Claire Trevett at NZ Herald reports:

Labour leader David Cunliffe and MPs Shane Jones and Grant Robertson could be forced to publicly declare who gave them donations of more than $500 during last year’s leadership contest despite the party’s attempts to keep them confidential.

The rules for the official register of MPs’ financial interests require them to declare all gifts and donations of more than $500 other than donations for an election. Those returns are due by next Friday.

Sir Maarten Wevers, who oversees the Register of Pecuniary Interests, said the rules appeared to cover money received by the MPs in the Labour leadership primary.

“I would expect them to declare it because it is a donation for something other than an electoral campaign.”

Yep it is a donation that benefited them personally.

It could cause some concern for the three Labour MPs if they had assured donors their contributions would not be made public. The MPs would not have to disclose the value of donations, but would have to provide the donors’ names.

Labour’s rules for the contest stated that donations would be confidential, and the party has refused to release a list of them on those grounds.

That will be hugely embarrassing if donors were assured their donations would remain confidential, but they end up being required to be disclosed in the Register of Pecuniary Interests.

What would be hilarious is if it was disclosed that a donor to Shane Jones was Foodstuffs (competitors of Countdown) 🙂

Stuff reports:

An attempt to take a private prosecution against Auckland Mayor Len Brown has reached a block in the High Court.

Private litigant Graham McCready yesterday filed an application for orders and directions in a lawsuit against Brown in the High Court in Wellington.

McCready, a Wellington resident, initially filed papers relating to the prosecution in the Auckland District Court.

He was told yesterday the case was not a criminal matter, and has gone back today asking for a review of that decision.

McCready said he was asking for a review because he could not understand why it was considered a civil matter when the proposed charges were bribery and corruption.

Because there is no proof of them. Brown acted very badly, but there is no proof his actions were criminal. Lying is not a crime. Not disclosing a free hotel rooms is not a crime. They are reasons for him to resign, but not reasons to be in court.

Tracy Watkins writes:

Scratch beneath the bravado  in Labour these days and you will find a pessimist.

Blame it on the weather or a shortened barbecue season, but Labour MPs seem already to be doubting the prospect of a Labour win.

Some of them are now talking up a two election strategy. That they increase their vote enough in 2014 so they can win in 2017. So in fact their strategy is to lose less badly.

The latest Fairfax Media-Ipsos poll shows National is as popular as ever after six years in power. Labour will be hoping  a One News-Colmar Brunton poll due out this weekend shows a different trend. But the muted response to the Fairfax poll suggests it was not far off the mark from Labour’s own polling.

Even Left-wing blogs and the likes of columnist Chris Trotter, torch bearer for David Cunliffe’s leadership, have started writing off the prospects of a Labour win.

Some of that may be self serving. Many of the party’s activists believe the revolution, that began with the rule change giving the membership a deciding vote in the leadership, is only half done.

Their fulminating may be as much about fomenting a wider backlash against the likes of Phil Goff and Trevor Mallard, Labour’s so-called ‘‘old guard’’, who are resisting pressure to bow out despite leading the group of MPs who were outright antagonistic about the prospect of Cunliffe as leader.

But this a dangerous time for Labour. Once a belief takes root that an election is unwinnable it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It seems too soon yet for that to have happened within Labour.  But Cunliffe may be discovering the limits of running a caucus of which at least half was never more than  lukewarm about his leadership.

 A good poll would have united the caucus behind him. Conversely, one bad poll was all it was ever going to take for those who doubted Mr Cunliffe’s leadership to feel vindicated.  That was always the risk Labour’s activist base took in imposing a leader on the caucus.

The problem for Labour is that ‘‘I told you so’’ doesn’t win elections.  Nor does it help  heal a divided caucus.

The activists blame the old guard. The old guard blame what they claim is the “B” team who got promoted and have been invisible. The staff are jumping ship. It is not a happy place.

