Stuff reports:

Pets are set to stay alongside their owners at a newly refurbished central Christchurch hotel, the first of its kind in the rebuilding city.

Fino Hotel and Suites will open its doors to guests both two-legged and four on Friday.

Hotel manager Dilan de Silva said his family dog Jason inspired the unique accommodation solution.

“When we are travelling as a family, what often holds us back is having to accommodate for the dog, but if we had a hotel where we could take him, I would jump at that opportunity.”

He said they “can’t wait to welcome some pampered pets through the doors”.

“We believe people holidaying in New Zealand with their pets have been missing out and we are now filling the gap.”

In the US it is quite normal to holiday with your pets.

When I did a US road trip a few years back, we stayed at a hotel in Dallas. Around half the people checking in had dogs or cats with them.

The hotel was also home to the national convention of Avon (the US version, can’t recall the name) salesman so the gender ratio at the hotel was around 99:1. There were many more pets than men!

Chris Finlayson announced:

The Honourable Justice Dame Ellen France has been appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court and the Honourable Justice Stephen Kós will replace her as President of the Court of Appeal, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today.

The Honourable Justice Raynor Asher and the Honourable Justice Brendan Brown have been appointed Judges of the Court of Appeal.

Justice Ellen France graduated from Auckland University in 1981 and completed her Masters at Queen’s University in Ontario in 1983. After working at the Department of Justice, she joined Crown Law in 1992 and was appointed Team Leader of the Treaty Team in 1993. She was later Team Leader of the Bill of Rights Team before being appointed Deputy Solicitor-General (Public Law) in 1998.

Justice Ellen France was appointed a High Court Judge in 2002, a Judge of the Court of Appeal in 2006 and President of the Court of Appeal in 2014.

The Supreme Court Act says there will be five or six Justices (including the CJ). The normal practice has been five, but six is allowed. Will at least stop any 3-2 decisions!

The Law Society has pointed out:

The appointment of Dame Ellen France to the Supreme Court means that men and women are equally represented on our highest court, New Zealand Law Society President Kathryn Beck says.

Dame Ellen’s appointment from 22 July will mean the Supreme Court has a bench of three men and three women.

“As far as we can determine, no other common law jurisdiction has equal gender balance on its highest court. Judicial appointments are made on merit, and it is encouraging that the near-equal numbers of male and female lawyers in New Zealand are reflected on the Supreme Court.

The balance in other countries is:

• US – 4M/3W
• UK – 11M/1W
• Australia – 4M/3W
• Canada – 6M/3W
• Ireland – 5M/4W

Theresa May is announcing her new Cabinet and the most interesting decision is to make Boris Johnson Foreign Secretary. Boris is well known for once quipping he may have to do a global apology tour of countries he has offended.

The Atlantic has an article on all the foreign leaders he has insulted. He does have the redeeming virtue of being mainly correct in his criticisms. He recently won a contest for the most offensive poem about the President of Turkey (to protest a German comedian being prosecuted in Germany for offending him).

Boris may be a huge success (he is very smart, speaks multiple languages and knows history well) or he could get the UK involved in some wars. It will not be boring.

Other appointments to date are:

• Philip Hammond replaces George Osborne as Chancellor
• Amber Rudd replaces Theresa May as Home Secretary
• David Davis becomes Minister for Brexit
• Liam Fox becomes Trade Secretary

Smart appointment of David Davis – the pro Brexit Conservatives will be pleased, and the part may unite better now with a pro-Remain PM but pro-Brexits in key positions.

The Government announced:

The Government is acting on all recommendations from the Shewan Inquiry into foreign trust disclosure rules, Finance Minister Bill English and Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse announced today.

The Inquiry made a number of recommendations which propose improvements to registration and disclosure of information, anti-money laundering rules and increased information sharing between government agencies.

“The Government has always been open to making improvements to New Zealand’s already strong tax settings if that was warranted,” Mr English says.

“The Shewan Inquiry’s recommendations are sensible and well-reasoned and by acting on all of them, we will ensure that our foreign trust disclosure rules are strengthened and New Zealand’s reputation is protected.

“The changes to the foreign trust rules are a matter that the Government intends to move quickly on.

“The Government intends to introduce legislation to require a register that is searchable by Internal Affairs and the Police, and annual disclosure requirements in the coming months.”

