Yay it is back. 9/10 in 44 seconds. The Japanese question was a guess and I got it wrong.

1553: This podcast interview of an ambulance driver is gripping.

1551: Amazing photos at the Boston Globe.

1459: The Christchurch recovery Map website  http://eq.org.nz/ is a great resource where people can report and find out what is broken and what is open in their neighbourhoods. They’ve used info from tweets and elsewhere – a great use of social media to make a difference. One can also contact the Student Volunteer Army at http://eq.org.nz/volunteer-army/ or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/StudentVolunteerArmy.

1456: Christchurch people need your old phones. If you have a phone that works without a power supply, then please let Telecom know and they can get it to a family in need in Christchurch. Website is – http://www.telecom.co.nz/earthquakephones.

1448: Lowlives have been named. The two men arrested for stealing emergency power generators are 23-year-old Owen Anthony Jackson, a fisherman and Jed Wilson-Calver, 22, unemployed. It is reported “The two skin-headed men waved offensive hand gestures at photographers and court staff and media present in a makeshift courtroom at the Christchurch Police Station”.

Mr Wilson-Calver is the same Jed who in 2006 had $20,000 of fines wiped in exchange for 180 hours community service. The Judge said “he accepted Wilson-Calver was a hard-worker who had the potential to go a long way in life.” Guess he got that one wrong. He also in 2008 was found guilty of ramming his car into another car deliberately, and got eight months jail.

1049: The Government has just announced the 8 March 2011 census has been cancelled due to the earthquake. No date has been set for a replacement one, if there will be one.

The growing death toll is distressing, as is the realisation that major parts of Christchurch will probably have to be destroyed before they can be rebuilt. This is not going to just be a case of repairing some damaged buildings.

On the positive side, great to see the student volunteer army back in action.

Some morons have put up a site blaming the quake on, of all things, Gay Ski Week. I was tempted to just ignore the nutters, but it has got attention elsewhere so I decided not to ignore it.

I don’t know if the people behind the site are nutters who really believe what they say, or just trolls trying to cause offence. In the end it does not matter that much.

If it is the former, then these guys are to christianity what Al Qaeda is to Islam – an extreme nutty fringe that does not speak for the vast majority.

To be honest the site is so nutty, I think it is more likely to be trolls.

The cowards behind this have used a .net domain so their identities arre hidden. Not a surprise – if they showed their faces in public, they’d need new faces.

1813: 98 now confirmed dead and up to 238 are missing. This includes 90 students and staff from  the King’s Education English language school, and 15 CTV staff.

For general discussion and updates. Should have appeared earlier but got home at 1 am and woke up at 10 am – which also happened to be the time i was due to appear before the Justice & Electoral Select Committee on the 2010 local body elections. The other posts were pre-loaded.

As with yesterday, any politics should be left out of it. All 122 MPs are reacting as human beings to a terrible tragedy, and while they have different roles, they are united in their genuine desire to assist and console.

No Right Turn has had a double fisking in the last couple of days. Cactus Kate, a tax expert, has fisked him over his claims of tax dodging by corporates (he failed to even read the notes to the accounts).

And on the other side of the spectrum constitutional law professor Andrew Geddis has politely rubbished his posts about the national state of emergency. We’ll start with that.

NRT blogged here and here that the calling of a national state of emergency is:

National states of emergency are intended for disasters affecting the entire country – wars, epidemics, that sort of thing. Instead, we’re seeing one cynically used for political purposes, essentially for spin. That is a gross abuse of power, and one we should not accept.

and

Make no mistake: this is a cynical political exercise, all about who gets the limelight (and hence the credit) in an election year. Again, it is a gross abuse of power. But entirely par for the course for National.

Now Professor Geddis has himself been very willing to criticise the Government when he feels they are acting inappropriately with regard to their powers. He criticised the Act responding to the last earthquake and the sacking of ECan. But in this instance he says:

To use a phrase much beloved of I/S himself, I call bullshit.

First up, the declaration of a national state of emergency does not mean that there is now a power to do all the horribly draconian things that he claims can be done in places like Invercargill, Whangarei or other places far from Christchurch. All the powers given under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 (CDEMA) can only be exercised for the specific purpose of things like “saving life, preventing injury, or rescuing and removing injured or endangered persons”, or “prevent[ing] or limit[ing] the extent of the emergency”.

There is no way that these purposes can be said to exist outside of the immediate environs of Christchurch, so the specter of the police “clos[ing] public spaces in Invercargill” or the like in the wake of this declaration is a complete red herring.

