The Press reports:

There are four murderers Detective Senior Sergeant John Rae has locked up who he believes are evil enough to kill again.

Scott Watson is one of them.

“I believe he’s a psychopath. He could kill again, easily.”

Rae was second in charge of the homicide investigation dubbed Operation Tam – launched after Ben Smart, 21, and Olivia Hope, 17, both from Blenheim, disappeared from Endeavour Inlet in the Marlborough Sounds on New Year’s Day 1998. The pair were never seen again.

Watson was found guilty of the double murder and jailed for a minimum of 17 years.

He is scheduled to appear before the Parole Board for the first time next year.

Speaking publicly about the case for the first time, Rae told The Press this week that Watson should never be released from prison.

“He [Watson] has got no social conscience at all and if he doesn’t get his own way he could kill someone.

I tend to agree.

Worth remembering he had 48 previous convictions before the double murder.

Some of the winners at the Canon Media Awards. Congrats to the winners and all those nominated.

• Best Digital Breaking News Coverage nzherald.co.nz
• Best Blog Cameron Slater – Whale Oil
• Best News site stuff.co.nz
• Best Website Yahoo NZ
• Best Newsstand Magazine Metro
• Magazine Feature Writer of the Year Steve Braunias – Metro
• Magazine Feature Writer Business and Politics Rebecca Macfie – NZ Listener
• Magazine Feature Writer Crime and Justice Steve Braunias – Metro
• Canon Newspaper of the Year The Dominion Post
• Weekly Newspaper of the Year Weekend Herald
• Reporter of the Year Andrea Vance – Fairfax political bureau
• Junior Reporter of the Year Sam Boyer – The Dominion Post
• Reporter Politics Andrea Vance – Fairfax political bureau
• Reporter Business Duncan Bridgeman – National Business Review
• Reporter Crime and Justice Anna Leask – The New Zealand Herald
• Reporter Health and Education David Fisher – The New Zealand Herald
• Reporter Science and Environment Marty Sharpe – The Dominion Post
• Reporter Arts and Entertainment Michelle Robinson – Sunday Star-Times
• Reporter General Tony Wall – Sunday Star-Times
• Newspaper Feature Writer of the Year Tony Wall – Sunday Star-Times
• Newspaper Feature Writer Crime and Justice David Fisher – The New Zealand Herald
• Best Investigation Kirsty Johnston – Sunday Star-Times
• Cartoonist of the Year Rod Emmerson – The New Zealand Herald
• Best Columnist – humour/satire Steve Braunias – Sunday Star-Times
• Best Columnist – general Jane Clifton – NZ Listener
• Columnist of the Year Jane Clifton – NZ Listener
• Editorial Writer of the Year Jane Clifton – NZ Listener
• Reviewer of the Year Chris Barton – Metro
• Wolfson Fellow 2014 Andrea Vance – Fairfax political bureau

Congrats especially to Cameron for winning Best Blog, and Andrea Vance for both Best Reporter and the Wolfson Fellowship. While I’m not sure either of them would appreciate the comparison, they’ve both broken a series of major stories during the year. I jokingly call Andrea the most dangerous reporter I know, because she is relentless at working her sources, digging up information and writing them up as explosive stories.

Stuff reports:

The Electrical Trades Union has apologised for comparing Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to Adolf Hitler.

The apology comes after an image published on the union’s newsletter infuriated Jewish groups who condemned the protrayal.

The ETU released a brief statement on Friday (local time) apologising for the newsletter and pulled the offending article from its Facebook page.

“The ETU sincerely and unreservedly apologises,” the statement said.

“The theme of the magazine was to show the demonisation of unions has had a long history.”

The cover of the autumn newsletter for the Victorian branch of the ETU has used a digitally altered picture of Tony Abbott, complete with a tiny moustache and a tattoo on his chest similar to the Third Reich eagle.

In the picture, Mr Abbott is portrayed wearing a white singlet, gold necklace and smoking a cigarette under the headline “The Abbott crimes”. The back page of the newsletter has a large picture of Hitler with two anti-union quotes attributed to the dictator and Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi head of propaganda.

The ETU was a major donor to the Australian Green Party. In 2013 they donated $300,000 for just one seat – Melbourne, held by the Greens. In 2010 they gave $325,000 to the Greens.

From last night’s press freedom debate. Photo (c) Laura McQuillan

Captions below. As always funny, not nasty.