So the Government is implementing Shewan’s recommendations while Andrew Little has still not apologised to him for slandering him.

Dave Armstrong has an amusing column where he discusses the Mayoral options for Wellington with his niece. He goes through all their promises and at the end notes:

NIECE: Is Celia standing again?

DAVE: Apparently.

NIECE: I’m not sure she has contributed that much. When I see her I think roman sandals and cycleways. I want to be really inspired yet none of the candidates have done that so far.

DAVE: It’s a really tough job, the rewards aren’t that great and you cop a lot of flak. I’ve met these candidates and I have to say I like them all – as people.

NIECE: So what will the losing candidates do after the election?

DAVE: Get elected to council and bitch about whoever has won, I suspect.

NIECE: Okay, I’ll keep researching.

DAVE: I suspect whoever gets your vote will be our next mayor.

NIECE: By the way: a sports museum, film museum, new stadium, convention centre, runway extension, more cycleways, a second tunnel, free swimming pools, and a tunnel under the CBD. Who’s paying for all this?

DAVE: Guess.

NIECE: Oh.

DAVE: Another savvy?

NIECE: Cheers.

This is why I think all Mayoral candidates should state a maximum rates increase that they would vote for. Otherwise ratepayers will be left with continual unsustainable increases in our rates.

I saw a graphic yesterday about how 12 out of 24 recent UK Prime Ministers became Prime Minister without winning a general election. They are:

1. Theresa May
2. Gordon Brown
3. John Major
4. Jim Callaghan
5. Alec Douglas-Home
6. Harold Macmillan
7. Anthony Eden’
8. Winston Churchill
9. Neville Chamberlain
10. Stanley Baldwin
11. David Lloyd George
12. HH Asquith
13. Arthur Balfour

I assumed their high proportion was because of their five year terms, but have a look at NZ PMs and who came in via an election and not.

Elected

1. Key
2. Clark
3. Bolger
4. Lange
5. Muldoon
6. Kirk
7. Nash
8. Holland
9. Savage

Replaced PM

1. Shipley
2. Moore
3. Palmer
4. Rowling
5. Marshall
6. Holyoake
7. Fraser

So fairly close. And in Australia:

Elected

1. Abbott
2. Rudd
3. Howard
4. Hawke
5. Whitlam

Replaced PM

1. Turnbull
2. Gillard
3. Keating
4. Fraser
5. McMahon
6. Gorton
7. McEwen
8. Holt
9. Menzies

So in Australia most PMs first became PM without an election.

Stuff reports:

Democrat Bernie Sanders endorsed former rival Hillary Clinton for president in a show of party unity on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time), saying she was the best candidate to fix the country’s problems and beat Republican Donald Trump in the November 8 election.

With Clinton nodding in agreement beside him, Sanders put their bitter primary campaign behind them and said Clinton would take up the fight to ease economic inequality, make college more affordable and expand healthcare coverage for all Americans.

“This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face, and there is no doubt in my mind that, as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that,” he told a raucous crowd in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that included plenty of vocal Sanders supporters.

To get his support, Clinton has had to sign up to several of his unaffordable ideas.

It came after Clinton last week adopted elements of Sanders’ plans for free in-state college tuition and expanded affordable healthcare coverage. Sanders also successfully pushed to include an array of liberal policy positions in the Democratic platform, which a committee approved on Saturday (Sunday NZT).

Sanders did not win all of his policy fights, most notably failing to win support for blocking a vote in Congress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

But he told the rally in Portsmouth that “our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratically controlled Senate, a Democratically controlled House and a Hillary Clinton presidency – and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen.”

Normally a candidate veers towards the centre once they get the nomination, but Clinton is signing up to a very left agenda. This is because the Republican candidate is also spouting leftish policies in some areas such as trade and deficits – and combined with a belief he can’t win.

UPDATE: Not all Sanders supporters on board. The Hill reports:

Bernie Sanders endorsement of Hillary Clinton on Tuesday isn’t stopping his supporters plans to hold a “fart-in” at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) later this month. 

The unusual political strategy will have Sanders delegates consuming a lot of beans before heading to Philadelphia later this month, according to US News and World Report. 

Protest organizer Cheri Honkala, national coordinator for the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, has been stocking up on boxes of dry beans and canned beans. 

The plan is for delegates to chow down, then let presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton smell what they think of her. 

