Jami-Lee Ross writes:

The regional fuel tax is intended to raise $150m a year, or about $1.5 billion over 10 years. But it’s not necessary. Auckland’s transport needs can be funded without it.

So how do we find this money if not through a tax? National has always said that Auckland Council should find the money through savings within its own spending, rather than through a raid on the wallets of hard-working Aucklanders. That would allow the council to still accrue all the benefits Wilson has argued can only come via a fuel tax, but will spare hard-working families in Auckland from the burden of new taxes.

But Simon Wilson and Phil Goff refuse to look seriously at finding savings as an alternative, and instead claim that the only other option would be to raise the money through a 14 per cent increase in rates. This is incorrect and misleading.

To fully replace the funding for the regional fuel tax, Auckland Council would need to find 4 per cent of savings in its budget. During the last mayoral election Phil Goff pledged to find 3 to 6 per cent of savings across Auckland Council’s expenditure. When he won that election and became mayor he instructed the council to go about and find those savings.

Instead, council expenditure has risen by about $800m over the past four years.

If Phil Goff had delivered on his pledge to find savings, then the transport plan could be funded with no need to tax Aucklanders more. It really is that simple.

The Herald reports:

A Christchurch father whose partner died after childbirth has been left struggling to get paid parental leave due to a gap in legislation.

The man’s partner was due to be a stay-at-home mum, and didn’t have a job in the 12 months leading up to the expected date of delivery so she wasn’t entitled to paid parental leave payments, according to the Ministry for Business, Employment and Innovation.

The baby was born at 33 weeks by C-section after the mother’s heart stopped as she arrived at hospital.

“She was having difficulty breathing, so an ambulance was called,” the man said.

 

“Just as she arrived at the hospital her heart stopped and staff gave her CPR before making the decision to do an emergency C-section.”

After the C-section she started breathing again but then her heart stopped again and she had severe bleeding.

She was taken to surgery but died an hour later.

She had health issues in the past, including diabetes, but nothing of any large concern, her partner said.

The now solo father was currently off-work and being paid by his company, which had been supporting him after his partner’s death.

But that was unsustainable.

“I work full time for a great company who are helping me through this but that can’t go on. So I thought paid parental leave.”

A terrible tragedy, made worse by the inflexibility of the law.

UPDATE: The Government has intervened, which is good.

Newshub reports:

New Zealand First has abandoned a controversial Member’s Bill which would have placed restrictions who can call themselves a teacher.

On Monday, MP Jenny Marcroft announced she had withdrawn the ‘Education (Protecting Teacher Title) Amendment Bill’ after a “positive discussion” between her party and the office of the Minister of Education.

The positive discussion would have been Hipkins saying this bill is moronic and you need to drop it.

The Bill would have meant that only those who have trained and are qualified as teachers can use the title in order to “lift the status of teachers”.

It would have become an offence, punishable with a $2000 fine, to connect the word with any unqualified person or business. People who were not qualified would have had to use the title of lecturer, tutor or educator instead.

The proposed Bill was harshly criticised by National, which NZ First MP Tracey Martin called “scaremongering”.

National has been quick to take credit for the withdrawal, with Education Spokesperson Nikki Kaye calling it a “big win” for people such as swimming and music teachers.

“It’s clear that National’s campaign against this flawed Bill has succeeded,” she said in a statement.

The scary thing is that Labour and Greens voted for the bill in the first place!

Stuff reports:

The Prime Minister’s office has hired Andrew Campbell as its new chief press secretary.

Campbell is currently the chief strategist and communications director for the Green Party.

He replaces Mike Jaspers, who will move sideways to a more strategic position.

This is a smart appointment. Campbell is one of the most talent operatives on the left in NZ politics. He is also likeable and able to work with diverse people. Generally has a good relationship with the press gallery which should help.

Another former student president, which almost completes their takeover of Labour – Robertson, Hipkins, Kirton and now Campbell.

A significant loss to the Greens. But they will be happy he is in the PMs Office, as he should help considerably with the political management and comms which has been lacking.

The Herald reports:

The little girl trapped inside her body and trapped inside Starship children’s hospital is celebrating turning 5. But Ana-Carolina’s birthday brings no new hope of escape.

The intractable conflict between her parents and the Auckland District Health Board over the best option for her care means Ana-Carolina remains in Starship’s paediatric intensive care unit, as she has since the age of 5 months.

