An open letter from some members of Young Labour is asking Labour’s NZ Council to reject his application to be a candidate. They cite four grounds:

Roastbusters Rape Apologist

During the 2013 Roast Busters investigation Mr Jackson, along with his co-host John Tamihere, interviewed a young woman on their RadioLIVE show who was close to some of the victims and familiar with the case. During the interview Jackson engaged in a line of questioning that blamed the alleged victims and mocked the interviewee.

Jackson refuted the interviewee’s allegation that the young men involved were rapists, saying “girls shouldn’t be drinking anyway, should they?”, “how free and easy are you kids these days?”, and referring to the accusations as “mischief”, before asking the young woman when she had lost her virginity.

It was a terrible interview.

Comments about LGBT New Zealanders

Mr Jackson seeks to join the party that introduced Homosexual Law Reform and marriage equality, but says he is “a little uncomfortable with gay men”. As a talkback host he interrogated a Labour MP and leadership candidate about his sexuality. He followed this appalling interview with a column which dressed up his homophobia as remorse on behalf of a country ‘not ready’ for a gay Prime Minister.

I suspect Grant Robertson is not keen on Jackson becoming a Labour MP, but of course part of what Little is doing is building a more loyal caucus that will allow him to defeat a Gracinda challenge if Labour are in Opposition again after the election.

Advocacy for Charter Schools

Willie Jackson has publicly advocated for charter schools. He led an organisation to establish two of National’s charter schools and publicly questioned Labour’s commitment to the educational progress of New Zealand’s children.

Willie Jackson is not the only person in Labour to back charter schools. Most of their Maori MPs do, but the unions hold too much sway.

Lack of renewal and women in caucus

Even if Willie Jackson had not advocated such offensive positions in sharp contrast to Labour’s values and the dignity of those we seek to represent, he remains the past, not future of Labour politics. The New Zealand Labour Party is lucky to count amongst its ranks many potential candidates with immense potential, drive and energy to renew our caucus.

We the undersigned are extremely concerned that high ranked list positions are being promised to men, contrary to the constitutional requirement that the list moderation committee makes decisions that would result in equal numbers of men and women in caucus following the election. Given the composition of Labour held electorates, very high places on the list must be given to women for it to be constitutional, and a promise to give Mr Jackson a high position would threaten this.

Yep the first six or seven list positions should go to women before you can even rank Parker and Mallard let alone Jackson. The only female Labour List MP is Sue Moroney (assuming Ardern wins Mt Roskill). So there should be six new female candidates ranked higher than Jackson, let alone Raymond Huo who is set to return.

Stuff reports:

Gareth Morgan wants to sell off TVNZ and use the money raised to pay for better public broadcasting in New Zealand.

The founder of The Opportunities Party said Kiwis deserve a quality service that is free from what he called the corporate agenda currently driving the state-owned television broadcaster.

Under the new policy, TVNZ would be sold off and the proceeds would be used to set up a Public Journalism Fund as part of NZ On Air.

State radio broadcaster RNZ would be able to compete for the funding alongside other media platforms.

I agree. It is possibly too late though. A few years ago you might have got $1 billion for TVNZ. Today I doubt you’d get $200 million, and every year it will be less. Within a decade, it will be loss making I’d say.

But a good policy and one I support.

The Herald reports:

Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler will step down at the end of his current term on September 26, Finance Minister Stephen Joyce confirmed today.

Current Deputy Reserve Bank Governor Grant Spencer will be appointed acting Governor of the Bank for six months of the Reserve Bank from that date.

“Following advice from the Cabinet Office and consultation with Cabinet, I have decided that the most appropriate course of action would be to appoint an acting Governor for a six month period to cover the post-election caretaker period,” Joyce said.

This will give the next Government time to make a decision on the appointment of a permanent Governor for the next five year term.

“I have decided to appoint Mr Spencer as acting Governor from 27 September 2017 to 26 March 2018, on the advice of the Reserve Bank Board of Directors.”

This seems appropriate, and very respectful of the Opposition. The Government could have proceeded with making an appointment before the election, but considering how powerful the role of Governor is, it is wise to go with a Acting Governor.

Stuff reports:

A joint venture to develop Shelly Bay could begin by the middle of the year, with the iwi’s new board confirming plans after a fresh round of consultation.

The latest step in an on-again, off-again plan, the approval appears to clear the way for a major new housing and commercial development to the north of Wellington International Airport on the shore of the Miramar Peninsula.