The latest prison performance stats are here. Of the 17 prisons:

• 13 are deemed effective
• Three are exceeding their targets (Arohata, Tongariro and Waikeria)
• One is deemed exceptional – Mount Eden

So Mount Eden is the only prison in New Zealand that is deemed exceptional for its rehabilitation – and that is the one Labour and Greens want to sack – purely on ideological grounds.

Putting ideology ahead of effective rehabilitate – very wrong.

Just had a look at current iPredict prices and probabilities for electorate contests. Here’s what they are showing from most safe to most marginal.

1. Bay of Plenty – 98.3% National hold
2. Botany – 98.3% National hold
3. Coromandel – 98.3% National hold
4. North Shore – 98.3% National hold
5. Mangere – 98.1% Labour hold
6. Taranaki King-Country – 98.1% National hold
7. Helensville – 98.0% National hold
8. Christchurch East – 97.3% Labour hold
9. Rimutaka – 97.3% Labour hold
10. Waitaki – 97.3% National hold
11. Whangarei – 96.3% national hold
12. Tamaki – 95.8% National hold
13. Mana – 95.3% Labour hold
14. Manukau East – 95.3% Labour hold
15. Northcote  – 95.3% National hold
16. Nelson – 94.8% National hold
17. Selwyn – 94.8% National hold
18. Taupo – 94.8% National hold
19. Clutha-Southland – 94.3% National hold
20. Dunedin North – 94.3% Labour hold
21. Kelston – 94.3% Labour win
22. Rangitata – 94.3% National hold
23. Rongotai – 94.3% Labour hold
24. New Lynn – 93.7% Labour hold
25. Te Tai Tonga – 93.7% Labour hold
26. Ikaroa-Rawhiti – 93.1% Labour hold
27. Tukituki – 93.1% National hold
28. Hunua – 92.4% National hold
29. Manurewa – 92.4% Labour hold
30. Northland – 92.4% National hold
31. Papakura – 92.4% National hold
32. Whanganui – 92.4% National hold
33. Hauraki-Waikato – 91.7% Labour hold
34. New Plymouth – 91.7% National hold
35. Wellington Central – 91.7% National Labour hold
36. East Coast – 90.9% National hold
37. Invercargill – 90.9% National hold
38. Mt Albert – 90.9% Labour hold
39. Mt Roskill – 90.9% Labour hold
40. Rangitikei – 90.9% National hold
41. Ilam – 90.0% National hold
42. Kaikoura – 90.0% National hold
43. Otaki – 90.0% National hold
44. Wigram – 90.0% Labour hold
45. Dunedin South – 89.1% Labour hold
46. Rodney – 89.1% National hold
47. Waikato – 89.1% National hold
48. Auckland Central – 88.3% National hold
49. Pakuranga – 88.1% National hold
50. Tamaki Makaurau – 87.0% Labour win
51. Hutt South – 85.8% Labour hold
52. Palmerston North – 85.8% Labour hold
53. Christchurch Central – 81.8% Labour win
54. West Coast-Tasman – 81.8% Labour hold
55. Maungakiekie – 80.2% National hold
56. Tauranga – 80.2% National hold
57. Te Tai Hauauru – 80.2% Labour win
58. Te Tai Tokerau – 80.2% Mana hold
59. Upper Harbour – 80.2% National win
60. Hamilton East – 80.0% National hold
61. Ohariu – 78.6% United hold
62. Epsom 73.1% ACT hold
63. Hamilton West – 73.1% National hold
64. East Coast Bays – 71.7% National hold
65. Rotorua – 71.1% National hold
66. Wairarapa – 71.1% National hold
67. Napier – 64.6% Labour win
68. Te Atatu – 59.9% Labour hold
69. Waiariki – 59.9% Maori Party hold
70. Port Hills – 59.8% Labour hold
71. Waimakariri – 52.5% Labour win

From the NZ Initiative:

Keynesian Economics owes its name to a problematic economic theory, put forward in the late 1930s by a brilliant but mercurial English economist with a genius for advocacy and rhetoric, Lord John Maynard Keynes.

Keynes took so many positions on so many issues during his career that it became accepted wisdom, as Winston Churchill once observed, that if you asked two economists for a view you would get three opinions, two of them from Mr Keynes. More reliably, one of his eminent contemporaries, Sir Alex Cairncross, once remarked that Keynes would be “longest remembered for his ideas” but who “never said the same thing for long.”

