The Post reports:

Wellington ratepayers were left covering the costs of a private celebration for outgoing mayor Tory Whanau’s official portrait – a painted commission that ignored a council directive to save money by using photography.

While the council disclosed that the Clark Roworth artwork cost $7164.70 for the oil-on-canvas painting and framing, internal records reveal Whanau’s office also spent over $1000 on food and alcohol for a private unveiling to friends and family, bringing the total known expenditure above $8200.

Financial documents show the bash was held at Roworth’s gallery on October 3, for around 30 guests including the mayor’s staff and “Tory’s friends and family.”

To be fair $1,000 isn’t that much for a group of 30. Hell some of Tory’s long lunches probably cost more than that!

The Herald reports:

Opposition leader Chris Hipkins is dismissive of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon saying the country needs a “mature” conversation around the potential sale of state-owned assets. 

“What would this government do when they’ve run out of things to sell?” Hipkins said, after Luxon spoke positively of a new Treasury report that calls for better management of the country’s $571 billion portfolio of assets.

Treasury said the Government couldn’t grow its way out of a fiscal deficit, so future governments should consider selling assets that are no longer fit for purpose and reinvesting that money into new assets.

It is pretty sensible stuff – selling some assets so you can buy other assets. It is what every business and household in NZ does.

“Your KiwiSaver account, Super Fund – they all cycle assets in and out. We have other governments that do it in that way as well.

Again, just common sense.

Hipkins responded by saying that although he hadn’t read Treasury’s report, released on Friday, Labour wouldn’t sell state assets if elected to govern.

He appeared unaware Kiwibank’s parent company sold Kiwi Wealth to Fisher Funds for $310 million under the previous Labour Government.

Exactly. And Housing NZ sold some state houses so it could build new ones.

Singapore’s Temasek investment company is an example of a “formal capital recycling programme”.

While Labour compared its proposed “Future Fund” to Temasek, the fund would achieve the opposite by preventing, rather than supporting, asset recycling.

Hipkins is basically saying that the state can only acquire assets, and never ever sell any. That of the $571 billion of assets held by the state, not a single farm or a single house or a single share in a company should be sold. It’s economic lunacy.

The Herald reports:

US President Donald Trump has granted sweeping pardons to top allies accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election, the administration’s pardon attorney Ed Martin has said.

Martin shared a list on X of more than 70 people, including the President’s former lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who were granted “full, complete and unconditional” pardons.

The names on the list were embroiled in a scheme to alter slates of electors in battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, which Joe Biden had secured in his successful 2020 presidential run.

That plot, supported by Trump and his allies, helped fuel a demonstration that turned into a rioting mob attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

None of those named in the four-page pardons missive were charged on the federal level, but the directive could prevent future administrations from prosecuting the alleged co-conspirators.

This is not surprising. Trump of course thinks trying to keep him in power could never possibly be a bad thing, even if laws were broken.

But his pardon only exempts them from federal prosecutions. There are ongoing cases in Georgia and other states which will not be affected by these pardons.

On my Patreon I write:

Gaius Julius Caesar’s second wife was Pompeia (a grand daughter of Sulla who almost killed Caesar). During the Festival of Bona Dea a rascal called Publius Clodius Pulcher sneaked in disguised as a woman. There was no evidence that anything inappropriate happened between Pompeia and Clodius but Caesar divorced her on the grounds that Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.

This was somewhat ironic as Caesar himself was a noted womaniser (think Charlie Sheen levels), and in fact took great delight on cuckolding many of his Senatorial colleagues (partly explaining their dislike of him).

The role of Commissioner (and Deputy) of Police should be seen as similar to Caesar’s wife. They should and must be above suspicion.

In the rest of the article, I compare the current scandal to the ousting of Commissioner Doone in 2000, and also whether the affair by itself (if consensual and not related to work) should be a factor in suitability to be Commissioner. I note:

An uncontested fact is that as a 40 year old Superintendent he had an affair with a 20 year old woman. Now we do have to be careful not be demand perfection or be the moral police. Many people have affairs, even senior executives. If the Government Statistician had an affair with a 20 year old pool boy, I don’t think it would be relevant to her job, so long as she delivers a good census etc.

