Kiwiblog

“Preparing to launch”

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It’s an estuarine crocodile, getting into the water. Liked the shot for the low angle, the reflection in the water and the colour scheme of the scales.  I miss being around crocodiles…

The Herald reports:

Yesterday a Nielsen poll in the Sydney Morning Herald gave further bleak tidings for Keneally: a Coalition two-party preferred lead of 66 per cent to 34 per cent, an 18 per cent swing that would hew the number of Labor MPs in the Lower House from 50 to as few as 13.

Nielsen’s research director, John Stirton, told the SMH that the “astonishing” poll had revealed the biggest two-party preferred lead any party has had, state or federal, in Nielsen’s 39-year history.

That sort of result is indeed unprecedented. Can’t wait until election night.

The Herald has an extract from Julia Gillard’s speech. Absolutely hits the spot. What a shame the Greens bllocked her from actually addressing Parliament, and having these wonderful words recorded in Hansard:

“Our founders could not have imagined the extraordinary events that would bring our nations far closer than any words or any laws.

Not forged in meeting rooms by old men wearing suits.

But by young men in trenches wearing slouch hats and lemon squeezers.

That is why I say Australia has many alliances and friendships around the world.

Economic and defence partnerships of every kind.

But New Zealand alone is family.

When those 29 men never came home from the Pike River mine, we didn’t just mourn for the two Australians.

We mourned for them all. Family.

When Pike River exploded, New Zealand didn’t have to ask Australia to send help.

We just did.

And when natural disasters hit Australia this summer, New Zealand didn’t need to be asked to lend a hand.

You just did.

And our gratitude is boundless.”

A great speech.

The Herald reports:

Destiny Church has been branded a “cult” after Brian Tamaki said Jesus did not rise from the dead – but the self-styled bishop says he was quoted out of context.

Mark Vrankovich, director of Cultwatch, has released audio clips and transcripts of Bishop Tamaki preaching a series of messages to his followers.

He says the clips show Bishop Tamaki rejecting the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after he was crucified – the core of the Christian faith.

In the sermons, Bishop Tamaki said he had been preparing his followers for a year to receive the revelation God gave him about the resurrection, so they could “understand what the Bible is really saying”.

He told the congregation they would doubt his teaching, unless they also had the revelation, because of “too many forces and too much teaching and too much backlog of religion”.

“You must get out of your mind that, that Jesus Christ is now, ah, is still Jesus of Nazareth … But Jesus did not come out of the tomb. The flesh Jesus died in the tomb.”

When I read this story, it puzzled me. Why would Archbishop Tamaki start to tell his followers that Jesus was not physically ressurected, and did not rise from the dead. After all, these are pretty fundamental Christian beliefs.

But then I read the context about how he claims to have been personally instructed by God, and that his revelations would take a year for them to accept etc.

And the only answer that makes sense to me, is that Tamaki was going to claim he is the new son of God.

I presume that a son of God can charge an even higher tithe than a Bishop or Archbishop.

Claire Trevett in the Herald reports:

When Labour’s social development spokeswoman Annette King asked about Salvation Army reports of high demand for food parcels, Mr Key responded by saying it was true that the global recession meant more people were on benefits.

“But it is also true that anyone on a benefit actually has a lifestyle choice. If one budgets properly, one can pay one’s bills.

“And that is true because the bulk of New Zealanders on a benefit do actually pay for food, their rent and other things. Now some make poor choices and they don’t have money left.”

The PM is right that the majority of those on a benefit do not use foodbanks. Those who do use foodbanks probably fall into three categories:

1. Those whose expenses regularly exceed their income – which probably does indicate a budget prioritisation issue
2. Those who have a temporary one off high priority expense, such as medical bills (note special need grants are also available)
3. Those who prefer free food to paying for food

I don’t know what proportion of foodbank goers fall into each category. But I am reminded of what happened when VUWSA set up both a welfare fund (free cash) and a foodbank (free food) for students.

Year after year they would report that demand exceeded supply, and that this proved how more and more students were living in poverty, and hence why they needed to double the budget for said funds. And even after said doubling, the following year they would again run out of free money and free food. And again they would declare this proved how more and more students were living in poverty.

My theory was simpler. My theory was simply that students like free money and free food.

