The Herald reports:

An activist opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza helped co-ordinate and carry out the repeated vandalism – via bright red paint “bombs” – of electorate offices belonging to National Party officials, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Now, nearly two years later, she has appeared in the Auckland District Court asking for a discharge without conviction so that the admitted crimes won’t stymie her career.

But a judge recently denied the request, noting that she should have known better.

After all, she is a practising barrister.

Hannah Lucy Swedlund, 28, came to court last month with letters of support from the senior lawyer who employs her and from Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez March.

The Judge was correct to deny the request. This wasn’t a one off moment of madness, but a campaign of damage over many weeks.

It says a lot about the Greens that they support someone who damages the offices of other MPs. They want our sympathy when people say nasty things about their MPs on social media, but they defend someone who doesn’t just mouth off, but actually damages MPs offices.

Police got a pretty strong indication of Swedlund’s involvement after analysing a press release in which the group said they targeted the MPs’ offices because the politicians had refused to condemn alleged war atrocities. 

“This incoming Government will be a coalition of complicity,” stated the press release, which included photos of the damage.

The release was sent out as a Word document, and police only had to look at the metadata to see the listed author: “Hannah Swedlund”.

She sent out a word document talking about the criminal damage they had done, and she didn’t remove her name as the author from the author tab. This makes me think she is possibly too stupid to be a lawyer.

Incidentally I don’t think she should lose her career over her actions. I think there should be consequences, but not to the level of being disbarred.

The Free Speech Union announced:

Remember Oliver Jull, the New Plymouth Boys’ High School student who was excluded from the school’s speech finals last year? Well, I have some exciting news for you! 
 
Late last week, our legal team supported Oliver and his parents in a mediation with the school, and the outcome was a great one. 💪  
 
New Plymouth Boys’ High School: 
 
✅ Acknowledged that Oliver Jull was excluded from participating in the finals of the school speech competition because of the content of his speech. 
 
✅ Apologised for this and the distress it caused. 
 
✅ Stated they remain committed to giving effect to the freedom of expression rights of students. 
 
✅ Will host the Free Speech Union later in the year to provide training at the school on best practice guidance on freedom of speech in an educational setting. 

This is why the FSU is so important. Before they existed all the power was with the institutions. But when you have an organisation that can come in and threaten legal action the incentives change massively. You actually achieve culture change.

Oliver’s censored speech is here. It is great the school has explicitly acknowledged that Oliver was excluded based on the content of his speech, as they were previously lying and saying it was because he wasn’t good enough. A shameful way to treat a 15 year old.

Curia did a poll for the Taxpayers’ Union asking:

“The Government is planning to introduce a law that would cap how much local councils can increase rates by every year. Do you support or oppose there being a rates cap law?”

This has huge support. Overall 64% in favour and only 22% against. Net support by each party was:

• New Zealand First +65 percent
• National +61 percent
• Undecideds +48 percent
• ACT +38 percent
• Greens +37 percent
• Labour +22 percent
• Te Pati Māori +19 percent

If I was the Government I would be passing this law as quickl as possible. Then Labour, Greens and TPM have to go into the election vowing to repeal the law as their policy to reduce the cost of living!!

ABC reports:

Former WA senator Linda Reynolds has won her defamation case against former staffer Brittany Higgins over social media posts.

Justice Paul Tottle ruled the posts were defamatory and ordered Ms Higgins to pay $315,000 plus $26,000 interest, though one post was deemed as an honestly held opinion and fair comment.

Higgins was almost certainly raped by Bruce Lehrmann who made up an implausible story that he went back to Parliament House with her at 2 am not to have sex with her, but to do some work.

Sadly for Higgins, she didn’t make this an issue of a fellow staffer acting appallingly, but instead tried to make it a political issue with allegations that her Minister and the Government generally covered it up etc. She worked with Labour Party MPs and the media to run it as a political campaign. And a court has found she defamed her former Minister.

