For around 20 years women in Afghanistan were free. Then the Taliban took power again, and many said they would not be as extreme as last time. Sadly they are more extreme.

This is what women are now banned from doing in Afghanistan:

• Showing their face in public
• Speaking in public
• Wearing anything except a full veil
• Singing
• Reading aloud
• Look directly at men they are not related to
• Go out without a male escort
• Attending secondary school
• Having a paid job
• Attending a gym

They also face flogging or stoning for adultery.

What has happened in Afghanistan is a tragedy.

The Post reports:

A bitter dispute over a school speech competition has gone all the way to the High Court, with a judge forced to weigh in.

Tamamutu Mitchell – then a student at Taupō immersion school Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whakarewa i Te Reo ki Tūwharetoa – won the regional round of last year’s Ngā Manu Kōrero, a prestigious event in te reo Māori education.

But while his speech finished exactly on the 12-minute mark, which was the maximum permitted time, it was followed by a haka tautoko, which Mitchell led for other students in the room. (A haka tautoko is an expression of support for an event that has just finished.)

His runner-up subsequently complained that the haka tautoko had caused Mitchell’s speech to go over time. He was slapped with a five-point penalty by the event’s national committee, which meant he narrowly lost to the runner-up by one point, and had to return his trophy – and missed out on representing his region at the competition’s national stage.

How ridiculous. He won the competition and kept to the time. To award him the trophy then take it away is cruel.

Furious with the decision, and with their appeals falling on deaf ears, Mitchell’s supporters took competition backer the Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) all the way to the High Court for a judicial review.

Good on him.

The application for judicial review was overseen by Justice Muir in April, and his decision was released this month.

In it, he lambasts the PPTA for its handling of the dispute, which amounted to a “breach of natural justice”.

Justice Muir said:

• I consider the PPTA’s response both surprising and disappointing. The constitution of the PPTA includes “explicit … commitment to the principles to the Treaty of Waitangi as central to [its] Constitution.” It acknowledges the PPTA’s “commitment to the concept of genuine partnership embodied in the Treaty”,⁷ noting that: “partnership can occur at all levels of policy making by the sharing of power and decision making, satisfactory methods of consultation and the inclusion of cultural perspectives in policies
• Ms Barton denies that the matter ever proceeded to National Committee decision. She says that whatever assistance the Regional Committee may have received from the National Committee, the ultimate decision remained that of the Regional Committee. I regard that position as untenable. On its face the decision refers to it being that of the National Committee. I consider it surprising that a senior executive of the PPTA would, in affidavit evidence, promote a proposition so clearly at odds with the written record and that this position was maintained by the PPTA’s counsel in submissions.

The Post notes:

However, Justice Muir denied the application for judicial review on the technical basis that the respondent should have been the competition’s committee rather than the PPTA.

So it was lost on a technicality.

Stuff reports:

A former Reserve Bank employee was locked out of her office building after a dispute that saw her threaten to take the bank “to the cleaners”.

Sounds bad, but isn;’t in reality.

Things went awry for the woman when she began searching for her next job in July 2023. She received a conditional offer of employment from an organisation that was subject to satisfactory reference checks.

When the organisation withdrew its offer the woman believed it was because the two referees she had nominated had made negative comments during the reference checks.

One referee was her Wellington-based team leader, the other was a colleague in the Auckland office.

The woman sent messages to both referees which they found concerning. She repeatedly told her team manager that she had “backstabbed” her.

This is a bad idea. That is not the way you raise an issue if you think reference was unfair.

The bank became concerned about the woman’s welfare and asked how she felt about finishing at the bank but remaining on full pay for the rest of her contract while she sought another job.

The woman wasn’t happy with this and posted on her work team’s group chat the next morning to claim the bank was trying constructively dismiss her.

“I don’t care anymore I will take RBNZ to the cleaners… I’m disgusted. I’m applying for legal aid and I will absolutely take RBNZ to the cleaners at the MBIE or Employment Relations Authority or even as high as the damn Employment Court,” she wrote.