Final reminder for those interested that Wordcamp, for users of WordPress, is on this weekend at Te Papa. Sessions include:

• Tweet this book
• Kidsplay – Monkey Blogs
• WordPress Security
• SEO for WordPress
• Evolving the News
• BuddyPress – WordPress social networking comes of age
• The future of blogging etc.
• Scaling WordPress for Performance

I’m also talking about some of the challenges of running a heavily trafficked blog on WordPress.

When the Govt announced in August that the Government would be implementing high country rentals based on earning capacity it was welcomed by Labour’s Damien O’Connor as “a good principle” and one that offered a “principled position” that would be “welcomed by farmers”. Damien, one of Labour’s few farmers, said the decision reflected Labour’s position.

But last night when the Bill came up for its first reading Damien had clearly been rolled and  Labour withdrew its support with David Parker giving what can only be described as a spite and hate filled speech calling the policy

• “rent reductions being given to millionaires”
• “A sop from National to its farming mates”
• “Governing in the interests of narrow few”
• ” a small number of rich people are getting millions of dollars at the expense of taxpayers”

So Labour shat over their own spokesperson, just to try and score some petty points. Another reason not ready to govern. Maybe an inquisitive jouranlist could ask Damien if he agrees with what David Parker said last night.

Maggie Tait at NZPA reports:

The Internal Affairs Department is responsible for a decision to provide the Government with brand new BMWs when the old ones were only three years-old, Prime Minister John Key says.

My first response to reading this is that sure DIA made the decision, but they must have got sign off from at least their Minister – or at least notified him. So I thought this was just trying to avoid blame.

Mr Key said a six-year deal for the cars was signed by Labour with a three-year rollover clause.

“That decision to invoke that rollover and bring new cars in was made by the Department of Internal Affairs without reference either to their minister or to me,” he told reporters.

However reading on, the PM says that the decision was made without reference to the Minister or PM at all. That indicates that not only did they not approve of it, they were not even told of it.

If this is the case, then DIA should get a bit of a bollocking for this. Departments are meant to operate a no surprises policy with Ministers, and 34 new BMWs should definitely qualify as meeting the threshold for no surprises.

Mr Key found out about the new cars when one of the drivers told him.

That is not the way the Minister for Ministerial Services should find out.

“It’s not a situation where we as the Government have decided to do that, the department just made that decision.”

The department did not think it had to check as it had authority from the former Labour Government.

The Department was wrong. They should have checked.

Earlier, Finance Minister Bill English was critical of Labour’s original contract and Green Party criticism of the Government spending in tight financial times.

“It’s a bit rich from the Greens because one of the reasons the Labour Government bought the BMWs was because they were meant to reduce carbon emissions, they were meant to be the most fuel efficient cars even though their capital cost might have been higher than other options,” he told Radio New Zealand.

“I think it does show that being driven by a fad, which at the time was to have lower carbon emissions, means that you can make decisions — which were made by the previous Government — turn out more expensive than they expected.”

Mr English said when the contract came up for renewal the Government would see if there was a better deal and probably a “more mainstream model of car”.

“I don’t think a Government in the current recession would decide to pick a luxury brand car with all those extra bits…whatever the value for money.”

If no Minister was even informed of the new BMWs, then blaming them is a bit unfair. But the damage has probably already been done in terms of perceptions.

I still think DIA should be given a bollocking for not having the common sense to check with the current Government whether they wanted brand new BMWs to be turning up a few months befiore the election.

The Herald reports:

The New Zealand solider killed in a vehicle crash in Afghanistan has been named.

Private Kirifi Mila, 27, died when the Humvee vehicle he was in rolled down a steep 30m cliff in Afghanistan’s north east Bamyan province. Three other soldiers were injured in the crash.

The incident happened about midday local time on Tuesday (9pm NZT) while the soldiers were on a routine patrol near Ferosak village, 14km east of their base in Bamiyan.

Private Mila – also known as Cliff – was born in Western Samoa and joined the New Zealand Army in 2006. He was deployed to Afghanistan last year as part of the 2nd 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment based in Burnham Military Camp.

He had been due to return to New Zealand in April.

A very sad accident, not caused by combat – but still while on active service. Condolences to his family, colleagues and friends.

Photo from the Dom Post.Enter your captions below for the meeting of the Rangas. Funny, not nasty please.

