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    Our government refused to let Julian Assange come here, but had no qualms about this guy. Archived Message

    Posted by Morrissey on January 1, 2023, 1:02 pm

    They also gave quick-fire residencies to Peter Thiel and Matt Lauer.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/130891710/american-billionaires-controversial-nye-pyrotechnic-bonanza-starts-fire-near-queenstown

    A New York billionaire has so far offered no apology to upset neighbours after his controversial New Year’s Eve fireworks display caused a large rural fire at his Central Otago retreat.

    Volunteer firefighters spent most of the night at the luxury Dalefield estate, between Queenstown and Arrowtown, which belongs to Empire State Realty Trust chief executive and president Tony Malkin (the trust owns the Empire State Building).

    The pyrotechnic bonanza, understood to have cost tens of thousands of dollars, went ahead despite neighbours starting a petition to stop it over concerns about the impact it would have on horses and other animals in the area. More than 600 people signed it.

    Firefighters were called at 12.10am. The blaze involved three separate fires burning in tussock on steep terrain and came within 15 metres of the property tycoon’s house.

    It was contained by about 2.30am and burnt about 0.5ha of land (revised from the initial estimate of 1.2ha). Volunteers were there until about 7am knocking out hotspots and monitoring the situation.

    Neighbour Johnny Quinn​, who started the petition to stop the display, packed up his horses, dog and family and went to Southland for New Year’s Eve. They returned on Sunday to see the landscape blackened.

    The fact Malkin went ahead with the fireworks in the face of widespread opposition was unneighbourly and showed a bit of a "screw you" attitude, Quinn said.

    Moreover, the blaze highlighted the danger of fireworks in rural areas home to hundreds of horses and "billowing" with hay.

    Yet it seemed you could do anything you wanted in New Zealand if you were a billionaire, Quinn said, and the fact the plan got approval showed "the system is broken".

    Quinn had no idea who was at Malkin's exclusive party, but he understood the guests were evacuated as the fire grew close.

    "There might have been a few nervous moments, for sure," he said. "The guy came close to burning his own house down."

    He imagined Malkin was already on a plane home. He had not heard from him and neither had the neighbours he was in touch with.

    "He's probably over Fiji right now."

    .....



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