Don’t agree with it, but I have to say a pretty damn effective attack ad. I wonder if that is a professional actress – too good to be an amateur I reckon.

Both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are no longer available on Sky, on the NZ Comedy Central channel.

Aaaaarrrrgh.

I don’t know who made the decision, but I’d like to shoot them. Both those shows were on my daily record series.

If you want to help push for their return, you can join the Facebook Group asking for that.

And people wonder why people use bit torrent? I pay almost $100/month to Sky so I can legally view overseas content such as the Daily Show. Take away my only legal way of viewing it, and well what a great incentive you give me.

Stuff reports:

The race for Chris Carter’s plum Te Atatu seat is suddenly wide open after a rush of nominations.

Apart from Mr Carter, who is still seeking the nomination despite being expelled from the Labour caucus, it is believed six people are vying to stand in the seat for Labour at the next election.

Among those believed to have thrown their hats into the ring are list MPs Phil Twyford and Darien Fenton and former Epsom candidate Kate Sutton. Another of Labour’s 2008 candidates, Hamish McCracken, could also be in the mix.

Twyford v Fenton could be interesting as there is a bit of history of tension there. After Twyford missed out on Waitakere, someone suggested on his Facebook page he could consider Northcote. Darien jumped in and basically said naff off, she’s been working hard there.

Kate Sutton would be fairly strong contender, but I don’t know if she has Westie roots. Hamish McCracken seems to try for every seat.

Will it be 4th time lucky for Twyford? Will Carter be expelled? Will Carter stand as an Independent if he is? To find out tune back in tomorrow at the same bat time on the same bat channel!

UPDATE: Carter has announced he will not stand in 2011:

Member of Parliament for Te Atatu (Labour), Chris Carter, has announced his decision to withdraw his candidacy for the Labour Party in the electorate of Te Atatu for the 2011 General Election.

“In good conscience I cannot campaign on behalf of a leader I have criticised,” said Mr Carter. “It would not be fair to him or ethical of me.

So not standing, as he can’t honestly say he supports Goff.

“Of course there are some things I wish I had handled differently. At the same time I also regret that, during the pressures I have faced in the past year, I did not receive the support, advice or guidance I expected from my party leadership. However I want to look forward to focussing on continuing to serve the people of my electorate and it is for the Labour Caucus to resolve the Leadership Question.

I can’t imagine Phil Goff’s initial response to the Paul Henry comments would have helped his position with some of his caucus members. Goff’s response was that it was just “Paul being Paul”. Goff could have inflicted some damage on John Key if it were not for that initial response. I can only imagine how furious some Labour MPs are at Goff for the missed opportunity.

‘I look forward to seeing Labour returned to the Treasury benches in the near future.”

Chris has also said that Labour can not win under Goff. So his implication is pretty obvious.

Apollo 13: Mission Control will be performed at Downstage from 30 October to 18 December.

Attending will be a fun experience, as the audience get to participate and make certain decisions.

As part of the promotion for the show, Kiwiblog has five free double passes which can be redeemed for tickets in the first two weeks of the season.

Below are five questions about Apollo 13. If you are the first person to supply a correct answer in the comments, you win one double pass.

Do not answer more than one question. You can only win one pass. If you answer multiple questions, then you will not win anything.

If you are not in a position to actually use the tickets, then please don’t answer.

Okay, so the questions are:

1. How many seconds, in total, was the duration of the Apollo 13 mission (take off to landing)
2. What is the name of the ship which picked up the crew of Apollo 13 after they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean?
3. A more formal designation for the Apollo 13 mission was Eastern Test Range #XXXX – what was the four digit number designation
4. One of the crew was later elected to the US Congress. How long did he serve for?
5. What is the fastest velocity or speed obtained by an Apollo space craft, in metres/seconds? A clue – it was Apollo 10.

I will update this post with the correct answers and winners. Winners then need to e-mail me their name and address.

