Tracy Watkins writes:

Is the Labour-Greens deal what they call the political equivalent of friends with benefits?  The agreement to join forces up to and including the next election campaign apparently comes with no strings attached. The deal foreshadows areas of joint cooperation and policy formation, and maybe even a joint campaign come the next election.

But once the votes are in, all bets are off. The Greens wore their heart on their sleeve at Tuesday’s announcement and talked up the certainty of a political marriage post-election. But with a resurgent Winston Peters lurking in the background, Labour leader Andrew Little was not prepared to commit.

The best reaction to the “deal” was from Steven Joyce:

Labour hand the Greens a rose. Does that make Winston Naz?

— Steven Joyce (@stevenljoyce) May 31, 2016

Heh.

On that basis, Tuesday’s announcement may make sense. Voters now know that Labour plus the Greens adds up to more than Labour plus none. Labour is hoping that will be the game changer.

Yes, a real game changer that the Greens support Labour over National. This is a shockingly new development, just like it was in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014.

But Labour and Green voters probably had that equation figured in their head anyway. The voters who didn’t are more likely swinging National and NZ First voters. Little may have given them a powerful reason not to tick Labour any more. 

It paints Labour as going further left.

Stuff reports:

The 50-year-old from Worcester, England was kicked out of a pub for his offensive shirt on the weekend.

His shirt said the disaster was “Gods [sic] way of helping RENTOKILL”.

Rentokill is a pest control company.

The Hillsborough disaster left 96 dead and 766 injured as fans crammed into an overcrowded section of the Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield.

The victims were mainly Liverpool supporters.

A picture of Grange’s shirt was posted on Facebook and Twitter along with his home address.

Social media users have taken delight in flooding his home with deliveries.

But it is unclear how many of the items have actually ended up on his doorstep.

Mr Grange is a moron. He deserves criticism and worse. Not at all funny to celebrate the deaths of 96 people.

Matters got worse for Grange when he was arrested.

A statement from Worcester Police confirmed he had been taken into custody on Monday (Tuesday NZ Time).

“The man… was arrested by officers this morning… on suspicion that with intent he displayed writing which was threatening, abusive, insulting and caused harassment, alarm or distress,” the statement said.

But in no way should this be a criminal matter. An insulting t-shirt should not be a crime.

Stuff reports:

Labour and the Greens have announced a memorandum of understanding, to work together to change the Government.

Labour leader Andrew Little said it was time for a change.

“Labour and the Greens have reached agreement, common ground,” he said.

Labour’s relationship with the Green Party was strong and had reached a level of maturity that allowed this step, Little said.

He confirmed he would speak at the Green’s annual conference next weekend.

Green co-leader Metiria Turei said change was on the way.

The Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] would provide crystal clear clarity that was lacking at the last two elections, she told a joint press conference.

A joint approach would change the Government, Turei said.

The MOU included an agreement to co-operate in Parliament and investigate a joint policy and/or campaign.

Little said Grant Robertson would be finance minister in a Labour-Green government but no other discussions had been held over any other roles.

This is a Claytons Agreement. It has nothing of substance, or that isn’t already happening. The key thing is what isn’t in there – any commitment to have Green Party MPs as Ministers. And that isn’t there because they know Winston would veto it, and it is most unlikely they can govern without him.

The MOU is here. Basically it just says they don’t like National. The six commitments are:

1. waffle on good faith
2. co-ordinate in Parliament – already happens
3. investigate joint policy or campaign – meaningless, as no actual commitment to do so
4. No surprises policy – should already be the norm
5. co-operate for local body elections – has been happening for last decade anyway
6. meet monthly – already happening

Again there is absolutely no commitment to there being any Green Ministers at all.

Mike Yardley writes:

With the calendar about to tumble into June, expect to see more political aspirants for the city council elections start to declare their intentions.

The leftie political bloc, People’s Choice, has grand designs on conquering the super-sized political landscape in October, with 16 councillors to be elected from 16 wards.

People’s Choice has already signalled a non-negotiable plank in its election platform will be to block any further asset sales in the next council term.

In contrast to this unblinking group-think approach, it can only be hoped that winter will flush out a fresh crop of independent-minded council candidates to contest the ideologues.

You get what you vote for, which in this case would be much greater debt and rates.

Stuff reports:

Wellington Airport is close to reaching a deal to allow Uber drivers to pick up passengers, which could change the payment terms for all taxi services to the airport.

Currently Uber, a private hire service where passengers order cars on mobile phones, is not meant to pick up passengers from the airport, as doing so avoids paying the $5 fee faced by regular taxis.

Steve Sanderson, chief executive of Wellington Airport has threatened to trespass drivers who breach the rules

It was only fair that Uber paid the same as taxis, as they were operating a commercial business on private property, Sanderson said.

“We want all operators who operate transport services out of the airport to all be on a level playing field,” Sanderson said, adding that he expected to secure an agreement within Uber within a month.