Posting on a work chat channel you will take the employer to the cleaners is a bad idea.

Following that message the bank suspended the woman’s electronic access to her RBNZ email, remote working systems and buildings, and sought a meeting with her.

The woman didn’t attend the meeting. She remained on paid leave until her contract ended.

She has little to complain about – she got paid out the rest of her contract.

The bank, in reply, said the woman wasn’t suspended. It said she had agreed to a period of paid leave and subsequently refused to return to work. The bank said its decision to to disable her access to its systems was a fair and reasonable response to the messages she was sending colleagues.

Authority member Robin Arthur said the bank had behaved fairly towards the woman, by proposing she take paid leave for a “cooling off” period.

The woman’s application was declined.

A good decision.

Labour’s Ginny Andersen ran to media with a story she claimed showed there were less police foot patrols under National as the number in June 2024 was 15% lower than in December 2023.

Now you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to work out that comparing the number of foot patrols in December to June is rather stupid as summer months are longer and warmer with much more activity than June. Also December is the month with a huge amount of outdoors activities.

TVNZ didn’t just run Ginny’s story, but decided to check the data for themselves.

Now watch her on TV as she tries to cope with facts that don’t fit her narrative.

She dug herself a hole so deep she almost reached Spain.

Audrey Young also notes:

Brickbat goes to Labour’s former Police Minister Ginny Andersen for claiming police foot patrols have dropped by comparing December figures and June figures, and knowing that patrols peak in December for Christmas and New Year. There are increases and decreases in parts of the country but overall, foot patrols have increased by 13.6% January to June, compared with the same period last year.

It’s great Ginny went to such effort to make sure everyone that the are more police foot patrols in 2024 than in 2023.

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the party’s tax policy is still a live discussion after the Labour Party social media account shared an account of a party meeting where former Revenue Minister David Parker allegedly discussed something called a Capital Income Tax.

Hipkins confirmed members were discussing a range of taxes,

“There’s a lot of conversation within the Labour Party at the moment around different forms of taxation: capital gains tax, wealth tax, combinations of the two, land taxes,” Hipkins said.

So many taxes they want to do.

The reality is that the tax take massively increased under Labour. In 2017 tax revenue was $76 billion and in 2023/24 it had risen to $119 billion.

We don’t need more taxes. What we need is a faster growing economy.

Newsroom reports:

The Government should closely scrutinise the visa application of Holocaust denier Candace Owens, the chair of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand has urged.

Owens, an American far-right activist with a history of antisemitic, Islamophobic and homophobic comments, is visiting Auckland in November as part of a speaking tour which will also take her to Australia.

While Jewish groups across the Tasman have urged their government to reject Owens’ visa application, views are more split in New Zealand.

I would be aghast if she was not allowed into NZ, and/or allowed to speak.

I say this as someone who finds her views repugnant and hateful.

I had generally been aware of her for several years as she was a rarity – a young black woman who was very conservative and pro-Trump – and articulate in presenting her views. I had a fairly neutral opinion of her.

But in the last 12 months especially her views have either changed or she is being more open about what she believes. She has become a promoter of numerous conspiracy theories, as opposed to merely being sceptical of official lines.

But more blatantly she has said and promoted things that are clearly anti-semitic, such as defending Josef Mengele, saying the Holocaust was “almost” ethnic cleansing but what the Allies did was actual ethnic cleansing. She has also done the old blood libel on Twitter and claimed Stalin was Jewish, Jews killed JFK, a Jewish cult does paedophilia etc.

So I have huge contempt for Owens and her views. But that doesn’t mean she should be banned – she should be challenged. People should go to her meeting and quote her words back to her and point out how she fixates on Jewish conspiracies. Or just ignore her and hope no one buys tickets.