So that puts paid to the so called gross abuse of power.  And as for why make it a national state of emergency:

But what about emergency situations where the resources of a single Group are inadequate to respond? There, help from other Groups may be needed. But getting that help requires those in charge of the affected Group to coordinate with those in charge of others, which is yet another task on top of the many they will have already. Furthermore, all they can do is ask for help – which other Groups may or may not be able to give, depending on availability.

However, now that there is a state of national emergency, two things can happen. First, the Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management can take over the coordinating role between different Groups and centralise that process. Second, the Director can instruct other Groups to initiate their own emergency management plans and thus release resources to help Canterbury.

These powers may not be as earth shattering as empowering the police to shut down central Invercargill, but neither are they insignificant. Indeed, it isn’t going overboard to say that the fate of people’s lives may depend on the bureaucratic niceties involved in the declaration of national emergency.

Geddis concludes:

So, like I say – I/S’s posts regrettably are bullshit. I rather fear that he’s fallen victim to exactly the disease he accuses John Key and National of … being so partisan in outlook that everything must have a motive other than the obvious one.

Sometimes even politicians just want to do the right thing.

Cactus Kate is equally blunt when it comes to I/S’s financial literacy. He blogged:

Infratil [PDF] reported a pretax profit of $106 million, but paid only $11 million in tax – an effective rate of 10.4%

This was part of a series to make everyone think that all these evil corporate are evading tax and not paying their fair share. He even got Trevor Mallard blogging in agreement, which tells us much about Trevor’s financial literacy. The difference is NRT is just a blogger, and Trevor was once an Associate Finance Minister.

Cactus Kate explains:

If you click on Infratil’s accounts for example (they are the only one I could find with a comprehensive explanation of their tax balances) on page 53 you will see that here they take the net profit before tax and show a line-by-line adjustment on the tax numbers. The explanation of deferred and current tax is even made by the company in its accounts at page 45 in relatively simple terms.

The explanation for Infratil not paying the full company tax rate is a massive $30.4 million write-back in the “Net investment realisations/impairment”.

It had absolutely nothing to do with tax avoidance, evasion, shirking of their duty or offshore structuring. No cheating. All accounts are audited and signed off by professionals using NZ accounting standards.

And the killer blow is:

If NRT looked at pg 53 he will see that for the 2009 year Infratil made a net loss of $93.8 million before tax, yet had a tax expense of $34.6 million? How can a company making a loss NRT and pay all that tax? Based on the raw presentation of his data this makes no sense at all does it? Why? Because you have to read the data contained in the tax reconciliation and interpreted what has happened in the company.

Perhaps before No Right Thought engaged his fingers defaming a very wide range of directors in New Zealand as “cheating” on company taxes, he may just like to learn how to read and engage his brain and find out just why each corporate hasn’t paid the full tax rate for that particular year.

When you get fisked by both Cactus Kate and Andrew Geddis/Pundit in the same week, you’re not having a good one.

1349: Just grabbed the local Melbourne newspapers. The Financial Review has the factual “Quake devastates Christchurch” headline. The Australian headline is “NZ earthquake kills 65, hundreds still trapped” and The Age proclaims it “New Zealand’s  darkest day”.

1159: Blood Service have put out a PR saying there is *no* need for urgent blood donations, and also no donation facilities currently operative in Christchurch.

1139: Very emotional first hand account of earthquake by Press staffer Vicki Anderson. It’s a must read.

1129: Offers of assistance accepted from Japan, Taiwan, UK, US and Australia. Last earthquake cost $6b to $8b and this may be greater.

1126: PM says Police have confirmed 75 dead, of which 20 are yet to be identified. A national state of emergency has been declared and Civil Defence Minister will make a statement to Parliament. PM says he has notified Phil Goff of declaration and also thanked Goff for his assistance on the ground.

1123: Bob Parker says estimated dead now at least 75. There are also 300 missing but just a few minutes ago a report came of 15 survivors trapped in the CTV building. Also PM has declared flags at half mast until further notice.

0928: Now 39 confirmed dead.

0927: Have placed a widget for easy donation through Givealittle in the sidebar. Widgets are here. Donations will go to the official relief fund if one is established, otherwise 50/50 to Red Cross and Salvation Army.

0922: Earthquakes Video HQ has a video tribute site established, along with details of where to donate.