In September the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST) announced plans for a major development of the land, acquired in its Treaty of Waitangi settlement in 2009, as part of a joint venture with The Wellington Company. …

Shelly Bay currently represents about 60 per cent of PNBST’s asset base, but Mulligan said the returns were poor and were constraining its development.

“The current state of the buildings and infrastructure requires huge investment and capability from a highly reputable property developer,” Mulligan said.

After becoming chairman, Mulligan held a number of meetings with iwi members in an attempt to ease concerns about the development and to explain the need for it, given the trust’s financial position.

“There was a lot of misinformation or lack of information about the arrangement, and we were frank and honest with our community about the situation with the trust.”

While the development’s progress was still subject to council consents, Mulligan hoped the project would not be put on hold again.

“It’s not our intention to go around in circles again.”

Good news for Wellingtonians and good for the Iwi.

Quite possibly the best Twitter burn ?I’ve ever seen. Five stars. pic.twitter.com/wzyijXlhkX

— Helen Dale (@_HelenDale) January 31, 2017

What a burn.

Gareth Morgan has announced that their candidate for the Mt Albert by-election is a Wellington based staff member of the Morgan Foundation – Geoff Simmons.

On the plus side, will hopefully mean a focus on policy which is a good thing.

The Herald reports:

Francois Fillon’s French presidential campaign plunged deeper into trouble after further revelations about his use of public funds to employ members of his family.

The Republican candidate’s daughter and son allegedly earned €84,000 from 2005 to 2007 while working for him when he was a Senator, Le Canard Enchaine said.

His wife, Penelope Fillon, earned more than €900,000 during over a decade as a parliamentary assistant and a contributor to a magazine, according to Le Canard.

The newspaper’s initial report on Penelope’s job last week triggered a prosecutor to open a preliminary probe into the family’s affairs. The candidate says he’s innocent.

The scandal has gripped France over the last week and offers the prospect of another twist in a race that has the nationalist Marine Le Pen leading the polls and has already seen household names like President Francois Hollande and his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, fall by the wayside.

That said, polls show that Le Pen is still a long shot for victory in the second round of voting, with Emmanuel Macron also poised to benefit – at least in the short term – from Fillon’s woes.

The polls were showing Fillon and Le Pen would get through to the 2nd round and then Fillon would win. But this scandal is hurting him (as it should) and if they are the final two, Le Pen is now more likely to win.

The Herald reports:

Today the family and friends of Rhys Middleton will mark the anniversary of his death by paying tribute to the Tauranga man with a private gathering.

“It’s going to be a tough day,” his mother Judy Richards said.

Middleton was killed when the motorcycle he was riding was struck by a Chinese woman who pulled out onto State Highway 5 north of Hawkes Bay. Jieling Xiao, 27, was convicted of dangerous driving and sent home leaving Middleton’s grief-stricken family to pick up the pieces.

“No one knows what it’s like until you walk in those shoes,” Richards said.

But what is helping her through is the fight she has started to call for change to the New Zealand legal system.

On February 14, Richards will present a petition to New Zealand First leader Winston Peters on Parliament’s steps. She will be flanked by the many people who have supported her call for tighter rules on foreign drivers on New Zealand roads since the petition began in August.

The petition calls for foreign drivers spending at least three months in New Zealand to sit a driver’s test before they are issued a licence and already has more than 5300 signatures.

I have real sympathy for the Middleton family and understand why you would want tougher rules on foreign drivers.

What proportion of tourists spent at least three months in NZ and how many of the foreign drivers who have caused an accident were here for greater than three months?

The median stay for visitors is 8.9 days so only a tiny proportion would be here for more than 90 days. You actually need a special visa to stay more than 90 days as a tourist.

So this proposed law change would probably have no impact.

Stuff reports:

Emergency services will automatically trace the locations of 111 callers under new rules set to be put in place by the Privacy Commissioner.

Call centres for police, fire and St John Ambulance were previously able to request the information from telecommunications company, but the process was slow and manual.

Under the new rules, emergency responders will be able to quickly track the locations of callers without going to the telco.

The new system will use GPS services on smartphones – even if these are turned off – and cell tower information available for all cellphones.

This is a very good move. If a caller is cut off, or not able to easily describe their location, you want emergency services to be able to get to them asap.

Edwards said robust rules would make sure the location data was only used for emergency locations and that the data would not be held.

“This system does not require individual consent, so I have required robust transparency and accountability obligations. I want the public and the agencies using this system to have confidence in it.”

