Isaac Davidson at NZ Herald reports:

A Greenpeace spoof of a Sealord advertisement has brought an angry reaction from Labour MP Shane Jones, who has accused the environmental group as anti-worker and duplicitous towards Maori.

Mr Jones, a former Sealord chairman, also singled out the Green Party, “the political wing of the Greenpeace movement”, for its support of the stunt, which he felt undermined the company in a tough economic climate.

The Greens do seem to be against a lot of jobs. Against mining jobs. Against oil jobs. Against fishing jobs. Against roading jobs.

Mr Jones said it was “a step too far” and the equivalent of economic vandalism at a time when jobs were scarce.

“When the Green Party and the Green Priests [Greenpeace] take on a role of using that ad to humiliate, trash and parody not only the brand of the company but its workers, it’s a step too far.”

Imagine the fun we’ll have if we have a Labour/Green Government in 2014!

Kate Wilkinson has announced:

Mike Tyson’s visa has been cancelled by Associate Immigration Minister Kate Wilkinson today.

Ms Wilkinson says the original decision to grant a Special Direction to Mr Tyson was a finely balanced call and a letter of support from the Life Education Trust, that would have been a benefactor from the visit, was a significant factor in approving the application.

 “Yesterday evening the Life Education Trust contacted my office and asked for that letter to be withdrawn, making it clear that the Trust no longer wants to have any involvement with Mr Tyson’s visit.

 “Given that the Trust is no longer supporting the event, on balance, I have made the decision to cancel his visa to enter New Zealand for the Day of the Champions event.”

Ironically just this morning Tyson said:

Convicted rapist Mike Tyson has brushed off criticism from John Key, saying there is nothing the Prime Minister can do about his entry to New Zealand.

Key had earlier said:

Key today said Immigration officials also let in other people with similar convictions who were in New Zealand for short periods.

“It’s a marginal call and there are always issues that have to be reflected.”

A “fairly liberal” view was taken if the crime was a long time ago and there had been no further offending, he said.

“I don’t have anything personally against Mike Tyson. But I have something deeply personal against people who rape other people and commit crimes against women.”

Key said he turned down “numerous” people for New Year or Queens Birthday honours because they had convictions for violence against women.

“I will not allow them to have that honour. I don’t think that should be bestowed on someone. So it is not specific against Mike Tyson, I’m just not fond of what he’s done.”

Every year the honours list was checked by the police and while speeding tickets and historic drink-driving convictions were normally looked past, violence against  women was not, he said.

Tyson made it clear on television that he thinks he was framed for the rape conviction, which is rather different to someone who is remorseful for what they did.

Stuff reports:

GE Free New Zealand is strongly opposing AgResearch’s use of genetic modification in pursuit of allergen-free milk for children. 

Crown research institute AgResearch has announced a world-first breakthrough in genetic modification research, with the goal of producing hypoallergenic (low allergy) milk.

It has bred a genetically modified cloned calf producing milk in early trials with greatly reduced amounts of a protein known as beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), believed to be the leading cause of milk allergies in children.

The 11-month-old calf, Daisy, is in containment at AgResearch’s Ruakura site in Hamilton. She has a mysterious missing tail which AgResearch expects to know the cause of in a couple of weeks but believes is not linked to genetic modification.

GE Free New Zealand president Claire Bleakley said cows without the protein BLG was a “frightening development not a breakthrough”

Yes, those awful scientists – trying to develop safe milk for kids with allergies.

Bleakley is the former Green Party candidate for Wairarapa.

“Researchers that stoop so low as to manipulate the Mauri [spirit or life force] of an animal causing suffering, then pretend that this is a significant breakthrough when we already have business using technology to remove BLG, are inhumane.”

I tune off, when people talk about the spirit of cows, as a political reason to do something.

Peter Burns has e-mailed to say it was not him, who made the post on Cam Slater’s blog about his mother’s death. A search on the IP address shows it was an IP address never used by Peter, so I apologise to Peter who is a victim of malicious impostering. This means Peter is not banned for life, but he is still suspended until December for other comments.

