Dave Burgess at Dom Post reports:
Two companies belonging to property developer Terry Serepisos have been placed in receivership owing nearly $13 million.
PricewaterhouseCoopers have been appointed receivers by Equitable Mortgages who are owed about $11 million from 79 Manners St Ltd.
Recievers will sell the 11-storey Ivivi Building in Victoria St, and nine studio apartments at Renaissance Apartments in Manners St.
Mr Serepisos’ Maison Property Holdings Ltd also owes Equitable about $1.79m, which will see the recievers sell four apartments at the Maison Cabriole Apartments on the corner of Tory St and Courtenay Place.
He is listed as sole director of both companies in receivership.
However, Mr Serepisos says he was in the process of selling the assets as part of his company restructuring.
“These properties were being sold anyway. All they’ve done is come along and taken over the sales process. They want to be in control and that’s fine.”
Personally I would not be so sanguine about receivership.
Both the receivers, and Mr Serepisos, stressed that it was only these two companies that were in receivership, not Mr Serepisos himself or any of his other companies.
Today.
I blogged Labour’s little fun game earlier today. Someone has also designed a couple of fun games of their own – you can make Pete Hodgson dance or kick Trevor Mallard.
Please note that I don’t endorse people kicking Trevor Mallard in real life, and I certainly don’t endorse anyone making Pete Hodgson dance in real life.
Kate Chapman reports at Stuff:
Offenders with serious drug and alcohol problems could get a chance to go to rehab instead of jail if a new drug court pilot goes ahead.
The Law Commission recommended the establishment of a drug court pilot that would see sentencing delayed while offenders underwent rehabilitation and detoxification treatment.
A spokesman for Justice Minister Simon Power said the Justice Ministry was working with other government agencies, including the Health Ministry, and would report back on the cost effectiveness and funding availability for the programme.
“The Minister thinks the idea of drug courts is a really interesting idea,” he said.
If the pilot court goes ahead it is likely to be housed at the Waitakere District Court.
This is a promising development. I don’t think the status quo is working that well. Rehabilitation and treatment is preferable to criminal sanctions.
AP report:
Federal prosecutors have completed a wide-ranging investigation into John Edwards’ political dealings and could indict the two-time presidential candidate within days, a person familiar with the matter said today (NZ time).
Much of the investigation, however, focused on money that eventually went to keep mistress Rielle Hunter in hiding along with former campaign aide Andrew Young, who claimed paternity of Hunter’s child in 2007 so that Edwards could continue his White House campaign without the affair tarnishing his reputation. Investigators have been looking at whether those funds should have been considered campaign donations since they arguably aided his presidential bid.
Edwards is a pathological liar, and it is a worry he alsmost became Vice-President. Being a liar is of course not a crime, but using campaign funds to cover an affair up may be a crime. As always, it is the cover up that gets them.
Dave Burgess at Dom Post reports:
A motion by Wellington City Council opposing the controversial Wellywood sign has been condemned as “posturing” by one councillor.
Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown successfully moved a motion at last night’s full council meeting asking Wellington International Airport to reconsider its decision to put up the sign. It passed by 10-4.
That is excellent, and exactly the sort of leadership I was asking for.
But Wellington City councillor John Morrison told Radio New Zealand this morning that the resolution was “a posturing effort” that would achieve nothing.
“We were impetuous. We leaped into … the herd mentality.”
Instead, the council should be talking to the airport directly.
“Can’t we ring them up? Couldn’t we go to the board room? The airport are very reasonable people to talk to.”
Are they? Their chief executive is in the media saying it doesn’t matter what you all think, we are determined to put this sign up and there is no way it won’t go up.
Labour have done an online game, to try and push their message against asset sales. Not sure how effective it will be, but I did find it amusing.
The 2011 Global Peace Index was released yesterday. New Zealand has been dubbed the most peaceful country for the last couple of years, but this year in 2nd place behind Iceland. On the plus side our economy didn’t disintegrate like their one did, so I’m still pretty happy here. The top ten countries are:
That’s a pretty good ratng for Slovenia considering their history of formerly being in Yugoslavia.
