The Herald reports:

A man who claims to be John Banks’ son is taking the former Cabinet minister and mayor to court in a paternity case.

Antony Shaw, now 47, has filed proceedings in the High Court at Auckland asking a judge to declare that Banks is his birth father.

If the case is successful, the former politician could be declared Shaw’s next of kin with legal implications relating to potential claims against Banks’ will.

The court action follows years of uncertainty around the identity of Shaw’s real father. …

Shaw, who has lived in Japan for the last two decades, attended Mt Albert Grammar and grew up believing his mother’s Asian partner was his father.

His mother is alleged to have had relationship with Banks in the late 1960s while working as a nurse in Hamilton.

She eventually told Shaw about his parentage in 1999 and he tried to meet Banks in the early 2000s during a trip home from Japan to ask the then mayor “are you my father”, a 2001 women’s magazine article alleged.

So this happened when John Banks was aged around 22 or 23. And it was only 30 years later he was told his father may be Banks. Even if Banks is the father, it is possible he was unaware of the fact until Shaw approached him.

The Herald reports:

Gareth Morgan expects to spend up to $5 million of his own fortune on his political party – saying he is “donkey deep now and has to keep going”.

“I have been surprised [at the cost]. The sad reality of politics is you have to have money to play. And I don’t like that,” Morgan told the Herald. Morgan has started the Opportunities Party (TOP).

Money helps but money by itself does not get you elected. Trump spent half what Clinton did. UK Labour spent less than the Conservatives. DotCom and Craig both spent millions for few votes.

12 people to date are confirmed dead in the Grenfell Tower fire. A terrible way to die – trapped in a towering inferno.

There’s no information to date on how the fire started, let alone how it spread so quickly and comprehensively to engulf the entire tower.

Stuff reports:

By reducing smoking rates and bed-sharing with newborn babies, the Government says it can drastically reduce the number of sudden infant deaths in less than a decade. 

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has announced a new goal to reduce the number of babies who die each year due to Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI), by 86 per cent within eight years. 

By reducing the overall rate of SUDI by 86 per cent and 94 per cent for Maori by 2025, the number of SUDI deaths would be reduced from 44 to six.

 The SUDI rate is about 0.7 in every 1,000 babies born, and 1.59 for every 1,000 Maori babies born. The goal was to get that rate down to 0.1 in every 1000 births by 2025. …

The Daily Mail reports:

The gunman who opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball practice session this morning before being killed by cops has been identified as a Trump-hating Bernie Sanders supporter. 

Sixty-six-year-old James T. Hodgkinson from Belleville, Illinois, was killed by Capitol Police after firing up to 100 rounds from an assault rifle at a baseball park in Alexandria, Virginia, leaving five injured including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

Hodgkinson was a staunch Bernie Sanders supporter and campaigned for the left-wing senator to get the Democratic nomination for president last year. The union tradesman, who ran a home inspection business, threatened to ‘destroy’ the president and his administration on social media. 

He was shot by two Capitol Police officers who were accompanying Scalise to Eugene Simpson Stadium Park for the scheduled baseball practice ahead of Thursday night’s charity game.

The male and female officers were both wounded as they used their pistols to shoot at Hodgkinson while the congressmen fled to a dugout. 

Zachary Barth, a congressional staffer for Texas Rep. Roger Williams, was shot in the leg but is expected to recover. The two Capitol Police officers, Krystal Griner and David Bailey, are also expected to make a full recovery.  Lobbyist Matt Mika was also injured and is in hospital.

Moments before the attack, a man – thought to be Hodgkinson –  asked if the group were Republicans or Democrats, Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis said. North Carolina Rep. Mike Walker told NBC News he seemed he was there ‘to kill as many Republican members as possible.’ 

A terrible act motivated by the politics of hate.

Michigan Rep. Mike Bishop earlier described how one man – thought to be part of Scalise’s Capitol Police protection detail – stood his ground to return fire as the congressmen and at least one of their children dove for cover in a dugout and Scalise dragged himself across the field after being hit, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

He told CBS Detroit: ‘As we were standing here this morning, a gunman walked up to the fence line and just began to shoot. I was standing at home plate and he was in the third base line.  He had a rifle that was clearly meant for the job of taking people out, multiple casualties, and he had several rounds and magazines that he kept unloading and reloading.’

