Iain Lees-Galloway in his valedictory said:

And finally—colleagues, hold on—our universal superannuation entitlement is unsustainable. People just live longer. It’s true, though, that abandoning universality or just increasing the age of entitlement are both likely to hit the people who need the most support the hardest. So here’s a thought. A means-tested entitlement from age 60 and a universal entitlement from age 70. 

A pity it took his valedictory for him to tell the truth about Superannuation. The age of 65 is clearly unsustainable and should move to 70.

Stuff reports:

A judge has admitted he is taking a risk in not sending a man with a history of reckless driving and driving at police back to jail for the same offence.

“It’s a huge risk, and I have to acknowledge that,” Judge Tony Greig said as he spared Dillan Mclellan in the New Plymouth District Court on Wednesday.

Mclellan was being sentenced for a reckless driving incident involving a police pursuit. It took place after his release from jail for the same offending committed in 2018.

“Somebody could have died in Mr Mclellan’s last set of offending, somebody could have died in this set of offending, and if he offends again somebody could die next time.”

However, Judge Greig said it was time to take a chance on the 22-year-old.

The Judge says Mclellan could well end up killing someone, yet gives him a get out of jail free card.

Stuff reports:

The National Party will “fast track” the construction of a second Mount Victoria tunnel if elected in September, Stuff understands.

Today, the party’s transport spokesman Chris Bishop will announce the party will build the tunnel, with central government funding the entire $700 million sum of its construction.

Under National, construction would begin by the end of its first term in Government in 2023, should it win the election in September.

A clear choice for Wellingtonians.

Stuff reports:

Calls for increased taxes on the wealthiest New Zealanders have been backed by the country’s largest union, the Public Service Association.

Tax Justice Aotearoa, formed in 2018, wants a new tax rate of 50 per cent on every dollar of personal income over $150,000 a year, and an annual levy of 2 per cent on net wealth over $2 million, excluding debt.

This is basically a return to Muldoonism when the top tax rate was 66%. Back then there was no GST. If you have a top tax rate of 50%, a GST of 15% and excise taxes and rates, well over two thirds of every dollar you earn at the top rate will go to the Government.

This is what we’ll get with a Labour/Green Government. Labour wants to hike the top tax rate and Greens want to tax your savings and house.

Stuff reports:

The Government’s Provincial Growth Fund has been savaged by the Auditor-General for a lack of transparency, lacklustre conflict management and operating a “fund within a fund”.

That is polite speak for calling it a slush fund.

Stuff reports:

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is keen to see the Christchurch mosque shooter serve his sentence in Australia.

If the shooter is deported to Australia, he will be a free man. There is no provision for him to serve time in an Australian prison for crimes done in New Zealand.

So when Winston says deport him, that actually means free him.

Documents released in recent days show that the shooter is costing the corrections system almost $5000 a day, 14 times more than it costs to house an average prisoner.

An insane amount of money. But the solution is not to set him free. The solution is to not give him platinum plated security.

Newshub reports:

The Minister of Health has reiterated that more people need to be tested for COVID-19. 

However, there’s concern one high-risk group is being overlooked – airport bus drivers ferrying the thousands of returnees to isolation hotels. 

It’s the old COVID-19 battle cry – test, test, test. 

“We want to see higher rates of daily testing,” said Chris Hipkins.

For obvious reasons, the initial focus has been here at our borders – but what about testing of bus drivers? They’re transporting potential COVID-positive travellers every day, sometimes for hours, to managed isolation hotels.

“They will be covered by the staff at the border testing, so that includes everyone working in that chain,” the Minister of Health said.

But a source at the border has told Newshub bus drivers are not being regularly tested. …

The Ministry of Health responded, saying Auckland DHB had so far tested 1089 border workers – including “some” bus drivers. It didn’t know how many.

Overseas returnees get tested around day three and day 12, but the testing regime for those working in the isolation hotels – like guards and hotel staff – is much less rigorous. 