The bottom 10 are:
They Index says NZ slipped into 2nd place due to a rise in the number of police officers (they call them internal security officers) and prison population. Some would argue that makes us more peaceful! Interesting it seems we have also had an increase in the number of external conflicts – maybe they mean the SAS back to Afghanistan.
The biggest mover was Libya who dropped 83 places to No 143. No surprise there.
92 million views in five months.
The Justice and Electoral Select Committee has reported back its inquiry into the 2010 local body elections.
I was one of a relatively small number of submitters, and was pleased to see they have endorsed some of the proposals I made. It’s a good reminder that we have a small enough country that individuals can have an effect on laws, without having to be an MP yourself.
The recommendations of the committee are:
Nos 2, 4 and 6 were proposed by me (and possibly some others). The Government is not bound to do what the Committee recommends, but I hope they do. Postal voting is a dying mechanism – fewer and fewer people go to the post office regularly. An option of voting over the Internet would list turnout rates for local body elections, and also make it easier to make an informed vote.
So let us look at who has said they don’t want the Wellywood sign:
So why is Wellington International Airport determined to impose this montrosity on us, against our will? Who gave them the right to effectively rename our capital city?
If was a Director of WIAL, I’d be very very worried. If you asked your senior management team to go away and come up with a plan designed to destroy your positive brand as quickly as possible, I doubt they could do better than the Wellywood sign.
Does WIAL really think there will be no consequences for them if they continue? Do they think their monopoly status will make them immune from a reaction? It won’t.
The Dom Post reports:
Veteran political journalist Ian Templeton is to be recognised for a half-century of political reporting with an Honorary Doctorate from Massey University. The doctorate, to be presented at a College of Business graduation ceremony tomorrow, is in recognition of his contribution to journalism, the parliamentary press gallery and the New Zealand Press Council. He has been reporting from the press gallery since 1957. Massey University vice-chancellor Steve Maharey said Mr Templeton was a reminder that “old-style ethics and standards are just as relevant today as ever”.
Congratulations Dr Templeton. Ian is a legend who was still working at his 80th birthday. His analysis was as sharp in the 2000s as it was in the 1950s.
Stuff reports:
California preacher Harold Camping said his prophecy that the world would end was off by five months because Judgment Day actually will come on October 21.
Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before the Earth was destroyed, said he felt so terrible when his doomsday prediction did not come true that he left home and took refuge in a motel with his wife.
Took refuge in a motel – how awful.
His independent ministry, Family Radio International, spent millions – some of it from donations made by followers – on more than 5000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.
But Camping said that he’s now realised the apocalypse will come five months after May 21, the original date he predicted. He had earlier said October 21 was when the globe would be consumed by a fireball.
It’s not the first time the independent Christian radio host has been forced to explain when his prediction didn’t come to pass. He also predicted the Apocalypse would come in 1994, but said it didn’t happen then because of a mathematical error.
If anyone believes him third time around, it should be deemed sufficient grounds for them to go to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment.
Patrick Smellie at Stuff reports:
For one of the most fearsome tax minds in the country, departing deputy Inland Revenue Department commissioner Robin Oliver is more imp than ogre.
Robin has been head of policy for IRD for many years, and is hugely respected.
His views on what makes tax policy work are carbon copy Roger Douglas, but he can just as easily whip up a good line in class warfare when describing the kind of social balance a tax system must achieve to succeed.
Grinning, he illustrates a point by asking whether it would be “acceptable for me to retire with international investments, sit on a beach paying almost no tax and using the health system, while some family in South Auckland pays enormous taxes, working double shifts cleaning offices”.
And receiving non means tested NZ super!
His proudest moment was when a meeting of New Zealand businesspeople and accountants rejected the previous government’s research and development tax credits as bad policy.
“All the big four [accounting firms] had to pay off staff and close parts of their businesses, but they never lobbied to keep [the tax credits] because it wasn’t right in their view.”