The best practice advice is that Ana-Carolina should be at home – she cannot move but is healthy and bright, needing a ventilator to breathe that works as well in hospital as it does anywhere else.

Of course she should be at home.

The constants in her life have been her parents Peter Bircham and Elane de Moraes Lobo, who spend almost every hour of the day with their daughter.

But there is another constant – local Epsom MP David Seymour has emerged as a persistent advocate on the family’s behalf.

He intervened with former health minister Jonathan Coleman which led to former health board chairman Lester Levy creating a special panel to mediate a way for Ana-Carolina to leave. …

In the 30 months since Seymour became involved, he has written dozens of letters, met with the parents for hundreds of hours and – every now and again – simply sits with Ana-Carolina at Starship.

The act of a good local MP. He is making a difference.

The issue is – and isn’t – simple. When Ana-Carolina was 15 months, her parents were told that it was in the girl’s best interest to “allow natural death”.

The discussion created a schism between the parents and the hospital, destroying the trust Bircham and de Moraes Lobo had in the hospital.

Not surprising.

Since Seymour became involved, he says he’s been urged by others in politics to step back from supporting the family because of the demands and time involved.

“On one hand, I’m frustrated we haven’t got a result and got her home. On the other hand, I’m proud I’ve stuck with it.

“You roll as the local MP as the last line of defence. But also, there is something extraordinary happening there. Her transformation from when I first met her from being completely lifeless to having movement in her fingers and eyes – it is possible she regains a lot more movement.”

Bircham and de Moraes Lobo are overjoyed with the change in their daughter – her eye movement now allows her to direct a computer through which she can communicate.

“She understands a lot more than we ever realised,” Bircham says. Along with fingers and eyes, there is toe and eyebrow movement, and speech therapy.

It’s hard to read the story without getting tearful as you imagine how challenging this must have been, but also the joy of making progress.

Barry Soper writes:

The seven Maori seats in Parliament should be scrapped. The need for them has long passed.

Originally they were only meant to be there for five years to give Maori the right to vote in the general election 150 years ago this year. That was extended by another five years but in 1876 it was extended indefinitely.

Now we have a bill pulled out of the ballot box aimed at entrenching the seven Maori seats, sponsored by Labour’s Rino Tirikatene.

It’s hardly surprising given at the last election all the seats went back to their natural home, Labour. To entrench the seats means 75 percent of Parliament would have to vote to get rid of them. Currently they could be scrapped with a simple majority.

To entrench them would in itself need a 75% majority in Parliament, so this is not going to happen as National and ACT are against. But the 75% vote is only needed at committee of the whole stage so it might get through first and second reading if NZ First vote for it.

Without the seats Labour wouldn’t be the Government today but their retention has always been up for debate.

Actually they would be, as without them they would have seven more List MPs.

The Royal Commission, which proposed our MMP electorate system, said if it was adopted the Maori seats should go. It rightly argued that under MMP all parties would have to pay attention to Maori voters and their concerns and they felt their continued existence would marginalise those concerns.

And the Royal Commission was proved right.

And today there are the most Maori MPs ever in Parliament, 29 with our indigenous culture’s heritage, or 24 percent of Parliament and most coming from the general electorate roll.

All of the political leaders with the exception of Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw lay claim to Maori heritage. So surely Maori are, or should be, better catered for then ever before.

The seats have become redundant, other than a political crutch for Labour, they serve no purpose and rather than entrenching them, Parliament should be doing away with them.

Even without the seven Maori seats, Maori would be over-represented in Parliament.

The Electoral Commission has now published the 2017 donation returns for parties. A few observations about the returns:

NZ First

Once again NZ First hasn’t disclosed the identity of a single donor. Readers will know that NZ First has filed inaccurate returns in the past.

Now you don’t need to disclose the identity of donors unless they are over $15,000. But they received $88,628 of large donations through the Electoral Commission which means the identity should not be known to NZ First either.

Frankly I’m suspicious that NZ First would not know who those donors are. They say they have no donors known to them of over $15,000 so it wouldn’t be difficult for them to work out who the donors through the EC are.

Also of interest is a $73,000 loan from an entity called the New Zealand First Foundation whose trustees are Brian Henry and Doug Woolerton. I can’t find any info online about this foundation.

Basically once again NZ First has the least transparent finances.

National

National received $49,975 from a Australian company called Go-Airlie Pty Ltd. It was refunded (not clear whether to the company or to the Electoral Commission) and there is no known address for it. An overseas company can’t donate more than $1,500 so it is strange the donation was ever made in the first place. Was it unsolicited?