The IP address, 182.239.239.189, has been used three times within 24 hours of the post on Cam’s blog by the commenter Luke Mutton here. The e-mail address “Luke” uses” is [email protected]. It is impossible to prove it is “Luke”, but it is very rare for two strangers to use the same IP address within 24 hours – and both be blog commenters.

A domain name lookup on yourvet.co.nz shows the registrant to be Flair Web Works Ltd, [email protected]. That company was deregistered in 2007. It’s shareholder and director was David Brindley. The fact Brindley is the registrant for the domain does not mean he is “Luke Mutton”. But it does mean he knows who “Luke Mutton” is – at least.

One of our commenters has posted on Brindley in the past.

The e-mail address [email protected] used to be used by My Name is Jack, who has been suspended four times from Kiwiblog. Luke Mutton is now banned. I think the same person was also Billy Borker who has also been suspended four times. He has a history of very abusive behaviour.

It is possible that “Luke Mutton” was not responsible for the impersonation of Peter and that awful comment on Cam’s blog, just as Peter wasn’t. If “Luke” wishes to get his ISP, Adam Internet, to contact me and certify that his account was not using that IP address at the date and time the comment was made, I’ll consider that.

I am not saying David Brindley made the comment. I am saying the comment was made from an IP address used within 24 hours by an e-mail address at a domain Brindley controls.

Personally I regard such malicious impersonation to be the despicable. Bad enough to make such a comment, but even worse to try and set up someone else to be blamed for it. Again my apologies to Peter.

Doubtful Sound Reflections. Landscape Photography By Todd Sisson

This week’s Wednesday Wallpaper is one of the images I made while away in Fiordland last week.  This capture was made from Real Journeys’ Patea Explorer while heading out of Doubtful Sound.  I am particularly pleased with this image, as it is the first time I have managed to make a photo that captures Doubtful Sound’s beauty on an inclement day.  My last 5 day trip resulted in exactly zero usable images, due to the abysmal weather conditions…..

You may download the large version from this link:  [free iPad wallpaper] Password = freewallpaper

Also available on our website as a canvas print.

See you next week!

Cheers – Todd

[www.sisson.co.nz] [blog]

Stuff report:

Leah and Sarah Gilbert are on the domestic purposes benefit and want to stand against what they see as unfairness surrounding benefits and “beneficiary bashing”.

The Hamilton sisters have got behind Friday’s National Day of Action against welfare reforms and, have organised an event for people to have their say.

“Beneficiaries are being stereotyped as bludgers, parasites, lazy, selfish, that we all neglect our kids and would rather spend money on drugs and alcohol. I don’t fit into that. My kids are healthy and happy and go to school every day with full lunch boxes. That’s not me, and that’s not okay,’’ Sarah said.

And that’s great. And I don’t know anyone who thinks everyone on a benefit is a parasite, a bludger, lazy or selfish. I certainly don’t. I think there are some people on benefits who are using it as a lifestyle choice – but they are certainly not the majority.

But it is not acceptable to ignore the problems caused by the minority, just because some people think it is a slight on them.

Take for example rape and domestic violence. We have far far too much domestic violence in NZ, and it sickens me the number of men who bash women.

But when we talk about domestic violence in NZ, I as a man don’t feel I am being labelled a criminal, a thug, a violent person. I am confident enough to know it is a reference to the minority who are the problem.

Frankly labeling welfare reform as beneficiary bashing is just an attempt to avoid the actual issues.

I note in the comments to the article, that the Gilberts have an interesting political agenda. Extracts:

Welfare money all ends up in the hands of private businesses – I am merely a conduit for it to end up in the hands of my landlord, the supermarket, the child’s school, etc.

Goodness. First I didn’t know her school was a private business. But secondly, so what? We all spend all our money eventually. That doesn’t mean it grows on trees.

Employers are the ultimate gatekeepers of employment – I look for work, but my health and the job climate puts me at the bottom of the lists with my history DESPITE MY EFFORTS.

