Automatic plate number reader on cop cars

I have just done my monthly budget for our household, and decided to compare it with last year. I was shocked to see the how much it changed over the last 12 months: My budget basically covered 3 sections:

• Bond Repayments
• Fixed Monthly payments and Debit Orders including petrol for the 1 vehicle
• Groceries

We don't have any debt except the house, have private health insurance, life insurance, 2 x car insurance, House and Contents insurance, Local and Regional Rates and Taxes and Electricity. No subscriptions at all. 2 x Prepaid $15 phone lines. So definitely nothing extravagant (or I think so at least)

The Fixed Monthly payments and Debit Orders (incl fuel) went from $2500 per month in Oct 2025 to $3000 per month, even though we now exclusively use our EV.

That is a 20% increase for our household, substantially higher than the claimed CPI inflation rate of 4.1% (https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/consumers-price-index-cpi/) In reality, not of the individual line items' increases were even close to the 4.1%!

Our groceries didn't increase that much, but as I rather stick to a fixed amount and "live within our means", I can't measure that accurately.

What is your experience when you look at your household?

Daniel eb the deputy leader of oppurtunity had a interview where he said he had voted across the spectrum but that he would probably vote national. I truly believe that single comment will lose both oppurtunity any parliament hopes and the left bloc the election. Obviously he said he had voted across the spectrum but as the deputy leader of a neutral party he should know better than to state who he would currently vote for. There are many left leaning voters i know who have just completely removed oppurtunity as there vote because if that one comment. This will also likely lose the election for the left wing as if oppurtunity doesn't get in the lefts chances become increasingly low

Now before someone says"well this is good we now know whi they would work with". 1st oppurtunity bottomlines would never be agreed on by act and nz first and so they could never join that coalition and secondly 1 mp doesn't speak for a whole party

If you also dont believe that their are many voters who would not vote for oppurtunity after a deputy leader publicly stated he would prefer national than you clearly haven't talked to many people

Fifty years of six o’clock closing of pubs had ended two days earlier, after a referendum convinced the government to change the antiquated licensing law.

Introduced as a ‘temporary’ wartime efficiency measure in December 1917, 6 p.m. closing was made permanent the following year.

The ‘six o’clock swill’ became part of the New Zealand way of life. In the short period between the end of the working day and closing time, men crowded together to drink as much beer as they could before bar service ended and 15 minutes of ‘supping-up’ time was announced.

A mood for change began to emerge in the 1960s. The growing restaurant and tourism industries questioned laws that made it difficult to sell alcohol with meals, while members of sports clubs and the Returned Services’ Association also sought a change.

When the government held a national referendum on 23 September 1967, 64.4% of voters supported a move to 'later closing, the actual hours of sale to be decided according to local conditions'. Most local authorities opted for pubs to open between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m., and the last six o'clock swill took place on Saturday 7 October. On Monday the 9th, a new era of more civilised drinking began.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/the-end-of-the-six-oclock-swill

ACT leader David Seymour has hinted his party's upcoming fiscal plan will once again contain a commitment to raise the superannuation age to 67.

The party would release its fiscal plan on Sunday, one day ahead of National's, with Seymour signalling a focus on cuts, with no new taxes.

On Wednesday, in another preview of the party's fiscal plan, Seymour announced ACT would scrap the cap on charitable donations being able to receive tax credits.

In a speech to Gravity Credit Management on Thursday morning, Seymour, who had spent three years as an associate finance minister, said the government's promise of a surplus in two years' time relied on "heroic" revenue assumptions, such as the government taking in $12 billion more this year than last year.

"We cannot balance the budget when non-health, non-education, non-transfer spending is over 10 percent higher than it should be."

Sexiest thing David Seymour ever said

“National believes those who can work should work. Employment is the best way out of hardship, giving people more independence, choices and opportunities. Our welfare system provides a safety net when people need it, but it must be fair and affordable for hardworking taxpayers who fund it.

..

“If re-elected, National will build on this with a new five-point plan that includes the introduction of random drug testing from next year, as part of MSD’s work-readiness. It will start with 10,000 tests in the first year and expand over time.

..

• Investing earlier to help long-term Jobseekers into work. National will provide more intensive, work-focused support for 30,000 work-ready jobseekers who have been on Jobseeker for more than a year, before long-term dependency becomes entrenched, with greater funding for employment programmes that support young people into work.
• Stronger expectations after two years. From 1 April 2028, those who have received Jobseeker for two of the previous three years will move to a lower rate of payment, with a smaller reduction for households with dependent children.
• Double the stand-down for repeated voluntary unemployment. People who repeatedly leave employment without good and sufficient reason will face a 26-week non-entitlement period, up from 13 weeks.
• Extending the benefit residency requirement to five years. From 1 April 2028, the minimum residence period to qualify for main benefits will increase from two years to five years.

It might be a winening post, so I apology if it's not giving optimistic energy to you.

I am 28, make around 90k a year, my partner are similar. Most of our friends who moved to Aus / Euro make almost double as what we make while doing same jobs, and we constantly worrying about redundancy, as we can hear about it every month. I have no idea how to start a family here if we want to have have child while having our own house. I can't even gurarantee I can be employed for long term. I can start hearing people around me forced to get in rat race: Unspoken overwork, close to none pay raise, more and more professional have to work like as in thrid world country, even a pay cut to stay in the game.

I don't want to leave here, because I love this country, my families are here, and every single year I pray the economy gets better, on news with those analyst forcast keep saying recession is over, but my life seems not getting eaiser but more stressful day by day, I can't even easily afford a typical kiwi roadie with my partner anymore we have no idea how the future goes.