Greens

The Greens had $90,000 lent to them during the year. Each loan was under $15,000 so the identity is not disclosed. I suspect the MPs had to lend the party money to finance the election campaign after the Turei disaster struck them.

Large Donors (over $15k)

• National had 25 large donors donating an average of $40,101 each
• Labour had 21 large donors donating an average of $41,844 each
• Greens has 12 large donors donating an average of $20,050 each
• ACT had 7 large donors donating an average of $55,843 each
• NZ First say they had no large donors

National and Labour are close to each other with funding from large donors

Medium donors (over $5k to $15k)

• National had 438 medium donors donating a total of $2,08 million
• Labour had 39 medium donors donating a total of $358k
• Greens has 28 medium donors donating a total of $255k
• ACT had 24 medium donors donating a total of $244k
• NZ First had 13 medium donors donating a total of $136k

In terms of funding from medium donors National has a huge advantage over Labour, having ten times as many medium donors.

Smaller donors (over $1.5k to $5k)

• National had 933 smaller donors donating a total of $1.39 million
• Labour had 107 smaller donors donating a total of $248k
• Greens has 156 smaller donors donating a total of $347k
• ACT had 42 smaller donors donating a total of $147k
• NZ First had 20 smaller donors donating a total of $66k

In terms of funding from medium donors National has a huge advantage over Labour, having eight times as many smaller donors.

The Greens in fact have more smaller donors than Labour.

Small donors (under $1.5k)

Donations under $1,500 are not revealed to the EC (unless anonymous or overseas) so we don’t know how much each party gets from these donors.

However it is well known National has over 30,000 members and I think the average donation is over $50 so National probably gets around $2 million a year in small donations also.

Stuff reports:

Green Party co-founder Jeanette Fitzsimons says the Greens could reject the controversial waka jumping bill without bringing down the Government.

The Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill – widely known as the “waka jumping bill” – is currently in select committee after passing its first reading with the support of Labour, NZ First, and the Greens.

A vast majority – 41 of 43 – submitters rejected the bill’s core structure. …

Justice Minister Andrew Little said of the submissions he had read he was surprised by how many were flawed.

“I haven’t seen any convincing arguments to change much.”

Okay get this. Little is basically saying most of the submitters are stupid and don’t even understand the proposed law. Let’s look at who these submitters include:

• The Clerk of the House
• Dr Edward Willis, PhD in constitutional law
• Dr Christine Dann, founding member of the Green Party
• The Human Rights Commission
• Sir Lockwood Smith, former Speaker
• 19 legal and political science academics including Andrew Geddis (textbook author on electoral law) and Philip Joseph (textbook author on constitutional law)
• The Legislation Design and Advisory Committee
• Keith Locke, former Green MP
• Graeme Edgeler, electoral law expert and pedant
• Jeanette Fitzsimons, former Green co-leader
• NZ Law Society
• Professor Janet McLean, constitutional law professor at Auckland Uni
• Professor Jack Vowles, Professor of political science at VUW
• Rt Hon David Carter, former Speaker

Now it is one thing to say you disagree with a submission. But the Justice Minister has dismissed the submissions as being flawed which is basically saying they don’t understand the bill.

It’s an incredibly arrogant attitude, and shows that Labour is determined to pass this bill no matter what.

The Herald reports:

A modified tanker carrying illegal migrants headed for New Zealand and Australia as part of a human trafficking operation has been intercepted by Malaysian police.

The tanker, which has the name Etra painted on the side, was reportedly carrying 131 Sri Lankans – 98 men, 24 women, four boys and five girls.

Interesting that NZ was named as a destination, not just Australia.

Nadine Higgins writes:

Three visits to my GP had set me back $180. I dropped another $200 on two courses of antibiotics, probiotics, Codral, cough syrups, cough drops, health shop lung elixirs, and an array of strong pain killers after I coughed so hard I injured my ribs (which is a real treat if you can’t stop coughing). The x-ray, thankfully, was being covered by my health insurance, which I pay fortnightly.

So, as I hacked and coughed and wondered why I’d put off that last doctor visit so long when I was clearly getting worse instead of better, my thoughts turned to the kids heading off to university this year, their fees fully funded.

It’s not an entirely illogical leap given this week the Government admitted its pledge to reduce the cost of going to the doctor by $10 by July 1 going to take longer to implement, basically because they don’t have the money.

