Comments on: Dom Post on extra staff for big electorates

By: CraigM

CraigM — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:40:05 +0000

I sent a complaint to TV3 over garners story. He replied personally with this. I’ll leave it to others to determine his character.

” You say all this was in the document signed in November, sorry mate, you’re wrong and you will have to accept that. I have it in front of me and no where does it say 10 MPs, including 4 Nats will get an extra 40k each. That’s new detail leaked from the Parliamentary Service Commission, which is not subject to the Official Information Act – therefore it’s not something we can easily access. John Key held a press conference this week to talk about his Monday Cabinet meeting – woops he never mentioned he’d signed off $400k for new staff for MPs during this time of cutbacks.

I’m sorry if you don’t like the report, or the fact we had the information first but thanks for watching, keep it up .. and no doubt you’ll reply with some kind of apology for getting it wrong and getting so personal in your email. I could go on … but I’m not going to waste anymore time .. now for today’s follow-up ….. have a good day mate. And remember, news is something those in power don’t want you to see or know – perhaps that’s why you watch 3news. Cheers.”

[DPF: Duncan is wrong. The coalition agreement is explicit that those electorates would get the extra resource. It was a total beatup in collusion with Cunliffe. And if people really wanted to know about it, they could have read about it here when we covered it four months ago - but accurately]

By: peterwn

peterwn — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:29:46 +0000

GPT1 – Reminds me of how TV3 got slapped down by the Broadcasting Standards over an incident at Dunedin Cathedral some years ago (Anthony Trollope would have found great inspiration for a story line here) – they made all sorts of mountains out of molehills and ‘invented’ all sorts of intrigue. See:
http://www.nzlii.org/cgi-bin/sinodisp/nz/cases/NZBSA/1999/122.html

By: LUCY

LUCY — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:25:13 +0000

Spot on johnbt. Tracey Watkins is always good for a laugh. Her blogs have had me in hysterics when Ive bothered to read them.

By: johnbt

johnbt — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:53:18 +0000

This story was written by Tracey Watkins who would prefer all her articles to just read — National bad, Labour good. Take no notice. Ditto for van Hartog.

By: jacob van hartog

jacob van hartog — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:30:36 +0000

You are right baxter , it was a bauble to get the Maori party on board, subsequently dressed up to help nationals large seats as well.
No where is there proof that ‘long distances are a barrier “( email anyone?)
No proof that the extra workload is a problem, a small electorate in South Auckland may be busier than peaceful rural southland.

ACT of course wanted the MPs support ‘bulk funded’ so they could spent it on everything else , except talking or meeting constituents ( in practice ACT list MPs refer inquiries to the local electorate member)

By: baxter

baxter — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:42:57 +0000

DPF:………..People might be amazed at how much time a good MP and their staff spend on constituent assistance.”

So how do the List MPs fill in their time?? I can understand why the Maori Party with no list members might hang out for some assistance but it seems extravagant and wasteful in the circumstances to extend it to National electorates.

By: GPT1

GPT1 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:28:43 +0000

TV3 do seem to be quite exciteable on the political front. Fine line between reporting the news and making the news (up).

By: s.russell

s.russell — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:55:02 +0000

It would be helpful if the Electoral Act were altered to allow for greater flexibility in the population of electorates (currently it is plus or minus 5 percent). A 10 percent tolerance would help (in a small way) to keep some of the mega-large electorates from getting to that size.

By: peterwn

peterwn — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:24:22 +0000

I remember when Southern Maori consisted of the whole of the SI and Wellington area and the special arrangements that the late Mr Titikatene and subsequently his daughter Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan had. This included two Government issued self-drive cars (presumably one in each island). No one begrudged these arrangements

The Maori Party put a fair claim on the coalition negotiation table and National responded to it in a fair and principled manner. A far cry from the unprincipled and ‘pork barrel’ things a minor party puts up and forces a major party to have to accept.

By: homepaddock

homepaddock — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:21:04 +0000

The people who gain most from the extra funding for another staff member are the public who need help, not the MPs.

By: expat

expat — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:12:01 +0000

theres an even better article

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23661372-details/Brown+wants+party+to+take+a+leaf+out+of+Obama's+book/article.do

By: Murray

Murray — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:04:04 +0000

Ha ha!

By: expat

expat — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:02:17 +0000

jacob van hartog (196) Vote: 0 4 Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am

In Aussie and the UK the Tory parties lead the charge in rip offs

>> No, in the UK the Labour Party lead the way in rip offs, please see

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23661369-details/Ministers+admit%3A+'We+pay+our+husbands+and+wives'/article.do

Bugga, eh bro.

cutnpaste url as I cantget it to link correctly.

By: Murray

Murray — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:41:17 +0000

jacob are you claiming to talk for “the public” now? If so on what do you base this claim?

By: Murray

Murray — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:38:21 +0000

Timing bad, opposition will hammer it, maybe go up to one in twenty three people able to pick Phil In out of a line up – whoo freaken hoo – actually a reasonable move giving people suffering from recession better access to their MP’s so who cares, move on now.

By: jacob van hartog

jacob van hartog — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:35:27 +0000

Does ACT still have staff for its List MPs based in Wellington, and used as assistants to the party work.?

That was the deal a few years ago ( when they had no Seats) , and they were all housed in a office building owned by a Prebble Trust but paid for by the taxpayer.

Later on of course they broke the law by not disclosing the free rent from Bob Jones as a donation.

No wonder the public is suspicious about these deals for MPs, as has been shown In Aussie and the UK the Tory parties lead the charge in rip offs

By: expat

expat — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:32:12 +0000

You are protesting a wee bit too much on this one. Really, its ‘a who gives a “flying f*ck” issue’.

By: petal

petal — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:27:58 +0000

“People might be amazed at how much time a good MP and their staff spend on constituent assistance.”

Isn’t that the whole point of having a local MP? So no, I wouldn’t be surprised.

By: jacob van hartog

jacob van hartog — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:16:48 +0000

badly timed because of the recession.

Mps getting more perks will always be picked on.

hello what planet are you on , having had 9 years of been able to play The other end of the game its time to accept you will be kicked hard on this.
And if it was because of more voter visits , then let that be the criteria and Not because Bill English who has lived in Wellington permanently for the last 10 years wants an extra staff help