Claire Trevett at NZ Herald writes:

If polling tracks were Roads of National Significance, then National is in a people-mover on the Waikato Expressway, occasionally zooming up and down gentle inclines but confronting little that has yet forced it to alter its speed.

Labour, meanwhile, is clinging to a battered rickshaw rattling along pothole-ridden, precipitous back roads hoping like hell to hit a flat stretch. Alongside are the outriders of the Greens and NZ First, trying to pop the rickshaw’s tyres so they can purloin its passengers for themselves.

Heh, that is  a great analogy.

The PM has announced three major long-term transport projects for Auckland, at a cost of around $10 billion. They are:

• The City rail link, with construction to start in 2020, or earlier if central city employment grows by 25% or in the year rail patronage is forecast to hit 20 million trips (if before 2020)
• A second harbour crossing, with a tunnel  planned for around 2025, with route protection to start this year
• Speeding up the  combined Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (AMETI) and East-West Link project

They are also looking to bring forward three smaller projects –  to complete a motorway-to-motorway link between the Upper Harbour Highway and the Northern Motorway at Constellation Drive, widen the Southern Motorway between Manukau and Papakura, and upgrade State Highway 20A link to the airport to motorway standard.

It’s good to have certainty over the harbour crossing. These things need huge lead times, and you don’t want to be debating whether to have one, where it will be, and is it a bridge or tunnel just a few years before you badly need it.

It will be interesting to see the funding details over time. Will they all be funded from the National Land Transport Fund or will taxpayers make a contributions (NLTF is funded by petrol tax and road charges – not general taxation) or will PPPs play a role?

Waldo Kuipers at Microsoft blogs:

In preparation for Māori Language Week 2013, Microsoft has announced today that the choice to use te reo Māori in Windows 8, Office 2013, Outlook.com, and Internet Explorer 10 is available now. …

“We are thrilled to continue our support for te reo Māori,” says Paul Muckleston, Managing Director of Microsoft New Zealand Limited. “We are grateful for the hard work that so many people have done to make it possible to weave this taonga into the very latest of tablet, smartphone, PC, and cloud technologies.”

“We are also announcing our support for a new initiative that can bring free te reo Māori translations to the Internet with the Microsoft Translator Hub in the future,” says Muckleston.

That would be very useful. Online translation tools, while imperfect, have made a huge difference hen dealing with documents in different languages.

All of these te reo Māori options are available today at no extra cost, through a simple change in the Language Settings (Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10, Outlook.com, and Windows Phone 8), or with a free download (Office 2013 from http://aka.ms/Office2013inTeReo). You can see screenshots of how it looks once the language packs are installed here: http://sdrv.ms/14aZVLE

More choice and flexibility is good.

The Press reports:

Christchurch will have $4.8 billion invested in its rebuild – $2.9b from the Crown and $1.9b from the city council.

There are many things that my taxes get spent on that I resent having to fund. But rebuilding Christchurch is not one of them.

Repair to horizontal infrastructure:  The council has committed $1.1b to the costs of repairing and rebuilding Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged roads and underground pipes. The Crown’s share of $1.8b is based on agreed subsidies of 83 per cent for roading and 60 per cent for sewer, water and stormwater.

Anchor projects: The council’s contribution for the Anchor projects – the frame, the convention centre precinct, the stadium, car parking, the metro sports facility, the town hall-performing arts precinct, the earthquake memorial, Central Library, Avon River Park, Cathedral Square, the transport interchange and transport plan – is $782.9m, including escalations. The Crown will pay $1.1b.

Convention centre: The Crown will lead the convention centre rebuild. It is hoping to secure private sector investment but has allocated $284m to the precinct. There is no council funding towards this in the form of capital or operating costs.

The frame: The Crown is funding this project at a cost of $481m and when completed will transfer the public areas back to the council.

The stadium: The proposal is for a 35,000-seat covered stadium for sport and entertainment events over three city blocks between Hereford and Tuam streets, bounded by Madras and Barbadoes streets. This agreement caps the council contribution at $253m – the amount the council allowed for rebuilding the original AMI Stadium at Lancaster Park. The Crown will contribute $37m.

Metro sports facility: The Crown will lead this project, but the council will have final approval of the design and scope for the project. The council is contributing $147m of the total cost of the facility, which includes a competition pool, an indoor sports stadium and a movement centre. The Crown will pay $70m.

