Kiwiblog

As I predicted Chris Tremain has gone from Junior Whip to Senior Whip, and the new Junior Whip is Jo Goodhew – a fellow member of the Class of 2005.

Both Tremain and Goodhew won what were safe Labour seats in 2005. Napier had been with Labour for decades, and Chris Tremain has made it an incredibly safe seat for himself. It helped to have Russel Fairbrother as the opponent, but Tremain is hugely high profile and popular in Napier.

Likewise Goodhew won Aoraki off Jim Sutton in 2005, turning a 6,500 deficit into a 6,500 margin, and she increased that to 8,000 on teh new Rangitata boundaries.

Both will be Ministers sooner rather than later – possibly even in this term if Key does a reshuffle before the election.

The Dom Post editorial:

The Mt Albert by-election has delivered a much-needed fillip to Phil Goff’s leadership of the Labour Party.

Not only did Labour candidate David Shearer win, he won handsomely. National’s post-election aura of invincibility has been shattered and Labour’s activists now have grounds to hope their party can mount a challenge in 2011, particularly if National blunders as badly in that campaign as it did in Mt Albert.

The morale boost is significant. It reassures Labour activists that unlike (for example) the UK Tories in 1997, they have not had a fundamental disconection from the electorate. It does signify that National is not assured of 2011. On the other hand Labour may read too much into it, and think this means that they can win in 2011 with little change from 2008.

But the political capital earnt in Mt Albert has been squandered in the Richard Worth affair. The bare facts suggest that, too, has been a victory for Labour. Dr Worth, under investigation by police for an alleged sexual offence, has been forced to quit Parliament as well as the executive, because of separate allegations brought to public attention by Mr Goff.

Those allegations are that Dr Worth embarrassed and traumatised a recent migrant to New Zealand with unwanted sexual advances and that, “in pursuit of romantic ambitions”, he offered her government jobs. The latter, if proven, would be indefensible, but it was the former that Mr Goff chose to highlight, painting Dr Worth’s alleged victim as a “strikingly beautiful”, somewhat unworldly, woman who had to ask her husband what the Xs with which Dr Worth allegedly concluded his text messages meant.

The portrait suggests someone unfamiliar with Western ways. But it does not fit with that of Labour activist Neelam Choudary, later revealed as the object of Dr Worth’s admiration. Labour insiders and reporters who encountered her on the campaign trail with Helen Clark say she is forthright and confident and presumably capable of deflecting the unwelcome attentions of an ageing MP.

Also missing from Mr Goff’s portrait of Dr Worth’s victim was any mention of the fact that her husband, Kumar Akkineni Choudary, was last year convicted of charging Indian and Chinese immigrants thousands of dollars for non-existent job offers.

And has carried on offending by registering as a company director, despite being ineligible for five years.

If true, Dr Worth’s attentions were boorish and unwelcome, but it is not against the law for an older man, even a married one, to make a fool of himself over a younger woman. Nor does doing so disqualify those involved from holding political office. If it did, there would be a mass exodus from Parliament.

The known facts suggest Mr Goff overstated Dr Worth’s sins in an attempt to besmirch his reputation and, by association, that of his leader, John Key. In doing so he has damaged his own reputation by showing he is prepared to throw political muck.

From the party that brought you the H Fee.

Mr Key, by comparison, looks prime ministerial. He knew Ms Choudary’s identity, and presumably of her husband’s conviction, but there is no evidence to suggest he is responsible for either coming to light. Meantime, he has forced Dr Worth’s resignation as a minister and made his future prospects appear so unattractive that Dr Worth has quit politics.

And this is quite remarkable. Imagine if Labour were Government and the complainant against a Minister was an aspiring National Party candidate, whose husband was a convicted fraudster. I would mortgage my house on the certainity that her identity would have been leaked from the Government within hours.

However, Mr Key has also had a chequered few weeks. Melissa Lee, National’s Mt Albert candidate, was sent into the by-election hopelessly ill-prepared and, when the polls turned against her, abandoned by her party.

If Mr Key could not be at her side on Saturday night, he should have ensured plenty of other colleagues were. Loyalty cuts two ways.