0917: Air NZ is offering international fares to and from Christchurch for families of only $50 to Australia/Pacific and $400 to Asia or US. Plus $50 domestic fares, and additional flights. Well done Air NZ.

First of all, no politics, no name calling here. Doing so will get your comments deleted and you on a holiday.

• Google has a person finder app for those seeking someone or have information about someone.
• Cabinet meets at 0930 and will declare a national state of emergency (as oppossed to a regional one)
• Official death toll is 38, but it is expected to exceed 65 as multiple bodies are still trapped under buildings
• Parker has said it has been several hours since a live body has been recovered from rubblem but Police say there are still cries of help from some buildings 

Note apart from an earthquake thread, there will probably be no other posts today. I’m not in the mood for politics. So my analysis of the welfare working group report, Hone’s looming expulsion can wait a day or two.

If you need to discuss things political, you can do it here. Please keep the earthquake thread free from politics.

1824: The death toll is now thought to be around 65. Words are inadequate.

1810: Tv3’s coverage with Hilary Barry has been carried live on four Australian channels – SBS, SKY, 7 and 9. Hilary has done an incredibly professional job in trying circumstances.

1808: Civil Defence have confirmed 17 deaths to date. A terrible terrible tragedy. The toll may yet rise further.

1415: The Police have sadly confirmed reports of multiple fatalities including from buildings falling on two buses. This is very bad. It seems this quake was so near the surface it has done more damage than the last one.

Poor Canterbury. It sounds like a lot of damage but no firm news on those injured or worse.

I’m in Australia for work but will update when I can.

Thoughts are with everyone down south.

UPDATE: House question time cancelled for statements on earthquake. Emergency cabinet meeting starts at 3 pm.

The PPTA was angry enough when the NZEI settled their pay claim with the Government, they must be annoyed that the Secondary Principals have also reached a settlement, and worse they have had to ratify it

This leaves the PPTA alone with its election year industrial action in support of their 4% pay claim for secondary school teachers.

What is really interesting is the detail of the Principal’s agreement. There is no increase in base salary at all – yes a 0% pay increase. But what they have got is some incentives for good performance – Board of Trustees will decide if they meet the professional criteria.

The TV polls have shown around 60% are against National’s plans to sell part-stakes in some SOEs.

Frankly I thought that was a pretty giood result for a policy which for the last 12 years has been ruled off limits as it is meant to be lethal political poison. The more important indicator was that National’s vote remained high.

Yesterday the polls also showed 60% against Labour’s policy of a tax cut for every NZer by making the 1st $5,000 tax free. Now tax cuts are normally very popular, so it says something about how badly you stuffed up (no way to pay for it) by getting 60% of NZers against having a tax cut.

And Goff’s response to the 60% opposition? He said that those 60% were not knowledgeable about their plan. This 24 hours after he yelled:

Labour says it’s not surprised by the result.

“It shows Kiwis are two-to-one against John Key’s programme,” says party leader Phil Goff.

“Kiwis know that this is bad for them as taxpayers and it’s good for foreign investors. They don’t want it.”

So 60% against a National policy is because Kiwis know it is bad for them, but 60% against a Labour policy is because they are not “knowledgeable”.

Labour’s tax cut for everyone policy was meant to be their big circuit breaker. Instead it has fizzled.

NZ Herald reports:

Te Atatu MP Chris Carter, who was expelled from the Labour Party last year, has struck a deal with the Greens that will see them cast his proxy vote when he is not at Parliament.

Mr Carter, who was expelled after criticising leader Phil Goff said he still considered himself a Labour MP “in values and philosophy” and would have preferred to cast his vote with his former party, ” but this has proved impossible”.

Following his expulsion from Labour, Mr Carter said he had notified the party’s whips of his wish to keeping cast his vote with them but had receive no response and his vote had been irregularly cast.

“I realised that I had to seek some way for constituents to have a voice recorded in Parliament.”

Maybe Chris will also stand for the Greens in Te Atatu? 🙂

Vernon Small at Stuff reports:

Labour MP Ruth Dyson is to pay back $16,000 of taxpayers’ money used for a recent private trip to Ethiopia for herself and her husband.

She said in a statement it was no longer appropriate for taxpayers to subsidise such trips “when so many Kiwis are struggling to make ends meet”.

She said when she applied for the trip last July it was before the rules had changed and the subsidy was perfectly within the rules.

“However, I felt uncomfortable about the subsidy all the while I was overseas, and when I got back yesterday I informed Labour Leader Phil Goff I would be repaying the subsidy of just under $16,000, and making a statement about it.