One of the nastier aspects of the character of Peters is a total inability to admit he got it wrong. He will defend a lie to the last. He did it with Owen Glenn, and he is now doing it with Huka Lodge. The sad thing is that there may be 5% of New Zealanders who think he is telling the truth and that everyone else is lying.

Stuff reports:

Winston Peters is standing by his claim that one of New Zealand’s most famous tourist lodges is being sold, despite both the owner and the Government saying it is not.

During his state of the nation speech in Takapuna yesterday, Mr Peters claimed Huka Lodge, near Taupo, was being sold to Chinese interests, to gasps from some of the hundreds of North Shore Grey Power members listening.

It was one of his more blatant racist attacks. Huka Lodge is owned by a Dutch company on behalf of Alex van Heeren who is the honorary counsel for East and West Flanders and Antwerp and a former Dutch honorary counsel to New Zealand. He is not a New Zealander, but a foreign businessman who spends most of his time abroad.

When Huka Lodge was sold to van Heeren (under Labour in 2003), did Peters say a word aboutt foreign investment or ownership? No. Then he invents a story abour it being sold to Chinese investors, with the clear message that this would be wrong and evil. His message isn’t that foreign ownership is bad. His message is that it is okay for white foreigners to own assets in New Zealand, but awful if Asian foreigners buy things.

It is racism pure and simple. It is designed to whip up hostility to people who look Asian, regardless of whether or not they are foreigners or New Zealand born. The message it sends is if you are an Asian New Zealander, you are a second class citizen.

Afterwards he cited real estate sources for his comments. “My informant says John Key has said to these people: ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll smooth it through the Overseas Investment Office’.”

If any politician should be suing for defamation, it should be John Key.

Later, Peters modified his claim to say the lodge was for sale.

First of all he claimed explicitly it had been sold. With that proven to be a lie, he does not apologise or retract. He invents a new lie. The owners of Huka Lodge have clearly said it is not on the market.

One could give Peters some benefit of the doubt that he believed the so called informant and is just so lazy and unconcerned with the truth, that he repeated an unproven allegation as fact because that’s the sort of politician he his. That’s the best case scenario. But now when confronted with the fact that it has not been sold, and the owner says it is not for sale, he chooses to maintain the lie, and amend it, rather than accept he said something false.

It’s the same behaviour as with the Owen Glenn donation. The evidence before the Privileges Committee proved beyond any doubt he lied dozens of times, yet he still insists he didn’t.

“The Overseas Investment Office has spoken to Huka Lodge director and shareholder David McGregor, and he has confirmed no sale has been made or is being considered,” Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson said, not long after Mr Key’s office said the prime minister would never become involved in OIO applications even if one were in train.

Huka Lodge director of global sales and marketing Louise Smythe rejected the claim.

“None of it is true, no,” she said.

But Peters was unrepentant last night, accusing the OIO of having become a “political pawn”.

A pawn in a sale that only exists with the help of drugs or alcohol.

Such was the paperwork involved, the OIO may not know the status of the sale, Peters said.

“It’s for sale.”

So is Peters saying the owner is a liar, or saying that somehow you can sell something without the owner knowing anything about it?

I’m not one of those who says the media should not report on Peters, because they have to. But what the media can do is say this case proves that they should only report on opinions of Peters, but if Peters in future states something as a fact (such as WINZ has a fleet of BMWs, or Huka Lodge has been sold to the Chinese) they should not print the alleged fact until they have verified it. And if the fact is untrue, then don’t give his lies media space. He knows that 5% of the population will believe a lie if he tells it. It’s the old saying you can fool some of the population, all of the time.

Stuff reports:

The manager of a Wairarapa Maori health service specialising in drug and alcohol programmes has been convicted of drink-driving for the fifth time.

My rule of thumb is that means he has probably driven drunk around 500 times or so.

Taiawhio Tame Gemmell manages Masterton-based Te Hauora Runanga O Wairarapa, which is funded by the Wairarapa District Health Board and lists drug and alcohol counselling and education programmes among its core services.

They don’t seem very good at it if one of their own managers seems impervious to change.

