The Herald reports:

The New Zealand solider killed in a vehicle crash in Afghanistan has been named.

Private Kirifi Mila, 27, died when the Humvee vehicle he was in rolled down a steep 30m cliff in Afghanistan’s north east Bamyan province. Three other soldiers were injured in the crash.

The incident happened about midday local time on Tuesday (9pm NZT) while the soldiers were on a routine patrol near Ferosak village, 14km east of their base in Bamiyan.

Private Mila – also known as Cliff – was born in Western Samoa and joined the New Zealand Army in 2006. He was deployed to Afghanistan last year as part of the 2nd 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment based in Burnham Military Camp.

He had been due to return to New Zealand in April.

A very sad accident, not caused by combat – but still while on active service. Condolences to his family, colleagues and friends.

Photo from the Dom Post.Enter your captions below for the meeting of the Rangas. Funny, not nasty please.

The Parliamentary Library have done an interesting paper on MPs use of social media. Some stats:

• 92/121 MPs are on Facebook
• National MPs are the MPs least likely to be on Facebook (only 60% or so are)
• 86% of female MPs are on Facebook and only 75% of male MPs
• John Key has 50,081 “fans” and Phil Goff has 2,334 “fans”
• 43% of MPs are on Twitter
• Top tweeters are Tau Henare on 3,087 and Clare Curran on 3,083
• John Key has 15,368 followers on Twitter and Phil Goff 2,397
• On You Tube National has had 436,522 video views, Greens 122,887 and Labour 21,530

Kate Chapman at Stuff reports:

Labour MP Mita Ririnui has announced he will stand down at the end of the year.

He was an associate minister in Helen Clark’s government and former MP for Waiariki. Ririnui was born and raised in Tauranga and said his next role would be leading Bay of Plenty iwi through the Treaty settlement process.

No major surprises with the retirement. He was unlikely to feature in a future Labour Government.

What is interesting is that Labour may have relatively few Maori MPs after the next election, unless they do some recruitment into high list placings. It is rumoured that Horomia may retire also, and Mahuta is staying on but concentrating mainly on family for the next few years.

On top of Mahuta, you’ve got Shane Jones, Kelvin Davis and Moana Mackey. Only four Maori MPs would be historically quite low for Labour. Labour may give high list rankings to some of their Maori seat candidates – but then of course that may help the Maori Party keep those seats.

Stuff has a couple of stories on government funded community max schemes, where the outcomes have been very dubious – catching horses to release them again, and a Maori Internet business directory which is not online.

Personally I am dubious about many of these taxpayer funded community schemes. They can provide useful skills and experience to those who don’t have any, but they can also cost a lot of money and not produce much in the way of outcomes.

MSD say the majority of participants in the two examples above, have gained skills and are now off benefits. But paying $175,000 for a project (a Maori online business directory) that it seems wasn’t even needed (there are existing ones) is an expensive way to go about it.

Tom Hunt at Stuff reports:

The Government has splashed out on 34 new top-of-the-line BMWs that sell for more than $200,000 each.

The Green Party has called the ordering of the cars a disgrace.

But the Internal Affairs Department says it has been three years since the Government bought its last fleet, which will be sold when the new cars start to arrive later this year. …

A spokesman for Prime Minister John Key said this was the same process that had happened for years. “It is standard for a progressive upgrade of the VIP fleet to happen every three years or when the vehicle reaches 90,000 kilometres.”

What’s standard is how unpopular this is. I give the Government a big fail for this move. When Labour did the same in 2008 I put it down to advanced third termitis (when you no longer sense what may be unpopular), but this is even worse as National is in their first term.

It does not matter what the contract said about upgrades, or what level of discount the Government gets upgrading in year three – the only thing the public will remember is a Government saying times are tight having money to buy new BMWs for Ministers. An incredibly stupid blunder.

Someone should have intervened and ensured that any fleet replacement does not take place in election year. Unless one actually wants to lose votes.

The EPMU has done a release saying:

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which is the union that represents miners, is calling on the government to provide support for its legal representation in the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry.

The call follows the government’s announcement it will now fund families’ and contractors’ legal representation costs to allow them to participate in the inquiry.

The EPMU has around $13 million of assets and a turnover of around $12 million a year. They are in a totally different situation to individual famuilies and contractors. A legal bill of say $100,000 is a mere 1% of the EPMU’s annual turnover, yet would bankrupt many contractors and be well beyond what a West Coast family could afford.

Incidentially the EPMU has skilled in house lawyers such as their national secretary. If he wasn’t so busy running the Labour Party and running for Parliament, perhaps he could represent the EPMU at the Royal Commission hearings as part of his job.