“The fart-in is to raise attention about things that really stink in our society,” said Dr. Walter Tsou, of the Philadelphia branch of Physicians for Social Responsibility. 

What wonderful people.

Stuff reports:

New Zealand has called on all parties to respect an international ruling on South China Sea, a stance that will test relations with our biggest trading partner, China. 

China has violated The Philippines’ sovereign rights in the South China Sea by building artificial islands and by interfering with the smaller nation’s fishing and petroleum exploration, The Permanent Court of Arbitration has found in a landmark ruling.

The court in The Hague has effectively thrown out China’s “nine dash line” which asserts the country’s claim to most of the South China Sea. The court found that such historical claims – in China’s case going back hundreds of years – are superseded by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China has made it clear it will not accept or recognise any ruling rejecting its claims to the hotly contested waterway.

The Philippines  took China to the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013 after the Chinese navy seized control of Scarborough Shoal. The tribunal has ruled that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the nine dash line, according to reports. 

“While New Zealand does not take a position on the various territorial claims in the South China Sea we have consistently stated that the differing interests in the region should be managed peacefully and in accordance with international law,” Foreign Minister Murray McCully said. 

“Maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea is vital to the ongoing prosperity of the wider Asia-Pacific region. It is in all parties’ interests to ensure the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is respected.

China is acting like an aggressor and a bully. If they are unwilling to accept international law, then how can one trust them in other international agreements?

A guest post by MYOB NZ General Manager James Scollay:

If it seems like politics in Australia is always in a state of flux, that’s because for recent history it has been. You could call it “Straya-bility”.

Since 1999, the Lucky Country has been unlucky enough to have six Prime Ministers – John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd again, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.

In the same period New Zealand has had two.

That is why its knife-edge election result was such a disaster.

Votes are still being counted in a handful of electorates, but it seems like the Liberal-National Coalition will end up on 76 or 77 seats – giving it the slimmest of majorities in the 150 seat parliament. Even if it does fall short, the enigmatic Queenslander Bob Katter has pledged confidence and supply to the Turnbull administration, meaning it will cling on to the treasury benches.

But if you think that’s messy, wait until you see the makeup of the senate.

At the same time, Turnbull faces considerable descent from disaffected members within his own ranks and you’d be silly to rule out another leadership spill.

So what does all that instability mean for our country? Quite a lot.

Australia remains New Zealand’s top export destination taking almost $13 billion of our goods and services in the year to March 2016, while imports totalled $11.2 billion.

MYOB operates only in Australia and New Zealand meaning we know what happens in one country can have a profound effect on the other. Any slowdown over there hurts business here.

In Prime Minister Turnbull’s speech to launch the Liberal Party’s election campaign, he said, “A strong economy is one where businesses are confident of the future and are prepared to take the risk of investing, expanding and hiring.” He could have added, “and means they are more likely to buy more products and services from our friends in New Zealand.”

Many people had hoped the election would deliver a decisive result that would set Australia up for a new period of political stability. That is important, because political stability leads to economic confidence, and economic confidence leads to business investment.

Running alongside its political instability has been a period of economic difficulty for our Aussie cousins.

Going back a few years, the shocks from the Global Financial Crisis hit just before collapsing world prices for iron ore and other minerals hammered Australia’s current account. In response, the then Rudd Government massively expanded public spending to keep the economy afloat. It succeeded, but the country’s sovereign debt levels sored.

The challenge for the new Government is how to get back to a more sustainable fiscal position. Mr Turnbull has set himself a five-year timetable to return the federal budget to surplus (as did Labor leader Bill Shorten). He has his work cut out for him, given the coming year’s deficit is expected to reach an eye-watering $37 billion.

There are a few other head winds. Rating agency S&P has put Australia’s credit rating on negative watch, the dollar has been on an up-and-down roller-coaster, and business optimism is waning. The last MYOB Colmar Brunton Business Survey of more than 1,000 SMEs in Australia saw 42 per cent of Australian SMEs predicting that the local economy will decline over the next 12 months – a net negative result of 18 per cent.

In contrast, confidence in the New Zealand economy improved markedly in the latest survey, up to net positive 5 per cent from net negative 30 per cent in September 2015.