In his judgement, Justice Tottle wrote that “whatever the defendant may have felt in 2021 about the way she was treated by the plaintiff and (her chief of staff, Fiona Brown) in 2019, the allegation of a cover-up had no foundation in fact and the allegation of inadequate support was based on an incomplete and misleading account of the facts”.

In fact the Minister even suggested they take it to the Police, the exact opposite of a cover-up.

Supreme Court Justice Tottle found the disparity between Ms Higgins’ recollection in media interviews of how she was treated during the 2019 federal election campaign, and actuality “was so dramatic as to cast doubt on the reliability of her evidence generally”.

That is a polite way of saying she lied.

With a third of polling places counted it seems clear Peeni Henare has been thrashed, barely getting half the votes Orini Kaipara is getting.

A humiliating loss. Based on this Te Pati Maori could sweep all seven Maori electorates next year.

Radio NZ reports:

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has been awarded one of Ukraine’s highest civilian honours.

Seymour was awarded the Order of Merit, Third Class by President Volodymyr Zelensky for supporting the state sovereignty and territorial integrity, charitable activity, and promoting the Ukrainian state in the world.

The deputy prime minister was one of 143 individuals to receive an award on the honours list, including the presidents of Portugal, Finland, Croatia and the Netherlands.

Speaking to RNZ, Seymour said the award came “totally out of the blue”.

“I just got a message from the Ukrainian ambassador over in Sydney, who I’ve met a few times, and he said ‘here you go, the president has recognised you.’

“I note that he’s recognized quite a number of people at the same time, but I think their cause is incredibly important and I’ve only done a few little things, tiny things, really, but it’s nice that they recognise me.”

Seymour, a long-time advocate for the end of the Ukraine war, has organised fundraisers and petitioned to give sanctuary to Ukrainian-Kiwi families, as well as calling for unused Defence Force Javelin Missiles to be sent over for the war effort.

“The Ukrainians are fighting for their own lives, but in many ways, all of our freedom, because if large powers can just redraw boundaries anywhere on the map, that’s a big problem for countries like New Zealand, and the only way to protect ourselves is to stand beside people who come under similar challenges to ours,” he said.

Nicely said, and well deserved.

A pity he didn’t get the next highest honour class – then he would have the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Yaroslav was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 to 1054.

Stuff reports:

The Public Service Commissioner is considering a major shakeup of several government agencies, including the Ministries for Women and Pacific Peoples.

Sir Brian Roche is refusing to rule out that they would be absorbed into larger ministries and said “all options are on the table” and he was “not going to get into ruling things in or out”.

For a country of five million we have far too many government departments and agencies.

Stuff reports:

A former Palmerston North school principal is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than half a million dollars.

Wayne Kevin Codyre is facing 52 charges of obtaining by deception between December 2019 and March 2023, totalling $548,205.

During that time he was principal of Ross Intermediate school.

I can understand someone stealing $500,000 from a private organisation and not being noticed. But I would have thought that a public school has so little discretionary expenditure that it would be damn hard to steal $500,000.

The documents allege he obtained various amounts by deception – from as much as $117,590 to as little as $448.

That sounds like he (allegedly) stole $117,590 in one go. Will be interested in what that purported invoice was for.

In 2024, Stuff reported:

Ross Intermediate’s most recent financial statements said the school made a $76,901 loss for 2022, compared with a $158 surplus the previous year. It made a $150,131 surplus in 2020.

The ministry’s Central deputy secretary Jocelyn Mikaere said the auditor requested a letter of going concern support, which was standard procedure when a school’s working capital position was in a significant deficit position.

Maybe that should have rung warning bells.

(Using University Entrance (UE) as it is a good proxy for the other levels and includes schools that do Cambridge and IB).

It has been common knowledge for a while that girls do better academically in NZ than boys. What may surprise you is how significant the gap is – even in closely matched schools that will be demographically close and have siblings in each school.

For all NZ schools:

46% of girls leave with UE.

