The Herald reports:

More than 150,000 cattle will be culled in a world-first bid to eradicate cattle disease Mycloplasma bovis (M. Bovis).

The Government says it has reached an agreement with farming sector leaders to attempt to eradicate the disease from New Zealand.

The cull, of around 126,000 in addition to the 26,000 already underway, will take place over one to two years.

Hopefully the cull will work. Sadly there is a real possibility that 150,000 cattle will be killed and the disease will not be eradicated.

The Government will meet 68 per cent of the cost and Dairy NZ and Beef and Lamb New Zealand will meet 32 per cent.

I’m not against some Government assistance but I do wonder whether something like this was insurable against.

Ardern said to put the cull into context, there were one million animals in the national dairy herd.

That’s 15% of the national herd to be killed. Not insignificant.

UPDATE: The quoted figure is wrong. The dairy herd is 6.5 million.

Stuff reports:

The Government has announced a mammoth 11-person panel to advise on the overhaul of the welfare system, made up of academics, social advocates, economists and business leaders. 

Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the group would undertake a “broad-ranging” review of the welfare system.  …

The Green’s campaigned on removing nearly all sanctions and rules around receiving a benefit, however entered the campaign without the policy’s champion Metiria Turei, after she was forced to resign over mounting pressure following an admission of historical benefit fraud. 

Yep they want people on welfare to have no obligations to be honest or seek work. Their answer to welfare fraud is to abolish any obligation to tell the truth, so you can’t commit fraud!

Auckland University professor Cindy Kiro will lead the group as chair, said Sepuloni. …

Other members of the welfare panel include paedeatrician and professor Innes Asher, beneficiary advocate Kay Brereton, academics Huana Hickey and Tracey McIntosh, economist Ganesh Nana and former Business NZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly, as well as trade unionist Robert Reid.

Representing the Council of Christian Social Services on the group was chief executive Trevor McGlinchy, and second-year university student Latayvia Tualasea Tauta will provide a Pasifika perspective to the panel along with lived experience of growing up in a benefit-dependent household, while Family Centre founder Charles Waldegrave rounds out the 11-person group. 

With one exception this is a hard left group that will inevitably recommend what the Government wants.

Radio NZ reports:

The New Zealand running legend Dick Quax has died, losing a long battle with cancer.

Quax, 70, who won a silver medal in the 5000m at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, died at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital this morning, the Mayor of Auckland’s office confirmed.

Quax was a standing Auckland councillor.

Very sad news.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Quax was one of our greater all time runners. He set the world record in 1977 for 5000 metres. It was a golden era with Walker, Quax and Dixon.

He later took up marathon running and in 1980 set a time of 2 hours 10 minutes 47 seconds – the then fastest time by a NZer.

Thoughts are with his family and friends.

I have now read every available revision of wikipedia’s article about Clarke Gayford. I can find no evidence it ever made the claim alleged, let alone that Gayford has edited it.https://t.co/JzWpghVqqrhttps://t.co/oQVnM161Uf pic.twitter.com/mGBLaJ1Ihz

— Graeme Edgeler (@GraemeEdgeler) May 27, 2018

Gayford told the Guardian:

But he had felt compelled to rein in having “a good rant on Facebook” and had felt “like a right chump” having to edit his own Wikipedia page to remove another false rumour – that he had once been a police cadet, the Guardian reported.

Edgeler checked out his page and there have only been a couple of dozen edits, and no history of the page has a claim he was a police cadet.

Now memory can be hazy.  You sometimes conflate things in your mind. But if you are talking to international media, you should be very careful with what you claim. Politician’s families are generally off limit, but not when they do political media interviews that are inaccurate.

Incidentially it is considered bad form to edit your own Wikipedia page. If you think something is inaccurate on it, you can mention this on the associated talk page, and then someone else may do the edit.

The Newshub Reid Research poll has:

• National 45.1% (+0.6%)
• Labour 42.6% (+0.3%)
• Greens 5.7% (-0.3%)
• NZ First 2.4% (-1.4%)

It is remarkable that National remains ahead of Labour considering they are in opposition, and have transitioned away from the leadership team of the last decade.

To do a comparison to May 2009, National had an 26% lead over Labour. Here the main governing party is 3% behind.

There’s usually a 2% bump (in Newshub polls) for the Government after a Budget. But Labour has flatlined.

Now of course the centre-left still has more support and seats than the centre-right. But their comfort margin is razor thin at a time when they should be at the height of their popularity having delivered their first Budget.