“We are aware of Ms Owens’ hateful, racist, historically illiterate and frankly stupid statements, that include but go well beyond Holocaust denial, and suggest an unhealthy delusional fixation on the Jewish people who constitute 0.2 percent of the world’s population,” Jewish Council of New Zealand spokesperson Juliet Moses told Newsroom.

“However, like all the other antisemites who have visited these shores over recent years, some of whom have been platformed at houses of worship, on media and even at Parliament, we will not be opposing her visit.”

A very principled stand.

Stuff reports:

Police have arrested every patched member of the Christchurch chapter of the Comancheros in a massive blow to the international bikie gang’s reach into the South Island.

They’ve also seized millions of dollars worth of drugs, cash and guns as part of a major eight-month investigation into the gang’s illicit activities.

That investigation, dubbed Operation Avon, terminated on Wednesday, when about 30 properties were raided in Christchurch and Auckland.

Eighteen men, aged 18-55, had been arrested including every patched member of the Christchurch chapter of the Comancheros, Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson said in a statement on Thursday morning.

Police seized 5kg of class A drugs, 11 guns, ammunition, and about $250,000 cash.

That is an impressive operation by the Police.

I much prefer arresting gangs for criminal activity, rather than giving them taxpayer money to run drug rehabilitation courses for victims of the drugs they sell.

On 29 July I asked if the Stats NZ manager who was paid by taxpayers to attend Ratana and insulted Ministers had kept his job.

The Taxpayers’ Union sent in an OIA (unknown to me) asking that question, and they have received a reply, which they forwarded on to me.

Stats NZ has responded that the former staff member is no longer employed by Stats NZ and that no payment was made under S123 of the Employment Relations Act.

This seems the appropriate outcome. No one should lose their job merely for being politically active. But you can’t get up at a public forum (let alone one you attend in a work capacity) and unleash insults towards the Ministers who you are meant to serve, and expect no consequences.

We have both a short-term and long-term energy challenge. The high wholesale electricity price is because of supply shortages. The Government has announced some steps towards the short-term supply problem, being:

• Act with urgency to reverse the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, with legislation passed by the end of 2024
• Remove regulatory barriers to the construction of critically needed facilities to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a stop gap
• Ease restrictions on electricity lines companies owning generation
• Ensure access for gentailers to hydro contingency
• Improve electricity market regulation

These all seem sensible and necessary. However long-term we don’t want to be importing LNG etc. So they also announced:

• Establishing a one-stop-shop fast track approvals and permitting regime
• Amendments to the RMA to speed up resource consenting
• Stronger national direction for renewable energy
• A new regime for offshore wind
• Updated regulatory settings for electricity networks and new connections

A good example of why these changes are needed is:

“To give a practical example of how the RMA currently operates, in 2003 the Te Apiti windfarm site took 77 days to consent and had 20 conditions attached to that consent. In contrast, the Mill Creek windfarm site, completed in 2014, took 1,437 days, and had 90 conditions attached. This is unacceptable if we want to take renewables seriously. 

“Even renewing consents for existing renewable power assets takes far too long. Hearings and appeals to reconsent the Clyde and Roxburgh dams, and Wairakei, ran from 2001 to 2007. It took 18 years to re-consent the Raetihi hydro dam – and when that consent was finally renewed, the number of consent conditions had increased from 4 to 136. 

In just a decade the consenting time for a wind farm increased almost 2000%

Stuff reports:

Fisheries Minister Shane Jones called a High Court Judge a “Communist Judge” during a meeting with the seafood industry over Māori rights.

High Court Judge, Justice Cheryl Gwyn, who has awarded Customary Marine Titles to Māori, comes up in the meeting notes.

“[Jones] described Justice Gwyn (Judge in Wairarapa matter) as a “Communist Judge”.

There are a number of interesting aspects here.

The first is that Gwyn was a member of Socialist Action for at least four years, after she graduated (and possibly for a decade before that). Her politics then were probably Trotskyite or communist. That does not mean of course she has the same views today.