Transport interchange: The project includes a new central-city bus interchange, two central-city super-stops in Manchester St and at Christchurch Hospital, the Riccarton and Northlands malls suburban interchanges and Riccarton Rd bus priority measures. The Crown is seeking private sector investment to build and operate the transport interchange, but if this is not successful, the fallback position is that the council will own and operate the interchange.
The council will pay $40m and the Crown $51m.

Avon River precinct: The Crown is leading this project, with the council’s contribution being $6.4m. The Crown’s contribution is $89m.

Cathedral Square: The Crown and the council will work together on a joint project to enhance Cathedral Square, with the council contributing $4.6m, an amount the Crown will equal.

Performing Arts precinct: Given its determination to save one of the city’s landmarks, the Town Hall, the council will consider several options before August 31. These include saving all or part of the Town Hall and developing a cultural arts precinct adjacent to the Theatre Royal. The council has budgeted $158m, including the Town Hall rebuild, for this project. The Crown will pay $8m.

Central Library: The council will lead this project to build a flagship Central Library fronting Cathedral Square. The council has budgeted $60m for this project, with a further $29m from the Crown and philanthropic sources.

Car parking: The council will work with the Christchurch Central Development Unit and the private sector on central-city parking. At this stage there is a need for three central-city parking buildings. The council has budgeted $70m, which will be funded by repair funds and insurance proceeds from the Manchester, Lichfield, Crossing, Farmers and Crown Plaza car parks. The Crown will not contribute.

Earthquake memorial: The Ministry of Culture and Heritage is leading this project on behalf of the Crown, which is also funding the memorial. The council may be required to maintain the memorial.

Transport plan: The council is providing $27m towards changes to the layout of the central-city transport network and the Crown will pay $44m.

Great to have the all important issue of who pays for what, and how much sorted. This means the focus is more and more on implementing the rebuild rather than debating it.

Stuff reports:

Domain names considered racist toward Maori can not be removed by the body that manages them unless they are ordered to by a court.

One domain name, unemployed.maori.nz, links straight to the Work and Income New Zealand website.

Another, called kai.maori.nz, redirects to the KFC website.

Auckland University of Technology lecturer Steve Elders it was part of a growing trend of “online Maori bashing”.

The Domain Names Commission (DNC) should de-register them, he told Radio New Zealand.

I’m a member of the Domain Name Commission. I don’t speak for them on this issue. I’m just commenting on the wider policy issue.

I’m really not sure that people want the Domain Name Commission made judge, jury and executioner as to which websites are acceptable, and which are not. Call me old fashioned but I think it is up to Parliament to decide on what content is legal or illegal, and for the courts to decide if something is in breach.

As fun as it would be for me, and four others, to have the power to unilaterally remove websites and domain names from the Internet purely because we don’t like it, I’m really not sure that is good for the Internet or for New Zealand.

But the commission can not take down domain names unless a court orders the body to, its  communications adviser Patrick Watson told Fairfax Media.

“It’s not in the Domain Name Commission’s mandate to investigate anything to do with content, so we don’t comment on any material published online,” he said.

“With these sorts of issues, people who have concerns about the actual content, they have to follow alternative routes with lawyers or the Commerce Commission, or the Human Rights Commission.”

The commission had an open registration process and names were taken on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

But  the commission received a court order, it would  make sure the order was complied with.

A domain name is just an identifier on the Internet. What people do with it – good, bad or neutral, is up to them. If they break the law with it they face consequences. If a court orders a domain name removed (which does happen sometimes), then the court order is complied with.

New Plymouth’s Brett Healy, the registrar of the domain unemployed.maori.nz, said offence was “taken, not given”, and he had not publicised the domain in any way.

“Claims like Mr Elders seem to be over-dramatic, the other domains referenced don’t appear to have page ranks on Google or have any sites dedicated to directing users to go there,” he said.

That is the interesting thing. As far as I can tell a number of these domain names were registered by people who participate in GP Forums – known for pranks like this. Some of the domains were registered over a decade ago, and some around a year ago. They had never been picked up in Google or anything. They were basically a private joke that no one would stumble over unless they went looking for them. Ironically it is the complaint from the academic which has made them well known.

The other issue with this is that removing a domain name should be a last resort. A domain name is not the same as a website. A domain name can enable numerous services such as e-mail. If there is an issue with a particular website, it is preferable to target the website, not the domain name – there can be significant collateral damage – often to innocent parties, when domain names are targeted.