It is of course up to the EPMU how they decide to interact with the Royal Commission, but if they start to ask for taxpayer funding, them we get the right to have a view on that.

Just been reading the latest circulation figures for our major newspapers. The changes in the last year are quite stark. They are:

1. Herald on Sunday up 5,801 (+6.4%) to 96,069
2. NZ Herald up 240 (+0.1%) to 170,677
3. The Press down 1,988 (-2.4%) to 81,017
4. ODT down 1,458 (-3.6%) to 39,097
5. Sunday Star-Times down 6,939 (-4.1%) to 160,592
6. Dominion Post down 4,053 (-4.6%) to 84,047
7. NBR down 473 (-4.9%) to 9,093
8. Sunday News down 11,287 (-17.9%) to 51,740

Fairfax has to be worried by these results. The two major APN titles have increased or held steady and the main Fairfax newspaper titles are all dropping.

Sunday News especially is in freefall. Over two years it has lost 31,385 subscribers which is a massive 38% fall. It won’t remain viable if those trends continue.

Martin Kay writes at Stuff:

I must say I was surprised to learn that Russel Norman would stop heroic Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi from addressing our Parliament if she ever succeeds in her fight for democracy and is elected leader of her people.

It seems a bit mean-spirited and hypocritical, given the massive public support the Greens have given her as she campaigns against the regime that has brutalised her homeland.

But that is the inevitable position that flows from the Greens’ decision to block Aussie PM Julia Gillard from speaking to a formal session of Parliament tomorrow.

Norman says the Greens vetoed the speech – which will instead be made three hours before Parliament sits – because they did not want to set a precedent that would put us on a slippery slope which could undermine our  “democratic sovereignty”.

Norman seems to be arguing that if the Greens let Gillard speak, then they’ve got to extend the same courtesy to every dictator, tin pot tyrant and dodgy leader who wants to address to Parliament, too.

What utter rubbish.

Norman is letting principle get in the way of discretion.

There would be nothing stopping the Greens allowing Gillard to address Parliament and later vetoing leaders with whom they have a problem.

The veto by the Greens just makes them look petty.

Also ironic to have someone who spent most of their life as an Australian, protesting against letting the Australian PM address the NZ Parliament.

Carmel has done a gracious apology for her blog post blaming the publication of two victims of sexual abuse on the National Government’s civil service cuts (it turned out to be an error by the Judge). Her gracious apology is:

Oh right wingers. The day I apologise to the National Government or any of its members, will be the day that the National Government publically apologise to us for falsely accusing the former Labour Governement of causing the first recession in this country, rising unemployment, rising debt and the second recession….ain’t gonna happen eh:)

I admire a politician who can apologise when they get something totally wrong.

John Hartevelt reports:

Financial help for legal costs will be extended to all 150 Pike River miners and contractors who were employed when 29 men died at the mine last year.

Prime Minister John Key said surviving miners and contractors would have a crucial role in the Royal Commission of Inquiry. The Government had agreed to cover their legal costs.

Cabinet had already agreed to provide legal assistance to the families of those who died at the Pike River mine.

Today’s announcement was over and above that because it extended legal assistance to some of the 150 workers and contractors who might be required to contribute to the Royal Commission.

I doubt many would disagree with this decision. Generally I would not expect those who don’t face potential liability or criticism to need legal assistance or representation at the Royal Commission, but it would be harsh to make surviving miners etc pay for their own legal assistance.

I’ve got a mate’s wedding in the north of England in July, and am looking to spend some time holidaying in Scotland before the wedding. It would be stuipid to fly so far just for a weekend.

I’ve been to Scotland before but just Edinburgh for a couple of days – did a bus tour around a lake.

For those who have been to Scotland, what would you recommend in terms of both places to stay and things to do. Will have between one and two weeks in Scotland. Ideally we’d like to see some amazing scenery, do some walking or even cycling tracks, go out on some waterways etc. Also nice to see any historic sites but that is secondary to nice scenery.

Cost is of course a major factor, but not the most important factor.

Radio NZ reports:

Phil Goff says no one in caucus asked him to rule out working with the New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, should he be returned to Parliament.

Not even one Labour MP had the courage to say they had got it wrong in 2008, when they voted against the Privileges Committee report. Labour’s position continues to be that the following sequence of events is a coincidence:

1. Phone call between Owen Glenn and Winston Peters from 1.26 pm to 1.32 pm
2. A couple of minutes later Peters phones Brian Henry
3. At 1.40 pm Brian Henry e-mails Owen Glenn with his bank account number stating “further to your discussion with my client at 1.30 NZ time I provide my bank details”

This is a level of proof that Peters knew of the donation that would meet beyond reasonable doubt in a murder trial. Yet Labour continue to embrace Peters ridiculous denials that he did not know anything at all about the donation. They are unconcerned he lied to their own Prime Minister, to Parliament, to the Privileges Committee, to the media and to the public – dozens and dozens of times.

