Kiwiblog

news.com.au reports:

NEW evidence has reportedly unmasked the mystery racing driver known as The Stig who appears in “Top Gear” disguised in a white helmet and black visor.

Documents naming a former Formula Three driver called Ben Collins, 35, point to his being the famous anonymous figure, NewsCore reports.

Collins had been suspected for some time anyway, after he was named as a consultant to the show in a report on the Richard Hammond crash in 2006.

The Herald on Sunday reports:

Welcome to One News – if you’d like to know how Australia’s elections work, we’re completely incapable of telling you.

That seemed to be the problem for presenter Simon Dallow when he fronted a segment on our closest neighbour’s electoral system.

As an instructional, the Friday night broadcast told viewers little that was accurate about the 1200 candidates vying for the 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate.

In fact, it used a completely different voting system to explain what 14 million voters – of 22 million citizens – would be doing with their votes.

The mistake was picked up by political animal and blogger David Farrar. He told Kiwiblog readers: “What a pity they got it so wrong. Simon Dallow, who fronted it, should send an angry-gram to whomever produced that item.”

I wasn’t aware political animal was a formal descriptor!

Throng report an apology from TVNZ:

We’re looking into how we got this so very wrong and sincerely apologise to our viewers for the very embarrassing mistake.

Kudos to TVNZ for being upfront.

1. Labor ran an awful campaign. Almost policy-free, and all about demonising Tony Abbott.
2. Tony Abbott ran a very good campaign, and really only stuffed up once on the campaign trail.
3. Gillard’s climate change policy of referring the issue to a citizen’s assembly was their biggest mistake as it alienated both sides on that issue and was seen as utterly cynical.
4. Rudd’s leaks against Gillard did damage Labor, and the anger over his rolling was a factor.
5. Even if Labor retain government, Gillard may face an unhappy caucus as the Rudd faction will point out she blew his majority.
6. The truth is Rudd probably would have lost by a bigger margin, but this will fade from memory.
7. While the three Independents can put Abbott into power, he will not have a Senate majority, so don’t assume it is a done deal for Abbott.
8. It is possible Labor and Greens could do a coalition deal, with some Green Senators becoming Ministers. They need Wilkie (likely) and at least one Independent to support them in the House, unless they pick up an extra seat on special votes.
9. The two election parties were such a contrast – Labor half empty and dejected, and Liberals cheering their hero Tony.
10. Whatever happens, a three year term for the next Government looks unlikely.

TVNZ says:

Guyon Espiner will be live from Sydney to talk about the result of the Australian election – the winners and losers and all the morning-after reaction.

Paul Holmes interviews Justice Minister Simon Power about the government’s plan for liquor reform. How will the government respond to the Law Commission’s 153 recommendations and can they tackle our binge-drinking culture?

We have a special Christchurch mayoral debate. Mayor Bob Parker and Progressives leader Jim Anderton go head-to-head for Christchurch’s mayoral chains. What do they have planned for the mainland’s big city?

On the panel with Dr Therese Arseneau are lawyer and former ACT MP Stephen Franks and NZ Food & Grocery Council CEO and former National MP Katherine Rich.

Plus we’ll get the word from the blogsphere, David Farrar of Kiwiblog and Bomber Bradbury from Tumeke are on live.

Except we are not on live. We did pre-records.

Will be a very interesting show. Anderton v Parker, plus the Aussie elections plus the alcohol law changes.

The Herald on Sunday has an interesting piece on Simon Ewing-Jarvie.

I haven’t talked to Simon for a few years, but have chatted to him a few times in the past – like myself he is very much into technology. On a personal level, always found him very relaxed and interesting. But around six months ago I started to hear stories that were less than flattering. I don’t have enough first hand knowledge to say who may be at fault, but the HoS story raises some interesting issues:

The Security Intelligence Service withheld security clearance for Simon Ewing-Jarvie, a former New Zealand Army lieutenant colonel, shortly before he took part in an Act Party insurrection. …

Early this month, SIS officers working on a standard investigation into the adviser’s background decided he should not be allowed to see or access classified material.

In the first week of August, Prime Minister John Key’s chief of staff Wayne Eagleson was sent a document stating that Ewing-Jarvie’s status had shifted to “non-access to any classified material”.

Security checks are usually straightforward, with SIS officers checking disclosures by staff against paper records, tracking an individual’s life to the present. Any variation results in closer scrutiny.

SIS officers had been attempting to carry out the clearance work on Ewing-Jarvie for most of the year but had difficulty pinning him down to discuss details.

It is rare indeed to not get an SIS clearance. Even I managed it!

It is almost incomprehensible that one could work for a Defence Minister and not have security clearance.  One can only wonder why clearance was not given.