It wasn’t a good look.

The Herald reports on another piece of suppressed evidence:

Ms Koch told the TVNZ Sunday programme that the conversation with Arawa Bain happened in the Every St home a few months before the family were found dead.

“She [Arawa] said the family was scared because David was intimidating them with the gun,” said Ms Koch.

Who thinks David is going to get compensation if he applies?

The Dom Post reports that the Government’s review of s92A has been restricted to finding a better process to terminate Internet accounts of copyright infringers, rather than allow a debate on whether termination of Internet access should be a legislated penalty.

It is distressing that the Government is pushing on with such a controversial provision, when the rest of the world is rejecting it. The French Constitutional Court just threw out a similiar French law as unconstitutional.

Child pornography is a far more henious problem than copyright infrngement, but Parliament does not have a law stating that people convicted of child pornography must lose their Internet account.

Run an online fraud, and you will not lose your Internet account – you will just be punished for the actual offending.

Telecommunications Carriers Forum independent chair Richard Westlake says it is disappointed a promised review of the law and its implications has not occurred. “There’s been nothing said or seen which would imply that level of broader consultation and re- thinking has taken place or is in place. There is a working group but we’re concerned the issue has been pre-judged.”

Richard Westlake is correct. The review has been given narrow terms of reference – to come up with a termination model. It is not allowed to come up with a model that does not include termination of Internet access.

Labour’s Clare Curran says:

Terminating internet accounts is a major point of contention. Financial penalties would likely be more effective, she says.

And Clare is correct on this point. No one at all is advocating there should be no penalty for copyright infringers. But the penalty should be a fine that matches or exceeds the value of the infringed material.

Judith Tizard was rightfully blamed for the original s92A. If the Government comes up with a new version that is not much of an improvement, then they will be the ones blamed.

What would be useful is for the Government to clearly state that they are open to solutions that do not involved termination of Internet accounts.

It is somewhat ironic that Cam Calder will probably be sworn in as an MP today, while David Shearer can’t be sworn in until the writ is returned in the by-election on the 24th of June.

Dr Calder is is the third medical doctor in Parliament – all of them in National. He replaces a non medical Dr Worth.

The Herald profiles him, including one incident:

New MP Cam Calder’s decision 25 years ago to quit being a dentist and become a doctor instead was confirmed soon after by a freak accident in which he lost the sight in one eye.

It takes some persuading before he reveals details, but eventually out comes a tale of a trip to the beach with some friends in France and bottles of corked beer. He insists it was an “abstemious” occasion, but warm beer was put in a bucket of ice and then Dr Calder knocked the bucket and one of the corks shot out and hit him in the eye, blinding it.

Ouch.

He also takes credit for being among those “importing” petanque to New Zealand, setting up the NZ Petanque Association.

He discovered the sport’s pleasures on his big OE in the 1970s, when he hitchhiked around Australia, then travelled through Europe to Britain, where he lived for 13 years.

Further to this, Murray Deaker on ZB last night was praising Calder as the best correspondent he had dealt with, in any code. High praise indeed.

His decision to enter politics was because he was concerned about the future his children would inherit. He chose National, partly because he saw John Key as being inclusive.

He says he will do whatever the powers tell him, but has a particular interest in men’s health. One of his wishes is for men to be offered “man-ograms” – similar to the breast-screening scheme – to increase testing for prostate cancer.

Prostrate cancer is indeed a silent killer.

Phil Goff has been handing out lots of advice lately from telling Neelam Choudary to bring a chaperone to have coffee with Richard Worth, to his musings on how a younger woman would not be interested in an older man.

Cactus Kate has located further advice that Dear Phil has been handing out to his MPs. Here are some extracts – the full set is at Cactus Kate:

Dear Phil,

Simon keeps asking me for coffee after our Breakfast television spot early on Thursdays.

Should I take a chaperone?

Thanks and keep up the good work. I am enjoying your strong positive leadership.

Yours sincerely

Jacinda Ardern M.P.

And Phil’s reply:

Jacinda

Lovely to hear from you. I have looked up your parliamentary profile and indeed you are a strikingly beautiful young lady. I don’t know how I haven’t noticed you before and for that I apologise.