Gemmell’s supervisor at the health service said yesterday the conviction was “a blow” to the organisation, but she supported him and hoped he would not resign, or be forced to.

“If I had a problem with the way he worked, that would be different. But he’s a good manager,” runanga board chairwoman Angie Pourau said.

If his supervisor is the board chair, then he is the equivalent of the chief executive.  There is a strong leadership role with such a senior position. I think his position is untenable.

She knew Gemmell had four previous convictions for drink-driving when he was hired, but his alcohol problem was no barrier, as he was not directly involved with drug and alcohol counselling.

Doesn’t matter, if he is the chief executive.

“Nobody’s perfect, and when you look at our client base it’s those who really need our help. I honestly believe Maoridom will support him because he’s an excellent manager.”

The question I have, is what is the success rate of this organisation in terms of treating people with alcohol and drug problems? My suspicion is low, based on their relaxed attitude to even their CEO being a recidivist drink driver.

The Herald reports:

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has claimed the world-famous Huka Lodge near Taupo has been sold to Chinese buyers and suggested Prime Minister John Key had a hand in smoothing the process.

Mr Peters made the claim during his state of the nation address on Auckland’s North Shore this afternoon.

“While you’re here media, let me tell you something, Huka Lodge has just been sold to the Chinese … and I want you to go and ask John Key what role you had in this?

“Was it not true, Mr Key, that you assured them `there won’t be a problem, we’ll smooth it out for you’.”

But Winston lied. Outraegously.

Huka Lodge says 100% false it has been sold to Chinese investors. Not on market.

— Brook Sabin (@BrookSabin) February 21, 2014

Any other political leader who made up a claim like this, and just flat out lied, would be crucified by the media. But Winston gets away with it. He lied that it had been sold. He lied that it was on the market, and he lied that the PM was involved.

Just as bad, he is doing his normal anti-Asian racism. I understand the current owner was born in Holland. Even if the sale was true, why is it okay for someone born in Holland to own Hula Lodge, but not someone born in China? Its racism.

Radio Live reports:

Do try this at home: Google search ‘David Cunliffe’.

One of the images that Google is pulling to create its little rich bio on the right there is not of David Cunliffe, but is actually of a cat that looks like David Cunliffe, off of the popular tumblr site Cats That Look Like David Cunliffe.

That’s very funny.

I presume Google picks the images that are most commonly clicked on or something. Such fame for the tumblr site.

Whale blogs:

Back in March last year David Farrar asked if the Greens, Labour and the Unions might break the Citizens Initiated Referendum Act.

On top of that leaked documents showed that they intended to work together on the referendum, utilising taxpayer funds to do so.

Those documents clearly show it was a co-ordinated campaign working together.

S42 of the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act states:

Every person commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 who, either alone or in combination with others knowingly spends, on advertisements published or broadcast in relation to an indicative referendum petition, more than $50,000

And the election returns show:

• Service and Food Workers Union – $26,269
• Labour party – $45,382.95 
• Public Service Association – $3987.18
• The Green party  – $39,541.49
• The NZ Council of Trade Unions – $523.20
• First Union – $23,356.08
• The NZEI – $547
• NZ Nurses Organisation – $556

Whale points out:

Total Spend  by Unions, Labour and the Greens is $140,162.90

Labour and the Greens by themselves breach the act, with combined spending of $84,924.44

Will be very interesting to see what the result of a complaint would be.

Telecom have announced they are changing their name to Spark. This is a bold but risky move.

Telecom is a very well known brand in New Zealand. For quite long periods of time, the brand was fairly negative, but in recent times has been quite positive. Ditching such an established brand is risky.

However they are now a competitive retailer, not a utility company. The new brand can be a good way to move on from their historic role, and be seen as an exciting new company. Vodafone’s brand has slipped in recent years, so the opportunity is there to do well.

Also of interest is this, as reported by the Herald:

Telecom also announced this morning it was moving into the internet TV market, with what it describes as “a standalone and high-quality internet TV brand, ShowmeTV,” which will launch later this year.