And if you are studying to gain qualifications and/or applying for jobs – then that’s great. From everything in the article, they’re doing what you should do on welfare – managing costs, studying, applying for jobs. That’s all the Govt is requiring – there is no requirement to get a job or lose your benefit – just to be available for work. I don’t regard that as beneficiary bashing.

If full-time salaries were split into part-time jobs, the government would recieve more tax revenue and opportunities for employment would be increased.

No they wouldn’t. I hope the degree is not in accounting or economics. Two people earning $20,000 pay much less tax than one person earning $40,000.

People are envious because the minimum wage does not provide a livable wage.

You’re having trouble getting a job, and you want to make it even harder to get one by putting up the minimum wage?

Also:

I never said I don’t like the amount I get, in fact I redistribute excess to a children’s charity and invest in a scholarship fund to improve my son’s opportunities.

And that’s great. Good to have an example of a beneficiary making ends meet, and a bit leftover. But why does the article also say you have sometimes gone hungry to feed your kids?

I remarked on Monday to someone that daylight saving changes are no longer such a big thing. I recall the days of having to adjust all the clocks. But now the computers and the smart phones all adjust automatically, so you wake up on Sunday and that’s it.

Except for Jetstar.

Stuff reports:

Four Jetstar flights between Wellington and Auckland were delayed because the airline forgot about daylight savings.

The 8.15am flight out of the capital on Sunday was about an hour late while crew waited for the plane to arrive from Cairns.

Clocks went forward early on Sunday morning, but that wasn’t factored into schedules. As a knock-on effect, three later flights on the route were delayed.

Unbelievable.

Jetstar NZ seems to be the Wheedle of airlines!

In Australia I have found Jetstar to be fine. It is just their NZ operations which are so continually lacking.

Image from Dim Post. Nanaia obviously unimpressed that her colleagues or parliamentary staff have been briefing against her, and suggesting Shearer will chop her, using her pregnancy as an excuse.

Shearer’s reshuffle has just got more challenging. He needs to be bold, but does he have the support to stay on, if he upsets too many?

Well Sam Morgan was right when he called Wheedle a joke. The Trade Me guys and gals must have been laughing.

Stuff reports:

Wheedle is offline again and, in a double whammy, a blogger has posted instructions that he said let people change the reserve price of other members’ auctions.

NBR said it had tested and confirmed the fault, reported by a logger by changing and then resetting the price of one “random” auction.

Wheedle have announced they have gone offline to do an audit. They needn’t bother reopening. You only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Allowing others to change the reserve price!!!

NBR quotes Ben Gracewood:

The TVNZ and RNZ commentator doesn’t hold back.

“Wheedle is an abomination,” he says.

“Its very genesis is offensive to the web development community.

“The original claims of “forty servers” and “millions of dollars” are quite literally equivalent to me winning Lotto, buying 50 trucks, then yelling from the rooftops “hooray I’m taking on Mainfreight”. I have no knowledge of logistics, I don’t know about road user charges, and I wouldn’t have the foggiest clue how to manage local distribution.

Likewise, the coders behind Wheedle don’t have any idea how to build a website, Mr Gracewood says.

“On day zero (during the weekend) the site was returning random user profiles each time you refreshed. Any decent web developer would recognise this as an issue with incorrect sessions being served across multiple (of their forty) servers. That should have sent alarm bells ringing.

“But no, they forged ahead with the launch. The next faux-pas was to send password reset emails in the clear. I personally have had 20 odd emails with my own password in them (because someone has been spamming the password reset function). The fact that Wheedle can send my my own password is a huge problem. It means the passwords are stored with (at the very least) reversible encryption, and probably in the clear. The stories of websites being hacked to divulge passwords are many, and it’s only a matter of time before Wheedle is hacked. They should be salting and hashing passwords such that they are unreadable in the database.

I like his Mainfreight comparison.

Stuff reports:

A natural therapy clinic at Whanganui Hospital offering massage and traditional Maori healing has been shelved after a doctor linked it to witchcraft and wizardry.

The clinic also offered Christian prayer and energy healing – including reiki and colour therapy – to staff for health and wellbeing.

