The Herald reports:

Taieri MP Ingrid Leary went to a Mongrel Mob election hui in Dunedin at the weekend but says she thought it was an Electoral Commission meeting and she “in no way” condones the actions of the Mongrel Mob.

With law and order a highly visible issue leading up to the election, the National Party is attacking her attendance, saying it shows the pay-off from Labour’s funding of a Mongrel Mob-associated rehabilitation programme.

“The fact the Mongrel Mob wants to keep National out of government is the best possible endorsement of our approach to law and order,” National’s police spokesman Mark Mitchell said in a statement. …

Leary confirmed that she had been to the meeting but didn’t realise it was a Mongrel Mob hui.

“I thought it was an Electoral Commission meeting encouraging enrolment.

Who amongst us hasn’t mistaken a Mongrel Mob hui for an Electoral Commission meeting.

It was beyond doubt a genuine mistake, and in no way was a Labour MP attending a Mongrel Mob hui to encourage them to vote Labour. I mean there is no way she could have realised it was a Mob hui, because those in attendance would look identical to those attending an Electoral Commission meeting. It’s not as if you wear a patch or anything … oh wait …

Stuff reports:

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says she was ”a bit tipsy” when she walked out on a restaurant bill but is doubling down on her denial she asked a waiter if he knew who she was – despite another witness coming forward.

The Post on Monday revealed the incident on Friday night at Wellington restaurant The Old Quarter. Whanau on Sunday confirmed she had accidentally walked out without paying on Friday but, in an emailed statement, did not address questions about her intoxication and denied a waiter’s claims that she asked him, “do you know who I am”.

Talking to Nick Mills on Newtalk ZB on Monday morning she said she was a “bit tipsy” though not drunk enough that she should have been refused service. “[I was] a little bit merry after a few wines and a hearty meal.”

Management and staff at the restaurant told The Post they were going to refuse to serve her more alcohol but then she left without paying.

A similar scenario to this saw Aaron Gilmore forced to resign as an MP. I’m not suggesting that is warranted here, but it is a very bad look – drunk enough to be refused service, forgetting to pay and doing the “Do you know who I am” card.

Mark Mitchell released:

Mongrel Mob senior leader Harry Tam has endorsed Labour and the Greens for this year’s election, telling his Facebook followers a local Labour Dunedin MP attended one of the gang’s ‘election hui’, National’s Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell says.

“Labour’s investment of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money into the Mongrel Mob appears to be paying off. The fact the Mongrel Mob wants to see Labour win this year’s election is another clear sign that Labour is soft on crime.

“Yesterday New Zealanders everywhere were disgusted to read about a vicious gang attack on an innocent man in Hāwera who was beaten and stabbed for unwittingly wearing the wrong colour to McDonald’s. …

“Harry Tam has told his Facebook followers the Mongrel Mob is voting strategically to keep National out by backing Labour and the Greens. Last year, a Headhunters member also called for people not to vote National.

This is hardly surprising!

Radio NZ reports:

One of the world’s most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month by a leading global health body, according to two sources with knowledge of the process, pitting it against the food industry and regulators.

Aspartame, used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars’ Extra chewing gum and some Snapple drinks, will be listed in July as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) cancer research arm, the sources said.

This is good to know. The better science we have for consumers, the better off we have.

Since 1981, JECFA has said aspartame is safe to consume within accepted daily limits. For example, an adult weighing 60kg would have to drink between 12 and 36 cans of diet soda – depending on the amount of aspartame in the beverage – every day to be at risk. Its view has been widely shared by national regulators, including in the United States and Europe.

It is this advice that I’ll be most interested in – the safe daily limit. Anyone who drinks 36 cans of diet soda a day is going to have problems regardless of carcinogens!

AN NBC News poll has found US Vice-President Kamala Harris rating lower than all other recent VPs. In order of their *lowest* rating we have:

• Dick Cheney (2003): +23%
• Al Gore (1995): +15%
• Joe Biden (2010): +1%
• Mike Pence (2019): -4%
• Kamala Harris (2023): -17%

They don’t regularly poll on VPs so it isn’t a constant time series. But generally VPs are reasonably popular. They don’t have to make unpopular decisions and do a lot of ceremonial stuff.

So in that context a -17% rating is exceptionally bad.