Stuff reports:

Flinching when he heard himself described as a man who used power to prey on women, Harvey Weinstein was arraigned on Friday (Saturday NZ Time) on rape and other charges in the first criminal prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him that sparked a national reckoning over sexual misconduct.

They may struggle to find a jury which can hear the case!

More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing around the globe. Several actresses and models accused him of criminal sexual assaults, but many of the encounters happened too long ago for any prosecution. Film actress Rose McGowan said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah, “Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992 and Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008.

The Herald reports:

Transport Minister Phil Twyford has received official advice to do more work on using buses instead of modern trams from downtown Auckland to the airport – a move that could save taxpayers as much as $2.5 billion.

But the minister, who says trams to the airport has a preliminary estimate of $3.7b, has rejected the idea of running buses on a dedicated corridor. Officials have put a cost of $1.2b to use advanced buses to the airport.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Twyford made an election promise last August to build modern trams, or light rail, from the CBD to the airport and from the CBD to West Auckland. The latest cost estimate for the project is $6b.

Papers obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act show Twyford was advised by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) shortly after coming to office in November to look further at advanced buses to the airport before finalising the preferred mode.

Officials said new transport technology was evolving quickly and narrowing the difference between the levels of service and capacity between advanced buses and modern trams, citing an example being tested in China.

“These technologies (of the buses) have the potential to deliver light rail performance at lower cost due to less track and fewer overhead infrastructure requirements.

Labour and Greens have an obsession with rail. Often bus lanes and the like can’t deliver far better public transport for less money.

The trouble with rail is it is so inflexible. It costs hundreds of millions to change a route. Buses can easily be rerouted. And the future will be self driving public transport vehicles that can pick you up from your home and deliver you to your destination.

Stuff reports:

The newspaper exit poll indicated overwhelming support for change. The survey by pollster Ipsos-MRBI says 68 per cent of voters backed repeal of the ban and 32 per cent opposed it. The pollster says it interviewed some 4,000 people and the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. The poll is only a prediction.

The exit poll is in line with pre-voting polls.

Earlier polls have had yes leading by margins of 11% to 40%. It was always going to be a case of how big a win.

The margin for yes for various demographics is interesting:

• Men +30%
• Women +40%
• Under 25s +74%
• 50 to 64 year olds +26%
• Over 65s -20%

Not a huge difference between men and women voting. All age groups strongly in favour except over 65s.

It has been conventional wisdom for the last few months that the Democrats will retake the House. They have done very well in special elections and have had a huge lead in the generic ballot.

But things are getting tighter.

This is the RCP average of the polls of the generic ballot.

The Democrats had a 13% lead at the beginning of 2018. It is now just over 3%.

The Cook Report looks at the likely seats based on safe, likely, lean and toss-up. at each stage the numbers are:

• Safe – Dems 179, GOP 155
• Likely – Dems 191, GOP 185
• Lean – Dems 198, GOP 212
• Tossup – Dems 200, GOP 235

So the Dems need all the tossups and some of the leans to go their way. That is possible but needs a big surge. A 3% generic ballot lead is not enough. However the ballot may not take account of enthusiasm. Dems may be more motivated.

But if Justice Kennedy announces he is retiring from the Supreme Court, then GOP voters will be very motivated to turn out for Senate elections.

Hamish Rutherford writes:

When the Government signalled plans to introduce a special fuel tax in Auckland, transport officials warned Transport Minister Phil Twyford that such a measure had been tried before and failed. At least twice.

For all the good intention – that motorists benefiting from major transport projects pay their share – there is little that can be done to prevent the impact of the tax increase spreading across the country.

This is key. The petrol companies may well treat the 11.5 cents a litre extra tax in Auckland as a sunk cost and charge four cents a litre more nationwide.

But there are signs that rather than spilling over when the tax comes into force, that the sharp price increase in recent weeks could be price spreading in anticipation of the price increase.

Yep once a future cost is known, it is often factored in early.

This has all happened before, suggesting Governments never learn.

During the early 1990s, New Zealand had a regional fuel tax, but it was abandoned as the impact spread across New Zealand.

The Government passed legislation for another regional tax in 2008, but never introduced it because of fears of price spreading.

We know this because it is contained in a very clear warning to Twyford about what could happen to his increase.

So this is known, but the Government ignores it. Motorists in Invercargill, Napier and Palmerston North will be paying more for their driving, in order to fund light rail in Auckland.