The Parliamentary Library have done an interesting paper on MPs use of social media. Some stats:

• 92/121 MPs are on Facebook
• National MPs are the MPs least likely to be on Facebook (only 60% or so are)
• 86% of female MPs are on Facebook and only 75% of male MPs
• John Key has 50,081 “fans” and Phil Goff has 2,334 “fans”
• 43% of MPs are on Twitter
• Top tweeters are Tau Henare on 3,087 and Clare Curran on 3,083
• John Key has 15,368 followers on Twitter and Phil Goff 2,397
• On You Tube National has had 436,522 video views, Greens 122,887 and Labour 21,530

Kate Chapman at Stuff reports:

Labour MP Mita Ririnui has announced he will stand down at the end of the year.

He was an associate minister in Helen Clark’s government and former MP for Waiariki. Ririnui was born and raised in Tauranga and said his next role would be leading Bay of Plenty iwi through the Treaty settlement process.

No major surprises with the retirement. He was unlikely to feature in a future Labour Government.

What is interesting is that Labour may have relatively few Maori MPs after the next election, unless they do some recruitment into high list placings. It is rumoured that Horomia may retire also, and Mahuta is staying on but concentrating mainly on family for the next few years.

On top of Mahuta, you’ve got Shane Jones, Kelvin Davis and Moana Mackey. Only four Maori MPs would be historically quite low for Labour. Labour may give high list rankings to some of their Maori seat candidates – but then of course that may help the Maori Party keep those seats.

Stuff has a couple of stories on government funded community max schemes, where the outcomes have been very dubious – catching horses to release them again, and a Maori Internet business directory which is not online.

Personally I am dubious about many of these taxpayer funded community schemes. They can provide useful skills and experience to those who don’t have any, but they can also cost a lot of money and not produce much in the way of outcomes.

MSD say the majority of participants in the two examples above, have gained skills and are now off benefits. But paying $175,000 for a project (a Maori online business directory) that it seems wasn’t even needed (there are existing ones) is an expensive way to go about it.

Tom Hunt at Stuff reports:

The Government has splashed out on 34 new top-of-the-line BMWs that sell for more than $200,000 each.

The Green Party has called the ordering of the cars a disgrace.

But the Internal Affairs Department says it has been three years since the Government bought its last fleet, which will be sold when the new cars start to arrive later this year. …

A spokesman for Prime Minister John Key said this was the same process that had happened for years. “It is standard for a progressive upgrade of the VIP fleet to happen every three years or when the vehicle reaches 90,000 kilometres.”

What’s standard is how unpopular this is. I give the Government a big fail for this move. When Labour did the same in 2008 I put it down to advanced third termitis (when you no longer sense what may be unpopular), but this is even worse as National is in their first term.

It does not matter what the contract said about upgrades, or what level of discount the Government gets upgrading in year three – the only thing the public will remember is a Government saying times are tight having money to buy new BMWs for Ministers. An incredibly stupid blunder.

Someone should have intervened and ensured that any fleet replacement does not take place in election year. Unless one actually wants to lose votes.

The EPMU has done a release saying:

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which is the union that represents miners, is calling on the government to provide support for its legal representation in the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry.

The call follows the government’s announcement it will now fund families’ and contractors’ legal representation costs to allow them to participate in the inquiry.

The EPMU has around $13 million of assets and a turnover of around $12 million a year. They are in a totally different situation to individual famuilies and contractors. A legal bill of say $100,000 is a mere 1% of the EPMU’s annual turnover, yet would bankrupt many contractors and be well beyond what a West Coast family could afford.

Incidentially the EPMU has skilled in house lawyers such as their national secretary. If he wasn’t so busy running the Labour Party and running for Parliament, perhaps he could represent the EPMU at the Royal Commission hearings as part of his job.

It is of course up to the EPMU how they decide to interact with the Royal Commission, but if they start to ask for taxpayer funding, them we get the right to have a view on that.

Just been reading the latest circulation figures for our major newspapers. The changes in the last year are quite stark. They are:

1. Herald on Sunday up 5,801 (+6.4%) to 96,069
2. NZ Herald up 240 (+0.1%) to 170,677
3. The Press down 1,988 (-2.4%) to 81,017
4. ODT down 1,458 (-3.6%) to 39,097
5. Sunday Star-Times down 6,939 (-4.1%) to 160,592
6. Dominion Post down 4,053 (-4.6%) to 84,047
7. NBR down 473 (-4.9%) to 9,093
8. Sunday News down 11,287 (-17.9%) to 51,740

Fairfax has to be worried by these results. The two major APN titles have increased or held steady and the main Fairfax newspaper titles are all dropping.