“The upcoming launch of ShowmeTV offers all New Zealanders an exciting new choice about how to get their home entertainment, which we think represents the future of how people will access content. It’s a great example of how this company is changing by delivering the sorts of new services our customers want,” said Moutter.

A great initiative. I hope it works.

Stuff reports:

Spy boss Ian Fletcher has apologised to Prime Minister John Key for his agency bungling its report to Parliament on the level of its surveillance.

The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was forced to release an amendment to its annual report, which saw an increase in the number of interception warrants and access authorisations for the 2012-13 financial year.

A total of 11 interception warrants were in force for that year, up on the original amount which was reported at seven. Five interception warrants were issued, corrected from four.

A total of 26 access authorisations were also in force, compared to the originally-thought 14, and 11 were issued rather than nine.

A spokeswoman for Key said the prime minister was “unhappy” about the error and had received an apology from Fletcher, the GCSB director.

“The prime minister has been advised that the error stems from GCSB mistakenly counting the number of operations rather than the number of warrants on issue.,” the spokeswoman said.

“There was no attempt to deliberately mislead,. Further, he has been advised by the director that steps have been taken to ensure the error cannot happen again.”

It isn’t a huge error in itself. 11 issued instead of nine doesn’t change what we fundamentally know that the level is very low.

However the concern is that the GCSB doesn’t have a rigorous enough focus on checking and verification. Their annual report to Parliament is an important document and what goes into it should be vetted by multiple people. One person misinterpreting what should be reported, should be caught by someone else.

It isn’t good enough. These agencies especially need a very high level of confidence in their ability to understand the law.

What I’m not clear about is whether this error is long-standing or just occurred last year.

Stuff reports:

A Palmerston North student union president has admitted to lying about his background, making up his name, purporting to be a former policeman and claiming fake university qualifications.

Association of Students at UCOL (AS@U) president Danny Goodman featured in a Manawatu Standard profile last week following his appointment as the polytechnic’s new student leader.

Goodman detailed his aims for the year and claimed his past experiences included 15 years in the police force – as a general duties officer in Kings Cross, Sydney, time with the New South Wales water police and as a criminal profiler for the New York police department.

He said he was from Wellington, spent some of his childhood in Australia, studied an associate degree in policing practice at Charles Sturt University and an honours degree in applied science from the University of New South Wales.

So what part of this was true?

Goodman said yesterday his real name is Darryl Newport, he was born in Motueka, has never lived in Australia and he made up the persona of “Danny Goodman” years ago. He said the “elaborate” tale quickly escalated and he regretted making it up, apologising to people affected by his deceit.

“This is a non-event; I’ve been caught out on a lie,” he said.

A non-event? You make up a fake persona??

Goodman said he had never campaigned on his fake background or included it on CVs and hoped to keep his position as president of AS@U because he felt his fabrication did not affect his ability to serve students.

You are not the person you claimed to be. Even your name is a lie. Of course you can not remain President. You have no credibility.

UCOL spokeswoman Christine Beech said Goodman is not a staff member, he has not used his claims for educational gains, and the polytechnic has no responsibility regarding his employment and would not be looking into it any further.

They probably fund the organisation though. Goodman is basically a fraudster. Does UCOL think paying money to an organisation headed by a fraudster is the best use of student fees?

Goodman contacted the Manawatu Standard after the profile was published to request corrections be made to some of the information he had fabricated, including the length of time he had worked with the New South Wales police.

This shows the extent of his pathological lying. He proactively went to the media to get them to correct fabricated information.

UPDATE: He has resigned

Stuff reports:

Shane Jones is claiming victory in his campaign against supermarket group Countdown, with the Commerce Commission confirming it is investigating allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.

After days of Jones making allegations about the Australian-owned company in Parliament, Commerce Minister Craig Foss suggested an investigation into the entire ‘‘supermarket sector of New Zealand’’, although the regulator later confirmed it was only looking at Countdown.