Police would not be able to use the data for any investigative purposes, and it would be deleted within around 30 minutes. 

That sounds a good safeguard. Presumably the Police could apply for a warrant if they then wanted to access the telco data.

Stuff reports:

Energy Minister Judith Collins has vowed to “get to the bottom” of rising petrol margins, signalling an announcement of an inquiry could come next week.

As official figures suggest the margins Kiwis are paying to fill up at the pump rose again in 2016, and have doubled over the past decade, the AA claims two price rises in January came despite the price petrol companies pay being flat.

The AA has called for petrol companies to explain what is going on, with areas including Wellington and much of the South Island frequently charging motorists 30c a litre more than towns such as Levin and Masterton, despite being further from where fuel is imported.

I think an inquiry would be useful, and have said so previously when Stuart Nash asked for one. The margin between wholesale and retail prices has risen massively over the last decade and this suggests the market isn’t very competitive.

An inquiry could be useful to look at how to improve competition.

Part of the problem is that people tend to choose their petrol station on location (closest to them) rather than shop around. And part of the challenge is there is no easy way to know on any particular day which petrol station is cheapest.

An idea I had some years ago was a petrol prices app. It could be done as a public-private partnership with say MBIE and the AA where every day the petrol prices for every petrol station is updated and displayed. And users could configure it to show the prices of every station within x kms or y minutes drive. Then you could make an informed decision about whether it is worth driving an extra km to fill up, if it will save you say $3.

The Herald reports:

If Australia’s Malcolm Turnbull got Grumpy Trump, English got “friendly, warm, thoughtful” Trump and even an invite to the White House “if you’re passing by.”

English has given more detail on his phone call with the US President Donald Trump, describing Trump as “warm, civil and very thoughtful” during a call which ranged from immigration bans to the Super Bowl.

He said the call, which he took from the roadside on Auckland’s waterfront in between Waitangi Day fixtures, was “a warm and friendly conversation.”

English said Trump had even extended an invitation to the White House – although it was not in the usual diplomatic fashion.

“He has a more casual attitude to diplomatic relationships than is usual, but he conveyed his enthusiasm for meeting at some stage in the White House … ‘well, if you’re passing by’.”

Despite the warm offer, English said he was unlikely to get there before the September election. “I’d imagine it will take some time for the new administration to bed in, and then we’ve got the election campaign. I wouldn’t anticipate getting there this side of the election.”

He said Trump appeared to be positive about the relationship with New Zealand. “He thinks it’s a fantastic place. He likes the idea we are a long way away so therefore we aren’t under the same pressures as everybody else.”

They talked about Trump’s attempt to ban citizens from seven countries entering the US – an Executive Order which has been suspended by the US courts.

English told Trump he disagreed with the action and it was not something New Zealand had done. “He just noted our views. I don’t think that he was surprised by people having a different view.”

The pair also discussed the different ways they dealt with border security.

“The discussion focussed on what steps we take and the US takes to as a way of protecting our citizens from high-risk people coming in, which is clearly at the top of his agenda.”

Normally such a call would be routine and of little news interest. But after the Australian call, there was a lot if interest as to how this call would go.

Stuff reports:

Westpac Stadium’s chief executive believes the Wellington Sevens were “hung out to dry” after a change in the liquor laws, and the party atmospheres of old will never come back.

Shane Harmon said the 2014 sevens became a “poster child” for the enforcement of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, which came into full effect in December 2013, and made it an offence to have intoxicated people on any premises serving alcohol. 

“I would go so far to say it is almost impossible for any venue to comply with that act, and I think it is unfortunate what happened in 2014,” Harmon said.

Nor remember all the activists claimed the 2013 Act did not go far enough, was a cop out to industry, not tough enough etc etc. Well look at what the outcome has been – the death of the best sporting event and party in New Zealand.

However, she admitted she “struggled” with “police’s interpretation of the alcohol laws”, and said Wellington police were “particularly officious when it comes to events”.

In some areas the Police are reasonable, but in Wellington they seem to be zealots on a mission.

Yahoo reports:

President Donald Trump signed an order on Monday that will seek to dramatically pare back federal regulations by requiring agencies to cut two existing regulations for every new rule introduced.

“This will be the biggest such act that our country has ever seen. There will be regulation, there will be control, but it will be normalized control,” Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office, surrounded by a group of small business owners.

Trump’s latest executive action will prepare a process for the White House to set an annual cap on the cost of new regulations, a senior official told reporters ahead of the signing.

That’s one Trump policy I agree with.

