Almost forgot this one. I remember notating and writing about it at the time but there's so much going on.
Another deceptive National tactic at play here
Video from social media
So this gentleman is a co-Free Speech Union Council member with Ani O'Brien and frankly I kind of feel sympathy for him because I think he actually believes their mission is real.
Anyway, I know "The Post" (Stuff brand) published him last year and today I learned he's on an RNZ Political Panel "Afternoons" with Natalia Albert who I find to be a lightweight too (Albert is good at the I'm everything and everyone thing and it shouldn't surprise she was from TOP)
Anyway, I am kind of floored that Mr Dane Giraud gets published and on RNZ - the Jordan Williams networks must be super influential because well ... I don't know if I can look at media the same way anymore. Or politics.
The "Two Sided" "Free Speech" push from the alt right and libertarians has worked really well for them....interesting stuff
“I write on behalf of a constituent, Philip Polkinghorne, whose wife died just over one year ago. I am sure you will be aware of the case. In short, Mr Polkinghorne has had a harrowing and traumatic experience but feels he has been treated like a suspect rather than a traumatised member of the public.
“Philip has, over the past year, had the following experiences at the hands of the police.
“On the day he discovered his wife dead, Mr Polkinghorne immediately rang 111 and received assistance from the police. A number of officers arrived promptly, and Mr Polkinghorne gave a statement to a police officer. The officer treated Mr Polkinghorne with respect and sympathy.
“Mr Polkinghorne was then asked if he would accompany the police officers to a nearby station, and have the statement typed, and then to sign that document. Mr Polkinghorne agreed to that course of action.
“Bear in mind, he had not showered, nor had anything that morning to drink or eat and was in a very distressed state. Mr Polkinghorne was directed to a police vehicle and was escorted into the back seat. He was then left alone in that vehicle for perhaps 15 minutes. He discovered he was then “trapped”, as he described, unable to get out of the vehicle, presumably because of the locking mechanism.
“At the police station Mr Polkinghorne was asked what he thought was to be some supplementary questions, but this evolved into a prolonged interview lasting some 4 hours.
“This interrogation was made without cautioning Mr Polkinghorne and his rights were also not explained to him. There was no advice made to Mr Polkinghorne that he could or should seek legal advice. I understand this negates the usefulness of this document in any subsequent legal action.
“A transcript of that interview was provided to Mr Polkinghorne’s legal representatives in July 2021 and is as I understand is in excess of 160 pages. The transcript also includes a telephone conversation, initiated by Mr Polkinghorne’s legal counsel Mr Tony Bouchier towards the end of the interview. This must be a gross breach of Mr Polkinghorne’s privacy.
Within a few weeks of his wife’s death, Mr Polkinghorne sought assistance with a registered psychologist. The police were not informed of this private matter; however the psychologist was contacted via email by a police officer requesting Mr Polkinghorne’s diagnosis and what future appointments were to be made. Again, this is highly inappropriate I would have thought and quite invasive to Mr Polkinghorne’s privacy and welfare.
“During the investigation of the death of Mr Polkinghorne’s wife the police conducted an extensive scene examination of the house where Mrs Polkinghorne was found. Coinciding with that scene investigation, the NZ press reported that the police had found illegal substances on the premises, and that a private investigator was in the likely employ of Mrs Polkinghorne.
“Added to this prejudicial information being released, the police informed directors of Auckland Eye where Mr Polkinghorne was employed, on at least two separate occasions, they had evidence that Mr Polkinghorne was involved in money laundering. The officers in their briefing stated some $2,000,000 had been passed by Mr Polkinghorne to a [Doctor X]*. Both Drs Polkinghorne and [Doctor X] strenuously deny that allegation which has never been tested in court and as it stands appears to breach the Bill of Rights.
“The Police have also informed the Medical Council of New Zealand, in mid 2021, that illicit drugs were found during the scene examination and made it plain these substances must have belonged to Dr Polkinghorne because they were found under the bed on the side he slept on. In this documentation I am informed there are inconsistencies in the alleged quantity of drugs found at the premises and to date the ownership of these drugs has not been established.