Keynesian theory contentiously proposes that slumps and recessions are caused by a slump in total spending in the economy. A recession allegedly results because producers respond by reducing output and employment rather than prices and wages. This is because it is hard to reduce money wage rates in the short-term.

The posited drop in output reduces real incomes which further reduces spending, aggravating the recession. Adherents of this theory, Keynesians, call this additional decline a multiplier effect.

The original slump in spending may occur because consumers started saving too much, and spending too little. Keynesian economics refers to slumps due to under-consumption as ‘the paradox of thrift’.

Alternatively, investment spending may slump because investors irrationally lose confidence, or ‘animal spirits’.  

Keynes’ remedy was for governments to increase government spending and/or to print money in order to lower interest rates and simulate investment spending. The spending boost would have a multiplier effect on national income.

Politicians would not even have to worry much about the quality of the spending. Paying people to dig holes and fill them in again could be a fine thing. Keynes himself suggested burying gold bars at the bottom of a disused mine. Money spent excavating the useless mine would boost national income.

This theory is popular with governments because it supports government deficit spending and printing money in economic downturns, while not imposing any real offsetting discipline during upturns.

Keynes’ impatience to alleviate today’s slump by such means meant discounting the risk of causing more or bigger future slumps from public debt crises and/or the need to curb inflation. His ‘in the long run we are all dead’ riposte to those who pointed out that slumps were self-correcting in time came to epitomise his side of that debate.

Keynes is dead, but public debt crises live on.

I think what has happened in Europe shows the problems of following Keynes’ advice for too long.

The Herald reports:

New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters is disputing leading lawyers’ views that his party’s rule to fine MP’s who jump ship up to $300,000 is unenforceable.

The rule was was inserted into NZ First’s constitution after Brendan Horan was ejected from the party in late 2012 but refused to resign from Parliament. However it is yet to be ratified.

Constitutional law expert Andrew Geddis of Otago University has said the rule has no legal foundation while public law expert Matthew Palmer pointed out that once an MP left a party they were no longer bound by its constitution.

“With the greatest respect to Mr Geddis, he doesn’t know anything about this stuff”, Mr Peters said this morning.

Yeah, Andrew knows nothing at all on electoral law – apart from writing the textbook used in pretty much every university in New Zealand.

Andrew blogs on why Winston is wrong, and he is right here.

No doubt if NZ First ever tries to enforce their clause and lose in court, Winston will claim the Judges all got it wrong also.

The Canon Media Awards are tonight. Whale Oil is one of the three finalists for Blog of the Year.

While I have high regard for the other two finalists (Toby Manhire and Giovanni Tiso), I think it would be a travesty if Whale Oil does not win this year.

A win doesn’t mean one is endorsing everything Cameron has ever written or said.

A win recognises his impact on the media in 2013 and 2014.

British media magnate Lord Northcliffe once famously said that “News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.”

Using that definition of news, the award must go to Whale Oil. He broke the Len Brown story which has had a massive impact. He also has broken a number of stories on Kim Dotcom and the Internet Party. In both cases, these were stories that the subjects wanted suppressed but were of public importance revealing how various media were involved in setting up the Internet Party, without disclosure.

Stuff reports:

The roll-out of ultrafast broadband as far as the street has been completed in Whangarei, Communications Minister Amy Adams has confirmed.

The city, where fibre has been laid by a subsidiary of lines company Northpower, is the first to complete the communal roll-out. Chorus is not due to finish laying UFB in the 24 cities and towns for which it won its roll-out contract until the end of 2019.

Adams and Prime Minister John Key visited Manaia View School in Whangarei to acknowledge the milestone. “As the first fully-fibred city in New Zealand, Whangarei is in the enviable position of getting a head start on the rest of the country,” Adams said.

Well done Northpower and Whangarei.

Around three days ago I told Google drive to back up around 7 GB of photos to the cloud. The result has been my Internet connection has been a trickle for the last 72 hours.

Copper based broadband can do reasonable decent download speeds, but the upload speeds are just inadequate for proper cloud use such as backups. Hence I will be moving onto fibre in the near future.

Stuff reports:

He has been living in a state house most of his life and, at 70, Gilbert Vangellekom is not too happy about his tenancy possibly being up for review.

Vangellekom has lived in his Elsdon three-bedroom home for 36 years – he brought up three children on his own and, when he met his second wife, Vida, helped raised two more. All up, they have 10 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who still return home when the going gets rough.