It is clear to me that you should always take a chaperone. That Bridges lad reminds me a lot of myself at that age. In which case you are always under danger.

I suggest speaking to one of Helen’s old people and arranging a chaperone. They could possibly wait in the car while you have these meetings and you can text a warning to them if you feel in danger. Make sure you keep these texts for later use. We could set Bridges up a beauty.

Regards

Phil.

And

Dear Phil

I am embarrassed to mention this but considering your comments recently I need clarification.

As a woman if I receive some 100 text messages and phone calls in the space of a few months, should I think a man finds me sexually attractive?

I ask as it is Duncan Garner again, he just won’t leave me alone. Is he hiding his attraction to me under the guise of journalism? I am old enough to be his mother, but he’s a cuddly little pup.

Sincerely

Hon. Annette

Hopefully this may become a regular series!

That was quick – the Government and the ARC have put in $20 million each to buy Queens Wharf off Ports of Auckland (owned by ARC). This means it will be available not just for the Rugby World Cup, but be the cornerstone of future waterfront development.

Ports of Auckland will vacate the wharf by April 2010.

The Ministry of Health has not updated its website yet, but I understand they have just gone from Code Yellow to Code Red for Swine Flu, according to an e-mail to Auckland University staff.

The codes are:

Code White is information/advisory only, used in the planning stages of pandemic preparedness and for notification to the health sector of areas of concern overseas.

Code Yellow is a standby phase, used to alert the health sector when there has been a significant development in the virus overseas, or single isolated cases in New Zealand.

Code Red is the response phase, used to alert the health sector that they should activate their response plans.

Code Green is to notify the health sector to standdown response and move into the recovery phase.

So it is all on, as more and more schools get infected.

The University of Auckland’s Political Studies Department is hosting a free public workshop presented by Rob Thomas to assist people interested in making submissions to the Select Committee on Auckland’s Governance.

This is a non-partisan community event to encourage community participation in the decision making process.

At the workshop they will:

• Discuss a brief history of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill 2009
• Learn how to make a submission to the Select Committee
• Learn how to effectively formulate your ideas for a formal submission

The workshop is open to anyone who would like to make a submission. You do not need to RSVP – just come along and feel free to bring anyone who might also be interested in making a submission.

Friday, 19th June 6-8pm
University of Auckland Clock Tower, Room 039, 22 Princes St, City Campus

Please bring along your own writing equipment. We will facilitate your workshop and provide reference material. If you would like to find out more please contact us at: e[dot]deronde[at]auckland[dot]ac[dot]nz

Nathan Guy joins five other members of the Class of 2005 as a Minister.His portfolios are Internal Affairs, National Library, National Archives, Associate Justice and Associate Transport.

The Associate Transport is the one portfolio Richard Worth did not have. Look for him to take a big interest in making Transmission Gully happen.

Maurice Williamson gets to keep his temporary portfolio of Land Information.

Nathan is a popular MP, across political boundaries. I think he has the potential to rise very high in politics, and expect he will be in Cabinet before too long.

The Caucus elects a new Senior Whip tomorrow. I would be very suprised if junior whip Chris Tremain is not elevated to that job. If he is, then the real interest is who will replace him as Junior Whip – there is no obvious choice.

A helpful spy has sent me a copy of Labour powerpoint presentation – labour-auckland-governance-presentation-06-2009 on the Auckland Super City. Now at last we know what they are proposing. Key details:

1. Labour says all councillors should be elected from single-member wards. This is a direct contradiction of the Royal Commission’s recommendation that you want some Councillors who represent all of Auckland – not just a geographical area.
2. To reduce the proposed powers of the Mayor so he or she can not even appoint committee chairs. The Mayoral powers are already weak by international standards and Labour wants them even weaker, so that the power lies all with the majority faction on Council.
3. To have 10-12 second tier boards or councils only. This means that each local board or Council will cover on average a massive 140,000 people. All the current community boards will be abolished under Labour’s plan so Labour policy is to have the local boards or councils further removed from actual neighbourhood communities. Grey Lynn will be sharing a board/council with Epsom under Labour’s plans, rather than have a smaller more local level of representation.
4. To have two seats reserved for Maori on the Maori roll, but not to have a mana whenua seat as proposed by the Royal Commission.