The second is that it is a bad idea for a Minister to disparage a judge. Now this was in a private meeting, not a public statement, so the Cabinet Manual doesn’t; come into play, but Ministers and Judges should be respectful to each other.

The third is that Gwyn has served well in various roles. I can’t say I follow her career closely but I thought she was an excellent Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, transforming that role from a fairly toothless role to a very active role which has helped increase confidence in our intelligence and security arrangements by having such rigorous scrutiny.

The final interesting aspect is that Gwyn’s years of Marxist or communist activism hasn’t held her back. Despite having been a far-left activist she has become a Deputy Secretary of Justice, Acting Solicitor-General, Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (appointed by a National PM) and a High Court Judge. Now I think this is all appropriate, but I do ask if the same would have happened to a lawyer who spent a decade as a far-right activist? It is unconceivable. So there is a double standard that extremism on one side of politics is acceptable, but not on the other.

There is some good news in that in Term 1 of this year that number reduced to 14 schools with below 30% full attendance. There is a caveat to that good news though. In term 1 2024 overall attendance, including Primary) was 61.7%. In Term 2 it was down below T4 2023 at 53.2% (down 0.4%).

The breakdown of the Term 2 statistics will be released on the 26th of September.

Schools now run under an Equity Index Number. The Ministry have decided to publish data in “EQI Bands”. For those still thinking in deciles “Fewest” are close to what high decile schools were – “Most” synonymous with low decile. Attendance is anonymised. It is the only major stat that is and cannot think of a good reason. This is the breakdown by band.

Huge need to get the young people who need it the most to school. As stated above – in the main assessment term 60 high schools has less than 30% full attendance. The impact of these stats on our country are immense and now that Charter Schools are back on the table the PPTA are trying to tell anyone who will listen that they have things under control.

NB: For those who want the full data-process/set I do for the LEAVERS of every high school in NZ by achievements – please email me on [email protected]

Alwyn Poole
[email protected]
Innovative Education Consultants Ltd
Education 710+ Ltd
(both sites currently being re-done)
alwynpoole.substack.com
www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/

This looks like Darlene Tana is seeking an injunction to stop the Greens from using the waka jumping law to remove her as an MP.

It will be a very interesting case, as there will be arguments over how you determine if proportionality is upset. However I would be very surprised if a judge tries to second guess the decision of a party caucus on the issue, so I do not expect Tana will prevail.

It is possible though she could gain an interim injunction, so the law can’t be triggered until there is a hearing on the merits.

A number of readers attended both the recent National Party Annual Conference and the Local Government annual conference. They were struck by the differences between the two. A key factor being that those who attend the National conference pay the cost themselves and those who attend the LG conference have ratepayers pay the cost.

Amazing the difference it makes, depending on who has to pay!

A good petition by Louise Duffy:

What are directives and how are they different to assisted dying?

Advance Care Plans | Directives | Living Wills tell medical teams what you do or don’t want if you can’t say yourself.

Research shows 80% of Kiwis value quality of life and want their voice and choices followed in a medical event.

Assisted dying is for those with a terminal condition who choose to have medical intervention so they can pass. Directives withholding care are for those with other conditions who choose not to have treatment so they can pass.

Both should enable people to die safely, peacefully and with dignity.

So, why are the two systems that lawfully enable people to pass in NZ treated so differently?

Assisted dying has one Act that ensures patients are treated by trained doctors who do not conscientiously object to their right to die and sets up an effective system with safeguards, reporting and independent monitoring.

Directive rights are spread over three Acts. There’s no training, nothing to ensure patients are treated by someone who doesn’t object to enabled dying and an ineffective system with no safeguards, reporting or monitoring.

We can do better.

Petition Purpose

That the House of Representatives implement a national register for standardised medical advance directives and mandate that those directives are followed

Petition Reason

I believe not following advance directives can lead to untold emotional and physical suffering.