Yes, I suspect schemes such as R&D tax credits create huge amounts of work for accountancy firms, as companies reclassify expenditure to qualify for the tax credits, It probably creates a mini-industry around how to gain the tax credits.
Mr Oliver says the big tax issues don’t change much over time – the rate, concessions versus broad base, tax everyone or only some people – and there are still only three places to turn for tax: labour income, capital income and land.
Yet he defends the lack of New Zealand capital gains and land taxes.
“It’s not purist, just a practicality,” he says, noting that IRD changed from advocating capital gains to believing it couldn’t be done efficiently.
“No one taxes the family home and, in New Zealand, what do you do about farming? The common farming career progression is to trade to larger farms. A capital gains tax would kill that. What would you do about communally owned Maori land? Capital taxes are levied at death. You can’t tax Maori land that way.”
The alternative is a capital gains tax as complex as Australia’s, where “they have whole conferences on what should be in and what should be out”.
Labur are thought to be considering proposing a capital gains tax. If they do, and win the election, I predict great times for the tax industry as lawyers and accountants prosper.
I do believe a land tax has some merit, so long as it is not about increasing the overall level of taxation.
The Auckland Council is doing something very good. Rather than requiring feedback on their plan to be typed up on the official form, and sent in via snail mail, they are encouraging feedback vis social media.
The Auckland plan is the Auckland Councils 30 year plan – the goal is to make Auckland the world’s most liveable city. The consultation on the draft plan closes on Tuesday May 31st and It’s open to anyone to provide comments.
The full discussion document is here. It is rather large at 288 pages, so most will want the 17 page summary document. It poses a number of questions in nine categories ranging from how to make Auckland more child friendly and more business friendly. Also on whether the current urban metropolitan limit should be increased etc.
So if you are an Aucklander or care about Auckland, you can have you say. Here are the ways you can do so:
It’s good to see the Council use social media to make it easy to provide feedback. So if you have a view on what needs to change in Auckland in the next 30 years, just comment below or use one of those other channels to have your say.
Stuff reports:
Broadcaster Martin Devlin says cabin crew overreacted in removing him from a Jetstar flight today for alleged unruly behaviour.
The Radio Live host was pulled from the plane by police in Wellington this afternoon after the captain called for help.
The flight was due to arrive in Auckland at 9.25am but heavy fog meant the plane had to return to Wellington, a Jetstar spokeswoman said.
“We were expecting the fog to clear but unfortunately that didn’t happen so we had to go back to Wellington,” she said.
Devlin, 46, said he had only commented about the flight delay and asked if the Jetstar plane had equipment to fly in foggy conditions.
“Nothing happened. I was one of many passengers who wanted to know what was going on. We had been up in the air for hours. The stewardess over-reacted,” he told TVNZ.
He said that after speaking to the stewardess he returned to his seat and police arrived and asked him to leave the plane, which he did voluntarily.
If it was Air NZ, I would have no compunction in comcluding that Devlin must have been in the wrong, and his behaviour must have been threatening to have the Police called.
But this is Jetstar, where the customer service training manual seems to be that passenagers are akin to small vermin. You can’t rule out the possibility that they got him arrested because he asked to go to the toilet.
But witnesses on the flight said Devlin was “making a scene” and being abusive toward the crew after the flight was delayed, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Hmmn, so in this case, the blame may lie with Devlin.
Andrea Vance at Stuff reports:
Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove has been forced to defend himself after calling an MP “Old Sooty” during a parliamentary debate.
He says the insult was aimed at Health Minister Tony Ryall.
However, his fellow politicians assumed the remark was directed at Samoan-born, Auckland-raised National MP Sam Lotu-Iiga, who had just addressed the House. …
Last night Mr Cosgrove said the row was “PC gone mad”. The comment was made while Parliament was in urgency last Thursday to pass Budget legislation.
“I’ve called Tony Ryall Sooty for years … Sooty and Sweep are glove puppets.
I’ve always thought of Mr Ryall as a glove puppet, he does what the Government wants. In no way was it directed at Sam. End of story. I think people need to get a life.”
He agreed it was “unfortunate” his remark was misinterpreted: “I understand what the term means if used in the way suggested.