“This is what we call home base . . . This is where all the photographs were taken, this is where the good times took place, this is where everyone comes home to when they’re having a bad situation – this is what the politicians don’t realise.”

It is just the two of them now, which is why Vangellekom is concerned that they will be up for a reassessment and told the house is bigger than they need.

The reality is that they should have been shifted into a smaller house once their kids had left home. I have sympathy for the argument that at age 70, he shouldn’t be moved. But the solution is that he should have been moved much earlier.

Porirua City councillor Litea Ah Hoi said that, although the state-house waiting lists had dropped dramatically in the region, there were still families who would benefit from bigger homes such as Vangellekom’s. “I know lots of families with more than three children who would dearly love to move into a home big enough to host them all.”

She supported moving on people who no longer needed bigger houses to make way for families of greater need.

That is the cost of not moving him. A struggling family with lots of kids is missing out.

The Herald reports:

Shortland Street star Teuila Blakely has spoken of the “pain, humiliation and embarrassment” her sex tape with a Warriors player has caused.

The short video – which also featured Warriors centre Konrad Hurrell, 22 – briefly leaked online on Monday, and Blakely quickly admitted it was her, saying the tape “wasn’t meant to have been leaked”.

Blakely, 39, took to her Facebook page to apologise and discuss the “pain, humiliation and embarrassment” the video had caused her friends and family.

What humiliated or embarrassment?

She’s 39, and she scored a 22 year old league star. I’m sure most of her friend are giving her high fives and saying “You go girl”.

Bit of a double standard. If a 39 year old actor scored say a 22 year old Silver Fern, they wouldn’t feel pressured to apologise for pain and humiliation. They’d be down at the local pub shouting drinks.

Labour, Greens and NZ First’s latest complaints seem to be two fold.

1. Waa, waa, waa – John Key attends party fundraising events and is very popular
2. A donor lobbed for a change in immigration policy and failed

Both absolute scandals. Even more hilarious from the party that allows donors (unions) to vote for their leader.

An interesting Cabinet paper on what happens to Parliament and Cabinet if Wellington is devastated by an earthquake. Key aspects are:

• Parliament and Government shifts to Auckland
• Parliament will meet at the Devonport Naval Base for 14 days initially, and then elsewhere in Auckland
• Decision to move would be made by the Prime Minister
• MPs and essential staff would be transported by either helicopter from Paraparaumu, plane from Ohakea or by ship
• The House would meet within 7 days
• Only 42 essential staff plus 120 MPs, GG and spouse would relocate to Auckland
• Temporary Executive Government and Parliament would have 12 DPMC staff, two GG staff, seven Clerk’s Office staff, eight PMO and Ministerial staff, five Parliamentary Counsel staff and six Parliamentary Service staff

Have had quite a few people ask about how to go about doing a trek in the Himalayas, so here’s what we did – for those interested.

Choose a company

Almost everyone sensible uses a company to arrange guides, porters and accommodation. On a personal recommendation we used Himalayan Encounters, and they were excellent. I can recommend them without reservation.

The cost was around US1,500 each and this covered:

• Three nights accommodation in Kathmandu
• Flights between Kathmandu and Lukla
• 16 nights accommodation in tea houses on the trek
• A guide and two assistant guides (for a party of five)
• A porter per two people (they can carry up to 30 kgs) so three porters

Our guides were top class. They were incredibly safety focused, and were very helpful to me when I got altitude sickness. They were also informative and a lot of fun. I recall at one stage I had to take a leak on the way back from Everest Base Camp, so went behind a large rock. They yelled out that it was a holy rock, just to freak me out (it wasn’t). Lots of fun chatting to them in the evenings also and playing card games etc.

Airfares

The company covers the internal airfares. We travelled Malaysia Airlines (booked before they lost a plane) to and from Kathmandu. They lost or delayed my luggage both times, and their planes are old and tired. The service was pretty average. I would not use them again.

Other costs

• Food tends to cost around US$25 a day per person, but we actually ended up around $30 a day. Prices increase the higher you go, but very reasonable for three meals a day.
• If you want hot showers, electricity, wireless Internet then the cost is around $3 for a shower, $2 an hour for electricity and wireless ranges from $5 flat rate to $12 an hour near the very top.
• Tips for the porters and guides. We tipped a pretty significant amount because the service was so good. Lonely Planet has some general guidelines.

Route

It takes around 12 days to go to Everest Base Camp and back if you go directly up and down. If you can spare the extra five days, I highly highly recommend the 17 day route via Goyko and the Cho La Pass. It is harder, but the views are even more spectacular – and you get to do a loop, rather than up and down the same way.

Health

I joke that our biggest achievement was none of us got Travelers’ Diarrhea. Nepal has the highest prevalence of this in the world. If you’re trekking up to eight hours a day, you really don’t want this.

We were religious with disinfecting our hands constantly. We used water purification drops or tables on all our water – even for teeth cleaning. We did not eat meat above Namche.

I did get altitude sickness. The rest of the party didn’t. You won’t know if you do, or not, until you get there. Make sure you have a spare day in the schedule, and once above 3,000 metres don’t climb more than 500 metres a day (or technically don’t sleep more than 500 metres higher than the night before).

Generally need to immunise for Hep A, Hep B, Polio, Tetanus, Diptheria and Typhoid. Malaria not a high risk trekking. Rabies is more a risk in Kathmandu than trekking.

General

Some general issues, taken from Lonely Planet guide:

• Monkeys are holy, but also aggressive and have rabies. Avoid, but do not kill!
• If a bear attacks, lie face down in the ground
• Do not give money or food to beggars, but you can donate to schools or monasteries
• Purify water with iodine – do not buy bottled water. Drink 2l to 4l a day
• Do not wear leather (shoes or belt) inside Hindu temples and wear long trousers in all temples, and no photos in most temples
• Always pass on the left of religious objects, not to the right
• Ask people before taking photos of them
• PDAs are frowned upon
• Don’t point soles of feet at people
• Do not touch children on the head
• Give or receive money with your right hand and touch left hand to elbow as show of respect
• Lukla Airport has been rated the most dangerous airport in the world – seven crashes since 2004 with 36 fatalities
• Nighttime temperatures can be as low as -20 degrees
• Never get between a yak and the ledge as they may knock you over!
• Power surges common so voltage guard with spike suppressor recommended
• Nepali culture uncomfortable with the display of the female leg
• Viagra every 12 hours can help prevent altitude sickness!

Gear

I’ve included my gear list below after the break, for those interested.

If you don’t plan to tramp or trek a lot, then it will be far cheaper to buy most of your gear in Kathmandu or hire it in Namche. They have absolutely everything and it is exponentially cheaper.

But if you want top quality gear that you can keep using for other treks and tramps, then you end up spending a lot of money at Macpac, Kathmandu, Bivouvac and Mountain Designs.

The one thing you must have in advance are your boots, as you do not want to try out new boots on a 17 day trek.

Continue reading »

The Herald editorial:

It is almost 35 years since Norman Tebbit infamously told the unemployed of Britain to get “on yer bike”. The Employment Secretary was frustrated that, unlike his father in an earlier time, people out of work were not prepared to take to the road to find work. His plea for a less static workforce fell on deaf ears, however, not least because jobs were thin on the ground in the early years of the Thatcher Government.

No such problem exists these days in Christchurch, however. The rebuilding of the city has created plenty of opportunities. Any initiative that makes it easier for beneficiaries to move to this work is, therefore, welcome. …

As well as helping the beneficiaries, the scheme will, obviously, aid the rebuilding of the city. The need for more workers is evident in Canterbury’s 3.4 per cent unemployment rate, which is much lower than the 6 per cent national rate. According to the Social Development Minister, Paula Bennett, work is available not only in the construction sector, which has increased its workforce by 90 per cent since the earthquakes, but in hospitality, retail and many other industries. If the pressure on housing in Christchurch could cause a problem or two, that is hardly a reason to scrap the scheme, given its potential value.

All up, the initiative will cost, at most, $3.5 million. That is an insignificant sum for something that could be a life-changing experience for those who seize the opportunity during its 12-month span.

There should be no shortage of applicants. About 19,000 beneficiaries are required to be available for part-time or fulltime work in the 18-to-24 age bracket alone. Some of that number may be loath to leave the relative comforts of home and family. But rather than being disinclined, they should heed the “need work, will travel” mindset that has become common worldwide. Take, for example, the Poles, Czechs, Hungarians and others from central Europe who have moved thousands of kilometres to become part of the British workforce. …

Most beneficiaries also want to be doing meaningful work. Helping to rebuild a shattered city surely fits that bill. Nor are beneficiaries being asked to travel to another country and culture like the Poles and Czechs in Britain, or, indeed, the many people from overseas who have come to work in Christchurch. There is every reason for them to grasp the opportunity.

Hopefully they will.

Yahoo News reports:

Prime Minister John Key has turned the tables on Labour and the Greens when they attacked him in parliament over National Party fundraising.

They’re claiming it’s a corruption of democracy for the party to charge people a subscription to “cabinet clubs” where they can attend lunches and get-togethers with politicians.

Labour’s Chris Hipkins and Green Party co-leader Russel Norman on Wednesday challenged Mr Key to say it was acceptable.

“Absolutely it is and it’s been going on for a very long time,” Mr Key said.

“I could show you an example of a political party that asked people to pay $1250 to have one-on-one meetings with the MP of their choice.

“And a political party ran an event, they charged $500 and you could go with the leader and pick an MP to discuss any `important issue’.”

The Labour Party ran both those events, Mr Key said, and he went on to offer to table a speech by former deputy prime minister Sir Michael Cullen to a fund-raising dinner.

“If you really want me to stay on my feet I can continue to do so,” he told opposition MPs.

Mr Key also referred to Dr Norman’s much-publicised meeting with internet tycoon Kim Dotcom, saying the MP had “grovelled”.

“I really think that member needs to recognise his high horse went lame when he parked it up at the Dotcom mansion,” Mr Key said.

The hypocrisy of Labour on this issue especially is massive. Labour have a history of actually selling one on one meetings with MPs, and they complain about National selling tickets to breakfast and lunch meetings with MPs.

The real agenda here is Labour and the Greens want their parties to be funded by taxpayers. We should resist this strongly.

The Herald reports:

A taxi company operating from Auckland Airport has introduced fixed-fare rates to the city and North Shore after Herald stories about some drivers overcharging passengers.

Auckland Airport will start conducting mystery tests on taxis to audit their pricing and has called for tighter Commerce Commission controls on the industry. And Labour has challenged the Government to police rogue operators and to sort out Auckland’s traffic woes to help reduce fares and travelling times.

Green Cabs yesterday announced it would charge flat fares of $65 to the city, $97 to Takapuna and $110 to Albany for airport passengers.

Great – a market solution. Some firms offer flat fares. and some do not.

Also Auckland Airport has announced:

“Given the concerns raised by the public about the high fares, Auckland Airport will now regularly undertake mystery passenger audits of taxi pick-ups from the airport. Any drivers and companies found to be charging excessive amounts or taking longer than necessary routes will be immediately reported to their employer and, if required, to the New Zealand Transport Agency.”

That’s a useful initiative.

Questions for Oral Answer.

Questions to Ministers 2.00PM-3.00PM

1. DAVID BENNETT to the Minister of Finance: What reports has he received about increasingly broad-based growth in the economy?
2. Hon DAVID PARKER to the Minister of Finance: Does he have confidence in the expenditure figures used in Budget 2014?
3. MELISSA LEE to the Minister of Housing: What progress is the Government making in addressing the housing supply and affordability issues, particularly in Auckland and Christchurch?
4. HOLLY WALKER to the Minister of Immigration: Has he discussed issues relating to his immigration portfolio at Cabinet Club events; if so, on how many occasions?
5. PHIL TWYFORD to the Minister of Housing: Does he stand by his statement, “The Government is committed to supporting as many Kiwi families as possible to achieve the goal of owning their own home”; if so, is home ownership increasing or decreasing according to the latest Census?
6. MIKE SABIN to the Minister of Police: What steps are the Police taking to ensure psychoactive substances are removed from the market?
7. SUE MORONEY to the Minister of Finance: Will he use a financial veto on the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill to stop families from having 26 weeks paid parental leave?
8. CATHERINE DELAHUNTY to the Minister of Energy and Resources: Will he rule out granting mineral exploration permits in Pureora Forest Park?
9. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Immigration: Did the Government instruct Immigration New Zealand to review the Investor Plus scheme of $10 million; if so, for what reason?
10. CLAUDETTE HAUITI to the Minister of Health: What investment will the Government make in Budget 2014 to help fight rheumatic fever?
11. HONE HARAWIRA to the Minister of Finance: How is the Government able to claim its management of the economy is “on the right track” when Māori youth unemployment continues to be unacceptably high at 22.1 percent, which is higher than when they took office, and nearly four times higher than the latest population-wide unemployment rate?
12. Hon TREVOR MALLARD to the Minister of Immigration: Why did he personally call on Donghua Liu to receive his representations on immigration policy following Donghua Liu making a donation to the National Party?