The other thing to also remember with domain names, is that anyone who manages a domain name can create a sub-domain. If you (for example) registered unemployed.com you could create a sub-domain of maori.unemployed.com and redirect that to the WINZ website also.  So trying to exert censorship through the domain name system will almost inevitably fail.

This is not to condone the antics of those involved. If people don’t like what they have done, then they can complain to the Human Rights Commission, or more preferably express their disquiet directly to the individuals that registered the names, and are using them in that way. Unlike some other TLDs, .nz does not allow registrants to conceal their identities. That means the registrant of a .nz domain name is publicly contactable.

Again, note these are my personal views.

Stuff reports:

Bain’s lawyer Michael Reed is calling on Key to issue his client an immediate pardon after new information came to light, and to deal with his compensation claim ahead of other legal matters.

That’s outrageous hypocrisy.

The claim is stalled, because Mr Reed has filed a judicial review. He actually asked the Government to stop consideration, at threat of injunction if they did not.

If Mr Reed wants the claim dealt with quickly, then he should drop the judicial review.  Don’t blame others for your own actions.

As for the ridiculous demand that the Government should issue an immediate pardon because of a TV show, well let’s just replace the Supreme Court with Judge Judy!

The evidence around the marks on Robin Bain’s finger thumb is helpful to David Bain’s case. But it is far from conclusive, and it is just one of 20 or so pieces of strong evidence.

Martin van Beynen, a journalist who sat through every day of the second trial, has written a must read column on this latest evidence, and especially on how the story was given exclusively to Bain friendly media.

I’ve love to see this concluded quickly. Here’s how it can be:

1. Bain drops his judicial review
2. Cabinet appoints a three person panel to review his guilt or innocence on balance of probabilities
3. If they find he is innocent on balance of probabilities, then Cabinet grants compensation

Also worth reading this story, which quotes the Police:

Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess said police yesterday did a preliminary examination of fingerprints taken from Robin Bain after his death.

The marks cited as crucial new evidence were likely to be cuts to the thumb as there were no prints in the same place as the dark marks in the photograph.

”Our fingerprint experts advise that this is consistent with someone sustaining cuts or damage to the fingers prior to prints being taken, which would then affect the print image,” Burgess said.

”Had these been powder marks or smudges as claimed, we would expect to see a complete fingerprint image.”

Police would take another look at the show’s theory, and re-examine the photograph.

”However, I am mindful that this theory has been put forward through a programme whose makers chose not to seek comment from police prior to broadcast, and who also refused to provide details about their story when approached by police on Tuesday.

”Had they done so then we would have pointed out that fingerprints had been presented in evidence and have always been available through the court to help them decide if their story stacked up.”

I’m not saying the Police are necessarily correct in saying the marks re cuts. But what is wrong is that 3rd degree didn’t seek any opinions that didn’t fit with their story. Their show was advocacy, was objective journalism.

Someone made a very good point yesterday regarding Kevin Rudd, is that the timing of his coup means he doesn’t have to do any governing – just campaigning.

That is possibly not coincidence. There is a huge amount of testimony that he was an incompetent Prime Minister. But he is a very good campaigner.

You have to laugh at the gall, in this story:

New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has used his first address to Parliament to call on MPs to be a ”little kinder and gentler with each other”.

Hours after he was sworn by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Mr Rudd used his first official comments as Prime Minister to acknowledge the contributions of former prime minister Julia Gillard and former treasurer Wayne Swan, while talking of the difficulties of political life.

”As we all know in this place, political life is a very hard life. A very hard life indeed … But let us all remember particularly on days like this that in this Parliament and in this place we are all human beings,” he said.

Incredible. He spends three years undermining Gillard, and then once he has dispatched her he asks for people to be kinder and gentler.

The Dom Post editorial notes:

Mr Rudd, a Machiavellian schemer who has devoted the past three years to undermining the woman who ousted him as prime minister, is not someone about whom as many nice things can be said. The challenge for the rival Liberal Party, poring over quotes from current and former colleagues, was not what to include in its first anti-Rudd advertisement but what to leave out.

That is so true. Their first advertisement is below and it consists purely of quotes from his own Labor MPs,

Mr Rudd’s newfound friends do not expect him to win the coming election but they hope that, with him at the helm, fewer of them will lose their seats.

