Mark Lister writes:

During 2013 and 2014, John Key’s National-led Government sold just under half of Mighty River Power (now known as Mercury NZ), Meridian Energy and Genesis Energy and listed them on the NZX.

A few years after that, I recall asking the chief executive from one of those companies about the biggest change he’d noticed since the sharemarket float.

Without hesitation, he said “scrutiny” because of the added pressure to manage the business sensibly, spend every dollar wisely and have a clear strategy.

There’s nowhere to hide when you have an army of experienced analysts and savvy investors watching and judging your every move.

Those three companies are much better businesses today than they were 10 years ago and that’s reflected in the earnings and share price growth we’ve seen since. 

Contrary to popular belief, this success hasn’t come at the expense of consumers.

According to MBIE, electricity costs per unit have increased at less than half the rate they did when these companies were in government ownership.

It has been a win-win-win. Consumers are facing smaller increases than in the past. The Government got to use the capital on more important areas and has higher dividends with 51% than they used to get with 100%, investors got to buy shares, and the companies improved with the discipline and scrutiny of being on the stock exchange.

Other assets in local or central government hands wouldn’t look out of place listed on our sharemarket, including the likes of Kiwibank.

We’ve recently seen a string of uncomfortably impressive profit announcements from the big New Zealand banks, all of which are headquartered in Melbourne or Sydney.

If Kiwibank was listed, it would have a better chance of becoming a genuine competitor to these Aussie giants, with the bulk of its earnings remaining here.

The mixed ownership model has been a huge success in New Zealand, providing the best of both worlds to the taxpayer.

It’s fostered stronger businesses and broadened the range of options available to local investors, helping keep more of our investment capital within our shores.

A partial float of Kiwibank is a great idea. Landcorp also.

There are 28 Ministers in the Ministry – 19 National, 5 ACT and 4 NZ First.

17 are electorate MPs and 11 are List MPs.

17 (61%) are men and 11 (39%) women.

8 of the 28 are Māori, or 29%. This is more than twice as much as the share of the adult population.

25% are in their 20s or 30s, 39% in their 40s, 25% in their 50s and 11% aged 60+.

46% are from Auckland, 25% from rural areas, 14% from provincial cities. 11% from Wellington and 4% from Christchurch. 89% are from the North Island.

1 News reports:

Winston Peters and David Seymour will share the Deputy Prime Minister role. Peters will have the first half of the three-year Parliamentary term, Seymour the second.

Peters will be Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Seymour takes a new role of Minister for Regulation.

A 20-strong Cabinet will have 14 National ministers, three ACT ministers and three New Zealand First ministers. 

Nicola Willis will be Minister of Finance, Brooke van Velden will be Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, and Shane Jones will be Minister for Regional Development.

As part of National’s agreement with New Zealand First, the proposed foreign buyer tax will no longer go ahead.

ACT’s policy of speeding up the rate of interest deductibility for rental properties is restored is adopted.

The parties have agreed with ACT to re-write the Arms Act, and agreed with New Zealand First to train no fewer than 500 new police officers.

Sharing the Deputy PM role is a good solution – much better than having co-deputy PMs as the Greens would do!

Full Ministerial list is below:

Ministerial List 

for announcement on 24 November 2023

Notes:

1. Warranted portfolios are listed in the left-hand column.  Other responsibilities assigned by the Prime Minister are listed in the right-hand column.
2. Appointees will be entitled to use the honorific ‘Rt Hon’ or ‘Hon’ only after they have been sworn in as Executive Councillors, or if they have previously been granted the right to use the honorific for life.
3. Ministers will be Cabinet Ministers unless otherwise indicated.