Jarrod Gilbert writes:

Richard Spencer is a prissy looking neo-Nazi who got punched in the head. Thwack. Sucker-punched while he was being interviewed on the telly. Given its endless replaying on the internet, it seems few things bring such joy to so many as an overt racist receiving a handful of swiftly delivered knuckles.

The act has been widely condoned and even encouraged.

Including by a fellow Herald columnist who advocates we do the same in New Zealand.

If we are happy to punch people espousing Nazi ideology, who else are we allowed to punch? And perhaps more importantly, when can people punch us?

My grandmother was no fan of Nazis but she was pretty damned racist. Her views were not as extreme as Spencer’s, though, so perhaps we punch her but not so hard?

How about people who make up false claims about immigrants? Can they be punched also? Even if they are an MP?

How about abortion? Many people see abortion as the murder of a child and an affront to God, are pro-lifers cool to start cracking those who argue in favour of a woman’s right to choose?

Yep, once you start to cheer violence against those you disagree with, where does it stop.

In fact, we enshrine the right to free speech and celebrate it. Voltaire’s principle states: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.

Voltaire would get howled down on Twitter were he alive today.

I like this quote from Noam Chomsky:

“If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don’t like. Goebbels was in favor of freedom of speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re in favor of freedom of speech, that means you’re in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise.”

The fact Spencer has such repulsive views is exactly why we should condemn the man who punched him, not cheer him.

And let me finish with another Chomsky quote:

“With regard to freedom of speech there are basically two positions: you defend it vigorously for views you hate, or you reject it and prefer Stalinist/fascist standards. It is unfortunate that it remains necessary to stress these simple truths.”

Pleased to see Gilbert as a defender of free speech.

Christchurch East MP Poto WIlliams has facebooked:

As the Labour Party Spokesperson for Family and Sexual Violence, I am concerned that Willie Jackson is becoming a Labour Party candidate with a prominent ranking on the list.

White Ribbon encourages everyone to break the silence around domestic violence by challenging comments and actions that are abusive or condone abuse. I was a vocal opponent of Mr Jackson’s comments during the ‘Roast-Busters’ incident and I do not believe that his attitude towards victims of sexual abuse match what I expect of a member of the Labour Party. Especially a member of our caucus.

I appreciate that Mr Jackson may regret his comments, but I am yet to hear that he understands his attitudes and views are highly offensive to many New Zealanswrs. I’m yet to hear that he wishes to work on putting that right and apologise for his behaviour.

Violence is not just physical, but also covers emotional and verbal abuse. Not speaking out against abuse of any kind is condoning or tacitly endorsing that behaviour. The comments Mr Jackson made around the ‘Roast-Busters’ incident are never OK, but it is OK to ask for help.

White Ribbon calls for us to support people who wish to change their abusive behaviour, so I welcome the opportunity to support Mr Jackson in apologising and making those changes.

Until then, as someone who speaks for the victims of family and sexual violence, and as a survivor of such abuse, I can not in good conscience support him as my colleague.

This is a serious challenge to Little’s leadership. Little personally recruited Jackson, tried to push Peeni Henare out of his seat and when that failed promised Willie Jackson a high list place. Williams would have known this when she wrote her piece.

Background on the Roastbusters stuff is here.

Again this is pretty unprecedented to have a sitting MP publicly attack the candidacy of an aspiring candidate, let alone one hand picked and announced by the Leader. If they are they disunited in opposition, imagine what they would be like in Government!

An interesting article from Andrés Miguel Rondón who talks about how they tried to beat the populist Chavez and what did and didn’t work.

The summary:

• Don’t forget who the enemy is.
• Show no contempt.
• Don’t try to force him out.
• Find a counterargument. (No, not the one you think.)

A specific example:

The worst you can do is bundle moderates and extremists together and think that America is divided between racists and liberals. That’s the textbook definition of polarization. We thought our country was split between treacherous oligarchs and Chávez’s uneducated, 15gullible base. The only one who benefited was Chávez.

Good food for thought.

Tim Blair profiles two of the organisers and speakers of the US Women’s March.

Women’s March organiser Linda Sarsour wants to beat up genital mutilation survivor Ayaan Hirsi Ali and “take her vagina away”. There’s your feminist hero, anti-Trumpers.

Really showing love for the sisterhood. Ali it seems is not a true woman as she wants to reform Islam.