Political confidantes of Roy have expressed concern over the advice she has been receiving from Ewing-Jarvie and the depth of their relationship.

The Herald on Sunday observed Roy leaving Ewing-Jarvie’s home yesterday morning.

Her car, which was parked outside his house at 10.30pm on Friday, was in the same place at 7am.

Well that’s subtle.

The SST also has a story, where Ewing-Jarvie admits to leaking the Roy dossier. This is no surprise, as Whale Oil has already outed him for it.

The HoS editorial:

Another ‘innocent’ man is about to get out of prison.

Convicted double killer John Barlow will next week walk free from Wellington’s Rimutaka Prison after serving about 15 years for the execution-style killings of father and son Eugene and Gene Thomas in 1995.

Barlow was convicted at a third trial after the first two juries could not agree on a verdict. He has had a Privy Council appeal dismissed. The 64-year-old will walk out to the support of his wife, Angela, and daughter Keryn.

The family maintains Barlow is innocent. Keryn has even completed the first draft of a book on the case, which she says reveals some of the torment the family has had to suffer.

As the old joke goes, everyone in prison is innocent.

As for torment and suffering, well my thoughts remain with the Thomas family who lost a father and son. There is no parole for them.

1253 Latest from ABC is Coal 73 and Lab 72. I still think Gillard will hang on but it will be claimed she has lost moral mandate to govern by coming second.

11:26 Wow it is getting tight, and a hung Parliament now more likely. Labor and Coalition both have 68 seats. Greens 1 and Independents 4. That leaves nine seats to decide it.  At present five have Labor in front and four Libs, so that would be 73 Labor 72 Coalition. Gillard will need not just the Green MP but at least one of the four Independents. Abbott is now down and out yet if this eventuates. He could govern with all four Independents. Greens will hold balance of power in Senate.

11:20 Abbott will not be PM, but will (like Don Brash) be revered as the opposition leader who almost won the unwinnable election. A difference is Abbott did it after one term, meaning Labor will have to work very hard to get a third term.

10:50 Sky TV now saying hung Parliament a strong possibility if Labor lose seats in WA or SA.

10:35 In the event of a hung Parliament, Julia Gillard will remain Prime Minister I predict. The one or two Green MPs will back her, and the three Independents are more likely to – despite being former Nats.

10:30: Not at the bar as my internal clock is still not adjusted from Europe and I fell asleep at 6 pm and just woke back up at 10.30 pm!

At the moment it is looking like the Coalition picks up 15 and loses 3, which would leave Labor with exactly 76 seats – the bare minimum needed to govern alone.

While any victory is a victory, to come so close to being the only first term Government to almost lose power since the 1930s will be a nasty wakeup call.

My God. One News had a segment yesterday in the 6 pm bulletin on the Australian election, and they decided to explain how the system worked. What a pity they got it so wrong. Simon Dallow, who fronted it, should send an angry-gram to whomever produced that item.

They correctly described the House of Representatives as having 150 seats, and you need 76 to form a Government.

But then Simon went on to say Australia uses the Single Transferable Vote, or STV, electoral system. No, they don’t – well not for the House of Representatives which the item was on.

They use the preferential voting (often called Alternative Vote) system.

Even worse Simon went on to say they get two votes, and showed a mock ballot paper.

That has no resemblance to an Australian ballot paper.

This sample ballot, taken from Wikipedia, shows that you rank the candidates in order. You do not tick them, there is no second column.

This is basic stuff. Someone at TVNZ should have checked the story.

This Greenpeace video is designed to convince people to oppose off-shore oil drilling in New Zealand.

However I reckon it is counter-productive. Videos of poor little seals, and penguins covered in oil tug the heartstrings and makes you want to boycott BP.

However a video of girls in bikinis posing covered in dripping sticky oil doesn’t have quite the same effect. In fact makes you want to go buy some shares in BP, and yell out “drill baby, drill”

Oh this should be very amusing. Whale Oil has announced he is standing for the Auckland Council in the same ward as Andrew Williams. Whale’s eight pledges are:

Mr Slater’s pledges are that he will NOT:

1. Piss on any trees
2. Sign paint­ings I have not painted
3. Send drunken texts after 11pm
4. Send drunken press releases after 11pm
5. Hold impor­tant meet­ings in bars
6. Vote to fund Brian Rudman’s theatre
7. Put booz­ing with my mates on my coun­cil credit card8. Stop putting piggy noses on trough­ing politicians
8. Punch ambu­lance officers

Can’t wait for the public meetings.

