Christopher Luxon announced four policies for dealing with the increase in both gang numbers and gang violence, including near daily shootings in Auckland. They are:

1. Ban gang patches and insignia in public
2. Give Police power to issue dispersal notices to gang members and associates
3. Give Police power to issue Consorting Prohibition notices for up to three years
4. Give Police power to issues Firearms Prohibition Orders

I’m strongly support 2, 3 and 4. I don’t support 1 on freedom of expression grounds, but you don’t need that for the others to work.

Labour’s policy appears to be to continue to fund the very gangs that deal the drugs to also run drug rehabiliation courses!

A 0 would mean a policy achieved all its targets – there was no failure.

A 5 would signify a policy was massively off course, and unlikely to get close to meeting the targets or promise made.

A 10 would be Auckland Light Rail.

So where does this one get scored? They announced a special visa and predicted 20,000 would come to NZ on it. And only 12 have actually utilized it.

I rate this an 8.5 on the Kiwibuild scale.

A great article at Newsroom who interviewed the “oldest and most credible” witness against Peter Ellis. Some details:

• The senior detective told her parents “if they didn’t get their daughter to testify they would be as “perverted as Peter Ellis” and would be responsible for a “filthy bastard kiddie #@## going free”
• Of those seven children, five of their parents worked in the sexual abuse field.
• Some of the disclosures made by children from the creche included cakes and raisins being put up their bottoms, that Ellis killed people with axes, that he pushed children into a manhole with gorillas, smuggled them through dungeons, buried them in coffins, that children were made to kick each other in the genitals while adults stood around them in a circle playing guitars, and that Ellis’ mother had hung them in cages from the ceiling.
• There was no physical evidence and there were also no adult eyewitnesses

The Herald reports:

Auckland Transport (AT) has spent nearly $10 million and awarded contracts to dozens of companies on a controversial and little-used cycleway in Grey Lynn, which is even being criticised as inefficient by bike advocates. …

What’s more, a Herald survey over four days in March found just a handful of cyclists – between four and eight – used the cycleway over an hour in the morning peak.

Auckland ratepayers just getting fleeced again

Guyon Espiner has done a lengthy interview and article on Christopher Luxon, which is worth taking the time to read and watch.

MSN reports:

A man with a gun and a knife was detained by police early Wednesday morning near Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Maryland home after making threats against the Supreme Court justice, according to local and federal officials.

Authorities identified the man as Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, Calif., charging him with the attempted murder of a federal judge. The criminal complaint did not specifically name Kavanaugh. Efforts to immediately reach Roske’s family were unsuccessful. It is unclear whether he has an attorney. …

When Montgomery County Police Department officers were dispatched and arrested Roske without incident, he was still on the phone with 911, according to an affidavit. In his suitcase and backpack were a Glock 17 with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, a tactical knife, a hammer, a screwdriver, a crow bar, zip ties and duct tape, along with other gear.

After his arrest, according to the affidavit, Roske told police he was upset over the leaked draft of an opinion that would overturn the constitutional right to abortion and also over the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Tex.

This is a shocking development. The person who leaked the draft opinion bears some responsibility for this.

What is interesting (but not surprising) is how most US media are reporting this as a minor story. If a liberal Supreme Court Justice had been the subject of an assassination attempt by a right wing activist, the story would dominate the media for weeks and weeks.

Also the activist group that had published his home address on the Internet still turned up a few hours later for their daily harassment protest outside his home. How tone deaf is that? Someone has just turned up with a gun and knife to kill him and possibly his family, and you still hold your protest outside his house. Have these activists been condemned widely for this? Of course not.

The Herald reports:

A new attendance strategy is being launched by Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti this afternoon at Manurewa Intermediate School in South Auckland.

The strategy aims to see 70 per cent of school students at school regularly by 2024 and 75 per cent by 2026.

I thought this must be a typo. Surely not even this Government would say that the best they can do is aim for 70% of students attending school regularly by 2024. But, no that is what they are settling for.

In 2017 there were 37,904 students attending school less than 70% of the time. In 2021 this had increased to 67,687. That’s 30,000 extra kids basically not attending school.