So Ruth never ever felt uncomfortable about it after the rules changed. Never felt uncomfortable it as they were preparing to go. Only felt uncomfortable “all the while” she was overseas.

Stuff had tried to contact Dyson about the trip and her recent loss of the health portofio and her demotion one place to five on Labour’s front bench. But her office said she could not be contacted in Ethiopia.

This points us to what really happened. Ruth was absolutely happy to have the taxpayer gve her a $16,000 trip for two to Africa, so long as no one knew about it. But once the media started asking questions about it, she decided it was “wrong”. What transparent insulting spin.

What is also innteresting is the timing of the holiday. Now I don’t begrudge MPs lengthy holidays, because most of them bloody hard during the year. But usualy the holidays are taken during the summer break, or at least during a recess.

Why was Ruth Dyson taking a 2+ week holiday during the first two weeks of the parliamentary term? The reshuffle was on 2 February and it sounds like she was already overseas then, and only got back yesterday. Goff must have approved this trip – why would you approve a 2 – 3 week holiday during the parliamentary term?

Will it be Bahrain or Libya?

The SST reported:

Rising food prices have heightened public calls to make healthy eating more affordable. 

IN THE wake of moves to freeze the price of milk, calls are growing for cheaper food.

The government has already rejected removing its 15% GST from food, but a Sunday Star-Times online poll last week revealed almost two-to-one support for removing the tax from fruit and vegetables.

I’m amused that the media are doing stories on the costs of fruit and vegetables during a period when they are in fact hardly rising at all, but seemed to never do a story when they were going up.

The Food Price Index for fruit and vegetables goes back to 1999. From December 1999 to December 2008 the cost of fruit and vegetables went up 44% or 4.9% a year. From December 2008 to December 2010 it went up 3% or 1.7% a year.

Note that the 1.7% a year over the last two years includes the impact of the GST increase.

Claire Trevett in the Herald reports:

The Government’s arch critic, Hone Harawira, wanted to become a minister when the Maori Party first went into coalition with National in 2008, according to a confidential statement by caucus colleague Te Ururoa Flavell.

In his submission to today’s disciplinary committee hearing against Mr Harawira, obtained by the Herald, Mr Flavell said both he and the Te Tai Tokerau MP were prepared to take up ministerial positions – belying Mr Harawira’s recent strong criticisms of his party for staying in the coalition.

“Put it this way: If he was to have received a ministerial position, would he still be writing to criticise the relationship? Answer: I doubt it.”

I’d say Flavell is right.

Mr Flavell was also scathing about Mr Harawira’s criticism of National as “anti-worker” and “anti-environment,” saying the MP had had difficulties with his own staff and once told the caucus he did not believe in climate change and nobody would tell him to drive a smaller car.

Hmmn, Hone as co-leader of a new left party is starting to look very interesting!

In the often-emotional submission, Mr Flavell said it was not easy laying a complaint against his friend of more than 40 years and it had taken a toll on his whanau, the party and the other MPs, who had suffered personal abuse.

However, Mr Harawira appeared to have a deliberate strategy to cast the other Maori Party MPs in a bad light.

He depicted the maverick MP as “talking himself up” and “big-noting” by constantly painting himself as the only true voice of Maoridom. “That strategy is aimed at putting the rest of us down.”

And this has been the problem. Hone has always had the freedom to attack National for politices he disagrees with. But when he slags off his own party and colleagues, it is no surprise they have a limit to how much they will put up with.

Both One News and 3 News had polls tonight. In order they were:

• National 51% and 54.6%
• Labour 33% and 30.9%
• Greens 8% and 8.2%
• NZ First 3.6% and 3.3%
• Maori 2.3% and 2.3%
• ACT 1.3% and 0.6%

If you average these out, then the seats would be:

CR – Nat 66 + ACT 1 + UF 1 = 68
CL – Lab 40 + Gre 10 = 50
C – Maori 5

Both TV stations made the point this result comes after National announced partial asset sales. Many on the left claimed that it would reverse the lead in the polls. They were wrong.

No susprise that NZ First are up a bit with all the publicity they have had, But interesting to note 57% of NZers said that Key was right to rule Winston out, and only around 33% disagreed. Even amongst Labour voters, views were split 50/50.

Like many, I was disgusted with what Michael Laws said about paralympians last week. Belittling the efforts of those who spend eight hours a day training to be the best they can be was very stupid, and Paul Holmes let loose in response:

Some of the finest, most inspirational men and women I have ever known have been Paralympians.