He said: ‘The only reason why any of us walked out of this thing, by the grace of God, one of the folks here had a weapon to fire back and give us a moment to find cover.’ 

It could have been far worse.

Any shooting is bad, but trying to kill elected representatives is more than an attack on individuals – it is an attempt to destroy the democracy of a country.

UPDATE: The shooter has a wonderful background – has convictions for beating his daughter.

Stuff reports:

The Supreme Court has sat a majority of women on the bench for the first time in New Zealand’s history.

On Tuesday, three women and two men made up the full bench of the country’s highest court, putting New Zealand ahead of comparable countries in terms of gender equality at the highest level of the judiciary. 

The New Zealand Law Society said the recent retirement of Justice Terence Arnold from the six permanent court members meant the court was now made up of Chief Justice Sian Elias, Justice Susan Glazebrook, Justice Ellen France, Justice William Young and Justice Mark O’Regan.

New Zealand Law Society president Kathryn Beck said the sitting was an important milestone in New Zealand legal history.

“It is 120 years since New Zealand’s first woman lawyer, Ethel Benjamin, was admitted as a barrister and solicitor.

“Our highest court now has a majority of women, and that is something to celebrate in the move towards a justice system and legal profession where there is gender equality.”

We may be the only country in the world where women make up a majority of the highest court. The percentages in other countries are Australia 43%, Canada 44%, US 33%, UK 9%.

Shifra Horn writes:

Israel was established to provide a haven for Jews from persecution in many countries, in a land they had lived in for 3000 years. The Holocaust was a fresh and frightening reality. Jewish refugees created a functioning and tolerant democracy – which now has an Arab population of more than 20 per cent or 1.6 million – with full employment, sophisticated healthcare and social services. There are no refugees in Israel despite the country absorbing millions of Ethiopians and Russians who escaped persecution in their homelands.

And as attacks on Jews increase in countries such as France, never has it been more important that there is one country where Jews can be safe from persecution.

Israel returned Gaza in 2005 and was rewarded by continuing rocket attacks on nearby Israeli towns and cities. There are no Israelis in Gaza and no occupation. These attacks continue today. Despite millions of dollars from the United States and United Nations pouring into Gaza, this money has been used for rockets and military tunnels – not the food or housing the Palestinians so desperately need.

And this is why the mood in Israel has turned against land for peace.They gave up the land of Gaza and in return did not get peace, but many more attacks.

There have been several substantial offers of peace with the Palestinians. Offers to return up to 97 per cent of the West Bank after the Camp David talks in 2000 and of land swaps by Ehud Olmert in 2008 were either turned down or answered with violence.

Make no mistake – any Palestinian leader who makes peace with Israel will be killed by his own people within days or weeks. Egypt’s Sadat did not survive his peace agreement with Israel.

Sad but true.

It is said that when the Palestinians want to have a Palestinian state more than they want to destroy the Jewish State, when they value life more than death, then maybe there will be peace.

Some Palestinians want peace. But many, possibly most, just want Israel destroyed.

Polls of Palestinians have found that 83% of Palestinians think the area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is Palestinian land and Jews have no rights to it while only 12% think “both Jews and Palestinians have rights to the land.”

78% of Palestinians support suicide bombing of civilians.

Around 60% of Palestinians say that even if a two state solution is negotiated, armed struggle should continue to wipe out Israel.

Stuff reports:

Labour leader Andrew Little and Wellington Mayor Justin Lester have come out in support of Wellington bus drivers, as tensions continue over their proposed new bus contracts.

Meanwhile, the new operator says the pair have got it wrong, and insists drivers will be better off under the new deal.

Drivers across the region have staged strikes recently in an act of protest at the new contracts.

The stop-work meetings follow Greater Wellington Regional Council naming Masterton-based company Tranzit as the preferred bidder for the majority of Wellington’s bus services, in place of incumbent NZ Bus. …

In a video posted to Facebook page Thank You Driver,  Lester said Wellington

valued its bus drivers and it was important their future employment was secure.

