Rays of Sunshine - Bravo, Bravo !

Plus Mountain Tui Substack Changes

Cartoon: Guy Body

Sam Sharpe Studio brought “Wrecking Ball Luxon” to the march

Oliver Mould provided an exciting statistic yesterday.

He wrote in the comments:

Source: Why Civil Resistance Works The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict

And I paused…

It was exciting to read that.

Thanks, OM.

A 35,000 turnout is 10% of the entire NZ Southern Health District.

Ōtepoti Dunedin has about 135,000 people so that’s a 26% city turnout.

Paul Le Comte, a local photographer, said people were turning up from Queenstown & Oamaru:

“CigiReti & the Smoking Man have no idea what they've done,” he remarked.

Of course I have to say Dunedin Council is exceptional too for their leadership and focus.

From updating the Highlanders song to a cheesy but oh-so effective beat, to an on-point slogan “They save - We pay” to their brilliance of organising a peaceful yet spirit filled protest - well, I’d wager many of us were just pining to join in.

[OK Fine, I confess - I would have loved to be there!]

Point being isn’t it beautiful to see the human spirit come together in unity, co-operation, but also positivity - and to make our voices heard in such uplifting ways?

All I saw in the photographs and videos were smiles, people shaking hands, singing, chanting, and old people and young coming together to say -

“What you’re doing is not OK. Please stop”

And please stop lying to us too.

Anyway I loved it because in the end, to me, it’s not what side anyone is - it’s about whether we can uphold positive friendship, the truth, and common purpose for the greater good in everything we do.

And together the South Island showed us we can.

There are a lot of lies from this government and one of them is affordability. i.e. “We can’t afford the bill”.

The second is “Well if I give it to Dunedin, other regions like Nelson and Whangarei will miss out”.

The latter is a shell game - no-one is getting a complete or proper funding for anything - and the first is a categorical lie.

Bernard Hickey often talks about how the government debt limits we impose on ourselves are relatively artificial and he is ultimately right.

But even then, the truth is bare:

This government has more than enough of our money ($100bn worth from taxpayers every single year) to do the right thing by us and our future generations - their consistent choice however, is not to.

Here was my answer yesterday re: a comment that NZ doesn’t have enough funds to build the hospital -

This is not about money. This is about choices and priorities - Mountain Tui

EXTRAS

I wrote that 3 days ago, and this morning the Dunedin Mayor confirmed that $3bn quote is bullshit as he called on the Government to keep their election promises:

"They've added in extra costs to try and cloud the issue.

For a start, refurbishment. No one's ever talked about refurbishment being in the scope of this project, refurbishment of old blocks. I mean, they're talking hundreds of millions for that.

"They're talking about car parks - car parks have been long since taken out of the scope of this project…

"And pathology is the other one that they're talking about - [it] has already been taken out of scope by the previous government and agreed to by this government when they were in opposition.

So it's a smokescreen."

See what I mean?

All these lies are not good enough and this government deserves to go precisely because they cannot and will not stop lying to Kiwis. A Chris Bishop or other led National - when Luxon inevitably gets rolled - will be worse.

Finally, this ~1 minute video came up on my feed this morning, and despite the criticism Adern received from many, I thought to myself, “Wow, well that’s quite a contrast”.

Related Reading:

• Knives Out for Kainga Ora

• When an indepenent expert /advisory group is anything but independent

SUBSTACK CHANGES

Tomorrow is my 3 month mark here on Substack.

I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who reads here and supports me. You make it possible for me to go on.

And I know I am a sap so I won’t expand other than saying thank you - again.

After long consideration, I’ll be reducing my monthly subscription fee to hopefully make it easier for more folks to afford the public interest news that I do.

Those who have already paid will receive a complimentary month extension (I’ll figure out the math)

NOTE: Anyone who cannot afford my subscription for whatever reason can email me and I will provide a complimentary subscription.

Those of you who can - I appreciate your support to help me continue here.

And to all readers - our community is valuable. It is my conviction that sharing facts, promoting transparency and caring for our combined positive awareness will continue to make Aotearoa NZ a place of positivity, truth, uplift and spirit. So your presence is my energy.

Cheers,

Tui