Sunday News especially is in freefall. Over two years it has lost 31,385 subscribers which is a massive 38% fall. It won’t remain viable if those trends continue.

Martin Kay writes at Stuff:

I must say I was surprised to learn that Russel Norman would stop heroic Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi from addressing our Parliament if she ever succeeds in her fight for democracy and is elected leader of her people.

It seems a bit mean-spirited and hypocritical, given the massive public support the Greens have given her as she campaigns against the regime that has brutalised her homeland.

But that is the inevitable position that flows from the Greens’ decision to block Aussie PM Julia Gillard from speaking to a formal session of Parliament tomorrow.

Norman says the Greens vetoed the speech – which will instead be made three hours before Parliament sits – because they did not want to set a precedent that would put us on a slippery slope which could undermine our  “democratic sovereignty”.

Norman seems to be arguing that if the Greens let Gillard speak, then they’ve got to extend the same courtesy to every dictator, tin pot tyrant and dodgy leader who wants to address to Parliament, too.

What utter rubbish.

Norman is letting principle get in the way of discretion.

There would be nothing stopping the Greens allowing Gillard to address Parliament and later vetoing leaders with whom they have a problem.

The veto by the Greens just makes them look petty.

Also ironic to have someone who spent most of their life as an Australian, protesting against letting the Australian PM address the NZ Parliament.

Carmel has done a gracious apology for her blog post blaming the publication of two victims of sexual abuse on the National Government’s civil service cuts (it turned out to be an error by the Judge). Her gracious apology is:

Oh right wingers. The day I apologise to the National Government or any of its members, will be the day that the National Government publically apologise to us for falsely accusing the former Labour Governement of causing the first recession in this country, rising unemployment, rising debt and the second recession….ain’t gonna happen eh:)

I admire a politician who can apologise when they get something totally wrong.

John Hartevelt reports:

Financial help for legal costs will be extended to all 150 Pike River miners and contractors who were employed when 29 men died at the mine last year.

Prime Minister John Key said surviving miners and contractors would have a crucial role in the Royal Commission of Inquiry. The Government had agreed to cover their legal costs.

Cabinet had already agreed to provide legal assistance to the families of those who died at the Pike River mine.

Today’s announcement was over and above that because it extended legal assistance to some of the 150 workers and contractors who might be required to contribute to the Royal Commission.

I doubt many would disagree with this decision. Generally I would not expect those who don’t face potential liability or criticism to need legal assistance or representation at the Royal Commission, but it would be harsh to make surviving miners etc pay for their own legal assistance.

I’ve got a mate’s wedding in the north of England in July, and am looking to spend some time holidaying in Scotland before the wedding. It would be stuipid to fly so far just for a weekend.

I’ve been to Scotland before but just Edinburgh for a couple of days – did a bus tour around a lake.

For those who have been to Scotland, what would you recommend in terms of both places to stay and things to do. Will have between one and two weeks in Scotland. Ideally we’d like to see some amazing scenery, do some walking or even cycling tracks, go out on some waterways etc. Also nice to see any historic sites but that is secondary to nice scenery.

Cost is of course a major factor, but not the most important factor.

Radio NZ reports:

Phil Goff says no one in caucus asked him to rule out working with the New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, should he be returned to Parliament.

Not even one Labour MP had the courage to say they had got it wrong in 2008, when they voted against the Privileges Committee report. Labour’s position continues to be that the following sequence of events is a coincidence:

1. Phone call between Owen Glenn and Winston Peters from 1.26 pm to 1.32 pm
2. A couple of minutes later Peters phones Brian Henry
3. At 1.40 pm Brian Henry e-mails Owen Glenn with his bank account number stating “further to your discussion with my client at 1.30 NZ time I provide my bank details”

This is a level of proof that Peters knew of the donation that would meet beyond reasonable doubt in a murder trial. Yet Labour continue to embrace Peters ridiculous denials that he did not know anything at all about the donation. They are unconcerned he lied to their own Prime Minister, to Parliament, to the Privileges Committee, to the media and to the public – dozens and dozens of times.

Labour’s unanimious embracing of Peters also means that they have absolutely no concerns about large undisclosed donations from companies or individuals whom benefit from policies that Winston forced Labour into agreeing to, in Government. So their credibility on electoral finance issues remains zero.