“We want to make sure they’ve got good job security, and that they’re well paid. So let’s make sure we protect our bus drivers and let’s get a good outcome for all of Wellington.”

Little, a former union leader, posted a similar video to the page, in which he said drivers were facing a “major challenge” and accused local authorities of  using the contracting process to drive down drivers’ wages and conditions.

The first round of voting has seen:

1. La République En Marche! 28%
2. The Republicans 16%
3. Socialist Party 7%

We don’t know how many seats each party will get until the second round, as tactical voting may have an impact. But projections are they may win 75% of the lower house which is huge. And as they are a new party, most MPs will be new to Parliament. A revolution almost.

Stuff reports:

Police have been knocking on neighbours’ doors and sharing a guide on how to oppose a controversial liquor store application in central Wellington.

The city’s district licensing committee (DLC) has received 50 applications opposing the application to turn a fruit and vege shop in Aro St into a liquor store – but the owner says the backlash was heightened after police shared the “how to” guide on social media, complete with a photo of her store.

Officers doorknocked businesses around Manjula Patel’s Aro Fruit Supply in late May to inform them of her and Vinod Hira’s application.

So the Police have so little to do, they can spend time door knocking businesses to try and whip up opposition to a liquor store application. Once again we see they have become crusading activists.

Wellington human rights lawyer Michael Bott said it seemed police were acting as a lobby group pushing an agenda, rather than in their statutory function as a neutral enforcer of the law.

For once I agree with Michael Bott.

“The police are effectively involved in a campaign to drive out small shopkeepers from their ability to sell beer and wine. It shows a level of predetermination on their part by trying to drumbeat a wave of discontentment against shopkeepers amongst the community.

I think it is time to remove Police from having a special role in submitting on alcohol licenses. They keep abusing their role.

Today is the 30th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s famous Brandenburg Gate speech given in front of the infamous Berlin Wall where he challenged Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. As riveting as was the actual speech (the full speech is here https://youtu.be/5MDFX-dNtsM and the money part is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtYdjbpBk6A), what is equally riveting are two fascinating back stories.

The speechwriter
Reagan’s speechwriter Peter Robinson arrived in Berlin three weeks ahead of the official Presidential party to do research as background for the speech. Before meeting people, the senior American diplomat in the Berlin Embassy assigned to brief Robinson urged him to not mention the Wall because West Berliners had gotten used to it. Mr. Robinson recalls that he got his idea for the famous line of his speech from the reaction of the guests at a dinner party he attended not long after his arrival. At the dinner was a gathering of some Berlin society elites: a prominent industrialist, businessmen, several well-known academics and a popular socialite. Discussion had been polite and genial when partway through the dinner, the subject turned to the coming Presidential speech at the front of the most famous part of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate. Robinson was curious to gauge attitudes in the room to the Wall and the speech. At first there was an embarrassed silence as it clearly was not a topic in polite society. Various around the table mumbled politically correct bromides and made rather neutral comments. There was a pause in the conversation and suddenly one of the women changed her tone and said bluntly and loudly “I don’t care what you think but I hate the wall with a passion”. With emotion tinging her voice she said that her sister lived only 5 km from her apartment but that she had not been able to see her over 20 years. She pounded her fist and said that if Gorbachev was serious about peace, he’d get rid of the Wall. This outburst acted as an emotional dam burst and suddenly almost everyone in the room piled on with similar comments that betrayed the visceral loathing that all in the room actually held for the Wall and all it stood for. Various of them told similar stores of family separation and of the sadness and trauma associated with the brutal partitioning of Berlin.