ANSWERS:

1. The duration was 5 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 41 seconds. Each component is 41 + 3240 + 79200 + 432000 = 514,481 seconds
2. The ship was the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship
3. The designation was Eastern Test Range #3381
4. Pilot Jack Swigert was elected to Congress as the Representative for Colorado’s 6th in November 1982. He died on 27 December 1982, a week before he was sworn in
5. Apollo 10 reached a maximum velocity of 39,897 km/hr which is 11,082.50 metres per second. Almost impossible to imagine travelling 11 kms in a single second.

The winners are taranaki, Graeme Edgeler, J Mex, themono and aucklandmedic. Well done.

The Herald reports on the achievement rates gender gap:

The achievement gap between boys and girls is widening. Last year, half of female students at secondary schools passed NCEA Level 3 or gained sufficient attainment to attend university, while 37.1 per cent of male pupils passed.

The growing failure of boys in the education system is a scandal. If it was girls, there would be demands for the UN to investigate this discrimination, commissions of inquiry etc etc.

No doubt  there are many factors at play, but one stat I recall is that there has been no new single sex boys schools built in 30+ years.

The Herald reports:

Singapore Airlines, the world’s second-largest carrier by market capitalisation, said it will equip long-range wide-body planes with internet and phone-message access to meet growing demand from business travellers.

The carrier said yesterday it had signed a contract with OnAir NV, an on board-communications provider part-owned by aircraft maker Airbus, to install Wi-Fi internet and mobile phone links on the planes in 2011.

I don’t care about the mobile phone links, but I do want Internet access. Lufthansa used to have it, and it was superb. Rather than face a huge amount of work to catch up on when you land, you just use the plane as a mobile office.

For me, offering on board Internet will be a major factor in deciding which airline to fly with, if the flights are more than eight hours.

Went to see Deadly at Downstage tonight. Beforehand at The Tasting Room, Auckland Girl asked me what it was about.

My response was “a man, a woman, seven deadly sins and acrobatics”.

And in a way that does sum the production up. This was not a traditional play with a plot. In fact there was no dialogue at all (well not in English).

This is not a play to bring the kiddies to. It is very sensual, almost erotic. The first segment has the two performers nibbling and almost devouring each other – it was like an extended foreplay session – but in a very artful way.

The male performer, Rodrigo Osis, has abs that would have even the Queen Mother drooling. And his partner, Virginia Molina, also has a wonderfully crafted body. They do amazing feats of strength on the poles, ropes and swings – at one stage Osis holds himself up purely by wrapping his foot and ankle around the pole.

It was quite a challenge working out for each segment, which of the seven sins they were on. If you attend, you may want to make sure you know them all in advance!

The overall performance is just over an hour, and it was hugely enjoyable. A definite recommendation for couples to go see and enjoy.

Stuff reports:

Secret details of an $810 dinner Manukau mayor Len Brown charged to his council credit card are unlikely to be revealed before this weekend’s local body election, the Ombudsman says.

Why not you ask? Do they not have to obey the law?

In what was possibly the most memorable part of this year’s local body election campaign, Brown gave an emotional and passionate address to his council colleagues about the dinner. He punched his head and chest and said he would “never” reveal who attended.

“Will I give you the names? Never. I want to tell you that, I feel so intensely strong about this.”

So Len’s position is clear – he will never ever voluntarily reveal the names, despite ratepayers paying for the dinner. But Manukau City Council knows and they can be ordered to do so under the Official Information Act.

The Ombudsman received a number of complaints about Brown’s refusal to name those who he took to Volare.

It was hoped a decision would be made by the end of this week, but that is now unlikely.

“We are pushing this as fast as we can,” an Ombudsman spokswoman said today.

“There has been huge controversy around this. We understand people wanted to know about this before they voted.”

However the Ombudsman was required, by law, to consult with the Privacy Commissioner before reaching a decision.

This week commissioner Marie Shroff asked a set of questions of Manukau City Council about the dinner.

She wanted to know “whether the attendees knew they were accompanying Brown in his capacity as mayor” and “did they know the dinner was being charged to his mayoral credit card”.

Reasonable questions to ask. And very easy to answer.

But the council’s chief executive Leigh Auton told the Ombudsman there would not be enough time to answer the questions before the election.