Have read through the two agreements and there is some great stuff there – better than my expectations. Some of the stuff I’m especially pleased about:

• Legislate to improve the quality of regulation, ensuring that regulatory decisions are based on principles of good law-making and economic efficiency, by passing the Regulatory Standards Act as soon as practicable.
• Deliver savings in public sector spending by reducing non-essential back office functions, with expenditure reduction targets to be set for each agency, informed by the increase in back office head count at that agency since 2017.
• Amend the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 to remove the dual mandate
• Repeal the Fair Pay Agreement regime by Christmas 2023.
• Expand 90-day trials to apply to all businesses.
• Repeal the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 and the Spatial Planning Act 2023 by Christmas.
• Replace the Resource Management Act 1991 with new resource management laws premised on the enjoyment of property rights as a guiding principle.
• Remove the Kāinga Ora Sustaining Tenancies Framework and ensure appropriate consequences for tenants who engage in repeated antisocial behaviour.
• Work to replace fuel excise taxes with electronic road user charging for all vehicles, starting with electric vehicles.
• Allow landlords to issue a 90 day notice to a tenant to end a periodic tenancy without providing a reason or applying to the Tenancy Tribunal.
• Liberalise genetic engineering laws.
• Repeal the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.
• Restore Three Strikes legislation, with amendments to tighten the definition of strike offences andensure some benefit for pleading guilty.
• Reintroduce partnership schools and introduce a policy to allow state schools to become partnership schools.
• Replace the Fees Free programme with a final year fees free policy with no change before 2025.
• Amend the Education and Training Act 2020 such that tertiary education providers receiving taxpayerfunding must commit to a free speech policy.
• Disestablish the Māori Health Authority.
• Require Medsafe to approve new pharmaceuticals within 30 days of them being approved by at least two overseas regulatory agencies recognised by New Zealand.
• Repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act2022 to remove the requirements for denicotinisation and the reduction in retail outlets.
• Implement sanctions, including electronic money management, for beneficiaries who can work but refuse to take agreed steps to find a job.
• Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.
• Remove co-governance from the delivery of public services.
• Ensure government contracts are awarded based on value, without racial discrimination.
• Repeal the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Act 2022.
• Restore the right to local referendum on the establishment or ongoing use of Māori wards, including requiring a referendum on any wards established without referendum at the next local body elections.
• Introduce a Treaty Principles Bill based on existing ACT policy and support it to a Select Committeeas soon as practicable.
• Let Kiwis keep more of what they earn with tax relief of up to $100 per fortnight for an average income household and a FamilyBoost childcare tax credit of up to $150 per fortnight.
• Build infrastructure with 13 new Roads of National Significant and four major public transport upgrades.
• Reduce Core Crown expenditure as a proportion of the overall economy.
• The Parties commit to establish a fast-track one-stop-shop consenting and permitting process for regional and national projects of significance. 
• Cancel Auckland Light Rail and Let’s Get Wellington Moving and reduce expenditure on cycleways.
• Commit to training no fewer than 500 new frontline police within the first two years.
• Reform the Fleeing Driver laws to curb the increase in fleeing driver incidents.
• Where appropriate, require prisoners to work, including in the construction of new accommodation in prisons or pest control.
• Introduce the Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers legislation which will create aspecific offence for assaults on first responders which includes minimum mandatory prison sentences.
• Introduce the Coward Punch legislation which will create a specific offence for anyone who injures orkills someone with a coward punch.
• Investigate the introduction and implementation of Degrees of Murder Sentencing legislation.
• Support to select committee a bill that would enact a binding referendum on a four-year term of parliament.
• Ensure publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender.
• Ensure all public service departments have their primary name in English, except for those specificallyrelated to Māori.
• Require the public service departments and Crown Entities to communicate primarily in English -except those entities specifically related to Māori.
• Protect freedom of speech by ruling out the introduction of hate speech legislation and stop the LawCommission’s work on hate speech legislation.
• The Coalition Government will defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law, with the same rights and obligations, and with the guarantee of the privileges and responsibilities of equal citizenship in New Zealand.
• The Coalition Government will work to improve outcomes for all New Zealanders, and will not advance policies that seek to ascribe different rights and responsibilities to New Zealanders on the basis of their race or ancestry.
• Restore the right to local referendum on the establishment or ongoing use of Māori wards, including requiring a referendum on any wards established without referendum at the next Local Body elections.