35% of boys leave with UE.

For matching schools (listed North to South).

“Winner”.  % of School Leavers with UE 2024.

NB: The only two schools in this list in the top 50 schools UE for leavers in 2024 are Wellington Girls College (20^th/450 schools) and Wellington College (48^th/450 schools).

Whangarei Girls High School: 40.7% of students left in 2024 with UE.
Whangarei Boys High School: 26.0%

Westlake Girls High School: 76.3%
Westlake Boys High School: 71.7%

Auckland [Boys] Grammar: 76.6%
Auckland Girls Grammar: 73.8%
Epsom Girls Grammar: 73.4%

Kelston Girls High School: 19.4%
Kelston Boys High School: 9.9%

Tauranga Girls College: 36.8%
Tauranga Boys College: 33.6%

Hamilton Girls High School: 50.0%
Hamilton Boys High School: 41.8%

Rotorua Girls High School: 21.8%
Rotorua Boys High School: 18% (NZ rugby top 4 champion)

New Plymouth Girls High Schol: 48.2%
New Plymouth Boys High School: 36.6%

Palmerston North Girls High School: 54.8%
Palmerston North Boys High School: 35.7%

Gisborne Girls High School: 40.6%
Gisborne Boys High School: 25.9%

Napier Girls High School: 65.0%
Napier Boys High School: 36.8%

Hastings Girls High School: 28.1%
Hastings Boys High School: 15.2%

Wellington Girls College: 87.0%
Wellington [Boys] College: 77.2%

Marlborough Girls High School: 40.2%
Marlborough Boys High School: 25.0%

Nelson College for Girls: 58.0%
Nelson College [for Boys]: 30.5%

Christchurch Girls High School: 71.4%
Christchurch Boys High School: 49.1%

Timaru Girls High School: 40.0%
Timaru Boys High School: 37.7%

Waitaki Girls High School: 41.2%
Waitaki Boys High School: 16.9%

Otago Girls High School: 62.2%
Otago Boys High School: 58.3%

Kings High School (Dunedin): 52.6%
Queens High School: 44.2%

Southland Girls High School: 50.4%
Southland Boys high School: 28.7%

So; if it was a game the Girls win 19 – 2.

I have the full data set – showing the NZ School LEAVERS’ outcomes for 2024 – available now.

For every high school the process looks at in ranked order (including their Equity Index Number – which replaced “deciles”)
– School size
– NCEA Level 2 and 3 for Leavers (for all schools)
– University Entrance (UE) for Leavers (for all schools)
– The gap between L3 and UE (for all schools)
– The gaps – by school and aggregate – between ethnicities.
– Retention until 17 years of age (for all schools)
– Progression to Degree Level study (for all schools)
– Data split between the EQI 10ths (for all schools)
– Data that shows which schools are thriving above their demographics
– Case study data on the Super 8 Boys’ Schools and the 13 Boys’ Schools in the South Island seeking improvement
– System wide data gender, ethnicity, etc.

(NB: The UE statistics include equivalents for Cambridge and IB).

For those who would like the data set please email me: [email protected]

• if it is for personal use – a donation is appreciated.
• if it is for professional/business/school use – the costs is $350 (plus GST) I will send the data set with an invoice.

The NZ Herald reports:

Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle is leaving Parliament, in a sudden resignation months after saying they refused to be “disappeared by hate” and did not consider standing down amid questions over their social media posts. 

In a Friday afternoon statement, Doyle, who uses they/them pronouns, said in recent months; “I have been on a journey of healing”. 

“During this time, I have come to the realisation that I cannot complete this journey while in Parliament. 

An unusual resignation. He has been an MP for less than a year which might be the shortest term as an MP who didn’t die in office.

Mike Davidson will be the 5th Green MP to enter Parliament since the election, so in 21 months they have lost a third of their caucus (one due to a tragic death to be fair).

