As you can see, I’m going for a non-wildlife shot today. This was from an area of Jilin (with 4 tiger reserves), but was based more on the local culture. I’m not entirely sure however, when red pvc shorts became part of traditional attire 😛

It’s more of a snapshot, as seating arrangements were forcing me to shoot between heads to just part of the stage.

Looks like a fine Spring day in Auckland, so I hope everybody else enjoys the day also.

There has been a bit of media attention of how C&R fared in Auckland – with them only getting 5/20 seats. And it is true they did fall short of their goals.

But there hasn’t been a lot of focus on how two other tickets fared – Labour and City Vision (which is Labour/Green basically).

Now C&R managed the following:

• 5 Councillors
• 32 Board members
• 3 Licensing Trust members
• 6 DHB members

So 46 reps elected.

City Vision only got a total of 12 candidates elected, and Labour got 14, six of whom are merely licensing trust reps.

So while not the result that C&R would have wanted, neither was it as bad as some media have made out.

I’ve had these in my pending queue for a while, but better late than never. I am a big fan of the humour and originality we see in some student media, and many who start in student media go on to be very good journalists. Some of the winners in 2010 were:

• Best Website – Craccum
• Best Original Photography – Canta
• Best Cartoonist – Craccum
• Best Humour Writer – Satellite
• Best Illustration – Critic
• Best Columnist – Canta
• Best Cover – Debate, Salient & Satellite
• Best Education Series – Critic & Salient
• Best Reviewer – Salient
• Best Sports Writer – Debate
• Best Headline – Craccum for “Lack of Fibre Makes Passing Motions Impossible; Exec Meeting Canned”
• Best News Writer (unPaid) – Canta
• Best Editorial Writer – Critic
• Best Feature Writer – Salient
• Best Feature Content – Canta
• Best Design – In Unison
• Best Small Publication – Magneto
• Best Publication – Critic

Canta, Critic and Salient all won four each. Craccum won three, Satellite and Debate two each, and one each to In Unison and Magneto.

Belated congrats to all the winners.

NZPA report:

Cabinet Minister Jonathan Coleman was breathing fire in Parliament this afternoon after a dig about his ability to help win by-elections for National struck home.

Labour’s Darren Hughes got under Mr Coleman’s skin in during question time today calling out “maestro” when Dr Coleman rose to answer a health question.

He then made a quip about Dr Coleman being the maestro of Mana — where National’s Hekia Parata is battling Labour’s Kris Fa’afoi to win November’s by-election.

Dr Coleman had a bad run with Melissa Lee during the Mt Albert by-election last year and it clearly still rankled.

Pointing his finger at Mr Hughes, he said: “I tell you what, if you want to go on like that we’re waiting for Chris Carter to start telling the truth about you Dazza. Alright so I would get back into your box if I were you buddy, because you are on his list.”

Dr Coleman was referring to a list of 17 MPs who Mr Carter says talked about rolling Labour leader Phil Goff.

I’m disappointed the Minister responded in the fashion in which he did. Frankly he should be able to handle what was a pretty gentle hassle.

UPDATE: I’ve deleted one paragraph, having been satisfied that I was being overly sensitive in my interpretation, and having now viewed the video, the exchange doesn’t seem particularly unusual. My regrets if the original post upset anyone.

NZPA reports:

Expelled Labour MP Chris Carter is to have his pay docked for not showing up to Parliament.

But the punishment is more in name than reality as he can only be stung for $10 a day missed. As an MP Mr Carter earns about $145,000 a year.

Mr Carter flew home to Auckland after being expelled from his party during a marathon six-hour meeting in Wellington on Monday night.

Mr Carter took six weeks off after being ousted from the parliamentary wing of his party.

Speaker Lockwood Smith said Mr Carter had now been absent for more than 14 sitting days and he could not certify his absence this week was because of illness or another good reason so deductions would start.

“I am making this public statement because it is important that members attend the House and be seen to do so,” Dr Smith said.

Carter has been seen at a gym in Auckland, rather than at Parliament.

If he refuses to turn up, then perhaps the House could instruct him to appear before it. Refusing to do so under those circumstances would be a contempt of Parliament.

All 33 miners have been rescued after 70 odd days trapped in a mine. It has been gripping viewing.  Damn insects got into my eyes a couple of times.