But the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of Police are different. I think there is a moral or integrity aspect to the roles. The roles are so special, they get appointed by the Prime Minister. We should not expect perfection, but the affair is a factor that the Public Service Commission panels for Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner should have been aware of. The Police hierarchy went out of their way to make sure they were not informed. It shouldn’t have been a veto, but should be a factor. An affair can lead to blackmail etc, so again it is relevant to these roles.

The focus to date has been on the many failings by the entire senior hierarchy of the Police (Commissioner, two Deputy Commissioners, two Assistant Commissioners). Tomorrow I’m going to highlight the officers who did behave well, and did do the right thing. So basically it will be detailing who were the good cops and who were the bad cops in this exercise – and who appointed the bad cops.

Radio NZ reports:

When the New Zealand Transport Agency signed off on an integrated national ticketing system in 2009, John Key was prime minister, Avatar ruled at the box office and a pound of butter cost about $3.60.

After more than 16 years, the first stage of the $1.4 billion National Ticketing Solution’s (NTS) latest iteration, known as Motu Move, was launched on Monday in Christchurch, rolling out contactless payment options on bus and ferry services across Greater Christchurch.

The option to pay with contactless debit or credit cards and digital payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay on phones or smart watches on buses and ferries will work on three hundred buses across Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selwyn, but only for those paying full fare.

A system to enable concession holders to pay less and the Motu Move cards themselves have been relegated to later stages.

The entire point of this system is to enable cards which can be programmed with maximum daily fees etc. So basically after 16 years, all they have managed to do is allow 300 buses to take EFTPOS. This is something that you could probably do in around a week, as mobile EFTPOS terminals are very common.

The NTS was slated to be launched in South Canterbury in 2024, but by the middle of this year, Transport Minister Chris Bishop weighed in, saying the project was facing technology, delivery and governance issues and was “not on track”.

Bishop said nothing was “off the table”, as consultants conducted an independent review of the project.

Hopefully that includes scrapping the project, rather than the sunk cost fallacy.

The IPCA has released a report so damning of the Police, that the Government has announced there will be an enhanced oversight body – the Inspector-General of Police.

This is not to do with the objectionable material that was found on his work devices. This is about the original complaint. I heard the basic details of this around six months ago, so it is good to be able to now write about it.

The basic list is McSkimming had an affair with someone 20 years younger than him. It ended badly and she made allegations against him. What is shocking is how the Police hierarchy responded to the allegations:

A report by the joint Police/Health Fixated Threat Assessment Centre in February 2024 identified the fact that potential criminal and Police Code of Conduct concerns relating to Mr McSkimming were being alleged in the emails and suggested referral to the Police National Integrity Unit and the IPCA with a view to possible investigation. However, the Deputy Commissioner and the Acting Assistant Commissioner (Investigations) to whom this recommendation was directed took no action. Instead, the only investigation that was launched focused on potential offences by the complainant under the Harmful Digital Communications Act, leading to her prosecution.

She made numerous allegations against the Deputy Commissioner of Police, and instead of investigating him, they arrested her! Appalling.

Now it may well be that her allegations were false. But the failing of the Police is that they didn’t investigate them. They basically all thought she was a “bunny boiler”.

When Police referred the matter to the IPCA in October 2024 then-Commissioner Coster attempted to influence the nature and extent of the investigation and the timeframe for its completion. Those attempts were perceived by some others within Police as designed to bring the investigation to a rapid and premature conclusion so as not to intersect with the Commissioner appointment process and jeopardise Mr McSkimming’s prospects of being appointed as the next Commissioner of Police, notwithstanding the seriousness of the allegations being made. …

In 2023, while a member of the interview panel for the statutory Deputy Commissioner appointment process, Commissioner Coster failed to disclose to the Public Service Commission his knowledge of Deputy McSkimming’s relationship which had subsequently led to the emails alleging misconduct. This failure clearly fell below what a reasonable person would have expected of a person in his position. Subsequently, Commissioner Coster’s disclosure to the Public Service Commission on 8 October 2024, during the interim Commissioner appointment process, also fell well short of what a reasonable person would have expected, given what he knew at the time.

This was terrible judgment, to put it mildly.

It is hard to overstate how damning this is for the Police hierarchy that was in place before 2025. The three most senior police officers (all appointed by the Prime Minister) are all implicated in serious errors of judgment.