‘‘The investigation will involve seeking a wide range of information from a variety of sources, including organisations from all areas of the supermarket sector,’’ the commission said in a statement.

Jones has been calling for an investigation into supermarkets since his tilt at the Labour leadership last year, but stepped up his campaign last week when he claimed in Parliament Countdown was using ‘‘Mafioso’’ tactics, accusing it of using blackmail and extortion against Kiwi suppliers.

Jones has done well to get this issue onto the political radar, and to now get the Commerce Commission investigating. I think he is in danger of over-reaching at times with some of his language and now that the Commerce Commission is investigating – the complaints should go to them.

But while Jones may have gone too far with some of his language, my understanding is that his central assertion around Countdown demanding retrospective payments from some suppliers is well supported.

We all wait with interest the work of the Commerce Commission.

Stuff has a story from Reuters which says:

Support for Scottish independence rises

I got excited. There must have been a big movement in the polls. So I read the story.

The first opinion poll since Britain’s rulers warned Scots they would lose the pound if they voted to leave the United Kingdom showed a slight increase in support for independence ahead of a referendum on the issue scheduled for September 18.

Slight? So it wasn’t 5%. Maybe 4%? I presumed it a significant amount as Reuters has done an entire story on this.

A Survation/Scottish Daily Mail poll carried out on February 17 and 18 of 1,005 people found 37.7 percent support independence, which it said could be compared to 36.9 percent recorded in a PanelBase/Sunday Times poll carried out on January 29-February 6.

First of all comparing the results of one company to the results of another, to declare a change is bad enough. But even if the results were from the same company, is an increase of 0.8% significant?

My probability calculator tells me the two results mean that there is a 61.6% chance the second poll is actually higher than the first poll To turn that around, there is a 38% chance there has been no increase at all.

Hardly worth a story.

Personally I don’t think Scotland voting for independence would be a bad thing for England. But anyway the point is that Reuters have written a story about pretty much nothing.

This shot doesn’t quite do justice to the immense size of the crocodile, but I like it for the extra element- the ibis – in the background.

“The Odd Couple”

Click for larger, higher res image

Duncan Garner talks on Radio Live about how the ABCs are back. He cites both a current and former Labour MP who have said that there is growing discontent over how Cunliffe has started the year.

Duncan was very clear that there is no challenge to Cunliffe’s leadership looming.Both sources were explicit on this. What has happened is that the the ABCs had gone into hibernation, but now they are talking to each other again.

The strategy that seems to be emerging is more a go slow. They think Labour can’t win, so they won’t bust their backs slogging away for a leader they don’t support. They’ll just wait for the loss, and then vacate the leadership after the election.

That’s what Garner has said a current and former Labour MP have said. And it is worth noting that Garner was one of the first to expose the maneuvers that were happening against David Shearer.

Labour dropping to 30% in yesterday’s Roy Morgan poll won’t help settle things down much either. The RM poll is very volatile, so eyes will be out for other polls in the next month or so.

Pete George has a transcript of what Garner said.

Just got back from seeing the Bloody Benders at the Fringe Festival. A really great show, that has mass appeal. Some fringe shows are an acquired taste, but this one will appeal to almost everyone.

The blurb is:

What’s a love-struck teenage serial killer to do, when your next victim seems to be the love of your life? And on top of that, your mother talks too much, your dad doesn’t talk enough and your brother hangs on every word you say. Some things are just a little too close for comfort and Kate Bender Jr. soon finds out that growing up in a household where murder is the family business is deadlier than any weapon she’s ever wielded. Inspired by a true story, The Bloody Benders, an exciting new horror-comedy presented by the Killer Darlings Collective promises to deliver pure escapist theatre with a side serving of emotional heft. 

The play is based on a real family of serial killers.

The two Kates are the stars of the show. Kate Jr (played by Kate Hounsell) does the menancing crazed look so well, while Kate Sr (played by Hannah Kelly) is superb as the slightly out of it mother.  The mother – daughter fights are superbly done, with pouting, face pulling and sighs.

