Stacey Kirk at Stuff reports:

A venomous snake, spiders and a pair of scorpions are just some of the serious biosecurity hazards to have breached New Zealand’s borders in the past four years.

But of the 546 incursions recorded, only 176 have prompted officials to move to eradicate the pests, figures released by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) under the Official Information Act show.

A large species of diamond python discovered in Auckland is one off 54 incursions recorded so far this year. It is unclear where the python came from, but the snake was destroyed.

A common brown snake, considered to be the second most venomous land snake in the world and native to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, was dealt with after being found in Mid-Canterbury this year.

Biosecurity officials’ attention had been called to Mid-Canterbury four years earlier when a marbled scorpion, native to Australia, was found there. A second marbled scorpion was also found in the Otago Lakes District that year.

Biosecurity officials did not move to eradicate the scorpions but the MPI said in cases where pests weren’t part of a breeding colony or posed no risk to New Zealand’s ecosystem, no action was taken.

Can I propose a new policy for the Government. That they kill all scorpions on sight!

Yes, I know a lone scorpion can not breed and will eventually die. But I’d rather not be bitten by one of the little critters before it dies.

And yes I know the marbled scorpion’s bite is not fatal. But I’d still rather not be bitten by one.

Former Labour general secretary Mike Smith responds to Rob Salmond on what should be Labour’s strategy:

Thanks to Rob Salmond and Josie Pagani, it is now clear that Labour’s pitch to the  centre is an intentional strategy. That is helpful as now perhaps we can have a reasonable discussion about how well it’s working, and what else might work better. …

In what is presumably Rob’s moderating policy option, attacking teacher and beneficiary straw men isn’t aspirational. It’s telling them they’re all crap. And it’s no answer to the truck-driver’s challenge.

The trouble is Labour stlll sounds miserable. Using another of Rob’s options they seem to be trying to alter voters’ perceptions of National, by relentless oppositional criticism of what National’s doing wrong. The problem with this is that it creates the impression that they don’t know what to do about it themselves. National is doing a good enough job of getting it wrong all by itself. It doesn’t need a lot of extra help.

Rob makes a crucial  point about the importance of timeframes. The next election is now a little over two years away. At some stage Labour has to look and sound like an alternative government, with relevant policies and messages that resonate with the teacher, the truckdriver, and the beneficiary. Right now would be a good time to start getting it together.

In a comment on that thread Matthew Hooton gives some pro bono advice on how to be an effective opposition:

I hope you don’t mind me helping, but what an opposition should do is choose a high-profile and unpopular target, with which the government is associated and is required to defend, and attack it. The choice of the target should also define a positive message for the opposition.

The best example of this in recent time is of course Don Brash and his infamous Orewa speech (which readers of the Hollow Men will know I opposed and which I give only as an example of the theory rather than suggesting Shearer follow the same policy path).

Brash’s positive policy message was “One Law For All” but Bill English had been banging away on that for years. What Brash did was attack the unpopular treaty industry etc, the Labour govt felt obliged to defend it, the public decided which side it was on (National’s), and Brash would have become prime minister had he not been caught flirting with the loony Christian right. …

Similarly, in the early 1990s, when he was leaving National, Winston Peters attacked Fay Richwhite and others involved in the winebox. They were undoubtedly unpopular but National appeared to defend them by refusing to have an inquiry. Again, that worked pretty well for Peters and note that while his message was framed negatively – “Fay Richwhite are crooks” – there was also an underlying positive message: “Winston Peters will make the rich pay their taxes”.

Earlier, on a bigger stage, David Lange followed the same path when he attacked nuclear ships. National and the US defended nuclear ships. Labour’s vote increased between 1984 and 1987. …

Also note, the target can be anything as long as it is unpopular, bound to be defended by your opponents and says something about you by your choice of it. A National opposition can attack “overbearing unions” or “political correctness gone mad”. The obvious one for Labour is “big business”.

We await the first Labour Party speech attacking big business!

One from ‘across the ditch’.