The Women’s March on Washington last week featured as a speaker convicted felon Donna Hylton who, along with several others, kidnapped a man and then tortured him to death …

Hylton, along with three men and three other women, kidnapped 62-year-old real-estate broker Thomas Vigliarolo and held him for ransom, before eventually killing him. As noted in a 1995 Psychology Today article, when asked about forcibly sodomizing the victim with a three foot steel pole, one of Hylton’s accomplices replied: “He was a homo anyway.”

And these people are worried about a “grabbing pussy” comment.

Charming. If they are the face of the anti-Trump movement, then he’ll get four more years. and that would be a shame.

And you don’t read about this in hardly any of the mainstream media – which is why again they become less relevant. Imagine the headlines if Hylton was involved in a pro-Trump march.

Again I am not a Trump fan. I wanted Clinton to beat him. But in this case the enemy of my enemy is my ally certainly does not hold true.

I suspect that the antics of the anti-Trump forces will actually lead to him gaining support. Trump’s own actions are what is most likely to lose him support.

Love this video. Some moronic protesters decided to use a megaphone in a library and this student shut them down with three words.

The Independent reports:

Germany has decided to abolish a law which defends the honour of foreign leaders.

International heads of state will no longer be able to ask the German government to prosecute people deemed to have offended them under an obscure passage of German law.

The decision comes just days after Donald Trump‘s inauguration as US President and a year after Angela Merkel authorised the investigation of a TV comic who wrote a crude poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

If they didn’t repeal it they/’d be arresting 50,000 people a day!

Audrey Young writes:

Little’s incredible tin-ear on Waitangi has persisted for several weeks. Despite his own MP Kelvin Davis now expounding on the dysfunction at Te Tii Marae, Little is still going on about English not going to Waitangi as a failure of leadership. As English said yesterday: “I hope he keeps on saying it.”

Little’s position is that if he is Prime Minister he will go to Waitangi even if he doesn’t have speaking rights and even if media are charged $10,000 to attend. So desperate.

The ODT reports:

New Zealand’s major supermarket chains have successfully fought Dunedin City Council efforts to restrict alcohol sales in the city.

The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (Arla) ruled that parts of the council’s local alcohol policy (LAP) were “unreasonable”, including the proposal to cut off-licence hours from 7am-11pm to 9am-9pm.

Arla also ruled that a proposed moratorium on most types of bottle stores in North Dunedin, which the council hoped would help curb problem drinking in the area, was unreasonable.

They were deemed unreasonable because there was no evidence they would reduce harm from alcohol. The legislation requires policies to be based on evidence, not emotion.

I’ve done some research in this area and the people buying alcohol from supermarkets before 9 am or after 9 pm are not people planning to drink it that day. They are simply mums and dads with jobs and kids who do the weekly shopping at these times, and like to purchase some wine with their groceries. So the policy would have not reduced harm from alcohol, but would have massively inconvenienced shoppers.

Someone buying wine from a supermarket at 9.30 pm as part of their groceries is very different to someone rushing to the bottle store in the late evening to get more supplies for their party. Not all off licenses are the same.

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull yesterday said he was disappointed with the decision and the council would consider appealing.

The decision sent a clear message alcohol legislation the Government had brought in could not work, Mr Cull said.

“We have now joined a growing list of councils who have been knocked back for providing solutions to their own circumstances.

The legislation is working fine. It is the politicians like Mr Cull who think that they can ignore the need for evidence that is the problem. The legislation does not allow Councils to set restrictions on a whim. Any restriction needs to have sound justification behind it and evidence of harm reduction.

In its written decision, the authority said the council provided “no evidence” that sales between 7am and 9am were associated with alcohol-related harm.

No evidence, because there is none.

It also noted that council liquor licensing co-ordinator Kevin Mechen acknowledged during the appeal hearing the council was under the mistaken impression the maximum hours of sale in the LAP were a guideline and exceptions could be granted.

“This misunderstanding is evidence on unreasonableness as the [restrictions] cannot be said to reflect the policy sought to be implemented.”

The DCC didn’t even understand the basic provisions.

The authority turned down an appeal from police and Dunedin Hospitality Group against the creation of a special licence for “entertainment premises”, allowing them to operate between 5pm and 4am.

The decision said neither presented “any evidence” to support their concerns.

Police’s failure to present evidence was “notable and somewhat surprising”, given they had submitted they would have to “stare down the barrel of another year of dealing with alcohol-fuelled assaults and disorder [that] we know could have been mitigated by this policy”.

Again no evidence.We saw this in Wellington also with Wellington Police trying to bully bars into one way policies and admitting to the Council they had no evidence for their approach.