With the potential exception of massage, none of these things should be offered in a hospital. If stupid people want to spend money on energy healing and colour therapy, then they can waste their money with private providers. But for fuck’s sake why would you have a hospital associate itself with such nonsense.

Whanganui District Health Board confirmed the closure of the natural therapy clinic at its meeting on Friday. General surgeon and health board member Clive Solomon said yesterday that the service was shut because a doctor who set it up was affiliated to the Whanganui School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He believed a high-ranking doctor had complained about the senior doctor’s involvement in wizardry.

“The outcome is correct as far as I’m concerned. The reasons, though, are really worrying.”

Mr Solomon said he was “not anti these holistic treatments at all”, but when a hospital “gives credibility to things like colour therapy, that becomes a problem”.

Absolutely.

I’m not too worried if a doctor wants to play wizard or witch in their spare time. Each to their own. But hospitals should be about proven scientific medicine.

The Whanganui School of Witchcraft and Wizardry blog is here! I think they are actually serious!

Claire Trevett reports:

John Tamihere is understood to be eyeing a return to Parliament in 2014 – almost a decade after his former leader Helen Clark said he faced “a very long route to redemption” for an outburst in which he called females “front bums” and was dismissive of the Holocaust.

Sources said Mr Tamihere had joined the Labour Party again and was sounding out the hierarchy about standing.

With Horomia likely to retire, and Jones under a cloud, Labour is short of Maori MPs. If they formed a Government in 2014, then Hone might end up Maori Affairs Minister in a coalition govt!

So bringing Tamihere back makes sense, but it is of course a risk.

Meanwhile, Mr Shearer has confirmed he will go ahead with a reshuffle, either before or after the Christmas break, to give MPs just under two years to get to grips with their portfolios before the election.

“I did say a year ago I’d look at how the year went and fine-tuning what we’re doing and that is exactly what I’ll be doing.”

He would not discuss details, but MPs including Andrew Little and Chris Hipkins have performed well and Mr Little could pick up the employment spokesmanship from Sua William Sio – Labour has chosen jobs as one of its main prongs of attack.

Education is also likely to change hands – Nanaia Mahuta’s second child is due in December and it is possible Mr Shearer – a former teacher – could take the spokesmanship for himself at that stage or pass it on to Chris Hipkins.

Surely Labour would not be so insensitive as to sack Mahuta because she is pregnant? If a private sector employed demoted an employee because she was having a baby, they’d be in the employment court and Labour MPs would be holding them up as an example of a terrible employer.

I also have to say that I think Chris is a skilled parliamentarian, but it would be a mistake to make him the main Education Spokesperson. Yes he is good in the House, but I think a young MP, whose life experience is mainly inside Parliament, will struggle to be seen as the next Minister of Education.

I’m not saying Hipkins shouldn’t be promoted, but just not into education.

If Mahuta is to be demoted for being pregnant, then maybe Twyford for Education? He was a teacher once I think. The idea of Shearer taking it himself isn’t bad, and maybe use Hipkins as Associate.

The big question, is does Shearer keep Cunliffe in Economic Development. DC has cunningly interpreted that role to become a shadow shadow finance spokesperson and is promoting an alternative economic policy to both Shearer and Parker. People don’t know who is the real finance spokesperson for Labour. One possibility I have heard is that Cunliffe gets shifted back into Health. Labour are frustrated that they can never land a blow on Ryall, and as a former Health Minister Cunliffe knows the sector well.

Sio must be a worried man. His major achievement since being put on the front bench is to attack Louisa Wall’s same sex marriage bill.

However Mahuta and Sio are both in Camp Cunliffe, so can Shearer demote them both? With Jones on leave, that would also mean an all-white front bench. Now I don’t care too much about that, but Labour people do.

David Clark has impressed the most to date of the new intake. A promotion for him would be justified.

The Herald reported:

White Europeans could lose majority status in Auckland in the next few years as the combined population of Asians, Pacific Islanders and Maori increases, Statistics New Zealand figures indicate.