Click for larger, higher res image

[Website]

…and finally, some sunshine in Auckland.  Blue skies, coffee and sunshine is a fine way to begin the end of the week 🙂

The Herald reports:

National Party MP Maggie Barry says the standard of healthcare for New Zealanders with terminal and chronic illnesses is so high euthanasia should not be considered as an alternative.

Ms Barry’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Palliative Care will meet for the first time today and aims to improve MPs’ understanding of the care available.

Palliative care focuses on relieving the suffering of patients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.

Ms Barry was partly inspired to form the group after witnessing the high-quality care her parents received before their deaths.

Her father was diagnosed with cancer and stayed in Mary Potter Hospice until his death 15 years ago. “Mum and I were able to go up there and spend time with him. I had dreaded it but it was as good as it could have been.”

But her primary motivation is to oppose assisted suicide as an alternative for seriously ill patients.

I respect that people have a variety of views on whether or not it is desirable to allow euthanasia or assisted suicide. I also respect the wonderful work done by hospices such as Mary Potter.

However I believe it is wrong to frame the argument as a choice between palliative care and euthanasia. It is not. Euthanasia is not just about people dying of cancer. It is also about people who have degenerative conditions such as Huntington’s disease.

Rodney Hide told the story of Martin Hames, who effectively committed suicide while he still could, because one day he would have been unable to do so. A euthanasia law would have allowed Martin to continue to enjoy many more years of life, if he was confident that once hie body and mind had degenerated, his previous wishes could be legally implemented.

Huntington’s disease is an awful infliction. Around 35% of those who have Huntington’s disease try to kill themselves.

So palliative care is not an alternative to euthanasia in all cases. And where it is an alternative – it should be a choice for the dying person. I do not think it is the role of the state to tell people they can not end their lives if they are in agony. The role of the state should be to put in place rigorous safeguards around those decisions.

Claire Trevett reports at NZ Herald:

Labour MP David Cunliffe returned from a five-week trip around Europe like some new-age Arnold Schwarzenegger, fizzing at the bung with his dimpled chin as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

The freshly shaved chin set MPs humming the Jaws theme music under their breath.

Cunliffe had grown the beard last summer after losing the leadership contest to David Shearer.

It came to be viewed as a portent – Prime Minister John Key was among the augurs who studied the beard’s progress as intently as the ancient Romans inspected bird entrails, before he intoned, Confucius-like, that Shearer should beware if Cunliffe came at him with naked chin.

I always enjoy references to roman traditions, but being pedantic feel obliged to point out that augury has been confused with haruspicy.

Augurs do not look at the entrails of birds, but pronounce divine meaning from flights of birds. A haruspex inspects the entrails of sacrificed animals to divine the will of the gods.

Now who knew that before this post? 🙂

Most alcohol is supplied by parents or family members

The latest ALAC survey found 60% of youth moderate and binge drinkers say their last drink was at home, or a relative’s home. Only 27% say they were at a friend’s house. Scapegoating 18 and 19 year olds for allegedly being the source of alcohol to under age drinkers, is not bourne out by the facts.

Andrea Vance reports at Stuff:

Judges should face performance reviews and be held accountable for their decisions, victims say.

Judges are appointed for life, and can only be removed for misconduct. This allows them to be independent of the Government of the day, which is critically important. So I do not support anything which would allow the Government to sideline a Judge.

However this story did get me thinking that what could be useful is collation of data on Judge’s decisions, and compile this into a league table.

One could record each Judge’s sentencing decisions for various crimes, and over time see which Judges tend to give heavier and lighter sentences for different types of crimes.

I suspect many lawyers know this anyway through observation.

One could also record how often a Judge gives bail, when opposed by the Police, and even what further crimes are committed on bail, when granted despite opposition.

This is all public data. We have an open justice system. I’m not suggesting the Government compile this data. It could be a crowd sourced project.

Tony Ryall has announced:

“An extra 7,500 patients received elective surgery in the last 12 months, meaning 153,000 people got the operations they needed. This is the fourth year of record increases under National,” said Health Minister Tony Ryall.

“Since the change of government in 2008, thirty per cent more patients are getting elective surgery.