So heaps I’m really happy about. This is a very good policy agreement. There are some things I wish had survived such as raising the Super age but you can’t get anything.

Stuff reports:

The woman who killed her elderly father by setting his house alight has died suddenly, the day after she was found guilty of murder.

Lynne Martin, 63, was found dead in the cells at the Gisborne Police Station on Thursday morning, Stuff understands. 

She was being held there before being transferred to prison, after a jury on Wednesday afternoon found her guilty of murdering her father, Ronald Allison.

Allison, 88, died when his house near Te Karaka, about 30 km from Gisborne, burned to the ground in the early hours of January 25, 2013.

I don’t think one should celebrate anyone committing suicide, but it is fair to say that Martin seemed a pretty despicable person.

Killing your 88 year old father is bad enough, but to do it by burning their house down so they die one of the more horrible ways possible is pretty sociopathic.

Excellent. If, as expected, it is a full coalition, this will be the first three party coalition government under MMP. While much of the focus tomorrow will be on who gets what portfolio, I’m going to be most interested in the policy details.

There is such a huge job to do turning around the disaster that Labour has left in health and education, that I almost pity the new Ministers.

A guest post by David Lupton:

So Wayne Brown wants to introduce congestion charging.  Good on him.  There will be the usual complaints on this blog by those who would think it absurd to have a system where you queue for hours for subsidized bread but think it normal to queue for hours for subsidized roads. Congestion pricing for Auckland has been discussed for years but no-one has had the balls to introduce it.  At one time the excuse was that we didn’t have the technology.  That is no longer the case.  

But will it work?  Ah that’s a question.  The answer depends on what you define as working.  It will definitely reduce congestion, the scheme proposed will not eliminate it.  And it does depend on how you define congestion.  For a road that is operating at capacity – ie maximum sustainable flow – the traffic speed will be about 75% of the free flow “three o’clock in the morning” speed.  It seems to me that is the sensible situation to be aiming for.  Engineers refer to the situation where speeds are more than 75% of free flow as “normal” flow and only when the speed drops below that as “congested flow”.  This is how Singapore defines it, and how the value lanes in the US operate.  The congestion charge is varied to keep the traffic flowing at about 75% of the free flow speed.  

Is that what Wayne Brown is proposing? Apparently not.  From what I have read so far, it sounds like a fixed fee is proposed that is invariant with time and place.  This is the same as London and a few others.  Yes it will reduce congestion, and yes it is better than nothing at all, but because it will be too high at some times and places and too low at others (it may be right twice a day like a stopped clock) it will not fully decongest the roads and it will cause some unnecessary hardship.  

To understand what a better congestion charging system would look like, we have to realize that the way congestion affects us is not always intuitively obvious.  First of all a congested road carries less traffic than if it is uncongested. Ok you knew that, but the corollary is that an effective congestion pricing scheme means more people can travel at their preferred time rather than less.  You don’t get priced off, you get priced on.  But note that I did say an effective scheme.  To achieve this you need a toll that is high in the peak and low in the off-peak like airline charges.  A fixed toll doesn’t work because it provides no incentive for people to go earlier or later to benefit from the reduced rate. 

But we already pay for our roads I hear you cry, and yes we do  – or at least we did until the last government started syphoning the money off into pet schemes.  New Zealand had one of the best user-pays schemes in the world and it worked well, at least as far as the national highway system was concerned. Heavy trucks, cars and buses all pay an objectively assessed allocation of the total land transport budget based on the costs they impose on the system.  But it only works on average. The motorist driving in suburban Auckland pays about the same fuel taxes per kilometre as the peak hour motorway commuter and yet the cost of providing for the latter is much higher than for the former. 