Radio NZ reports:

Groups including Catholic school principals and kindergartens have united to oppose government changes to the teacher registration and disciplinary body the Teaching Council.

In an open letter to Minister of Education Erica Stanford published today, 10 organisations said she had gutted the council’s independence.

They are right in that the Minister now appoints a majority. But this is not a bad thing.

“Under your changes, the Ministry will assume responsibility for all professional standard-setting functions, including standards for teacher education programmes, Teaching Standards, criteria for registration and certification, and setting the code of conduct. The Teaching Council will retain only registration, quality assurance, and discipline functions,” the letter said.

It said the council had developed Treaty of Waitangi-centred professional standards for teachers and that was now under threat.

This is the key. The activist groups have taken over teacher registration and force teachers to affirm their political views about the role of the Treaty as a condition of recognition as a teacher. They are not sulking that their takeover has been thwarted.

Registration as a teacher should be dependent on their ability to teach and act appropriately. It should not be dependent on agreeing with a particular political viewpoint.

At my Patreon, I look at whether TPM will use the waka jumping law to expel their former MPs from Parliament. I also look at the likely outcome from the next elections in those seats, and why it is probably good news for both Labour and National.

The Harvard Crimson reports:

Harvard students pushed back forcefully against a new University report condemning grade inflation, arguing that it misrepresented their academic experience and would add pressure to an already demanding campus environment.

The 25-page report, released Monday by the Office of Undergraduate Education, suggested that Harvard’s grading system had become so lenient that it no longer meaningfully distinguished between students. It warned that current practices were “failing to perform the key functions of grading” and were “damaging the academic culture of the College.”

Sounds like a very useful report.

Sophie Chumburidze ’29 said the report felt dismissive of students’ hard work and academic struggles.

“The whole entire day, I was crying,” she said. “I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best.”

“It just felt soul-crushing,” she added.

She spent the entire day sobbing in bed, because of a report about grade inflation.

You would think this is a parody, but sadly it isn’t.

The Waitangi Tribunal has officially recommended that New Zealand have tow standards of citizenship – superior and inferior. This would be based on ancestry.

They recommend:

extend citizenship by descent to two generations for Māori 

You can have a good faith debate about whether citizenship by descent should be for one generation or two generations. But it must be the same for all citizens.

However the Waitangi Tribunal has said that New Zealand citizens with a Maori ancestor should have a superior type of citizenship to those without a Maori ancestor. This is repugnant.

FTI Consulting have done their annual report on what proportion of tobacco in NZ comes from the black market. They use both a survey of users, and also a survey of empty packs to get scientifically robust estimates.

Their key findings are:

• 27% of tobacco is now black market
• Contraband tobacco has increased 41% since 2023
• The black market has resulted in $600 million less revenue for the Government
• Last year legal tobacco sales dropped 6.7% and illegal sales increased 13%

Again this is a very useful reminder that if you increase taxation on a product too high, you turbocharge the black market.

Te Pati Maori has expelled Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. I can’;’t recall if any party has ever before expelled two MPs at once, let alone a third of their caucus.

What is also unusual is there appears to have been no due process where they get to argue in their defence.

They will now sit as Independent MPs in Parliament. It is not yet known if TPM will try and expel them from Parliament. That would need the support of all four remaining TPM MPs (it needs two thirds majority of their original caucus). If they proceed down that route, then there would be by-elections in Te Tai Tokerau and Te Tai Tonga.

Once again I remind people that not a single poll since the last election shows Labour could form Government without the support of Te Pati Maori.

At Patreon (paywalled) I have gone through six months of polls, to analyse which parties Maori New Zealanders say they are planning to vote for.

I haven’t done this just on the basis of ethnic identity, but also on the basis of Maori whakapapa (a New Zealanders with at least one Maori ancestor). There is a very significant difference between all those who are whakapapa Maori and those whose primary ethnic identity is Maori.

I conclude saying:

Media should be very careful, in my opinion, when they try to portray Maori as having a singular viewpoint. 30% of whakapapa Maori support government parties, and only 1 in 6 say they will vote for Te Pati Maori.

The BBC Director-General and head of news have resigned in the wake of allegations about editing footage of US President Donald Trump.

Editing can sometimes lead to footage which is misleading. The key question in this case was whether the outcome was accidental or deliberate. The fact the two top executives have resigned, suggest it may be the latter.