Yesterday was a break day (a great idea in a five day conference) and we went to the Toorak Sheep Station. I took a few photos which I will try and blog time permitting. was quite amusing.

Today’s agenda is:

• New Threats to Liberty and the Private Sphere – Nannies and Busybodies, Tax Harmonisation and the Surveillance State
  • Surveillance State – John Kampfner
  • Tax Harmonisation: A Threat to Liberty – Professor Sinclair Davidson
  • Nannies and Busy Bodies – Dr Eric Crampton
• New Developments in Economics: A Sceptical View
  • The Use of Happiness in Society – Dr Jason Potts
  • The Economist as Guru – Professor Geoffrey Brennan
  • Behavioral Economics, Law, and Liberty: The Never-ending Quest for the Third Way – Judge Douglas Ginsburg
• Science, Scepticism and the Future
  • Constructive Dissent – Professor Steven Schwartz
    What Does Climategate Say About Science? – Professor Terence Kealey

John Howard spoke yesterday on economic reform in Australia. They have been lucky in that they had continuous reform from 1983 to 2007 – the Hawke, Keating and Howard Governments all put a premium on increasing the rate of productivity growth. While under the last Government, the rate of productivity growth was anaemic.

Eric Crampton’s presentation on how paternalistic busybodies use dodgy economics as justification for all sorts of interventions and compulsions was superb. Hopefully he will be able to blog it.

There are over 300 (not 200) people here and an amazing range of people. Many former Ministers, top academics, a couple of nobel prize winners or nominees, senior govt officials and the like. But they also have fellowships which get a lot of younger people here. One of them in a lunch-time address said how great it was to be at a conference with so many people he has foot-noted or referenced in his academic writings.

The NZ contingent numbers 22 and we had a fun group dinner on Tuesday evening.

Simon Power has announced a review of new media:

Justice Minister Simon Power has asked the Law Commission to review the adequacy of regulations around how the Internet interacts with the justice system.

“I’ve ordered this review because it’s imperative the law keeps pace with technology and that we have one set of rules for all news media,” Mr Power said.

I am a supporter of there being a review, and have in fact advocated for it. But I have to say the way the Minister has framed it is regrettable and rather confrontational.

First of all it may make a nice slogan, but the status quo doesn’t have one set of rules – broadcast media have very different rules to print media.

“At the moment we’ve got two tracks – conventional media and the so-called ‘new media’ – intersecting with the justice system, and it’s not sustainable.

“It’s a bit of a Wild West out there in cyberspace at the moment, because bloggers and online publishers are not subject to any form of regulation or professional or ethical standards.

This is another slogan which means little (and remember I do actually favour a review). First of all bloggers are subject to the law – as have been demonstrated of late. The notion of regulating bloggers (beyond the normal requirement to obey the law) or imposing some sort of “professional standards” on them is ridicolous fancy. Bloggers are simply citizens having a say. Simon Power makes it sound like he thinks you should have to apply for permission to have a voice online. Now that may not be Simon’s intent, but the way he has framed this issue is incredibly bad.

“Issues I’m concerned about include how trials can be prejudiced by information posted on websites and seen by jurors, real-time online streaming of court cases, breaches of court suppression orders, and re-publication of a libel.

Issues which I helped facilitate discussion of at last year’s R v the Internet seminar. They are good issues to discuss.

It will focus on whether either of the two existing industry watchdogs – the Broadcasting Standards Authority and the Press Council – could provide a suitable vehicle for regulating unregulated forms of new media.

Yeah, and lets also give them the power to fine MPs if they say nasty things on their Facebook pages.

Having said that, it is worth noting the Press Council is self-regulation, not external regulation. One could discuss options such as allowing bloggers to voluntarily sign up to the Press Council, if they wish to do so as a way to enhance their reputation. But you then have issues around who covers costs of the Council – considering most blogs are non-commercial.

Mr Power says the public will have the opportunity to have their say when the commission releases an issues paper by December next year.

That is December 2011? Good – this should not be rushed.

As I said I am pleased the Law Commission is doing this review, as there are potentially even benefits for bloggers in it. But the way the Minister’s press statement has framed the issues is not good, and likely to rub a lot of people up the wrong way.

I will be advocating to the Law Commission, and InternetNZ, that they look to convene some workshops next year to discuss and define some of the issues.