Their calculations mirror those that led Helen Clark and other Labour Party notables to persuade Sir Geoffrey Palmer to make way for Mike Moore as New Zealand prime minister eight weeks before the 1990 election.

But will they keep him on as opposition leader? He might be ALP leader for just three months?

The kaka demonstrating that it can find a perch almost anywhere…

click for larger, higher res image

Patrick Gower at 3 News reports:

Labour leader David Shearer has been put on two months’ notice by his own MPs – if the poll ratings don’t improve, his leadership will be challenged.

A Labour MP told 3 News today that Mr Shearer had until spring – two months away – to pick up his and Labour’s performance.

The MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “The caucus is just really flat. It’s not panic or anxiety just yet, but a couple more bad polls and it will be. David’s got a couple more months. A change in leadership cannot be ruled out before the end of the year.

Will Cunliffe do a Rudd?

The MP who spoke to 3 News is not a loyal supporter of leadership rival David Cunliffe. That makes the comments more significant as it shows there are broader concerns in the caucus about Mr Shearer’s performance

That does make it more significant.

This weekend there will be two editions of “The Nation”.

On Saturday at 9:30 we will run a shorter half hour edition featuring interviews with Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee and former Fiji coup leader Lt Col Sitiveni Rabuka.

On Sunday at 8:00 we will run our usual hour-long programme and we will have full coverage of the Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election including results, analysis and reaction from candidates and party leaders.

We will also repeat the Brownlee and Rabuka interviews.

The Herald reports:

A new app aims to help Kiwis find the closest, cheapest taxi and rates individual drivers, but industry watchdogs say they are wary of the tool.

Cab Chooze began in Auckland yesterday and developers say it will find consumers the best deal and generate extra business for drivers.

The idea was developed by Youchooze IT, a family business run by West Aucklanders BK Sharma, his son Arjun and wife Payal.

Project manager Mr Sharma said the idea came in 2011 when Arjun was unable to hail a taxi late at night.

“It took him hours to get a cab and the price was so high that he was really quite shocked, which made him come up with the idea of ‘why can’t cabs be available to the consumer conveniently?’

“Cab Chooze means the consumer has the choice to pick their cab based on its rating, how quickly it can come to them and on the fare.”

That’s a great idea. It’s appalling that you can’t even go to one website for a city and see a list of all the taxi firms and their fare schedules.

But I’ve long advocated a GPS app for taxis, where you can signal your location, and they respond. What I think would be key is that you the customer also can see the GPS location of your taxi, once confirmed. That means if you are in a bar or restaurant, you know once the taxi has arrived.

Foreign Policy reports:

India’s ruling Congress Party was stunned by the magnitude of recent public protests. For the first time in recent history, India’s normally docile middle class and its youth are speaking up over everything from the country’s recent rape tragedy to the Congress Party’s corruption. Social media and technology have empowered these segments of society in new ways. The digital world has enabled similar rebellions in China and the Middle East.

Information used to be more localized. People were barely aware of the affairs of their own villages let alone in nearby towns or the rest of the country. Governments had the power to feed their citizens whatever propaganda they wanted them to know.

The first global communications revolution began with cell phones. Over a 10-year period the number of cellular subscriptions jumped from a few million to nearly 6 billion (or 87 percent of the world’s population, according to The International Telecommunication Union). These made it possible for families to stay in touch when breadwinners travelled to cities and for workers to connect with employers. They allowed populations to discuss what was happening in different parts of the country and to exchange political views. And they allowed the disenchanted to organize demonstrations via text messages. 

The next step in this revolution is cheap tablets. India recently launched the Aakash tablet, which provides all the features of more expensive tablets. It has a processer as powerful as the first iPad, twice as much RAM, and an LCD touch screen. One hundred thousand of these devices have been purchased by the Indian government from a company called Datawind for $40 and are being provided to teachers and school children for a subsidized price of $20. Meanwhile, Datawind has sold 1 million of these commercially at a price of $60. CyberMedia Research says that within two quarters of its introduction, the Aakash tablet has leaped ahead of Apple in terms of market share in India.

Trevor Mallard answers 12 questions in the NZ Herald.