So when Labour claim they are outraged that the Government is not proceeding with the exact form the Royal Commission proposed, you should be aware they are proposing four major departures from the Royal Commission themsleves.

Do you remember the guy who tried to pay a bill with a drawing of a spider? Now he corresponds with his landlord over pets. Some extracts:

Thank you for your letter concerning pets in my apartment. I understand that having dogs in the apartment is a violation of the agreement due to the comfort and wellbeing of my neighbours and I am currently soundproofing my apartment with egg cartons as I realise my dogs can cause quite a bit of noise. Especially during feeding time when I release live rabbits.

The landlord doesn’t catch on to the windup at all.

Currently I only have eight dogs but one is expecting puppies and I am very excited by this. I am hoping for a litter of at least ten as this is the number required to participate in dog sled racing. I have read every Jack London novel in preparation and have constructed my own sled from timber I borrowed from the construction site across the road during the night.

And then after he admits to no dogs.

I have a goldfish but due to the air conditioner in my apartment being stuck on a constant two degrees celcius, the water in its bowl is iced over and he has not moved for a while so I do not think he is capable of disturbing the neighbours. The ducks in the bathroom are not mine. The noise which my neighbours possibly mistook for a dog in the apartment is just the looping tape I have of dogs barking which I play at high volume while I am at work to deter potential burglars from breaking in and stealing my tupperware. I need it to keep food fresh.

The landlord finally gives up!

An interesting interview on TV3, where David Shearer agrees Phil Goff is not internationally successful, and in response to whether he wants to be leader, said “not right now”.

Hat Tip: Whale Oil

The BNP is wasting no time reminding us why they are so loathsome. Their new MEP, Andrew Brons, has said that Dame Kelly Holmes is not “fully British”.

So let us look at the respective contributions towards Britain by both individuals. First Dame Kelly:

• Won Olympic gold medals for 800 and 1500 metres in 2004
• Served in the British Army for nine years from age 18
• Born in Kent
• Has been a nursing assistant to disabled patients
• BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2004
• Made DBE in 2005
• Last month was made President of Commonwealth Games England

And now Andrew Brons:

• Joined the neo-nazi National Socialist Movement at age of 17
• At age 19 joined the then BNP which merged two years later to become the National Front
• Co-edited the NF journal New Nation with Richard Verrall – a holocaust denier
• In 1983 led a march in Leeds where they shouted slogans including “white power” and “death to Jews”

Not much of a contest is there.

I don’t think we realise how bad things have been. The ODT editorial lays some of it out:

Mr Brady’s report was initiated under the Clark government, but it will be the National-led Government that must fix the problems long identified.

Among these are the grounds for approving or declining applicants for entry to this country, since it is obvious from his report that these are so variable, and so subjective, as to be nonsensical in some cases.

It is especially concerning that some branches had invented their own risk profiles rather than using the service’s standard assessment guide.

Some might also find it quite extraordinary that in the year 2009, the service’s computer system cannot store basic identity and verification information, such as photographs and scanned copies of passports, or that the majority of our overseas posts that process visa applications cannot access the system.

This means, according to Mr Brady, that nearly 40,000 visa applications a year are processed without access to the applicant’s application history and travel history, or to any warnings or alerts stored in the service’s computer.

Amazing. This is the most basic requirement.

And Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman doesn’t hold back on Q&A:

GUYON OK, let’s turn to your ministerial responsibility of immigration and start with your department.   The Auditor General’s report that was released recently – it’s a fairly damning report on the department.

JONATHAN It is. Absolutely.

How nice to have a Minister not try and sugar coat it.

GUYON Basically they’re saying that this department is rushing its visa decisions about who gets into the country and making very poor judgements about who gets into this country.  I mean how bad are things?

JONATHAN Look that is a very bad report and we knew things were bad but this really confirms it and what its really showing is that if you go to a New Zealand Immigration office you can get a different decision on a different day depending on who you speak to and what branch you go to…it’s unacceptable.