But given how stark the warnings were, the regional fuel tax simply looks dishonest. The Government should admit it will not work, replace the regional tax with a smaller nationwide one and drop the charade.

Will they listen?

The Herald reports:

Tech giant Google is under fire for “thumbing its nose” at the courts by refusing to take down online content which breaches court orders.

In high-profile cases covered by the Herald in recent months, Google NZ along with New Zealand’s major media outlets have been served with orders which suppress details and require the removal of content that infringes on privacy or fair trial rights.

However, Google says it’s “not in the business of censoring news” and won’t comply because its search engine is bound by the laws enforced at its home, the Googleplex, in California’s Silicon Valley.

The result means some information suppressed by New Zealand’s courts can be revealed in a Google search.

The problem with demanding that Google be bound by NZ law, is you are also effectively demanding it be bound by Iranian law, Zimbabwe law and North Korean law. It becomes lowest common denominator.

However, despite having an Auckland office, Google NZ said it couldn’t remove details of the stories from its searchable records.

In an affidavit to the court, Google NZ software engineer Joseph Bailey, wrote: “Google New Zealand Limited has no ability to comply with the interim orders.”

He explained that the Google search engine, Google LLC, was a separate legal entity incorporated in the US, meaning New Zealand’s courts and laws held no power over it.

Google NZ is basically a sales office. It has no say on how Google operates in NZ.

Newshub reports:

Newshub can reveal Phil Twyford may have broken another serious aviation rule.

His ministerial responsibilty for civil aviation was taken off him on Thursday after he admitted using a cellphone on a flight.

But now he’s being accused of breaking another law by standing up out of his seat as the plane was moving to the runway.

National’s Judith Collins has made the claim saying the rule was broken on the same flight from Wellington to Auckland on Budget Day – May 17. 

“Not only did Phil make a call when the plane was taxiing but he also got up afterwards out of his seat,” Ms Collins told Newshub. 

Just a week after the flight the Transport Minister appears to have a case of brain fade – he can’t remember. 

“I have no recollection of that, no recollection at all.”

“I’m not saying that I didn’t I just honestly can’t remember I have no recollection that I did stand up. It seems to me unlikely,” he said. 

Ms Collins said the information had come from the same source who informed her of the original breach of the rules. 

“The information has clearly been completely correct to date, so…,” she said. 

Twyford also doesn’t recall exactly what was happening when he made the phone call on the plane.  

Poor Phil is having a bad week. He’s also had Matthew Hooton dissect the Kiwibuild farce.

The Herald reports:

New Zealanders may get the opportunity to vote on legalising cannabis and voluntary euthanasia at the same time, possibly as early as next year.

Labour agreed to hold a public referendum on legalising cannabis for personal use at or before the 2020 general election as part of its confidence and supply agreement with the Greens.

The Government now says it could be held ahead of the election to make sure it did not overshadow the election campaign.

Parliament is also considering a bill to legalise voluntary euthanasia, and NZ First has said its support is conditional on a binding referendum on the law change.

The bill’s sponsor, Act Party leader David Seymour, has agreed to that proposal, though it will still need majority support in Parliament to proceed.

Justice Minister Andrew Little said there could be some benefits to holding two referenda at the same time.

That could be difficult to do, if they are to be held in 2019.

The euthanasia bill only gets reported back 31 March 2019. The third reading could well not be until August or September. If the law triggers a referendum that would make it hard to do it before the end of 2019.

NZ First leader Winston Peters said today that he wanted the cannabis referendum to be binding on the Government.

But Little said neither of the referenda were likely to be binding: “We don’t typically do binding referenda in this country.”

Both referenda should be binding. CIRs by their nature are not binding, but Government instituted referenda have pretty much always been binding.

So Little is quite wrong when he says we do not typically do binding referenda.

Stuff reports:

A lucrative free trade deal with the European Union is taking the next step after the European Union agreed to launch formal negotiations with New Zealand and Australia.

A deal with the EU is considered one of the holy grails for New Zealand – potentially worth billions of dollars.

Trade Minister David Parker said a deal with the EU would be “very, very significant”. The talks open the way for a free trade deal with one of the largest economies in the world.

This is very welcome.

However we should be realistic that the EU is in fact quite protectionist with huge agriculture subsidies and quotas and we are not going to get a pure FTA which will simply allow us to sell whatever we want to whomever wants to buy it.

Stuff reports:

An international team of investigators says that detailed analysis of video images has established that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 nearly four years ago came from a Russia-based military unit.

Wilbert Paulissen of the Dutch National Police said Thursday that the missile was from the Russian military’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk.