A young guy manages to hack the teleprompter of a TV station, editing what they are saying live on air to around one million viewers. He speed the speed up at one stage and then had them announce he had won a nobel prize for engineering but was unable to pick it up as he had a date with the female presenter!

What a great prank. Someone should hire him!

UPDATE: Damn – it is fake – see comments. What a pity.

Zealandia, also known as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary has announced:

Admission to Wellington’s world-first wildlife sanctuary, ZEALANDIA, is free for all locals this Saturday and Sunday!

We are now 15 years into an incredible journey to restore a corner of NZ as closely as possible to the way it was before humans arrived. To celebrate, entry will be FREE for locals* between 11am-5pm this Saturday and Sunday. There will also be FREE boat rides, FREE ranger talks, FREE tours of the weta cave and FREE kids’ activity packs all day.

ZEALANDIA is New Zealand’s most well-established fenced mainland ‘conservation island’ and a flagship educational facility. Explore the brand new exhibition, where NZ’s extraordinary conservation story is brought to life with state-of-the-art multimedia exhibits. Then step outside into the sanctuary valley where you can see tuatara, saddleback, kaka and dozens more iconic native animals in the wild.

I’m in Sydney on Saturday still, but might visit on Sunday and see how it has changed since my last visit.

I just got 8/10 in 32 seconds. But it should be 9/10. The quiz is here.

Q5 is “Where is Heather Roy ranked on the ACT party’s list”.

The correct answer is 2, as one can see here.

The Dom Post quiz says the correct answer is 5. But that is her current caucus ranking, not her list ranking. Two very different things.

The Herald reports:

Labour MP Charles Chauvel is thought to be one of the three members of Parliament Chris Carter claims he plotted with about a leadership change on the night before he sent an anonymous letter to media.

Mr Chauvel denied plotting against Labour leader Phil Goff but said he could have been in Mr Carter’s office on July 28 – the night on which Mr Carter claimed he met with three other Labour MPs to discuss the best time for a leadership change. …

His submission to the disciplinary meeting in defence of his actions was leaked to media and included the July 28 meeting as well as a further claim that there were 17 Labour MPs with whom he had discussed a change of leadership.

I think on this occasion, Chris Carter is telling the truth. And the Labour MPs all denying that have ever had any such descussion about the leadership are probably relying on Clintonian definitions.

I have some experience of being in an Opposition (as staff, not MP) which is struggling in the polls. Let me tell you that the leadership is discussed constantly, and by most MPs. The notion that Labour has spent two years in Opposition, are constantly 20%+ behind in the polls, has a Leader who fails to make 10% as Preferred PM, yet they have never discussed leadership options is insane. I would even wager on any given night there are MPs talking leadership options. This is how MPs socialise – discussing who will be the next Leader, and when. Most of us discuss the rugby – MPs discuss the leadership!

So Carter I am pretty sure is telling the truth that he would have discussed leadership changes with at least 17 MPs.

Now Labour MPs in their denials use terms such as “plot”, saying “I have not plotted against Phil Goff”. This is different to have you ever discussed the leadership and under what situation would you want to change it (such as Labour staying below 30% for more than three months). An MP will not regard their frequent conversations as plotting, until it reaches the stage that there is a definite challenger and you are commiting yourself to that challenger.

As far as I know there is no challenger (mind you Shane Jones looked like he would before his hotel porn episode put paid to that), and hence Labour MPs can deny formal plotting. But as sure as hell, a very common topic of conversation will be the leadership and whether they would do better under another leader.

Carter suggests that in at least one discussion, they had discussed the best time for a leadership change. Again, this is quite plausible, but it does not mean there was in fact someone willing to challenge. The conventional wisdom is you don’t change leaders in election year, so any change would have to occur in the second half of 2010. It would be quite natural for MPs to be talking in terms of “If there is a challenge, then it has to be in November”.

So if Carter does name any names, the questions that should be put to them is not “Were you plotting to roll Phil Goff?” to which they can honestly answer “No” but “Did you have discussions with Chris Carter about the leadership of Labour?” which they will find it harder to deny.

UPDATE: A reader writes in:

Both Chris Carter and Charles Chauvel were on the Select committee hearing submissions on the Local Government Amendment Bill over the period that Carter drafted and dropped off his letter.  Indeed they sat next to each other.