GUYON It’s a lottery..

JONATHAN It’s unacceptable and it has to be fixed.  They’re saying that 21% of the decisions are not up to scratch.   In the Pacific division that was 40% so things  definitely have got to change because customers are not getting the service.

And how many years had this been going on for?

JONATHAN Well there’s people acting in some of those roles at the moment and they will apply for their jobs as part of that process.   But the other thing we’re going to do, we’re going to be putting in someone independent to work alongside the CE as a liaison between me and the CE to make sure these changes get implemented.

GUYON So the Chief Executive gets a minder essentially?

That is not exactly a vote of confidence in the CE.

GUYON Can I just clarify something you said, you said that 20% of those decisions were poor quality decisions..

JONATHAN that’s right, not up to scratch&

GUYON now the department approves 543,000 visa and permanent applications a year, does that mean about a hundred thousand people are in New Zealand who shouldn’t be?

JONATHAN Well it could also mean there’s a lot of people in New Zealand or who aren’t in New Zealand who by rights could be.  I mean we don’t. It’s hard to quantify really what it means one way or the other, but what we do know is its completely unacceptable& and the quality of service really has to improve within a time line.

What a mess. He has his work cut out.

Convicted fraduster Kumar Choudary is listed as a Director of Kumar Karkare Enterprises Ltd and OSCM International Ltd.

Aspiring Labour candidate Neelam Choudary has been a co-director of Kumar Karkare Enterprises Ltd since May 2004. That company has ceased to carry on business and the Registrar is about to remove it.

Of more interest is OSCM International Ltd. They have three Directors. The first, since Oct 2005 is Pavitra Roy (who may be the same Pavitra Roy who stood for the Progressives in 2008). The other two are Kumar Choudary and Lourdu Joseph William Reddy – both convicted of six fraud charges in December 2008. They became Directors of OSCM in February 2009.

So what is the problem? Well if you have been convicted of a crime involving dishonesty (such as fraud) within the last five years, you are ineligible under s382(1)(b) of the Companies Act to be a Director. And both William Reddy and Kumar Choudary signed Director consent forms in February 2009 – just two months after they had been convicted. The forms explicitly make clear that you can not sign if convicted.

His form is attached here – choudary.

Now Choudary I presume faces liability both for signing the form, despite beign prohibited, but also remaining a Director of the other company, along with his wife Neelam. The maximum penalty under s373(4) is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to a fine not exceeding $200,000.

Colin Espiner blogs:

Last night I was in Christchurch for a public meeting on the economy organised by The Press.

We had Prime Minister John Key along, plus Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce head Peter Townsend, Lincoln University chancellor Tom Lambie, Ngai Tahu kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon, Canterbury University vice-chancellor Rod Carr, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker, Press editor Andrew Holden and me.

We packed out the James Hay Theatre (well, we only charged $5 a ticket) and for two hours we debated the economy – how bad was it, and what could we do to make it better. You could have heard a pin drop.

Not because the audience was asleep (we had electric buzzers fitted to their seats) but because nearly 1000 people had turned up to hear what Key had to say about the recession, and how to fix it.

That is an amazingly high number of people to attend.

The night was interesting for several reasons. It was good to hear the Prime Minister explain what he planned to do about the recession in words that didn’t have to be fitted into a seven-second television soundbite. Or in a dry speech to a chamber of commerce. Or in the heat of battle in Parliament.

And it reminded me that the public is interested in weighty issues and able to absorb them in relatively big chunks. They don’t need stuff dumbed down, and they do care about more than just day-to-day issues that obviously still concern them.

Did they learn anything? Well, they learned Key doesn’t have all the answers, although he does have a sound grip on what the problems are. He took a sound telling-off from Rod Carr about the lack of expenditure on education with good grace.

Wish I could have attended.

Key apologised for canning the tax cuts, though he said they would be back: “I believe in the power of tax cuts,” Key said, almost evangelically. He spoke of the opportunities that existed in China and India, the need to develop a “China strategy” to make it easier to do business in that part of the world, and to focus on human capital.

