The Herald reports:

Denise Lee has been selected by National as its Maungakiekie candidate in the 2017 general election.

Lee has lived in the central Auckland electorate for close to 20 years and currently serves on the Auckland Council representing the Maungakiekie-Tamaki ward.

She is the daughter of Graeme Lee, a former National MP.

MP Sam Lotu-Iiga, who is retiring, won the seat in 2014 with a majority of 2348.

The Labour candidate is Priyanca Radhakrishnan.

This will be an interesting seat to watch. Since it was created under MMP it has swung between National and Labour. Belinda Vernon held it from 1996 to 1999 then Mark Gosche from 1999 to 2008 and Sam since then.

The Dunedin City Council announced:

The Dunedin City Council has secured a piece of Dunedin’s history and opened up future possibilities with the purchase of the Sammy’s building on Crawford Street. …

An options paper will go to the Council before Easter, looking at what could be done with the building. The paper will look at ways to involve the arts and business communities in decisions about the building’s function, how it might look and how it fits with its surroundings. The development of the building is likely to be a partnership venture.

I recall drinking and dancing at Sammy’s.  In recent years it has been used mainly for rock concerts. If it was a commercially viable venue, it would have a commercial purchaser. Dunedin has no shortage of concert and arts venues. And the Council admits it doesn’t know what to do with it. Basically they have just spent $128,000 of ratepayers money to feel good about it.

A guest post by a reader:

Where do I start, I look back at recent events in our community and reflect on all of the years that WC knew about:

• Ageing assets in terms of infrastructure (Pipes), Water Treatment Plants (WTP) and Pumping Stations.
• A growing population in NZ largest city, with a clear indication that land in the north of AKLD was to be released.
• A WTP in Huia with surrounding land earmarked for future development.
• AKLD centralisation of local government and the collation of regional DP’s in order to form the Unitary Plan. They missed an opportunity to make a submission on WC land.

 

I could add more but I guess you can get the handle.

Recently WC have written to local residents referring to an earlier communication in November about the purchase of land at 130 Parker Road and the future selection process for the new WTP – nobody in our community got that communication.

In the last 2 weeks it has been full on as we were told of 2 sites on Parker Road and sent information that clearly displayed homes that fall in the WTP zone.

WC board minutes (sec 10) consistently talk about “Working with Local Boards” and local engagement – well in relation to our community and our local board nobody knew – our LB only found out when we told them. Well that’s what people think but I cannot believe WC failed to talk about the biggest West AKLD Project and not mention it to AKLD Council or Local Boards – I mean WC is managed by AKLD Council…

We turned out in force at the first public consult meeting, the community was not happy and WC felt our angst – to be fair those WC Managers hung in and listened. In that meeting we were told of 3 potential sites for the new WTP:

• Adjacent WC land at Woodlands Park close to the existing Huia WTP.
• On WC land at Manuka Road next to the current Huia WTP.
• 130 Parker Road – Oratia. A new WTP.

In the meeting it became clear that the 130 Parker Road site is actually much bigger and goes beyond the original plan. This wipes out over 30 homes and families from the heart of Oratia Valley. We are living under a massive black cloud and all formal reports on the WC www are clear of the intention, WC are coming to Oratia as what they are planning will not fit at any other site.

Public consultation is a box for WC to tick, Local Board engagement is words the CEO reports to the board and WC can hide behind the Public Works Act.

I’m told Watercare cancelled the second community meeting at the last minute.

Stuff reports:

A Hamilton-based farm recruitment agency is backing Prime Minister Bill English’s claims that Kiwi workers’ inability to pass drug tests are why overseas workers are needed.

Cross Country Recruitment managing director Ben De’Ath​ said that since December 4, 2016, 21 individual farm owners have contacted him seeking new staff because they have had to instantly dismiss staff due to failed drug tests for methamphetamine or cannabis.

Three-quarters of these farm owners were in Waikato and the rest were in the Central Plateau. These farmers were now short staffed purely because of illegal drugs, he said.

De’Ath said his company started to record why vacancies were arising in December because it helped make a case to Immigration New Zealand for foreign workers on behalf of farm owners.

That’s a lot of cases, just since December.