Carter was really edgy and kept on getting up and leaving and at one point he asked Chauvel to leave the room with him.  They had a 5 minute chat and then they both came back into the room.  Chauvel was then looking just as worried as Carter.  At the time I thought it all very strange and was wondering what was going on.  I then heard the news on the radio as I was driving and everything fell into place……

Very interesting information.

The 2009/10 annual report is here. One extract:

In 2009/10 we received 164 delay complaints against Ministers and central government agencies. This is down 23 per cent on 2008/09 numbers, and 43 per cent on 2007/08 numbers, and is the lowest number of delay complaints received since 1993/94

That’s great – suggest there has perhaps been a significant culture change.

The report provides a good breakdown of which agencies had the most complaints. However it does not report which agencies had the most complaints upheld against them – which could be the more relevant stat. One persistent complainer could warp the stats for an agency.

New Zealand has again been judged to have the 5th smallest gender gap in the world, for at least the third year running. The only countries higher are Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

The UK is 15th, US 19th, Canada 20th and Australia 23rd.

Down the bottom we have Yemen, Chad, Pakistan, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire.

Labour MP Sue Moroney has said:

Today’s Global Gender Gap report, written by the World Economic Forum, shows NZ sliding towards a lower ranking says Labour Spokesperson for Women’s Affairs, Sue Moroney.

“For the first time in five years, New Zealand’s score has dropped and while it retained its fifth-placed ranking, it is now at risk of being overtaken by Ireland in next year’s report unless the Government stops going backwards on wage equality for similar work, enrolment of women in tertiary education, literacy rates for females, female to male wage ratios, and women in Ministerial positions.

“The international report shows NZ has gone backwards in five key areas for women in 2010 after having made steady progress in the previous four years,” said Sue Moroney.

Now the overall score has slightly declined, but let us look at these “five key areas” where Moroney claims NZ is going backwards. She cites one as enrolment of women in tertiary education.

Now in fact women massively outnumber men in tertiary education. In 2009 the ratio was 1.49 to 1 and in 2010 it was 1.48 to 1. So Moroney is actually complaining that men are slighlt less disadvantaged in an area where they are massively disadvantaged. Moroney has taken an idiotic stance that the higher the ratio is for women, the better for NZ. So in her world a 5:1 ration of women over men in tertiary education would be better than 4:1.

And on the issue of gender pay gap, the Herald reported:

Last week Women’s Affairs Minister Pansy Wong praised the latest New Zealand Income Survey results, saying they showed the gender pay gap was closing, down from 11.3 per cent last year to 10.6 per cent.

But Pay and Employment Equity Coalition spokeswoman Angela McLeod said at the time that the apparent drop was a result of a poor economy.

“Incomes are dropping and more households are dependent on women’s lower paid work.

“This is not a real closing of the gender pay gap, but an outcome of the recession and higher unemployment,” Ms McLeod said.

Now I actually agree with McLeod. One doesn’t celebrate a lower gender gap on the basis that both men’s and women’s wages have fallen, but men have fallen slightly more closing the gap.

But this is what many on the left effectively advocate with their insistence of reducing income inequality. They regard it as horrendous that the top 10% income earners wages by go up 5% if the bottom 10% only go up 4%. But they celebrate NZ is a more equal society if the top 10% have their wages drop 5%, so long as the bottom 10% only have their wages drop 4%.

Porirua also elects their Mayor with STV, so I figured I would also look at how their election went. There were five main candidates (and four others) – Cr Nick forLeggett, Deputy Mayor Litea Ah Hoa, former Race Relations Conciliator Gregory Fortuin, Cr Liz Kelly, former Cabinet Minister Russell Marshall and Mike Duncan.

On 1st preferences the results were:

1. Leggett 37%
2. Ah Hoy 18%
3. Fortuin 13%
4. Kelly 10%
5. Marshall 8%

After eliminating the four minor candidates, it was:

1. Leggett 42%
2. Ah Hoy 20%
3. Fortuin 16%
4. Kelly 12%
5. Marshall 10%

So Leggett picked up the plurality of the vote from the minors.  Then Marshall dropped out:

1. Leggett 45%
2. Ah Hoy 22%
3. Fortuin 18%
4. Kelly 14%

Kelly went next:

1. Leggett 52%
2. Ah Hoy 26%
3. Fortuin 22%

So Leggett won quite easily – and with an iteration to spare.  What helped him is that he picked up a plurality of the preferences from each defeated candidate as they dropped out (except for the first two minor ones).