Key talked about food quality, water storage, regulatory reform, and the difficulty of doing more on less money. There was no silver bullet, but then I suspect there isn’t one.

Overall it was a pretty commanding performance on what is easily Key’s best subject, when you get him away from the sideshows and the distractions.

Good to see the reaffirmation of the importance of tax cuts.

And Colin quotes Key’s final words in what he calls one of his best public performances:

“I think that you get elected to concentrate on what actually matters to people. And in the end my perception is when you go down to the polling booth, you vote on whether the economy is going to be managed properly, whether your communities are safe, whether your kids have got an opportunity, whether New Zealand has a health system that really works, whether you feel like you’re actually going in the right direction.

“And all of the other stuff is just sort of white noise that bubbles along. And the risk for politicians is they get attracted to the white noise. It’s a bit like a bar fight, you know? Everyone watches it, hopefully you’re not involved in it, but actually not much changes.

“And when you go and have a look at political parties that have spent their life on those kind of salacious, scandal-based issues, their support never rises. Because you the voters want answers to real problems.

“What I say to the Cabinet on a very regular basis and to the caucus on a very regular basis is look, for as long as we stay focused on the issues that matter to New Zealanders, that we come up with solutions, that we’re honest with them, we’ll enjoy their support.

“And when we start thinking it’s about us as politicians, when we start losing track of what matters to you then actually I reckon you will boot us out.

“I can’t tell you whether that will be two and half years, or in five and a half years’ time, or eight and a half years’ time, or more, but what I can tell you is the simple, fastest way to get thrown out is forget why you were put there.

“And we were put there to make New Zealand a lot better. And that’s going to be my intention. And that’s what I’m going to deliver.”

An excellent initiative from The Press to have such a forum.

The Dom Post reports:

The Inland Revenue Department is asking the High Court to rewrite tax law in a $641 million tax avoidance case between it and the BNZ, the bank says. …

And:

BNZ is the first of the four main trading banks to challenge Inland Revenue’s claims of tax avoidance by using so-called structured financial transactions, involving foreign financial institutions between 1998 and 2002. The banks have been assessed to owe about $2 billion in unpaid taxes and interest. Inland Revenue claims the transactions generated tax losses through fees and hedging costs which the bank then used to offset other taxable income.

But BNZ’s lawyer Alan Galbraith, QC, said in his closing submissions to the High Court at Wellington that Inland Revenue’s case was “fundamentally misconceived” in the legal interpretation and tests, and the commercial and economic reality of the deals. Inland Revenue had also incorrectly inferred that, if Parliament had mistakenly failed to bar the use of structured financial transactions in tax legislation, the court could remedy the situation.

There is a lot at risk with these cases. I understand from informed sources close to one of the banks, that they have offered to settle the case for around $500 million. Informally it seems this was acceptable to Ministers, but that Crown Law was strongly against any settlement.

I understand that until the cases are resolved, there is considerable uncertainity over funding arrangements for the banks, and this is partly why interest rates are not dropping more.

I don’t know the strength of the Government’s case, but I imagine questions will be asked if they lose the case, after declining half a billion dollar settlement. And if the banks do lose, I suspect it will end up in the Supreme Court in a few years. And the problem is that until we get a final Supreme Court ruling, uncertainity may remain.

UPDATE: An informed source tells me that the Government is not facing much risk due to the Supreme Court decision in Trinity. They agree it will go to the Supreme Court but are very confident that the cost of doing so will be a small fraction of the eventual judgement.  Also that IRD generally can not agree to part settlements – only to reduce or waive penalties.

The NZ Herald editorial today:

If ever the case for a single city was clinched it was last week on Queens Wharf. The old wharf, a terminus for Gulf ferries but otherwise little used, could be purchased from Ports of Auckland for $20 million and turned into the public centrepiece of the waterfront in time for the Rugby World Cup 2011. …

And hopefully it will happen.

They are not, of course. The mayors of Manukau, North Shore and Waitakere cities, inveterate opponents of the single-city plan, have missed an opportunity to show that progress is possible with the present set-up. They are disinclined to share the Queens Wharf development lest Auckland City’s mayor and council take the lion’s share of the credit.