The Conservative Party has released:

After accepting an invitation to the University of Auckland Debating Society’s debate late last year, the Conservative Party has just been informed, less than a week before the debate, that it will no longer be allowed to participate as there have been some “late inclusions!” Apparently, there are now nine speakers.

At the last election, the Conservative Party polled 5th highest, higher than Act, higher than the Maori Party, higher than Mana/Internet, higher than United Future, all of whom have representatives in the debate, so it cannot be our policies. And Mana are not in parliament.

UADS have the right to decide who to invite but it does seem bizarre that they invite Mana but no not invite the Conservatives, considering the Conservatives got almost four times as many votes as them.

The unAustralian reports:

A sub editor for the Sydney Morning Herald website has been sacked after a headline on its homepage accidentally told readers what the rest of the article was going to be about.

“We apologise for allowing the headline Bank Teller Shot In Robbery On Parramatta Road to appear in our digital edition and totally confusing our five remaining subscribers,” said SMH editor Callum Ayte. “As soon as we found the error we immediately took it down and replaced it with the much more straightforward The Day Andy’s Job At The Bank Took An Unexpected Turn For The Worse, because we all know our readers have nothing better to do with their day than to spend half an hour clicking on every headline in the hope of eventually finding the story they’re interested in.”

“I was called into the office and lectured about how good headline writing isn’t about clarity and brevity but mainly about generating as many bogus clicks as possible,” said newly out of work sub editor Ariel Kurner.

This is sadly barely satire.

The Herald reports:

Police need to record the number of robberies in which tobacco is taken, the Act Party says.

The call comes after a Christchurch dairy was on the weekend robbed for the eighth time in seven months.

Three people entered the Night ‘n Day in Woolston about 2.30am on Sunday. One of two staff members was pinned down with a handgun held against her head.

No one was injured, with the offenders taking cash and cigarettes.

In October Police said the black market for tobacco was fuelling dairy robberies, and there have been similar concerns in other areas of the country.

This is a good lesson in unforeseen consequences. There is little doubt that increasing the excise tax on tobacco has been an effective way to reduce smoking rates. But there comes a level at which the tax levels become so high, that people are incentivised to buy on the black market. We saw this with alcohol prohibition.

So what we have are more and more robberies of dairies, to steal cigarettes. And more and more people buying their cigarettes through the black market, rather than legally.

Act leader David Seymour said today he had recently requested from Police information on the number of tobacco-related burglaries.

That request was declined, with police informing Seymour that crime statistics did not distinguish whether tobacco products were taken in burglaries or robberies.

“Tobacco taxes have more than doubled in the past five years and there are, sometimes violent, robberies of the now $300 bricks of cigarettes happening every other day.

“It is extraordinary that the police are not recording whether tobacco was a factor in a robbery.”

The Police database should be able to do this.

The Herald reports:

Balding murderer and sex offender Phillip John Smith has told a court prison authorities are violating his human rights because they refuse to let him don a toupee.

I would have thought a human right is the right not to have some sick fucker sodomise you when you are ten, not to have the same person stab your father to death, not to be stalked, not to be blackmailed, not to be driven to suicide etc etc.

Smith is suing Corrections in the High Court at Auckland because they have prevented him wearing a hairpiece ever since he used one as part of a disguise to flee to Rio de Janeiro in November 2014.

Sounds sensible. If he escapes again he won’t have such an easy disguise.

Representing himself at the judicial review on Monday, Smith said the days after he was returned to custody were among the lowest in his life because New Zealand newspapers ran pictures of him appearing bald on their front pages.

“I felt belittled, degraded and humiliated,” he said.

I’m bald. I don’t feel this is in anyway degrading or humiliating. He should feel degraded and humiliated that he is a pedophile and a murderer, not that he is bald.

He told the court he began balding in his early 20s and hairpieces gave him the confidence to present himself in public.

Well he is probably never going to be out in public again, so that doesn’t matter.

He said their decision was not proportionate to the risks and akin to using a sledgehammer to crush a nut, which failed to treat him with humanity and dignity.

A humanity that Mr Smith doesn’t have, and the dignity he robbed from his victims.

