Stuff reports:
A Waikato medical school wouldn’t be a priority under Labour.
The proposal is for future doctors from rural communities to be selected for four years of training – much of that out of the city environment.
The idea is driven by two major Waikato players – the university and the district health board – and has the full support of Waikato mayors and a $5 million pledge from Sir Owen Glenn.
But it has faced an apparent counter-bid from the country’s existing medical schools in Auckland and Dunedin and Labour leader Andrew Little says his party has other priorities for precious health dollars.
The comments follow lukewarm receptions from local Labour list MP Sue Moroney and education spokesman Chris Hipkins.
“I just know that the investment required to get a medical faculty up and running and attract the academic community to go with it is a big ask,” Little said.
New Zealand is clearly short of doctors in rural areas, he said, but he’s cautious.
“I haven’t seen any of their paperwork … but for a country of 4.7 million people, with two med schools at the moment, I would need to be convinced that there’s benefit not just to Waikato University but to New Zealand generally. That’s not to say they can’t prove that case.”
I think Labour are wise is being skeptical. While it is good to have a focus on rural health, it is very unclear that we need a third medical school, or that Waikato could attract the expertise to run one.
I think part of this is a desire by Waikato to gain funding. Medical schools bring in immense levels of funding – not just for the teaching, but also for the research that goes with it. So the proposal is great for Waikato University. It would produce some benefits to the wider community, but I am doubtful anywhere near the $100 million cost.
The Herald reports:
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff’s chief of staff, Fran Mold, has resigned to take up a job with the United Nations in war-torn South Sudan.
Mold will work alongside former Labour Party leader David Shearer, who has the tough job of leading the United Nations’ mission in South Sudan.
South Sudan is becoming a very popular place to be!
The initial Green Party List has been released. It then goes out for a membership vote, and then back for final moderation to ensure all the quotas are met. While they will get some new blood in, the existing MPs are largely protected.
The list is:
On current polling they would get 14 MPs. They normally do worse than they poll though so Hart, Swarbrick and Roche are on the cusp.
This list will not be the final list as the Greens have rules that require the final list to have gender balance and they have too many women in their top ranks. Very ironic that a rule designed to help women get representation will end up pushing them down the list.
Men must make up at least 40% of the list at each rank after the first three. So the male percentage at each rank is:
This means that Hughes, McDonald, Coates etc will have to be pushed up the list ahead of Davdison, Sage and Logie to meet their gender quotas.
The NYT reports:
Venezuela took its strongest step yet toward one-man rule under the leftist President Nicolás Maduro as his loyalists on the Supreme Court seized power from the National Assembly in a ruling late Wednesday night.
The ruling effectively dissolved the elected legislature, which is led by Mr. Maduro’s opponents, and allows the court to write laws itself, experts said.
The move caps a year in which the last vestiges of Venezuela’s democracy have been torn down, critics and regional leaders say, leaving what many now describe as not just an authoritarian regime, but an outright dictatorship.
Their socialist policies have failed, the economy is ruined, people are starving, and now they are desperately trying to hold onto power in the tried and tested way of failed socialist regimes.
But it won’t work. It will come to a bloody messy end, as they all do.
Stuff reports:
Wellington’s Town Hall looks set to reopen in 2021 – but costs have ballooned to almost $90 million.
The restoration of the 113-year-old venue, which was declared ‘earthquake prone’ in 2009, will also bring it up to 100 per cent of building code.
The council’s previous estimate to restore the heritage category one listed building was $58.5m for the project.
So a 50% cost blowout before it even starts. Who thinks it will end up under $100 million? On past performance, I expect costs to keep climbing.
There are around 75,000 households in Wellington City so the cost per household just for this one project is likely to be around $1,300 or more.
Stuff reports:
Cities like Invercargill are now caught up in the “major mayhem up and down the country” from the housing crisis, Labour leader Andrew Little told a public meeting in Invercargill on Wednesday.
Investors cashing up from the housing bubble further north, were looking to properties in regional cities like Invercargill, pushing up both house prices and rents for working people on reasonably low incomes here, he told a crowded Big Willys bar at the Newfield Tavern.
Though he offered no figures, Little said he was “astounded to see how quickly rents are rising in New Zealand, including Invercargill.”
I bet he did not offer any figures.
Trade Me shows that rental prices in Southland have gone up 3.1% in the last year on average.
MBIE data has the median rental for Invercargill at $210 a week.
