Commencement speeches - 28 January 2025

The identity theft has me too frazzled to do much. My money's safe, even if they do have my bank information, as my Mum has the remaining money. There's never more than a few hundred in my account, so it's not a valuable asset. The prank emails and phone calls continue. Had to take my phone number off my page, which might deter future pranksters, but isn't doing much atm. Watching from home isn't going to help much, but this way I'm still working. - Having a beer. Typing on my laptop. Government Motion about the death of a police officer (Lyn Fleming). Luxon sounds very genuine. Government Motion: it's one of those wanks where every leader says the same thing regarding some significant issue (power outages, Palestine, sports). Tedious and boring. Not all leaders in this one: Tam was brief, while Nicole McKee is harping on. Rawiri spoke entirely in Te Reo. 2:20 pm. - Laptop's back. AMPP page is ready to go, but people need to donate to fund future ads and AI videos. A few hundred bucks could cause some mild havoc. Haven't rewatched the documentary series over the holidays. The opera is shaping up, and I wrote my first little bit of an actual scene, along with two short songs. - Debbie moved a motion without notice to recognise the passing of Tariana Turia. She's wearing a cool tie. Debbie's into the anti-fashion ethos. - Camera team showed that they can see the MPs typing after I moaned that stuff isn't visible in the TV coverage. Neat shot. - Another good speech by Debbie. She's one of my favourite speakers when she gets a big block of uninterrupted time to speak. Tama sounds a bit listless. The brown faces look quite dark on my monitor: it's not as though they use bounce lighting in Parliament. Overhead lighting tends to darken the face, as there's no fill. Rawiri's face is virtually invisible (like Reginald's face in the NZ on Screen version). Adrian's on the back bench, so the light is directly above him; plus he has hair, so most of the light isn't being absorbed by the chrome dome. - Chloe's turn. She's alright. Brief, which was good. - The Pink Skull Using Tariana's memory to push his Treaty Principles Bill (imo .. dog whistle). Bad taste, but he's a shameless shill. Used charter schools as an example. - Debate on Prime Minister's Statement: Well, it's not likely that we're going to get to Question Time at this rate! 2:53pm. The Omelette is droning on... 'we are a coalition on this side: they're a no-alition on that side' - Omelette. Interesting choice: he's doing a stand-up comic thing. Unfunny, but yeah.

National isn't willing to let go of being the party of farmers just yet. '35% of their week being tied up in filling out paperwork' - Omelette. 'Yes we do' - Omelette on tourists. He sees us as a banana republic. 'Real consequences for crime .. we are capping those sentencing discounts' 'Increase penalties for criminals who attack first responders.' Stalking laws -- I haven't seen those. 'Didn't we do well taking it to gangs last year?' 'New Zealand is where the opportunities are, not the UK or Australia' - Omelette. - 3:09 pm - Chippy's turn. 'You could see them pulling out their phones after only a few minutes' - Chippy on the National MPs. 'It's still getting harder for New Zealand families.' '$200 million in tax cuts for tobacco companies' 'All governments have choices. This government is making the wrong ones' 'Forget the rock star economy. Nicola Willis is aiming for rock bottom ... that is the early legacy of this National government' - clearly Chippy doesn't see the coalition as a threat.