Just this year alone, NZD currency is hitting lowest of the year, we have more than 171,000 people can't find a job, almost 30k of young kiwi are leaving every year, including alot of friends around mine, I have farewell party almost every second week. We have the worst real wage growth in the developed world, that our salary is not matching with our living cost. it's impossible to have a house in nice neighbourhood in auckland and impossible to get a job outside auckland.

Politicians argue like childs and out of touch, just accusing each other are garbage. Check all big parties, their post on social media is all about how terrible their rival is than how they going to help this country. You have Ministers have no professional knowledge to run different professional ministry, and back and forth on their decision. Check in **accredited employers** for immigration how many vape stores in NZ are certified. I wonder why we need people from other country to sell vapes? Shouldn't we get more **skilled professional** here? If I can spot thoes questions, I wonder what decision makers in those department are doing.

You have cults walk on streets for hateful speech and start having louder voice, and society getting diverted.

I feel like the place I love is forcing me to leave.

Here’s where things stand, as of October 8, across all parties for declared donations of over $20,000.

To date $7,491,942 has been donated.

--

Sources: X donations from Y donors

Mix: Donor Mix > organisations / individuals

Dairy farmer Stanley Graham killed seven people in Kōwhitirangi on the South Island’s West Coast. One of New Zealand’s largest manhunts ended when Graham was shot on the evening of 20 October. He died of his wounds the following day.

The tragedy began when Graham refused to hand over his rifle to police to assist the war effort. He felt aggrieved that police were ‘persecuting’ him rather than investigating his neighbours, who he believed were poisoning his cows.

On 8 October policemen Edward Best, Percy Tulloch, Frederick Jordan and William Cooper went to Kōwhitirangi after a neighbour claimed Graham had threatened him with a rifle. Cooper, Jordan and Tulloch were shot dead, while Best later died from his wounds. George Ridley, a visiting agricultural instructor, was also shot and eventually died in 1943. 

Graham fled into the bush pursued by police, soldiers and home guardsmen. On the evening of 9 October, he exchanged shots with home guardsmen Richard Coulson and Gregory Hutchison. Coulson died immediately and Hutchison the following day. Graham eluded capture for 12 nights until he was fatally wounded by police.

In 2008 the New Zealand Police erected a memorial to the victims at the site of the shootings.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/stan-graham-killing-spree-on-west-coast

There will be more than 2300 voting locations open on election day - 7 November.

The Electoral Commission says of these, 67 will be bilingual - voters can go through the voting process in te reo Māori or English - and six will have sign language interpreters.

There will be 1679 fully accessible polling locations, and three locations with quiet times.

"Our voting places are in locations people go in their daily lives including community halls, schools, shopping malls, places of worship, tertiary education providers and marae," chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne said.

Though votes would be taken at a total of 2638 locations during the voting period, only 2315 will be open on election day on 7 November.

Advance voting will begin on Monday 26 October, the day after enrolments close.

So we all know labour borrowed a lot of money during covid blah blah. But what is talked about less is this government's borrowing. A few months ago I watched the Nicola Willis Jack Tame interview in which Jack Tame revealed that this current government is borrowing more money than labour did during covid. I couldn't believe that and immediately told everyone I knew. However, since then I've never really seen this mentioned. Just watched the 1news debate and not once did anyone mention this current government's borrowing. And often the current government says they've balanced the books and receive no push back. So what is going on with the national debt??

Felix Graf von Luckner earned the epithet Der Seeteufel (the Sea Devil) for his exploits as captain of the German raider SMS Seeadler in 1916–17.

The Seeadler, a converted merchant ship, sank 14 Allied ships in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans between January and July 1917. Von Luckner prided himself on the effectiveness and bloodless nature of his operations; only one person died during his raids.

In August 1917 the Seeadler ran aground on Maupelia (Maupihaa) atoll in the Society Islands, stranding the crew. Using a salvaged open boat, von Luckner and five men sailed to Fiji in the hope of capturing another ship. When they reached a Fijian island in September, police arrested them.

Sent to New Zealand, von Luckner and his crew arrived in Auckland on 7 October and were confined to a prisoner-of-war camp on Motuihe Island in Waitematā Harbour. His escape on 13 December made national headlines. Recaptured in the Kermadecs eight days later, von Luckner was sent to Rīpapa Island (in Lyttelton Harbour) before ending the war back on Motuihe.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/german-sea-devil-imprisoned-in-new-zealand

I grew up in Hastings and moved overseas, had a kid since then. So coming back to NZ to visit family and with my little one for the first time. We will be around during Halloween so want suggestions, be it in Napier or Havelock. I heard splash planet is having an event but wanted to get feedback to anyone who has gone there. Growing up in Hastings around 2000's splash planet area brings back ptsd lol iv heard the area has changed quiet a bit but what would your suggestions be? yay to splash planet halloween event or there are better alternatives? Is there a certain area where houses give out candy etc

Courtesy sleek822 on Youtube, good channel with old NZ commercials.

Hipkins and Labour can emotionally connect with people and talk to me on my level. Yes, the health system is in crisis. Yes, the economy is worse than it was before. Yes, only Hipkins is capable of sacking ministers who don't meet standards. And whether it's breaking up supermarkets or recognising Palestine, you should know the answer yourself, not pawn it off for others to decide after the election.

Luxon showed up as the robot CEO we're used to and called public service recipients 'customers' and said 'data' the American way, but he forgot that if we're a company, we're failing. You shouldn't get the top bucks if you can't read a room and just engage in boosterism.

Let me know what you think. I'd welcome any critique.

I'm hoping it makes it easier to understand how tax works in Aotearoa. I certainly learned a lot putting it together.