What would an effective charge look like? I have already alluded to the scheme in Singapore and for value lanes in the US.  In the latest version of the Singapore scheme, the toll is varied dynamically to ensure a target speed is maintained.  If traffic starts to slow, the toll is increased, if it speeds up, the toll is reduced.  The US value lanes work the same way.  Value lanes are simple to manage with a single variable toll.  In Singapore we are taking a city-wide scheme and they have opted for a distance-based scheme.  The ideal for a city-wide scheme is actually time based.  You can show mathematically that the optimum toll is proportional to the difference between the actual time and the free flow time.  The rate per minute is set Singapore style to ensure that the traffic flows at a target speed, but unlike the distance charge, a charge per excess minute adjusts automatically to deliver the ideal toll at all times.  Even though the toll is variable, it is predictable.  We already have signs that tell us the expected time for our trip and Google can predict the best time to travel tomorrow. 

But don’t we need better public transport first? Not really.  Given adequate notice, the private companies that provide our bus services will buy more vehicles. Bus services will benefit from uncongested roads, reducing trip times and the fleet requirement.  Our huge subsidies to public transport were justified (pre climate change) in the belief that getting people out of their cars will reduce the need for more urban roads. Sorry folks but if you have congestion pricing for roads you don’t need subsidized public transport any more – the market will be more than happy to provide it unsubsidized. 

What about the poor?  You will hear that cry a lot if the plan goes ahead.  Not from the poor but mainly from the usual suspects.  As I noted earlier, we already pay for roads on average.  A fully dynamic pricing scheme that is designed to be revenue neutral shifts the burden from those who travel outside peak hours or in the suburbs to those who need to get to the office at 8:30am – generally not the poor.  Because with dynamic charging you can adjust the timing of your trip to minimize the cost, this form of pricing should be welcomed by those who like to speak for the poor.  Because it replaces rationing by queueing by rationing by price, it should also appeal to the economists amongst us.  A revenue neutral scheme would return the revenue by abolishing the Auckland petrol tax and reducing the fuel levy generally.  Similarly, a large proportion of the costs of local roads is met by property taxes.  Congestion pricing could shift some of the costs from the ratepayer to the commuter. 

What about the technology? Well you already have the required technology in your pocket.  What would be needed would be an app on your phone that would function very much like the Uber app  – this could be combined with number plate recognition and pre-and post payment schemes to address privacy and other concerns.  A potential model would be a cordon pricing scheme with a fixed charge with the option of signing up for the phone-based scheme that would be designed to deliver a lower charge.  If that were the plan, Wayne Brown’s scheme might be the first step.  Lets hope so.  

The Government caucus will have 68 MPs in it (after Port Waikato). National 49, ACT 11 and NZ First 8.

If Cabinet is proportional to that there will be 15 National MPs, 3 ACT MPs and 2 NZ First MPs in a Cabinet of 20. If the total Ministry is 28 Ministers, then 20 would be National, five ACT and three NZ First. Of course we don’t know if it will be proportional.

Who would be in Cabinet and the Ministry if you go off current caucus or list rankings and exclude new MPs (except for NZ First)? It would be.

1. Christoper Luxon
2. David Seymour
3. Winston Peters
4. Nicola Willis
5. Chris Bishop
6. Shane Reti
7. Paul Goldsmith
8. Louise Upston
9. Brooke van Velden
10. Erica Stanford
11. Matt Doocey
12. Simeon Brown
13. Shane Jones
14. Judith Collins
15. Mark Mitchell
16. Nicole McKee
17. Todd McClay
18. Melissa Lee
19. Gerry Brownlee
20. Andrew Bayly
    
    Outside Cabinet
    
21. Penny Simmonds
22. Karen Chhour
23. Casey Costello
24. Simon Watts
25. Chris Penk
26. Nicola Grigg
27. Tama Potaka
28. Mark Cameron

This is not prediction. In fact I am sure this won’t be the Ministry. This just shows who would make it based on current caucus rankings.

Below is the list of books I read to my children as they were growing up.