Nicola Willis has announced some significant changes to encourage a third supermarket chain. They are:

• Legislate so that new supermarkets which would improve grocery competition qualify as fast-track referrable projects under the Fast-Track Approvals Act. 
• Streamline building consenting processes for new supermarkets by selecting a single building consent authority to standardise and streamline building consent processes for grocery developments that would enable competition.
• Amend Building Act regulations to facilitate pre-approved “MultiProof” building plans for multiple grocery developments.  
• Improve the Overseas Investment Act regime through grocery-specific provisions in the Ministerial Directive Letter.
• Amend the Commerce Act to better combat “predatory pricing” with the introduction of an objective economic test for the prosecution of firms misusing their market power to exclude or stamp-out competitors.

These all look useful and laudable steps. They seek to enable better competition, but not remove property rights from existing companies.

Richard Prebble writes:

A Royal Commission is our nation’s highest form of inquiry, reserved for the most important issues. 

To ensure confidence in its findings, commissioners have the power to summon witnesses and take their evidence in public under oath.

In my research, apart from health reasons, the only person to have ever refused to give public evidence is Gerald Shirtcliff. 

He misrepresented his engineering qualifications, moved to Australia and refused to appear at the CTV Building Collapse Inquiry, held after the Canterbury earthquakes – although he eventually gave evidence via video link from Australia.

Now there are four more refusals.

Former Labour ministers – Dame Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson, Ayesha Verrall — and Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins are refusing to give public evidence to the Covid Royal Commission.

Great company they are in.

Only ministers can explain three damaging decisions that have scarred our society.

Before the election, Hipkins, the Covid Minister, announced we were “at the front of the queue” for vaccines. In fact, New Zealand’s rollout started later than many OECD countries.

Despite Australia’s Prime Minister warning that the Delta variant could not be stopped by a lockdown, our ministers ordered the disastrous Auckland lockdown.

During that lockdown, my daughter died of cancer. I could not visit her. We could not hold a funeral. That wound will never heal.

Ardern assured vaccination would never be compulsory. At the same, vaccination was made mandatory for workers in a number of sectors. To me, there is little difference between those things.

It;s voluntary, but if you decide the wrong way you will lose you job, be banned from restaurants and cafes, not be able to shop at most retail outlets and possibly lose your entire ability to work in your occupation. Not very voluntary was it.

Received a pamphlet from Andrew Little in the letterbox. He makes five key pledges in it, so I thought it would be useful to record them here, and analyse how one could judge if he has kept his word, if he is elected Mayor.

They are:

1 Keep Rates down

A rates increase no larger than inflation would fulfil this promise well. But what could count as even a partial success? Well the Whanau Council has a 12% rates increased planned for next year, so a minimal success would be getting that to under 10%.

The current Council has further rates increases of 7% for out years. So rates increases of under 5% from 27/28 would qualify.

Little also said he wants independent monitoring to stop cost blowouts. So if there are no cost blowouts under his term as Mayor, that would be a win. In the good old days you had a 10% contingency for costs blowouts so you could say anything over 10% over budget is a blowout. But considering this Council routinely sees cost blowouts of over 100%, let’s be kind and say it is a kept promise if no major project comes in at more than 20% over the initial cost agreed to.

2 More affordable housing

Andrew has said he wants to make consents quicker and easier. So this would be a kept promise if this happens. In the year to June 2025 there were 433 new dwelling consents. So one would expect the year to June 2027 to be above 450 at a minimum. Same as major cities.

The median time for a building consent is 10 days. This is somewhat misleading as Councils can stop the clock by constantly asking for more info, but this is the official statistic. So one would expect the median time to drop to below 10 days.

3 Cheaper, more reliable public transport

A nonsense promise about supporting a weekly cap on train and bus fares. WCC has no role in setting public transports fares – GWRC does that. So all Andrew is saying is he will write a letter, and GWRC will write back and say “nice idea, who will pay for it”. It is by the way a good idea. Is already planned for when new ticketing system implemented.