Labour’s unanimious embracing of Peters also means that they have absolutely no concerns about large undisclosed donations from companies or individuals whom benefit from policies that Winston forced Labour into agreeing to, in Government. So their credibility on electoral finance issues remains zero.

Many will have seen the story about how two victims of sex abuse were named on a Ministry of Justice website.

Simon Power announced there would be an independent review to find out how this happened.

Rather than wait for anything resmebling a fact, Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni announced she had worked out who was to blame – the National Government of course.

The breach of name suppression of two sex abuse victims by the Ministry of Justice is a mistake that should never have happened and is another example of the National Government’s failure to protect the rights of  victims.

Simon Power says he will be asking questions of the officials tomorrow morning to ascertain how this mistake occurred, when really he should be pointing the finger at himself and his Government.  The slash and burn cuts that the National Government have continued to make across the public sector, are inevitably going to result in mistakes being made.  The funding cuts to resources and jobs across the sector – equate to, additional pressure being placed on those still working there – leaving them stretched beyond the limit.

Rather sad that two victims of sexual abuse have had their identies revealed, and that Labour merely sees this as an opportunity to smear National and continue their ideological arguments that the public sector should be immune from the impact of a recession.

So was it some over-worked staffer in the Ministry of Justice who made an error, and ignored the Judge’s supression order? Is Carmel’s smear attack justified?

Well this later story reports:

The Chief High Court Judge, Justice Helen Winkelmann, says the court failed to note suppression rules on a judgement which led to the publication of the names of two sexual abuse victims on the Ministry of Justice website.

Justice Winkelmann, in a statement this evening following her inquiries, said it was an error and she very much regretted it had happened.

I’m amazed Labour have not yet found a way to blame the Canterbury Earthquake on public sector staff cuts.

NZPA report:

Plans for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to speak in Parliament during her visit to New Zealand this week have been opposed by the Green Party.

Ms Gillard, who arrives in New Zealand for the two-day visit tomorrow, will become the first foreign leader to speak in Parliament when she gives a speech on Wednesday.

She will speak in the debating chamber but not during a formal sitting of Parliament.

Speaking on Breakfast this morning, Prime Minister John Key said he had pushed for Ms Gillard to speak in Parliament but that there had been some opposition from the Green Party.

“You wouldn’t offer that opportunity to every leader, but Julia Gillard is not every leader, she is the Prime Minister of Australia,” Mr Key said.

“I think it’s only appropriate that any leader to speak in our Parliament would be an Australian because that is our most important, critical partner.”

Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman later issued a statement saying his party welcomed Ms Gillard’s visit and looked forward to hearing her address in Parliament.

However, he said the Greens thought that it was important her speech did not take place during a sitting session of Parliament.

“No one apart from New Zealand MPs has ever been allowed to address a sitting session of Parliament, not even our own Governor-General. It would set a precedent if the Australian PM does,” Dr Norman said.

“We think it is really important to maintain the democratic sovereignty of New Zealand’s Parliament, if we allow one Head of State to address a sitting session of Parliament, then we will inevitably allow other visiting dignitaries to do the same.

Dr Norman said changing the rule could “create a slippery slope” which could undermine Parliament’s sovereignty.

This really is pathethic behaviour from the Greens. The reason they are objecting is because a future Australian Prime Minister might be from the right, and they can’t concieve in their small little brains that it is more important to respect the role, than agree with someone’s politics.

Mature politicians can work with people from the other side of the spectrum. Key and Rudd were great examples of that. So were Howard and Clark.

Allowing the Prime Minister of Australia to address the NZ Parliament would be a very good way of highlighting the unique relationship we have with Australia.

Dr Norman also shows his ignorance of history by citing the fact the Governor-General can’t address Parliament as a reason why the PM of Australia should not. The ban on the GG is because they represent the Crown, and the Crown used to barge into Parliament and chop heads off MPs whom angered him or her. Hence, why the Commons is now off limit to them.

The latest press release from the Jedi:

The International Jedi Church, based in New Zealand, are terminating discussions with the Libertarianz Party due to significant differences in opinion.

The Jedi Church believes that the forthcoming census is extremely important so that we can manage our church resources effectively to our Jedi parishioners across New Zealand. In contrast, the Libertarianz Party is advising civil disobedience by encouraging people to burn their census papers.