Outraegous. My God – this involves around 30 minutes of phone calls, and they have 500 or so staff. One has to suspect this is a deliberate obstruction. Why are they so desperate to not name those who had dinner shouted?Is it because their identities would be in conflict with the reason giving for paying?

Auton was first notified of the complaint against his council in August.

It is understood an urgent telephone conference was being held this afternoon between the Ombudsman and Auton.

Sadly, even if it comes out tomorrow, it will be too late. But the Ombudsman should not reward the Council for stonewalling, and order the names released this week.

If we ever wanted a priceless example of how Labour regard taxpayers and Parliament, it is this blog post from Trevor Mallard:

She is a member of the Electoral Legislation Committee. It sat from 10am to 4pm today with a 45 minute lunch break.  Anyone who was outside Room 3 Parliament House would have seen her going into the room and coming out with other members of the committee.

Asked Nats why she wasn’t working on her campaign.

” No one would replace her.”

“Slack discipline.”

Don’t think they believe they have a chance – but they didn’t  need to throw in the towel so early.

So just think about this. Hekia is paid by the taxpayers to be a Member of Parliament. Her role as a by-election candidate is supplemental to that – ie to be done when not conflicting with parliamentary duties.

But Trevor wonderfully shows us what Labour thinks of that notion – scorn and derision.

Now everyone knows that Mana is not marginal. For National to win would require two unique firsts – a Government to win a seat off the Opposition in a by-election and for Mana to vote National. But having said that, Hekia is working very hard on the campaign. But unlike Trevor I don’t think that means she should never turn up to the House and not turn up to select committees.

Reuters reports:

Jewish settlers on Tuesday gave new copies of the Koran to Palestinians in a West Bank village whose mosque was burnt in an attack blamed by Palestinians on militants in the settler movement.

Several copies of Islam’s holy book were scorched in the arson attack and threats in Hebrew were scrawled on the wall of the mosque of Beit Fajjar early on Monday.

The village sits on the edge of the sprawling Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Etzion.

Suspicion immediately fell on settler militants opposed to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, in which some settlements would be turned over to a Palestinian state.

“This visit is to say that although there are people who oppose peace, he who opposes peace is opposed to God,” said Rabbi Menachem Froman, a well-known peace activist and one of a handful of settlers who went to Beit Fajjar to show solidarity with their Muslim neighbours.

This is a nice story, and something it would be good to see more of. All religions have extremists (some have more than others), but they also have moderates. And when extremists do something in the name of your religion, it helps if others in that religion decry them, or as in this case show in a practical sense your disgust.

A fascinating story by Michael Field at Stuff:

“We, the leaders of main Sikh organisations of New Zealand, have discussed the issue of voter fraud in Papatoetoe in detail,” the statement said.

“We express grave concern at the finger of suspicion pointing towards a group of individuals belonging to the Sikh community of New Zealand.”

He said the people under investigation for alleged voter fraud had earlier “hijacked” the New Zealand Sikh Society.

This sounds like a very interesting story to be told.

“Our community has a history in New Zealand going back to at least 1890 and have always worked hard and honestly,” Mr Singh said.

“It will be an understatement that the community has been increasingly fearful of this group under investigation as they have not only been entrenching themselves in government departments but also criminalising members of our community through duping them into making false declarations in immigration applications.”

I do feel very sorry for the wider Sikh community, because many will judge them negatively based on the alleged criminal actions of a few.

Mr Singh said they had complained to Members of Parliament, cabinet ministers and government departments over the group.

“Each time the community’s complaints were given superficial treatment.”

Could that be because those being complained about are involved in a political party, and have political protection like Bill Liu and Taito Field did?

The wider Sikh community was grateful the police were now investigating the alleged voter fraud and he called on government agencies to widen their investigations.

“On our part, we commit to providing these agencies every help we can just as we have done and are doing with the police in their investigation of voter fraud.”

If there are wider allegations of criminal behaviour, then they should also be investigated.

The finalists for the Open Source Awards:

This year there are 31 finalists across eight categories.

SilverStripe, the R Project and the IRD make the finalist list twice, while Tabitha Roder is shortlisted in three categories. The ‘Open Source Use in Business’ and ‘Open Source Project’ Awards were the two most entered categories.