One way to reduce public transport fares is to reduce the zones within Wellington City from 3 to 2, but Little has not said he’ll support this.

He did also say he wants to improve bus priority. There are currently 20 bus lanes (at certain times) and 12 bus only lanes. So an increase in this number would arguably meet that commitment.

4 Protect libraries and swimming pools

Andrew says he will prioritise community facilities for investment. The LTP has $60.5m set aside for renewing community facilities for 2024-2034. So one would expect Little’s first plan would see that increase.

Will he support funding for a Northern Indoor Rec Centre?.

5 Make Council accountable to you

Andrew says he will end the misuse of commercial sensitivity. Had one to measure but I guess look out for how often Council (if he is elected) refuses to release info using this ground.

He says he wants Council to listen more. The annual residents survey found only 23% think WCC makes decisions in best interest of the city. So if he can improve that, that would be a win.

Todd Stephenson announced:

ACT MP Todd Stephenson is today re-lodging his End of Life Choice Amendment Bill, incorporating every single recommendation from the Ministry of Health’s 2024 statutory review of the End of Life Choice Act.

“The End of Life Choice Act gave New Zealanders a precious right: to make decisions about their own death with dignity, compassion, and control. More than 1,200 New Zealanders have chosen that path since the law came into force,” says Mr Stephenson.

“My updated Bill strengthens that right by adopting all 25 recommendations from the Ministry’s independent review. That includes changes to improve safety, workforce capacity, and alignment with the wider health system. I’ve written to every MP to seek support on this basis.

“The updated Bill also restores the original intent of my earlier Member’s Bill by addressing the overly restrictive six-month prognosis requirement.

“This narrow threshold has excluded people with terminal diagnoses who are suffering intolerably, despite being in an irreversible decline. My Bill replaces that arbitrary cut-off with a test that reflects medical reality – recognising that death doesn’t always follow a calendar.”

I hope the bill gets drawn from the ballot, or alternatively 61 non-Ministers will endorse it going straight onto the order paper.

I am a purist when it comes to Reserve Bank independence over setting the Official Cash Rate. I have long advocated that PMs and Finance Ministers shouldn’t express a view in public or private as to what they think the Reserve Bank should do.

In 2011 I did a post titled “Bad John” when John Key merely said:

Well that’s a matter for the Reserve Bank Governor, and it’s for him to decide and him alone to decide what happens on Thursday but certainly the markets have factored in a likely cut in the official cash rate, and you’ve gotta say lower interest rates probably help the country, but that ultimately is a matter for the Governor

Reserve Bank Governors know that politicians generally want cuts in the cash rate because it helps economic growth. And that is exactly why the Reserve Bank is independent.

Just as I thought John Key shouldn’t say publicly what he thinks the Reserve Bank should do, the same goes for Christopher Luxon who revealed he shares his views directly with the Governor. I trust Governors to put their obligation to keep inflation under 3% ahead of views of politicians, but a big part of the ability of a central bank to get inflation down is if markets believe they will increase the cash rate to dampen inflation, no matter how unpopular it might be.

Of course the comments by Key 14 years and Luxon are minor infringements of best practice compared to Donald Trump who not just demands loudly that the Federal Reserve lower interest rates, but tries to sack members of the Federal Reserve who vote the wrong way.

Stuff reports:

Scientist Dr Mike Joy is making no apologies for an internet post in which he criticises the dairy industry about nitrate contamination of drinking water and asks: “How about we bring back hanging for industry CEOs?”

The post referred to an article about Minnie Dean, who was hanged for killing a child in 1895.

“Minnie Dean was hung for killing babies in Southland but our dairy industry is currently putting babies (and adults) at risk with nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater,” Joy said in his post.

Dr Joy has every right to say deranged offensive things. But maybe media shouldn’t treat him as someone who has anything constructive to offer? He is I guess the white collar version of the protesters who had placards wanting Jacinda Ardern to be executed.