The more positive economic conditions in New Zealand has been reflected migration figures to this country. Whereas 10 years ago the news was filled with stories about Kiwis upping sticks for the Gold Coast, Perth or Melbourne, in the year to May 2016 New Zealand saw a net inflow of 1,739 people from across the ditch.

No one is tipping Australia’s economy to fall over. Its people and businesses are endlessly innovative, resilient and creative – and Turnbull has promised a tax package that will see the small business tax rate cut to 27.5 percent from 1 July 2018 (for those with up to $10 million in revenue), and over the next 10 years, the company tax rate will fall to 25 percent for all businesses.

However, to see the problems that instability can cause, take a look at its rugby team. Just as it has had six PMs since the turn of the millennium, Australia has had six coaches of the Wallabies in the same period – and we know what is happening there…

While the election rightly took up most of the attention over past couple of weeks, it obscured an important anniversary for the country. Incredibly, Australia has now not had an economic recession for a quarter century. Given the closeness of our economies, New Zealand businesses should hope the country’s recurring political crises do not transform into economic ones and end that remarkable run.

James Scollay in on Twitter at @JamesScollay

Dr Mark Avis writes in the Herald:

As a UK citizen living in New Zealand, I have watched the media reaction since the vote for Brexit with bemusement. New Zealand is now my home, and because I have no plans to return to the United Kingdom, I did not vote in the EU referendum. But had I cast a vote, I would have voted for Brexit.

The notion that I would make such a choice baffles many people here, and it is no wonder; the media have continually portrayed Brexit as a malady of mind, and a position that is primarily founded on anti-immigration which, in turn, is founded on racism.

The fact the EU is an affront to any reasonable interpretation of democratic accountability is barely mentioned. Kiwis ought to consider how they would view a plan for a new organisation to be established in Sydney that would write laws binding on New Zealand and, once written, there would be no democratic mechanism for repeal.

In addition, a new court would be set up based on a system of civil law, not common law, and this court would be set above the New Zealand courts. The statutory law of this new court would be written by unelected bureaucrats, and they would not be accountable to any democratic institution. How many Kiwis would vote to join such an institution?

The people of the UK never voted to join such an institution.

So many media reports have overlooked the fundamental truth that the EU is not a particularly democratic organisation. The power is with appointed commissioners, not elected MEPs. The people have no ability to sack the EU Government or repeal laws.

The International Monetary Fund, the UK Treasury and a host of other institutions predicted economic Armageddon if the nation voted to leave the EU. These same institutions also said that not adopting the euro would be a catastrophe.

A good point.

Newshub reports:

US Vice President Joe Biden is coming to New Zealand for his first ever visit.

It’s a trip Prime Minister John Key says will be fleeting but significant.

He’ll have just 24 hours on the ground, but they’ll cover a range of important issues.

“The United States has been moving towards that pivot into Asia and it’s been a big plank of President Obama’s foreign policy,” says Mr Key.

“They were instrumental in leading the TPP, of which we are a member, and so they have had a much heavier focus and they’ve been pretty strongly making statements about the South China Sea. So there’s a lot of issues in the region.”

One of the issues to be discussed will be whether a US naval ship will be sent here to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the New Zealand navy. 

Off memory the last VP was Lyndon Johnson.

The media constantly report that the Government has only had policies dealing with the supply side of housing, and not the demand side. This is not true. Off memory, here are policies that National has implemented, or the Reserve Bank has.

Demand Side

1. Removed the ability to claim depreciation on houses as a tax expense
2. Middle and low income earners get grants of up to $20,000 for their first home
3. Any non-primary house sold within two years of purchase to be taxed as income on the gain
4. Non-resident buyers required to register with IRD, so level of foreign purchases can be monitored
5. $5,000 grants for people on social housing waiting list to move out of Auckland
6. LVR rules requiring 20% deposits nationally and 30% deposits in Auckland
7. DTI rules setting a maximum debt to income for borrowing likely in near future

Supply Side

1. 210 Special Housing Areas agreed with Councils to consent 70,000 new houses
2. Made crown land available for 10,000 homes, of which 40% will be “affordable”
3. $1 billion fund available for Councils for infrastructure to new housing areas
4. Require Councils to free up land in line with population growth
5. National Policy Statement on Housing to give developers ability to take Councils to court if land not made available
6. RMA changes to reduce consenting costs
7. 4,000 more state houses being built
8. Income related rent subsidies expanded to community housing providers
9. $41 million funding for emergency housing providers to provide 3,000 beds
10. Reviewing tenancies of state house tenants who no longer need a state house, so more needy families can get one
11. Build 150 pop up houses in Auckland
12. Central and local Government partnerships in areas such as Tamaki and Hobsonville to do major housing developments

