April
(Note: a lot of anti-smacking posts appear around this time but have not been included here, unless they reflect badly on Labour or the Greens.)
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The left’s use of language – things have gotten far worse since
- Whale Oil has the news that they have not waited to the very last minute to repay their $800,000 but have now fully paid it back. – Credit where it’s due – S1
- “New Zealand’s reputation for upholding democracy and freedom of speech was also dealt a blow with Cullen’s defence of the police actions and unjustified claims that Wang had caused a disturbance.”
- DPF examines the goals of the Coalition for Open Government
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Govt fails to make anti smacking bill a Govt bill – “And talking of the bill, people should read this Manawatu Standard articlewhere Police confirm that every complaint of smacking will not only be investigated by Police, but names will be passed onto CYFS. Big Brother will be watching!”
- It doesn’t matter that Cullen was given bad info from the Police. He could have asked questions of other journalists, he could have asked if there was pertinent information. But he chose to attack Mr Wang, and he owes him an apology, rather than declaring the issue is “dead and buried”.
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Broadcasting Minister threatens Plunket with Board complaint – “the Minister is specifically forbidden by law to meddle in operational issues, so his threat to go to the board on what is an operational issue, would breach the Broadcasting Act.”
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[Labour] Feeling the pressure “And last week Trevor Mallard was dispatched to the press gallery to complain to them that the gallery are not sycophantic enough biased against the Government. This did not go down well with some journalists especially as Trevor’s diplomacy saw him ending up in a heated argument (could be clearly heard in other offices) with TVNZ Political Editor Guyon Espiner.”
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NZ First to pay it back – maybe [they didn’t – S1]
- Labour’s plans to secretly get a majority in favour of direct taxpayer funding of political parties has hit a snag. Labour, Progressive, Greens and maybe Maori are all set to plunder the taxpayer. But without Taito Field they have only 60 votes.
- Kate however devotes many pages to examining the various trusts MPs have. She also notes no less than 20 Labour MPs have trusts set up – presumably to minimise their tax obligations. Higher taxes are only for everyone else!
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No limits of planned funding [labour still pushing for state funding of political parties]
- Some of Clark’s recent strategic blunders.
- DPF laughs at some nonsense research on the smacking bill submissions
- So why are the Greens needlessly wasting paper on people they can communicate with electronically? Is carbon neutrality just something for everyone else to do, al la Al Gore?
- It’s bad enough that ACC is wasting $5 million on a branding type campaign (very different from safety focused advertising), but to make matters worse, their advertising has been found to be misleading.
- An excellent column by Fran O’Sullivan on all that is wrong with how Labour is planning to bring in taxpayer funding of political parties.
- We’re two thirds through the year and the surplus is already $6.5 billion.
- The entire way Labour is going about their proposed changes reeks of grubby political gain at the expense of New Zealanders having a fully informed debate on the rules that politicians and parties have to obey. It’s fine for most areas of Government, but not for the Electoral Act.
- NZ Herald Editorial on Climate Change The Government’s response to climate change is not just feeble, it is in disarray.
- The proposed law changes are looking even more draconian and partisan, the more detail that comes out. They propose to extend the period covered by spending restrictions from 90 days to eleven months. That is a attack on freedom of speech like we have never seen.”
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Spending and Votes – [good analysis -s1]
- The charter is a disaster. 99% of NZers couldn’t tell you what programmes are or are not charter programmes to save their life.
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Trotter admits taxpayer funding of parties needed so Labour can (ironically) pay back the taxpayer
- Labour plans to dramatically curtail the ability of both the Opposition and third parties to criticise the Government – not just for the 90 days before an election, but for all of election year.
- A discussion on electoral funding with Labour, Greens, ACT and United Future.
- To no one’s surprise the SST editorial endorses, well absolutely everything the Govt is proposing. It doesn’t even criticise the process, which even the Greens have condemned.
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Benefit Numbers “Also remember when the PM promised a crackdown on “clusters” of beneficiary households such as the Kahuis? It turns out no work has been done at all in this area.
- It is looking hopeful that Labour’s plan for taxpayer funding of political parties is dead for now, but as sure as the sun rises in the East, they will try again.
