Damus
Open in Damus
Kōtare :tinoflag: profile picture
Kōtare :tinoflag:
@Kōtare :tinoflag:

A lover of music, literature, art, nature, community and many other fine things. A dad to two wonderful humans, and partner to another. From Aotearoa originally (pakeha, tangata tiriti) and re-settling in Australia for unsettling reasons. Known socialist.

Cover photo shows the sun setting into the Tasman sea on New Year's Eve from Piha Beach, West Auckland. Profile photo is a Kōtare (Royal Kingfisher).

#RareDisease #RareDisorders #Poetry #Architecture #Environmentalism #SocialJustice

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[email protected]nip05
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Recent Notes

Kōtare :tinoflag: profile picture
I kind've agree with this article that the head of Z Energy did nothing wrong (legally speaking) when lobbying the government to change the law.

I think that's exactly the problem. He certainly had the kind of access to and influence over the PM denied to most private citizens to do the same.

There's also a tacit admission in this interview: Z Energy, Fonterra, and Genesis believed there was a very real risk they would lose the case.

If the report they commissioned, claiming the NZ economy would lose $21b over 5 years if Smith won his case, is accurate, then there is an argument that the windfalls these companies will make instead of this loss should be directly re-invested in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

I somehow don't think that's going to happen and yet, I also think $21b will prove a small figure next to the ongoing cost of floods, crop failures, and storms.

#ClimateChange #NZPol

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/716324/missing-climate-briefing-note-z-energy-boss-speaks-out
JeremyJupiterJones :tinoflag: · 3w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq2599437nazqk2hwmz03hrqqc6x9n3yyneezwn5t7prqvk3a8n8sq0ee8mx Every NZer should watch this Jack Tame interview from 2 years ago with the then #Act...
 Kōtare :tinoflag: profile picture
Kōtare :tinoflag: @Kōtare :tinoflag:
@nprofile1q... I've spoken to Todd on several occasions and he has supported a lot of the work being done by Rare Disorders NZ Even so, I would say I don't agree with him on pretty much anything. I won't unpack his possible motives - advocacy sometimes creates strange bedfellows.

I remember before the last election he spoke at a forum alongside reps from other parties and he was deeply unpopular, and his close ties to industry were called out very clearly. At that time he made it clear there would be no increase in health funding (or medicines funding). So his tune has changed, but his general alignment with profit-driven healthcare has not.
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JeremyJupiterJones :tinoflag: · 3w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq2599437nazqk2hwmz03hrqqc6x9n3yyneezwn5t7prqvk3a8n8sq0ee8mx Yes, the essential argument Todd Stephenson was making regarding Pharmac funding expensive drugs was whether the recipients of funded drugs would, if kept alive for longer, earn enough...
Kōtare :tinoflag: · 3w
I have gone to war with Pharmac and I have worked alongside Pharmac as part of a reform process. I think it is an important agency, in fact it is critical for healthcare in NZ that it performs well. ...
 Kōtare :tinoflag: profile picture
Kōtare :tinoflag: @Kōtare :tinoflag:
Something of a postscript: I have seen many excellent applications of machine-learning in healthcare, particularly for rare genetic disorders. Some of that research is being done in Auckland. It is life-saving.

I don't want to conflate that very important work with this kind of 'cost-saving' nonsense from politicians.
Kōtare :tinoflag: profile picture
I have gone to war with Pharmac and I have worked alongside Pharmac as part of a reform process. I think it is an important agency, in fact it is critical for healthcare in NZ that it performs well.

Their health economics failed me of course, by indicating that the cost of my care was worth more than my life. The reason, and I shit you not, was that if I survived the proven and successful treatment options (and I would), I might live so long that I would end up costing the health system more as I grew old. Cheaper to let me die young.

The economic models used by Pharmac are outdated, are not humane, are poorly understood by staff, and fundamentally flawed by a very narrow focus on the constructed 'benefit' of a human life. Now, imagine training an AI on those models (and all of their past decision making).

Pardon my French, but fucking hell.

Article: Pharmac urged to use more AI

#Healthcare #NZPol #Pharmac

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/pharmac-urged-to-use-more-ai-minister-david-seymour-says-it-will-make-entity-more-humane/JR5OH4TFCNFKXACLUKFKKEP2CU/
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Kōtare :tinoflag: · 3w
Something of a postscript: I have seen many excellent applications of machine-learning in healthcare, particularly for rare genetic disorders. Some of that research is being done in Auckland. It is life-saving. I don't want to conflate that very important work with this kind of 'cost-saving' nonsen...
JeremyJupiterJones :tinoflag: · 3w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq2599437nazqk2hwmz03hrqqc6x9n3yyneezwn5t7prqvk3a8n8sq0ee8mx Every NZer should watch this Jack Tame interview from 2 years ago with the then #Act Party candidate Todd Stephenson when he discusses Act’s intention to change the #NZPol Pharmac fu...
Kōtare :tinoflag: profile picture
Finding this anti-Asian/anti-Muslim rhetoric in NZ truly heartbreaking. Brian Tamaki might be the most obvious person whipping it up, but it is tapping into an existing vein of prejudice that is all too common. It's bloody awful.

#NZPol
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Phil Stevens :tinoflag: · 4w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq2599437nazqk2hwmz03hrqqc6x9n3yyneezwn5t7prqvk3a8n8sq0ee8mx Winston is also very much to blame. He goes back to his racist roots every time an election is near.