Now there are other factors at work, which the Government has little influence over. Three major ones are:

• Land restrictions put in place by Councils, especially Auckland Council. Only the Auckland Council can change these, unless Parliament over-rides them.
• The level of net migration. The level of residency visas has remained constant, but we have more Kiwis remaining and returning, plus more temporary visas (students and work).
• The low level for interest rates

This is not to say the Government can’t do more. Like Labour it should explicitly call for the Auckland Council to abolish the urban boundary. The idea of infrastructure bonds for new developments is worthwhile, and an urban development authority is also a good idea. But the power of compulsory land acquisition is a step too far.

Stuff reports:

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a farewell Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time) as moving vans pulled up to his 10 Downing St residence a day before he is replaced as leader following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

Ministers gathered for Cameron’s 215th and final weekly Cabinet session a day after Home Secretary Theresa May was confirmed as the new Conservative leader and prime minister-in-waiting.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said there had been a “touch of sadness” to the meeting, which saw May and Treasury chief George Osborne led tributes to Cameron.

It is sad to see his career end so suddenly. He was and is a very talented politician, and from all accounts a very decent person.

I was fortunate enough to meet him three or four times at IDU meetings, and he always dominated the room – even when he was just an Opposition Leader.

The first time I met him was at the 2005 Conservative Party Conference. Michael Howard had resigned as leader and there were five candidates for the leadership – Cameron, David Davis, Kenneth Clarke, Liam Fox and Dir Malcolm Rifkind. David Davis was the clear favorite going into the conference and Cameron was in third place in the betting markets.

The conference does not vote for the leader, but is was a chance to impress, and David Cameron did. He gave a speech which remains probably the best political speech I have seen a politician deliver. He spoke for around half an hour without a single note or teleprompter and connected emotionally and powerfully with the audience – he defended and extolled the virtues of the Conservative Party but also set out areas it had to do more.Especially poignant was when he talked of their experiences with the NHS with their baby Ivan who had severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

The large convention hall was so quiet during his speech you could have heard a pin drop. You did see delegates and diplomats (I was seated with them) turning to each other with expressions that said much the same thing – “We are seeing the rise of the next Leader of the Conservative Party”. Everyone in the hall knew his speech was a game changer, and so it was. By the end of the day he was the favourite with the bookmakers and went on to win.

The biggest thing he did to the Conservatives was make them electable. Many forget how awful their brand was in the late 1990s and 2000s. A series of leaders had all lost to Tony Blair, despite being competent leaders. But the Conservative brand was tarnished. I recall a poll done by Lord Ashcroft when they asked people what they though of a particular immigration proposal. 77% said they supported the proposal. However when told it was Conservative Party policy, only 42% then said they supported it. The brand was so bad it could reduce support for a policy by 35%!

Cameron changed their brand and make them electable again. I don’t think any of the others would have done that.

He won the 2010 election but didn’t get a majority. Critics say he should have, as Gordon Brown was so unpopular and the economy so weak. But I’m not sure the rise of the Lib Dems can be put down to Cameron – it was more a wary electorate.

He managed to govern for five years in a coalition with the Lib Dems, which was no mean feat. Many Lib Dems are to the left of Labour. And then in 2010 he got a majority. He was on top of the world and was on track to retire undefeated after eight to nine years as PM.

But alas for him he is out of office a year later, having been the chief proponent for the losing side in the EU referendum. Many have said that he should have never gambled with holding the referendum, but I disagree. It was profoundly the right thing to do, especially as the people voted to leave.  Refusing to allow the people to vote on whether they remain part of an EU government they can’t sack, would have been profoundly undemocratic. It also would have just led to UKIP gaining more and more strength.

Where he did perhaps make a mistake was becoming the chief campaigner for Remain. If he had perhaps done the same as Jim Bolger with the MMP referendum, he might have been able to survive. Bolger stated his preference for remaining with FPP, but did not lead the FPP campaign.