Leggett started off with fewer first preferences that Kerry Prendergast. But as he was not the incumbent Mayor, he was able to pick up many of the second preferences from candidates as they dropped out. This is harder for an incumbent to do, as people often rate you first or last.

Jared Savage in the Herald reports:

The only child of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe has broken her silence to ask the police to re-investigate the unsolved murders of her parents 40 years ago.

Rochelle Crewe – just 18 months old when found crying in her cot five days after the Crewes were last seen alive – has written to Police Commissioner Howard Broad to request that the case be reopened.

It would be nice to know for sure, but most of the suspects are now dead. So who are the suspects:

1. Harvey Crewe – a murder suicide?
2. Arthur Allan Thomas – he was framed, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t him does it?
3. Len Demler – the most frequent suspect?
4. Detective Len Johnston – the Wishart theory?

I tend towards (3).

UPDATE: Just had a call from someone who was in Parliament when the pardon was debated in Parliament. They report that on three occasions an MP referred to Thomas as having been found innocent, and PM Muldoon correctly interjected each time “He was not found innocent”.

John Key announced on Tuesday:

New Zealand has designated a further seven international terrorist groups under the Terrorism Suppression Act, Prime Minister John Key announced today.

The entities are: Indian Mujahideen, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the military wing of Hamas (Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades), the Real Irish Republican Army, the Continuity Irish Republican Army, the New Peoples Army/Communist Party of the Philippines, and Hizbollah’s military wing (The Islamic Resistance).

“These designations help implement our international obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, which is aimed at preventing the activities of terrorists,” says Mr Key.

“All seven of the entities have carried out various terrorist acts, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

Sounds entirely sensible. I mean who could object to that? No-one right?

I spoke too soon.

Enter the Green Party:

One of my aims, as a Green MP, has been to get New Zealand to specialise in international peacemaking, using Norway as a model.

Norway has used its good offices, and specialist advisers, to sponsor peace talks in Sri Lanka, Sudan, the Middle East, and the Philippines.

It has been able to play this mediating role because it has not declared any of the parties to the talks as terrorist organisations. …

Yesterday John Key followed suit, putting these two organisations on New Zealand’s terrorist list.

He also put six other organisations on the list, including the military wings of Hamas and Hizbollah. This is plain silly, when surely the main task of countries like New Zealand is to encourage peace negotiations between Israel and the governments in Gaza (Hamas) and Lebanon (where the government includes Hizbollah ministers).

Official statement from the Green Party. They are against sanctions (which is what happens when you designate an organisation as a terrorist activity) against terrorists, because calling them terrorists hurts their feelings.

Yep, don’t block access to their bank accounts, don’t try and stop weapons being sold to them. Because you may offend them, by calling them terrorists.

According to Wikipedia the Indian Mujahideen in seven bombings have killed 203 people and injured a further 703. Palestinian Islamic Jihad has killed 211 and injured 605 in around 20 attacks. The Real IRA and Continuity IRA are the lunatics still planting bombs in Ireland and England. Keith commie friends in the Philippines want to replace a democratic state with a Maoist one party state.

It may have escaped Keith’s notice that these organisations are not that keen on peace.

Some bloke has done a video attacking John Ansell for his campaign against the repeal of the Foreshore & Seabed Act. The only problem is he’s used a photo of me, instead of John!

It would have been very amusing to see Paul Henry on Breakfast TV, discussing the Te Papa “ban” on pregnant and menstruating women. I suspect he would have exploded with indignation, and with Pippa being pregnant also, could have been superb viewing.

Amazing viewing of the rescue of the Chilean miners. The emotions are so strong you can feel them half a world away. It’s a nice reminder of our shared humanity.

Celia Wade-Brown has won the Wellington mayoralty by 176 votes. She is nominating Andy Foster as Deputy Mayor.

Celia ran a good campaign and congrats to her. Commisserations to Kerry Prendergast who I think has served Wellington well over many years.

Out at a sheep station today, so play amongst yourselves!