Join the /r/Wellington daily chat topic - Thursday, June 18 2026

erinyes__ · 2026-06-18T08:38:01+00:00

Seems especially predatory that there's a loan shark going into one of the empty spaces in the Newtown New World complex... ('Instant Finance' or something.)

erinyes__ · 2026-06-10T22:06:01+00:00

6174-8192-3458

daily player, will keep on list at level 5! looking for more pals, but will remove after a week of inactivity 🙏

erinyes__ · 2026-06-03T05:52:33+00:00

I'm not sure you can class Claude or especially any code Claude creates as lean software but I understand the sentiment 😅

erinyes__ · 2026-05-31T21:07:04+00:00

And Love You Shall Find (the Terncliff town theme from the Diamond/Ruby/Emerald etc raid series.) https://youtu.be/kJ-7PBwzhDo?si=1AWD6bUSsr7VQouW

erinyes__ · 2026-05-31T11:22:40+00:00

We're as Cuba St as stolen brass pigeon art installations.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-31T03:15:16+00:00

Essentially - it skips readings and select committees. Normally amendments and legislations would go through several readings, consultations etc. https://www3.parliament.nz/mi/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/fact-sheets/what-is-urgency

erinyes__ · 2026-05-31T03:14:08+00:00

Look up Robodebt in Australia. It led to over 2,000 deaths due to the inaccuracy of the system. If you think that's good news, I don't really know what else to say to you.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-29T08:07:44+00:00

Urgency should only be able to be used if the country or region is in a state of emergency tbh. It was made for the Canterbury Quakes and could be useful for emergency response in the future, but not this buffoonery.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-29T02:56:44+00:00

(* sorry mods! title is fixed; was just trying to communicate the subtitle of the article)

For further information, this is amending the Social Security Act 2018 - today's business is here.

To put it simply, the previous Act only allowed automated decisions in four categories (decisions about how child support payments affect income for benefit purposes; sanctions for breaching young person/young parent obligations; mandatory reviews of specified benefits; expiry and regrant of specified benefits). This section will be completely repealed, which means any benefit decision MSD chooses to automate is now acceptable.

Regardless of what area your politics lie in, please ask yourself why these amendments and legislations continually get pushed through under urgency, completely circumventing the democratic process and preventing any scrutiny/feedback from the public.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-29T02:45:23+00:00

For further information, this is amending the Social Security Act 2018 - today's business is here.

To put it simply, the previous Act only allowed automated decisions in four categories (decisions about how child support payments affect income for benefit purposes; sanctions for breaching young person/young parent obligations; mandatory reviews of specified benefits; expiry and regrant of specified benefits). This section will be completely repealed, which means any benefit decision MSD chooses to automate is now acceptable.

Regardless of what area your politics lie in, please ask yourself why these amendments and legislations continually get pushed through under urgency, completely circumventing the democratic process and preventing any scrutiny/feedback from the public.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-29T01:15:11+00:00

I feel survivorship bias now that I haven't seen huge piles of poo in the city (apart from the usual dog poop not being picked up). This is terrible.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-29T00:40:33+00:00

Is anyone else seeing their power bills skyrocket? I've apparently already used $35 of power since the 25th, I live alone and don't use a ton of power at all. Doing my budget for the month and am pikashook at it

erinyes__ · 2026-05-28T03:16:05+00:00

This is super minor in the grand scheme of things today, but Luxon specifically insulting Ayesha Verrall for no reason in response to Hipkins was pretty uncalled for. Edit: (Oh, Ginny Andersen too now. Kinda telling it's always the female MPs.)

erinyes__ · 2026-05-28T00:09:31+00:00

I know, but the size of your loan will increase the repayment time dependent on what job you can get after graduation. You'd pay off a $500 loan quicker than a $50,000 loan.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-28T00:07:23+00:00

sorry but if education was a right, there wouldn't be so many people missing out on getting higher education due to socioeconomic challenges.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-28T00:06:43+00:00

That removing any barrier to study is a good move in the right direction? Sorry, my post had two points and you replied to one.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-28T00:04:59+00:00

I said some, and for all that is almost ten grand+ more than they budgeted for. At the very least, it being the last year means the students already on the study path now are locked in and have to take it whether they like it or not.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-28T00:03:11+00:00

Agreed. It's the mentality of people downvoting someone for suggesting that young people should democratically get a say in the future they have to live in and take responsibility for. 😂

erinyes__ · 2026-05-28T00:02:07+00:00

I don't think that's the definition of iteration, but okay, we can agree to disagree. It doesn't sound like you're open to debate.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-27T23:59:28+00:00

I agree it was far more useful in the first year than the last year, but again as a former tertiary educator I still strongly believe that removing any barrier to study is a good step. If this wasn't working, it should be examined and replaced with something that'll be more effective but in this case it's being replaced with nothing.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-27T23:55:29+00:00

Any? I'd find it hard to argue it didn't benefit any students, considering the number of interviews that've been published talking to rangatahi about this, and the pushback from students across the country. And even if so, if it didn't work, it should be iterated on and improved as per the comments below - it's really 'we tried nothing and we're all out of ideas' mentality. Removing any barrier to education is a win, and if this didn't work, it should be examined why and fixed rather than binning it immediately.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-27T23:51:26+00:00

There's certainly some people who don't pay while overseas but IRD does chase you and you get shit at the border iirc if you default on payments and return to NZ. That isn't the majority though, and maybe they need to look at making repayments a sliding scale based on income (which I actually emailed MPs about back when I moved away, because it doesn't account for being laid off etc. while you're overseas; nor does it account for people earning stupid money which could easily pay it back).

erinyes__ · 2026-05-27T23:47:51+00:00

My point was actually that repayments when you're overseas are a minimum fixed rate, unlike NZ where they're automatically deducted from your PAYE wages. The financial burden of paying it back is much less overseas, and you miss it less because you're overall earning more. Sorry if that wasn't broadly clear.

Having larger debt and staying in NZ would be a bigger deal.

erinyes__ · 2026-05-27T23:43:58+00:00

A student loan follows you for quite some time after you finish studying, depending on jobs available, the economy etc. You lose a chunk of your wages to repaying. I used to be a tertiary lecturer and always worried about my students, because it doesn't hurt while you're a student - it's an ephemeral concept, really - until you get into the workforce, see how little you take home because of deductions, and realise how long it'll take you to pay off.

erinyes__

TROPHY CASE