I didn’t feel too strongly about the free first-year university fees policy until that moment in the x-ray room, but then I felt outraged.

As you should. The Government is spending $1.2 billion a year to give free fees to students who will go on to be the wealthiest in society (on average a graduate earns $1.6 million more than a non graduate).

Why are we helping people who can afford to upskill themselves and who will reap the benefits of upskilling themselves, when we don’t have enough money left over to make sure people can afford to look after themselves?

If a DINKY (double income no kids) household like mine is wincing at the cost – and delaying seeing the doctor – how many people aren’t going at all?

National had a policy to make GP visits cheaper for low and middle income New Zealanders. Labour said it would match it and have it come in on 1 July 2018. They are now indicating they can’t afford it. That is because they spent all the money on free tertiary fees.

The Herald reports:

Shares in the electric car company slumped 5.5 per cent Thursday, a day after it reported its first-quarter results and Musk’s remarks during an analyst conference call that left many investors scratching their heads.

Musk basically told analysts off for asking hard questions, and then spent 25 minutes taking a patsy from a fan boy. That suggests there are real problems, when the CEO can’t even handle some analyst questions.

He also defamed the analysts by saying they were only asking their questions to justify their sell positions. But in fact the two analysts had a position of hold or buy.

Tesla went through nearly US$400 million during the first three months of the year to make its cars, pay its sales staff and cover the other costs of running its business.

Another US$656m went to spending on equipment, facilities and other capital projects, for a total of slightly more than US$1 billion.

Analysts call this situation “negative free cash flow,” and it helped cut Tesla’s cash balance to US$2.7b at the end of March. If the company keeps burning through its cash at the same pace, it could run out within a year and be forced to sell more of its stock or borrow money.

Burning cash can be fine so long as you will eventually be profitable. Xero is a good example of that. But can Tesla really make its cars at the price they have contracted them for, and on schedule?

Tesla expects it will become profitable later this year. But that hinges on a big “if.” To do so, Tesla has to ramp up production of its Model 3 electric car to 5,000 units a week. The company says it may reach that level in about two months. Just prior to a planned shutdown in mid-April, Tesla was producing Model 3s at a rate of more than 2,000 a week.

Increasing production by 150% is no easy feat. Many companies can only increase production by 10% or 20% in a short time-frame.

Politik reports:

Even though the overwhelming majority of the 56 submissions so far heard on the waka jumping bill oppose it, the Government is unlikely to back off.

That is because the Bill is regarded by NZ First as critical to the coalition agreement.

The legislation would require an MP who resigned (or was expelled) from a party to resign from Parliament.

Research presented to the Select Committee considering the Bill shows that since 1996 NZ First has been the most affected by members resigning for one reason or another.

POLITIK has learned from a source from one of the parties involved in the coalition negotiations that the Bill was a key bottom-line demand from New Zealand First.

“It was one of the very first issues raised by Winston,” the source said.

It is clear that the Government believes that to not get the Bill through would imperil its coalition arrangement with NZ First and that the Greens are being pressured to support it because without their vote it will fail.

So NZ First has no bottom lines when it comes to protecting the provinces, protecting regional irrigation, protecting Taranaki industry or protecting rural roads. Their only bottom line is that Winston wants the power to expel MPs from Parliament.

And Labour and the Greens are going to play along.

Stuff reports:

Rotorua’s failed Mudtopia Festival has been axed after organisers voted to wash their hands of the controversial event.

At a meeting of Rotorua Lakes Council on Thursday councillors’ voted to back recommendations not to stage further Mudtopia festivals.

The festival was dogged by controversy from the start over the revelation taxpayers’ would be on the hook for a $90,000 bill to import mud from Korea.

Yep Rotorua was importing mud as their local mud wasn’t up to it!

A number of councillors’ cited the media storm over the mud import, and fears of foot and mouth contamination, for driving a stake through the heart of the event.

“Sadly the event was tainted by controversy and corporate hands stayed in their pockets,” said Deputy Mayor Dave Donaldson.

So it’s all the fault of the opponents and corporates who didn’t donate. Not the fault of the Council.

A number of councillors’ claimed the event was “sabotaged” and “hijacked”.

“We were whipped into a lather on the mud,” Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said.

She said the event, if allowed to grow, would have been a perfect fit for Rotorua’s spa, health and wellness tourism offerings. She also took a swipe at some fellow councillors.