Robinson was taken completely by surprise. Here was the creme of Berlin society and to a man and a woman, they detested the wall and the communist ideology that erected it. This strong reaction from normally such polite and measured people made Robinson realise that the existence of the Wall was a huge hot button issue for Berliners and that to make a bold statement about its removal was a comment that Reagan’s audience in Berlin would warm to. The speech was drafted, Reagan liked it and it was entered the system and circulated amongst the State Department and other key Cabinet members in advance of the actual speech so that the diplomats could be ready for its impact. Well all hell broke loose. The entire foreign policy apparatus of the government immediately weighed in with lengthy memos strongly urging the “tear down the wall” line be taken out with dire warnings of inflaming Cold War tensions, provoking the Soviets into some form of damaging reprisal and calling it naive and needlessly raising expectations. Soon Reagan had his Chief of Staff Howard Baker, his Secretary of State George Schultz and even National Security Adviser Carlucci all urging the him to listen to the officials and take out the line.

Reagan allowed the debate to rage around him but demurred on a decision. In the final meeting in the hotel suite the day before the speech, Reagan met with his Deputy Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein who again represented the consensus objections of many in the senior echelons of government and showed him their various revised drafts. Reagan turned to Duberstein asked, “Am I the President and can I say what I want in a speech?” to which he replied, “Yes Mr. President”. Reagan emphatically said to him “the line stays in”. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Soviet Dissident in the Gulags
An equally gripping tale of the impact of the speech is told by prominent Soviet Jewish dissident Natan Sharansky in his landmark book “The Case for Democracy”. At the time of the speech, he was the third most senior Soviet dissident incarcerated in the Gulags (after Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov). He said that when news of the speech was smuggled in to one prisoner in a coded letter, he tapped the news in Morse code to his neighbouring prisoner who in turn tapped Morse code or whispered the line of Reagan’s speech from cell to cell until all the prisoners knew. He said that as each man heard the news, a cheer would go up. He said the feeling in the prison camp was electrifying and that hope swept through the camp like a wildfire. It raised the spirits of these starved and tortured men immeasurably. They knew that leader of the free world was prepared to stand up to the Soviets and call for the dismantling of one of the most potent symbols of their repression. Sharansky said that he knew at that moment that the days of the Soviet regime were numbered if Reagan remained President.

The Herald reports:

Prime Minister Bill English’s strenuous opposition to Labour’s proposed “breather” in immigration draws a clear battle-line in the election.

Labour leader Andrew Little wants net migration cut from the current 70,000 a year by up to 30,000 – mainly targeting overseas students – saying it will relieve pressure on Auckland road by 20,000 cars and 10,000 houses annually.

But English says Labour’s policy is based on a misunderstanding of the export education sector – 70 per cent to 80 per cent of such students left New Zealand at the end of their study, the students did not buy houses and not many had cars.

English also said the cut would stall the momentum in the economy which was producing 10,000 new jobs every month.

Some of the changes proposed by Labour are worthwhile, such as encouraging more degree based courses. But there is no way they will see a reduction of 30,000 a year – and if they did, it would have a significant economic impact.

Migration has cycles, and the projections are net migration will start reducing soon. Better to have this done gradually and in a sustainable way.

English rubbished the so-called “Kiwibuild visa” outlined by Labour to address demand for skilled workers under Labour’s policy to build 100,000 houses in 10 years.

Residential construction firms would be able to hire a foreign worker for three years without testing the market for Kiwi tradesmen if they took on an apprentice for every worker hired.

The Kiwibuild visa would be limited to 1500 at any one time, and additional foreign workers would have to be hired under current rules.

“Mate, who thinks you can build 100,000 houses with another 1000 people?” English said to an Australian reporter who questioned it. “It is completely unrealistic.”

So each person builds 100 houses each – that is about as realistic indeed as many of Labour’s policies!

Matt Vickers writes at The Spin Off:

When Seales v Attorney General came before the courts in 2015, the evidence was clear cut. There was no evidence of abuse of assisted dying laws in countries that had it. Despite all of the conjecture from opponents that these laws were harmful or led to a slippery slope, the trial judge in the Supreme Court of British Columbia found scant evidence to support those claims were true. When the case moved to the Canadian Supreme Court, a bench of nine supreme court judges upheld that ruling, given that no other reliable evidence had appeared to undermine that decision. As a result of that case, assisted dying became legal in Canada, and has been working without issue since June last year. Less than 0.5% of all deaths in Canada in the last twelve months were assisted.