So David Cameron is gone 11 years after he became Leader and after six years as PM. While he leaves office on a low, I hope history will be kinder to him as the man who made the Conservatives electable again and beat Labour so badly in 2015 that they are now the unelectable party. There are worse legacies. The UK economy is also much stronger today than it was in 2010, and after an initial shock I think they will remain a strong economy outside the EU.

Stuff reports:

Political activist John Minto is running for the Christchurch mayoralty.

Three years after seeking the Auckland mayoralty, veteran protester Minto has announced his intention to challenge Christchurch incumbent Lianne Dalziel in October’s local body elections. 

Minto has been involved in the city’s anti-asset sales group since relocating from Auckland early last year.

More protests to join down there?

He didn’t so well in Auckland, getting fewer votes than Penny Bright!

John Cochrane blogs:

Conor Dougherty in The New York Times has a good article on zoning laws,

“a growing body of economic literature suggests that anti-growth sentiment… is a major factor in creating a stagnant and less equal American economy.

…Unlike past decades, when people of different socioeconomic backgrounds tended to move to similar areas, today, less-skilled workers often go where jobs are scarcer but housing is cheap, instead of heading to places with the most promising job opportunities  according to research by Daniel Shoag, a professor of public policy at Harvard, and Peter Ganong, also of Harvard.

One reason they’re not migrating to places with better job prospects is that rich cities like San Francisco and Seattle have gotten so expensive that working-class people cannot afford to move there. Even if they could, there would not be much point, since whatever they gained in pay would be swallowed up by rent.” 

Stop and rejoice. This is, after all, the New York Times, not the Cato Review. One might expect high housing prices to get blamed on developers, greed, or something, and the solution to be government-constructed housing, “affordable” housing mandates, rent controls, low-income housing subsidies (which protect incumbent low-income people, not those who want to move in to get better jobs) and even more restrictions.

No. The Times, the Obama Administration, California Governor Gerry Brown, have figured out that zoning laws are to blame, and they’re making social stratification and inequality worse.

This is the major factor in house prices in Auckland. Labour, National, the Productivity Commission, the NZ Initiative etc all agree. We just need the Auckland Council to listen – and if they won’t, to have Parliament over-rule them.

Stuff reports on Celia’s exit strategy!

From Back Benches:

THIS WEEK ON PRIME TV’s “BACK BENCHES”: Watch Wallace Chapman, Hayley Holt, the Back Benches Panel and special guests discuss the week’s hottest topics!

A BIT WARMER THAT USUAL:  While most of us aren’t complaining about our extended summer and mild winter it is just further evidence that our climate is changing—redefining coastlines and weather. The Environment Commissioner has said it is our largest environmental issue. So, what can we do to combat climate change? Is it about re-evaluating the ETS? Can we reduce our emissions? Will it make a global difference? Restricting farming practices? Or working with farmers to create new, better farming practices? What are the knock-on effects if we do nothing?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US—HERE’S A HOUSE: As Labour celebrated the party’s 100^th birthday, they launched their housing policy promising 100-thousand affordable houses to first home buyers, cracking down on property investors by tightening the rules around capital gains, and revamping Housing New Zealand. But is their two billion dollar plan the solution we’ve all been looking for? Will this plan bring the dream of a first home into reality for more Kiwis? Or is this just a tweak of the plans currently in operation leaving more of the same for New Zealanders?

FULL OF PRIDE: New Zealand just celebrated the 30^th anniversary of Homosexual Law Reform and this week, Uni Q at Victory University is celebrating Pride Week. How have we changed in the last 30 years?  Is it time to reverse historic gay sex convictions? What more needs to be done?

There are two ways to get in on the political pub action:

First, you can join the live audience in Wellington’s iconic Backbencher Pub on Wednesday, 13^th of June at 6pm. Filming begins around 6:20pm.

Or watch us that night on PRIME TV at 10:30pm!  

http://www.primetv.co.nz/

Plus, Follow us on Facebook (BackBenchesTV) or on Twitter @BackBenchesTV.

Our Panel: Green Party MP Jan Logie, Labour MP Louisa Wall, National MP Chris Bishop, and United Future Leader Peter Dunne.

Stuff reports:

A US Supreme Court judge could become one of New Zealand’s newest residents if Trump becomes president.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has strayed from the usual apolitical public stance of Supreme Court Justices to tell people just what she thinks of presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

“I can’t imagine what this place would be — I can’t imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president,” she told the New York Times.

