A brief review of the past two weeks

Here's a bullet point summary, some things have been left out - but as you know I was on holiday :

Trust in media fell from 53% in 2020 to 42% last year, and then all the way down to 33% today. The Otago Daily Times was most trusted, followed by RNZ and the NBR, and NewsRoom, TVNZ and Business desk tied for third.

The 9 stretch goals by 2030 described by Luxon ended up being incremental small improvements and not transformational at all. The goal of reducing 50,000 off job seeker included people with disabilities.

Matt Doocey was blindsided when he discovered that the PSA revealed the Suicide Prevention Office could be a victim of Government razor gang cuts - and Doocey should have had a conversation behind closed doors about the 134 jobs set to go instead of overstepping the mark with his expectations.

Sharon Murdoch published a cartoon of Steven Joyce exiting a revolving door saying "bye, but emerging on the other side saying "Hold the Gravy Train, I've got a $4,000 per day ticket to ride".

The Government removed references to Māori experiences in the NZ plan to eliminate racism. The Iwi Chairs Forum withdrew from the plan run by Paul Goldsmith.

Erica Stanford said the History Curriculum needs a shakeup so kids know the "highest mountain and longest river and capital cities". Pub quiz ready and history is geography according to Erica.

David Seymour wanted kids to go back to school rather than protest the lack of Climate action.

Duplicity-Allan said Luxon was on a roll with his second quarterly action plan. Seymour claimed credit for 50%.

Damien Grant wrote that Adrian Orr's continued tenure at the Reserve Bank was intolerable but could not really prove why as inflation continues to fall and Damien skipped past the 100 page report the RBNZ wrote about actions in hindsight to inject his own bat shite crazy conclusions about printing money.

A "panel of experts" will review the methane targets for 2050 and report back by 2050. Chlöe said this was just delay and wasteful duplication because an independent review of emissions had already been made into the reduction of targets.

Simeon Brown was determined to re-introduce referenda for Māori wards by the end of this term. King Charles was quoted saying "Māori must always be at the top of the decision table" and Andrew Judd clarified that this is not "race based" but "treaty based".

Hamilton Rates Increases at 19% or 80% over the past five years made many feel the Mayor's $10,000 jolly overseas was out of whack.

It took Nicola Willis until Valentines Day 14th February to cancel the mega ferry ship building contract - 2 whole months after she pulled the plug - according to OIA requests.

A huge fall in the uptake of EVs followed the governments introduction of Road User Charges. New petrol vehicles will stay on our rods for 20-25 years and make up the vast majority of new purchases.

Duplicity-Allan used partisan language saying Labour and Green Party supporters "wailed" that a country is not a company. She also sold how Luxon not letting critics dissuade him was a strength rather than a bloody minded failure to listen. The quarterly plan was packed with easy wins but Duplicity worried "he could go from being seen as the business guy who knows money to the guy who does not care about people".

Hospitality complained that people are not buying coffee nor dinners as a effect of the Public Service cuts.

Treasury indicated it would axe 50 roles as the Public Service Commission announced that the number of Government workers had increased by 4.1% in the final 6 months of last year. Luxon called this disappointing - but as per usual that was ideological and not really based on need.

Louise Upston threatened to slash the accommodation allowance for 364,000 tenants saying it was not sustainable.

Liam Dann thought we had lost our mojo but equally we have not been inspired by Luxon. How he thought the mojo thing seemed anecdotal rather than based on evidence.

Luxon was hands off about a pay increase for MPs but this contrasted with Jacinda's pay freeze. Jason Walls tried to justify huge money for MPs using private sector CE pay.

The average house value was up 1.9% on last year but still down 13% on the market peak in 2021. Auckland values fell 0.2%.

Kate Hawkesby was fined $1,500 for breaching broadcasting standards over Māori and Pacific health comments. The usual discrimination from the usual folks.

There were no theories about why the Greens surged in the latest Atlas Network Taxpayers Curia Poll - unlike how there were theories about Act in February. The gap between left and right voting blocks narrowed and weirdly Chris Bishop was more popular than Chippy and Luxon. Talbot poll should be out by now?

Fringe whackball radio station "Reality Check Radio" begged for cash donations in a 14 minute PR video - cos free speech is not free lol.

Audrey Young scolded Labour and the Greens for daring to suggest Luxon's 9 crappy goals lacked an action plan as she donned pom poms and did high kicks - and said the opposition must learn not to attack popular policies. Audrey also blew smoke up Winston for meeting people and making speeches. However all of this boiled down to business as usual and a lack of ambition riding on the abating waves after the pandemic.

Luxon said Unions did not care about workers in a tit for tat about who loves who the most. Actions speak louder.

