Kiwiblog

Congrats to Simon Bridges who has been appointed Consumer Affairs Minister, plus Associate Transport and Climate Change. It was inevitable Simon would become a Minister at some stage – after three years and four months is pretty good time-wise.

Chris Tremain gets promoted to Cabinet, drops Consumer Affairs and gains Internal Affairs.

Amy Adams picks up Environment in exchange for Internal Affairs. A big vote of confidence in her abilities.

Tim Groser gets Climate Change (he already had the international negotiations side of it) and David Carter gets Local Government.

Tags: Amy Adams, Chris Tremain, Simon Bridges, Tim Groser

Hawkes Bay Today reports:

Hawke’s Bay apple producer Apollo made a cheeky but tasteful offer to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the Rugby World Cup semifinal between the All Blacks and Wallabies.

Apollo’s director, Bruce Beaton, packed a carton of New Zealand Queen apples and asked Napier MP Chris Tremain to transport the fruit to Prime Minister John Key’s house in Auckland at the weekend.

“The idea was that if Julia was over watching the rugby with John in Auckland, she could have a tasty New Zealand apple to munch after the game,” Mr Beaton said.

She wasn’t there, but hopefully the apples will get to her in Australia.

Tags: apples, Chris Tremain, John Key, Julia Gillard, Rugby World Cup

Had a breakfast coffee this morning in Napier with local MP Chris Tremain.Was amused that around two out of three people walking past stopped to greet him – one seat where the MP has no problems with recognition. Also noted that he seemed to know most of them by name also – one of the nice things about provincial seats.

Chris also showed me the accounts of the local Napier Kindergarten Association. He noted in a local release:

The Napier Kindergarten Association is to be highly congratulated, says Chris Tremain MP for Napier.

“On Monday evening I attended the Napier Kindergarten Association AGM where it was disclosed that despite a change in Government funding the Association would deliver more services for less money,” says Chris Tremain.

“This is an outstanding result and goes to the heart of the Government’s drive to get more value for taxpayer dollars.

“The Association have achieved this result without reducing the 100% teacher qualified rates, without increasing costs to parents and without any loss of jobs, while at the same time increasing access to more kids. In addition their sound management ensures that more kids in disadvantaged communities around the country will get more access to ECE. This is an outstanding effort and the Board and senior management are to be congratulated.

So what did the NKA do:

“The Napier Kindergarten Association are a highly professional group of people absolutely devoted to the education of our children. They were concerned about the Budget 2010 decision that they would only be funded to 80% Teacher Qualified from February, 2011.

“But the Annual Report shows that the Association has risen to the challenge by introducing Friday afternoon sessions, opening for 5 more days, diversifying Marewa and Taradale to 5 day licenses, and shaving some non-essential expenses. This has resulted in more ECE places in Napier/Wairoa for less money, an outstanding result.

“The 2010 accounts presented at the AGM showed that the Association budgeted for a $139,000 loss, but actually made a surplus of $328,000. On top of this their balance sheet shows investments of $1.85 million and equity of $1.4 million. Despite the funding changes, it was reported that the forecast for 2011 shows a deficit of just $70,000, which is significantly smaller than the budgeted deficit in 2010.”

So the NKA has made a significant surplus, has kept 100% qualified teachers, has not out fees up, and has delivered more services. They’re an example for the country.

And the contrast to this is what happened to ECE under Labour. Labour increased funding by 200%, yet the number of children in ECE increased by only 1%.

Tags: Chris Tremain, early childhood education, Napier

Audrey Young writes at the Herald:

The strong performance of National candidate Hekia Parata in the Mana byelection has boosted her chances of being promoted this week.

It certainly has not harmed it. And the fact the PM did not announced last week the new Minister night suggest he was waiting to see how Mana went.

Ms Parata, a former public policy and Treaty of Waitangi consultant, not only slashed Labour’s majority, but performed well under pressure and ran a strong team.

Counting against her is that she is a first-term MP. Her promotion ahead of the class of 2005 could put some noses out of joint.