3. Do you believe yesterday’s polls, which had Labour and David Shearer losing points against National?

Umm, well, polls are polls. They go up and down all over the place and they have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 or 4 per cent. On the basis of one individual poll I accept the volatility that moves them around. Having said that, I have been door-knocking in the Ikaroa- Rawhiti electorate for much of the past week and I’d be surprised if our candidate doesn’t get double the votes of the next person behind her.

That’s a ballsy prediction. Having said that, I don’t know anyone who thinks the Labour candidate won’t win. Mana are pushing a rumour that Labour polling has then only 5% behind but I doubt Labour shares its polling with Mana!

7. What’s your best door-knocking story?

During the Mana byelection a mother took me into her son’s room to enrol him and we found him playing some interactive porn game – with a joystick in each hand.

LOL, now that is funny. Poor bastard.

Questions to Ministers

1. MAGGIE BARRY (NAT) to the Minister of Finance: How has the Government’s economic plan helped New Zealand families to get ahead since the recession five years ago?
2. PHIL TWYFORD (LAB) to the Minister of Transport: Why is the Government planning to fund the City Rail Link from 2020 and not 2016 as proposed by the Auckland Council?
3. IAN McKELVIE (NAT) to the Minister for Primary Industries: What announcements has he made on boosting productivity and environmental outcomes in the primary sector?
4. Dr DAVID CLARK (LAB) to the Minister for Economic Development: Why has the number of small business start-ups declined from an average of 8,000 a year under the previous Government to fewer than 5,500 under this Government?
5. JULIE ANNE GENTER (GRE) to the Minister of Transport: Does he agree with Auckland business leaders Michael Barnett and Kim Campbell that the Auckland City Rail Link is a “game-changing project … which is ready to go”; if so, will he prioritise the project so that it can be up and running by 2021?
6. JONATHAN YOUNG (NAT) to the Minister of Tourism: What recent reports has he received on the number of tourists coming to New Zealand?
7. DENIS O’ROURKE (NZF) to the Prime Minister: Has he read the open letter to him dated 25 June 2013 written on behalf of the quake families who lost 185 of their loved ones in the collapse of the CTV building in the February 2011 earthquake?
8. SUE MORONEY (LAB) to the Minister of Women’s Affairs: Has she requested or received any briefings from Ministry officials on the Equal Pay Act case, which commenced this week in the Employment Court?
9. SCOTT SIMPSON (NAT) to the Minister for Courts: What progress is being made on preparing for changes to criminal procedure next week?
10. DARIEN FENTON (LAB) to the Minister of Labour: Does he stand by his statement to the Safeguard conference that the Ministry’s programme includes an increase in the number of health and safety inspectors from the current 139 to 158, all with increased capability; if so, will all 158 inspectors be in place by 1 July 2013?
11. TE URUROA FLAVELL (MAO) to the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment: What feedback, if any, has he received about the impact that the new restrictions in student allowance eligibility for those aged 40 and over will have on the goal to increase the number of Māori students enjoying success at higher qualification levels, particularly the significant numbers of Māori who have accessed second chance education opportunities?
12. IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (LAB) to the Associate Minister of Transport: When was he or his predecessor first made aware of concerns about the installation and operation of security cameras used in taxis and the regular failure of some cameras to deliver images that Police could use to investigate allegations of violent crimes?

Questions to Members

1. Dr MEGAN WOODS (LAB) to the Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee: When will he present the report on the 2013/14 Estimates Review for Vote Education to the House?
2. Dr MEGAN WOODS (LAB) to the Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee: Was he contacted by the Minister of Education, her staff or her officials following her appearance at the hearing of evidence on the 2013/14 Estimates Review for Vote Education yesterday concerning her readiness to return to the Committee at a later date to answer questions around the responses to 2013/14 Estimates Review for Vote Education questions received by the Committee; if so, what was the nature of any discussion?
3. Dr MEGAN WOODS (LAB) to the Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee: Did he invite the Minister of Education to return to the Committee for further questioning on the 2013/14 Estimates Review for Vote Education?
4. Dr MEGAN WOODS (LAB) to the Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee: On which date and time did he receive the Minister of Education’s written responses to the 2013/14 Estimates Review for Vote Education?
5. Dr MEGAN WOODS (LAB) to the Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee: Did he agree to an extension of the due date and time set by the Committee for the Minister of Education’s written responses to the 2013/14 Estimates Review for Vote Education?