“There were those dying to see this fail and they’re sitting around this table.”

Councillor Rob Kent, however, was scathing.

“We gambled and we lost,” he said.

“We should leave this to those who know what they’re doing, because on this basis we don’t.”

So Steve Chadwick thinks the event could have been hugely successful and grown huge. So presumably this one broke even or came close to it right?

Council acting group operations manager Henry Weston was also forced into an admission under questioning from Kent.

He cited the report into Mudtopia which revealed a $570,387 loss and a further $170,000 incurred in capital expenses, asking how this was allowed to balloon beyond the initial $500,000 underwrite limit.

They lost $740,000 on it!!!!

He also confirmed that the $170,000 spend meant council was now in possession of a number of inflatables. 

Well that’s something.

The report also revealed only 1500 tickets were sold, with 12,000 tickets were given away to residents and 3000 to sponsors and suppliers. 

So 90% of the tickets were giveaways!

From the Listener:

How do you rate the new Government’s performance so far?

The sorts of issues that have faced this Government haven’t been extraordinary, but what exacerbates its problems is that it is a jerry-built government: the three groupings make it hard to manage. The Greens and New Zealand First are not able to sit in Cabinet together, but they sustain the Government, all the while watching the polls to check their standing, which isn’t improving. That’s hard enough, but add to it Jacinda Ardern, the youngest and least-experienced leader of a government we have ever had, and this Government may not even last one term.

It is true that never before have we had a PM who had been a party leader for only a few weeks.

That’s a harsh call, isn’t it?

Yes, but as I’ve just said, it isn’t just Jacinda. She has considerable talents, but she has a knowledge deficit. It shows in foreign policy. Jacinda doesn’t know much about international affairs and doesn’t understand the historical relationships between New Zealand and the Pacific. She certainly doesn’t understand Russia, which is emerging as the next best thing to an international rogue state. Put her alongside Helen Clark, the last Labour Prime Minister, and Jacinda looks like a rank amateur. She desperately needs to know more, but when you are Prime Minister you don’t have time to go out and learn: you are meant to have done that already. A bachelor in communications from Waikato University is not quite the same as a first-class honours degree in politics and history, which is what Clark had, plus the better part of a PhD.

To be fair to Ardern, MFAT and DPMC are very good at bringing PMs up to speed on geopolitical issues.

It has over-stoked public expectations. [Phil Twyford, Minister of Transport and of Housing] is an accident in slow motion. The extraordinary phrase he used this morning in the Herald, along the lines of “we are changing the world” regarding transport and then a whole series of wishes and hopes about transport – that is fantasy stuff. Cycling as the future for Auckland? Gimme a break – they’ve taken away road space and poured resources into cycling that no one uses other than on Saturday mornings. I can see that cycle path heading out west from my apartment and there’s usually no one using it. They are social engineers without any sense. Whenever Labour shows that tendency, the voters deal with them in short order. 

I think Bassett is right that Labour may find it hard to deliver in line with the expectations they have created.

Simon Bridges announced:

National Party Leader Simon Bridges says he is saddened by the passing of former National MPs Katherine O’Regan and Tony Steel this week.

“Katherine served as a National MP for 15 years and as a Minister for six.

“She was a gentle person with huge strength of character and real concern for people who made a significant contribution to New Zealand and the National Party during her career both in and outside of Parliament.

“Tony Steel was an All Black, educator and National Party MP.

“His enduring passion for education saw him make a notable contribution both as an educator, including as principal of Hamilton Boy’s High School and as chair of Parliament’s Education Select Committee.

Both really lovely people who will be missed by many.

Yahoo reports:

Blackouts are nothing new under two decades of socialist rule in Venezuela. But they’ve grown more frequent, and are lasting longer, as the OPEC nation’s economy hits a breaking point with hyperinflation making increasingly scarce food and medicine unaffordable for many. …

Venezuela’s government doesn’t publish figures charting power outages, but the human rights organization Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict reports that blackouts prompted 325 street protests across Venezuela in the first three months of 2018.

So socialism can’t even keep the lights on.

Venezuela’s status as home to the world’s largest fossil fuel reserves should have made it immune to an energy crisis. It also has the Guri Dam, one of the world’s largest hydro-electric projects and the cornerstone of an electrical grid once the envy of Latin America that has now fallen into disrepair.

Takes a special sort of magic to run out of power when you have the largest reserves in the world.