And soon they will all be gone – or at least their positions.

John Armstrong writes:

Saturday night’s massacre underlined one law of byelections but broke another. The first law is not to make mistakes. David Shearer may not have set the world on fire. But his campaign was solid.

One National wag labelled the cautious Mr Shearer as Labour’s answer to Clem Simich

The Greens nearly doubled their share of the electorate vote they won in the seat at last year’s election to nearly 12 per cent. But they hit close to 20 per cent in the party vote in some metropolitan seats in 2008. They would have expected to do much better in a byelection which had no bearing on who governs the country.

And this was one of the seats where they had a higher party vote.

Labour comfortably won the byelection because it kept the focus squarely on local concerns – the Waterview extension being the prime one.

Labour understood that Mt Albert voters were looking for someone who would be a good local MP – not some carpetbagger striding the national stage or someone representing a particular ethnic minority.

Much to National’s frustration, nationwide issues seemed to get little currency. The party’s strong showing in national polls thus had no spinoff in Mt Albert.

It was unusual that national issues played almost no part.

Shearer’s post-victory remark that the political tide had turned is misplaced. What Labour has done is stop the National tide going further up the beach.

The dominance of local issues, the fact the result did not matter, the carpetbagger factor and the neverending debacle that was Lee’s candidacy make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about what the result says about the Government’s real popularity.

As a minimum, however, the byelection is another item on a lengthening list of recent events which include the Christine Rankin appointment, the Richard Worth scandal and the Auckland Super City proposal and which have been marked by sloppy political management.

It has been an untidy few weeks, and the challenge for National is to be seen to be working again on the issues that matter.

That was again apparent on Saturday night with the party leadership missing in action, leaving Lee struggling on her own until the bitter end.

With John Key unable to be there because of a long-booked private commitment in Taupo, deputy Bill English or another senior minister should have been in Mt Albert to face the music.

It is understandable no one wanted to front or were advised not to front – understandable but indefensible.

The absence of the leadership sent a dreadful message to the party about loyalty. The leadership has to be there for the bad times, not just the good.

Key did have a very long-standing commitment that weekend, but I think it was a poor look more MPs were not there on the night. Only three National MPs were there out of the 17 Auckland based MPs.

There was one unexpected person though. Not at the main party, but afterwards a few Nats went to tthe Kingslander for some drinks, and I thought they were kidding when they texted David Bain was there having a drink – but he was. If he lives in the electorate, I wonder who he voted for

Bill Ralston writes:

He may have resigned but Richard Worth is not the only victim in this debacle. When you play in the muck you will get dirt on you. It’s a lesson Phil Goff forgot last week and it must take the gloss off the Mt Albert by-election result.

Goff made the mistake of personally championing Choudary’s allegations, and making it all about him.

It is obvious that Goff’s office first leaked the rumour to the Press Gallery that Labour had already warned Key of allegations of sexual harassment by Worth of another woman, who we now know is Neelam Choudary.

Leaving the Korean woman’s allegations to one side, it is also now apparent that the Choudary affair was largely a Labour set-up.

Personally I don’t think Goff was part of the set up. I think the most likely explanation is it was a group of Auckland activists. They took teh stuff to Goff and at first he did not think there was enough to attack Worth on – so instead he just sent it privately to Key. When Key’s COS came back and said he denies it but has been wanred, Goff was happy to leave it there as he probably himself doubted it all stacked up.

But then when Worth was dismissed as a Minister, Goff could not resist the chance to get it out there, so they leaked its existence. And at first it worked, until it became apparent how little proof there was, and that the picture drawn of the complainant was so misleading.  Goff should trusted his initial instincts to not go public with it.

Finally, however, thanks to the efforts of some bloggers and journalists in the gallery, more ugly facts emerged. Goff had sought to keep her name secret. For good reason. It soon became apparent Choudary was not just an ordinary low-level member of the Labour Party, she had tried to become a Labour MP last year.

By offering herself to the bear pit of Parliament she plainly demonstrated she was no shrinking violet incapable of fending off the blandishments of an aged Government minister.