While the city’s population was 76 per cent white European in 1976, projections show it will be 51 per cent in 2016, with further reductions in later years.

The forecast comes as the Herald begins a five-part series on ethnic diversity in Auckland, where about 40 per cent of the inhabitants were born overseas.

Nearly 70 per cent of Aucklanders in a Herald street poll said they were comfortable with the changing face of the city.

Massey University sociology professor Paul Spoonley, who made the Auckland population projection based on Statistics NZ figures, said it was a matter of “when” rather than “if” minority communities combined would outnumber white Europeans in Auckland.

I’m not sure why the Herald got someone to do their own projections, when Stats NZ do official projections themselves. The Stats NZ data, based on medium pop growth, for Auckland is:

So that is a fair bit different from the Herald data – 56% in 2016, not 51%.

Personally I don’t care about people’s ethnicity or race very much.  I care about the ability of people to integrate into New Zealand – but that is not reserved to people of any particular ethnicity or race. By integration, I don’t mean assimilation. I’m also more focused on the ability of the second generation to integrate. Of course those who speak English as a second language will have some challenges integrating, but what is more important is do their kids integrate.

I’ve also done stats for the 29 Ministers we had in the third quarter of 2012.

These are not really performance stats, because the number of releases you do and stories that mention you is mainly dependent on their portfolios. And the number of written PQs they have to answer is about how much they get targeted by the opposition.

So really these are more about profile. As always, they are quantitative not qualitative.

The Minister who put out the most press releases was again Tariana Turia. The PM was 2nd and Steven Joyce 3rd.

Craig Foss and Nathan Guy have done the least releases at 10 each.

In terms of media stories, no surprise that John Key is king with a staggering 392 stories in three months. Second was Bill English and third was John Banks proving not all publicity is good publicity!.

The Minister who has been asked the most written parliamentary questions is Steven Joyce, followed by Paula Bennett and Hekia Parata.

On the weighted averaged, the highest profile and busiest Minister is no surprise John Key, followed by Steven Joyce, Bill English, Paula Bennett and Hekia Parata.

Now recall sometimes it can be a good thing not to be in the media – especially if you have uncontroversial portfolios.

The Herald reported:

Close Up’s replacement will be a magazine show with two presenters – and Pippa Wetzell and Paul Henry are understood to be the hot favourites.

A confidential brief circulating at TVNZ says the focus will be on the “talking point of the day” and a mixture of news and entertainment.

But a journalism commentator said it would be “Breakfast at dinner-time” and showed the broadcaster’s lack of commitment to strong current affairs.

It is no secret within TVNZ that the network has been courting Wetzell and that it wants to give her a prominent role next year.

It is understood she has had meetings with TVNZ executives.

I think Paul Henry could do well in the role, so long as he doesn’t do any brain farts. Sure, on Breakfast he is the rogue, but it is worth considering that he can actually do decent interviews. Also he is majorly interested in politics, so if he is the host the focus might be more on “hard news” than “light news”.

The new format is understood to be much like The Project, which airs on Australia’s Channel 10 and is hosted by comedians presenting news stories.

Dagan was behind the show before he moved to TVNZ.

“It’s the news – but not as you know it,” Channel 10 says in a description of the show on its website.

“Guaranteeing no miracle diets, no stories that ‘no parent can afford to miss’, and virtually no dodgy plumbers, The Project is a TV show joining in the conversations going on in living rooms around the country.”

The Project is on each weekday at 6pm and its three hosts “dissect, digest and reconstitute each day’s news” in a style “not afraid to be serious, but not a satirical newscast,” Channel 10 says.

I actually predicted on radio that the new format would be a panel, dissecting the day’s news. The key would be who is on the panel.

Asher Emanuel of Salient has an extended interview with Judith Collins. It is an interesting read. A couple of extracts:

A: I’ve read that you were once a staunch Labour supporter—

J: Oh, well that’s what happens when you grow up in a family that is [chuckles]. Everyone’s allowed to be stupid once, I always say!

