Completely abolishing the death penalty was one of Europe's biggest mistakes.
I too would like to live in a fairytale version of the world where it would never be necessary, but alas, we do not.
Some people are so evil and their crimes are so heinous that they need to go.
@_MaccaNZ Sex based gyms would help that... Well we did have womens only gyms but they let the mentally ill men in those now days as well ๐คทโโ๏ธ
Apparently, job losses are only a national tragedy when they happen to people with university degrees.
Over the past decade, New Zealand has lost:
โข Around 300 direct jobs at Marsden Point when our only oil refinery closed. Local leaders estimate including contractors and supply-chain businesses, the loss was well over 1,000 jobs.
โข Around 120 direct jobs when the Holcim cement plant at Westport shut down, with significant flow-on effects for contractors, transport operators, and the coal industry that supplied it.
โข Around 230 direct jobs when Winstone Pulp closed its Karioi pulp mill and Tangiwai sawmill, along with many forestry, harvesting, engineering, and transport jobs that depended on those operations.
โข Around 230 direct jobs at Kinleith Mill when paper production was shut down, affecting contractors and suppliers throughout Tokoroa and the wider forestry sector.
โข Around 175-230 direct jobs when the Whakatฤne paper mill collapsed, plus the contractors, trucking companies, maintenance firms, and local businesses that relied on it.
โข Around 300 direct jobs when the Waimate Meat Company closed, with major impacts on livestock transport, contractors, and local service businesses.
โข Between 1,500 and 2,000 direct jobs across the coal sector following the collapse of Solid Energy and the decline of mining operations, alongside hundreds of contractor jobs in engineering, maintenance, transport, and support services.
All up, that's around 3,000โ4,000 direct blue collar jobs gone. Once you include contractors, suppliers, transport firms, engineers, maintenance crews, and the businesses that depended on those workers spending money in their communities, the true impact was likely somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 jobs.
Thousands lost their livelihoods. Sure there were a few stories, but they often emphasised how necessary it was for the environment or some other cause.
In many cases, the same people now lamenting public sector redundancies were actively cheering these closures on. We were told they were necessary. A transition away from unethical or dirty sectors. Progress. The price of climate action.
Workers were told to retrain. Learn how to code!!! "You just need to adapt!"
Now the cuts have reached Wellington and suddenly every redundancy is treated as a national emergency.
The same people who told coal miners, refinery workers, and mill workers to embrace change are now horrified that policy analysts, communications advisors, and bureaucrats might have to do the same.
Losing your job is hard regardless of who you are. A miner's mortgage matters just as much as a social media manager's mortgage. A forestry worker's family matters just as much as a policy advisor's family.
But the reaction over the past decade suggests many people in our political and media class don't actually believe that. To them, a blue collar worker losing their job was economic progress and necessary climate action.
A public servant losing theirs is a humanitarian crisis.
It seems that job losses only become a national conversation when they happen to people with the power to dominate the conversation.
@saltyreigns agree... but they are also great for garbage removal... just put stuff on for free and they come and collect it like the scavengers they are.. saves on dump fees.
@saltyreigns this is why most of the temp sensors that metservice use are installed out at airports on the sides of the grass runways usually. that's why the temp seen on those can differ by upwards of 5 degrees from what you may measure in a built up area/home.
Gen-X here:
We rarely ate at restaurants - including fast food.
Know why?
Because we were poor and it's ALWAYS been cheaper to make your own fucking food!
You motherfuckers have had it easier than EVERY fucking generation before you and you cry the most about the gayest shit.
WORK HARDER like we did, you lazy fucking douchebags.
@the_salty_one_ Ours is 30% ๐ But its because we were smart and didn't chase the *bling* like everyone does now days. Started with the Shoe Box and traded up to the bling and kept the original mort through equity.
@ZooNealand I'm half deaf and supplement my hearing with lip reading.. the Indians lips don't move with English words correctly... they get pissy AF when I ask for an English born person. Its a safety issue IMO.
@Dame__Jane@GeeBeeNZ Yep exactly we went through the same bank that holds our mort and they ALREADY have all the trust paperwork and everything else on file but apparently no. nope lol.
@Dame__Jane@GeeBeeNZ I own a double home with my mum, her 50% is in trust for my kids... we did a green loan end of last year and the amount of paperwork they needed from her was obscene - she's a retired lawyer so she just had to bite her tongue so we could get it done lol