This week’s Focus on Politics from Radio NZ is on polling, and I’m one of those interviewed so for those interested, the clip is below.
A link to the audio is also here and an article based on it is here.
The Telegraph reports:
Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, has condemned the UN human rights council criticism of Israeli bombing of Hezbollah positions in the Golan Heights as “absolutely preposterous” and “a profound absurdity”.
He was speaking after the UK mission to the UN in Geneva put the UN “on notice” that it would vote against all resolutions about Israel’s conduct in the occupied Syrian and Palestinian territories unless the human rights council ended what the UK mission described as anti-Israel bias.
The HRC is obsessed with Israel.
In its statement, the UK mission made clear its “serious concerns about the growth in illegal demolitions and settlement activity” and said the UK stood “shoulder to shoulder with the international community” in support of a two-state solution, but added that the council’s “unacceptable pattern of bias” would only make the goal harder to achieve.
The UK said: “Israel is a population of eight million in a world of seven billion. Yet since its foundation, the human rights council has adopted 135 country-specific resolutions; 68 of which [have been] against Israel. Justice is blind and impartial. This selective focus on Israel is neither. Israel is the only country permanently on the human rights council’s agenda.”
Not North Korea or any of the most awful abusers of human rights.
Stuff reports:
The Government has started the process of “completely rethinking” the Resource Management act, Prime Minister Bill English says.
He said the act was past its use-by date.
“We have been amending the original Resource Management Act, which was written 25 years ago, and I reckon it’s the last time,” English told a group of Auckland businesspeople.
“The Town Planning Act lasted 25 years, the Resource Management Act is 25 years old and it could be at the end of its life.”
This follows the Productivity Commission’s proposed overhaul of the Resource Management Act, something business associations have said they would welcome.
In the Productivity Commission’s final Better urban planning report, published on Wednesday, the commission makes 64 recommendations, including replacing the Resource Management Act with one law governing both the built and natural environments.
The RMA had become a point of weakness in the planning system, the commission said.
Business NZ chief executive Kirk Hope said a key aspect of the report was the distinction between built environments and natural environments. He said planning problems in cities are due to the “broad and unclear” provisions of the current Resource Management Act.
I think the Productivity Commission report provides and excellent way forward. It is time to replace the RMA, not amend it.
Stuff reports:
The $630 million Kapiti expressway has actually doubled the amount of time it takes to commute into Wellington during the morning rush, some motorists say.
One Kapiti Coast resident believes the morning crawl into the capital is now so bad that she is vowing to use the train instead, even though it will cost her $100 more a month.
Councils across the Wellington region have asked the New Zealand Transport Agency to look into the problem. But there may be no quick fix until construction of the Transmission Gully motorway is finished in 2020.
This is not a total surprise that if you clear congestion from one part of the network it moves to another part. But that is not a reason to improve the roading network. It is a reason to do it properly according to an overall plan.
The overall plan is four lanes from the airport to Levin. That network will make a huge difference to scores of thousands of motorists. The level of traffic going north of Levin is small enough that any congestion at Levin would be quite minor.
But what is needed is to get Transmission Gully done, and also to get a solution to the Basin Reserve. Once you have that, then you get the full benefits.
Stuff reports:
On Friday Hughes announced the funding policy at Wellington’s Journalism Matters conference.
The contestable Public Journalism Fund’s $3m, administered by Creative New Zealand, would be available to “support public interest journalism and help tell New Zealand stories across a range of platforms,” the party’s announcement read.
Public interest journalism means journalism that the Greens approve of. They want taxpayers to fund stories that Government appointees will deem worthwhile.
Stats NZ has the regional GDP for the last year (to March 2016). In order they are:
If you adjust for population, GDP growth per capita is:
And GDP per capita is:
Against the Current blogs:
GREEN PARTY candidate Chris Ford says he’s “reassessing” his membership of the Green Party in the light of the leadership shifting the party further to the right and signing up for Labour’s ‘Budget Responsibility Rules’. He’s also angry that this was done without any consultation with the party membership.Ford, who stood for the Green’s in 2014, said: “I’m very disappointed with the party I belong to for doing this! In fact, I know that many other members -like me – are disappointed and angry. I am reassessing my membership. I knew that this statement (Labour and Greens’ joint Budget Responsibility Rules agreement) was being developed but party members seem to have been largely bypassed in doing so.”
NewstalkZB reports:
The Opportunities Party has pensioners in its sights calling for a radical overhaul of the superannuation scheme.