The leading contenders in that pack are Craig Foss, the MP for Tukituki and chairman of the finance and expenditure select committee, and Chris Tremain, MP for Napier and the chief Government whip.

I think both Craig and Chris know that their ascension is a matter of when, not if, which would help molify them if Hekia jumps ahead of then. But having said that, 2010 is far preferable to 2012 in terms of ascension.

What may count against them this time is that if they are promoted, then there has to be a minor reshuffle. While Hekia can slip in and take over Pansy’s portfolios directly.

Selwyn MP Amy Adams, in the same cohort as Ms Parata, is also tipped for future promotion in a commerce or economic role.

Or Agriculture. Or Justice. Amy is multi-talented

Mr Key could save a little money by appointing no one to the Cabinet and appointing another minister outside the Cabinet. He could make an even bigger saving by appointing no one at all and upsetting no one.

This is the only error in Audrey’s article. If the PM makes no appointment at all, this will in fact upset every single Backbencher. Reducing the size of the Ministry means more people competing for fewer places. A smaller Ministry is regarded by backbenchers with the same loathing as teacher unions performance pay.

Personally an Executive of 28 is larger than we need. However the time for change would have been when first forming the Government, rather than doing it by attrition.

But that would suggest Mrs Wong’s role was surplus to requirements in the first place.

Well …..

Mr Key is not seen as a slave to “political correctness”; he is not oblivious to gender and identity issues in National’s line-up either.

It is a factor, but not the sole or even the dominant factor.

The importance of the Mana byelection is that a promotion would be seen on the basis of talent, not tokenism

Yes, a promotion would be seen as gained on the basis of performance.

Making one appointment outside of the Cabinet to take over Mrs Wong’s two portfolios makes most sense, and of the contenders, Ms Parata’s sphere of interest is best suited to the vacancies.

We may find out later today who it is.

Talking of Mana, kudos must go to Phil Quinn who predicted a Faafoi win by just 1,000 votes.

Tags: Amy Adams, Chris Tremain, Craig Foss, Hekia Parata, Ministry

Just looked at new website for Craig Foss and Chris Tremain – their Backing the Bay site.

The joint site to brand them as the regional MPs is good (and they have done that for some time),but also their use of Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. And an RSS feed of course.

Tags: Chris Tremain, Craig Foss

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.

Tags: Chris Tremain, Jo Goodhew, National

Oh I do like that solid blue look. And in 2002 only a handful were blue.

Hunua is a new seat. The party vote is another 60:20 type solid seat. On the electorate vote Paul Hutchison narrowly beat Jordan Carter by 14,738 votes and Roger Douglas another 2,700 votes behind Jordan.

Waikato is 58% to 22% on the party vote. And Lindsay Tisch drove his majority from 7,000 to almost 12,000.

Coromandel went from 45% to 31% up to 51% to 26%. And Sandra Goudie scored a 13,400 majority for the seat she won in 2005.

The two Hamilton seats are no longer marginal weathervanes. Hamilton East went from a 9% party vote lead for National to a 19% lead. And David Bennett turned a 5,300 majority into one of over 8.000. Hamilton West saw an 11% lead in the party vote for National after being 2% behind in 2005. And Tim Macindoe turned his 1,100 loss in 2005 to a 1,500 victory in 2008.

Bay of Plenty is another 60:20 seat on the party vote. and Tony Ryall got a massive 16,500 majority up from 11,000 in 2005.

In 2005 in Tauranga, National had a 15% lead in the party vote. In 2008 the lead was 32%. Bob Clarkson beat Winston Peters by 730 votes in 2005. This time Simon Bridges beat him by 10,700. Simon will be happy to be the Member of Tauranga for some time.

Rotorua saw National lift the party vote from 43% to 51%, and Todd McClay scored a majority of almost 5,000 over a sitting Minister.

Taupo saw a party vote victory of 15% and Louise Upston beat Mark Burton by almost 6,000 votes. She ran a good campaign and for a big enough majority to make it safe for National. Burton got 2300 more votes than Labour so even harder for any future Labour candidate.  I also heard a rumour that Louise held the first meeting of her 2011 campaign committee at 8.15 am on Sunday morning

The East Coast had a 15% lead in the party vote (the graphic has it wrong) and on the electorate vote Anne Tolley turned a 2,500 majority into a 6,000 majority.

