Aotearoa / New Zealand

The government once again shows how incompetent they are.

New Plymouth dog owners play it safe when it comes to naming their pooches, with Bella proving the top dog in the naming stakes.

It is the most common dog name registered with the district council, with 155 pooches answering to Bella followed by Poppy (138), Charlie (122), Max (120) and Luna (118).

Animal Control Supervisor Scott Goldfinch said there were also more unusual choices.

"Then there are the unique names, like Autobot and Winnifred Wolf Allen. And personally, I really like Ronnie Barker."

Racing Minister Winston Peters has announced the Government’s plans to end greyhound racing in New Zealand.

“This is not a decision that is taken lightly but is ultimately driven by protecting the welfare of racing dogs,” the Minister said in an announcement at the Beehive on Tuesday afternoon.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/21635645

Barely half the teenagers who tried to pass the critical NCEA literacy and numeracy benchmark via online tests this year have succeeded, final results indicate.

They show that more than 100,000 students attempted at least one of the tests over the two rounds, with more than 80,000 sitting each subject. They had pass rates of 55 percent in numeracy, 66 percent in writing and 70 percent in reading.

Students must pass all three tests before they can receive any NCEA qualifications.

A new type of technology will connect Tai Rāwhiti communities to civil defence during disasters - even when all other communications are wiped out.

During Cyclone Gabrielle, power and cellphone connections to most of Gisborne and Hawke's Bay were cut, but Tai Rāwhiti's Civil Defence has now come up with a solution, as part of its new kit for disaster preparedness.

Last weeks thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

That didn't take long.

From the shitty article, it's not clear who manages that list and gets to expand it. Is it the police or parliament or the judiciary? Also, no exploration of what the police want to add to the list.

Hopefully it's just low level gangs that don't make the national news headlines... but part of me suspects that it'll include any anti-establishment groups like Greenpeace and SAFE and the Palestinian flag any iwi and anyone else critical of the government.

Edit: sigh, I guess I have to word that second paragraph better. Try applying the lesson in this poem and see if you think this legislation could be expanded andused in a similar fashion t events it describes:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

We're at the first stanza, except it's "gangs".

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22597332

Summary

New Zealand’s royal commission into its Covid-19 response found vaccine mandates were reasonable based on available data but acknowledged they harmed social cohesion.

The report praised the country’s elimination strategy for achieving one of the lowest Covid death rates among developed nations while preventing healthcare system collapse.

However, it criticized prolonged lockdowns, weak health system preparedness, and a lack of planning for future crises.

Commissioners urged broad investment in pandemic readiness and emphasized the importance of both frontline and planning staff.

A second phase of the inquiry will review vaccine harms and conclude in 2026.

The Spinoff founder Duncan Greive says there's "no plan b" to save the website if an attempt to dramatically increase the number of paying supporters is not successful.

He and The Spinoff's chief executive Amber Easby and editor Madeleine Chapman issued an open letter on Thursday, outlining the financial predicament of the platform.

"Two of those buckets have been leaking hard lately. The steep decline in advertising for local media has been well documented. We're no different - we've just seen the worst monthly decline since the business was founded.

The Spinoff also discovered on Friday that all of its proposals had been declined in another round of NZ on Air funding, for the second time in a row.

"Meanwhile, our Creative NZ funding has been halved this year, and the Public Interest Journalism Fund, which currently supports two roles within our small team of 31, is due to finish next year. While the state is under no obligation to fund our work, it's hard to watch as other platforms continue to be heavily backed while your own funding stops dead."

They said as a result, as well as reducing staff count, The Spinoff had frozen virtually all external editorial commission and put newsletters on hiatus. It had also paused publication of The Friday Poem.

You can donate here if you want to help.

...He said the crew did not realise Manawanui remained in autopilot and, mistakenly believed its failure to respond to direction changes was the result of a thruster control failure...

Hows that for a work story... I've had some bad days at the office, but they have not resulted in the loss of a $100 million dollar piece of equipment.

Last weeks thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

One said Māori were like seagulls: if you feed them "more come - and then they start crapping on you."

Another said that over the years there'd been a "self-serving reinterpretation of the Treaty to benefit the Māori elite".

Yet another reckoned that before Pākehā brought colonisation and war Māori "were killing each other anyway".

There was talk of what percentage of Māori ancestry should count, and an assertion that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wasn't brave enough to investigate Māori organisations with charity tax status.

Holy fucking shit. I hope that even Seymour might have winced at these comments.

A right wing politician speaking to a room of rich white racist retirees who think the natives are too uppity and need taking down a peg or two; if ever there was a generation who I wish would just shuffle off this moral coil.

Oh FFS.

Regardless of the racially charged headline... the only reason to arm police with sidearms is to make it easier for them to kill people extra-judicially. That's the only function a side arm has.

Police already have easy access to firearms in their vehicles.

Apparently 68% of police see Judge Dredd as an idol.

Heaven forbid the media helps people practice democracy, the article's author/editor has no interest in providing a link to the petition, so here it is: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/kati-stop-the-introduction-of-the-treaty-principles-bill

Interestingly it was already submitted to parliament with 203,653. As of writing it's up to 284,911.

Amusingly one of the figures from the article is a comparison to ACT's votes: 246,473. One might argue that any claim by Seymour of a "mandate" are dubious.

Last weeks thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

A Head Hunters gang associate was arrested on Thursday morning, and a rifle was thrown from a car, when police descended on him.

Footage of the arrest showed the 31-year-old man driving erratically on grass before the car stopped.

A man outside the car then reached in, pulled out the rifle and threw it into nearby bushes.

The driver got out of the car and knelt down as police arrested him on serious charges after his alleged reckless driving played out across Auckland overnight.

This sounds utterly terrifying for the family to go through, and the actions of OT sound to me like they cross the line into criminal negligence.

Just unbelievable.

The image in the article shows a car blocking the footpath.

Every person complaining in this article was actually blocking the footpath: because they don't think the kerb crossing is footpath they think it's their driveway, I imagine it's the same for the berm crossing that is actually public property too.

a vehicle parked alongside any part of a kerb crossing provided for a driveway or within 1m of the prolongation of the side of a driveway must be regarded as obstructing entry or exit.

It's endemic where I live, I assume it's the same everywhere.

I do however agree that the council should probably have advertised that they were going to start actually enforcing the rules.

I get it, storage of your vehicle is more important than everyone else's use of the roadway.

Sal's Pizza seems to be saving $0.78 in mushrooms on every pizza and now losing one customer because of it.

I've noticed it getting slimmer and slimmer over the year, but this is just "fuck you" level.

Last weeks thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?