The Herald reports:

Opposition justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has announced National will make filming and publishing a crime like a ram raid by offenders an aggravating factor in Sentencing Act.

Goldsmith said they would also introduce a new Young Serious Offenders category which would see those under the age of 18 facing tougher consequences.

This should provide an incentive not to boast to all your mates about your crime spree.

The Herald reports:

Education Minister Jan Tinetti has escaped being held in contempt of Parliament – but has been told to apologise for her “high degree of negligence” in misleading the House.

Parliament’s privileges committee has released its report into the matter today.

Tinetti was referred to the committee at the end of May for not correcting a false statement quickly enough.

Tinetti had told Parliament in February that she had no responsibility for the release of school attendance data. She was told later that day by staff did, in fact, have input into the timing of the release.

The staff had more than input. They effectively instructed the Ministry to delay the release.

The Privileges Committee concluded that Tinetti’s actions were more due to incompetence than dishonesty. Probably a fair call, but of course rather alarming as she is in charge of our education system.

The Herald reports:

Amendments to the Three Waters reform plan have blown out establishment costs by an estimated $1 billion.

The cost of creating 10 new Water Services Entities (WSEs) over a transition period that now stretches to July 1, 2026 is expected to reach $2-$3b. The estimate before recent revisions to the plan was $1-$2b.

And we are told these reforms will save money!

If the current estimate for establishment costs is $2 – $3 billion, I am confident the actual cost (if they proceed) will end up around $5 billion.

The Government announced:

An additional $128 million will be invested into the tertiary sector to increase tuition subsidies at degree-level and above by a further four percent in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the five percent increase provided at Budget 2023 – the most significant funding increase in 20 years.

The extra funding may cushion the impact slightly for some universities, but won’t make a huge impact. Despite the Govt spin, they are basically just keeping pace with inflation.

There are several factors which has led to likely mass redundancies at the universities. They are:

1. Covid-19 restrictions saw fees from international students drop 22%
2. Universities were not eligible for Covid-19 wage subsidies, unlike most employers
3. Tuition subsidies from the Govt only decreased in real terms in 2021 and 2022 as the nominal increase were well below inflation
4. A huge drop in domestic enrolments in 2023 – around 14% at VUW

Labour introduced fees free study for first years in 2018, and claimed this would see more students undertake tertiary study. Instead we saw EFTS at tertiary providers drop for five of the last six years!

It is inevitable that funding will drop if enrolments drop, but it does seem to me that a better funding method would be over say a three year time-frame. So if enrolments drop one year, you don’t have to suddenly lay off lots off staff within months.

I’m now doing a column for The Post and my first one is here. It’s on the health system. It’s paywalled, but to give you an idea of what it covers here is one paragraph:

At the time of Labour’s 2018 budget where they promised $1.9 billion extra funding for mental health, there were 746 adult inpatient mental health beds. Four years later this had dropped to 723. $1.9 billion more funding and fewer beds could almost be a script for a Yes Minister episode.

It does take special skill to spend so much more, and produce so much less.

The Herald reports:

An 85-year-old woman has been kicked out of a social housing village after bullying other tenants and making multiple false accusations against them including that one neighbour was “wiggling and flashing her bottom”.

The Salvation Army New Zealand Trust, turned to the Tenancy Tribunal to terminate the woman’s lease on the grounds of anti-social behaviour – she had been issued with seven 14-day notices to remedy her behaviour between 2019 and 2022, and three anti-social behaviour notices this year.

This shows the difference between a good and a bad landlord.

Kainga Ora has tenants who have literally terrorised their neighbours for years and years and despite hundreds of complaints has done nothing about it.

The Salvation Army has shown that you can set expectations for behaviour, and terminate a lease for bad behaviour – especially if it affects other tenants.

It won’t happen but I’d love to see Kainga Ora’s entire housing stock transferred over to the Salvation Army and other community providers to run.

Stuff reports:

A senior public servant, with decades of experience, says Cabinet Minister Kiritapu Allan “yelled and screamed” so loudly, staff in the office heard the telephone call.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they witnessed Allan’s interactions with younger staff members both from government agencies and her Beehive office in a meeting, as well as seeing her “absolutely berate” another official for 20 mins on another occasion.

Allan “strongly refutes” the allegations. 