This year’s shortlist reflects the diversity and innovation of open source projects today. Don Christie, Judge and Director of Catalyst IT, which champions the Awards, says: “The popularity of the Business and Project categories reflects the growing foothold open source has in the business world. People are really beginning to see open source not only as a viable alternative to proprietary software, but also as a complementary option to run alongside existing and new software choices.

“This is contrasted by inventive use of open source in the Arts category, which showcases the many possible ways open source software can feed innovation and creativity.”

The Awards are about raising the profile of open source and free software in general and from Thursday 7th October the public can vote for the winner of the ‘People’s Choice’ Award at www.nzosa.org.nz/nominations.

The winners of the Awards will be announced at a gala event on Tuesday 9th November in Wellington. Mark Cubey, Producer of Radio New Zealand’s ‘Saturday Morning with Kim Hill’ will be the MC and Jay Daley, CEO of the New Zealand Registry Service, will be a guest speaker.

The full list of finalists is:

Open Source in Government

IRD’s use of Moodle

NIWA Ocean Survey 20/20 Portal

DigitalNZ’s initiative to make New Zealand digital content easy to find, share and use IRD’s Online Consultation

Open Source in Education

Albany Senior High School

Tabitha Roder for One Laptop per Child (OLPC) R Project – a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics Paul Seiler for contributions to MLE and OERNZ

Open Source Use in Business

Ponoko – the hub of a global personal manufacturing eco-system that brings together creators, digital fabricators, materials suppliers and buyers to make almost anything SilverStripe – a New Zealand-made CMS that has been downloaded more than 325,000 times globally in less than four years MusicHype – an online music venue that uses a custom built ‘Appreciation Engine’

Adaxa – the Adaxa Suite of combined ERP, CRM, Document Management, VoIP, CMS and BI tools

Open Source Use in the Arts

Ghosts in the Form of Gifts – the use of open source technologies and design to recreate some of the lost treasures of the Te Papa collection from photographs and drawings Libsparrow – an artwork entirely based on open source software that has been on show at the Dowse Art Gallery Speed of Sound – a music visualisation installation using open source

Open Source Project

SilverStripe – a New Zealand-made CMS that has been downloaded more than 325,000 times globally in less than four years Kete – a product that enables communities to collaboratively build their own digital libraries, archives and repositories R Project – a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics

Open Source Advocate

Linux.conf.au organisers Andrew & Suzanne Ruthvern Tabitha Roder for One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Software Freedom Day organisers Jayne Wallis & Ruth McDavitt

Open Source Contributor

Tabitha Roder for One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Eion Robb for Pidgin Resolve Digital’s contribution of the Refinery CMS to the Ruby on Rails community Gource – a tool for visualising the history and development of software projects

People’s Choice

(Vote for the winner of this category from 7th October by visiting

www.nzosa.org.nz/nominations.)

Mark Osborne, Albany Senior High School

Lianne Dalziel, MP, for her work as Chair of the Commerce Select Committee
DaviCal – a server for calendar sharing Amie McCarron for the Alcoholics Anonymous NZ websites
NZOSS Public Sector Remix – a project to demonstrate the viability of free open source software on public sector desktops
The Tumanako Project – produces components for several high-power electric motor and battery applications

I’m one of the judges, and it has been great to read about all the different ways people are using open source software. For me open source is not about cost, but about collaboration.

This week’s politics quiz is here.

Pleased to get 10/10. The final two questions may trip a few up. Time was 1:02 but that was because of slow Internet.

I am trying to get hold of a copy of the court judgment in the 1993 Onehunga Electoral Petition.

If anyone has access to an electronic/scanned copy of this, I’d greatly appreciate a copy.

If you have a physical copy, I’d be keen to borrow it.

Failing that, any ideas on where I can get hold of a copy? I presume the National Library?

Ecorazzi report:

The former captain of the Ady Gil, who was arrested (and later set free on a suspended sentence) after boarding a Japanese whaling vessel, has lashed out at the group — calling them “dishonest” and “morally bankrupt”.