Peter McCaffrey has found a location for those in Wellington who want to watch the Aussie election over a few drinks. We will be at CQ Bar, Ground Floor, Comfort And Quality Hotel, 223 Cuba Street from 7.30 pm.

There is an inevitable Facebook event for it, which you can RSVP to. Should be a fun night – I’ll be blogging from there.

John Ansell is on The National today at 11 am, talking about the recent woes in ACT. This should be very interesting!

Go to Whale Oil, and read his revelations about who has been leaking stuff to him, and e-mailing him incredibly defamatory stuff about MPs and staff in ACT.

Maybe the media will reconsider their editorial stance of blaming Rodney.

Re-reading the Roy dossier, I noticed that her staff referred to her as HHR – Hon Heather Roy.

What amused me was if this including the Hon in the abbreviation caught on in the ACT office, this would mean that Rodney gets referred to as HRH

Have left it rather late, but how many people in Wellington would be keen to watch the aussie election results in a bar somewhere? Polls close at 6pm, which is 8 pm NZT. So starting say 7.30 pm?

Let me know if you are interested, and if enough are, I’ll try a couple of places.

Busted Blonde is still in the lead, but it could be close.

Go to NBR and vote for her (click on thumbs up sign next to her entry), so BB wins her weight in Veuve Clicquot. This is the final day of voting.

If Busted Blonde wins, I have been told I will be allowed to bring a couple of blog readers along to the party, where the 100+ kgs of champagne will be consumed.

So if you are a fan of Veuve Clicquot, make your case in the comments section, for why you should be my guest at the party, if Busted Blonde wins. Busted and Cactus will help me select the winners.

The white-heron was in a blillabong up near Darwin and I quite liked the setting of the scene. It seemed very peaceful.

The trickiest aspect of the shot was the fact a 4m crocodile was somewhere around. It’s the ones you can’t see that make me nervous.

As always, clicking the image will bring up a larger version

Hope everyone has a good day. Now, I really need to find some coffee…

NZPA report:

There is compelling international evidence that increasing the legal alcohol purchasing age reduces harm and saves lives, a United States professor and alcohol expert has told MPs.

Yes it does. Putting the purchase age up to 30 would save lives. So would putting it up to 40. Banning spirits would save live. Bannign motor cars would reduce the road toll.

Any moron can come up with a list of measures to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. A group of seven year olds could probably do so as a class exercise. But they all miss the point.

The point they all miss, is what impact does this have on adult New Zealanders and their ability to have a drink without causing harm.

The arrogance of some of these experts is best characterised by this quote from Professor Doug Sellman:

“So, even though the science points strongly to the four key actions described above, our leaders could very well allow ideology to trump science. This brings to mind political regimes we tend to look down on with great disapproval.”

Sellman’s taxpayer funded lobby group has demanded that everything they recommend must be implemented by the Government, without question. f not, then it means we are some sort of third world country or dictatorship.

What fucking arrogance.

I encourage Professor Sellman to go form a political party, and campaign on his agenda. Once he wins  general election, he can lecture us on what the Government must do.

Sellman is like many zealots in this field. They think it is only about the “science”, They don’t realise it is also about rights of New Zealanders.

Personally I am glad we have a Government that doesn’t give the zealots a veto on policy. That actually thinks adult New Zealanders have certain rights.

Have read through in detail the so called Roy Dossier, of 82 pages.

While it is designed to hurt Rodney Hide, I actually think that it reflects more poorly on its author. Incidentally the author is not necessarily Heather Roy, but more likely a former staff member of hers.

The first thing that strikes me is the massive sense of entitlement, as if ACT being in Parliament was all due to Heather. An extract:

In the 2005 -2008 Parliament, I maintained what I could of respectability for the Party through Rodney’s journey of reinvention.

News flash. Rodney won Epsom with a massive majority. He also increased the party vote from 2 MPs to 5 MPs. That was not due to the Deputy Leader’s so called maintenance of respectability.

The whole way through, it has this tone. Heather’s advisers have obviously convinced that she is ACT’s salvation.

I must, as an Associate Minister, have the ability to discuss issues freely and frankly with my primary Minister. The contents of the paper are entirely consistent with the ACT National Security Policy from the 2008 election which had sign-off from the policy committee.

But who decides it is consistent? That is the job of caucus, not the Minister or her aides solely.

Rodney sent me a text message asking for a copy of the Defence Document. I contacted Wayne Mapp to discuss this with him. I explained that the document was wanted because Rodney wanted to use it against me and that the ‘need to know’ provision in the security manual did not apply to him. I reminded him it was a draft intended for him only. He said it was my document and it was up to me. I said I was not going to give Rodney a copy

At this point I would have sacked Heather on the spot. This document was not sort sort of highly classified document, using top secret information. It was in fact authored by Heather (or her advisor), and her refusal to give her leader a copy is the most politically stupid thing I’ve seen since, well Chris Carter’s anonymous letters to the press gallery.