David Williams has a brief role in the beginning as Hank McCoy and Jonathan Harris plays the father, John Bender. A major role was also played by Ben Emerson whose relationship with Kate Jr was teasingly played out. Emerson was excellent in portraying a nervous suitor.

There are a couple of yucky and shocking twists, but they just add to the fun.  Most of the audience were laughing throughout the play, and it got a great reception at the end.

As I said some fringe shows are, well a bit fringe. This show has real mainstream appeal and if you want to see it, its final night is tomorrow (Friday) night.

My only complaint was that the venue (Museum of City and Sea) wasn’t set up ideally with no elevated stage for the actors, which meant it was a bit hard to see some of the action from the back.

I saw a tweet by Chris Tremain which said:

Meridian acknowledge at Financial Review that Labour/Green Single Electricity Mkt proposal would have negative impact on renewables! Wow!

Surely this is not true. With all their claims we must go carbon free and have more renewable energy, would they really have a policy that would discourage renewables? It seems so.

Hamish Rutherford at Stuff reports:

The head of New Zealand’s largest electricity generator says the Opposition owes it to New Zealand to give more details of its power plans.

And he warned the plan could undermine investment in renewable energy.

Today Mark Binns, chief executive of Meridian Energy, told the commerce select committee that while a lack of detail meant it was hard to properly analyse the plan, Meridian believed it would favour thermal generation over renewable plants such as wind farms.

“Our view is it would potentially impact on renewables because it would make thermals, particularly gas plants – which are easier to consent and easier to put in place quickly – more viable in that environment,” Binns told MPs..

“If you have a central buyer, the Crown has the responsibility for deciding the next wind farm or other power that is required, and wind farms take between five and 10 years to consent.

“Why would we keep investing in developing renewable options, given the uncertainty around central buyer?

“The reality is it’s much easier for someone like Todd Energy to basically get a piece of land with gas to the front door, and strap on a jet engine to a lump of concrete and generate electricity.”

Now Meridian know what they are talking about. They are the largest provider of renewable energy and it is a big part of their brand. They are very big on renewable energy. But as their CEO points out, the Labour/Green policy will encourage non-renewables.

Also not even Gareth Morgan agrees with their policy:

Today economist Gareth Morgan waded in to the debate, saying the issue of poverty was linked more to tax and welfare than the electricity market.

“There is little reason to think that the benefits from the Labour-Greens proposal would go to the people that actually need it,” Morgan blogged today.

He also dismissed the idea that the plan was a way to solve the problem that owners of hydro plants get to use water, a public resource, for free.

“If it is now deemed unfair that hydro generators can use water for free, then charging generators for water use would be a better remedy than tinkering with the electricity market,” Morgan wrote.

He added there was “no evidence of price gouging” in the wholesale electricity market, and the problem, if there was one, was more likely in the retail market.

I can’t think of a single reputable figure who thinks the Labour/Greens policy will work. It was savaged by Professor Frank Wolak, whose work they cited as the reason for their policy.  Helen Clark refused to do it, because she knew it would not work. It’s arguably the worst of their many bad policies.

The Herald reports:

Labour MP Shane Jones has gone into bat for Shane Taurima, saying his chances with Labour should not be written off because of one mistake.

Mr Taurima resigned from his job at TVNZ on Monday after leaked emails to 3 News showed a Labour Party meeting was held in the TVNZ offices last August and Mr Taurima had spoken about winning the Maori vote at another Labour meeting in Auckland in January.

It emerged Mr Taurima was also considering standing for Labour in Tamaki Makaurau despite earlier assurances he had abandoned his political ambitions after an unsuccessful bid for the Ikaroa-Rawhiti selection. Labour leader David Cunliffe described Mr Taurima’s actions as a “lapse in judgment” and refused to be drawn on whether he had any chance of being a candidate, saying that was up to the selectors.

It was not a lapse, but multiple lapses. Being an activist in a political party while in a senior editorial role at TVNZ was the first lapse.