Another former senior official with a long history of public service, has also spoken to Stuff to confirm they had concerns about Allan’s dealing with staff. “Basically low trust and respect of public servants was [the] issue,” they said.

That makes four senior public service staff who have spoken publicly about workplace relationships relating to Allan, who is minister for justice and regional development. She formerly held the emergency management portfolio.

This is why I said yesterday that Hipkins and Allan are being stupid in denying there were any significant problems, based on the technicality of no formal complaints. Now they have to dig in.

In a statement, Allan said: “The minister strongly refutes these allegations. No complaints have ever been taken up with MBIE or myself and certainly nothing that resembles these allegations.”

Maybe that is because you’re the Minister?

Would four senior public servants just invent this?

Hipkins and Allan are being very stupid by claiming there were no significant issues in Allan’s office because there were no formal complaints.

The fact three seperate departmental CEOs raised concerns speaks volumes. To have one CEO raise a concern is rare – three is pretty unheard of.

Of course there were no formal complaints. Allan is their bloody Minister. A CEO who lodged a formal complaint against their own Minister would be suicidal.

This issue could go away if Kiri just said something along the lines of “As a new Minister I may have been too hard on my staff, as I was getting to grips with my portfolios. I regret this, and have modified my style accordingly”. 90% of fair minded people would accept this.

But being pedantic about whether complaints were formal or not will just keep the issue alive. Especially as Stuff hints there is more to come:

A mystery text message – kept secret by senior public servants – is at the centre of a controversy swirling around Cabinet Minister Kiritapu Allan, and is now the subject of a complaint to Parliament’s information watchdog.

There is a reason they don’t want to release it.

Radio NZ reports:

An immigration service set up by Health New Zealand in October still has not recruited any overseas GPs almost eight months later.

Te Whatu Ora’s International Recruitment Centre aims to make it “as easy as possible” for international health professionals to move to Aotearoa.

But no internationally trained GPs are touching down on New Zealand soil, and some GPs trained here say the recruitment exercise is a waste of time anyway.

General Practice Owners Association (GenPro) chairperson Angus Chambers said New Zealand’s healthcare was in an unhealthy state.

“I’ve never seen access to primary care as bad as it is now,” he said.

Once again we see a big announcement, and no results.

We badly need more doctors in New Zealand. It will take 10+ years to get more doctors through expanding medical school numbers, so we need to be attracting them from overseas.

Young people being active and playing sport is, almost always, a good thing. Some develop enough ability that, for a relatively short period of time, as an adult they can earn an income as a professional athlete. A very small group in/from New Zealand earn enough from their playing days to look towards a comfortable long-term future free of needing to work. The vast majority need a “plan also” (not a “plan b”), that academics and trade training provides.

As a former 1st XV coach at a large boys school I am well aware the perspective can be lost with regards to school sport. This happens in a range of ways and one is where the “1A” schools in Auckland have become bent out of shape with trying to stop young people changing schools for well-being, academic and sporting reasons. Their means of doing this is to ban them from participating in high level sport for their new school through making rules that disregard human rights – and according to this decision – the law. Schools in now way, shape, or form own their students – regardless of what they consider they have done for them. If they don’t get their own way major schools set the example of threatening to literally take the ball, go home and not play against schools that include transferred young people in their teams.

It is interesting to note some of the World Cup All Blacks who went to more than one high school: John Afoa, Joe Rokocoko, Jerome Keino, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Daniel Braid, Sione Lauaki, Mils Muliaina (3 schools), Same Cane, Wyatt Crockett, Nepo Laulala, Sevu Reece, Daniel Carter, Stephen (my shirt is too small) Donald. I coached four of those at Premier Club level and would guarantee the school change was a major positive factor in their development and what they have provided for their families since. 

I grew up playing the sport but stopped at 21 through concussion precautions. Here is my take on one year of that truncated career from my novel/memoir.

The Nui in 1987

I don’t remember how, at eighteen years old, I found myself on the reserve bench for Wanganui High School Old Boys Senior rugby team in 1986. The manager told me that I did not deserve to be there as the “rep” halfback, “Flea”, played for this club.

“Wing-nut” was full-back on this day and was, somewhat erratically, smoking a cigarette and glaring at me. In his summer persuasion he was a nasty fasty in club cricket and in one of only two good innings in my truncated cricket career I smashed him all around the park as a helmet free sixteen-year-old who was silly enough to ignore all of the abuse and game enough to say; “Just bowl Wingnut.”

