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

Stuff reports:

NZ First leader Winston Peters says the party’s bill that would ban the public sale and use of fireworks would be a bottom line in any future coalition agreement.

This is the issue you pick to be a bottom line? LOL.

The Post reports:

The Government is considering a crackdown on inner-city homelessness.

Rumours of an impending move to criminalise homelessness emerged earlier this week, prompting Opposition MPs to question Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in the House about incoming legislation.

Luxon, on Tuesday, said there were no Cabinet decisions or discussion on the topic of banning people homelessness in central business districts.

But on Wednesday it became clear Government ministers have been considering an intervention, possibly in the form of a “move on” law, to shift problematic behaviour out of city centres, particularly a “bedraggled” Auckland.

Those who choose to sleep on the streets often have intensive drug and/or alcohol problems. There is no easy magic fix that will cure them.

But having them sleep and live in front of businesses in CBDs creates victims. Potential shoppers and staff feel intimidated, especially if asked for money. Some of their behaviour, influenced by drugs and alcohol, is threatening. They cost businesses money and custom, and make people avoid going into city centres.

So giving the Police the power to move those on who have problematic behaviour is a good thing, in my opinion.

The Herald reports:

A naked pensioner was arrested after he was spotted riding through an upmarket Auckland street.

Police were called to Tamaki Drive about 1.40pm today after reports of a naked man riding a bicycle in the area.

A 65-year-old man was arrested for offensive behaviour, police said.

On a local community Facebook page, people said they saw about eight police officers and four police vehicles swarm the area.

Eight police officers and four vehicles – all to apprehend a naked cyclist!

Amazing story at Radio NZ, where they turn the fact that there are heaps fewer kids growing up in motels into a bad news story!

It seems clear that the Tamihere faction wants to expel Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Takuta Ferris from Te Pati Maori, and possibly to also waka jump them from Parliament, causing by-elections.

At first glance they should be able to do this, as you only needs a two thirds majority in caucus to expect MPs under the Electoral Act. So four of of six in favour would qualify.

But there may be another aspect to it, which could be interesting. The criteria for expelling an MP is that:

the parliamentary leader reasonably believes that the member of Parliament concerned has acted in a way that has distorted, and is likely to continue to distort, the proportionality of political party representation in Parliament as determined at the last general election

Now at the 2023 election, Te Pati Maori’s share of the party vote only entitled them to four MPs. They won six electorates so two seats are overhang. You could argue that having two MPs leave Te Pati Maori doesn’t distort the proportionality of Parliament,. but actually enhances it!