Radio NZ reports:

Former Green MP Kevin Hague is returning to politics to be the party’s new chief of staff.

In a social media post on Thursday, Hague said he was coming “out of retirement” to take up the role after Eliza Prestidge-Oldfield stepped down.

Hague said his home would remain on the West Coast, but he would also be setting up a “second base” in the capital.

“Got any furniture you want to sell? I will pick up the reins in a couple of weeks.”

Hague entered Parliament as a list MP in 2008. Despite being considered a frontrunner for the party’s co-leadership in 2015, he was beaten by James Shaw.

Hague left a year later to become the chief executive of environmental organisation Forest and Bird.

I know Kevin reasonably well. I worked with him on the same sex marriage law change, and friends like Nikki Kaye worked very closely with him on adoption law reform.

Kevin is a smart politically – he understands both strategy and tactics. He is also experienced at working with people from across the political spectrum. All very good attributes for a Chief of Staff.

I predict the turnover of Green staffers will now end.

Young people need a mix of extrinsic motivators and support for their intrinsic motivation.

I have been working with a range of high schools to improve the outcomes of their senior students.

We only have approx. 460 high schools in NZ and simple goal setting is a HUGE opportunity being missed by the Minister and Ministry.

Often schools are very limited rewards for hard-working students and treat academics like it is a sport when only 3 people can be on the podium.

One suggestion I made to Te Aroha College – with a very aspiration Principal in Neil Harray – was a “Scholars Award” of $1,000 for however meets set Year 13 criteria.

This is what he spoke about, at their prizegiving, on the impact so far:

“Tonight we will announce something new for some of our Year 13 school leavers. Last year we used an [absolutely brilliant] external consultant to help us review our achievement and leavers data. As a result of that feedback, we have tried to do something a little different, to lift attendance, engagement and retention rates. This year we introduced a graduate profile across all levels of the school. This is a set of descriptors and expectations that identify how our students connect and contribute to school life.

As you will see, some of our students do amazing things. It is hard to recognise everyone. However we wanted a way to acknowledge those students that have made a difference, have contributed to school life, have set themselves a challenge and have achieved those goals, have great attendance, achieved academically and basically just been a darn great all round student.

So it is with great pleasure that we will present the first ever Te Aroha College Scholars Award.

This award will go to 12 students and they will each receive $1000. These are school funds that have been generated from our International Student programme and put aside for these awards.

These 12 students had to provide 32 pieces of evidence.  22 “must do’s” and 10 individual personal and aspirational goals.

While we want this to be challenging and aspirational for our students, we believe every student in Year 13 will have the opportunity to get this award. As with any new initiative, there have been some teething problems. However, these 12 students have worked hard and set the standard for the years to come.

Imagine in a few years’ time, having close to 100 Year 13 students receiving the Te Aroha College Scholars Award. That is a real possibility, and we have planned for this. We look forward to this year’s current Year 12 students engaging with the graduate profile from the start of the year.”

[email protected]

As scientific institutions become more political, political trust in science inevitably declines. Nature magazine is a great example of this.

In the tweet above, they demanded they wanted more voices of non-Western, non-white men when it comes to “measuring the size of the Milky Way galaxy”.

Law News reports:

The government has ditched retrospective legislation that would have hobbled a multi-million banking class action, accepting a Parliamentary select committee’s advice to back down rather than pursue the controversial change.

Scott Simpson announced the U-turn on Monday after Parliament’s Finance & Expenditure Select Committee outlined its position on the retrospective provisions of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment (CCCFA) Bill.

“Through the select committee process, it was suggested that ongoing court cases be exempt from these provisions. The committee considered this carefully and recommended that approach, and the government parties agree,” Simpson said.

Pleased to see the Government do the right thing. The CCCFA law was a bad law. However it was the law of the land, and ANZ didn’t comply with it, and has to face the legal consequences of that. You don’t retrospectively change the law to kill off a lawsuit that has been active for four years.

Stuff reports:

Labour is promising to make cervical screening free for everyone, if elected, through its previously-announced Medicard scheme.

Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the move would help prevent cancers and avoid costly hospital treatments.

I’ve pulled out the data for deaths by cancer over the last ten years. The numbers are:

• Cervical 518
• Prostate 6,866