And there are 300,000 kids not attending regularly (more than 90%).

In Term 2 of 2021 only 44% of Maori students were attending school regularly. Think what a huge difference it could make to outcomes for Maori later in life if that attendance rate was lifted to say 90%.

This is not just a problem of say 16 and 17 year olds not attending regularly. Only 69% of primary students attend regularly. 7% attend less than 70%. Their futures are probably pretty stuffed.

Stuff reports:

A Huntly Four Square owner who has been burgled three times in the last 90 days says New Zealand is a “third world country”.

Jas Sandhu is concerned that offenders are too brazen. He’s now living in constant fear for his family and staff.

He’s owned Fred’s Four Square since 2004, but he’s ready to give it up.

Can’t blame him.

Sandhu is frustrated that police didn’t attend the burglary until 9.30am after asking dispatch about 6am to get them to the scene straight away.

“I asked for one cop.We didn’t feel safe here, we just wanted someone to walk us through the shop to make sure no-one was inside. The person on the phone said if I wait for the cop I will be there all day.”

A ram raid on May 30 and another on March 6 had cost Sandhu over $70,000 in stock and damage, he estimates.

“This is the reason why these people have no fear, because they probably know cops aren’t coming.”

The two things that most deter criminals is the probability of being caught and the probability of serious punishment if caught.

He said in the 18 years he’s had the business it’s the worst crime he’s seen.

“I am feeling insecure at the moment.

“I have helped the local food bank with nearly $10,000 worth of food for the community. We support our community, so we aren’t just a business.”

He deserves better.

You have to laugh that Jacinda claims her Government is not soft on crime, at the exact same time as they are voting to change the law so that the most serious repeat violent and sexual offenders will get shorter sentences.

But their record is far more than that. They have also voted down 11 bills that would have been tougher on criminals:

1. Sep 2018 – voted down bill to allow Police to issue firearms prohibition orders against gang members with a history of firearms or violent offending
2. Oct 2018 – voted down bill to allow for random testing of drivers for drug impairment
3. May 2019 – voted down bill to increase maximum penalty for selling or supplying unapproved psychoactive substances from two to 14 years
4. June 2020 – voted down bill allowing maximum penalty of 20 years for “coward punches” causing death
5. Mar 2021 – voted down a bill requiring a school to be notified if a registered sex offender lives within 5 kms of the school
6. Apr 2021 – voted not to proceed with a bill that increases the maximum penalty for assaults on first responders or prison officers to 10 years
7. April 2021 – voted down a bill imposing a maximum penalty of five years for killing a police dog
8. June 2021 – voted down a bill that clarified  carjacking is robbery
9. Oct 2021 – again voted down bill to allow Police to issue firearms prohibition orders against gang members with a history of firearms or violent offending
10. Apr 2022 – voted down a bill to ban the Government funding gangs
11. May 2022 – voted down a bill to increase the power of Police to seize assets gained through significant criminal activity

So claiming they are not soft on crime comes close to gaslighting!

Ipsos have published their quarterly poll of what issues are most important to NZers, and who they see as best on them.

The top issues are:

1. Inflation 56% (+29% from a year ago)
2. Housing 37% (-16%)
3. Healthcare 29% (+2%)
4. Petrol Prices 28% (+21%)
5. Crime 26% (+5%)
6. Economy 23% (+1%)

The overall Government performance is rated 5.3/10. A year ago it was 6.4 and peaked at 7.6 in May 2020.

In terms of the top five issues, the party ranked as most capable of managing them is:

1. Inflation National +10% (was Labour +17% a year ago)
2. Housing National +8% (was Labour +15%)
3. Healthcare Labour +8% (was Labour +28%)
4. Petrol Prices National +6% (was Labour +15%)
5. Crime 26% National +10% (was Labour +13%)

So National is seen as better on four of the top five issues.