“Taxis and Uber will pay the same amount.”

That’s good. But my understanding is from Day One Uber has been willing to pay this fee. It is the Airport that has refused to let them in, to keep the taxi companies happy. Regardless, good to see progress.

While currently taxis are only charged fees for picking up passengers at the airport, Sanderson confirmed that this could be replaced with a split between pick-ups and drop-offs.

“We are looking at other options of making the fees in the airport more equal to arrivals and departures.”

Sounds sensible.

Taxi Federation acting executive director Tim Reddish said Uber and other similar services should pay the same as taxis, and this should also take into account the money taxis paid to wait outside the baggage reclaim area.

“Any deal struck with Uber has to be on an even playing field basis,” Reddish said.

“The taxi companies that have a presence at the airport tender significant money for that, and that determines that Uber should be paying the same sort of money.”

No. That is a decision made by individual taxi companies to have a rank. Why impose their business model on a company with a different model. Uber cars do not wait around on ranks. They come when a passenger wants them.

Stuff reports:

Cigarettes will be stripped of their marketing and the Government says it will remove any illusion smokers have about their habit.

The Government has used World No Tobacco Day, to unveils its plans to remove all marketing material from a pack of cigarettes. 

Instead, they will be emblazoned with graphic health warnings depicting the consequences of smoking on human organs. 

“The Government is proposing to use the standard brown-green packaging which is similar to what is used in Australia,” Mr Lotu-Iiga said.

“We’re proposing that mandatory health warnings will cover at least 75 per cent of the front of the packs and all tobacco imagery will be removed. Brand names will be allowed but regulations will standardise how and where the printing is.

“These draft regulations and consultation are another important step in the process towards Smokefree 2025.”

I’m highly sceptical this will reduce smoking rates or smoking intake. If there was evidence it was, then I think you can argue such a move is justified. But there is simply no evidence it is effective. Countries that have introduced plain packaging such as Australia, have also done other measures such as increased taxes, so there is no way to measure the impact of plain packaging alone.

My position has been that NZ should be world leading and trial it in a geographic area, such as the South Island. Then you could compare the change in smoking rates in the South Island to the North Island and see if there is any statistical difference. If there is, it would lead to a huge uptake of plain packaging around the globe. If not, then one can focus on measures we know actually work.

The other reservation I have against plain packaging is the precedent it sets. Once you accept it for one commodity, then the pressure will grow over time for it to be extended to others. Beer, wine, soft drinks, fast food etc. It is a bad precedent to sit.

The Telegraph reports:

Top Gear returned to our screens with Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc at the helm- but fans of the show turned off as it attracted its lowest opening show viewing figures in a decade and was widely panned on social media. 

The show drew 4.4 million viewers, with a peak of 4.7 million, while the last series with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May bowed out with 5.8 million viewers.

Evans said last week he would be ‘disappointed’ if the show attracted under 5 million viewers.

“If we had to guess about the number of viewers we are going to get on Sunday night, you have got to say you would be disappointed if it was under 5 million. Five million-plus would be great, after that it doesn’t matter,” he said.

Evans today claimed figures showed the Top Gear had officially been a hit,  claiming it had taken 23 per cent of the audience share and that it was the most watched item on iPlayer.

The reviews have ranged from awful to okay. If they couldn’t get 5 million for their first episode, I doubt they will for any others.

Stuff reports:

Wellington’s earthquake-prone town hall is now unlikely to reopen until 2020 – seven years after its doors shut to the public – and it may not end up being 100 per cent of building code.

Wellington City Council staff were told on Monday that the current best-case-scenario was to resume seismic strengthening of the 112-year-old building in September 2017.

The town hall, considered to have some of the best acoustics in the world, was shut in November 2013 for strengthening. But work halted three months later when the cost ballooned from $43 million to $60m. …

City councillors approved a plan last year to strengthen the town hall, along with the nearby civic administration building and central library, for $73.2m.

But while the intention in 2013 was bring the town hall up to 140 per cent of new building standards through base isolation, the goal now is to hit a minimum of 77 per cent of code.

So the price has doubled and the standard has halved!

May 2015: Council approves $96.5m worth of spending in its Long-Term Plan for the town hall strengthening and Civic Square upgrade.

That is around $10,000 per household they are spending. And the Town Hall is next door to the Michael Fowler Centre which is perfectly fine.

Stuff reports:

Labour employment spokesman Grant Robertson said the catering staff in question were doing the same job older workers were.

“If people are doing the same job, they should be paid the same wage.”

Robertson did not believe the concept of youth wages had a future in New Zealand.

Delaware North has been approached for comment.

The food and beverage concession company is headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Its website says Wellington Airport is its only New Zealand operation.

National, United Future and ACT voted in favour of legislation to reintroduce youth rates in 2013.