Melissa Lee was once again lost at sea about how to help NewsHub and TVNZ - a real mockery and a mess.

Nicola Willis told the Finance and Expenditure Committee she'd have to borrow more and failed to answer questions about this in Question Time as Gerry protected her evasion.

Morons continued to blame Jacinda for a fall in trust in media - while Winston manipulated his constituency with another speech.

The Medical Journal Neurology - published that high and low temperature variations are linked to people having strokes and that poverty was a factor.

Interest-co-nz published an article questioning whether we'd still have to borrow if Willis was not spending $15 Billion on tax cuts.

E-Tangata covered why Act's Treaty Principles Bill is based on BS , lies and deceptions that paint over the real meaning of the articles.

Casey Costello left $46 Billion in benefits out of her cabinet paper on smoke-free reforms. Health officials even briefed Costello about the significant economic benefits of the reforms but she still left all of that out.

Audrey Young reckoned a joint statement out of Washington from Winston virtually signs NZ up to pillar 2 of Aukus. Audrey said this suggested we are already "embracing" the prospect of engagement with Aukus. She said "Labour's alarm bells" were threatening a bi-partisan approach. ( Labour bad, National good )

Audrey also cited a load of waffle from Hooton and it was left to Helen Clark to slam down the facts to Jack Tame on Q&A. Helen said she had concerns about a lack of transparency as this centre right government swerved to greater engagement with the US after not making this clear before the election. She asked what is NZ up for? What do we really need? We need to keep our heads, keep an NZ lens - and what we do should contribute to lowering the tension.

Iran launched a drone attack after Israel bombed an Iranian embassy in Syria. Helen Clark said you can't bomb diplomatic premises and not expect retaliation. So this would not have been a surprise for Israel.

Lord David Cameron made a dick of himself in a TV interview as he argued Iran's response was too great when the journalist asked him what Britain would do if one of it's embassies was bombed. Yeah - the response would be swift and immediate and pretty big and of course Iran let everyone know it was coming.

Chris Bishop sent 200 letters to companies about their projects and at least two came out saying he had invited them to be part of the list that skips around environmental protections in the fast track consenting bill. Bishop denied it was an invitation but the language of the letter was damning.

Duplicity Allan had a crack at Nanaia Mahuta for not having as many face to face meeting in a pandemic as Winston is having now. The usual BS comparisons without context.

The NZ Herald Editorial lectured Labour about what it needed to focus upon - including how experienced Labour MPs should stand down and step aside. Clearly someone fairly right wing wrote the editorial as it described Luxon's 36 point plan as "bold and ambitious" and Winston "the master" of all things diplomatic.

Damien Grant blew Atlas Network smoke up Penk and Simon Court over ripping down the RMA when it came to building houses.

RNZ said Luxon had "Pep in his step" and was determined to prove the scoffers wrong - in his promise to "raise the energy" on his tour to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines before returning to NZ on 21 April. There was waffle about deepening relationships and future proofing relationships - which was code for doing nothing tangible.

Paddy Gower reacted to "go woke, go broke" critics as no new deal helped NewsHub news - but Stuff came to the rescue - delivering some kind of News from Saturday 6 July onwards. No new jobs had been decided on.

The NZ Herald reported an estimated $50 road toll for going up north and back across three of the Roads of National Significance. Wow.

Simeon Brown and Chris Bishop were ambushed by protestors while making an announcement. Signs saying Stop the fast track consenting and "Fossil fools' made a good hit on social media.

Brutal cuts to jobs in the Public Service - especially in Education had the PSA saying these were chaotic and dangerous and they would fight them. There's been no context nor proper explanation for things like halving the 30 jobs that provide free school lunches while we want to grow that service?

Nicola Willis announced she was buggering off on Tuesday next week to a catch up in the USA with other finance ministers and inflation fell to 4% but non-tradable inflation remains high at 5.8%.

Shane Jones made a pompous arse of himself again trying to mess with the Waitangi Tribunal as the Māori Law Society requested a review from Luxon over whether Jones had breached the Cabinet Manual.

David Letele appeared on RNZ 30 with Guyon and talked about his life - and how you don't prison your way out of gangs - and how entire wrap around services are needed not just harsh treatment for kids in Boot Camps. There was some news about a falling out between David and Luxon as Luxon was too fragile to handle some criticism.

A select committee report on school attendance recognised there are societal causes of non-attendance. It recommended the continuing provision of free school lunches and free period products, accompanied by an analysis of the effectiveness of both initiatives.

As I said - plenty got missed out cos I was on holiday - but this is just a brief review.

G News - A brief review of the past two weeks

G