This is a pretty incredible achievement when you consider the fiscal environment.

It shows what you can achieve by having a more focused and efficient health system.

My only wish is Ryall goes further and defunds all the public health lobby groups which campaign for nanny state policies, and puts the money saved into elective surgery.

“In the last year the number of patients across the country waiting longer than six months has been reduced by eighty-five per cent from 5,700 to 840.

“This includes 690 patients on Canterbury DHB’s list which has been exempted from the target this year. Not counting Canterbury, this means that now only 150 patients who are booked to see a specialist or for surgery are waiting more than six months across the country at any one time.

So now only 150 people now waiting more than six months? What was the figure in 2008 I wonder?

“The challenge is now to lock in the goal of zero patients waiting over six months, and then bring the maximum waiting time down to five months by the end of June 2013,” Mr Ryall says.

No resting on the laurels.

Stuff reports:

Figuring out the number of American residents got as easy as pi on Tuesday (local time) as the United States touched a rare mathematical and demographic milestone.

The Census Bureau said that the United States reached 314,159,265 residents, or the mathematical ratio pi times 100 million, shortly after 2.29 pm.

One of my party tricks at school and university was that I could cite pi to 20 decimal places off memory. As you can imagine this was a huge hit with the chicks 🙂

The ballot for three bills takes place at midday. The bills in the ballot are:

1. Accident Compensation (Recent Migrants and Returning New Zealanders) Amendment Bill – Melissa Lee

2. Care of Children Law Reform Bill – Jacinda Ardern

3. Children’s Commissioner (Reporting on Legislation) Amendment Bill – Dr Rajen Prasad

4. Children, Young Persons and Their Families (Parent and Guardian’s Responsibilities) Amendment Bill – Mike Sabin

5. Climate Change (New Zealand Superannuation Fund) Amendment Bill – Eugenie Sage

6. Climate Change Response (Low Carbon Economic Development) Amendment Bill – Gareth Hughes

7. Commerce (Code of Practice for Supermarket Grocery Suppliers) Amendment Bill – Steffan Browning

8. Conservation Natural Heritage Protection Bill – Jacqui Dean

9. Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill – Mojo Mathers

10. Coroners Amendment Bill – Hon Lianne Dalziel

11. Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance (Break Fees Disclosure) Amendment Bill – Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga

12. Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 (Application to Casinos) Amendment Bill – Metiria Turei

13. Customs and Excise (Prohibition of Imports Made by Slave Labour) Amendment Bill – Hon Annette King

14. Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill – Hon Damien O’Connor

15. Defence (Overseas Deployments) Amendment Bill – Iain Lees-Galloway

16. Disputes Tribunals Amendment Bill – Mark Mitchell

17. Education (Community Representation on Polytechnic Councils) Amendment Bill – Hon Nanaia Mahuta

18. Electoral (Entrenchment of Maori Representation) Amendment Bill – Hon Parekura Horomia

19. Electricity Industry Act (Energy Efficiency) Amendment Bill – Dr David Clark

20. Electricity Industry Act (Smart Meters) Amendment Bill – Moana Mackey

21. Electricity (SuperGold Cardholder Discount) Bill – Andrew Williams

22. Employment Relations (Protection of Young Workers) Amendment Bill – Rino Tirikatene

23. Employment Relations (Statutory Minimum Redundancy Entitlements) Amendment Bill – Sue Moroney

24. Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Bill – Andrew Little

25. End of Life Choice Bill – Hon Maryan Street

26. Energy Efficiency and Conservation (Warm Healthy Rentals) Amendment Bill – Holly Walker

27. Environmental Protection Authority (Protection of Environment) Amendment Bill – Louisa Wall

28. Environmental Reporting Bill – Grant Robertson

29. Equal Pay Amendment Bill – Jan Logie

30. Family Proceedings (Paternity Orders and Parentage Tests) Amendment Bill – Nicky Wagner

31. Financial Assistance for Live Organ Donors Bill – Michael Woodhouse

32. Fisheries (Precautionary Approach) Amendment Bill – Kevin Hague

33. Immigration (Migrant Levy) Amendment Bill – Raymond Huo

34. Income Tax (Universalisation of In-work Tax Credit) Amendment Bill – Catherine Delahunty

35. International Non-Aggression and Lawful Use of Force (Implementation of Amendment to Statute of Rome) Bill – Dr Kennedy Graham