My mum had a directive refusing care should she suffer a serious loss of mental or physical capacity. However, after a stroke her directive was not followed and instead of a medicated death within 10 days, mum was kept alive requiring 24/7 care.

This led her to refuse food and, finally, fluids and she died 58 days later, unmedicated until the last days. I believe her advance care plan should have been followed.

You can sign the petition here.

The NZ Initiative has published a thorough report on academic freedom. I’ll quote some data, and then their recommendations:

• In the US deplatforming attempts have increased 600% from 20 to 140
• In the US sanctioning attempts against professors has increased over 100% from 10 to 200
• Internal surveys at Auckland University found only 15% of law staff and 36% of science staff agreed they could respectfully voice their views without fear of any negative impact
• In the US the ratio of left academics to right academics has gone from 2:1 to 6:1
• In the UK the ratio of left academics to right academics has gone from 3:2 to 7:1
• Confidence in higher education in the US has dropped by 37% amongst Republicans and 16% amongst Independents

Their recommendations include:

1. An annual audit of New Zealand universities’ performance in upholding their obligations to academic freedom performed by a Director of Free Speech and Academic Freedom or (DFSAF), the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) or the Minister for Tertiary Education.
2. An academic freedom survey of both students and academics at New Zealand universities.
3. Step back from engagements with well-documented links to the CCP and the People’s Liberation Army while continuing to engage with China in other areas of higher education and advanced research
4. Ceasing partnerships with military- linked universities
5. Anyone entering into a position of significant administrative power in our universities should be required to attend training in the basics of free speech theory and in universities’ legal obligations to academic freedom.
6. Strengthen the elements of internal democracy that still exist in our universities

I hope the Government and the universities take these up.

This chart is from Stats NZ data. Despite what some alarmists would claim, the level of alcohol being consumed in NZ is plummeting, not increasing. There are problems with a minority who abuse alcohol and cause harm, but that doesn’t mean that there is an overall problem.

• Since 1986, alcohol available for consumption per capita has dropped by a massive 29%
• Since 2008, it has dropped 18%
• In the last year it has dropped 12%

Will media cover this massive drop?

Radio NZ reported:

Nearly three months passed from when a former political figure’s party was told he was a “sexual predator” until the man stopped working for them.

The man, who has ongoing name suppression but is not a sitting MP, has been on trial in the Auckland District Court for the last week.

After three hours of deliberations, the jury found him guilty on all eight charges of indecent assault.

It can now be reported that the leader of the party the man was affiliated with was told about the abuse nearly three months before he resigned.

The interesting thing with this story is that the first few paragraphs make it look like the party leadership did nothing, but in fact the later paragraphs show that the response from the leadership was in fact first class. Here’s my summary:

• Day 1 – wife of complainant messages Facebook page of party leader saying Person A is a sexual predator
• Day 2 – staffer asks for details, is told the victim/complainant is her husband
• Day 4 – leader personally messages wife saying they are taking matter very seriously and will propose a course of action
• Day 5 – wife thanks leader and leader responds asking them to detail the allegations to a lawyer, who will then advise the party how to proceed. Details provided of a lawyer. Wife thanks leader and says her husband will contact the lawyer
• Day 15 – leader tells wife that the lawyer has been trying to contact them with no success and they are keen to have them make contact
• Day 16 – wife says they have decided to go to the Police, and won’t be contacting the lawyer

This seems an excellent response. A staffer asked for details, and then it was quickly elevated to the leader. The leader provided a way forward within 24 hours involving a lawyer (at their expense) and even followed up after the lawyer couldn’t contact the complainant.

Now you can make a case that the person complained about should have been asked to take a leave of absence on the basis of knowing there is a police complaint. But considering the party had no actual details of the complaint, and didn’t know if the Police would find there was a case to answer, there would have been issues of natural justice for demanding a stand down on the information they did have.

In the absence of any details, it is hard to see what more the party could have done at that stage. If the complainant had provided details to the lawyer, it is quite possible he would have been stood down or resigned much earlier.