Party founder Gareth Morgan has concerns about how the benefit is allocated, saying people like him, who’re well off, don’t need the $40,000 a year they’re entitled to receive.
He said the trouble with New Zealand Super is it’s the highest of all the benefits – its level is way too high, and should be cut in half and taken away from people like him.
“If people need it, sure, then they get their top up- but it’s targeted, it’s means tested and then that money which is about three billion or about a quarter of New Zealand’s super gets spent on the most vulnerable.”
I agree that NZ Superannuation should be means tested, or more precisely income tested. Why should we tax people more to give it back to them when they retire. Better to let people keep more of their money while working, and only top up those whose earnings are below a certain level.
So one Morgan policy I am happy to support. Grey Power may be less happy though.
The Herald reports:
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters wants a referendum on smacking laws to go to the people.
Peters said in a speech on Friday the party’s policy was to hold a referendum on the anti-smacking law.
Umm there’s already been one. The result was massively against the current law. We don’t need another referendum. We just need to vote to change Section 59 in line with the Boscawen amendment.
Karl du Fresne writes:
I know what you’re all thinking. Lord, spare us any more comment on the SAS-Afghanistan controversy. But please bear with me here.
Yes, I think there should be an inquiry. But I have to hold my nose as I write that, because I don’t trust Nicky Hager.
There are a number of reasons for this.
He insists on calling himself a journalist, but all the journalists I’ve worked with made it their business, before bursting into print with damaging allegations against anyone, to seek a response from the person or persons accused.
This is called balance, and although it has become unfashionable in certain quarters it remains a fundamental principle of fair journalism.
Hager doesn’t bother with balance. He and co-author Jon Stephenson didn’t approach the Defence Force for its side of the story before publishing Hit and Run.
This is consistent with Hager’s previous modus operandi. I don’t think he gave Cameron Slater a chance to respond to the claims made in Dirty Politics either, or Don Brash when he published The Hollow Men.
He likes to get in first with a king hit. It’s much harder for someone to fight back when they’re sprawled on the canvas with the wind temporarily knocked out of them.
Hager would probably argue that the reason he doesn’t approach the subjects of his books is that it would give them an opportunity to obstruct publication, possibly with legal action.
But newspapers take that risk every time they run a potentially damaging story about someone. It doesn’t stop them seeking comment from the people or organisation they’re about to take a whack at.
All true.
My other reason for not trusting Hager is that he has an agenda. I’m suspicious of people with agendas, because they tend to frame their narratives to align with their agenda.
To put it another way, there’s a danger that the agenda, rather than the facts, will dictate the narrative, and that any facts that don’t conform to the agenda will be ignored.
In Hager’s case, the agenda can’t be neatly summarised, but it’s there. It can be broadly categorised as an antipathy toward “the establishment”, capitalism and authority in general.
Hager takes facts and fits them to his world view. Yes there may have been civilian casualties in the raid, and he interprets that as a blood thirsty vengeful SAS committing war crimes. In fact we have learnt that they had a lawyer embedded in the command structure to advise second by second on the legality of any actions. Few defence forces do that, but this was inconvenient to his world view and narrative.
So given that I don’t trust Hager, why do I think there should be an inquiry? Well, partly because I don’t much trust the Defence Force either.
I suspect they resent outside scrutiny. This may explain why they seem so bad at dealing with it. The military is an insular institution, not accustomed to having to explain itself to others.
Besides, the NZDF has previous form. Several years ago, disgracefully, it tried hard to discredit Hager’s co-author Stephenson – a man for whom I have some respect – and ended up paying him a settlement in order to avoid a $500,000 defamation action.
In this latest case the NZDF came suspiciously late to the party with a story that was intended to shoot Hager down in flames, but which succeeded only in muddying the waters and creating more doubt and confusion in the public mind.
The only way to clear this mess up now is with an open and independent inquiry that would clarify matters once and for all. To quote John Milton: “Let truth and falsehood grapple; whoever knew truth put to the worse, in a fair and open encounter?”
I’m relaxed about an inquiry, as it would be good to have independent assurance. We just need to be aware that Hager and Stevenson will never ever accept the results of an independent inquiry that doesn’t support them as they have said it is impossible for them to be wrong. But there are good reasons to have an inquiry anyway.
As for being impossible to be wrong, Whale Oil has a useful list of things they are wrong on, and also reveals their cover photo is a stock image unrelated to the raid.