But Michael Laws thinks Paralympic sport is ludicrous.

No, Michael, it’s not ludicrous. It’s actually brilliant.

It’s brilliant that it exists and it is genuinely brilliant to see.

In Christchurch this summer, at the Paralympic World Championships (as opposed to the Paralympic Games themselves), those of us there watched the brilliant South African Oscar Pistorius run on his carbon-fibre plates.

Pistorius is one second slower over 100m than Usain Bolt. Bolt, of course, does not have to endure the pain of the impact on the point where the prostheses meet the flesh. But Paralympians will never tell you about that because Paralympians, in my experience, rarely complain.

This is something many people don’t realise – many paralympians battle significant pain when they compete – not just your normal pain of exertion.

No, Michael. Paralympics is not ludicrous. Going out to Howick and shagging a P addict on bail who’s called you up on the radio programme is ludicrous. Having the cops come round to your home because you’re being beaten up by your wife is ludicrous.

Fighting desperately over an “H” in the name of a town is ludicrous.

Ouch.

I wanted to cry when I read Michael Laws’ comments. After the decades of struggle by Paralympics to be recognised not as some kind of therapy for cripples, but as genuine sport performed with dedication by physically impaired people, we get an ignorant comment from an intelligent broadcaster who should know better. …

Believe me, no one makes it to the Paralympics unless they are the best of the best. And every day there is the hassle of getting up, perhaps getting through the spasms, getting into the chair, getting to the toilet, getting clean and getting into the day. Paralympians are people who never gave up.

Paralympians are different from able-bodied sports people, that is true. But the runner is different from the shot-putter and the shot-putter is different from the soccer player. What about it? The runner does not say the shot-putter is not a sportsman.

I have a picture in my mind from the Olympic Pool at Barcelona during the 1992 Paralympics. It has stayed with me forever. A young woman lifts herself out of the pool. She levers herself out, really.

She has little stumps for legs with little feet and little toes. She has only one arm and it is a stump too, with a little hand and little fingers. I suppose thalidomide might have been involved. She is truly, stunningly beautiful. She has won her event. Her radiant smile I will never forget.

Words matter, Michael. Words are the most powerful weapon a human being has. Words can build up, they can save a soul, they can make someone feel love, they can cheer the down-trodden and the sad and those who lack purpose.

They can lift the heart and restore the spirit. But they can destroy too, and hurt, and demean those who do their very best to achieve against the odds to become talented, winning sportsmen and women.

One of Paul’s best ever columns.

Jono Milne at the HoS reports:

Winston Peters says the Government has pestered him to accept an overseas ambassadorship – to get him out of politics and out of the country.

This claim should be treated the same as his claim he didn’t know about Owen Glenn’s $100k donation. I don’t know why the media give him any credibility considering his record – Winston is to politics what Scientology is to religion.

Speaking to the Herald on Sunday, he said the first mention of a diplomatic posting was a phone-call from Richard Griffin, the political insider who was previously a top adviser to Prime Minister Jim Bolger.

Oh dear. Dick Griffin is one of Winston’s closest mates. There is a huge difference between Dick telling Winston he should seek an appointment, and this being encouraged by the Govvernment.

The Government denied the claim. McCully said yesterday that it was “fiction”.

“First point, if anyone is being offered an ambassadorship, my practice is to make the approach to the appointee myself. I never make approaches through third parties,” he said.

“And I have never approached Mr Peters offering him an ambassadorship, nor do I ever intend to.”

You have to be a moron to think the Government could credibly appoint Winston as an Ambassador despite having ruled him out of a role in Government because he is a serial liar. You can appoint political rivals whom you disagree with on issues of policy, but not those whom you have publicly condemned as so untrusthworty you’d rather go into Opposition over, than rely on.

Yesterday, Griffin refused to discuss what conversations he’d had with McCully about sounding out Peters, saying he didn’t want to get involved in any “conspiracy theories”.

“He’s a friend of mine and I was having a discussion with him about what he might look to do in the future. I thought I was having a discussion with a man looking to a new future, not a man looking to get back into politics,” Griffin said.

Dick Griffin is a good man who would not lie. The fact he has not backed up Winston’s statement that his coversation was on behalf of McCully soeaks volumes.

The reality is that Winston wants to con the people that a vote for him is not a vote for Phil Goff to become Prime Minister. Yet it is.