The second lapse was hosting a party meeting at TVNZ.

The third lapse was running a session for Labour on how to increase their vote, while in his TVNZ role.

The fourth lapse was having his staff use work e-mail addresses to organise Labour Party events.

The fifth lapse was having told TVNZ he had no further political ambitions so they would hire him again, and then planning to stand for Labour again.

Some in Labour said the party could consider extending the deadline for nominations beyond next Friday to give Mr Taurima more time to decide whether to put his name forward. A review by TVNZ is expected to take two to three weeks, and extending it could also ensure the outcomes of that were known before the selection.

It’s an excellent idea that Labour should bend the rules for him. what better way could they signal that they approve of his actions.

USA Today reports:

A Kentucky pastor who co-starred in the TV showSnake Salvation has died of a snakebite.

Emergency personnel received a call Saturday night that someone at a church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, had suffered a snakebite, Middlesboro Police Chief Jeff Sharpe said in a statement. He said an ambulance crew went to the church, but the Rev. Jamie Coots had left. The crew went to Coots’ home and found him suffering from a bite to the hand.

“After a brief examination and discussion of the possible dangers if the wound was not treated, treatment — and transport to the hospital — was refused,” Sharpe said.

An hour later, police, emergency officials and a deputy coroner returned to the home to find that Coots had died, Sharpe said.

Coots, who was profiled on The National Geographic show featuring pentecostal, serpent-handling preachers, pleaded guilty last year to violating Tennessee’s exotic animals law and agreed to surrender his snakes.

Coots and the show’s co-star, the Rev. Andrew Hamblin, believe in a passage from the Gospel of Mark that suggests a poisonous snakebite won’t harm them if they are anointed by God’s power:

Snakes 1 God’s power 0

He had children so technically doesn’t qualify for a Darwin Award.

The Herald reports:

Embattled Auckland Mayor Len Brown has been told to stay away from a community military event this weekend for fear he will attract protesters and take the shine off the promotion.

It follows booing when the mayor opened the NRL Auckland Nines at Eden Park on Saturday and comes ahead of a planned march up Queen St calling on him to stand down.

The terse reaction following him at many public appearances seems to be a response to last year’s revelations of Mr Brown’s affair with council adviser Bevan Chuang, hotel stays and censure by councillors.

I think Brown is hoping that over time people will forgive and forget. I am unsure that will be the case.

Questions for Oral Answer.

Questions to Ministers 2.00PM-3.00PM.

CIO reports:

Paula Bennett, Minister for Social Development, reveals the critical role data analytics is playing in reducing the number of people on welfare, and deciding which programs to target vulnerable citizens, especially children.

Analytics has helped in investing and using this data for positive action and make a massive influence in the lives of New Zealanders.

“Without using data analytics, we will be throwing a lot of money,” she says in her keynote the SAS User Conference in Wellington. “We will not be getting into the heart of the problem, we will not be putting resources and investment where these are needed,” she says. 

“Since 2011, analytics has been at the heart of our welfare reforms,” says Bennett. While cognisant of the criticisms against her when the welfare reforms were announced, she lists the compelling figures on how the government applied analytics to determine funding for programs and beneficiaries.

A key feature used by the government is analytical technical segmentation, she says. This looked at the welfare system at macro level, an overall evaluation, and how much it is costing over a lifetime of the current population.

We spend an average of $22 million dollars a day on welfare, $8 billion a year, she says. The projected lifetime cost for people on benefit was $78 billion.

This baseline valuation of the welfare system is at a level that has not been attempted anywhere in the world, she says. “It is a pretty compelling story on why we want to look at this population to see what we can do,” she says.

The way MSD is using data analysis is gaining attention around the world. The lifetime cost and investment approach is leading edge stuff, and there is a lot of interest from other countries about how NZ is doing it.

This doesn’t necessarily mean spending less in the short term. To the contrary it has often meant spending more to help people into work, as the short-term cost of that assistance is less than the longer term cost of them remaining on welfare.