36. Keep Kiwibank Bill – Hon Clayton Cosgrove

37. Kiwi Jobs Bill – Hon Shane Jones

38. Land Transport (Admissibility of Evidential Breath Tests) Amendment Bill – Scott Simpson

39. Land Transport (Safer Alcohol Limits for Driving) Amendment Bill – Phil Twyford

40. Local Electoral (Enhancement of Transparency) Amendment Bill – Hon David Cunliffe

41. Local Electoral (Finance) Amendment Bill – Denise Roche

42. Local Government (Council-Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill – Darien Fenton

43. Local Government (Public Libraries) Amendment Bill – Dr Megan Woods

44. Local Government (Salary Reform) Amendment Bill – Denis O’Rourke

45. Maritime Transport Amendment Bill – Hon Phil Goff

46. Members of Parliament (Code of Ethical Conduct) Bill – HV Ross Robertson

47. Minimum Wage (Contractor Remuneration) Amendment Bill – Hon David Parker

48. New Zealand Bill of Rights Amendment Bill – David Clendon

49. New Zealand Flag Bill – Charles Chauvel

50. New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Change of Electoral System for District Health Boards) Amendment Bill – Dr Jian Yang

51. Oaths and Declarations (Members of Parliament) Amendment Bill – Su’a William Sio

52. Oaths and Declarations (Upholding the Treaty of Waitangi) Amendment Bill – Te Ururoa Flavell

53. Overseas Investment (Owning our Own Rural Land) Amendment Bill – David Shearer

54. Plain Language Bill – Chris Hipkins

55. Public Broadcasting Foundation (TV 7) Bill – Clare Curran

56. Public Finance (Sustainable Development Indicators) Amendment Bill – Julie Anne Genter

57. Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill – Rt Hon Winston Peters

58. Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Essential Financial Services) Amendment Bill – Dr Russel Norman

59. Resource Management (Requiring Authorities) Amendment Bill – Hon Ruth Dyson

60. Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers (Scrap Metal Dealers) Amendment Bill – Tim Macindoe

61. Sentencing (Reparation) Amendment Bill – Kris Faafoi

62. Sentencing (Short-sharp Sentences) Amendment Bill – Le’au Asenati Lole-Taylor

63. Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Shopping Centre Opening Hours) Amendment Bill – Hon Trevor Mallard

64. Summary Offences (Possession of Hand-held Lasers) Amendment Bill – Dr Cam Calder

65. Summary Proceedings (Warrant for Detention Conditions) Amendment Bill – Jonathan Young

66. SuperGold Health Check Bill – Barbara Stewart

67. Wild Animal Control (Increased Fines and Sentence of Imprisonment) Amendment Bill – Ian McKelvie

All 34 Labour MPs have a bill in the ballot.

Hat Tip: Chris Hipkins

UPDATE: The three bills selected are:

1. Local Government (Council-Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill – Darien Fenton
2. Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill – Rt Hon Winston Peters
3. Income Tax (Universalisation of In-work Tax Credit) Amendment Bill – Catherine Delahunty

Fenton’s bill would define port companies (that mare majority Council owned) as Council-controlled organisations for the purpose of the OIA etc. I’m not aware of the rationale for why they are excluded, so this bill may be fine.

The Peters’ bill is to amend the Reserve Bank Act, so we have higher inflation.

Delahunty’s bill will be the really interesting one. It legislates for the $60 a week in-work tax credit to be extended to parents who are on benefits and not working. This has been long-standing Green policy, but after resisting it in Government was Labour policy in 2011. It was hugely unpopular and it will be a fascinating defining issue for David Shearer as to whether Labour keeps their 2011 policy, or ditches it. They would rather not had to decide until 2014, but this bill will force them to confront this issue.