Today Labour are asking about the upcoming budget, home ownership, paid parental leave, and immigration policy. The Greens are asking about the Cabinet Club, and about mineral exploration. New Zealand First is asking about immigration. The Mana Party is asking about  Māori youth unemployment.

Patsy of the day goes to Claudette Hauiti for Question 10: What investment will the Government make in Budget 2014 to help fight rheumatic fever?

Government Bills 3.00PM – 6.00PM.

1. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill – Committee Stage

2. Credit Contracts and Financial Services Law Reform Bill – Committee Stage

The Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill is being guided through the house by the Minsiters for the Arts, Chris Finlayson QC. This bill replaces the Historic Places Act 1993, which established the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (Pouhere Taonga), to rename the Trust as Heritage New Zealand and reform its governance and structure.

The Credit Contracts and Financial Services Law Reform Bill  is being guided through the house by the Minister of Commerce, Craig Foss. This bill proposes amendments to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 and the repeal of the Credit (Repossession) Act 1997. The objects of the bill are the reform of the legislation governing consumer credit contracts.

Radio NZ report:

Government Communications and Security Bureau (GCSB) head Ian Fletcher has emphatically denied his organisation carries out mass surveillance.

Mr Fletcher, speaking at a seminar organised by the Privacy Commission in Wellington on Wednesday, said the state had legitimate concerns with the prevention of terrorism, organised crime and nuclear non-proliferation. …

But he said this was a small list affecting few people.

Very small. In 2012/13 there were 11 interception warrants in force and 26 access authorisations.

Mr Fletcher denied this involved mass surveillance, which he said would be a huge task requiring his bureau’s salary budget to be increased 100-fold.

As well, it would be completely impractical; it would take 130,000 staff to listen to people’s phone calls and read their text messages, without even doing anything about them.

True.

The ODT also reports:

He also offered an assurance that neither the GCSB or any foreign agency was engaged in the mass collection of metadata or information about communications which can be sifted for patterns that might point to areas of interest for authorities.

He also said the GCSB does not receive funding from any foreign government.

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards was pleased by the speech, saying he hoped Mr Fletcher’s comments might dispel what he called conspiracies and misinformation.

Its a good thing that the GCSB Director was invited, and accepted.

The Herald reports:

Auckland mayor Len Brown and Housing Minister Nick Smith have this afternoon announced a third tranche of “Special Housing Areas” for 18,000 new residences under the Auckland Housing Accord.

The announcement was made at a site at 11 Akepiro Street, Mt Eden, set to be developed into 18 units by Ockham Residential.

Big parts of Great North Rd, Otahu Coast, Flat Bush, New Lynn, Northcote, Albany East and Takanini are ear-marked as strategic areas, for big-scale redevelopment.

The Auckland Housing Accord, agreed to last year by Smith and Brown, provides for the creation of SHAs by Auckland Council with the approval of the Government. Qualifying developments in these areas are able to be streamlined and fast-tracked but the areas are raising alarm in areas from Takapuna to Newmarket, as people suddenly realise their streets will change dramatically.

Auckland needs more land and more houses (and more apartment buildings), it’s that simple.

Stuff reports:

Another sticking point in the bill was around the introduction of a code of conduct to replace a code of ethics.

Jules Nicholas, a teacher with more than 16 years experience in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, said a code of conduct was not needed.

“We already have an aspiration code of ethics that we value and set high standards for us in the profession.

“I’m a teacher with three teenage children and expect that the teachers who appear in front of my children will adhere to the code of ethics.

“Do we really need a code of conduct? Are you saying that you don’t trust the thousands of teachers that work in the thousands of classrooms every day in the thousands of schools?”

I’m amazed anyone can argue there is no need for a binding code of conduct.

The chair of the soon to be scrapped New Zealand Teachers’ Council, Alison McAlpine, said the new council would need greater powers to discipline teachers than it currently had.

“The new professional body should have the power to cancel a teacher’s registration for competence reasons.”

Under the proposed amendments, a teacher’s practising certificate could be cancelled but not a registration, although that could be done in matters of serious misconduct.

That needed to be changed so the new body could cancel registrations based on incompetence, McAlpine said.

That would be good.