The human brain is strongly geared towards narrative and our intelligence and character is developed through hearing, reading, watching and experiencing story. Reading at the child’s cognitive level – as opposed to the reading skill level they have also enhances the development of imagination and creativity.

Yesterday I had lunch with a very good dad of three children between 4 and 10. I mentioned that there is significant evidence that children are missing out on film/movies. My hypothesis was due to them being on Youtube (etc) and especially the phenomenon of “shorts”. I saw a school facebook post the other day saying that a class had gone to a movie and, although 90 minutes was a long time to focus, they did enjoy the experience.

The dad did also point out that sourcing movies can be difficult as it is not the same as wandering down to the video store and wasting half an hour choosing. It also gets expensive having a whole range of subscriptions.

So first task I want to do for this gentleman – and also circulate – is the movies kids should see and that families can watch together. I will then work out where they are and how to see them.

Please put your ones in the comments …

#1 The Princess Bride.

…

ps The books I read to my children.

The Lord of the Rings                                                J. R. R. Tolkien

The Hobbit                                                                 J. R. R. Tolkien

The Father Christmas Letters                                     J. R. R. Tolkien

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight                              J. R. R. Tolkien

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil                            J. R. R. Tolkien

Farmer Giles of Ham                                                  J. R. R. Tolkien

Smith of Wootton Major                                            J. R. R. Tolkien

Leaf by Niggle                                                            J. R. R. Tolkien

The Magician’s Nephew                                             C. S. Lewis

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe                       C. S. Lewis

The Horse and His Boy                                              C. S. Lewis

Prince Caspian                                                            C. S. Lewis

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader                              C. S. Lewis

The Silver Chair                                                         C. S. Lewis

The Last Battle                                                           C. S. Lewis

Pilgrims Regress                                                         C. S. Lewis

The Back of the North Wind                                      George MacDonald

The Princess and the Goblin                                       George MacDonald

The Princess and Curdie                                             George MacDonald

The Golden Key                                                         George MacDonald

The Complete Fairy Tales                                          George MacDonald

Phantastes                                                                 George MacDonald

The Last of the Mohicans                                          James Fenimore Cooper

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer                                Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn                         Mark Twain

Tom Brown’s Schooldays                                          Thomas Hughes

The Enchanted Castle                                                E. Nesbit

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy                         Douglas Adams

The Tanglewood’s Secret                                           Patricia St John

Treasures of the Snow                                                Patricia St John

The Victor                                                                  Patricia St John

Rainbow Garden                                                         Patricia St John

The Mystery of Pheasant Cottage                              Patricia St John

Star of Light                                                               Patricia St John

The Secret of the Fourth Candle                                Patricia St John

In the Grip of Winter                                                  Colin Dann

The Big Fisherman                                                     Lloyd C. Douglas

The Robe                                                                    Lloyd C. Douglas

The Jungle Book (1 & 2)                                            Rudyard Kipling

Just So Stories                                                            Rudyard Kipling

Robinson Crusoe                                                       Daniel Defoe

Swiss Family Robinson                                              Jonnie Wyss

Treasure Island                                                          Robert Louis Stevenson

To Kill a Mocking Bird                                              Harper Lee

Fantastic Mr Fox                                                        Roald Dahl

The Minpins                                                               Roald Dahl

James and the Giant Peach                                         Roald Dahl

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar                         Roald Dahl

Revolting Rhymes                                                      Roald Dahl

The Giraffe the Pelly and Me                                     Roald Dahl

Dirty Beasts                                                                Roald Dahl

Chalie and the Chocolate Factory                              Roald Dahl

Esio Trot                                                                     Roald Dahl

My Year                                                                      Roald Dahl

The BFG                                                                     Roald Dahl

Boy                                                                             Roald Dahl

George’s Marvelous Medecine                                  Roald Dahl

Danny The Champion of the World                           Roald Dahl

Going Solo                                                                 Roald Dahl

Matilda                                                                       Roald Dahl