The Taxpayers’ Union announced:

The Former Mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District, Vanessa van Uden, and Wellington academic and businessman, Sashi Meanger, have been appointed Board Members of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. Founding member and long-serving board member Gabrielle O’Brien has now stepped down.

Chairman of the Taxpayers’ Union, John Bishop says, “Sashi has had a number of senior roles in not for profit and small businesses, in addition to his roles at Victoria University of Wellington and the New Zealand Film School where he is currently the Executive Director. He has been an active member of the Taxpayers’ Union behind the scenes for some time, so we welcome his stepping up to the role as Director.”

“Vanessa has proven that fiscal prudence is possible in the local government sector, even for regions experiencing considerable growth. Shining more light on the spending decisions in local government is a major strategic objective of the organisation. Vanessa was elected for two terms as the Queenstown Mayor on platforms of bringing Council spending under control with a focus on core services. We welcome Vanessa aboard and look forward to working with her,” says Mr Bishop.

Mr Meanger says, “I have followed the progress of the Taxpayers’ Union from its infancy and seen it grow into a loud voice for taxpayers. Every dollar of public spending is a dollar that a hard-working Kiwi earned. The Taxpayers’ Union balances the debate against the hundreds of organisations and special interests arguing for more government spending on their pet causes.”

I’m delighted that Vanessa and Sashi have joined the board as we enter a growth phase. This Southland Times profile of Vanessa is enlightening:

If you look at the floor as you walk into the office of outgoing Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Vanessa van Uden you might notice the carpet is different from the rest of the building.

She was new to the office in 2010 when she was advised carpet was being laid.

“I said ‘there’s nothing wrong with this carpet’, van Uden says.

“They said ‘but we’ve got the money to do it’.  I said: ‘Use it on something else’.”

It is symbolic of the pride she takes in her frugal approach.

We need more Mayors like Vanessa.

As she prepares to hand over the mayoral chains following six years in the job she says she achieved her financial goals by working on a zero-based budgeting model – trying to achieve efficiency in services, without cutting them.

Council vehicles, phones and legal fees were targeted. Staff muffins for morning tea and council lunches at 12.30pm before a 1pm meeting disappeared from the budget.

“This is other people’s money that we are spending,” she says. “It is incumbent on us to say ‘Is it fair reasonable and what we should do with other people’s money?’ because we don’t give them any choice about taking it off them.”

A good attitude. Taxpayers and ratepayers get no choice in how much tax and rates they pay, so those who spend on their behalf should always be restrained in their spending.

The Dom Post editorial:

Bill English was right to put national superannuation back on the agenda, just as John Key was wrong to take it off.  There are serious doubts about whether NZ Super is sustainable as the population ages. Politicians can’t ignore this unpleasant fact.

The prime minister has to his credit accepted the reality, proposing a progressive lifting of the threshold from 65 to 67 in 2037.

The case is strong for extending the age by two years, as this newspaper has previously argued. Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell put it in a nutshell in her review last year. NZ Super costs $10.4 billion, or about 4.1 per cent of GDP. Treasury predicts this will rise to 7.1 per cent of GDP by 2060, or nearly $18 billion in today’s dollars.

A lift in the retirement age was inevitable and I am pleased that National is standing up for reality.

All these trends are familiar to most voters. The population knows that the problem is serious, but too many politicians still refuse to face reality. Labour leader Andrew Little is in a hopeless position. He has reversed his predecessor’s pledge to increase the age while failing to make a proper case for the u-turn.

Here’s what Little has said recently:

“If there’s one thing that scares the bejeesus out of me, it’s the looming cost of superannuation. That’s a significant chunk of the Budget,”

Interest.co.nz, 22 May 2015

And Jacinda Ardern in 2012:

In three years, superannuation will cost more than the entire education budget; preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary put together.

It will grow to be 20 times the cost of unemployment benefits. We need to ask if the universal age of super is set at the right place. But rather than tackle this big issue for the sake of future generations who want a home, a secure retirement and a country with a sound savings plan, they continue to target them and burden them with debt.