“It is a concern.”
Mr Lotu-Iiga, the MP for Maungakiekie, said Mr Cosgrove approached him the next day.
“He said it wasn’t directed at me. I didn’t hear it at the time. If it was directed me, it’s a reflection on him.”
Mr Borrows said he was watching the debate on TV.
“Clayton followed Sam Lotu-Iiga and he was referring to him quite a bit.
“The camera was flicking back to him and in the last 30 seconds of his speech, he referred to `old Sooty over there’.
“I put it together in my head that he making a racist comment which brassed me off.”
So did Clayton call Sam “Sooty”, or was he referring to Tony Ryall? My first thought was to check Hansard, to see if they have a record of Clayton ever using that term before.
In May 2009, he also used the term. He said:
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE: Exactly. What all of them have done—and old “Sooty” in the front row in the pink shirt ought to remember, because he—
I think it is fair to conlude that it probably was Tony Ryall wearing a pink shirt that day (Tony is well known for his colourful shirts and ties), so this supports Clayton’s contention that the remark was aimed at Tony.
So I have to go with the facts here and say that Clayton is not guilty of calling a Pacific Island MP “Sooty”.
But considering the term “Sooty” has a number of slang meanings, some of which are equally objectionable, maybe Mr Cosgrove might want to stop using the name alltogether when referring to any MP at all.
I love Saturday Night Live. This spoof music video with Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg and Lady Gaga is great.
Frog blogs:
In another success story for MMP, Green MP Catherine Delahunty today announced a joint initiative with the National Party to clean up New Zealand’s most toxic site — Te Aroha’s Tui Mine.
The abandoned, environment-polluting mine has long been known as an issue, and decades later something is finally been done about it.
I’m always a fan of political parties working together on issues they agree on.
The Leaders of the National Party and Green Party agreed to include toxic site management work in their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which also includes home insulation, the New Zealand Cycleway, natural health products, and a pilot scheme to better protect forests and wildlife from pests. The toxic management addition to the MoU was signed by Environment Minister Nick Smith and Catherine Delahunty, the Green Party’s Spokesperson for the Environment (Toxics).
Smart positioning by the Greens. As they climb to 10% in the latest poll, they show they can work across the spectrum to get things done. So if left wing voters decide a National Government re-election is inevitable, then more left wing voters may defect to Greens as their best way to influence the Giovernment.
One of the reasons often cited as part of Labour’s loss in 2008 was that they ran such a relentlessly nasty and negative campaign against John Key, with everything from the H Fee up.
Whale Oils blogs that Labour have appointed Trevor Mallard as their campaign manager for 2011.
One can only assume that they are determined to run an even dirtier, nastier and defamatory campaign than last time.
I can’t imagine who they will get for their 2014 campaign – maybe Clay Davis?
Yvonne Tahana writes in the Herald:
The Maori Party candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau byelection will be selected today, with movie actor Waihoroi Shortland one of the leading prospects.
Mr Shortland, lawyer Mere Mangu and Whangarei Maori Party official Solomon Tipene will be interviewed at Waitangi today by a panel of eight. …
Mr Shortland, a charismatic and articulate former journalist known to many as “Wassie”, is a reo expert with connections to all of the major northern iwi. He starred in the movie Boy and has had a long career in Maori media.
Ms Mangu will provide strong competition. The leading voice for Tai Tokerau women, she comes with a significant degree of homegrown support and is known to stand and speak at Te Tii Marae at Waitangi.
However, her past unsuccessful attempts for the seat in 2002 and 2005, when she fought hard but finished off the pace as an independent, could be an important factor those on the panel will weigh.
Mr Tipene has less of a profile and ranks as an outside chance.
The stronger the Maori Party candidate, the more chance there is Labour could come through the middle and win the seat – which in this rare case is desirable.
Mangu got 7% of the vote in 2005 as an Independent. That is very high for an Independent.
It will be interesting to see who they select.