If Labour vote for this bill, it will be a huge weapon against them in 2014. If they ditch their policy, their activist base could go even more feral, coming on the back of the sickness beneficiary comments.

Fenton’s bill may pose the biggest challenge to the Government, if  they oppose it, as their coalittion partners could support it.

The Peters’ bill is unlikely to pass first reading.

TED announces:

SPEAKERS READY TO INSPIRE AT TEDxAUCKLAND TEDxAuckland is bringing together several of New Zealand’s most interesting minds for a full day of stimulating talks, discussions and learning this October. Now less than two months away, TEDxAuckland will expose attendees to thought-provoking, world-changing ideas from New Zealand’s top scientists, artists, educators and technologists. Event organiser Elliott Blade hopes this year’s event will be the beginning of an inspiring relationship between New Zealanders and the TEDx platform. “It will be a great day of dynamite presentations from eighteen of New Zealand’s brightest. The event will present a diverse mix of speakers – both familiar names and emerging talent – that we hope will ignite some great conversation and encourage people to discover new ideas.” Speakers in this year’s line-up include physicist, decathlete and political advisor Sean Gourley; change development specialist Paul Wood; physicist and pursuer of the Higgs boson ‘god particle’ David Krofcheck; materials and biomedical engineer Michelle Dickinson; internationally recognised architect Andrew Patterson; director of surgical research at Auckland Hospital and co-founder of medical start-up SIMTICs John Windsor; art director of Apropos  and founder of the 100 Days Project Emma Rogan; CEO of Arvus Group Matthew Simmons; and dental surgeon and founder of ICARE Assil Russell. TEDxAuckland will take place on Saturday 6 October at the ASB Theatre in the Aotea Centre. Eighteen speakers are set to take part in the full day event which will run from 10.00am until 5.30pm. A complete speaker line up will be announced in early September. TEDxAuckland is proudly sponsored by Yellow®, Kordia, New Zealand Post, Sony, Powershop, Scoop Media Cartel, Digital Arts Network, Flitter and Deafradio. Tickets are now available for purchase from The Edge for $70 + booking fees. http://www.the-edge.co.nz/buy-tickets.aspx For more information about this year’s speakers and all other updates visit http://www.tedxauckland.com/ Facebook: Facebook.com/tedxakl Twitter: Twitter.com/TEDxAkl Event Information: Date: Saturday, 6 October 2012 Venue: ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre Time: 10am – 5:30pm

I’m very excited about us having a TED event in New Zealand. Many of us will have seen videos from other TED events.

You can get more info at http://www.the-edge.co.nz/tedx.aspx. Kiwiblog is supporting TED and advertising for them. There will be some guest posts from some of the speakers in future weeks.

The Herald reports:

As a rising star in Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party, Csanad Szegedi was notorious for his incendiary comments on Jews: He accused them of “buying up” the country, railed about the “Jewishness” of the political elite and claimed Jews were desecrating national symbols.

Then came a revelation that knocked him off his perch as ultra-nationalist standard-bearer: Szegedi himself is a Jew.

I love it.

It’s the Jewish version of being a repressed homosexual who campaigns against homosexuality!

Nanaia Mahuta blogged:

I asked a question in the House yesterday on the Government’s quest to embed National Standards based on ‘ropey’ data. I received criticism that Labour’s position on National Standards and League Tables was sounding fuzzy. A prod and a poke led to this post from that criticism.

Just so I am clear from the outset, Labour does not support National Standards and League Tables.

I asked in the comments:

Nanaia – you’ve said Labour does not support league tables. Does that mean Labour supports an amendment to the Official Information Act to prevent the public and media from being able to access school assessment data? Because unless you are not prepared to change the law, I’m not sure your opposition will have any impact.

Then Bill Courtney said:

First of all, a change to the Official Information Act could be one way of keeping the data from public view. This is what Finland does, as Finland has no form of national testing or school ranking lists. In fact, they have abolished the equivalent of ERO and school inspection systems simply do not exist. In simple terms, they don’t need them, as all their schools are excellent! But I doubt that any NZ government would be enlightened enough – unfortunately – to follow the Finnish model .