Politics can’t just be about making decisions that anger the least number of people possible, it has to be about doing the right thing. Labour’s view that superannuation should be lifted is one that we think needs to be phased in from 2020

Radio Live, 14 June 2012

Also various quotes by David Parker:

• Finance spokesman David Parker said today that unless there were massive tax increases, it couldn’t be sustained in its present form.
• Parker said he thought people largely understood raising the retirement age was a responsible policy.
• “In two years spending on superannuation will cost more than putting our kids through school and university. That’s wrong. National’s refusal to address the retirement age is hurting our next generation.
• Labour’s finance spokesperson David Parker says pension costs, which make up about half of all social spending, need to be addressed. “If you want an example of where fiscal responsibility starts that’s it – that is the biggest growing cost centre that is controllable for Government.”

So to quote David Parker, Labour is now the party of no fiscal responsibility and Labour’s refusal to address the retirement age is hurting our next generation.

National announced:

Nicola Willis has been selected by National to contest the Wellington Central electorate at the 2017 General Election.

Ms Willis is a born and raised Wellingtonian, mother of four, and businesswoman, having previously held senior leadership roles at Fonterra.

Nicola will be a great candidate and a superb MP. I’m excited by the fact she has left an incredibly successful business career to stand for Parliament.

Nicola Willis, 35, was born and educated in Wellington. She lives in the Wellington Central electorate with her husband and their four children.

 She is a successful business leader and former University debater, with a passion for the arts.

A graduate of Victoria University with an honours degree in English Literature, Nicola was a successful member of the Vic Debating Society, winning various national tournaments and a University Blue.

As a senior business leader at New Zealand’s biggest exporter Fonterra, Nicola put in practice her belief that commercial success requires a commitment to environmental and social sustainability. Most recently she led a large team focused on reducing the environmental impact of Fonterra’s farming operations. Prior to that she had roles directing global trade strategy and community engagement.

Nicola has also previously served on the Boards of ExportNZ and the New Zealand Initiative.

Previously, Nicola worked as senior advisor to former Prime Minister John Key, where she worked closely with the public service to implement National’s policy following the 2008 election.

There would be few people that by the age of 35 have held very senior roles in New Zealand’s largest company, been a senior adviser to a Prime Minister and also had four children.

Bill English has announced:

The Government will progressively lift the age of eligibility for NZ Superannuation from 65 to 67, starting in 20 years’ time, Prime Minister Bill English announced today.

 “New Zealanders are healthier and living longer so adjusting the long-term settings of NZ Super while there is time for people to adapt is the right thing to do,” Mr English says.

The changes will be phased in from 1 July 2037 and will not affect anyone born on or before 30 June 1972.

So if you are aged 45 or older, you will not be impacted.

Even after the change, someone who retires at age 67 in 2040 is likely to receive NZ Super for longer than someone who retires at age 65 today. That is because average life expectancy is increasing by about 1.3 years each decade. …

“This Government has a strong track record of supporting older New Zealanders. Since 2008 weekly payments to superannuitants have increased by 35 per cent after tax while inflation has increased by 14 per cent.

That is a huge increase in real terms.

Good to see the Government take this step to make NZ Superannuation more sustainable. I praised Labour for having this policy in 2014, and good to see the Government adopt it, even if Labour has abandoned it.

The Government has also announced the the residency eligibility for NZ Superannuation will increase from 10 years to 20 years. This is well overdue. Ten years was too short a period for someone to live here and get such a generous superannuation scheme. Winston has been pushing on this for a while, and a rare area he is right about.

No doubt Andrew Little will condemn this announcement, despite it being what his party campaigned on at the last election.

Once fully implemented these changes will save taxpayers $4 billion a year.

The Washington Post report:

When Mr. Murray rose to speak, he was shouted down by most of the more than 400 students packed into the room, several witnesses said. Many turned their backs to him and chanted slogans like “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Charles Murray go away!”

After almost 20 minutes, it was clear that he would not be able to give his speech, said Mr. Burger, the [college] spokesman.

So they were determined not to allow anyone to hear Murray speak, because they disagreed with him.

Anticipating that such an outcry might happen, Mr. Murray was moved to a separate room equipped with a video camera so that Allison Stanger, a Middlebury professor of international politics and economics, could interview him over a live stream. Mr. Burger said the administration felt strongly that Mr. Murray’s right to free speech should be protected and that “no one should have the heckler’s veto.”