Paulissen was speaking at a presentation of interim results of the long-running investigation into the downing of flight MH17.

The passenger jet was headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when it was was blown out of the sky over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

That can’t be right. Winston insists there is no proof Russia was involved.

The Herald reports:

Transport Minister Phil Twyford has apologised and offered his resignation to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as Transport Minister after making a phone call on a plane.

Twyford has lost responsibility for the Civil Aviation Authority after the incident on a domestic flight.

Twyford made the call after the aircraft doors had shut in preparation for take-off.

“I recognise that I made the call when I shouldn’t have,” he said in a statement.

“This is inappropriate for anyone, but particularly inappropriate for me as Transport Minister. I apologise unreservedly.”

“I have apologised to the Prime Minister and offered my resignation as Transport Minister.

“She has declined my offer but chosen to transfer my responsibility for the Civil Aviation Authority to Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter.

Now I don’t think this is a resignation event. But a Labour MP called Phil Twyford apparently does. Because in 2014 when Gerry Brownlee also breached aviation security, RNZ reported:

Labour transport spokesperson Phil Twyford said John Key had been too quick off the mark in deciding not to accept Mr Brownlee’s resignation and should have waited for the outcome of the CAA investigation.

So if Twyford says Brownlee should have been stood down until a full investigation is completed, surely the same should apply to him now?

Mr Twyford said it was important Mr Brownlee was held to account, and pointed to the prosecution of John Banks when he was Police Minister for using his cellphone during a flight.

“Well I think it’s very important, for the public, that politicians are seen not just to make the laws but to follow them, as well, and that’s a pretty fundamental principle of our democracy.”

And here Twyford is basically demanding prosecution.

Again I don’t think this is a resignation offence. But Twyford has created the rod for his own back by his demands for Brownlee to be stood down in 2014. What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Also of interest is Twyford didn’t own up to this when it happened. It was only when Judith Collins asked him a question about it, that he did anything.

Matthew Hooton writes:

For those asking, yes, Todd Scott filed a Statement of Claim against me in the High Court today. He alleges that it was negligent for me to have sent NBR the column I did about Steven Joyce. Consequently, despite the column having been published in the NBR after being read and subedited by several NBR staff including editor Duncan Bridgeman, Todd says I should have to pay some or all NBR’s costs and any losses it suffers from Mr Joyce’s litigation. I understand these are now many tens of thousands of dollars.

This is a very novel legal move. If media owners are able to seek financial redress from reporters, journalists and other contributors for supplying material that might later be found to be capable of having a defamatory meaning, despite being subedited and published by the publication itself, it would have a chilling effect on journalism in New Zealand. No one in the NBR or any other newsroom would be safe from an angry owner who later came under legal and financial pressure.

Novel is one word for it. It certainly will make people think twice about writing for a publication if the publication then sues you for your writing.

Stuff reports:

National leader Simon Bridges is using the details of a gruesome murder to try to drive a wedge between Labour and NZ First on law and order.

Last year, Justice Minister Andrew Little said he would repeal the three strikes law, which he says is not working. Only two people – Raven Casey Campbell and Kingi Ratima – have been convicted of a third strike, but both had their sentences mitigated, giving them the chance of early parole.

And on Tuesday, Little said Cabinet had given approval for Little to consider a “package” of criminal justice system measures, including changes to the three strikes law, bail laws, and parole laws.

But National says the three strikes law, which is aimed at having more repeat offenders serve their maximum sentence, needs to stay in the name of public safety.

Little may become know as Let Them Out Little. It is very clear that he wants to make it easier for dangerous criminals to get parole and bail. Never mind the shocking history of further violence done by people out on parole or bail.

The way to reduce prison numbers is to reduce reoffending. It is not to simply let recidivist offenders out early to commit more crimes.

AFP reports:

Venezuelans, reeling under a devastating economic crisis, began voting Sunday in an election boycotted by the opposition and condemned by much of the international community but expected to hand deeply unpopular President Nicolas Maduro a new mandate.

Maduro, the political heir to the late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, has presided over an implosion of once wealthy oil producer Venezuela’s economy since taking office in 2013.

Hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, rising crime and broken water, power and transportation networks have sparked violent unrest, and left Maduro with a 75-percent disapproval rating.

If that is what he managed with socialism in his first term, imagine what he can do in his second!

He got 68% of the vote with a 48% turnout.

Venezuela is now in the fifth year of a recession. Maybe they’ll manage a decade.