Stuff reports:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a “Future of Work Forum” which brings together unions, government, and business.

The forum’s work is expected to build on work Labour did in opposition in reaction to increased automation and fluidity of jobs. …

Finance Minister Grant Robertson will lead the work alongside Business NZ’s Kirk Hope and Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff.

“This forum will help us shape the policies we will need so workers and businesses can be equipped to adapt to the rapidly changing nature of work.

To quote the great Admiral Ackbar, It’s a trap.

Labour has an industrial relations policy that is anti-employer in basically every aspect. This forum is to provide window dressing for it.

The court ruling on lifting name suppression on Commodore Keating is an interesting read. Basically a visual recording device was found in the bathroom of the NZ Embassy in Washington. NZ Police had to be dispatched to Washington DC to investigate.

The Police found his computer had been used to install driver software for the camera and further his DNA was found on the SD card in the camera.

Without prejudging any defence, I have to say that is pretty difficult evidence to challenge.

If it does go to a defended hearing, I imagine huge media interest.

Te Kapehu Whetu – Terenga Paraoa released:

The latest University Entrance results as published by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority show a Northland charter school (with a 100% Maori roll) ranks in the top two in the region.

Te Kapehu Whetu – Terenga Paraoa is outperforming most other private and public schools in Northland in UE success and is well above the New Zealand average for UE pass rates.

E Tipu e Rea Chief Executive Graeme Osborne says ‘how can anyone believe that closing the second best high school for University Entrance in Northland is in the best interests of student success and wellbeing. This charter school’s University Entrance results are well above the New Zealand average and show that the school is working for its 100% Maori students. It’s abundantly clear that charter schools work for Maori students. This school’s 2017 University Entrance results are the second highest in Northland and well above the New Zealand average. Why shouldn’t younger Maori students be given the same opportunity to achieve at this school?”

NZ First campaigns on needing to do more for Northland yet they are helping close a school that has been achieving so well for Maori students in Northland.

Politik reports:

The Speaker, Trevor Mallard, is surprised a Select Committee cut short its investigation into an alleged attempt by Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran to pressure a witness before the Committee.

He is suggesting he may have disagreed with a decision by the Economic Development Select Committee not to further investigate alleged attempts by Broadcasting Minister, Clare Curran, to stop Radio New Zealand chair, Richard Griffin from appearing before the committee.

The Government used its majority on the committee to end the investigation.

The worst case for scenario for Curran, if the Committee had continued its investigations, may have been that she was found in contempt of Parliament which would have placed her Ministerial appointment at jeopardy.

Mallard’s comments in a letter to a National MP and in an interview with POLITIK cast doubt on Curran’s claims that she has been cleared by the Economic Development Select Committee and the implication that she has been exonerated.

Mallard clearly believes that the National MPs on the Committee were correct when they said there were still unanswered questions.

The decision not to take the matter any further was made by the three Labour MPs and one Green and one NZ First MP on the Committee over the objections of the five National MPs.

So the Greens voted to prevent the investigation.

Mallard replied that the way to get to the bottom of the matter was through further questioning of those involved.

“On the evidence presented it is not clear that there was any attempt to intimidate, prevent or hinder the chairperson of Radio New Zealand,” he said in his reply to Lee.

“Therefore I find that no question of privilege is involved.”

In an email to POLITIK Curran has argued that his decision has “cleared” her.

But that may not be the way Mallard sees it.

In his letter to Lee, he makes it clear that he believes the Committee had not exhausted its potential investigation into the matter.

What he doesn’t say – but which he has previously told POLITIK —- is that the Committee has the power to refer the request for the voicemail message to him.

Any refusal by Griffin to then provide it could also potentially be a Contempt of Parliament, possibly punishable by a fine.

But the Government used its majority on the committee to not refer the matter to Mallard, thereby protecting Curran.

Mallard was surprised by this decision.

“I had expected and had prepared for the committee asking me to send for a copy of the recording,” he told POLITIK.

”I thought that was a way to make absolutely clear which of the incompatible versions was correct.

“if I had had a request I would have taken action to require Mr Griffin to provide the message, as far as possible, because it had been deleted, but if it was possible that it could be recovered and that way make it clear what had occurred, and I was surprised that the committee did not ask for that to happen.”

So the Speaker is saying he would have backed a select committee request for the recording to be turned over. But thanks to the Greens and NZ First, the truth will now never be known.