Once the interview began in the second room, protesters swarmed into the hallway, chanting and pulling fire alarms.

Their dedication to preventing speech knows little bounds.

Still, the interview was completed and officials, including Ms. Stanger, escorted Mr. Murray out the back of the building.

There, several masked protesters, who were believed to be outside agitators, began pushing and shoving Mr. Murray and Ms. Stanger, Mr. Burger said. “Someone grabbed Allison’s hair and twisted her neck,” he said.

After the two got into a car, Mr. Burger said, protesters pounded on it, rocked it back and forth, and jumped onto the hood. Ms. Stanger later went to a hospital, where she was put in a neck brace.

The new campus fascists.

Another sad day of brown-shirted thuggery at our nation’s academic institutions — and thuggery that undermines the opposition to Murray’s claims, rather than reinforcing them.

Brown-shirted thuggery indeed.

HDPA writes:

Opposition parties are worried about this development and so they should be. Big money tends to favour parties on the right, so National and Act supporters are more likely than Labour and Green Party supporters to have the means to buy ads.

This is empirically wrong. Look at those who have spent over $100K in third party spending from 2008 to 2014:

1. NZEI $445k
2. PSA $267k
3. Family First $133k
4. Aged Care Assn $132k
5. CTU $104k

Almost all the big third party money in NZ politics is on the left through unions.

Since then, Nicky Hagar has been honing his own version of attack politics, developing a knack for completing book after book just in time for an election campaign. The latest, Dirty Politics, had virtually no impact on the popularity of those it took aim at – John Key and the National Party.

His next book much be due out soon. I;ve been in two of them. Will I get the trifecta?

It’s impossible to rewrite our laws around advertising in time for this election, but they should be tightened nonetheless to avoid us eventually ending up where the US is now.

Actually the US has far far stricter electoral finance laws than New Zealand. It is not about the laws, it is about the culture.

Owen Jones writes:

There is no pussyfooting around Labour’s Copeland rout. Opposition parties simply do not lose byelections to governing parties. Yes, Labour’s support has been in decline in the constituency since 1997; and we know that working-class disillusionment kicked in under New Labour. But wasn’t the whole point of the Jeremy Corbyn project to reverse that trend, not have a further dramatic drop of support just two years after the last general election? And while Labour activists in Stoke should beam with pride for routing Ukip, there, too, there was a swing to the Tories.

The polling for Labour is catastrophic. Veteran pollster John Curtice says the swing to the Tories in Copeland is even more dramatic than national opinion surveys suggest. Yes, polls can be wrong: 2015 and 1992 represent the two big polling disasters of our time. Yet in both cases, the disaster was overestimating Labour’s lead. If the current polling is wrong in any meaningful way, precedent suggests the real picture is even worse for Labour.

The current polling projection says the Conservatives will go from 331 seats to 375 seats and Labour from 232 to 186.

But the new proposed boundaries which reduce the number of seats from 650 to 600 make it even worse. Under those boundaries it would be Conservatives 363 and Labour 157,

The point Jones makes is that when there has been polling error, it has been in Labour’s favour. They may do even worse that 157 seats. Under 150 is not impossible. How low have opposition parties gone in the past? Here’s recent elections:

• 2015 – Labour 232
• 2010 – Labour 258
• 2005 – Conservative 198
• 2001 – Conservative 166
• 1997 – Conservative 165
• 1992 – Labour 271
• 1987 – Labour 229
• 1983 – Labour 209
• 1979 – Labour 261

So UK Labour look on track to get their worst result in a generation – on par with what the Conservatives got in 1997.

Guy Williams writes:

It comes across to me like Morgan wants to avoid the hard work of becoming part of a party and fighting for a movement or a cause. He just want’s to skip right to the bit where you get to say your opinions and how much better things would be if you were in charge. He reminds me of a 21-year-old with a BA in politics who thinks everyone else is an idiot. He reminds me of me.

This is an issue because there’s almost no way The Opportunities Party is going to get the 5 per cent of votes necessary to get into parliament. It hasn’t been done before. Perhaps the best thing that The Opportunities Party will do is draw attention to how stacked our current rules are against new parties outside parliament.