I am in no way critical of the complainant. I think they did the right thing going to the Police, and making it a judicial matter rather than a political matter. The guilty verdict means there will be (hopefully) very serious consequences for the offending. While they could have proceeded both with the Police complaint and with an inquiry by a lawyer for the party, I think focusing only on the Police complaint was commendable as there was a risk one investigation could interfere with the other. The guilty verdict is a testament to his bravery in coming forward.

Chris Bishop and Shane Jones announced:

Cabinet has agreed to recommend a suite of sensible changes to the Fast-track Approvals Bill, say RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones.

The changes are:

• Projects will be referred to an expert panel by the Minister for Infrastructure alone, who will be required to consult the Minister for the Environment and other relevant portfolio Ministers as part of that referral process.
• Final decisions on projects will not sit with Ministers but with the expert panel. This is the same as the previous Labour government’s fast-track process.
• Expert panels will include expertise in environmental matters; will include an iwi authority representative only when required by Treaty settlements; and will include Māori development expertise in place of mātauranga Māori.
• Applicants will be required to include information on previous decisions by approving authorities, including previous court decisions, in their applications for the referring Minister to consider. 
• Timeframes for comment at the referral and panel stages will be extended in order to give parties, including those impacted by a proposed project, more time to provide comments.

Having the expert panel, rather than Ministers, make the final decision is a welcome change. It also will significantly reduce the likelihood of judicial reviews for projects that are approved as a decision by a panel will always be much more thorough than one by Ministers.

They also released the type of projects that have applied:

• Housing and urban development projects: 40 per cent
• Infrastructure projects: 24 per cent
• Renewable energy projects:18 per cent
• Primary industries projects: 8 per cent
• Quarrying projects: 5 per cent
• Mining projects: 5 per cent

So that is around 70 renewable energy projects that want to use the fast-track process. If you are a fan of renewable energy, you should be delighted that they may be able to be consented within 12 months instead of eight years.

I think the fast-track one stop shop consenting law is arguably the most important reform the Government can do, that increases economic growth. If we want more tax revenue to fund health and education, we need a faster growing economy. Consenting costs have a huge impact on the economy – both the direct fiscal cost, but also the activity that never happens because it is too hard, Imagine what it will do to the economy if by the end of 2025, we have say 40 – 50 major housing and renewable energy projects consented.

The Taxpayers’ Union has compiled a local government “rich list” showing the salaries of council CEOs. They range from $648,900 to $219,382. But this doesn’t tell us too much as different councils are different sizes, and also regional councils tend to have less areas of responsibility and funding (and staff) than territorial or unitary authorities. So I’ve divided them into categories. Let’s start with Regional Councils.

Regional Councils

So the salaries range from $310k to almost $600k. The two on over $500,000 look out of line. They are in fact two of the smaller regional councils. Northland looks high when you compared to Canterbury, which has three times the population. On the flip side the Waikato Regional CEO looks to be a bit underpaid compared to their peers.

Large Councils

You would expect the Auckland Council CEO to be paid the most, likewise Christchurch second. The Tauranga CEO is earning $100,000 more than similar size Councils. You could also argue the Hamilton CEO is underpaid or Hutt is overpaid.

Medium Councils

The Far North CEO salary seems massively out of line. They get paid more than the CEOs of four large councils and around $100,000 more than CEOs of similar size councils. I’d argue that all the $400,000+ salaries are too much for a medium sized council.

Small Councils

Again the top six councils looks high – over $350,000 for a CE of a council with under 50,000 residents is a lot.

Very small councils

Now we are down to the very small councils. I would have thought you could get very suitable CEOs for under $300,000, as most Councils have done.

The brand salary ranges that would seem appropriate, based on the released data, in my opinion is:

• Regional Councils: $300k to $450k
• Large Councils: $400k to $650k
• Medium Councils: $300k to $400k
• Small Councils: $300k to $350k
• Very small Councils: $200k to $300k