Now Courtney does not speak for Labour, but he is a prominent opponent of national standards, is often quoted by the education unions and recently a spokesperson for the John Minto led Quality Public Education Coaliton.

So it is good to realise what Courtney actually wants. Parents to have no information at all. No national standards, no NCEA data, no educational data, no ERO reports, no ER) – in fact no school inspections at all.

The Herald reports:

The politics of the Australian Government’s decision to reopen offshore processing facilities for asylum seekers on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island will not be silenced despite the Opposition’s indication it will support new migration laws.

As Immigration Minister Chris Bowen yesterday moved amendments to allow the measures proposed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s expert panel on boat people, the Opposition tried to exploit her move as “capitulation” and to blame the Government for the deaths of 1000 people at sea.

Its attack was given force by the news that 67 more asylum seekers are feared to have perished in the Indian Ocean after the departure of their boat in late June and no evidence of their arrival in Australia.

Since Friday Australian patrol boats have intercepted seven vessels with more than 350 people on board.

The Howard era policy worked. It was effective, and as the message got out that boat people would not make it to Australia, the number of boats dwindled to almost nothing. Labor’s solution has been an unmitigated disaster, and their eventual capitulation shows this.

More than 22,000 people have sought asylum since Labor came to power in 2007, opening Gillard’s struggling minority Government to a debilitating attack from the Opposition and all efforts at reaching compromise blocked by both Liberals and Greens.

They only have themselves to blame.

From written questions:

Hon David Cunliffe to the Minister for Economic Development(01 Aug 2012): Has the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment deleted any tweets from members of the public which reference the Ministry’s official Twitter page; if so, why?

Hon Steven Joyce (Minister for Economic Development) replied: I am advised that the Ministry has no ability to delete ‘tweets’ of members of the public, their Twitter accounts, or their Facebook pages. I am unaware of any legislation proposed by the Government which would give the Ministry this power. Should the Member wish to pursue this possibility, I suggest he does so by way of a Member’s Bill.

The Dom Post reports:

Greens co-leader Russel Norman says his member’s bill to restrict foreign land ownership is likely to be narrowly defeated
tonight by an ‘‘evil coalition’’.

If anything is evil, it is xenophobia.

The bill aims to retain New Zealand ownership and control of sensitive land and has the support of Labour, NZ First, the Maori Party and Mana.

However, Dr Norman said it was likely to be opposed by National, UnitedFuture and ACT.

‘‘The job of Parliament is to represent the will of the people and people don’t want land going into overseas ownership,’’ he said.

What hypocrisy. One week after around 80% of New Zealanders voted that parental correctional smacking should not be a criminal offence, the Greens voted down a members’ bill that sought to do just that.

If people do not want land to go into overseas ownership, then they should not sell their land to someone overseas. But it is quite a different matter to ban fellow citizens from selling their property to the highest bidder.

Under this bill, James Cameron would be banned from buying his Wairarapa farm, even though the benefits to NZ of having one of the world’s most influential movie makers owning land here is huge.

Norman’s bill would ban any foreign investment in land over 0.05 of a square kilometer! It would not matter how great the benefits to NZ are – a total ban. It is xenophobic hysterical nonsense.

Applications for purchases over 0.05 of a square kilometer are assessed against the national interest, under the criteria in the Overseas Investment Act. Deciding on the merits if each application is far more sensible than a xenophobic ban.

The Human Rights Commission reports:

The Director of Human Rights Proceedings announced today the resolution of a complaint under the Privacy Act against Hon Paula Bennett, Minister of Social Development.

The Director, Mr Robert Hesketh said, “On the basis of the Minister’s letter to me, I have agreed to close my file. The matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. The letter from the Minister is attached. We have all agreed that the letter speaks for itself and we will make no further comment.”

The complaint had been referred to the Director by the Privacy Commissioner. This is the normal process under the Privacy Act when the Privacy Commissioner considers a complaint has substance, but the parties cannot agree on a settlement.

The letter is here. Bennett says she maintains she was justified in her actions, but regrets the comments same others made re Fuller, and the hurt that caused.