Indeed. Tracy Watkins in the Dom Post sums it up best:

Meanwhile Mr Goff milked the woman’s status as an immigrant who was confused and distraught at Dr Worth’s intentions. When first asked by The Dominon Post if he knew the woman before she came to him, Mr Goff agreed he had, but only for a short time. By the next day, he had put it out there that she was a Labour Party member. When she was revealed this week as Auckland woman Neelam Choudary, it became clear she was no low-level member. She is prominent in Auckland Labour Party circles. The image of a frightened and traumatised woman doesn’t square with the recollections of reporters who came across her regularly on the campaign trail with Helen Clark.

Nor does it square with some of Mr Goff’s colleagues. The woman described as “strikingly beautiful” by Mr Goff is forthright and supremely confident, according to some. Her husband was convicted of an immigration scam.

It is interesting that Goff’s colleagues are quoted on this. Some of them are not too pleased I dare say on the handling of this.

Back to Ralston:

From the beginning, when she first received approaches from Worth, she had kept Goff in the loop. The Labour leader even endorsed the idea she should meet Worth.

We also found out that Choudary had been active on the ground in David Shearer’s by-election campaign in Mt Albert. Hence the inevitable conclusion Worth and the Government were clearly being set up by the Labour Party.

We’re still yet to hear why Choudary was seen having coffee with Worth a month after she alleges the texts and phone calls stopped.

I now find it impossible to give her and Goff’s allegations any credibility. She has insisted Key keep secret the content of the texts that Worth supposedly sent her, so she has made it impossible for the public to verify her claims. Certainly on the basis of the few innocuous texts released so far there is no evidence of any sexual propositions or harassment.

From what we’ve seen so far in the Choudary affair, Worth is guilty, at worst, of being a silly old fool.

No one has come out of this business with their reputation enhanced by what now must be seen as a Labour Party dirty trick.

Goff has ducked for cover, after a couple of weeks of drip-feeding juicy tidbits to the media and taking the moral high ground. That can only be seen as an admission he was wrong.

Yes when Goff won’t front up to media, you know things have gone wrong.

Jonathan Marshall reports on Complainant #2:

The Korean businesswoman whose sexual allegation against disgraced ex-MP Richard Worth is being investigated by police was herself charged with a serious criminal offence, but was not convicted, and it is claimed she has a string of creditors chasing her for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The details are:

The woman has been in trouble with the law herself. In October 2005 she appeared in Waitakere District Court charged with assault with intent to injure, but the case did not go to trial because the alleged victim did not turn up for a depositions hearing.

Assault with intent to injure is getting up to the serious end. I wonder what the details were.

More recently the woman and her business partner have been pursued by several creditors to whom it is alleged they owe thousands of dollars. A company owned by the pair has been placed into liquidation owing $245,000, although the liquidator expected that amount to climb.

A private investigator, who asked not to be named, confirmed finding the woman had been “terribly difficult”.

The private investigation firm had wanted to serve court documents on the woman relating to mortgage non-payment to the Bank of New Zealand for four homes, each valued at around $600,000.

That is a lot of money – $2.4 million. Not sure any of this directly is relevant to the allegations against Richard Worth, but it does tend to impact on credibility.

The SST reports the words of the new MP for Mt Albert:

New Mt Albert MP David Shearer has wasted no time in sending a clear message to his party that it must move with the times, generate new ideas, recruit fresh talent, take risks and listen to New Zealanders.

With all the votes counted, Shearer had 62 percent, Melissa Lee trailed with 17 percent and the Greens Russel Norman had 12 percent.

It was a huge victory and Shearer should be very happy with pretty much a fault free campaign.

Labour needs fresh ideas and needs to reconnect with the people. As you stay in government there’s a tendency to lock down and not take risks as you go on,” Shearer said.

“I think what you’ve got to be constantly doing is refreshing and taking time to get new ideas and continuing to listen. I think otherwise you end up hunkering down and fighting battles, and then people get tired.

He is right on the reconnection and new ideas. Hopefully we will get to see some new ideas from Labour as times goes on – at present they seem to still be fighting yesterday’s battles.