28 Comments

Plausible deniability works well for ACT — as you correctly identify, libertarians don’t understand how the world works. (Or they fully understand how the world works and they are rich and benefitting off it). Calling the reaction to the RSB an exaggeration reminds me a lot of the reaction to Atlas from conservatives when discussion turned to their clear influence on our politics. If you can’t disprove, deny.

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There are many of us good people Ryan. I'm so happy we got in the way of that little "public" consultation with our pesky submissions. I wrote about how regulation helped our community keep pokies away from being installed next to our kindergarten. We took it all the way to the high court and won because regulation was on ourside. I asked whether under this proposed bill if the property owner would have been awarded "loss of earnings ". There is a cafe I think there now. Power to the people. What next?

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Thank you Hester for your practical example of how regulations work. We have to keep the pressure on the government and let them know we know what they are up to. Hopefully that will slow them down at least a bit.

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If someone has the drive it maybe useful to talk with Labour Party MP's and let them know there is votes in this?

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Excellently articulated Ryan.

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I’m so glad you found it useful.

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Seymour does believe he is the saviour for the people. The people who are sorted that is who are alright bc they have excessive material. What though of the rest of the eighty plus percent of us who can’t relate to life as selfish little loners who are afraid of others with different opinions, people who speak their truth and to what is right,

I can’t understand why seymour can bulldoze over the years of scholarly work and evidence without giving it a second thought.

Sold out his mana, he is not to be trusted and he does feel his shame otherwise he would attend Ratana and Waitangi Day along with the other meetings he conveniently sidesteps to avoid having to face his bigoted self.

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The one piece of regulation that should be repealed is the Companies Act 1993. It is a means by which reward is privatized but risk transferred to the community.

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Yes. The way corporations can shift the harms to communities and not pay for them is crazy.

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Thank you Ryan, this was a great read. Keep it up

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Thank you! I’m so glad it was useful to you.

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Also Prebble wasn’t just an early joiner of ACT, he was the party leader from their first term in Parliament.

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Yes. That wasn’t clear in the piece. Will amend accordingly.

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Well said, Ryan!

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So what if socialists are opposed to the bill. Should socialism not be within the realm of democratic discourse?

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I would say yes but I think they’re using it as a catch-all for anyone left-leaning.

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Excellent piece thank you. I also found Prof Jonathan Boston's paper on the topic both informative and compelling https://newptc75.medium.com/nz-regulatory-standards-bill-prof-jonathan-bostons-take-f69476294f97

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I have started to listen to Michael Lewis well known for "The big short" & " Money-ball" and he has a series of podcasts titled "Against the rules" which is told often using sport as a scaffold, but is basically about why we need regulation. Really thought provoking, and he is such a good story teller. One whole season was about rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried.

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Thank you Ryan I love reading your work. Seymour and his ilk are seeing that many NZers are not being sucked in by their gaslighting.

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Thank you! I hope we can help enough people see through their language to what they really want to do.

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Very interesting, I wonder if any research has been done on whether NZ has been treated as a project to test these ideas. There seems to be something incongruous with so much effort in pushing nz down this route when economically we are minnows.

The way the ultra right fed the anti Jacinda movement(which in reality was only a handful) and the useful idiots in the media got sidetracked by the horse race of the polls.

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It seems an obvious ‘yes’, don’t you think?

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Oh yes, they really wanted to pull her down

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Oooh I was not aware of that. I will read her book. Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you Dame Anne for a most enlightening contribution! I have enjoyed reading all the comments that followed it too…..We are in trouble, and need all the strength we can muster to defeat this Government before it destroys everything good Kiwis stand for,!

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Nice work Sapphi. 👏👍😁

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Jan 23
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Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s truly sad how these politicians really seem to have no understanding or care for the people whose lives they are ruining.

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