A: On Labour, you once said that it’s a group of people “who think that policy papers can change the world”—

J: They do. Actions speak louder than words.

A: How would you characterise the difference?

J: They think that having a strategy paper […] followed by a work plan paper, followed by a consultation document should take up about three years of government and then they can say that they’ve done something. […] It’s a bit like those people who say things like ‘one day I’m going to run a marathon’, and then never actually put their running shoes on to go and start. I guess I’m someone who feels very aware, Asher, that I have a certain amount of time on earth, I have a certain amount of time and I don’t believe I get to come back here to earth, so—not a buddhist. […] And I am absolutely aware that every single minute has to count.

I think you could apply that to the health system. Labour had dozens of strategies, goals, targets and objectives. Tony Ryall came in and set six or seven clear national goals for the health sector, and we’ve seen some real tangible and important improvements.

A: How does your gender affect you media portrayal?

J: Well, there’s no point moaning about it, because you won’t get anywhere with it, but women politicians are quite clearly judged on an extra set of characteristics than our male counterparts. Our clothes are criticised, or sometimes ever MARKED. Hair, weight, age; all these things are up for grabs, and to the extent that our male colleagues don’t get the same sort of scrutiny. However, that is also an opportunity for us to actually show ourselves as different from what is the norm, and so every difficulty or every problem is actually an opportunity.

A: You’ve said before that you’re “pro-women” rather than describing yourself as a feminist.

J: I’ve never had a problem with saying that I am actually someone who is pro-women, and the trouble with the label feminist, is that it’s used in a derogatory way by many. It’s also used [in] a celebratory way by many. […] Far too often—and not just in Parliament, in business and particularly around boards—we have far too few women. Or the women that some of the men feel comfortable with are the women who play supportive roles. Well… I’m not a supportive role player. Unless it’s part of the team—I’m very happy to be part of the team. But I’m not a handmaiden. And I think that some men, who feel threatened by that, that that’s a bit of a shame, because they hold back the best people, and they spend their time worrying about someone being threatening.

;

I saw Manawa at Circa last Wednesday. It was an unusual experience as I enjoyed the acting and the script but basically rejected the fundamental premise of the play!

The play is about two inmates. One is Jimmy King,  the country’s youngest murderer, and the other is Mau Vaiaga who is awaiting trial for eating a Kakapo!

The Jimmy King character is based on Bailey Junior Kurariki. Kurariki was convicted for manslaughter of Michael Chow, when he was 12 years old.

Jamie McCaskill wrote the play, and played the Jimmy King character. He was entertaining, intriguing, a non stop likeable talker. You felt significant empathy with him.

And this is whey I struggled with the play. I had a very hard time linking the Jimmy King character to Bailey Kurariki. I can’t imagine in real life Kurariki is anything like Jimmy King. I recall the story about Kurariki giving a “long and often incoherent response”, and nothing like the smooth talking Jimmy King.

Kurariki also seems with little remorse, having recently said he is “just an innocent black man“.

So a play which is about showing the “softer side of Jimmy” was always going to struggle to work for me.

That isn’t to say there wasn’t some very good aspects to the play, which I’ll get to. If the play had been more generic, and not so obviously modeled on Kurariki, I think I would have enjoyed it far more. There is a risk in typing it to an individual. I sent much of the time thinking “When are you going to mention the poor pizza delivery guy”. Now of course the character was only modeled on him – not meant to be exactly him, but I just couldn’t get past that.

So what did work for me? Well the three actors were superb. Jamie McCaskill as Jimmy King was almost too successful at bringing him to life and showing his softer side. His ability to talk non stop to his fellow cellmate without even a grunt in response was very well done.

Natano Keni played Mau Vaiaga, the Kakapo eater. He was basically set up, but got reviled up and down NZ for eating the Kakapo. Even convicted killer Jimmy was calling him the most hated man in NZ – which was a insightful piece on how Kiwis react with more horror sometimes to crimes against animals, than each other.

Kali Kopae played lawyer Waimanea Huia. I’ve enjoyed her singing ability as a BeatGirl, and she equally impresses as an actor. Her character was more interested in the publicity from the clients, than the clients themselves.