The Secret Garden                                                     Frances Hodgson Burnett

Hans Andersons Fairy Tales                                      Hans Christian Anderson

I Am David                                                                 Anne Holm

The Silver Sword                                                        Ian Serraillier

Peter Pan                                                                     J. M. Barrie

Artemis Fowl                                                              Eion Colfer

Winnie the Pooh                                                         A. A. Milne

And Then We Were Six                                             A. A. Milne

Wind in the Willows                                                  Kenneth Grahame

The Little White Horse                                               Elizabeth Gouge

Aesop’s Fables                                                           Aesop

White Fang                                                                 Jack London

Dragon Boy                                                                Dick King-Smith

Babe                                                                            Dick King-Smith

Charlotte’s Web                                                          E. B. White

Stuart Little                                                                E. B. White

The Knight and the Squire                                         Terry Jones

Watership Down                                                         Richard Adams

The Odyssey                                                               Homer

Anamalia                                                                    Graeme Base

The Eleventh Hour                                                     Graeme Base

The Discovery of Dragons                                         Graeme Base

The 27^th Annual African Hippopotamus Race           Morris Lurie

The Snow Goose                                                        Paul Gallico

Gullivers Travels                                                        Jonathan Swift

Oliver Twist                                                                Charles Dickens

365 Bible Stories                                                        God

Alice in Wonderland                                                  Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking Glass                                        Lewis Carroll

Alan Quartermain                                                       Rider Haggard

Exodus                                                                        Leon Uris

The Storm                                                                   Frederick Buechner

On the Road with the Archangel                                Frederick Buechner

Son of Laughter                                                          Frederick Buechner

Wuthering Heights                                                     Emily Bronte

Alwyn Poole
Innovative Education Consultants
www.innovativeeducation.co.nz
www.alwynpoole.substack.com
www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/

The NZ media convinced the outgoing Government that they somehow have a divine right to advertising revenue and Facebook and Google should be taxed to fund NZ media. This is what has occurred in Canada, and the result was the tech giants said the benefit from stories being promoted on social media benefits the media far far more than the tech companies. So they turned off the ability to share Canadian news on social media.

The result was a huge revenue drop for the media, and now the Government is bailing them out. This is what Labour wanted to implement in NZ!

Stuff reports:

A former communications manager who sexually abused her ex-boyfriend’s stepdaughter and continues to deny the offending has been discharged without conviction.

This was despite the victim speaking in opposition saying she would feel disheartened and disappointment about the criminal justice process.

Jemma Taylor, 38, was charged with three charges of sexual conduct with a child under 12, but a jury found her guilty of one charge and couldn’t reach verdicts on the other two charges.

The survivor was 11 when Taylor sexually abused her one night in 2012 and continues to live with the ongoing effects of what happened to her.

I thought sexual abuse of an 11 year old is a pretty serious thing. It seems it isn’t and you can get discharged without conviction for it despite being found guilty and denying it.

I do wonder if a man in his late 20s who abused an 11 year old would also get a discharge without conviction?

The BSA found:

However, the majority found one comment by rainbow community activist Shaneel Lal was materially inaccurate, and justified a finding of a breach.

Lal said Parker had told her followers that “due to the transgender agenda, cisgender women are being kidnapped, blended and put into meat for human consumption”.

The BSA found viewers “would have perceived Lal’s statement as an assertion of fact, and it had the potential to mislead viewers as to Parker’s perspective”, given Parker had not stated the “transgender agenda” was responsible for the relevant crime.

“The misleading characterisation of Parker’s statement…strayed into the realm of personal attack. It detracted from, rather than contributing to, viewers’ understanding of the issues being discussed – an unfortunate outcome in a broadcast considering such important, topical and contentious issues,” the BSA said.

This is not surprising.

The irony is that the discussion was about limits around freedom of speech, and Lal was saying speech should be more restricted, and Lal then lied about what Parker has said.