'What we grow and how we grow it actually matters as well' - some out-of-context stoner speak. 'They are gouging New Zealanders every day' - Chippy on the power companies. 'Your access to healthcare should not be determined by how wealthy you are ... whether you live or die should not be determined by your bank balance' 'The Regulatory Standards Bill is a bill that has no right to be in this House' 'Work should not kill people, and it should not make them sick. That is not too high a price to pay, Mr. Speaker ... our rate of workplace death and injuries is far too high.' 'We could be an international powerhouse for renewable energy ... we could be investing in our future now, rather than delivering austerity.' - 3:31pm - Chloe's turn. 'What is the point of government?' .. 'To look after this thing that we call the social contract' 'That is what makes a nation, Mr. Speaker, working together.' 'No one, Deputy Prime Minister, is entitled to earn a profit.' '200 years ago, there was no idea of the concept of cost of living' The Omelette is long gone. Chloe's doing ok. 'Public ownership protects the dignity of everyone' Reaching into the past to talk about the failures of colonialism/privatisation, which are essentially the same thing in her eyes. 'Government members laughed at me' - Chloe's got hurt feelings. 'This government is more interested in the rights of corporations than the rights of its citizens ... New Zealanders do not dream of lining the pockets of offshore corporations ... we do not dream of fruitless competition and exhausting ourselves into the ground.' Onto my second beer. 'This system is crazy-making ... they want the little guys fighting, not organising.' He Ara Anamata - alternative emissions reduction plan. 'Green jobs guarantee planting native trees instead of pine [and lots of other stuff].' 'We do not want imported culture wars.' 'Politics belongs to those who turn up' ... hard not to see that as a dig! - 3:51pm - The Pink Skull Wow, he's just completely out of touch. Speaking like he's already Deputy PM. 2% inflation ... 'that is a real victory for New Zealand ... this government has killed inflation' I never see any Act activists around Parliament. Now he's attacking Chloe. 'Chloe Swarbrick's speeches these days are so unhinged that people are actually moving to Te Pāti Māori' Lots of financial jargon. That makes me switch off. Lecture on economic growth. Everyone from TPM is gone, except for Debbie. Well, he's not whistling my tune, but he's probably impressing his fan base. Brooke's taking notes (or doing busywork). 'Even in the Soviet Union, people covertly held private property' 'If we have $570 billion of assets and $200 billion of debt ... do we have the balance right?' 4:20 is likely to come and go soon... 'New Zealand, at its heart, is an egalitarian project .. we all breathe the same air' 'A bill very much like it will come into law' - the future of the Treaty Principles Bill. - 4:11pm - Winston's turn. The House is mostly empty. Winston told the TV people to show a wide shot. They didn't. Greg O'Connor took him to task as the assistant speaker. One of the Speaker's rulings says that members can't comment on absent people, so he was told to continue his speech without riffing on the empty seats. Geez, he's a bit senile. This could go on for a while... 'New Zealanders will understand this: next year will be better, and the year after that.' Now he's targeting the remaining Labour MPs: Arena, Kieran. Asking them to tell him how many metres of light rail were built etc. 420! '$4 million spent on playing whale songs and music to kauri trees to prevent dieback' - look that up. I have no idea if it's real or not. 'I've never seen such foolishness in New Zealand politics as I have seen in recent times' 'added value' -- said that a few times. 'Extraction is critical to the economy's that's coming' Gotta pee... Rawiri's come back. 'I've got the microphone and I'll be here long after you're gone' - Winston. 'We're in a fight to the top to turn our economy around ... The Greens and Te Pāti Māori in a fight to the bottom.' 'A modern version of Das Kapital' - Winston's take on Chloe's speech. Wow! he's really digging into Rawiri. This is totally insane. This is news: I regret not being there. 'use proper names' - O'Connor. He's gone over the 20 minutes with all the interjections. - 4:34pm. Debbie's turn 'What I've witnessed this afternoon ...' - fair to say today is real chaotic. 'There was no Maori mention ... there was no Te Tiriti mention [loads of others]' 'We will not be thanking him' - to the PM. 'We are refusing to become part of the culture that the government has perpetuated.' Takuta and Hana are back in the House. '1352 Maori arrests' 'We've seen a lot of whanau suffocating under the cost of living' 'The embarrassment that the rest of the world has seen in the race relationships in Aotearoa' Yep, they're riding high from the hīkoi. Lots of confidence. Debbie wants the standard of debate in the House to rise, which I agree with. 'Our prediction that this will be a one-term government.' 'hate and berate, divide and conquer' - her view of the coalition. 'Our growth plan will not revolve around stealing Māori rights.' I reckon there's a bit of a greenie spin in the TPM ideas. 'We need to have a constitutional discussion ... the discussion should be led by iwi and hapu' 'My mokopuna are laughing at politicians talking about Te Tiriti' 'You cannot be Prime Minister with a statement that ignores we exist' 'Our foreign policy' - is to be built out of Indigenous links. That's anti-Five Eyes! That's a bold statement. Rawiri is the Foreign Affairs person, so that might be why Winston is targeting him. Quoted Chris Finlayson to wrap things up. 4:54pm.