“For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.”

But she did have a possible escape plan up her sleeve – one she said her late husband, tax lawyer Martin Ginsburg, would have liked.

“Now it’s time for us to move to New Zealand,” Ginsburg said, smiling ruefully.

Trump could be great for migration to NZ 🙂

In an interview with the New York Times in her chambers, Ginsburg talked about a stormy term and criticised the Senate for refusing to act on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

Her colleagues have said nothing in public about the presidential campaign or about Obama’s stalled nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. But Ginsburg was characteristically forthright, offering an unequivocal endorsement of Garland, the NY Times reported.

The court has been short since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, and Ginsburg said it was likely to remain short-staffed through most or all of its next term, which starts in October.

I suspect Garland may get confirmed by the Senate. If the polls continue to show Clinton well ahead, the Republicans will conclude better a moderate liberal like Garland than whomever Clinton would nominate if elected. Either way though it will see the end of a 30+ year Conservative majority.

NBR reports:

Whanganui National MP Chester Borrows has been charged with injuring two women with his car inMarch.

Mr Borrows, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House, was leaving his electoral office with fellow MPand cabinet minister Paula Bennett in March but was blocked by TPP protesters.

He then proceeded to slowly drive through the protesters’ blockade, allegedly hitting two women in the process. A video was released on Facebook not long after the incident showing a woman holding her foot after the car drove through.

The two protestors were taken to Whanganui hospital.

Mr Borrows was charged with operating a vehicle on Liverpool St carelessly and causing injury to Tracey Treadwell and Denise Lockett.

Mr Borrows has told media he will be defending the charge.

The maximum penalty Mr Borrows could face if found guilty  is three months’ gaol, according to barrister Graeme Edgeler, but he says Mr Borrows is unlikely to face this.

“[The] offending is not so serious as to cause [him to lose] his seat,” Mr Edgeler tweeted. 

My sympathy is with Borrows. He was driving as slowly as you can, and the protesters chose not to move. They were blocking a legal road. Sure if he had been driving at speed, that would be different. But he was just nudging them out of the way.

We’ll see what evidence comes out in court. Will the protesters be charged for blocking the road? You have the legal right to protest in NZ, but not to do so in a way that impedes people going about their legal business, or blocking public areas.

Radio NZ reports:

A group of Northland retirees who have never taken illegal drugs have started a petition to legalise marijuana.

The Otamatea chapter of Grey Power unanimously voted in May in favour of legalising the drug.

They have now started a petition, which they sent out to all the other 32 Grey Power chapters around the country.

Otamatea Grey Power president Beverley Aldridge said the drug had been used medically for over 10,000 years and it was only since 1961 when many governments made it illegal.

“None of our [members] actually takes it yet, but we want to be able to take it. We’ve seen our loved ones – you know, family and friends – dying in extreme pain and we don’t want to go through that.”

I’m all in favour of Grey Power campaigning to legalise pot.

My worry is that they’ll then demand they get taxpayer funded discounts on it, via their Super Gold Cards!

Radio NZ reports:

ABC reports:

Many Australians do their tax, submit Medicare claims and manage their Centrelink benefits via the internet.

But when it comes to the most fundamental element of our political process – voting – the nation remains rooted in the long held tradition of using a pencil and paper to cast their vote at a primary school or community hall.

Frank Reilly from Arcadia in New South Wales has asked Curious Campaign why voters don’t have access to electronic voting. …

Although the AEC has moved very cautiously with electronic voting, it has trialled electronic voting for the blind and vision impaired, for Defence and Federal Police personnel overseas, and for Australians living in the Antarctic.

The combined costs of the trials at the 2007 election was over $4 million, with the average cost per vote cast of $2,597 for electronically assisted voting for blind and low vision electors, and $1,159 for remote voting for selected defence force personnel. This compared with an average cost per elector of $8.36.

We already have e-voting in NZ. If you live overseas you can scan or photograph your ballot paper and send it to the Electoral Commission via the Internet.

Our questioner, Frank, can take some heart that both the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have expressed support for some iterations of electronic voting.

I don’t see a need for e-voting for our parliamentary elections as we have fairly high turnout and our current system is very secure.

However I strongly support it as an option for local body elections as e-voting would be much more secure than postal ballots, and turnout is very low for local elections.