I won’t give away the plot too much, but there is an interesting twist at the end. As I said the acting and script were good, and I certainly had many a wry chuckle during the play.

But at the end of the day, I’m just not someone open to seeing the softer side of Bailey Kurariki. That may be more about me than the play of course!

John Smythe at Thatreview also reviews it. He comments:

Did I mention it is hugely funny? The laughs come primarily from shock, at the truth of the characterisations and what they do and say. Each character, no matter how incidental, speaks with a clear and distinctive voice. And (apart from the concerns mentioned above) no matter what they do and how outrageous it is, we understand why.

It was hugely funny. I did enjoy the play. I just didn’t agree with its premise.

The DPMC and SSC have announced:

Andrew Kibblewhite, Chief Executive of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Ian Fletcher, Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), announced today that Rebecca Kitteridge, the Secretary of the Cabinet,  is to be seconded immediately to the GCSB for an initial period of up to three months in the new role of Associate Director of the Bureau.

Ms Kitteridge will be responsible to the Director of the GCSB for the implementation of an immediate capability, governance and performance review.   This work will provide assurance to the GCSB Director that the Bureau’s activities are undertaken within its powers, and that adequate assurance and safeguards are in place.

As Associate Director, Ms Kitteridge will also act as Deputy Chief Executive.

Ms Kitteridge was appointed as Secretary of the Cabinet and Clerk of the Executive Council in April 2008. She is a senior public servant who is responsible for the security and integrity of the Cabinet decision-making system and the New Zealand Royal Honours systems.  She provides advice on ethics and conduct in relation to Ministers of the Crown, and is a key constitutional advisor to the Governor-General and the Prime Minister of the day.

Ms Kitteridge is a lawyer by training and a focus in private practice was on legal compliance for corporate entities. Since joining the public service she has specialised in constitutional matters at both the Cabinet Office and in the Legal Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. While in Cabinet Office she has advised four Prime Ministers and four Governors-General.

This is a very smart and welcome move.

Cabinet Secretaries such as Rebecca, and before her Marie Shroff, are officials of the utmost integrity and neutrality. They play a key role in accountable democratic government.

Kitteridge is seconded to GCSB to specifically review their systems, improve their compliance framework and to specifically establish new approval processes for requests from law enforcement agencies.

The Cabinet Office is the king of rigorous process. I think they even have a process for if you ask them the time of day :-). As I said, I think this is a very smart move.

The Age reports:

There are calls for a boycott of radio station 2GB over remarks by Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones that the Prime Minister’s father, John Gillard, had “died of shame”.

The talkback host told a packed room of Liberal Party members: “Every person in the caucus of the Labor Party knows that Julia Gillard is a liar, everybody. I will come to that in a moment. The old man recently died a few weeks ago of shame. To think that he has a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament.”

That’s appalling behaviour by Jones, and frankly if he is unable to talk about Gillard without such nasty references to her deceased father, then he shouldn’t be on air.

Hat Tip: Keeping Stock

This is from a couple of years ago, but I think still relevant. Note that his criticism is about Islamists, not Islam or Muslims generally.

Maher is generally regarded as being on the liberal side of US politics.

The Herald reports:

New Zealand’s crime rate has dropped to an all-time low, latest figures reveal.

The annual crime statistics released by the police today showed recorded crime dropped 5.2 per cent on the previous year.

There were 394,522 recorded offences in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, compared with 416,324 the previous year – a decrease of 21,802 offences.

New Zealand’s population increased by 0.7 per cent during the period, resulting in a 5.9 per cent decrease in the number of offences recorded per 10,000 of population.

This was the lowest number of offences in any fiscal year since 1988-1989, and the lowest crime rate per head of population since before electronic records were maintained, police said.

This is obviously a good thing, and is to be welcomed. Kudos to the Police for the generally outstanding and tough work they do. Also kudos to the respective Ministers who have delivered extra resources to the Police, and law changes to make NZ safer.