Flea was in the toilet but still keen to participate in any discussion. The team was average but there was a plan for the following year.

Next year it was all on. I turned up to training and all the boys were there – Grunter, Bo, Larry the Lamb, Wokka, Two Tummy, Smoke, Spud, Sharky, Motor, Hens, Half-Pie, Daz, Bobs, and Flea. I had no nick name until a man – approaching 150 years of age – came into the changing room to shake hands for the first game of the season. Apparently, he, Jock, participated in and may have caused the Boer War, WW1 and WW2. When he came to shake my hand he was lost for words and a name; “Well done Al … Al … Al …“, he stuttered …

“Alpine!” said our captain “Spud”. And it stuck like poos to a blanket. The most stupid nickname in the history of nicknames. No relevance to anything. When playing cricket I was once facing a national class fast bowler called “Biscuit”. At least that had meaning. His last name was Crafer. That rhymed with wafer. A wafer is a biscuit. He was very, very fast and, as I gloved a ball of my face, I called him; “Sir”. Whereas “Alpine” came from nowhere and later in the season, when playing for the city, when someone yelled out; “you are crap – Alpine” I was more concerned to argue about the name than my performance or abilities.

Our club team was very good. In fact, we were the unbeaten champions of the year. I will never forget, as a nineteen-year-old, the inspiring one-to-one speech from one of our props called “Bo”. We were about to run onto the field for the final and Bo wandered over to where I sat. I was waiting to stun the gathered crowd with my brilliance – as a real team man, and a youthful prodigy, would do. I think it was the first and only time Bo ever spoke to me. He drawled (no doubt the result of more concussions than I had had to endure my mother’s hot dinners). “Alpine” (who the heck? I thought). I have played for this club for 20 years and have never before got to the final – let alone won it. Don’t f%$# it up!”

Henceforth, I played the worst game of my life but, fortunately, the other 14 people made up for it. Grunter, Larry the Lamb, Bo, Wokka, Two Tummy, Smoke, Spud, Sharky, Motor, Hens, Half-Pie, Daz, Bobs, Flea and the others involved taught me a great deal about teamwork and ambition. They taught me that when one person is down the others will make up for it.

I had earned it though. On an earlier day, when we played the very next best team in the competition, I had a university exam and turned up only one minute before the start of the match. I played the game of my life against a team that included the most harmful unarmed human on the planet. His name was “Bruiser” and one of his brothers was called “Scum”. Scary stuff indeed. I was truly faultless that day with passing, kicking and running on a rain drenched field. My play led the team through an extremely close match as a very young man.

At the end of the match the coach said; “Brilliant Alpine (what … who the heck?) but, with that last minute turn up, if you had screwed this up you and I would have been having a very different conversation right now.” Even the opposition mid-fielder, Muzza, said; “Brilliant Alpine!” Bruiser had no compliments and I understand that he, Scum, and older brother Gordy headed off to ride horses and chop wood. Unfortunately (tribute here to the great Norm Macdonald) the amount of alcohol they had consumed meant that they actually chopped horses and rode wood.

We became champions and that is the best that you can do with the people that you have and with the competition that is presented to you.

I did play a little bit of representative rugby that year. Playing against the All Blacks disguised as Auckland is mentioned elsewhere. The funniest single moment was against a team called Manawatu.

I was terrified of them because, when I was a child, they were the best – and most brutal – team in the nation.

Rugby has a thing called a scrum where eight powerful men from both teams organise themselves into a formation and then a pigskin (rugby ball) is thrown into the middle of them and whoever pushes the hardest gets the ball to do other things with it.

That may appear a simplification and the sport’s officials try and complicate it as much as possible with no apparent benefit. It sounds weird but it is a thing.

Well, I ran onto the field and was shaking like a leaf as the mighty men from Manawatu were huge and they all looked angry. One of them was even called – “AMASSIVE COLLOSOS” (well Emosi Koloto but he was dangerous whatever he was called). Fortunately, Cowboy and Axel had recently retired but they still had Bully out there.