The Canadian Supreme Court ruling is very persuasive.

Nevertheless, I take opponents’ concerns very seriously. Last year, I visited Dignitas in Switzerland and DMD Colombia, meeting with those that worked in the sphere of assisted dying, to understand how these laws work in practice. What struck me was how high the barriers are to accessing an assisted death. It is far from death on demand, but rather a rigorous and challenging process that requires a person to be extraordinarily determined in order to gain access to assistance. In fact, the evidence shows that individuals who access these laws are almost uniformly independently-minded, resolute, and driven, which were all characteristics that my late wife possessed. As a doctor in Oregon said, “It doesn’t need to be easy, it just needs to be possible.”

That’s a great quote. Not easy, just possible.

Seymour’s bill introduces safeguards that are in fact more stringent than those found in any other jurisdiction in the world, with its system of review and oversight.

The safeguards are key.

It does go further than Oregon in its scope, allowing not only those with a terminal illness to access assisted dying, but also those with a grievous and irremediable medical condition, such as motor neuron disease, spinal stenosis, or Huntington’s disease. It is often sufferers of these diseases who take legal action around assisted dying – such as Kay Carter in Canada and Noel Conway in the United Kingdom. Wellington-based filmmaker Wendell Cooke’s extraordinary mini-documentary Ginaillustrates the plight of individuals in this situation.

As I have blogged an acquaintance with Huntington’s killed himself when relatively young as the only alternative to a future where he has no physical and mental capacity. This bill would have allowed him to live for many more years knowing he could have assistance when he got to the stage he had no physical capacity.

Some Members of Parliament have taken issue with the fact that David’s bill is not restricted to the terminally ill, but the parliamentary process allows for those concerns to be addressed. MPs who are concerned should vote for the bill at first reading, and let the parameters and scope of the bill be explored in select committee, and the evidence and arguments supporting a given scope assessed. When the bill comes back to the house a second time, MPs will have a chance to reflect on the scope of the bill once more, with select committee analysis in support of a given drafting. It’s my hope that the Greens, whose party policy is to support assisted dying for the terminally ill, will take this approach.

The scope of who is eligible is also a key one, and exactly what select committee is for. Also worth noting that further refinements can be made at the committee of the house stage.

Lecretia’s story provides one example of many such cases where access to assisted dying can provide comfort and control to individuals in their final days. If MPs take the time to put themselves in her shoes, it’s my hope that their consciences will see their way to making assisted dying legal in New Zealand. A law change will not result in more people dying – we all die at some point, after all – but in fewer people needlessly suffering. As a compassionate society that cares for its citizens, that is only decent and fair.

So very true.

New Zealand beat Sweden by 56 seconds and has easily won the Louis Vuitton challenger series 5 to 2 to become the official challenger.

Our history in the America’s Cup is:

• 1987 – KZ-7 lost in the challenger final
• 1988 – KZ-1 is the challenger
• 1992 – NZ did not compete
• 1995 – NZL-32 is the challenger and wins
• 2000 – NZL-60 is the defender and wins
• 2003 – NZL-82 is the defender and loses
• 2007 – NZL-92 is the challenger and loses
• 2010 – NZ did not compete
• 2013 – Emirates Team NZ is the challenger and loses
• 2017 – Emirates Team NZ is the challenger

We now start the America’s Cup at -1 to Oracle at 0 and the first one to seven wins so we have to bear Oracle eight times to win – a hard call.

An infuriating case just out from the Supreme Court.

In the late 1990s Kathryn Harlen was found guilty of benefit fraud. She was imprisoned briefly and in 2000 WINZ started docking $20 a week off her benefit to recover the $120,000 she stole from taxpayers. A token amount but important so people don’t get to keep the benefits of fraud.

17 years later only $4,000 has been paid back. Instead Ms Harlen has spent most of that time fighting the repayments in every forum possible, including:

• Benefits Review Committee
• Social Security Appeal Authority x 2
• High Court x 2
• Court of Appeal
• Supreme Court

Such a strong case of entitlementitis.