The growing seat of Napier saw National go from a 1% lead in the party vote to a 12% lead. And Chris Tremain drove his 3,300 victory over Russell Fairbrother in 2005 to a 8,400 margin. Remember this is a seat Labour held for all but three years from 1928 to 2005 and Tremain is building John Carter or Nick Smith type majorities as a brilliant local MP who owns his seat.

Over on the west coast, we have the huge Taranaki-King Country seat which is another of those lovely 60:20 seats.  And the 12,000 majority motors up to 14,500.

Finally we have New Plymouth. National was ahead on the party vote last time by 8% and this time it was 20%. And it was too much for Harry Duynhoven who lost the seat by 300 votes. In 2005 he held it by almost 5,000 votes and in 2002 his majority was a staggering 15,000. New candidate Jonathan Young will be watching the special votes though.

Labour will struggle to form a Government again, while so many seats have them getting just 1 in 5 party votes. Every seat in this region had at least an 11% gap in the party vote, with many having a 40% gap.

Tags: Anne Tolley, Bay of Plenty, Chris Tremain, Coromandel, David Bennett, East Coast, Election 2008, Hamilton East, Hamilton West, Harry Duynhoven, Hunua, Jonathan Young, Jordan Carter, Lindsay Tisch, Louise Upston, Mark Burton, Napier, New Plymouth, Paul Hutchison, Roger Douglas, Rotorua, Russell Fairbrother, Sandra Goudie, Shane Ardern, Simon Bridges, Taranaki-King Country, Taupo, Tauranga, Tim Macindoe, Todd McClay, Tony Ryall, Waikato, Winston First

The Dom Post reports:

Labour MP Russell Fairbrother has been left red-faced after attacking his National Party rivals for erecting electoral hoardings “weeks early” – only to discover it was him that was late.

Mr Fairbrother, a list MP based in Napier, issued a media release yesterday accusing Napier MP Chris Tremain of putting up his hoardings six weeks early.

“The National Party is quick to accuse others … when they suspect they may have been in breach of the rules,” Mr Fairbrother said.

“But when it comes to their own election campaign, it is clear they couldn’t care less what the bylaw says – they just go ahead and do whatever suits them.” Labour hoardings were ready but would not be going up ahead of time.

Later, he said his campaign manager had rung the city council to check and had been told hoardings were allowed six weeks before the election.

The period is actually three months.

It is nice of Russell to be trying so hard to give Chris Tremain such a large majority.

Tags: Chris Tremain, dopey idiots, Napier, Russell Fairbrother

I’ve not had time to do as detailed a post as I would like to on this, and the media have covered the issues well.  So I’ll just ask a few questions:

1. Why would the Minister not sack the Capital Coast DHB (which would probably be met with universal support) but instead sack the HB DHB – something the local community is dead set against?
2. Isn’t it rather perverse to go public with anonymous criticisms of the Board by anonymous surgeons, and then complain when the DHB Chair responds in the media also?
3. Will the majorities of local National MPs Chris Tremain and Craig Foss increase by 25%, 50% or 100%?
4. The Govt is trying to suppress the draft report and the former DHB members the final report.  Why not release both the draft and final and let the public form their own views.  Plus lets face it – they will both end up on the Internet anyway I suspect.
5. Why is the Government apparently punishing the DHB for acting to prevent a conflict of interest in a contract, when the Auckland DHB got lambasted by the High Court for not being diligent enough in dealing with conflicts of interests?
6. Why did Annette King appoint someone to the HB DHB when it was known he was likely to bid for a major contract off them?
7. How bad is it for the Government to have the local Councils taking the Minister to health over the sacking?
8. Has a doctors union ever before praised a DHB Chairman? Don’t they normally refer to all Chairs as cheap bastards who won’t pay us enough.

I look forward to seeing both the final report and hopefully the draft report.

Tags: Annette King, Chris Tremain, Craig Foss, Dvid Cunliffe, Hawke's Bay DHB