“Federated Farmers are trying to make me out to be nuts so that they can avoid the facts,” Joy said.

Its not Federated Farmers making Dr Joy looks nuts. It is Dr Joy.

Tony Randle writes:

Approving the Organics Processing Solution on 7 August also approved the wider “Zero Waste” Programme because the partner “Collections” Project for new bins is already approved. Last week’s decision commits $12 – 16m in capital plus a 4.5% targeted rates increase to enable, even if successful, the diversion of just 6,000 tonnes per year (t/yr) of organics. …

During the meeting, one supporter said “… this will be eventually one of the best ways that we can address our climate emissions and that is fantastic. Over 2,400 tonnes I heard earlier. And for that alone I’m hugely supportive of this.” The 4.5% Targeted Rate increase will generate $22.5m/year in order to achieve the equivalent of a 2,400-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions. This works out at $9,375 per tonne saved when the current price of carbon is $57/tonne. This “solution” will have ratepayers paying over 150 times the market price to reduce our emissions by what is really a tiny amount. Far from fantastic, in climate change outcome terms, this project is a complete waste of money.

This should be a sackable offence. They are paying almost $10,000 a tonne to reduce carbon emissions, which it cab be done for $57. Would they do it if it is their money? Of course not. But when it is ours, they make up bear 20% rates increases because they simply don’t care/

The left wing Third Way organisation has published a list of 45 words other than says Democrats (the left) should avoid using as they alienate people. Sadly for the, I doubt the right people will listen. Some of the words are:

• Privilege, Triggering, Safe space – these words say “I’m more empathetic than you, and you are callous to hurting other’s feelings.”
• Systems of oppression, Critical theory, Cultural appropriation, Existential threat to [climate, the planet, democracy, the economy] – this language says “I’m smarter and more concerned about important issues than you. Your kitchen table concerns are small.”
• Radical transparency, Barriers to participation, The unhoused, Person who immigrated – these words say “we are beholden to groups, not individuals. People have no agency.”
• Birthing person/inseminated person, Pregnant people, Chest feeding, LGBTQIA+ – These say “your views on traditional genders and gender roles are at best quaint.”
• Latinx, BIPOC, Intersectionality – These words signal that talking about race is even more of a minefield. You will be called out as racist if you do not use the latest and correct terminology.
• Incarcerated people – This says: “The criminal is the victim. The victim is an afterthought.”

Someone who is bored should monitor for a few weeks how many of the 45 words appears in Labour, Green and TPM press releases!

Peter Williams writes:

If the voters of Tamaki Makarau send Oriini Kaipara to Parliament this Saturday they need a collective mental health assessment where the first question should be “are you barking mad?”

In the history of New Zealand politics has there ever been such a trainwreck of a serious political candidate as Ms Kaipara?

Consider these scenarios – they have all happened.

On the Tuesday before the final polling day she refuses to answer questions from a TV political reporter – and a Maori female one at that.

She has suggested her main opponent for the seat, Peeni Henare, should be the first Maori Prime Minister, something that is surely unlikely if Mr Henare loses a seat twice in succession after winning it in three consecutive elections from 2014.

Her big set piece interview on TV’s Q and A was a complete disaster. She claimed that Te Pati Maori have repealed various pieces of legislation despite never having been in government and being in opposition since 2023. Only governments repeal legislation.

When asked about an aspect of Te Pati Maori policy she stumbled and mumbled and then, unbelievably, said she needed to refer to her phone to get the right answer – then couldn’t find her phone! 

For someone who has worked in television her performance on Q and A was hopeless.

Peter is correct that Kaipara has performed woefully in the campaign. However this doesn’t mean the majority of by-election voters are aware of this, or even if it will affect their vote.

But if Peeni Henare does manage to lose to her, it will be massively embarrassing for him. It is one thing to lose to the CEO of the local Marae (which happened to host a polling place), but to lose to someone who can’t answer basic questions without checking on their phone would be mortifying.