Stuff reports:

A key figure in the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is defecting to Gareth Morgan’s The Opportunities Party (TOP) and is urging members to follow him.

Abe Gray said in a statement he was stepping down as president and resigning his membership to throw in his lot with Morgan after the party’s cannabis policy launch.

Gray has written an open letter to ALCP members explaining his move.

Economist Morgan launched his drugs policy last month and said cannabis should be regulated for cultivation, sale, and personal use in New Zealand.

It’s also a policy I agree with. However it is far from the most important issue for me.

Amy Adams announced:

Drink driving charges have halved since 2009, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.

Latest drink driving offence figures show the number of people charged in 2016 was 16,304 compared to 31,933 in 2009.

“Almost 16,000 fewer people were charged with drink driving offences in 2016 compared to 2009. That’s a 49 per cent decrease in seven years, reflecting a better understanding by New Zealanders of the dangers of drink driving,” says Ms Adams.

“It is particularly encouraging to see fewer young people being charged with and convicted of drink driving. Since 2009, the number of convictions among people under 25 has dropped 60 per cent to 5236 in 2016.

That’s great news, and reinforces that the drinking age of 18 has not let to an increase in youth drink driving.

If you look at teenagers only, the number of drink driving convictions has dropped from 6,617 in 2009 to 1,888 in 2016 – a huge drop.

The Herald reports:

About $215,000 in Government funding was given to groups to use for humanitarian reasons in North Korea over the past eight years – including for a “New Zealand Friendship Farm” – but it was halted last year because of concern about North Korea’s nuclear testing.

The funding was revealed in an Official Information Act request by the Taxpayers’ Union and showed since 2008, about $215,000 had been given out to humanitarian organisations working in North Korea on projects such as sanitation and food projects.

In a statement, Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee said New Zealand had not provided any direct humanitarian aid to North Korea at least since National was elected in 2008, but a contestable fund of about $30,000 a year was administered from Seoul until late 2016.

“The funding was stopped last year because of concerns over North Korea’s provocative actions, including two nuclear tests in 2016.”

So the funding only stopped a few months ago. Incredible.

It included funds for fertiliser and tractor-trailer units for North Korea’s “NZ Friendship Farm” which Williams said meant it was equipment under the direct ownership and control of the North Korean regime.

“While North Korea wants to wipe Western nations off the face of the Earth, our Government has been diverting taxpayer money to business schemes owned and managed by the regime. It is inexcusable.”

The NZ Friendship Farm is also known as the Sambong Co-operative farm and is a 935ha farm in South Phyongan. It includes a medical clinic and kindergarten and is reportedly home to 2,000 people. The main crop is rice.

The funding was given to the NZ-DPRK Society – a group which aims to foster better relations between the two countries and has called on the New Zealand Government to take a neutral stance on North Korea and recommence diplomatic relations rather than siding with the United States in its call for stronger sanctions.

The prominent members of the NZ-DPRK Society are a bunch of communists who think its only fault is it has never been done properly. And we were funding them!

Stuff reports:

It takes an actor of a certain stature to stand head to toe in Lycra, taking seriously the menace posed by a loose menagerie of ham-acting co-stars dressed as a penguin, a cat, a man with question marks on his underpants and another with an egg for a head.

And yet Adam West, lovingly remembered by a generation as Batman – despite many more dramatic and arguably more authentic interpretations – was that actor: fabulously grand, a whisker from absurd and still, somehow, wholly relatable.

Today, pop culture’s pantheon of living gods, has lost its Zeus: Adam West, 88, has died after a short battle with leukemia.

The Batman TV series was so corny and goofy but it was great fun.

There was a great suggestion on Twitter. They remarked how when a former US President dies, all the other Presidents attend his funeral. Wouldn’t it be great to have all the actors who have played Batman attend West’s funeral!

• Race 4 – Sweden wins by 15 seconds
• Race 5 – NZ wins as Sweden did not finish
• Race 6 – NZ wins by 1 second

Final race looked to be a comfortable win for New Zealand until the final leg when they miscued and almost lost it.

Overall NZ has 4 points and Sweden 2 with 5 needed to become the America’s Cup Challenger.