As I’ve said many times before though, the overall crime rate is not a particularly useful figure. That is because it treats all crimes as equal (a homicide and a cannabis possession charge both count as one crime) and also because some types of crimes may go up or down depending on how much emphasis is placed on enforcing them.

So while it is a good figure, I like to look at the details by category, and place most emphasis on violent crime rates as they are the most likely to be reported, and tend to be those that cause the most trauma, along with sexual assaults.

So the category changes are:

• Homicides – 22%
• Assaults – 7.4%
• Sexual Assaults +2.9%
• Robbery & Extortion – 8.6%
• Burglaries – 4.0%

That’s a very impressive drop off in terms of the two main violent crime categories. Sexual Assaults have not shown the same drop off (mind you reporting varies much more with them), so is an obvious area to focus on.

Slate, an influential US publication, notes:

Most governments are unwilling to own up to unlawful surveillance. But not in New Zealand. The country’s prime minister this week admittedthat one of its spy agencies illegally intercepted Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s communications for a full month—prompting aninquiry into how it was allowed to happen. …

In response to the revelation, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has apologized to Dotcom. Key has also ordered the GCSB to review all cases dating back to 2009. That Key has apologised is commendable, as is his handling of the illegal spying generally. There are few governments in the world willing to candidly publicly acknowledge wrongdoing by their intelligence agencies, especially when it comes to high profile cases. When authorities commit wrongdoing the tendency is often to keep it under wraps in a self-interested bid to protect reputations. In this case, despite knowing it would cause controversy and a storm of negative reaction, N.Z.’s government chose disclosure over secrecy. A rare example of transparency more countries could do well to follow.

Also former Labour PM Sir Geoffrey Palmer has said:

Well it’s hard for me to say that, but it is clear to me that the Prime Minister did really get stuck into this agency very heavily when he found out what they’d done.  I am sure they’re all running  very scared there now, and that they are trying to rectify what was an egregious error, and it seems to me that that’s what a minister should do when confronted with this sort of situation.  The doctrine of administerial responsibility says you have to put it right.

The PM sent in the Inspector-General when notified, informed the public what had happened, released the IG’s report, and gave the GCSB a powerful public booting.  Other PMs might have kept it all private.

Palmer was asked:

Is there a need do you think then, for a wider inquiry?

His response:

Well I think you have to be very careful about this.  These two intelligence agencies, the GCSB and the Security Intelligence Service are both intelligence agencies.  You can’t have an open inquiry like a commission of inquiry with evidence in public about that, because these agencies will cease to be any use if their secrecy is not preserved.

Hat Tip to Whale for the Slate link.

Labour’s ideological obsession with state ownership rears up again. Stuff reports:

A Government plan to sell a state-owned asset considered vital to Pacific development is expected to be rubber-stamped this week.

The Sunday Star-Times understands an urgent meeting took place last week in Tonga, to be followed by another this week in Fiji, finalising plans to sell the 35-year-old Pacific Forum Line (PFL) to Singaporean firm Sofrana.

Founded in 1978, PFL was intended to encourage economic development in the islands and provide competition to ensure private shipping operators were unable to create a monopoly in the Pacific.

New Zealand and 11 island countries have equal voting rights in PFL, but practical control is exerted by New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea which between them own around three-quarters of the company’s shares.

So we only own 23% of it. But why is Labour insisting we own 23% of a shipping company?

McCully defended the decision to sell and said PFL no longer fitted its purpose.

“PFL was established to fulfil an important need, namely to offer regular shipping services that the private sector was not able to provide in the Pacific,” he said. “Since that time a great deal has changed, to the extent that the PFL no longer fulfils a number of its obligations. It now owns and operates no ships and participates in what is effectively a code share relationship with private sector shippers.”

Oh my God, so it is a shipping company that owns no ships! And this is an example of what we need to retain part ownership of? What next, an airline with no planes?

Despite once being a profitable enterprise, PFL has recently financially deteriorated, with losses totalling $14 million in the two years to June 2011.

Sounds like we’ll be lucky to find anyone to buy it. What would you pay for a shipping company with no ships?