In the first moments there was a scrum and I got to “feed” the ball in between these sixteen psychos. Such was the bulk and power of the mighty men of the Manawatu that they pushed so hard and fast that they ran right over the ball and left it, in pristine condition, exactly where I had placed it. I passed it to one of my team-mates, a good bloke called Kerry O’Hara (no nickname as far as I could tell) and we were away.

Some idiot in the crowd yelled out; “Well done Alpine!”

[email protected]

https://alwynpoole.substack.com/

ps – Auckland were not a bad side that year.

Stuff reports:

A staffer seconded to work with Cabinet Minister Kiritapu Allanchose to leave early because of concerns about “working relationships” in the office.

Problems in the Beehive office saw Department of Conservation chief executive Penny Nelson take her concerns to the Department of Internal Affairs, which manages Ministerial Services.

Stuff understands that other senior public servants – including from Emergency Management, and the Ministry of Business, innovation and Employment – have also voiced concerns about how staff were treated.

So basically the allegations are that the Minister is a bully.

For a CEO to escalate it to DIA, means it must be very bad. Normally in the past the PMs Chief of Staff would deal with it informally and tell the Minister to change their behaviour, or escalate it to the PM.

For it to formally go to DIA means that either the PMs Office knew nothing about it, or that they did but didn’t resolve the situation.

It comes as Allan is on leave from Parliament, because she is “struggling with mental health and wellbeing”.

I wonder if the leave started before or after she became aware the media were asking questions about bullying in her office.

But she has long had a reputation as a demanding boss. A public service source with knowledge of the problems said “low trust and respect of public servants was [the] issue” and had been discussed among senior staff.

It was indeed widely known, which makes it seem unlikely the PMs Office were the only people in Wellington who hadn’t heard about this.

Bullying allegations have dogged the Labour Government. Meka Whaitiri was stripped of her ministerial responsibilities after an altercation with her press secretary in 2018. A report found it “probable” that she grabbed and left bruising on her press secretary.

Rebel MP Gaurav Sharma levelled explosive allegations of bullying last year, but failed to provide any evidence and was expelled. 

In the wake of that drama, two former staffers accused Tukituki MP Anna Lorck of bullying. She later received “leadership training”.

Almost a pattern!

After Jacinda resigned the alternate leadership team to Hipkins/Sepuloni was Wood and Allan. In hindsight Labour will be relieved that did not eventuate!

But it does still leave Labour with a problem – another week and another Minister in the news for the wrong reasons.

Stuff reports:

Mega-polytechnic Te Pūkenga New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology is expected to report an $86 million deficit, up $23m on the previous forecast.

During question time on Thursday evening, Education Minister Jan Tinetti​ said the draft deficit for Te Pūkenga for 2022 was now at $86m.

Last year, the Tertiary Education Union called on the Government to act after chief executive Peter Winder​ announced a forecast $63m deficit for 2022 – something he described as “clearly unsustainable”.

The Hipkins legacy in education is going to the worst of any education minister since Merv Wellington!

The Herald reports:

A Christchurch business owner and tradies who performed a citizen’s arrest, tackling a thief to the ground after he allegedly stole motorcycle parts, are disappointed at the police response.

When Mike Creedy stopped to visit the motorcycle store about 3pm Monday, four men were running after an alleged thief. Creedy tackled him to the ground and phoned police.

“The guy was running down the middle of the street with an armload of stuff. I took a couple more steps and stopped him,” Creedy told the Herald.

“He put up a big fight. I just had enough. I put him in a headlock, sort of tripped him backwards and put him on the ground on his back. That was enough for the four guys, one on each arm and one on each leg to actually hold him down,” Creedy said.

“He kept yelling, ‘if the police come I’m going to go back to prison’.”

But police told Creedy and his workmates to “let him go”.

“The police asked if he had any weapons and I said ‘not that I can see’. I’m disappointed in the police. We had the guy, he could have been prosecuted, but he got away scot-free.

“We just stepped back and let him go and he took off down the street,” Creedy said.

Is this how the Government is keeping the prison population down?

Why did the Police not say “Thank you, great work, we’ll have an officer there in ten minutes”

Christchurch Metro Area Commander Superintendent Lane Todd said police couldn’t attend every callout “due to the nature of police work”.

Todd said police had to prioritise cases where life or safety was at risk, and other calls at the time were more important.

How many Police were on traffic duty at the time?