Today there are five questions from Labour, four from National, and one each from the Greens, Māori Party, and NZ First. Labour are asking on Auckland’s City Rail Link, small business start-ups, the Equal Pay Act case before the Employment Court, health and safety inspectors, and security cameras in taxis. The Greens are also asking on Auckland’s City Rail Link, NZ First is asking on the CTV building collapse, and the Maori Party is asking on student allowance eligibility.

Patsy of the day goes to Ian McKelvie for question 3 to the Minister for Primary Industries: What announcements has he made on boosting productivity and environmental outcomes in the primary sector?

Megan Woods is also asking Cam Calder five questions in his capacity as Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee, on the 2013/14 Estimates Review for Vote Education.

Government Bills

1. Taxation (Livestock Valuation, Assets Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Bill – second reading (cont.)
2. Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill – first reading
3. Psychoactive Substances Bill – second reading

The Taxation (Livestock Valuation, Assets Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Bill makes amendments to several Acts to implement measures foreshadowed in Budget 2012 to broaden the tax base. New Minister of Revenue Todd McClay is in charge, and only NZ First voted against it at first reading.

The Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill makes legislative changes to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy, and is under the guidance of Simon Bridges.

The Psychoactive Substances Bill regulates psychoactive substances including party pills and other legal highs. It was introduced by Peter Dunne and is now being guided by new Minister of Revenue (EDIT: more relevantly, also new Associate Minister of Health) Todd McClay.

Chris Finlayson yesterday gave a very amusing (and accurate) history of the Labour Party.

While talking about all the previous leaders who have been undermined by their colleagues he amusingly refers to Geoffrey Palmer being most undermined by “Geoffrey just being Geoffrey” 🙂

UPDATE: The video was on autoplay. This was not intended. I just embedded the Herald video, and for some reason they like forcing people to view videos. I have now swapped the embed code for the You Tube version.

Olivian Wannan at Dom Post reports:

The new Anglican Dean of Wellington will have no problem preaching on the parable of the prodigal son – he has a story of redemption almost as compelling.

The Rev Digby Wilkinson, 49, had his own fall from grace in 2003 when he was convicted of theft, insurance fraud and burglary.

He was sentenced to 175 hours’ community service, and resigned from his role as minister of the Otumoetai Baptist Church in Tauranga.

So why was he a thief, fraudster and burglar?

The offending stemmed from his addiction to buying mountainbikes, leaving him struggling to service debt.

Well that is a new addiction. I look forward to that being added to DMS-IV!

He was ordained in 2006. In another unusual twist for an Anglican, he has been a leader of the Palmerston North Central Baptist Church since 2007.

Once upon a time I would have thought being a baptist and a burglar might might you ineligible to be the Anglican Dean of Wellington.

Stuff has an web poll on Labour. Their options and results are:

1. Wrong leader, wrong direction 56.5%
2. Too hindered by infighting 16.4%
3. Wrong leader, right direction 15.4%
4. Right leader, right direction 11.7%

The poll is of course of no scientific value and is mainly entertainment. Nevertheless it is unfortunate they missed out one logical option – that of right leader, wrong direction.

I think that one can have the view that David Shearer is the best choice for Labour leader, out of their caucus of 33. But one can also say that the direction Labour is taking (veering hard left) is the wrong one for them.

It would have been interesting to see how many people would have chosen that option, if available.

The Press reported:

Vicki Buck is attempting a political comeback after 15 years.

The former three-term Christchurch mayor yesterday confirmed she would seek election as a Riccarton-Wigram ward councillor in October’s local body elections.

Speculation has mounted since Buck was this month spotted with mayoral hopeful Lianne Dalziel and former mayor Garry Moore, her successor in 1998, who hinted at a return too, but has since ruled himself out.

“I wasn’t confident I was going to [run], otherwise I would have just said,” Buck said.

“I vowed when I stepped down as mayor never to interfere in the council, and I haven’t. I never imagined I would go back into something like this because there are so many other things I love doing and get excited about.”

Sounding out others to potentially run was the catalyst to make a call on her own candidacy, Buck said.

She first ran for council in 1975, aged 19.

She has opted to try to depose either Helen Broughton or Jimmy Chen in Riccarton-Wigram, where she has lived for more than 15 years, rather than targeting a vacant seat.

I thought Vicki was a pretty good Mayor. So why doesn’t she stand for that job again? I think people would appreciate someone with a proven track record.