I then sent Rodney a text message in reply to his claim that he had discussed this with the Minister of Defence, informing him that it was a classified document and that I wouldn’t be giving it to him.

Again – I would have sacked her at that stage. What the hell was she thinking, or was she being advised. The sole reason Heather was Associate Minister of Defence is because Rodney Hide won Epsom, and is the party leader of ACT. Ministers are expected to consult their parties on what they do. I’ve never heard of a Minister refusing to share a document (that they authored) with a party leader.

There is a covering email that this document was sent with as an attachment (Enclosure 12). It is from my Advisor to his counterpart in the Mapp Office and the Deputy Secretary of Defence – the latter to whom feedback was asked to be directed. It states that in the event of having little time to scrutinise the paper he has made suggested changes but has not had time to run them past his Minister and, given the timeline for submission, he felt that he had no other choice and takes responsibility for this.

Rodney Hide states that my Advisor should not be making statements on ACT party positions. The comments made are all consistent with the ACT National Security policy for the 2008 election signed off by the policy committee and the email cover sheet covers off responsibility for comments.

So an unelected staff member is determining positions, and the party leader is not even able to see a copy. You get to see why there was a problem. The references to consistency with party election policy are a red herring as election policy tends to be very wide, and that doesn’t remove the need for approval for more specific positions.

After two very confrontational meetings with Rodney Hide in his office (both were called at very short notice with no indication of what they were about) and after discussion at a meeting with the Party President, I decided that I would not meet with the Leader alone.

I’m almost lost for words. The arrogance in that statement.

I was concerned he would take the paper away and copy it, which is why I said he could read it in my office, but not take it away. It is a classified document and he does not meet the security regulation ‘need to know’ criterion. His purpose for wanting the document was to use it in a witchhunt
against me.

Again the sense of importance and entitlement is staggering. Can you imagine a junior Minister telling her party leader he does not meet “need to know” because she unilaterally has decided she disapproves of his purposes for wanting it. And again this was not a secret or top secret document. It was merely restricted, and in fact authored by Heather or her advisor.

Makes it appear as though Rodney is afraid of Heather’s ability and ambition regarding leadership and so feels the need to remove her before she becomes too powerful.

Again, what were they smoking? The entire document reeks of this conceit.

Raises ser ious doubt s about John’ s judgement in challenging for Deputy role before Natural justice had occurred. Unlikely he would be taken as a serious future leader or ministerial option after that.

This part is hilarious. She thought she would stay on as a Minister if not Deputy, and is trying to scare Boscawen off.

Some Board members and highly placed list candidates may
publicly resign.

The only board member who resigned (later withdrawn) was in response to the lies in this dossier, not due to Heather’s sacking.

A Special General Meeting could be called by 20% of the membership causing further unhelpful media scrutiny.

You think you’re so highly reHgarded that 20% of the members will call an SGM to protest your sacking? After reading this dossier, they won’t manage 2%.

The Greens will likely offer a ‘make-up’ deal with National in an attempt to step into ACT’s support party space.

Ha ha ha ha ha. What fine political analysis.

I write this post again with sadness. But the “dossier” is so awful, I just can’t not point out that it in facts proves that Heather had to be sacked.

Two more large donations to National have been disclosed to the Electoral Commission.

Suzhen Zhou has donated $150,000. This is on top of an earlier $50,000 donation, so Ms Zhou is now National’s largest donor. Her combined $200,000 matches the $200,000 she gave to aid relief after the 2008  Sichuan earthquake.

Team McMillan in Newmarket have also donated $50,000.

Stuff has a gallery of the Miss Universe national costumes. I swear the so called national costume of Albania, is stolen from a strip club in West Auckland.

Pleased to welcome Roger Kerr to the blogosphere. Am looking forward to his contributions.

Roger has just blogged on the death of Tony Judt, described as a fearless Anglo-Jewish intellectual and academic historian who was one of the most brilliant and genuinely original thinkers of our times.

Judt caused great controversy, with this call in 2003:

Judt rocked the Jewish world in 2003 with an article in The New York Review of Books, Israel: the Alternative.

It described the Jewish state as “an anachronism” and argued that Zionism’s ethno-religious exclusivity be replaced by an inclusive liberal democracy. In effect, it called for a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian impasse, as he did again in a New York Times column only last month.

The so called one state solution, is ironically backed by elements of the Likud party.

The Business Roundtable has also just relaunched a refreshed website. Much more user-friendly.