Read this piece by Isobel Ewing about an effort by the Greens for a PR stunt that was a car crash, both figuratively and literally.
The summary is:
So, a river visit to a relatively clean stretch of river, no photo opportunities of school kids helping test the water, and a scientist questioning the efficacy of the prize gadget.
What a mess.
It should have been a cruise for a party that wants to be in Government, that identifies itself as a champion for the environment, that wants to engage the public on an issue.
Especially when New Zealanders care about the state of their rivers, lakes and streams now more than ever.
And yet the Green Party can’t organise a river visit at a river.
Boy going to be if they are ever in charge of something important.
Boris Johnson writes:
After nine months on the launch pad, Britain finally engaged the most famous ignition sequence in diplomatic history.
At 12.29 pm London time, the Prime Minister’s Article 50 letter was delivered in Brussels and the countdown began. After nine months of meticulous legal, technical and political preparation, the engines switched on and are today firing in an irreversible crescendo.
The referendum result has now started implementation. It is going to be a fascinating two years of negotiations. But the one certainty is that the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union.
A press release from NordVPN:
U.S. Senate has just passed the most dangerous resolution for Internet privacy.
Last year, Federal Communications Commission had passed strict privacy regulations (not yet in effect), banning ISPs (Internet Service Providers) from selling their subscriber’s browsing data without consent. This week, these regulations were reversed in the Senate, allowing ISPs to collect all possible information about their subscribers. Such data includes precise geolocation, financial information, health information, children’s information and web browsing history.
This also means that from now on, an Internet provider can sell their users’ private data to third parties, such as ad buyers, ad aggregators, and anyone else who might want to use it for their purposes.
True, FCC’s regulations did not cover Facebook and Google that are able to collect data without any bigger restrictions. However, putting a brake on ISPs data collection/ and sharing powers would have saved Internet users’ Internet browsing privacy.
This goes even further – the FCC is now also banned from passing even less strict regulations in the future.
The key to me is consent – ISPs should have to get consent to share and sell data.
Nicky Wagner announced:
Associate Health Minister Nicky Wagner today announced the sale of nicotine e-cigarettes and e-liquid will be made legal with appropriate controls.
“Scientific evidence on the safety of e-cigarettes is still developing but there’s a general consensus that vaping is much less harmful than smoking,” Ms Wagner says.
Public Health England estimate they are 95% less harmful than normal cigarettes.
New rules for all e-cigarettes, whether or not they contain nicotine, include:
Restricting sales to those 18 years and over
Prohibiting vaping in indoor workplaces and other areas where smoking is banned under the Smoke-free Environments Act
Restricting advertising to limit the attraction of e-cigarettes to non-smokers, especially children and young people.
Sounds reasonable, but devil will be in the detail.
“This is an opportunity to see if restricted access to e-cigarettes and e-liquid can help lower our smoking rates, reduce harm and save lives,” Ms Wagner says.
“The Government is strongly committed to achieving our goal of a smoke-free New Zealand by 2025.”
E-cigarettes may be the most effective measure left in the toolbox, to get the smoking rate down to 5%.
NewstalkZB reports:
Kim Dotcom has been ordered to pay more than $26,000 in unpaid wages to former staff.
Three of Dotcom’s former employees claimed they were unfairly dismissed by the internet entrepreneur, and took their cases to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
In the ruling released Monday, ERA member James Crichton upheld two of the complaints and dismissed the third.
Pan Filo Orduna, John Tactaquin and Ruth Relleve worked for Dotcom from 2010 onwards.
The authority upheld Orduna and Tactaquin’s cases but dismissed Relleve’s.
Orduna was employed by Dotcom as a butler six days a week. …
Crichton said he was satisfied that Orduna and Tactaquin had been unfairly dismissed and so awarded each three months’ salary of the difference between what they were earning when working for Dotcom and what they were earning in their new jobs.
This equated to $8850 for Orduna and $17,526 for Tactaquin.
Will the Mana Party be commenting on this court ruling?
Hager and Stephenson on Monday said:
In a statement sent to media on Sunday night, the authors say it’s “actually impossible that the story is wrong”.
On Wednesday media reported:
English’s comments come on the back of the two authors, earlier on Wednesday, conceding the attacks were at a different location from the position given in their book.
How can this be? They said it was actually impossible for them to be wrong. Not implausible. Not unlikely. Not improbable. But actually impossible.
Now of course because they were wrong on the location doesn’t mean they are wrong on everything. But they should show some humility after the arrogance of their statement on Monday.