David Fisher at NZ Herald reports:

Discovery that seems to have escaped detectives and forensic scientists during the 19 years since the Bain family were murdered in Dunedin indicates Robin Bain was the person who loaded the .22 rifle

David Giles peered closely at the photograph on the screen of his computer.

On the thumb of Robin Bain, dead 19 years, were parallel marks of a kind he recognised instantly.

As a boy in the Waikato he would shoot rabbits and possums with a .22 rifle, the same calibre of rifle used to murder the Bain family.

After firing a magazine full of bullets, he would disengage the clip which fed more rounds into the rifle. Taking a bullet, he would push it into the top of the magazine using his thumb and then use the digit to fix the bullet in place. Doing so dragged the thumb across the top of the magazine – parallel metal sides which carried a light coating of burned gunpowder residue from the back-blast of the shots just fired. As the thumb came away, it carried twin lines from the gunpowder and grime on the top of the magazine.

Mr Giles told TV3’s 3rdDegree show he knew instantly what he was seeing on his computer. Robin Bain carried the same marks on his thumb any shooter would have after reloading the magazine on a recently fired rifle.

3rd degree ran this story last night, and there is a link to Kiwiblog. It seems it was comments in a couple of the threads we have had on the David Bain case, that led to this evidence being seen by the person involved. I’m pleased that some people actually have waded through the thousands of comments on the Bain threads. I normally give up after the first hundred.

It appears to be significant evidence in David’s favour. I presume it will be considered by whomever is appointed to review Bain’s likely guilt or innocence for his compensation claim, once the judicial review proceedings are done with.

Te Ururoa Flavell writes in the NZ Herald:

Parliament is not a place for dreamers who run and hide away when their dreams are crushed.

It is a place where negotiation happens, where consensus takes place, where change can happen if you know how the system works, and you are prepared to stick at it for the long haul.

When my bill came back from the select committee it was “gutted”. That’s right, there is no denying it.

But I wasn’t about to pull out on those communities who desperately need change. So I started working with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon Chris Tremain, on how to advance the many issues that my bill sought to address.

The result? Well, it is a broad package of class 4 gambling reforms – and while my bill has been plucked within an inch of its life, we have been promised that many of its precious plumes will be tucked away in a new home, within the regulatory and legislative reforms proposed by the Government.

The changes announced by Mr Tremain this week are a direct result of my bill, which was a catalyst for action. We raised the issue, we put it on the agenda, and this wider package is the result of our hard work.

What Flavell is saying is it is easy to grand-stand and make speeches on an issue. It is far harder to actually work with MPs and the Government to get legislative and policy reform.

The Mana Party is very good at being outraged and making speeches. but can they play a constructive role in Government?

Well kevin Rudd won the leadership back b 57 – 45, after a two year campaign of destabilisation of his own party and Government. This says volumes about his character.

Personally I liked Julia Gillard. I know many people who have dealt with her, and even a couple who have worked for her – and almost universally they say she is excellent to deal with. She was pleasant, professional, and someone you could work with. Of course I disagree with her politics, and she made a couple of momentous errors with her u-turn on carbon tax plus support for Craig Thompson. But she was well regarded by many – even if that didn’t include much of the public.

Kevin Rudd on the other hand is despised by almost everyone who has worked closely with him – especially his former Cabinet colleagues. His psychology is quite flawed, and it is remarkable that the ALP have made him Prime Minister again – despite knowing all this. It was an act of desperation from MPs wanting to keep their seats.

The ALP will get a boost in the polls, but I doubt it will last too long. In fact their machinations of the last few months show how unfit for power they are. They need to be thrown out of office resoundingly.

Assuming they lose the election, what is fascinating is who will become Opposition Leader. Will they stick with Rudd in opposition? I’m not so sure. Bill Shorten was the heir apparent, but he has now helped axe two Prime Ministers and broken his repeated pledges of loyalty to Gillard.

Also of interest will be how many Labor Ministers refuse to serve under Rudd. Treasurer Wayne Swan has resigned and also Comms Minster Conway. Emerson and Garrett also expected to go.

Meanwhile the Coalition will remind voters of what Kevin Rudd said in March:

“there are no circumstances whatsoever under which I’d return to the leadership in future”.

That is as categorical a denial as you can get. So how can Australians trust anything Rudd says?

A seminar in Wellington on credit reform, for those interested.  SSPA has also published a background paper on the issue.