It’s more of an aspirational target.  

Is our covid free status due to good luck or good management? Perhaps a bit of both.

TVNZ has announced four debates:

1. Collins and Ardern Tue 25 August
2. Young Voters Debate Wed 2 Sep
3. NZ First, Greens and ACT Wed 9 Sep
4. Collins and Ardern Thu 17 Sep

DNYUZ reports:

Senator Tammy Duckworth, like the man she might serve as vice president, prizes loyalty in her ranks and occasional mischief in her workplace.

So when a top communications aide prepared to defect last year to the presidential campaign of Pete Buttigieg, Ms. Duckworth recognized an opportunity. She recorded a faux media interview trashing Mr. Buttigieg for hiring her staff away, recruiting an intern to pose as a journalist on the tape. The file was sent to the departing aide, Sean Savett, who called the Buttigieg team in a panic.

Soon, Mr. Savett was summoned to the Illinois senator’s office, where she fumed theatrically, stalling as other staff members filed in quietly for the reveal: It was all a ruse. Ms. Duckworth handed him a parting gift — a Smirnoff Ice, the centerpiece of a viral drinking game known as “icing” — and gave a final senatorial directive:

“Get down on one knee and chug.”

A US Senator who will take the time to prank a departing staff member. I like it.

Ms. Duckworth has forged a political identity around trauma and personal resilience, her status as a wounded warrior shadowing every inch of her professional arc since her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down outside Baghdad in 2004.

She lost her legs in service to the US.

They were about 10 minutes from their destination when an explosion scorched through the right side of the cockpit, where Ms. Duckworth sat:

A rocket-propelled grenade. A fireball blast at her lower body.

She does not remember feeling pain immediately. She does remember the black smoke — and an aircraft suddenly impervious to her prompts. By this point, Ms. Duckworth learned later, she had no feet.

Mr. Milberg was able to land on a plot of open woods. Ms. Duckworth, on the cusp of losing consciousness, has retained a snapshot from the haze of her rescue: a cluster of tall grass poking through the base of the Black Hawk. She wondered how it had gotten there.

Ms. Duckworth awoke over a week later at Walter Reed. Her legs were gone.

Duckworth is of course one of those Biden might select as VP. She is more moderate than some of the other contenders.

The Herald reports:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is warning voters not to expect any large-scale Labour policies this election, as her party’s priority is the Covid-19 recovery.

Ardern, who is the Labour leader, was also critical of her opponents’ plans for government debt, saying what National has proposed means tough austerity measures for the next generation.

Speaking to RNZ this morning, Ardern said voters should not expect a “large-scale range of policies” from Labour this election.

First of all borrowing $100 billion or so instead of $200 billion is not austerity.

The bigger issue is that Labour wants to coast to victory on Covid-19, so that it has a blank cheque for the next term if they win. Policies are not just about saying what you will do, but what you won’t.

So a policy free Labour party could do massive increases to personal and business tax rates to fund their spending.

A guest post by a reader:

This week the Labour / Greens and NZ First Government intends to rush through legislation under urgency to further smash landlords and by extension hurt good tenants.  This legislation will further disenfranchise those people in our society who have worked hard scrimped and saved  to buy a rental or two to support them in their retirement.  Bad tenants can destroy the determined endeavours of hard working New Zealanders to build over years a financial stability. 

This is terrible legislation and will have a detrimental effect all involved in the rental markets especially those who the Government seeks to help. Screening of tenants will be so severe that people with the tiniest risk of breaching will simply not be considered for housing at all.

The vast majority of Tribunal rulings go in favour of the landlord, and they have no help or hope in ever getting their money owed back. IRD does not help nor does MSD currently it is literally impossible to enforce the rulings in favour of the ones owed the money. The fines are ridiculously high and the tribunals flip over backwards to let the offenders get away with as much as possible, it is not an even playing field as it is.

The key parts of the legislation that Labour the Greens and NZ First are trying to get over the line are detailed below.

Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill will be considered in Parliament under urgency this week.

1. Section 55A would allow two weeks of unpaid rent every 90 days. This breaches every tenancy agreement which requires rent to be paid as agreed.
2. Section 36 would permit two separate instances of anti-social behaviour every 90 days. This also breaches every tenancy agreement which forbids anti-social behaviour.
3. Section 32, which would end contractual terminations by owners, means that the only ways for owners to end tenancies are to renovate, move into, or sell the property.
4. When considering termination for a serious breach, Tenancy Tribunal adjudicators would be legally obliged to put the personal circumstances of a tenant above the rights of the owner and neighbours, and above fairness and acceptable behaviour.
5. Schedule 2 would impose massive fines that are far from fair and reasonable. Seventy three of the 87 proposed penalties target owners

Perhaps the Prime Minister can explain why it is being rushed through under urgency. The Government knows that it can’t stand scrutiny so Government MPs want to ensure that it is not read or debated.

Stuff reports:

How will New Zealanders feel about the outcome of the Operation Burnham​ inquiry? They will probably be shocked and saddened. But they may also be slightly relieved.

That might seem paradoxical. But the inquiry, which investigated allegations about the Special Air Service (SAS) made by journalists Nicky Hager​ and Jon Stephenson​, found that while the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) misled ministers and the public about civilian casualties in Afghanistan, the troops on the ground acted legally and professionally. That, at least, is what New Zealanders expect.

As far as I can tell, the three main findings of the inquiry are below:

1. The NZ troops acted legally and professionally, thuis rejecting the central premise from the book
2. There were some civilian casualties, which is sad but not surprising. Very few military engagements do not result in accidental deaths
3. The NZDF hierarchy spectacularly failed in ensuring Ministers and the public were aware there may have been civilian casualties in the raid.

The first finding is not unexpected, and of course welcome.

The second finding is also not unexpected, and as I said a sad reality of many military engagements.

The third finding is not entirely unexpected either. The proposal to put in an independent Inspector-General is a good one.

The troops on the ground in Afghanistan risked their lives in serving the country, and some lost their lives. They should generally feed vindicated by the outcome of the inquiry, but they should feel let down by their superiors who made a hash of it afterwards.

This chart above shows the increase in deaths over the last three months in the seven OECD countries with the highest death rates.

In May the UK, Sweden and US had increases of over 40%, Belgium, Italy and France around 20% and Spain around 10%.

In June four countries had the increase in deaths down to under 5%, UK was around 15% and Sweden and US around 20%.

July shows Belgium, Spain, Italy and France with increases of under 2%. UK is at 6%, Sweden 8% and the US is the only country where the rate is accelerating with a 25% increase in deaths last month.

All these countries were hard hit in the initial wave. But six of them have managed to more or less get things under control. The US clearly has not.

Twelve states are having over 20 people a day die. It is quite possible that a death toll of around 1,000 people a day will continue until there is a vaccine in the middle of 2021, which means the death toll may exceed that of World War II for the United States!

Stuff reports:

The Labour Party has thrown its support behind the campaign to make Matariki a public holiday, but not all the country’s major parties are in favour.

MP Nanaia Mahuta, the minister for Māori development and local government, told Stuff the party would need to seek advice regarding an appropriate date before making it official.

“Labour would be supportive of recognising Matariki as a public holiday. We would need to seek advice perhaps at the select committee to consider the most appropriate date.”

I’m all for having Matariki as a public holiday but opposed to struggling employers being forced to fund additional paid leave.

So the obvious answer is replace an existing public holiday with Matariki. Either Labour Day or Queen’s Birthday.

The Herald reports:

The Green Party is campaigning for water-only drinks at sports clubs – and National Party’s leader Judith Collins is outraged.

Collins took aim at the Greens for their “crazy” policy, when talking to comedy duo Jono and Ben on The Hits this morning.

“I’m so sick of these people, I mean stop telling everyone what to do and being such bossy boots,” Collins said on the show.

