Technically, we're on there; but we're not on there.

Commercial landlords would rather keep their properties empty than accept lower rents. This policy allows councils to force an auction for a lease after a property has been vacant for over a year.

This must be satire:

Various political parties are telling us how we can fix our ailing country, but the answer is simple. New Zealand’s woes can be solved in an instant.

By becoming the 51st state of America, our nation’s future will suddenly brighten.

It might require us to swear allegiance to the President of the United States, but just think of that and the other benefits.

Tariffs imposed on our exporters will be gone in an instant.

A flood of greenbacks will be invested into our ailing economy, resulting in artificial intelligence-inspired data centres dotting the countryside.

Living in a country where the Second Amendment applies will also end the archaic licensing rules that apply to the purchase of firearms.

A major disagreement with our neighbour Australia will no longer concern us as we will have a huge new umbrella of protection.

It will mean welcoming in nuclear warships and submarines of every type, so just think of the economic benefits to our port cities.

Hearts will burst with pride when our athletes compete under our new flag, and we Americans will stand en masse as the engaging Star-Spangled Banner anthem rings out.

With the Beehive becoming redundant, it can be replaced with a ballroom and permanent mixed martial arts arena, perhaps leading to a visit from Air Force One.

Tiaki Wai took over the running of Wellington’s water from Tiaki Wai in July

I hope that is a typo.

In the first minute, Guyon tries to frame her as liberal or conservative, and she eloquently describes who she is and how that framing is no longer effective.

https://consumerrights.wiki/w/User:Louis/Cameras_in_New_Zealand_school_bathrooms

From 1 July 2026, energy retailers in NSW, South Australia, and South-East Queensland must give households at least three hours of free electricity every day. No solar panels required. No need to own your home. You just need a smart meter and to opt in through your retailer to have access to free daytime electricity.

The scheme is called the Solar Sharer Offer. It works by passing on the benefit of cheap midday solar power, which has always existed on the wholesale market but never made it to your bill, directly to households. Since it was first announced in November 2025, one significant change has been made to the design. This article covers what that change is, how the scheme works in practice, and how to get the most out of it.

I'm a big fan of machine learning. I'd say this project needs a lot more public scrutiny.

I went to sign up for Club+ cause they said my card would stop working soon. Just as a side, I copy and pasted the terms of service and privacy policy into chat jippity and asked it if anything was strange. Looks like we're allowing them to build up and share/sell a pretty rich profile including license plate data and facial recognition.

Might be worth it to have a read beforevblindly clicking through.

Also, if you play minecraft this site can be useful: https://pooworld.co.nz/

TIL The Spinoff has a YouTube channel

There's quite a bit of fuckery with the billing. When I take the dollar amount listed as "Total Charges" and divide it by the total kWh listed under "EA Levy" I get $0.27 per kWh. That includes day rate, lines fees, and all the other easy-to-understand charges.

Swarbrick's face afterwards is gold.

The closing date for submissions is 11.59pm, Thursday, 02 July 2026

https://www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/54SCJUST_SCF_27DD41AB-ACD3-4AFA-A59F-08DEB151B1C7/summary-offences-move-on-orders-amendment-bill

Some interesting "Wealth Tax" ideas in there and proposed changes that would net an extra ~$5B (estimated).

• Big corporations tax: The corporate tax rate will be increased from 28 percent to 33 percent for big companies with annual turnover exceeding $30 million. This will impact about 0.7 percent of businesses (e.g. banks, supermarkets and energy companies).

And new income tax rates:

Current

Proposed

So disingenuine