The NZ Herald editorial:
The Labour Party’s annual congress held at the weekend should have seen some interesting new ideas. The party has been out of power for the best part of three years and another election is six months away. Polls put Labour well adrift of National, which is another reason to expect some bold thinking. Labour has little to lose.
But there were not enough interesting or innovative ideas from the party at the weekend, though the word innovative was heard frequently. Labour proposes to encourage research and development with a 12.5 per cent tax break. Leader Phil Goff reckoned this would increase private investment in R&D by $1.5 billion a year, especially in high-tech industries that would create jobs and exports.
How often have we heard this? This country has encouraged company research and development at public expense for years. One of the ways Mr Goff proposes to pay for his tax break is by cancelling the present Government’s incentive, worth $70 million a year.
So there are two parts to Labour’s policy. One is to increase the amount the Government spends on subsidising R&D, and the other is to change the way it is funded. National basically has a system where it picks “winners” who apply for grants or subsidies. Labour proposes a 12.5% tax credit than any company that spends over $20,000 can gain.
So both parties are saying they see a role for the Government in encourgaing R&D, but disagree on the level of funding and the method.
The latest to beat this drum is one of the country’s top scientists, Sir Paul Callaghan, who has been attacking the Budget delivered last week for its lack of high-tech investment. His prescription for economic success is very precise. It is not tourism, “a classic low wage activity”, not wine, “nice lifestyle but frankly the revenue per job is poor”. The future lay in technology. “If you look at the profile of high-tech companies in New Zealand you see some surprising strength,” he says. “We have the capacity of growing this sector significantly.”
But it is not clear what the Government should do beyond ensuring the country is equipped with up-to-date infrastructure for high-tech providers to use. There are fears that even in financing an ultra-fast broadband network the National Party might be exceeding its competence.
I agree with Sir Paul, that one of our industries for the future is and should remain high tech. The fibe to 75% of NZ programme should help that industry.
The best governments can do is maintain a reasonable public research budget balanced against all other calls on their revenue, and allow tax write-offs for the development of exportable products. To pretend that research and development assistance is the answer to the nation’s economic needs is not credible. It is an admission of a lack of better ideas.
I quite like the idea that maybe you tie tax credits to R&D which is used in developing exportable products. That would stop tens of thousands of companies reclassifying expenditure as R&D just to gain tax credits. If you had to link it to an export product, then fewer would qualify.
I’m one of four guest speakers in an online public meeting organised by the Greens, to discuss recent copyright legislation and its implications.
The meeting is at 7 pm tomorrow (Wed 25 May) and it is hosted by Gareth Hughes MP. The guest spakers are myself, Thomas Beagle (TechLiberty), Bronwyn Holloway-Smith (Creative Freedom Foundation) and Vikram Kumar (InternetNZ).
The meeting website says:
This site will be updated with more information on how to participate. You will be able to take part by sending your questions and comments via twitter or by emailing Gareth.
You can also get involved by going to the facebook event page
Hope to see a few people online for it tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the discussion. The Greens have been consitently reliable on the copyright issue, opposing the original S92A. The replacement law is a big improvement, but it is still going to potentially impact hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders so if you are interested in the details, come along.
AP reports:
Tim Pawlenty is casting himself as the Republican candidate willing to tell the United States the hard truths as he seeks the presidency, announcing in corn-dependent Iowa that its prized federal subsidies for ethanol should be phased out.
Pawlenty made his first public appearance today (NZ time) since announcing his candidacy yesterday.
He told supporters and GOP activists in the leadoff caucus state the nation can no longer afford to support the corn-based fuel additive.
Pawlenty says he knows it’s risky to challenge the prized subsidy on Iowa soil, where the former Minnesota governor must win or do very well in next year’s caucuses.
Pawlenty also said he plans to discuss changes to Social Security tomorrow (NZ time) when he campaigns in Florida, home to millions of the nation’s retirees.
Good. He will get respect for being prepared to announce tough polciies where they may be most unpopular. It may harm him in those states, but he will be seen as someone credible in terms of getting the massive US deficit under control.
At this stage, Pawlenty is my pick for the Republican nomination.