I do believe that if individuals who receive state support portray themselves publicly as “hard done by”, that there is an obligation for the full nature of such support to be revealed. Without it, we the public, have incomplete information.

However the best practice in future would be for the individuals involved to be asked to consent to MSD releasing their details. If consent is refused, that should be publicised, and if then a decision made on whether to release without consent.

Note this does not apply to individuals on state support criticising the Government or its policies generally. Absolutely not. Only if they talk about their individual circumstances in a way which doesn’t provide the full picture.

Sunset plays out on a Nor’ west arch over the Seaward Kaikoura Mountains, South Island New Zealand. Photography by Todd Sisson.

Hello all and welcome to the PM edition of Wednesday Wallpaper.

I have avoided contentious photos of Victorian-era industrial wastelands this week, though no doubt we’ll be able to fire up some kind of debate with this photo, foreshore…

Download the big version from this link:  [free iPad wallpaper] Password = freewallpaper

See you next week!

Cheers – Todd

p.s. more than happy to discuss how our images are made in the comments stream.

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Reason 1- Youth drinking is dropping, not increasing

Reason 2 – Increasing the purchase age will dilute the message not to supply to minors

Reason 3 is a split 18/20 age will push young drinkers into town

The proposed split age of 18 for off-licenses and 20 for on-licenses (while preferred to a 20/20 age) will push 18 and 19 year olds who wish to have a drink to go into town, rather than have a drink at home. Far more violence and crime occurs in town, than at people’s homes. 18 and 19 year old women especially will be at risk of greater sexual assaults, if they are prevented from being able to legally purchase alcohol to drink at home.

Whale has blogged:

Hooton identifies that Joyce may have pushed close friend (and former Key deputy Chief of Staff) out into the real world so that he can seem like a man of the people… and can challenge Shanks (and perhaps Hekia) for the Ohariu seat.  

There is always speculation when a senior and successful staff member leaves Parliament, but it is totally astray in this case.

Phil DJ has done ten years in Parliament, and that is much longer than most. I did eight years in Parliament and that felt a lifetime. There are few work environments where leaving at 9 pm is regarded as going home early. Phil went in as a backbench MP’s secretary and ended up Deputy Chief of Staff, which speaks volumes about his ability.

Phil has absolutely no ambitions or intentions for Ohariu, or any other Wellington seat. He is very focused on his future corporate career – plus of course anything which involves guns, boats or aircraft 🙂

Claire Trevett reports:

Mr Shearer was also expected to be criticised – it is understood some caucus members were upset about Mr Shearer using the example of a person on the sickness benefit to state he did not approve of welfare fraud. Mr Shearer used the anecdote in a speech to GreyPower last week and yesterday said he stood by it.

It will be interesting to see if Shearer ever uses it again in a formal speech. If he does not, that will signal that Labour doesn’t support work testing for beneficiaries and is happy for people to remain on a benefit even if they are capable of working.

Stuff reports:

Simon Moutter’s first media statement since taking over the helm at Telecom this week has nothing to do with the telco.

In a news release from Fiordland Link Experience Moutter is quoted at length putting his weight behind tourism initiatives, including Fiordland’s proposed monorail.

Company spokesman John Beattie said the former Auckland International Airport chief executive believed it was vital for New Zealand to keep developing world-class tourism projects.

In today’s statement, Moutter calls for public support for new initiatives to sustain not only the sector, but jobs as well.

To be bold, the industry had to adapt to a changing world. Failing to do so would see the country fall behind, he said.

“The proposed Fiordland Link Experience, which will include the longest monorail journey in the world, is an example of the sort of ambitious privately funded tourism project this country needs to consider.

“This is the sort of product that I believe would be attractive to the high-value, shorter stay, new markets that will be vital to New Zealand’s tourism future so it merits serious consideration.”

I think the monorail project is a great win-win. It will be a significant tourist attraction, but also will reduce the need for such long car journeys, benefiting the environment.

A sleek monorail is also sympathetic to the conservation values. The magnificent Kuranda area rainforest is enhanced by the Skyrail which allows people to get into its heart without driving up the hill.