Instead of hurting the National/ Act/ Maori Party government, it looks like he’s going to more seriously affect the Labour/Greens challenge by taking away what will most likely be wasted votes and chewing up crucial airtime and policy space. 

This works perfectly for National and the status quo; Steven Joyce welcomed the new party saying “the more the merrier”, as he dusts off their very effective 2014 campaign ads with the rudderless opposition paddling around in circles.

We just need Kim Dotcom to get involved also!

CNN reports:

Venezuela only has $10.5 billion in foreign reserves left, according to its most recent central bank data.

For rest of the year, Venezuela owes roughly $7.2 billion in outstanding debt payments.

In 2011, Venezuela had roughly $30 billion in reserves. In 2015, it had $20 billion. The trend can’t persist much longer, but it’s hard to know exactly when Venezuela will run completely out of cash.

The miracle of socialism. They have gone from the highest standard of living in Latin America to:

• poverty rate of 80%
• 1,000% inflation
• 10% reduction in GDP annually
• a reduction in companies from 13,000 to 4,000

The Herald reports:

A property lawyer and former naval officer has been chosen to fill former Prime Minister John Key’s big shoes in Helensville.

Christopher Penk was last night announced as National’s nomination for the safe seat, which has held by the party since It was established in 1978. …

The son of a law lecturer and a primary school teacher, he attended Kelston Boys High and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Auckland, where he later returned to get his law degree.

After his studies, he joined the Royal New Zealand Navy and later the Australian Navy.

His military career took him to the Pacific Islands, South East Asia and the Middle East, where he helped protect an Iraqi Government-owned oil rig in the Arabian Gulf as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007-08. He also worked as aide-de-camp to Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright.

Christopher served on board submarines in the Australian Navy, which must be one of the more challenging environments.

He is highly likely of course to become an MP, after the election.

The Herald reported:

Labour Party candidates have been urged to clean up their social media profiles by removing potentially embarrassing pictures or comments about the party.

The directive by Labour’s general secretary Andrew Kirton was accidentally sent by text message to a Newstalk ZB reporter.

It asks Labour candidates to check for any old social media posts which could “embarrass you or the Party” – even if they were taken before the person joined Labour.

It also says any criticisms of Labour policy, current or former leaders “will come back to haunt you and us”.

Nothing unusual in a party telling candidates to be careful on social media. That is sensible.

But what I find amusing is that they explicitly have to tell candidates to delete criticisms of former or current leaders. It makes you wonder how many candidates they have who have lashed out at current or former leaders!

Stuff reports:

The selection of a transgender woman for the New Zealand weightlifting team is understood to be a first for New Zealand sport.

Laurel Hubbard will represent her country in the 90kg+ women’s category at this month’s Australian international weightlifting event and is in line for selection for the NZ team for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

First of all congratulations to Laurel for winning selection to compete for New Zealand. She should be very proud of her achievement. I have no doubt a lot of training has gone into this.

Marshall said he believed Hubbard had “huge advantages” over her rivals.

“She competed for a long time as a man and her efforts were very strong. That strength has remained with her despite reduced testosterone.

“That point is not recognised by the science and some of our competitors would say that’s not fair.”

That is a reasonable point. Generally I think people should be able to compete in line with their gender identity. You should not be discouraged from sports because you are transsexual.

But when someone transitions from male to female, it is likely that they remain with the biological advantage of having been born male when it comes to physical strength etc. Hence you have a difficult task of balancing being fair to the individual, to being fair to other competitors.

Generally international sporting bodies have tried to balance this tension by having acceptable maximum levels of testosterone for female competitors. But that is only a partial solution.

So no easy solution here.

Stuff reports:

Sweden is to reintroduce military conscription next year due to difficulties filling the ranks on a voluntary basis at a time of increased security concerns, the defence minister said.

Non-aligned Sweden ended compulsory military service in 2010 but military activity in the Baltic region has increased since then, prompting Sweden to step up its military preparedness on Thursday (Friday NZ Time).

The reintroduction of the draft will cover men and women born in 1999 or later, though only a small minority will be selected to serve.

“We have a Russian annexation of Crimea, we have the aggression in Ukraine, we have more exercise activities in our neighbourhood. So we have decided to build a stronger national defence,” Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told Reuters.

Not a good sign.