“I am asking that from now on, SSCS determine to act in an honest way with its volunteers, supporters and media,” he writes on his Facebook page. “SSCS does not need to lie. Saving whales, dolphins, tuna and sharks are noble causes, and the public will embrace these as worthwhile. The story does not need to be manipulated and changed in order to get public support.”

Hard to know who to support when it is Bethune against Sea Shepherd. But Bethune is now exposing the lies of Sea Shepherd:

Pete says:  ”After the ramming of the Ady Gil, Chuck said to me that Paul, the Admiral of the Sea Shepherd fleet, wanted me to scuttle the Ady Gil. He said there was no point in towing the boat all the way to the French base, and that it would be best if the boat was just sunk and we could get on with chasing the whalers. Later that day, Chuck and I went to the Ady Gil, and I performed the necessary tasks with Chuck observing. Ady Gil then gradually took on water, and later that night she was left to sink, while the Bob Barker moved on to pursue the fleet.”

“I felt horrid before, during and after the scuttling and I have felt terrible about it ever since. It broke me heart to sink a vessel that had been such a big part of my life, and I also felt we had betrayed SSCS sponsors, SSCS supporters, Ady Gil, and the public by lying about it. It was a totally dishonest thing to do and as a conservation group, the order is a total breach of ethics.”

“I sincerely regret my role in this. I apologise unreservedly to Ady Gil, and Sea Shepherd Volunteers and supporters, all of whom I have let down. It was the wrong thing to do, and while I was under orders to do so, I should have refused to carry out the instructions. I am resigning from Sea Shepherd forthwith.”

Well he has just gone up in my estimation.

Pete Says: “When I met with Paul Watson in July 2009, he gave me permission to take a Bow and Arrow to Antarctica, with the idea of pasting a poison on the arrow tips (or fake poison), and firing them into dead whales while they were being transferred from harpoon vessel to processing ship. When I met Paul on the Steve Irwin in Antarctica, I confirmed all tactics, and he again said I had permission to use the bow and arrow if we came across a suitable situation.”

“After the Ady Gil was scuttled, crew of the Shonan Maru found four arrows in the water. SSCS issued a press release denying all knowledge of the arrows, suggesting instead that the whalers had planted them as false evidence. There was no need to say anything at all. The story was the Ady Gil had sunk…not that some arrows had been found. No one really cared about four arrows when the whalers had explosive harpoons and 12 gauge shotguns.”

“In issuing the press release, SSCS was lying to media. It was a mistake to ever deny the arrows, and the communications debacle since then has been a total disgrace

The ones who should take notice of this are the media. They tend to report the claims of the whalers and Sea Shepherd equally, as equally credible. They now have proof that Sea Shepherd blatantly lie to them. They should not publish allegations from Sea Shepherd in the future unless they can be substantiated.

Pete says, “A number of crew on the Bob Barker and Steve Irwin were discussing the alleged shooting of Paul Watson. In the first series of Whale Wars, Paul Watson was supposedly shot by crew of the Nisshin M…aru. SSCS Crew present on that voyage argued strongly to me that the entire episode was faked. I was not on the campaign, so in fact I don’t know if it is in fact true or not. However given what I’ve witnessed in the last year, and my knowledge of the Japanese crew, I would bet $500,000 at odds of 10:1, that the event was staged. The shooting represents just another lie that does little for the credibility of SSCS. The organisation does not need to lie or be deceptive to sell its message. The public will support the cause of stopping whaling, however they will not support SSCS if they become aware of the many lies the organisation increasingly propagates through media.”

I am actually against the Japanese whaling tactics. However I am against SSCS even more. Their tactics actually help the Japanese whalers. I’ll take an honest whaler over a dishonest environmentalist. I will give credit here to Greenpeace who have campaigned on this issue without the lies and violence of SSCS.

Pete says, “What really concerns me most is the apparent moral bankruptcy of senior SSCS personnel. They routinely conspire and lie over serious matters, with little regard for people like myself who they malign and bulldoze along the way. They misrepresent themselves to the public who are generous enough to support them, and to media who they rely on to promote their cause.”