“More recently the Police have requested the outcome of the investigation into Mrs Polkinghorne’s work-load at Counties Manukau District Health Board be withheld from the family. While this application is being reviewed by the Office of the Ombudsman it seems to the family, the interference of the Police into this area of concern to the family is neither appropriate nor reasonable. There is as I understand no suggestion the review by Counties Manukau is criminal in nature, meaning the police are interfering without just cause.
“The NZ Police have also denied access to the family of the results of the post-mortem and toxicology studies performed on Mrs Polkinghorne’s body. The outcome of these investigations should of course be viewed as a matter of fact and cannot be contested in principle so the family feel bewildered by this approach, when transparency should be respected.
“Approximately one month ago, Dr Polkinghorne accompanied his son to Australia. On arrival in Sydney Dr Polkinghorne was detained by immigration officials. The reason given was that he had not declared his “criminal record”. In fact, he has none, but this misinformation was obviously passed to the Australian authorities, by person(s) unknown. This too is the subject of an Official Information enquiry, but it is fair to bring this matter to your attention seeing it is highly likely this misinformation emanated from the NZ Police.
“One can understand the Police investigating an unexplained death with due diligence and Mr Polkinghorne, being Ms Hanna’s husband, was obviously close to the events. It’s understandable that Police would regard him as a person of interest. But in this instance the Police appear to have gone beyond that brief. While acknowledging the difficult balance Police must strike, Mr Polkinghorne feels that he has been subject to prejudice from the police in the above actions.
“I am very aware and supportive over the constitutional separation between Members of Parliament and Police operations. However, Mr Polkinghorne has approached me feeling he has no other avenues to pursue. I hope you can take this letter in the spirit it’s intended and consider how Police deal with Mr Polkinghorne at what continues to be a very difficult time for him.
“Yours sincerely,
David Seymour MP for Epsom"
Folks I encourage you to post socials or communications from parties - that includes all parties: ACT, TOP, Alliance, Greens, Labour but any misinformation will and can be removed
Our media is really stretched.
Today I saw two things, one was Hipkins responding to public service cuts and two was a Green Party spokesperson speaking up about the te Reo Maori attacks.
Both are important but I can't post everything - nor is it my role here.
NZ & Kiwi Politics Reddit is now mature enough so that users can and should take many of the postings.
And in that regard, I encourage and ask you to all share in this. Help each other learn and share information.
We are under attack and it's the only thing you can do.
Other things:
Enrol to vote - get your friends and family to and don't delay
Join a union, or an environmental group or fishing group - look for communities that you connect with to fight the conservative takeover of right wing privatisation and attacks on our media
Join a political party and donate, support, volunteer - don't just demand this or that from your key board. Feel what it feels like being one of them and then help
That's it from me
Thanks for all the support of this subreddit over this last year and two. It's been great to see the community grow, share and participate
The mod team here work hard but are all volunteers and I want to thank the amazing team for the efforts, it's not easy modding a politics subreddit especially in this age of astroturfs and bots and the ease with which disinformation is spread.
Signing off
Mountain Tui
The government's redesigned branding places "New Zealand Government" in bold above "Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa", reversing the previous order. Photo: Supplied / Screenshot
The government has updated its official branding to give greater prominence to English over te reo Māori, following a directive from new Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith.
The Public Service Commission sent the new logo to all ministries and departments this week, telling them to update their websites by the end of June, in line with the coalition's English-first policy.
The redesigned branding - which must be displayed on all agencies' homepages - places "New Zealand Government" in bold above "Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa", reversing the previous order.
In a brief statement to RNZ, Goldsmith said: "This was a coalition commitment that hadn't yet been achieved. Now we're doing it."
A spokesperson for the commission told RNZ the change-in-order reflected a "ministerial decision" and agencies would continue to use both languages.
The change would be delivered "digital first" with physical materials updated over time to minimise cost, the spokesperson said. The commission had also updated its own logo.
The English-first directive was won by NZ First during its negotiations with National in 2023. Their eventual coalition agreement stated that all public service departments - excluding those specifically related to Māori - would have their primary name in English and communicate primarily in English.
Goldsmith took over responsibility for the public service from Judith Collins in early April in advance of her retirement.
Shortly before the handover, Collins suggested the government's logo design was not a key priority, telling reporters she was focused on the fuel crisis, "not style guides".