They found:

Freedom of expression allows for the criticism of Parker’s publicly expressed views. It is not a tool intended to facilitate the general vilification of an individual. In our view, Lal’s misleading characterisation of Parker’s statement again strayed into the realm of personal attack. It detracted from, rather than contributing to, viewers’ understanding of the issues being discussed – an unfortunate outcome in a broadcast considering such important, topical and contentious issues. For these reasons we consider the harm potentially caused by the statement does justify a restriction on the right to freedom of expression.

Lal argued expression should be less free, and Lal got his wish!

Newshub reports:

The Labour MP said one way to reduce the time needed is to make sure the Electoral Roll is as up to date as it can be, cutting down on the need for people to enrol or update their details on or close to the day.    

“I reckon that New Zealand should update the Electoral Roll based on the IRD database rather than having a separate Electoral Roll that sort of doesn’t talk to other databases,” he told Newshub.   

“A lot of other countries in Scandinavia and Canada base their Electoral Roll on their IRD database or some other national database and it would save a hell of a lot of money, get a more accurate roll, entitle people to vote and have a quicker conclusion after the election.”    

Parker, the former Revenue Minister who oversaw the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), said the main benefit of using the IRD database is that virtually every voter has an IRD number.   

“All students do, obviously everyone in work, whether they’re self employed or waged or salaried, every beneficiary, everyone has an IRD number,” he said.   

“The Inland Revenue Department system is very, very sophisticated, [and] was recently upgraded. That upgrade was completed in the last few years and the capacity to use the data that they now hold for export into other databases like the Electoral Roll I’m sure could be achieved.”   

This has some merit.

The Electoral Roll database does actually get information matched to other databases. They actually match against:

• Drivers licences
• Vehicle registration
• Benefits.
• Passports.
• Student loans.
• Citizenship

But a full match against the IRD database would be useful to also do.

RNZ report:

New National MP Cameron Brewer has apologised for a “poor attempt at humour” after celebrating the return of “stale, pale males” in his election night victory speech, having ousted Labour’s Vanushi Walters from Upper Harbour.

In a recording of the speech leaked to RNZ, Brewer can be heard declaring himself a “glass ceiling breaker” to laughs from the crowd.

“I’ll be the first male MP for Upper Harbour,” he says to cheers. “Stale, pale males are back!” …

Contacted by RNZ, Brewer said the remarks were intended to be funny and self-deprecating but accepted they were unwise.

“If anyone is offended by this comment, of course, I apologise… I don’t want to be the subject of distraction,” Brewer said.

“In my defence, it was a private function, but nonetheless, it was a silly thing to say. It was clearly a poor attempt at humour, and it’s something I wouldn’t say again.”

Brewer told RNZ he was disappointed the speech had been leaked and regretted that his “minor offence” could have poorly reflected on him or the National Party.

“It was an exciting election night victory. We were all a little bit excited. And hence, my speech possibly went off the core message of gratitude.

“It’s a lesson for a first-term MP that even if you’re in a private function, cracking jokes, you’ve just got to be ultra careful as to what you say.”

This is just ridiculous and should not be a story. It was obvious self-deprecating humour. I hate the fact the offence police seem determined to take all humour and joy out of life.

Stuff reports:

The man shot by police on Thursday in Wainuiomata on Thursday, Tane Wipa, is believed to have been deported to New Zealand in 2012 due to a history of violent offending, Stuff understands.

He was in fact a second striker – the ones whom Labour and Greens changed the law for, so that for their third strike they wouldn’t serve the maximum sentence with parole.

His 2018 Appeal Court decision states he has at least 15 offences since he was deported here in 2012. Three of them for violence. As usual, he did his second strike while on parole.

Recidivists like Wipa should not be given parole. It should be a rare privilege, not a right.

I look forward to the law being reinstated.

Radio NZ reports:

This week the people who make the local stuff for our screens big and small urged the powers-that-be to tax the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus to fund it. But producers here can already get tax breaks and public funding, so can they really persuade the incoming government to make the streaming services another source of funds?