Audrey Young writes:

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 8, I received a private call from a senior Labour Party figure about an article that had run in that day’s Herald on Louisa Wall’s effective deselection as Manurewa MP. …

The person on the other end of the phone that day asked if I knew that the real reason Wall had withdrawn was that she had lost the support of the Labour electorate committee (LEC). That’s the local executive in each electorate that runs party business.

The suggestion was news to me but it was a line to be repeated publicly in the following days by at least two Labour-aligned commentators, Neale Jones and Mike Williams.

I wonder who the person was? A senior figure could only be the President, General Secretary or one of the top four MPs, I’d say.

It can safely be said that the phone call was wrong. Louisa Wall did not lose the support of her LEC. She not only had the support of her LEC, she had the endorsement of E Tu union, the support of Te Kaunihera Māori (the Māori council of the party), and Labour’s Māori caucus with the exception of deputy leader Kelvin Davis.

So it was a smear sanctioned by Labour and repeated by their proxies.

The upshot was that instead of a candidate selection panel which could have comprised four local votes (two LEC, one floor rep and one ballot vote from qualified party members present) and just three New Zealand Council reps, there were only two local votes which were outnumbered by three New Zealand Council reps.

So Wall knew she would lose, because Head Office votes as Grant tells them to, and they could outvote the locals.

Williams had got to know Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern when Ardern had been a list MP based in Auckland Central and Williams had been president of the Auckland University Students Association. Williams was even closer to Grant Robertson, who was a mentor. 

Never bet against Grant in a game of internal politics.

Louisa Wall complained that Arena Williams’ nomination had arrived after the 5pm deadline on February 7. It was hand-delivered to Claire Szabo’s Auckland home after 5pm, after Williams had contacted head office saying she was not going to be able to meet the deadline (the reason is not known).

If that happened in National, the nomination would be invalid. You can’t ignore the rules just because the Deputy PM supports a candidate.

Newshub reports:

The Crown has begun its case against two people connected with New Zealand First accused of electoral fraud.

Forty donors sent around $750,000 to a private company and a trust, but prosecutors claim that two defendants used what’s being described as a “fraudulent device, trick or stratagem” so as not to pass donations on to the party.

A key issue is the donations were not disclosed in the annual donations return by the party.

“Instead, they ran a scheme which kept the party secretary and the board of New Zealand First and by extension the Electoral Commission and the public very much in the dark about the extent of donations made to the party,” said prosecutor Paul Wicks QC.

They’re accused of putting money into the bank account of a business they hoped to use to create a database of donors, called Nation Builder.

I previously thought the money had just gone into the NZ First Foundation, but this sounds like some money went directly into this company. Questions I would have is who owned and who were the directors of this company?

Radio NZ further report:

In opening remarks today, one of their lawyers Tudor Clee said the Serious Fraud Office had no evidence of any crime.

“There was never an instruction from the party to deal with the funds that was not followed. Crime is not about speculation of what if. Crime is only about what actually happened.”

Clee said no one was deceived, including the New Zealand First Party.

This is also interesting. Who was giving these instructions? It presumably wasn’t the Party President or Secretary who say they knew nothing about the Foundation.

Note that this is an ongoing trial, so no assumptions should be made or stated about guilt or otherwise of those charged.

The May 2022 Roy Morgan is out.

Party Vote

• Labour 31.5% (-2.0% from April)
• National 40.0% (+2.5%)
• Greens 11.5% (+1.0%)
• ACT 10.0% (nc)
• Maori 1.0% (-0.5%)
• NZ First 3.0% (+0.5%)
• TOP 1.0% (-1.0%)
• New Conservatives 0.5% (nc)

Seats

• Labour 40 (-25 from election)
• National 51 (+18)
• Greens 15 (+5)
• ACT 13 (+3)
• Maori 1 (-1)

Governments

• Labour/Green 55/120
• National/ACT 64/120

Direction

• Right 40.0% (-3.0%)
• Wrong 50.0% (+0.5%)

This is the sixth Roy Morgan poll in a row to show a change of Government if there was an election.

Newshub reports:

The Police Commissioner has apologised after backlash from frontline officers over comments he made to AM this week about deaths during police pursuits.

