enquiries led to Joyce citizenship discovery

Enquiries by Australian media - not the New Zealand Labour Party - led to Internal Affairs discovering Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is a New Zealand citizen.

…

Mr Joyce told the Australian Parliament he was alerted to the situation after enquiries were made by the New Zealand Labour Party to the New Zealand government.

But Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne said Australian media had asked the department about Mr Joyce before Labour MP Chris Hipkins filed written questions on citizenship.

Clearly Australian journalists were simply doing their jobs.

The Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, must have known this before going on the attack to try to falsely attribute blame and influence the New Zealand election... and if she didn’t she’s entirely incompetent.

In constant contact with her colleges in New Zealand eh! You've got to wonder if the Australian Liberal party colluded with the National party to try and undermine Labour's new leader Jacinda Ardern. It certainly looks that way.

The real stupid thing is Barnaby Joyce thinking he can just renounce his New Zealand citizenship by making a public statement. Perhaps he thinks his father suddenly stops being a Kiwi simply through the sheer weight of his unparalleled arrogance.

Here's Channel 9's Laurie Oakes reporting:

.@Channel9 political editor @LaurieOakes has more on whether the issue could damage Australia's relationship with New Zealand. #9News pic.twitter.com/qTOmpR5c8h

— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) August 15, 2017

The deluded Liberal party cannot be allowed to retain Joyce after he personally campaigned against opposition MP’s who have dual citizenship, campaigning that resulted in them stepping down.

If the Australian Liberal party thought the law shouldn't apply, they had the opportunity to move to amend the constitution when the disqualification clause was revealed. Instead they used it to leverage perfectly good politicians out of the house in an attempt to undermine the opposition.

Joyce has New Zealand citizenship and under the Australian constitution he must resign. In my opinion he should take Julie Bishop with him. There is no question of law or confusion over section 44, and by ignoring the constitution the desperate Liberal Party is in breach of Australia’s Supreme Law. There can be no other interpretation just because Barnaby is a tory.

In the mean time, because they believe the rules don’t apply to them, the dishonest Barnaby Joyce wins this week’s Asshole Award. It appears he's the first Australian to do so.

How much food costs in NZ compared to Australia

In New Zealand, a supermarket basket of 11 essentials including bread and milk costs 37 per cent more than it does in Australia.

Honest Government Advert - Corporate Welfare

The Australian Government just released this advert about its $1b handout to Adani for his reef-killing, water-guzzling, climate-changing, ancestral land-desecrating mega coal mine - and it's surprisingly honest and informative.

How dead is the Great Barrier Reef?

Coral bleaching is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. But it's too early for obituaries.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world and the only living structure visible from space. Although ecosystem managers in Australia have worked hard to preserve the reefs, the past couple of decades have brought a new threat that can't be solved by any one country alone: human-induced global warming. Rising ocean temperatures have caused mass coral bleaching in coral reefs around the world, in every tropical ocean from the Caribbean to the South Pacific. This is now considered to be the biggest threat that coral reefs face, and they face many, including overfishing, pollution, storm damage, and invasive species.

HT: VOX

4 degrees - Santos Frack Off!

Santos have announced they want 4 degrees of global warming!! That's the Mad Max scenario. In this video I take a look what 4 degrees would mean for Australia and our planet. SHARE and Like this video to tell Santos to FRACK OFF!

Key uses tragedy for propaganda

As Australians and Kiwis are learning about the tragic events that have resulted in the deaths of three people, the Prime Minister of New Zealand has taken it upon himself to use the situation to promote a complete untruth.

Today, Radio NZ reported:

John Key said it was clear from what unfolded across the Tasman that ISIS was running an outreach campaign which was trying to tap into the disenfranchised.

The Prime Minister said the holding up of an Islamic flag in the Lindt cafe in Sydney made it feel like ISIS was the driving force behind what happened.

The problem for Key is that he's entirely wrong! Today, Radio NZ also reported:

Deadly end to Sydney siege

Earlier, police confirmed to Radio New Zealand the man behind the siege was Man Haron Monis, who had been on bail for a charge of accessory to murder.

The Iranian man, also known as Sheikh Haron, was convicted last year over offensive letters he sent to family members of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.

Man Haron Monis was an Iranian and Iran has been fighting ISIL for a long time now. The failure of John Key, who just so happens to be the Minister in charge of "Intelligence" Services, to provide any evidence to support his claims is profound.

So desperate is the Prime Minister of New Zealand for an excuse to send more troops off to war and justify the implementation of further domestic spying legislation that he's willing to blatantly lie about Man Haron Monis' affiliation with ISIL.

In my opinion this shows complete disrespect for the people caught up in the tragedy…especially the hostages who lost their lives and their grieving families.

It also shows that our leaders and the mainstream media are willing to use such tragedies in order to promote a war that the good people of Australia and New Zealand clearly don't support.

The problem with warmongers

The problem with warmongers is they appear to have no empathy for their fellow human beings. That's because war, and the industrial complex behind it, is invariably built upon people's prejudices.

History is littered with examples of prejudice being used as a reason for atrocities…a prime example being the holocaust. Although there were a myriad of other unjustifiable reasons, it was people's prejudices that were ultimately used as an excuse for the worst genocide in living memory.

We see the same thing with Israel’s illegal war on Palestine. How can they indiscriminately bomb women and children you might ask? Well the simple answer is they’ve been conditioned to hate from a very early age.

That's also the case with the United States' wars for oil in the Middle East. Although people being stigmatized for what they believe in or the colour of their skin is nothing new, the ability to turn prejudices into actions has become a lot easier with the advent of radio, television and the Internet. The warmonger's have utilized these tools to convince entire nations that there's a reason to tear themselves apart or go to war. In fact their propaganda is now used worldwide to the great detriment of all mankind.

Here’s one small example of the damage to society from the warmongers propaganda, with the Mail Online reporting yesterday:

Woman's head is battered against train carriage by female attacker who shouted racist abuse

A Melbourne woman was left 'emotionally distraught' after being verbally and physically assaulted during a racial tirade by a fellow train passenger.

The 26-year-old victim was standing by the doors of the train as it approached Batman Railway Station in Northern Melbourne on Thursday evening, when she was approached by another woman who began hurling abuse at her.

Media reports allege the victim was a Muslim woman.

These aren't just random attacks...they’re events that have been actively encouraged by governments through a compliant and corrupted media banging on about Muslim extremists. Such propaganda has encouraged prejudice within the general public, with people's differences once again being exploited as an excuse to go to war.

Last week, the Courier Mail reported on Brisbane Muslim community leader Ali Kadri saying:

“This is how extremism starts. It starts in the mind, it comes out the mouth and ends up in violence ... we must all sit down and come up with some solutions.’’

The problem here is it's the state creating and promoting people's fears and prejudices. This clearly indicates that they've learnt nothing at all from history, because if they'd actually listened to those who went through a real war, they wouldn't be trying to cause another one.

So fickle is their understanding about the realities of war that only a generation after world war two, so-called Western "democracies" seem ready to utterly disregard our forebears' sacrifice. This shows that the real problem with warmongers isn't just that they actively promote people's prejudices, but that they haven't learnt from their mistakes and are therefore fated to repeat them.

Record bank profits are good...M'Kay

It was somewhat bemusing to watch a One News piece last night about the banks making record profits again. The report wasn't really about how much profit they actually made, or on how exactly they made all that money; instead it was about how the banks' profits were justified and are somehow good for New Zealand.

I found this completely lopsided coverage rather concerning because of just how ludicrous the report was. Even though a number of interviews showed people thought such money should stay in New Zealand and be put back into local communities, in general there wasn't any balance given to the story.

Of course the reporter, Nadine Chalmers-Ross, soon dismissed the idea of keeping profits in the country where they originate. In fact the biased report couldn't be anymore pro-banking if she tried. The deluded reporter also presented the topic as if she was talking to pre-schoolers, with a number of corresponding info-graphics that were insultingly childish.

Here's TVNZ's report:

New Zealand's banks collectively posted a record profit in the year to April.

The country's eight main banks together made almost $4.3 billion which is up 22% on the previous year, according to KPMG.

KPMG head of financial services John Kensington says the banks came through the global financial crisis largely unscathed and are now benefitting from an improving economy.

It's strange that John Kensington is claiming that the increase in bank profits is because they "came through the global financial crisis largely unscathed". The GFC officially ended in 2009, so it should no longer have any effect on bank profits.

Here's the video:

Basically the report is saying that the increase in profits is justified because:

Banks employ 26,000 New Zealanders. 

They pay 1.5 billion in tax to the government. 

There's a return on investment from Kiwisaver funds if Australian banks profit.

What TVNZ is failing to tell you is that banks don't employ enough people, the banks aren't paying enough tax and the return on Kiwisaver investments from Australian owned banks is minuscule and certainly not justification for such exorbitant profits leaving New Zealand.

Nadine Chalmers-Ross then makes up some numbers about how the banks profit. She says banks make around 25% of their profits by moving money around and charging things like account fees and automatic payment fees, with the other 75% of their profits apparently from loans. She then asserts that all loans are made from people's savings, failing entirely to mention that most money a bank has to loan is gained at very low interest rates. She of course completely ignores the mechanisms of the Fractional Reserve Banking System.

However the most ludicrous claim Nadine makes is that banks would become insolvent if you defaulted on your loan repayments. In today's economic climate this is about the most ridiculous claim to make to justify such astronomical profits going overseas, especially when you consider the governments Open Bank Resolution process.

What Nadine Chalmers-Ross also failed to mention is that thousands of customers have become so disgruntled with their banks that they've registered for a class action to take the big banks to the high court over unfair default fees. This class action has been undertaken because the banks en masse haven't properly represented the true costs incurred for things like dishonour fees and late credit card payment fees. In other words they've been ripping their customers off and that's the real reason for so much of our hard earned cash disappearing overseas.

Tony Abbott fucks up

Today, ABC News reported:

The Coalition is already piling pressure on the Labor Party to "honour" the new government's mandate to repeal the carbon tax.

Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott yesterday instructed his department to begin drawing up the legislation to dump the carbon pricing scheme, and says Federal Parliament will resume in late October or early November to deal with it.

This is a very stupid tactical move by Tony Abbott and his honchos. It effectively means that they won't be able to repeal the carbon tax system anytime soon, which is good news for the environment.

Why you might ask? Well, the new Prime Minister of Australia doesn’t have the numbers in the upper house to pass his legislation. That means any controversial policy, such as repealing the carbon tax, simply won't happen.

When the bill doesn’t pass the first attempt, Tony Abbott will have to wait three months to be able to table the bill again. Being that there is still ten months before the upper house changes and there are no guarantees that a new Senate will increase the amount of climate change deniers within Australia's government, Tony Abbott has got his agenda and time frame wrong!

The only option available to the budgie smuggler when his stupid legislation fails a second time is to initiate a double dissolution and dissolve both houses of parliament. That would cause another election for the lower and upper house, which is risky business. Abbott has arrogantly said this option is on the table.

It is understandable that Abbott wants to look decisive in pushing ahead with his environmentally damaging policies, but in this instance he's just showing the world what a complete idiot he is...something we need no further proof of thanks.

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