Such a move would be morally and economically wrong.

I’m sick of industries demanding that successful Internet companies be taxed, so they get funded.

The media are trying to do it with Google and Facebook and now the screen industry is trying it with Netflix.

Just say no.

Luke Malpass writes:

Regardless of where the negotiations land, however, it looks very likely that there may well be a close look at the power of the bench – its composition, the sentences it hands down, the precedents and case law it creates.

This is perhaps best seen as a periodic struggle for power that occurs between different branches of the government. And there is definitely a feeling among those who will soon be taking Parliament’s treasury benches that judges have encroached too far into the realm of inventing law, rather than dispensing justice.

At its heart it is a question of power and democracy. In particular a view among the right (and parts of the political left) that Parliament makes laws, but that over the years judges have begun to insert far too many of their personal preferences into the interpretation of said laws.

The three-strikes law, introduced under the Key government, is often cited as an example (even by some parliamentarians who fundamentally disagreed with that law). That will almost certainly be reintroduced by the incoming government.

The new three strikes law needs to do the following:

• Reinstate previous strikes from the former law
• Remove indecent assault from the regime as there is too much variation between offences at the bottom and top of the range
• Remove the manifestly unjust exemption for third strikes as judges have abused this provision by finding around 90% of third strikes would be manifestly unjust.
• Explicity state that the law must be implemented by Judges regardless of their views, and over-ride the Supreme Court decision that effectively told Judges they can ignore it
• The Attorney-General or Minister of Justice at the third reading should state that any Judge who feels sentencing someone under this law would be against their conscience is expected to resign as a Judge, rather than refuse to implement the law, and that a failure to do so would be considered judicial misconduct

But there is suspicion among many soon to come into government. Too many left-wing judges. Too many invested in fashionable causes. Too many hired to make the court look modern and diverse.

And it is why Winston Peters – in addition to seeking to be foreign minister – is understood to want to be Attorney-General. …

In New Zealand, appointments to the courts have always been political but not particularly politicised. …

April will mark 20 years since the Supreme Court heard its first case, and it has evolved in its own way. While many applaud the court, there is definitely an undercurrent of unhappiness within the legal fraternity about the quality and direction of the bench.

The problem is that basically all incentives for lawyers and judges – be it status, career prospects, respectability or worrying about their clients’ best interests – mean keeping quiet about these matters, even if they are unhappy.

In any case, both ACT and NZ First are keen to be much more active on appointing rigorous and black-letter law judges as and when able. National also campaigned on wanting to lessen judge discretion over sentencing.

This is arguably one of the most vital things the new Government must and should do. No Judge should be appointed above district court level who isn’t committed to the rule of law as widely accepted, rather than judges who see the law as play dough for them to model into a more pleasing shape.

The Herald reports:

National soon shot back saying with a spokesperson saying the party “supports the goal of a ceasefire, but acknowledges the conditions have not existed for one so far”.

The spokesperson said the party was approached about calling for a ceasefire on Friday afternoon.

“In response, National asked to see MFAT advice on the matter – we provided feedback on that advice and indicated we were open to a discussion with Labour on it.

“National was then informed of the Labour Leaders’ statement four minutes before the press conference commenced,” the spokesperson said. 

“Given New Zealand’s long standing bipartisan approach to foreign policy it is very disappointing that Chris Hipkins is playing politics with such a serious issue.

“If reports of a possible temporary ceasefire being close are correct, with hostage exchanges from both sides and humanitarian aid into Gaza, this is what New Zealand has consistently called for. It is hoped that any temporary ceasefire could last longer than five days and lead to peace talks,” they said.

A ceasefire that doesn’t include the return of hostages is a win for terrorism and an abandonment of those hostages. Sad to see NZ Labour take this stance, but perhaps no surprise after the appalling release by Nanaia Mahuta that failed to even condemn the deliberate slaughter of civilians.