- Dr Cullen has confirmed today that their proposed taxpayer funding of political parties is dead (not buried though) as it does not have the numbers. Good. The amount of money they were trying to legislate to themselves was obscene.
- I am not a major art buyer, but on principle I’m far from enthused about the Government’s proposal that you never own an artwork you pay for outright, and that if you resell it you have to pay 5% every time to the artist who sold it in the first place.
- Bryce Edwards has done a useful series of posts refuting common myths about party financing in New Zealand.
This great cartoon from Stuff. The stuff ups in the last year have been numerous:
* Taxpayer Funding of Parties
* Pledge Card/Auditor-General
* Taito Phillip Field
* Corrections
* Auckland DHBs
* The Mallard Stadium
* NCEA
* 2006 Budget
* Smacking Ban
- We haven’t yet got the 1,000 extra police Labour and Winston promised, but guess what we do have 1,212 more of, since Labour came to office? Tax Collectors!
- If seven other EB members join in then they can do $840,000. The law may have no effect on the very people Labour claims it is targeted at.
- In a fit of hypocrisy the CTU has called for every single donation to a political party to be disclosed.
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Former (Australian) Labor Press Secretary made TVNZ Head of News
- Labour puts up known child abuser as front man for the smacking issue
- Shane Jones says Unions should be exempt from the proposed electoral law changes and restrictions. “They’re valuable and long term supporters of ours etc”
- CYFS has been a department under siege …So what are they spending their money on? A $650 bonus to PSA union members. Yes only to PSA members.
- How desperate can you get. Jim Anderton claims that people spanked as a child are much more likely to turn into animal torturers…Anderton would get an E- from any university for his claim.
- It actually angers me what Labour is doing with these changes to the Electoral Act. They are treating the Electoral Act as some partisan policy issue where you negotiate a majority in secret before you even reveal the details to the public. This is not common practice for most laws, and especially electoral law.
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Green Party Electoral Policy – [the word “shamefully” occurs a lot – S1]
- Fran O’Sullivan fingers government spending as the real culprit behind the Reserve Bank having to increase interest rates. The focus merely on the housing sector, is risky. Higher interest rates do not just affect house purchases but business development.
- In the SST today, Matthew Hooton sums up far better than I could, why it is so important that Labour’s attempts to secretly negotiate changes to the Electoral Act to favour themselves, does not proceed:
- Bryce Edwards continues his excellent series of posts on party funding.
- So Jim Anderton’s proof is based on research showing that getting smacked several years after you mistreated an animal, means that the smack is why you mistreated the animal five years earlier!! So sad and desperate.
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Tax Breaks for Kiwi Saver
- On Day 71 of the countdown, Labour have claimed they have raised enough money for paying back the $826,000 and will set a repayment date this week. Remember every week they delay that is $1,271 the taxpayer is out of pocket due to foregone interest.Still to pay are United Future with $72,000 and of course NZ First with $158,000. NZ First have not 100% conclusively agreed to pay it back.I’ll believe them all when I see the receipts!
- Anyway the Dom Post has an editorial on how the biggest obstacle to wind power, is – yes the Government. The RMA delays have threatened the viability of the Makara project, and the proposed deforestation tax is threatening a planned wind farm northeast of Pauatahanui.
- Lindsay Mitchell points out that while the number of 15- 19 year olds on the dole has decreased since 1999 from 15,855 to 1,566, the HLFS records the number of unemployed (out of work, seeking work and available for work) 15 – 19 year olds as having increased from 23,900 in 1999 to 26,100 at the end of 2006.
- the more I think about the 5% royalty on sale proposal for artworks, the more I don’t like it.
- Almost every week the Government pushes new measures that interfere with voluntary transactions, and build up an all powerful state. The latest is the socialist proposal that housing developers be forced to build a proportion of cheap houses in large new Auckland estates. What nonsense. The state should not be forcing private property developers to build a certain type of house. They have Housing NZ to do that if they think there is a need.
- The Government is set to whack Aucklanders with a extra 10c petrol levy with one third going for rail electrification, and the rest on some roading projects.
- The Manawatu Standard has an editorial, which compares the treatment of unions to the Brethren:
- On Monday I got to inspect a couple of extraordinary documents. They were minutes of meetings between Labour Cabinet Ministers David Benson-Pope and Pete Hodgson, and Exclusive Brethren members….So what do we take from all this? Well it destroys the myth that the Exclusive Brethren were somehow controlled by National and operating as a secret front for them. They were doing what groups interested in politics do – meet with MPs to advocate for policies they wanted.
- Span has done a series of six (to date) posts on myths about unions. They’re subjective of course but worth reading. I’m linking to each below, with some brief comments of my own.
- Labour have announced they paid their $824,524 owing to the taxpayer back at 1.01 pm today.
- So is Trevor saying monetary policy is more important to have bipartisan support for, than how our democracy operates?
- The Herald on Sunday has the story of how Judith Tizard publicly berated an the Auckland RSA President for allowing other parties to lay wreathes. What on earth was she thinking? Just like Maharey’s “fuck you” comment this shows long serving Ministers acting without thinking.
- The Herald on Sunday has a copy of the annual review of NCEA by the NZQA moderators. It’s a somewhat terrifying litany of problems:
- So Labour’s left hand isn’t even co-ordinating with its far left hand. One Minister is attacking the other parties for not being willing to co-operate, and another is spurning such co-operation.
- Having to relocate snails has cost Solid Energy (the taxpayer) $25 million to date. Now as there are only 5,300 snails, this is a cost of $5,000 per snail.
- The Dominion Post reports on the upcoming auction of another Helen Clark forgery. One wonders how many forgeries she signed before she got caught out.
May
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Mallard kills Bambi in front of children – [would really love to know more than is in the post! – S1]
- Yesterday’s Dominion Post Editorial calls for some honesty over the anti-smacking bill [(c) Sue Bradford]….The other key thing to remember is this is not just about whether the Police will prosecute for smacking. It is about how CYFS will use this law against families. Whale Oil tells a story of how CYFS, even before the law is changed, is already threatening parents who smack their children.
- Many on the left are wailing that it is all the media’s fault the public don’t like the anti-smacking bill, because they report it as an anti smacking bill, and they claim it is an anti child abuse bill.Well a helpful reader has pointed out that Sue Bradford’s own press release in October 2003 labelled it an anti-smacking bill.And yet on 15 March 2007 Bradford says “I have never called it an anti-smacking bill – my opponents did, and the media adopted the phrase”
- The smacking bill “compromise”
- The Government really seems to be unable to present a coherent message. Just last week we sar Trevor Mallard seek multiparty talks on monetary policy and then Helen Clark contradicting that…. Also last week Helen Clark was talking up export tax credits, and this week Michael Cullen says they have been dropped from the budget.
- Dr Cullen is already admitting that once again there will be another huge surplus. This is not a surprise.
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NZ one of worst offenders for greenhouse gas increases – “The Government has had seven years of platitudes and no workable policies.”
- “Fraser has a lifetime of dedication to public broadcasting, so when he says the TVNZ model is fatally flawed as a hybrid, people should listen.”
- James Papali’i has just been appointed to be the Labour Party campaign manager for the Mangere campaign in Manukau City…. He was found guilty [9 months ago] on 29 charges of forgery, theft and dishonesty. He stole $40,000 from a trust set up to help at-risk youth.
- [Fun] It was hilarious watching the US live cable coverage of Paris Hilton being sentenced to 45 days jail for a parole violation relating to a drink driving case. I’ve never seen so many news anchors and journalists with huge grins on their faces.
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Trust in Professions – “When journalists rank even lower than politicians for ethics and honesty, there should be some damn hard soul searching about why.”
- The NZ Labour Party’s hatred of tax cuts is almost unique around the world. Left wing parties in the UK, Australia, US, Germany have all supported tax cuts. I doubt you could find a party anywhere in the world which would not have cut taxes by now, given a crown surplus which is around 20% of it’s income. And no $1 billion of cuts after $30 billion of surpluses is not enough.
- In response to being asked what the Government was doing to crack down on gangs and organised crime, Justice Minister Mark Burton talked about his bold moves in updating the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act, and other laws.
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Turia on Gangs – “…she said “But just like I’m not prepared to say that the police are all rapists, I am also not prepared to say that all gangs are criminals”.”
- Chris Finlayson has pointed out the inappropriateness of the President of the Law Commission also being a major Labour Party donor. I’ve actually been concerned for sometime that Sir Geoffrey has expanded the traditional role of the Commission to become the PM’s personal law drafter such as on the Bradford Bill.”
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NZ vs Australia tax rates – “Thanks to Dr Cullen we have lost the opportunity to stay competitive with Australia, and to give hard working Kiwis some of their own money back.”
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Neil Finn defends his comments – “According to organisers, Helen, rather than being invited to speak, had insisted on addressing the assembly. Like other years, she undoubtedly enjoyed being cheered by a grateful music industry while Don Brash sitting in the front row was insulted from the stage. Despite this – and to his credit – Don stayed till the end of the night, unlike Helen who left soon after the applause had died down. Many people felt uncomfortable and I left feeling a bit sickened.“
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Interesting Thinking (More on NZ vs Aus tax)
- Interesting predictions for the future.
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Immigrants and Inflation – Winston Peters is blaming the high inflation rate on our level of immigration. [back when it was racist to say such things, rather than quasi-official Labour party policy – S1]
- EPMU Secretary Andrew Little has announced he will not stand for Labourin 2008, but is likely to try and stand in 2011.
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Bestiality film shown at Police Commissioners’s home
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Transtasman Tax Rates
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Should Bain be retried?
- Ian Wishart in Investigate Magazine has made a huge number of staggering claims against top police officers, including Commissioner Howard Broad who has already admitted that at least one allegation of a bestiality video (involving a man fornicating with a chicken!) did happen, even though he claims not to have been in the room at his house when it showed. …Wishart has called for a royal commission of inquiry into the performance of the New Zealand Police, with wide terms of reference and full powers to subpoena, compel and take evidence on oath. I would like to know why some of this info was not placed before the Bazley inquiry, and whether maybe the PCA (so long as it does not use any current Police officers) could not investigate the claims?
- The SST says it has heard from sources in Wellington that Taito Phillip Field will be charged and face a trial for corruption and perverting the course of justice. Sources in Wellington is generally code for Helen.
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It’s not just about a chicken “Ian Wishart makes a worthwhile point on his blog, that while everyone is laughing about the policeman and the chicken, it is about far more than that. According to the same sources (former officers) who were correct about the bestiality video, they are alleging a police cover up of a paedophilia ring, of police gang rapes, of Class A drug use, of killing a cat and chopping it up onto a BBQ, and corrupt dealing with brothels.”
- “Blaming the Judges for the delays when the Government has not only refused to amend the RMA to allow for quicker decision making on consents, but in fact has made changes which make delays even more likely – well classic pot calling the kettle black.”
- Gordon Copeland has quit United Future and is reforming the Future NZ party with former MP Larry Baldock.
- Anti Smacking Bill now passed
- Budget 2007 – “The previous announcement to move the tax thresholds next year has been cancelled on the grounds they would be inflationary (yet somehow all the extra spending will not be). … Also of key note is Dr Cullen has done his usual job of increasing the contingencies – they were $1.9 billion a year cumulative, but now are much higher. $1 billion of them is tagged for the business tax reform but what it means is when Dr Cullen say the 2010/11 forecast surplus is for $5.4 billion, that is including a contingency of $10.3 billion for new expenditure.”
- Dr Cullen has in this example imposed extra costs on business [from Kiwisaver obligations minus tax cuts] equal to increasing the corporate tax rate by around 5%.
- In eight years Dr Cullen has taken a Taliban approach to fiscal strategy. No one expects Labour to not spend more than National. No one expects Labour to give as big a tax cut as National would. That is why we have choice between parties. But to have $24.5 billion of extra tax revenue, and to refuse to give even 1% of it back let alone 10% or 20%. That is extreme.
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NZ Herald Budget Reaction – The Herald’s headline is “Cullen reneges on ‘chewing gum’ cuts”. It is worth recalling this was a budget promise made in election year, and regardless of the fact it was not popular (as it did not go far enough) its cancellation is a clear broken promise.
- Michael Cullen’s changes to Kiwi Saver may turn out to be one of the bigger transfers of wealth from poor New Zealanders to well off New Zealanders we have seen. If National had done what he did, I am sure Dr Cullen would have condemned them.
- Matt McCarten gets it. He realises the extent of what Michael Cullen has done with Kiwi Saver. Dr Cullen has introduced a de facto compulsory private savings scheme (Sir Roger would be proud of him) and shattered the 14 year consensus on public superannuation.
- Matthew Hooton calls Michael Cullen “paternalistic” in his SST column, and that is by far the nicest words he has about Dr Cullen in the column. Other words are losers, economic madness, clever little man, contempt, thick and lazy, superior, minions, patronising, supercilious and despise.
- The Greens have said that if the Government does not provide more money in next year’s budget for their initiatives, they will consider voting against the Budget and the Government.
- the percentage of adults who are subject to the 39% envy tax has increased from 5% to 14%. And the latest Stats NZ data tells us why.
- The NZ Herald reports on how the Minister of Health struggled to say what improvements in health we have had for the extra $4 billion a year he spends in the portfolio.
- The Police have confirmed that they intend to charge former LabourMinister and MP Taito Phillip Field with 14 charges of bribery, relating to actions he took as a Labour MP. …Even worse is Michael Cullen. For at least Clark made her defence before the Ingram Report. But here is what Dr Cullen said *after* the Ingram Report came out, which was damning of Field:So Mr Field has some matters to work through with the Labour leadership and the Labour whips. But he works incredibly hard on behalf of his constituents. He has people coming to him from all over Auckland for assistance, not just in immigration cases but in many other cases. He works harder on those matters than I suspect the entire National Party caucus does on constituency cases. If that is what he is guilty of, then I am sure he is happy to plead guilty to working hard on behalf of his constituents.
- The NZ Herald reports that Annette King is looking at introducing UK style anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) as a way to overcome Bill of Rights problems with banning individuals and gang patches in public.
- Why Labour don’t get it – “To make it simple for Mr Williams – tax cuts are indeed not about redistributing income. They;re about letting people keep more of their own income.”
- Fran O’Sullivan takes a well deserved swipe at Clark’s handing of the Taito Phillip Field corruption allegations…. [a summary of DPF’s summary]
- (1) She did not suspend Field from the Executive once she knew of the allegations.
- (2) She defended Field, without knowing the facts.
- (3) When she did set up an inquiry, she set one up with grossly inadequate powers, in fact with no powers.
- (4) The terms of reference were ridiculously limited to only investigating Field’s actions as a Minister, rather than as an MP also
- (5) When the Ingram Report came out, Helen Clark did not condemn Field, but worked to placate him, to stop him leaving Labour.
- (6) Only many months later did she start to use language that she should have used at the beginning such as grossly unethical.and immoral. She now pretends this was her stance all along.
- The SST reports on the speculation that Labour, desperate to retain power, is considering endorsing Winston Peters in a safe Labour seat. On present polling NZ First will be wiped out of Parliament.
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Spying on Save Happy Valley -But most of all, I look at the irony that the story is from Nicky Hager. Nicky Hager makes tens of thousands of dollars by publishing a book based on either stolen e-mails or information from a spy in National. He has no problem with spying on National MPs. But he has outrage when a group which breaks the law, is spied on by the target of its law breaking activities.
- NZ First and United Future are yet to pay back the amounts identified by the Auditor-General. In fact NZ First has only hinted it will do so, and has not even agreed to do so.
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More quotes in support of Field – “A comment had me go read the Hansard of what Labour said in Parliament *after* the Ingram Report was released.“
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More poll rigging for Labour
- After years of resisting common sense changes to NCEA, including as recently as last year, Labour and Steve Maharey have bowed to the inevitable and made some changes.
- “To be fair to Miss Clark she has tried to freshen up her cabinet but she has been handicapped by the dearth of talent within Labour’s ranks, a consequence of selecting candidates on the basis of loyalty and service to the party rather than ability.“
June
- The Press Editorial is on the Prime Minister: A series of mis-steps and dud decisions has left her reputation somewhat tattered at the edges. Coalition partners, looking to the next general election, are showing the first signs of itchy feet. Above all, a resurgent National Party, under a new and effective leadership, has a fresh and appealing message that is making Clark and her colleagues look like yesterday’s people.
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PM appoints herself head of lynch mob – “The death is being investigated by the Police as a possible homicide, and there are two other inquiries into the tragic death. But none of this has stopped the PM from declaring not only is Mercury all to blame, but instructing them to stop defending themselves.”
- We see in the SST another example of how the Government puts ideology before patients.
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What tough issues? – “It’s the sort of statement that people nod their heads at, and empathically agree with, without actually analysing it much. You see, if you think about it, the Government hasn’t been dealing with tough issues. The Government has mainly been dealing with easy issues and turning them unpopular.
- Despite being a Minister in her Government, Peter Dunne is obviously unhappy at how the PM is exploiting the Mercury Energy issue. [It really amazed me just how quickly people forgot that Dunne worked for years with Labour – S1]
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Cullen sacks Coroner Garry Evans – “Mr Evans is nothing if not honest, which no doubt has not endeared him to politicians. Thus, in his 10 years on the coroner’s bench, he has forthrightly, but politely, excoriated those in positions of authority who have let the public down …No, it seems Mr Evans was just too straightforward for this Government to stomach.”
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World united – Everyone hates the 2012 London Olympics logo.
- The Government is announcing today that they will be banning certain foods they have deemed unhealthy for New Zealanders. At thus stage the ban only applies to schools.
- Dollar hits 76c
- The Reserve Bank has started selling NZ currency in a bad to drive the price down – a strategy which has initially worked with a 1c fall. The Reserve Ban needs to be careful. If you’re hiking up interest rates on the one hand, then naturally more people will want to buy NZ dollars which will push the NZ dollar up. So to then start selling also can be a bit of a King Canute.
- Anyway Dr Cullen thinks New Zealanders are as gullible as Charlie Brown, with his football type talk of future tax cuts. He insists there will be tax cuts when “fiscal and economic pressures ease”. This from the man who broke his 2005 promise on the chewing gum tax cuts. This from the Minister who has had the second highest level of fiscal surplus in the world, yet no tax cuts, just an increased tax take.
- …I am not convinced the public good is served by have the taxpayer become the owner of an ISP in what is a very competitive industry. Not that Kordia is to blame – Trevor Mallard has told SOEs to go out and pursue business opportunities, even if it crowds out the private sector.
- The word “unsatisfactory” peppers just about every page of his report on Corrections treatment of prisoners when transporting them from jail to court or from jail to jail. And when things are not unsatisfactory, they tend to be “highly unsatisfactory”, “undesirable” or “unacceptable”.
- …Bill English has said he would like to see large numbers paying a top tax rate of no more than 20%. …Of course the left are already claiming such a policy could costs $3 billion a year and that this would mean massive just massive spending cuts. Well sure if you ignore the huge surpluses we have running at twice that level. Also if you ignore the $26 billion of contignency spending over the next four years.
- Helengrad extends to Australia – The assembled crowed also got a sampling of her renowned tight grip on the script. Questions were invited from the floor but not in the customary, and unpredictable, way so beloved by Australian scribes. No, inquiries were to be written on a form along with the option of providing your name, submitted for approval and then presented to Clark.
- 17 days to go and The Parliamentary Service has confirmed neither United Future nor NZ First has paid back the amounts identified by the Auditor-General as illegal.
- …I joked that if NZ was to get serious about carbon neutrality, we should simply start shooting all the cows, To my surprise, my joke has become near official policy of the Greens, and of No Right Turn. They are both critical of plans for the dairy industry to grow by 4% a year, as this will probably lead to increased carbon emissions.
- NZ of late has not had a great record in standing up to pressure from China. …Now the latest challenge is the visit of the Dalai Lama. Will the Prime Minister allow the Chinese Government to dictate who she does or does not meet?
- Today’s [Dom Post] editorial pulls few punches: It is hard to imagine how the ombudsmen’s investigation into prisoner transport could have been more damning.
- Richard Prebble asks some hard questions regarding Mercury Energy: If Helen Clark won’t admit as owner she has some responsibility why should anyone else admit to any? Indeed, why would anyone successful in business be an SOE director when Helen Clark publicly snubbed the representatives of Mercury Energy outside the Muliaga home?
- Russel Norman is upset with Katherine Rich for opposing the food police
- Not surprisingly Don Brash is unamused that an arm of Government has given $38,000 for the production of a play based on e-mails illegally obtained from him. ut I have an idea, based on that play. I would be seriously interested in working with those with a professional background in drama to create a play, and seek Creative NZ funding for it, based on Labour’s breaches of the electoral act, and specifically how they ignored the advice of and eventually lied to the Chief Electoral Officer.
- Investigate has published documents which appear to reveal further serious issues with former Dunedin police, including a transcript of a tape recording of officers ” justifying a decision by other police officers to lie to an official inquiry in order to protect their own interests”
- The Weekend Herald reported that they understand the Police inquiry into the death of Folole Muliaga has established that the son did not inform the contractor about the seriousness of her condition as the family have claimed.
- Labour’s re-election strategy seems to be based on trying to convince the media that National’s leadership team in unstable and can’t work together. I hope they continue with such a stupid strategy.”
- The “20 free hours” early childhood policy is a perfect example of why people are cynical. Labour keeps claiming that parents can get 20 free hours. A National MP pointed out that if McDonalds used “free” in the way Labour does, they would claim to be have free hamburgers, but a $3 charge for the cardboard box. Absolutely.
- The Solictor-General has decided to retry David Bain.
- Incomes – So yes incomes have gone up. That happens when you have economic growth. But both inflation and taxes have eaten up a reasonable chunk of that increase, so that the net real increase in income is not that huge for a five year period.
- Sue Bradford has announced she plans to submit a bill which would lower the age of voting from 18 to 16. Yes you can’t trust a 16 year old with the decision whether or not they can buy a pie from the school tuckshop, but you should give them the vote!
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Pat and Sheena Wheaton are upset that DIA won’t allow them to call their son “4Real”.
- Both Lianne Dalziel and Winston Peters have spoken of forces who tried to stop the Securities Council action against Fay and Richwhite. Fran O’Sullivan writes in the NZ Herald that evidence to support this claim should be put up, or at least details given to point investigators in the right direction. I agree.
- A war of words is underway in Napier where Stuart Nash is challenging incumbent Russell Fairbrother for the Labour nomination.
- An amusing interview in the SST with John Tamihere. Some extracts…
- Stephen Franks blogs his concern about the culture of Police HQ (now called the Office of the Commissioner).
- being told to get on your broomstick is one of the milder taunts used in the House and I am surprised that Judith Tizard seemed so genuinely upset by it. Maybe Judith could have a chat to her colleagues about their propensity to yell out “go take your pills” to Nick Smith whenever he is speaking. Personally I find that far more offensive.
- Jane Diplock deserves our thanks for standing up for the rights of small shareholders and getting a good settlement. It is a pity her own Minister had to invent some sort of secret threatening cabal to try and make the story more juicy. One expects that sort of nonsense from Peters, but not from Dalziel who generally is one of the more sensible Ministers.
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Pathethic Peters – So because John Key did not support breaking international human rights law to punish two men Winston does not like, he is an apologist for them.
- Some of the far left have been swooning with excitment over the visit of Angela Davis to NZ. So who is Angela Davis? [ A nasty hypocritical communist – S1]
- If Labour is going really well he [Russel’s Hard News blog] will mention political stuff several times in each post. And if they are not, then he will talk only music, overseas politics and ignore NZ politics. …a check of Hard News finds that over the entire month of June there has been only two small reference to NZ politics
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Party Pills to be banned [long after the damage was done – S1]
- Dr Cullen will deliver tax cuts – but only in 2012 if you re-elect him for a 4th and 5th term….Bur Treasury papers show Dr Cullen told Cabinet that maybe we could have tax cuts after 2011, but they would probably have to be smaller than even the chewing gum tax cuts he promised in 2005.
- Today is the end of the financial year for Government. The NZ First Party has not paid back even a single cent of their $157,934 illegal expenditure. Shame on them… United Future have paid about $50,000 of the original $71,867.
Something should go here, maybe later. 