She said she couldn’t get to sleep so decided to have a quick look at the Green Party policies “because I thought that should get me to sleep but it woke me up”.

One policy in particular grabbed her attention: “Support water-only policies in schools, hospitals, and sports clubs,” as stated on the Green’s website.

“So what does that mean? No coffee, so there you are, a poor parent on the sidelines watching your kid get pummelled in rugby or hockey or whatever, and you’re standing there with no coffee.”

Jono and Ben then asked: “What about the beers after the game in the clubrooms?”

Collins fired back, saying: “Exactly, I mean why would you put your body through all that hardship if you didn’t get any reward. Only to have a nice water at the end, I mean for goodness sake.”

The Greens say the policy has been taken out of context but the reality is they love to ban things. One election I counted up over 100 things they wanted to ban.

The Herald reports:

But, speaking to the Nation this morning, Peters was adamant that would not happen.
He pointed out that when then Prime Minister Helen Clark called a snap election in 2002, his party was also polling at 2 or 3 per cent.

But on election day, NZ First won just shy of 11 per cent of the total vote.

Sometimes NZ First has gone up in the last eight weeks. Somtimes they have gone down. Let’s look at the eight MMP elections and what the Colmar Brunton poll said around eight weeks out, and what they got.

So on average NZ First does 0.8% better in an election than they are in the ONCB poll eight weeks out. So if the average applies, their 2% may end up 2.8%.

The two elections after their spell in Government was 1999 and 2008. In 1999 they only did 0.2% better and in 2008 they did 2.3% better. But they need to do 3% better.

It is not impossible. In 2011 and 2014 they increased their vote by over 4% in the last eight weeks. But they were in opposition then, not Government.

Can never rule it out, but the odds are against them.

My blood boiled as I read the usual nonsense in an oped in Stuff about early childhood education. Basically the authors all but call for private ECEs to be banned.

They are part of the tribe of educationalists who hate choice in education, and think we should just attend whichever school or centre we are told to.

As a parent, I love the fact that the early childhood sector has a massive diversity of ECEs. You can choose between kindergartens, playcentres, sole private ECEs, to nationwide chains.

We started researching ECEs before Benjamin was born. We evaluated close to a dozen that were within driving distance of our then home. We looked at their ERO reports, their available hours and days, their staff ratios, their philosophy, do they provide meals, their outdoor space etc.

We then shortlisted four of them, and visited them and finally chose one that we thought was best suited for Ben. And it was brilliant. And you know what, it happens to be privately owned.

And when we moved, we went through it again evaluating up to a dozen choices, and then deciding, and again we chose one which has also turned out great, Amazing teachers, amazing philosphy etc. And this one also happens to be privately owned.

Both ECEs we selected had the highest possible rating from the ERO of “Very Well Placed”, which is rare.

Do I give a f*** that the owners (who are dedicated educiontalists by the way) make a living out of owning and managing an ECE? No I don’t. What I care deeply about is the quality of the ECE and the fact we actually have a choice.

Wouldn’t it be amazing, if one had the same choices at school level!

The Herald reports:

A Malaysian national has been busted trying to smuggle more than two million cigarettes into New Zealand in Customs’ largest-ever tobacco seizure.

He was arrested on Wednesday for attempting to evade $2.72m in duty and GST and trying to smuggle 2.2m cigarettes through the border.

Customs’ group manager of intelligence, investigations and enforcement, Dana McDonald, said the tobacco seizure – Customs’ largest ever at the border in a single shipment – was “yet another example of organised crime involvement in tobacco fraud”.

“”Criminals will do whatever they can to make money, regardless of the commodity – it’s just business for them,” she said.

“With cigarette prices in New Zealand amongst the highest globally, tobacco fraud is seen as a lucrative business venture for criminals, and sadly we expect this trend to continue.”

We have taxed tobacco so much, that the result has been an exponential growth in the black market.

This should be a lesson for policy makers.