“The short time I have been associated with SSCS, and the sheer number of lies I’ve witnessed, makes me realise there is a large and increasing number of skeletons hidden in the SSCS closet. It is time for this closet to be closed (or opened fully) and for the organisation to move on. I am asking that from now on, SSCS determine to act in an honest way with its volunteers, supporters and media. SSCS does not need to lie.

I think this makes it clear the SSCS and Paul Watson especially are pathological liars.

The Herald runs an op ed from some “student leaders” against VSM. It is no surprise that those running student associations like the status quo where you can get elected by 5% of students, and receive funding from 100%.

What is interesting is not the student leaders that signed the op ed, but the ones who did not – no one from OUSA, UCSA, LUSA, VUWSA, MUSA or VUWSA. It was only NZUSA, AUSA, MESS and ASA.

Anyway they claim:

It will put students’ services, representation and their education at major risk. Should it be passed, Act’s Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill will jeopardise the quality of the education environment and the student experience by removing the very mechanism that exists to provide these services.

It will end accountable and effective representation and destroy the student support, independent advocacy and welfare standards that students have. Every student will bear the brunt of this. Our politicians don’t seem to care that there will be a huge reduction in services and a loss of a student voice in universities and polytechnics throughout the country.

This is unmitigated crap. Why? Because they never ever talk specifics. The reality is only a small small proportion of compulsory fees go on so called student services. The vast majority of student services are already funded by the institutions. I’ve gone through decades of student association accounts, and their spending on true essential services is minimal. In the odd case where they do, the institution may pick it up.

The next issue is the so called loss of voice. Student who choose to join will still have a voice. But what the Presidents do not realise is that many students resent their compulsory voice. They do not wish the student association to speak for them. They disagree profoundly with what the student association advocates.

The committee received 4837 submissions on the bill, with an overwhelming 98 per cent opposed.

The vast majority were form submissions promoted and gathered by those on the payroll of compulsory associations. In terms of individual submissions there were only 300 or so. Also the last independent poll of students on the issue of VSM, showed a majority of students supported it.

If it is a decision made on the principle of freedom of association, it is flawed. Students have less choice; they will no longer be able to come together as a universal collective.

Oh fuck off with your communism. What sort of Orwellian weasel word is “universal collective”. There are legitimate arguments against VSM, but arguing that students will have less choice as they will no longer have the choice of being in a universal collective is insulting. It’s like saying someone who installs a burglar alarm no longer has the choice of being robbed.

UPDATE: A reader writes in how the claim it is already voluntary:

Popped into XUSA yesterday as I was going past and thought I’d stir the pot during the current debate.

I asked about conscientious objection, since I might be studying next year. They told me how, then I asked how many were granted. “Not many” was the answer – apparently it’s hard to get if you’re applying on the grounds of “opposition to the associations objectives”.

The Herald reports:

A Pakistani immigrant who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison by a judge who said she hopes he spends time behind bars thinking “carefully about whether the Quran wants you to kill lots of people.”

A defiant Faisal Shahzad smirked as he was given a mandatory life term that, under federal sentencing rules, will keep him behind bars until he dies.

“If I’m given 1,000 lives I will sacrifice them all for the life of Allah,” he said at the start of a statement that lasted several minutes.

Worth reflecting that if he was in NZ, he would have only got a maximum 14 year sentence for attempted murder and be eligible for parole in five years.

Shahzad, a 31-year-old former budget analyst from Connecticut who was born in Pakistan, responded that the “Quran gives us the right to defend. And that’s all I’m doing.”

This is the scary thing. This was not some young impressionable teenager, or an unemployed school dropout with no future. He had a good education and good job, and then decided that his interpretation of his religion means he must kill people.

He added: “We do not accept your democracy or your freedom because we already have Sharia law and freedom.”

I guess the desire for Sharia law and its version of freedom is why there are so few female Islamist terrorists.

The Herald reports:

Mr Brown, the Mayor of Manukau, who has supported the campaign of the charged candidate, yesterday said he was disappointed with the accused and anyone else who abused the democratic process.

Was he disappointed enough to ask the candidate to stop using this photo of Len Brown, with him, on his election pamphlet?