Andrew Coster told Ryan Bridge on Tuesday that 2020 changes to police’s pursuit policy – which mean police only pursue a driver if there was a threat before a pursuit and there is an immediate need to catch the fleeing individual – are being reviewed and could be fine-tuned.

It comes at the same time as law enforcement deal with a spike in ram-raid robberies, with many of the offenders being youth. 

He didn’t accept the change in policy has led to more ram raids and that instead “we need to look seriously at why these kids are not productively engaged”.

“The 10 years before the policy change we killed 60 people through police pursuits. No one has died in a police pursuit since we changed the policy. But obviously, there is a balance,” Coster said. “The question is for what offence would we be prepared to put the public at risk by engaging in a pursuit.”

It is those comments that AM understands have angered some officers on the frontline – and now the Police Commissioner has apologised. 

AM has obtained an email sent from Coster to staff in which the Commissioner says he has received “feedback expressing concern about the way I spoke to deaths from fleeing driver incidents in a recent TV interview”.

He writes that he was explaining how “in the 10 years preceding the change to our current settings, 63 people died in the context of police pursuits”.

“I am very clear that responsibility for harm caused must ultimately fall at the feet of the fleeing driver,” Coster says.

“However, that should not stop us considering how police pursuit settings need to be calibrated to balance public safety with the interest in apprehending offenders.

“The words I used, in the context of that live interview, did not convey this meaning well. I apologise for that, it was not what I intended.”

I’m not surprised so many police officers were upset.

The Guardian reports:

Sir Graham Brady has told Tory MPs that there will be a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson, the BBC’s Chris Mason reports. It will take place this evening, between 6pm and 8pm.

So we should know the result by 9 am NZST.

I think he will go. Voters will forgive a lot but not the hypocrisy of locking the country down while having numerous social functions at 10 Downing Street. He might survive this vote but will be so wounded he will go the way of Theresa May.

If he does lose the vote, then the caucus hold a series of ballots until there are two contenders left and then party members vote between those two. I’d say Liz Truss is the front runner at this stage.

UPDATE: Boris won but with only 60% support so he hangs on for now but is basically mortally wounded.

The Herald reports:

The literature review found that “‘bias’ has become a scapegoat for not addressing racism directly and the literature shows that the New Zealand Police and the criminal justice system have been uncomfortable with racism and the legacy of imperialism“.

It said “a legacy of eurocentrism, neoliberalism and white supremacy” had become a “core component of policing delivery and the criminal justice system”.

“These negative impacts have shown that anyone who does not fit into the colonial ideal of Pākehā hetero-patriarchy seem more likely to be harmed by the New Zealand Police.”

Very impressive that the Police managed to get imperialism, neoliberalism and hetero-patriarchy into the one report.

The Herald reports:

The Government is one step closer to its massive amalgamation of council water infrastructure, after the introduction of legislation that would create New Zealand’s new Three Waters regime. The step came as a breakaway group of councils launched legal action against the reforms.

If you want to help stop this asset grab, then the Taxpayers’ Union Stop Three Waters roadshow may be coming to a town near you.

The full list is at DPMC. The top tiers are:

ONZ

To be Additional Members of the said Order:

The Honourable Dame Silvia Rose Cartwright, PCNZM, DBE, QSO, DStJ, of Auckland. For services to New Zealand.

Sir Stephen (Tipene) Gerard O’Regan, of Christchurch. For services to New Zealand.

DNZM

To be Dames Companion of the said Order:

Ms Ruth Ellina Aitken, ONZM, of Paeroa. For services to netball.

Judge Carolyn Henwood, CNZM, of Wellington. For services to the State, youth and the arts.

Dr Judith Helen McGregor, CNZM, of Auckland. For services to human rights and health.

KNZM

To be Knights Companion of the said Order:

Dr Patrick Wahanga Hohepa, of Kaikohe. For services to Māori culture and education.

Mr Heughan Bassett Rennie, CBE, QC, of Wellington. For services to governance, the law, business and the community.

Dr Collin Fonotau Tukuitonga, of Auckland. For services to Pacific and public health.