A few months ago or maybe a year ago I asked the question, and I was told anecdotally she was a TERF who ran some anti-transgender accounts with a hidden name until it was unveiled as her.
But since then, I've come to get to know her more intimately, mainly after being on the receiving end of her smears about me whereby she took random messages from the internet and claimed it was me abusing her.
But the other thing I've learned is she is an ex-National Party staffer but even so, Judith Collins apparently didn't trust her, saying "Ani just can't help herself" during a law suit where National Party comms staff expressed some reservations.
It was the the Platform lawsuit whereby O'Brien sued Plunket after working for him for a year or so.
O'Brien also was fed National and ACT Party insider information by the anonymous National Party linked Twitter account "SuitandTie999" whereby they spared Lloyd Burr but took down Maiki Sherman the same week Simeon Brown wanted Maiki punished.
So Ani O'Brien IMHO is also a fringe blogger who doesn't need to adhere to journalistic standards nor cares to - leaving Lloyd Burr's alleged slurs unreported, but Maiki put out there without context.
Ani O'Brien works for Jordan Williams "Campaign Company" and she was behind the Hobsons Pledge ad that used the photo of an elderly Maori woman without permission, and against copyright protocols, to fight Maori Wards.
When the controversy erupted Ani O'Brien tried to deflect attention by claiming it was within the rules (it was not)
She's also a Free Speech Union councillor, the same organisation Jordan Williams set up.
At the same Ani O'Brien is very close to NZ First and Winston Peters.
Cam Slater seems to like her a lot and retweets her constantly and Mr Slater these days appears more aligned to NZ First than any other party (hopefully his health is improving too)
She earlier joined Liam Hehir this year in cheering on Trump to tell Trump to take over Cuba and joined other right wingers like David Farrar in appearing to encourage attacks on Iran's leaders before Trump did it.
I've just learned she also amplifies UK criminal and far right personality Tommy Robinson in many of her posts.
But the Green Party post she made this week - implying the Green Party want to be terrorists blew my mind, not because it was surprising but because of how unsurprised I ended up feeling.
So within a year, I feel like I've learned much more about Ms O'Brien's track record than Google could have ever shared, thanks to folks here and observing for myself.
This is hilarious! NZ Initiative's "AI" piece is littered with errors. It was being fanned last week or two by Nick Mowbray etc fervently
Look at it.
Also,you have to look at context which is what they have removed from this chart.
Finland has 12 Ministries but they oversee 42 departments - just as NZ has now. Incidentally Canada has around 40 Ministerial departments too
#AISlop #NZPOL
Seriously WTF guys. It sounded like she actually believes that all back office functions can be done by Grok
Some police officers say they are beginning unlawful industrial action - such as a go slow on issuing traffic tickets - following a 0.6 percent pay rise labelled a "kick in the guts".
The Police Association says while there have been "murmurings", it wants to remind members that any form of industrial action is "unlawful".
"What we don't want to see is members put themselves at unnecessary risk of breaching the law, and we cannot condone any activity that might be construed as industrial action outside of that which is legally permitted."
The association emailed members last week about collective negotiations with police in relation to both constabulary staff and police managers.
It had asked for a 12-month collective agreement that included a general wage increase that exceeded cost of living increases at 5 percent.
However, police had offered a general wage increase of 0.6 percent with competency service increments (CSIs) bringing the offer up to 2 percent. Staff are required to meet the required certifications, standards and competency for their role to get their CSI. The association and police are at odds over whether the annual CSIs should be included as part of a pay offer.
Managers - who number almost 900 - would get no pay rise.
RNZ has spoken to several police officers across the country, under the condition of anonymity, about what the association says is effectively a 0.6 percent pay rise.
A senior police officer told RNZ staff "will take informal action and have started".
Colleagues had said they were reducing their usual work rate of issuing tickets, and not making themselves available after hours by having their phones off. They were also being "vigilant" when it comes to claiming entitlements.
Article link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/595703/police-start-taking-informal-action-after-0-point-6-percent-pay-rise
The same Santana Chairman Joseph Mooney was protecting last year of course
Hey but don't worry you can't identify gangs anymore !!!! It's all under control!!!!