It is noted that a recent response by Master Yoda, claiming to be of the Jedi High Council, was not an official response of Jedi Church NZ.

However, we concur with his thoughts. The Jedi Church believes in universal compassion. We advise that the leader of the Libertarianz Party, Richard McGrath, should “beware of the dark side”. Some freedoms create suffering for others. The Jedi Church believes we should live in a harmonious society, and that may necessitate some taxation and regulation.

The Jedi Church encourages all who believe their spirituality is innate, those who “feel the force”, should consider answering Jedi to the religion question in the forthcoming census. We note that the only issue the Jedi Church has with Statistics NZ, is that they require we pay for the data when other religions have the data published free of charge.

The Jedi Church was started by Reuben Jackson, in February 2003, in response to Statistics NZ claiming that Jedi was not an valid religion. Jackson took offence that Statistics NZ should make any such judgement of the validity of any religion, noting that Satanists, Witches and Scientologists were all treated as valid religions by the government department. Thus a website, www.jedichurch.org, was established to be the home of the Jedi religion, where the Jedi followers could meet and discuss their faith. The Jedi Church now has over 10000 registered members internationally, and over 1600 Facebook friends. There are new ministries of the Jedi faith starting all over the world continuously.  The Jedi Church website ranks #1 on google searches for phrases like “Jedi Religion” and “Jedi Faith”. In the 2006 census over twenty thousand people answered Jedi to the religion question in the census. The census is important to monitoring the growth of this popular religion. The Jedi faith is serious and is not a one time census anomaly.

The Jedi Church looks forward to entering into discussions with other political parties who do share our values. Winston Peters and Rodney Hyde should not apply.

Official Website of the Jedi Church NZ
www.jedichurch.org

2006 Census Jedi Breakdown in NZ
http://www.jedichurch.org/webapps/i/4448/5930/204814

It will be interesting to see how many Jedi declare their religion in the upcoming census. Interesting that last census 7% of Nelsonians declared themselves to follow the Jedi religion. Canterbury has the smallest proportion of Jedi, and they have had around 3,000 earthquakes in the last six months. Is there a link?

Heh, that is rather unfortunate placement of stalls and signs.

At Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt this weekend is a world invitational jousting competition.

There will be foot combats, seige engines, jousting and archery. Should be a fun day – especially if you have kids.

There’s also a competition for best costume.

The Age reports:

THE Coalition has opened an emphatic 54-46 per cent two-party lead in an Age/Nielsen poll that shows Labor’s primary vote and the Prime Minister’s popularity sliding.

This is the biggest lead the opposition has had over the Gillard government in Nielsen polls and – depending on preference allocation – probably its best result since early 2005. The Coalition’s two-party vote is up 3 percentage points since November, with Labor’s down 3 points.

On first preferences Labor is at 32% to 46% for the Coalition and 12% for the Greens.

Gillard still leads as Preferred PM 51% to 41% for Abbott, but (outside election campaigns) the incumbent PM almost always polls highest as Preferred PM. Key out polling Clark from Opposition as Preferred PM was a rare exception.

Back Benches is back in Wellington on Wednesday. At the Backbencher Pub at 9.10 pm. Come early for a pre-show drink or two.

MPs are:

• Annette King, Labour
• Chester Borrows, National
• John Boscawen, ACT
• Metiria Turei, Greens

Dear Stuff/Dom Post,

Parliament resumed last week. So where is our weekly politics trivia quiz?

If it does not appear soon, the suicide rate amongst political geeks may skyrocket.

Stuff reports:

Internal Affairs is looking into whether Telecom may have breached spam laws by sending text messages to customers that did not include instructions on how customers could unsubscribe from receiving such messages.

Telecom said its approach was “common practice”, meaning Internal Affairs’ ruling could have an impact on text and email marketing promotions run by other firms.

Victoria University law student Hamish McConnochie drew attention to the texts, promoting Telecom’s pre-pay top-ups and roaming services, claiming they probably fell foul of the Unsolicited Electronic Messaging Act, passed by the last Labour government in 2007. The act states that all commercial electronic messages must include instructions on how recipients can unsubscribe, unless they have reached an “arrangement or understanding” with recipients that these need not be included.

Telecom sent customers text messages in November telling recipients that unless they objected then, Telecom would deem they had agreed future text messages from the company need no longer include an opt-out message.

Spokeswoman Anna Skerten said those messages created such an arrangement. But Mr McConnochie said simply not responding to that text did not meet the threshold for an agreement under the act.

It’s arguable either way, but for my 2c I think an “arrangement” not to receive opt out instructions must in itself be something you opt into, not just decline to opt out of.

It will be interesting to see what DIA decides.