But Judge Simpson was forced to grant interim suppression when the man’s lawyer, Howard Lawry, said he would appeal against her ruling.

The identity of the Super City candidate will be kept secret until the appeal can be heard in the High Court. The Herald will join the police in opposing the suppression application.

On behalf of the police, Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey opposed suppression for the candidate. He said there was strong public interest in the name of a person accused of fraudulent activities affecting the electoral roll.

Mr Lawry said naming his client, who is presumed innocent until proven guilty, would jeopardise his chances in the election.

Mr Lawry said that if his client’s name was suppressed, the position of other candidates was protected.

This was because if he were elected, then found guilty as charged, the election result could be revoked.

Not really. There is no provision to revoke an election result if a candidate after the election is found guilty.

One can do an electoral petition to have an election declare invalid, but these must be lodged within 21 days of the result. There is no way any trial will be concluded in that time.

Sadly, by appealing, the name remains suppressed until Thursday afternoon probably, and by then it is too late to mail your vote in.

UPDATE: A reader points out that if the accused is elected, and found guilty of a crime carrying a maximum sentence of two or more years jail, then they forfeit their seat.

The Herald reports:

Renegade MP Chris Carter’s views on who should replace him in the safe Labour seat of Te Atatu are interesting but irrelevant, Labour president Andrew Little says.

Not really. He has the unanimous backing of his electorate committee so I imagine his views on his successor will be highly influential.

Mr Carter told the Dominion Post newspaper that he had asked Auckland lawyer Deborah Manning (known for her representation of represented Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui) to stand in the seat but she declined. His second choice was Phil Twyford.

Heh, isn’t that Phil’s problem in all the other seats also 🙂

“We have a clearly set out selection process and it doesn’t involve former Labour MPs having a say over who a potential successor might be,” Mr Little said.

“They are interesting comments but they won’t help us select a candidate for Te Atatu.”

But they may. If he is still a Labour Party member, then Chris could get elected to the selection panel.

I thought TVNZ’s One News tonight was just as blatant a breach of a name suppression order, as anything Cameron Slater did.

It was calculated and deliberate to identify one of those given name suppression.

Now I have to be honest and part of me was wildly cheering on TVNZ for their defiance of the court order.

But the other part of me wonders if the Police and Crown Law will treat TVNZ to the same standard as it did a blogger?

I named in the previous post the two men charged with electoral fraud offences, in relation to the Auckland Council elections.

Since that post was done, they have appeared in court. They applied for name suppression and the Judge declined it.

They then appealed that decision to the High Court. As is usual, they got interim name suppression for 48 hours so the appeal can be heard. While I understand this is normal, I think in this case it is a bad call as another 48 hours of voting will carry on, without people knowing the identities of those charged – something which could affect how they vote. By the time they are named, it will be too late to post your vote in probably.

Those online will know, as they probably read it before it was deleted. But those watching the TV News tonight won’t get to find out who it is, and those reading the Herald tomorrow morning won’t get told the identity either.

However I don’t want to share a cell with Whale Oil, so I am respecting the law and have hidden the previous post and comments. I will make them public again once name suppression is lifted.

Very ironic that this happens on the day the Government announces it will be harder to get name suppression.

NB: This post was removed from view during the period that name suppression was in force.

The Herald reports:

Two men have been arrested and charged with forgery over alleged Super City voter fraud.

Detective Inspector Mark Gutry said the men, aged 39 and 36, would appear in the Manukau District Court today.

He said the forgery charges were representative and more could follow.

Mr Gutry said police officers had been working closely with the Electoral Enrolment Centre “to ensure a credible and democratic process in the upcoming local body election”.

The investigation was likely to continue for some time and more people could face charges, he said.

Good.

No Right Turn has tweeted that Andrew Little has confirmed one of those arrested is involved with Labour.

UPDATE:

I am told the names of the two people arrested are Daljit Singh JP and Gurinda Singh. They do not have name suppression at this stage, but I understand they may apply for it.

To help people recognise Daljit Singh, here is the photo he uses on his candidate brochure.

And another photo of Mr Singh with some unknown friends: