Kiwiblog

I seriously wonder if Phil Goff believes a word of what he is promising. How can the man who was an enthusiastic backers of the 1980s reforms, really sincerely believe his rhetoric about putting up barriers to investment. How can the zealous trade minister who signed trade and investments deals galore, now be advocating policies that undermine them?

The Herald reports:

Labour has made a dramatic turnaround on its foreign investment policy, and now says it will turn down big land sales to overseas buyers except in exceptional circumstances. …

“Labour will reverse the current approach to overseas sales of land,” he said at the party’s annual conference in Auckland.“Instead of the overwhelming majority of farm sales being approved, the overwhelming majority will be declined.”

So he sat in a Cabinet which sold 650,000 hectares without blinking one’s eyes, yet he is now worried about a relatively small 31,000 hectares sold since the election?

Guyon Espiner exposed some of the problems in Goff’s massive shift to the left on Q+A. Goff seemed unaware his policy would be in breach of signed agreements with Australia.

Audrey Young blogs:

Labour president Andrew Little has just delivered the best speech he has probably ever given.

It was to the party conference at the Aotea Centre in Auckland.

And it wasn’t so much what he said – but how he said it.

There are many doubters in Labour’s caucus that Little has what it takes to be a future leader of the party.

Andrew is not popular with a fair number of Labour MPs. Some feel he has not raised enough money, others don’t like him holding three jobs – candidates, President and union boss, and others just resent the talk that he may come in and become leader quickly.

But I have been saying for many years that I believe Andrew will become Labour Party Leader, and probably Prime Minister one day. When, is another matter, but he has time on his side.

The HoS today reports:

Andrew Little’s been widely touted to succeed Phil Goff as Labour Party leader, but yesterday he told supporters that Goff was the man to take the party to victory at next year’s election.

What happens afterwards, if Labour loses, he was not saying – Little is a frontrunner for the New Plymouth seat next year.

Goff is goneburger if Labour loses. But I think it is unlikely that Little would become leader in his first term as an MP. More likely is Cunliffe becomes Leader and if he loses in 2014 then watch for a Robertson v Little battle after that.

“One thing is certain about Phil – if he were confronted with a racist outburst he would know it and challenge it, up front, there and then,” he said, referring to Prime Minister John Key’s failure to respond immediately to broadcaster Paul Henry’s slur against the Governor-General.

Here thought Andrew could not be more wrong. Goff was even worse than Key on the issue of Paul Henry. Despite having had several hours to reflect on what Paul Henry had said, Goff’s response was a totally dismissive line about it just a case of Paul being Paul.

It amazes me how much some in Labour try to rewrite history, as they think if you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth.

Keeping Stock alerted me to this story in the Dom Post:

An out-of-work artist is setting up a taxpayer-funded “beneficiaries’ office” in downtown Wellington to promote the virtues of being unemployed.

Yes – taxpayer funded.

He is part of a $53,000 performance art installation series paid for by Creative New Zealand and Wellington City Council.

Creative NZ is defending its decision to provide a $40,000 grant but said last night it was unaware of the installation’s “precise content” when the grant was signed off.

Well why the fuck not? Someone should get sacked for this. Or at a minimum Chris Finlayson should take $40,000 out of their budget for next year. Art is one thing – but promoting the virtues of bludging should not qualify.

Tao Wells, 37, advocates the opportunities and benefits of unemployment and says it is unfair that long-term beneficiaries are labelled bludgers for exploiting the welfare system.

It’s unfair that I have to work 60 hour weeks to fund your fucking life style, you bludging wanker.

Wells’ installation, The Beneficiary’s Office, urges people to abandon jobs they don’t like rather than suffering eight hours of “slavery”.

“We need to work less, so we consume less. The average carbon footprint of the unemployed person is about half of that of those earning over $100,000.”

I await the Green Party insisting that this pilot be introduced nationwide – that everyone gives up their jobs to reduce carbon emissions.

Backed by five “staff”, Wells plans to promote his unemployment philosophy publicly and debate it with politicians and the gainfully employed.

Remember, we are paying for this.

He described himself as an unemployed artist with a masters degree who had been “off and on” the unemployment benefit since 1997. Wells said he was receiving welfare and admitted his benefit was at risk by him speaking out.

Late yesterday afternoon his benefit was cut off after Work and Income learned of the project.

Not just a greedy selfish bludger, but a stupid one also.

He refuses to work, but is happy to apply for grants so he can preach about why people should bludge like him. WINZ should refuse to put him back on any benefit unless he can demonstrate sustained activity seeking employment.

Wells denied his pro-unemployment stance was hypocritical when he was being paid $2000 for the project. “We should never be forced to take a job. If you’re forced to take a job it’s a punishment. If a job’s a punishment then society must be a prison.”

Listen Mr Fuckwit, you are not forced to take a job. So long as you don’t want those of us who do work to pay you a benefit, you do not need to ever work again.

Creative NZ boss Stephen Wainwright said the agency’s role was to encourage, promote and support the arts. Innovative new work, such as the Letting Space series, could act as a powerful form of social commentary and encourage debate.

Oh for fuck’s sake. They seriously have too much money. Having a layabout wanker who is illegally claiming the dole, promote dole bludging as a lifestyle choice is not innovative. Would Creative NZ give money for a tax felon to set up an office and advise people not to pay their taxes?

This just makes my blood boil.  We’re borrowing $240 million a week and this is what Creative NZ thinks is a priority. Why don’t the staff responsible at Creative NZ follow the advice of Mr Wells and quit their jobs to escape the slavery of work.

Two good announcements from Labour in two days!

Audrey Young at the Herald reports:

Labour president Andrew Little has called for a fresh debate about republicanism following a speech at the party’s conference by former Wallaby Peter Fitzsimons, an outspoken advocate of ditching the monarchy.

Mr Little said that he backed Fitzsimons’ views, and it was time for New Zealand to engage in the debate.

“It’s a cop-out to say, ‘Yes, I’m a republican, but it’s not time’, that it be left up to somebody else.

“That’s a failure of leadership, in my view,” said Mr Little.

He was not saying it was something that had to be done tomorrow.

“But it is saying are committed to making a move and we do it in a courteous and respectful way.”

It was an issue that ought to be actively debated in terms of what constitutional arrangements might be set up, and negotiating with the UK over what a transition might look like.

A minor correction – we do not need to negotiate with the UK. It would be polite to negotiate with the Queen however.

I’m intrigued by Andrew saying it is a failure of leadership to say yes, but let’s wait until later. Fitzsimons also commented:

Fitzsimons was applauded last night when he spoke of republicanism and changing the flag for Australia. He did not think the decision should be put on hold until the Queen died.

“As a sovereign nation we shouldn’t be deciding our politics on the health of an elderly English woman. She’s a good woman, no doubt about it. But we should be carving out our independent way.”

Now look at what Phil Goff said a couple of weeks ago:

Goff said the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign was the logical transition point.

“Succession of the monarchy is the time to have a head of state who is a New Zealander,” said Goff. “We need to start the conversation now. Don’t rush it. Fully consult the people of New Zealand. It’s a major change and needs a reasonable consensus.”

Is this the failure of leadership Andrew was referring to?

Regardless I’m pleased that both the Labour Party Leader and President are supporters of a move to a republic. It means that when there is an inevitable change of Government, there will at least be a silver lining – assuming their preferences becomes some sort of formal commitment to starting a process to allow NZers to decide the issue.

TVNZ reports:

A ONE News investigation into a study that claims alcohol is cheaper than water has found that’s not always the case.

The report by the University of Otago, based on Department of Statistics figures, found a glass of water costs 67c, while a standard drink of beer costs 64c and a standard drink of cask wine costs 62c.

At the supermarket, the cheapest water ONE News could find came in a three litre container, which cost $2.57.

The cheapest wines in the same quantity on the other hand were priced at $22 and the cheapest beer, in a 12 pack and about five litres in quantity, was $18.40.

Applying the same calculations used in the Otago study, the glass of water cost less at only 21c, while the beer pack cost $1.10 for a glass and the cask of wine cost 71c for a standard drink.

The Otago study author, Associate Professor Nick Wilson, blamed price fluctuations for the difference.

“When you look at some specials, [alcohol] is actually cheaper than bottled water in some cases and at other times it may not be.”

Wilson is also sticking to his call for increased taxes to push the price of alcohol up.

I’m really pleased that TVNZ, unlike most media, didn’t just report the so called study as gospel and repeat it unthinkingly. They went out and tested the results and found they are bunkum.

The study seems to have cherry picked data so it could compare the most expensive bottled water to the cheapest ever alcohol, and come up with a conclusion that alcohol is now cheaper than water.

TVNZ have shown this is crap – that bottled water is under a third the price of the cheapest wine. Will other media report this as they reported the original study?

Also they are not comparing apples and apples. Water is in fact almost free as a product. when people buy bottled water they are buying it for the convenience. The correct comparison to bottled water would be the cost of alcohol in an on license – where you are also not paying so much for the alcohol, but for the convenience also.

Chris Carter has finally named an MP whom he says would be a better leader for Labour than Phil Goff – Shane Jones. The NZ Herald reports:

Yesterday on Radio Live, Mr Carter also mentioned Shane Jones as one of those he believed could be a better leader than Mr Goff. He has previously refused to name them.

By coincidence Matthew Hooton writes in the NBR:

Which brings us to Mr Jones.  Just as Mr Brown was ridiculed after his head-banging incident, Mr Jones suffered public humiliation from his penchant for porn.  But time heals, and Mr Jones is the latest manifestation of the Maori leader who can appeal across racial lines.  He’s the Labour man business thinks it can work with.

Moreover, his ambition is great, having been the golden child of his hapu from the day he was born.

Unpopular with Labour’s rainbow and feminist wings, securing the leadership would require him to produce polling showing him as capable of transforming Labour from a possible to a probable.  Even then, he would face opposition from party president Andrew Little, who needs Labour to lose in 2011 if his own leadership ambitions can be fulfilled.

Nevertheless, having decided to stick with politics despite his porn humiliation, Mr Jones is not there to muck around.

He’s already raising his profile and briefing journalists about his comeback.  The time for him to act is now.

And again, by coincidence, TV3′s Patrick Gower blogs:

Watching the miners in Chile, I can’t help but think of the Labour MPs – stuck down a dark hole, with an incredible effort needed to get them out.

It’s leader Phil Goff’s job to get them out – now he’s finished burying Chris Carter.

And one man who needs a lifeline is Shane Jones.

This call is never going to resonate as much as “Bring Back Buck”. But someone has to say it – Goff should “Bring Back Shane Jones”.

Is Jones Labour’s saviour in waiting?

Andrea Vance reports:

Drivers who try to outrun police should have their vehicle impounded and licence suspended on a first offence, Labour leader Phil Goff says.

So far this year 15 people have died on the roads during police pursuits. Police engage in 2500 pursuits every year and one in four of those ends up in a crash, Mr Goff said.

Mr Goff said a Labour government would tighten the laws on failure to stop. Current proposals involve tougher penalties for repeat offenders.

”But I believe that we need to act more strongly on the very first offence,” he said. ” I say the blame rests fairly and squarely with the drivers who are trying to outrun the police.”

Absolutely. Some welcome common sense.

He outlined three options to the Police Association in Wellington this morning.

- toughening up existing provisions in the law such as mandatory licence suspension and impoundment of a vehicle on a first offence

- failure to stop to become a qualifying offence under sections 128 and 129 of the Sentencing act 2002  – which means the offender’s vehicle would be a risk of confiscation

-  a new law that introduces new offences with serious terms of imprisonment as a penalty, similar to one about to be passed in New South Wales

”You can’t afford to wait for two or three offences or for someone to die before you get serious. Drivers who fail to stop…don’t deserve a second chance.”

One strike and you’re out! I love it.

Fleeing the Police does need to carry incredibly high deterrents. Far too many die at the hands of these criminals.

From Chris Carter’s website:

Well they say a week is a long time in politics. The last 3 months have been an even longer time for me. I know that you are probably wondering what on earth went wrong and why.

The simple truth of the matter is that I have had a really difficult 12 months in Parliament. Not from the people I would expect in the National or ACT parties but from some members of our own team. I felt really angry and let down by Phil Goff and his advisors over their lack of support for Peter and I over the vicious media campaign against my travel expenses. After all none of my travel was private and all of it was approved by Cabinet when I was a Minister and by the party leadership up until a couple of months ago. Remember Phil Goff and Annette King were members of the Cabinet that signed off all my ministerial travel.

Three months ago a journalist called me and revealed that Phil Goff’s office had leaked details of my travel expenses again to the Press Gallery. I had not even received these figures myself. I flipped out and in anger and poor judgement lashed back.

It would be interesting to know if this can be verified. While I have little sympathy for Carter over his travels, if Goff’s office did leak his travel expenses then that is an act of very bad faith.

It would seem that the current leadership of the party think that me saying in public that Phil Goff is a nice guy who works hard but doesn’t have the charisma or the clear policy directions to win the next election is more of a crime than some of the criticisms levelled by other Labour MPs in the past at Labour leaders. Richard Prebble called David Lange mentally unbalanced in 1987. Annette King and Phil Goff tried to roll Helen Clark in 1996. John Tamihere said he had 15 MPs to roll Helen Clark in 2005 when he did that infamous interview in Investigate magazine.

I think the difference is Tamihere didn’t carry on repeating it.

The Herald reports:

Alcohol has become so affordable that it is cheaper than bottled water and approaching the price of milk, says a study made public today.

Silly comparisons. Tap water is still near zero. Bottled water is a premium product – comparing it to discounted alcohol is misleading. One should compare it to the more expensive alcohol products. And milk is outraegously expensive – but that is no reason to make alcohol the same.

A $2 minimum price per standard drink would reduce binge drinking without affecting social drinkers, Professor Sellman said.

First of all a minimum price would be the wet dreams for the liquor industry. Their profits would go up massively. Nothing wrong with that – just a surprise that someone who equates them to drug dealers wants them to make so much more money.

So what would $2/standard drink mean for certain items. A standard drink is 10g or 12.7 ml of alcohol.

• a 350 ml bottle of 4% beer could not cost less than $2.20. 5% beer would cost $2.76 or $33.07 for a dozen – not sure if GST would be on top of that
• a 750 ml bottle of 12% wine could not sell for under $14.17
• A 1l bottle of Baileys could not sell for under $26.77
• A 1125ml bottle of vodka could not sell for under $65.55

Yahoo News reports:

A federal judge issued a worldwide injunction Tuesday immediately stopping enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, suspending the 17-year-old ban on openly gay U.S. troops.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips’ landmark ruling also ordered the government to suspend and discontinue all pending discharge proceedings and investigations under the policy. …

the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights organization that filed the lawsuit in 2004 to stop the ban’s enforcement.

So who would have thought that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell would not be killed off by Obama (who had promised to do so), but instead by the Log Cabin Republicans.

The NZ Principal’s Federation has declined the offer of going on a working group to identify ways the national standards can be improved, and instead has launched a public campaign against them. What I love is how weak their campaign page is. Here are their five main complaints:

1. Won’t tell you the whole story about how your child and school are doing
2. Will harm, not help, children and schools
3. Will confuse, not inform parents
4. Won’t fix poverty, unemployment, crime and all the other factors that feed underachievement in our schools
5. Will be demoralising and demotivating for the students who need help most

No 1 is a silly irrelevancy. Of course they won’t tell the only story. They are not meant to. They are not to replace school reports – they are simply an extra page that must be included.

No 2 is an ideological assertion. The fact is that schools which are identified as having students who are not at national standard levels, will in fact attract some extra modest funding.

No 3 is outrageous. Legions of parents complain about current school reports. An extra page showing whether or not their child is below, at or above the national standard for that age is bloody useful – and parents have overwhelmingly said they would like this info.

And with No 4 it won’t stop climate change either. So what.

No 5 is ridicolous hyperbole. It’s like saying you can never tell anyone they failed an exam in case it demoralises them. Any teacher worth their salt can communicate results in a sensitive manner, and regardless how cruel is it to have kids who are failing to never be told they are failing and going to leave school unable to functionally read or write unless something is done.

The sad thing is that the NZPF are not really against national standards per se. They are against league tables. If the Govt outlawed league tables, their opposition would disappear overnight. So their campaign is intellectually very dishonest.

UPDATE: A very pertinent comment is worth highlighting:

My daughter has dyslexia and auditory processing disorder, both diagnosed in Year 5. In Year 5 she was three years behind in reading. At the start of Year 6 she was four years behind in writing. Yet for the first four years of her schooling her teachers told me she was doing fine, she didn’t need any support and was “not the worst in the class”. Meetings with teachers and school management got me nowhere. It was only when I paid $500 for an educational psychologist’s report to prove to the school that she wasn’t “doing fine” that they admitted she had difficulties and gave her some support.

One year later she is now two years AHEAD in reading and only one year behind in writing. (In addition to support at school I pay for individual dyslexia tuition.) According to NZEI the schools already know which kids are “failing” and National Standards won’t help to identify them. Either my daughter’s teachers didn’t know, or they lied to me when I asked them.

According to NZPF I will be confused to be told the truth about my daughter. I wish my daughter’s teachers had told me about her difficulties much earlier, and without being prompted by an expensive educational psychologist’s report. Then I could have arranged dyslexia tuition earlier.

According to NZPF telling my daughter she is “failing” will demoralise and demotivate her. I have found the reverse to be true – in the past she used to talk about “the smart kids”. Now that she knows there is a reason that schoolwork is more difficult for her, her self-esteem has improved enormously.

This happens to far too many families – they are not told there is a problem until it is almost too late.

As you can see, I’m going for a non-wildlife shot today. This was from an area of Jilin (with 4 tiger reserves), but was based more on the local culture. I’m not entirely sure however, when red pvc shorts became part of traditional attire

It’s more of a snapshot, as seating arrangements were forcing me to shoot between heads to just part of the stage.

Looks like a fine Spring day in Auckland, so I hope everybody else enjoys the day also.

There has been a bit of media attention of how C&R fared in Auckland – with them only getting 5/20 seats. And it is true they did fall short of their goals.

But there hasn’t been a lot of focus on how two other tickets fared – Labour and City Vision (which is Labour/Green basically).

Now C&R managed the following:

• 5 Councillors
• 32 Board members
• 3 Licensing Trust members
• 6 DHB members

So 46 reps elected.

City Vision only got a total of 12 candidates elected, and Labour got 14, six of whom are merely licensing trust reps.

So while not the result that C&R would have wanted, neither was it as bad as some media have made out.

I’ve had these in my pending queue for a while, but better late than never. I am a big fan of the humour and originality we see in some student media, and many who start in student media go on to be very good journalists. Some of the winners in 2010 were:

• Best Website – Craccum
• Best Original Photography – Canta
• Best Cartoonist – Craccum
• Best Humour Writer – Satellite
• Best Illustration – Critic
• Best Columnist – Canta
• Best Cover – Debate, Salient & Satellite
• Best Education Series – Critic & Salient
• Best Reviewer – Salient
• Best Sports Writer – Debate
• Best Headline – Craccum for “Lack of Fibre Makes Passing Motions Impossible; Exec Meeting Canned”
• Best News Writer (unPaid) – Canta
• Best Editorial Writer – Critic
• Best Feature Writer – Salient
• Best Feature Content – Canta
• Best Design – In Unison
• Best Small Publication – Magneto
• Best Publication – Critic

Canta, Critic and Salient all won four each. Craccum won three, Satellite and Debate two each, and one each to In Unison and Magneto.

Belated congrats to all the winners.

NZPA report:

Cabinet Minister Jonathan Coleman was breathing fire in Parliament this afternoon after a dig about his ability to help win by-elections for National struck home.

Labour’s Darren Hughes got under Mr Coleman’s skin in during question time today calling out “maestro” when Dr Coleman rose to answer a health question.

He then made a quip about Dr Coleman being the maestro of Mana — where National’s Hekia Parata is battling Labour’s Kris Fa’afoi to win November’s by-election.

Dr Coleman had a bad run with Melissa Lee during the Mt Albert by-election last year and it clearly still rankled.

Pointing his finger at Mr Hughes, he said: “I tell you what, if you want to go on like that we’re waiting for Chris Carter to start telling the truth about you Dazza. Alright so I would get back into your box if I were you buddy, because you are on his list.”

Dr Coleman was referring to a list of 17 MPs who Mr Carter says talked about rolling Labour leader Phil Goff.

I’m disappointed the Minister responded in the fashion in which he did. Frankly he should be able to handle what was a pretty gentle hassle.

UPDATE: I’ve deleted one paragraph, having been satisfied that I was being overly sensitive in my interpretation, and having now viewed the video, the exchange doesn’t seem particularly unusual. My regrets if the original post upset anyone.

NZPA reports:

Expelled Labour MP Chris Carter is to have his pay docked for not showing up to Parliament.

But the punishment is more in name than reality as he can only be stung for $10 a day missed. As an MP Mr Carter earns about $145,000 a year.

Mr Carter flew home to Auckland after being expelled from his party during a marathon six-hour meeting in Wellington on Monday night.

Mr Carter took six weeks off after being ousted from the parliamentary wing of his party.

Speaker Lockwood Smith said Mr Carter had now been absent for more than 14 sitting days and he could not certify his absence this week was because of illness or another good reason so deductions would start.

“I am making this public statement because it is important that members attend the House and be seen to do so,” Dr Smith said.

Carter has been seen at a gym in Auckland, rather than at Parliament.

If he refuses to turn up, then perhaps the House could instruct him to appear before it. Refusing to do so under those circumstances would be a contempt of Parliament.

All 33 miners have been rescued after 70 odd days trapped in a mine. It has been gripping viewing.  Damn insects got into my eyes a couple of times.

Yesterday was a break day (a great idea in a five day conference) and we went to the Toorak Sheep Station. I took a few photos which I will try and blog time permitting. was quite amusing.

Today’s agenda is:

• New Threats to Liberty and the Private Sphere – Nannies and Busybodies, Tax Harmonisation and the Surveillance State
  • Surveillance State – John Kampfner
  • Tax Harmonisation: A Threat to Liberty – Professor Sinclair Davidson
  • Nannies and Busy Bodies – Dr Eric Crampton
• New Developments in Economics: A Sceptical View
  • The Use of Happiness in Society – Dr Jason Potts
  • The Economist as Guru – Professor Geoffrey Brennan
  • Behavioral Economics, Law, and Liberty: The Never-ending Quest for the Third Way – Judge Douglas Ginsburg
• Science, Scepticism and the Future
  • Constructive Dissent – Professor Steven Schwartz
    What Does Climategate Say About Science? – Professor Terence Kealey

John Howard spoke yesterday on economic reform in Australia. They have been lucky in that they had continuous reform from 1983 to 2007 – the Hawke, Keating and Howard Governments all put a premium on increasing the rate of productivity growth. While under the last Government, the rate of productivity growth was anaemic.

Eric Crampton’s presentation on how paternalistic busybodies use dodgy economics as justification for all sorts of interventions and compulsions was superb. Hopefully he will be able to blog it.

There are over 300 (not 200) people here and an amazing range of people. Many former Ministers, top academics, a couple of nobel prize winners or nominees, senior govt officials and the like. But they also have fellowships which get a lot of younger people here. One of them in a lunch-time address said how great it was to be at a conference with so many people he has foot-noted or referenced in his academic writings.

The NZ contingent numbers 22 and we had a fun group dinner on Tuesday evening.

Simon Power has announced a review of new media:

Justice Minister Simon Power has asked the Law Commission to review the adequacy of regulations around how the Internet interacts with the justice system.

“I’ve ordered this review because it’s imperative the law keeps pace with technology and that we have one set of rules for all news media,” Mr Power said.

I am a supporter of there being a review, and have in fact advocated for it. But I have to say the way the Minister has framed it is regrettable and rather confrontational.

First of all it may make a nice slogan, but the status quo doesn’t have one set of rules – broadcast media have very different rules to print media.

“At the moment we’ve got two tracks – conventional media and the so-called ‘new media’ – intersecting with the justice system, and it’s not sustainable.

“It’s a bit of a Wild West out there in cyberspace at the moment, because bloggers and online publishers are not subject to any form of regulation or professional or ethical standards.

This is another slogan which means little (and remember I do actually favour a review). First of all bloggers are subject to the law – as have been demonstrated of late. The notion of regulating bloggers (beyond the normal requirement to obey the law) or imposing some sort of “professional standards” on them is ridicolous fancy. Bloggers are simply citizens having a say. Simon Power makes it sound like he thinks you should have to apply for permission to have a voice online. Now that may not be Simon’s intent, but the way he has framed this issue is incredibly bad.

“Issues I’m concerned about include how trials can be prejudiced by information posted on websites and seen by jurors, real-time online streaming of court cases, breaches of court suppression orders, and re-publication of a libel.

Issues which I helped facilitate discussion of at last year’s R v the Internet seminar. They are good issues to discuss.

It will focus on whether either of the two existing industry watchdogs – the Broadcasting Standards Authority and the Press Council – could provide a suitable vehicle for regulating unregulated forms of new media.

Yeah, and lets also give them the power to fine MPs if they say nasty things on their Facebook pages.

Having said that, it is worth noting the Press Council is self-regulation, not external regulation. One could discuss options such as allowing bloggers to voluntarily sign up to the Press Council, if they wish to do so as a way to enhance their reputation. But you then have issues around who covers costs of the Council – considering most blogs are non-commercial.

Mr Power says the public will have the opportunity to have their say when the commission releases an issues paper by December next year.

That is December 2011? Good – this should not be rushed.

As I said I am pleased the Law Commission is doing this review, as there are potentially even benefits for bloggers in it. But the way the Minister’s press statement has framed the issues is not good, and likely to rub a lot of people up the wrong way.

I will be advocating to the Law Commission, and InternetNZ, that they look to convene some workshops next year to discuss and define some of the issues.

A young guy manages to hack the teleprompter of a TV station, editing what they are saying live on air to around one million viewers. He speed the speed up at one stage and then had them announce he had won a nobel prize for engineering but was unable to pick it up as he had a date with the female presenter!

What a great prank. Someone should hire him!

UPDATE: Damn – it is fake – see comments. What a pity.

Zealandia, also known as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary has announced:

Admission to Wellington’s world-first wildlife sanctuary, ZEALANDIA, is free for all locals this Saturday and Sunday!

We are now 15 years into an incredible journey to restore a corner of NZ as closely as possible to the way it was before humans arrived. To celebrate, entry will be FREE for locals* between 11am-5pm this Saturday and Sunday. There will also be FREE boat rides, FREE ranger talks, FREE tours of the weta cave and FREE kids’ activity packs all day.

ZEALANDIA is New Zealand’s most well-established fenced mainland ‘conservation island’ and a flagship educational facility. Explore the brand new exhibition, where NZ’s extraordinary conservation story is brought to life with state-of-the-art multimedia exhibits. Then step outside into the sanctuary valley where you can see tuatara, saddleback, kaka and dozens more iconic native animals in the wild.

I’m in Sydney on Saturday still, but might visit on Sunday and see how it has changed since my last visit.

I just got 8/10 in 32 seconds. But it should be 9/10. The quiz is here.

Q5 is “Where is Heather Roy ranked on the ACT party’s list”.

The correct answer is 2, as one can see here.

The Dom Post quiz says the correct answer is 5. But that is her current caucus ranking, not her list ranking. Two very different things.