By law, employees aged 16 or older must be paid at least the adult minimum wage rate, unless they’re “starting-out workers” or trainees, for which there are several definitions.

Employees must be paid at least the minimum hourly wage rate for any extra time worked over eight hours a day or 40 hours a week.

“STARTING-OUT” WAGE CANDIDATES:

* Workers aged 16 or 17 yet to complete 6 months’ continuous employment with their current employer.

* Workers aged 18 or 19 who have been paid a specified social security benefit for 6 months or more, and who haven’t completed 6 months’ continuous employment with any employer since getting a benefit.

So Grant wants to make it illegal to pay a 16 year old anything less than $18 an hour for their first job. He also wants to make it harder for a teenager who has been on a benefit to get a job.

Stuff reports:

Soured relations between New Zealand and Fiji are “ancient history” and the timing is right to visit, says Prime Minister John Key.

It is the first time in a decade a New Zealand Prime Minister will visit the island nation.

The relationship between the two nations broke down following the 2006 military coup and sanctions were put on Fiji until it returned to “free and fair elections”.

Diplomatic relations have been restored since 2014 when Fijian Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, known as Frank Bainimarama, was democratically elected.

Key said he endorsed then Prime Minister, Helen Clark’s, decision to sanction Fiji but always said the relationship would “normalise” when Fiji returned to democratic elections.

Key offered to visit Fiji because “it’s an important relationship for us in the Pacific”.

Good to see relations heading back to normal. Fiji has had democratic elections but there are still disturbing incidents such as the resignation of the Police Commissioner over military interference.

Stuff reports:

The kegs will be dry and the wine glasses empty at Trentham Racecourse for the first time next month after it failed a police booze sting on Wellington Cup Day.

But drunk punters horsing around were not to blame for Wellington Racing Club breaching its liquor licence on January 23.

Rather, it was an underage buyer with no ID being served alcohol on the seventh attempt of a police sting, after six previous efforts to illegally purchase alcohol had failed.

I’ve blogged before that I support suspension of liquor licenses for supermarkets that sell to under age purchasers.

But here the venue correctly refused six times in a row. Only on a 7th attempt did someone not check.

This is pretty unfair I reckon. A race day where you have maybe hundreds of temporary staff serving thousands with long queues is different to a supermarket or bar where you have permanent staff. There should be some threshold at which you conclude they are irresponsible but I am not sure only failing on the 7th attempt is it.

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.”

– Margaret Thatcher

The quote of the week is brought to you by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. To support the Union’s campaign for lower taxes and less government waste, click here.

Capx reports:

Carbon dioxide emissions in the United States fell again in 2015, according to new data from the federal government. Though the levels increased slightly in 2013 and 2014, last year’s drop is in line with the gradual decline that’s been occurring for a decade. The nearly 5.3 billion metric tons of energy-related carbon dioxide the country added to the atmosphere in 2015 is 12 percent smaller than that number in 2005.

And not due to recessions either:

More recently, however, the U.S. economy has continued to grow even in years that have seen decreases in emissions. In 2015 the economy was 15 percent larger than in 2005, but the country emitted 23 percent less carbon dioxide per dollar of GDP last year compared with 10 years prior.

This is the challenge – to reduce emissions without reducing GDP.

In the U.S., the decoupling of emissions from economic growth was largely a result of the boom in domestic gas production thanks to hydraulic fracturing. And while the deployment of renewable energy technologies has also increased substantially of late, burning natural gas instead of coal for electricity will likely continue to be the main contributor to emissions declines for years to come.

Yet the Greens oppose fracking despite saying reducing CO2 emissions is critical to our survival. Which is it? Can’t have it both ways.

The Washington Post reports:

William Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts who made a late-career leap to the Libertarian Party, won its vice presidential nomination Sunday after a close and raucous convention vote.

“This is a national ticket,” Weld said. “We can offer something meaningful and realistic to the country.”

Weld’s nomination, secured after a day of drama and in-person lobbying, gave the 45-year-old party the most electorally experienced ticket in its history. Gary Johnson, a two-term governor of New Mexico, won the party’s presidential nomination for the second time. He made two trips to the stage of the convention, held at Orlando’s Rosen Centre, to ask delegates not to write off Weld as a latecomer or interloper.

The Libertarian team have more executive experience than Clinton and Trump. They’ve both been elected and re-elected as popular Governors. Their chances are minuscule but they’re who I’d back.

The Telegraph reports:

Yet there is evidence that France is, for the first time in two decades, heading for a perfect storm of social unrest fuelled by a Leftist union leader apparently bent on rekindling class warfare and a president so unpopular he cannot afford to climb down without losing his final fig leaf of credibility before elections next year.

In the past few days, the CGT has gone further than any union since 1995 to bring France to a total standstill. Between a third and half of the country’s petrol pumps are running dry, output from nuclear power stations has been cut raising the prospect of electricity shortages; and perhaps even more ominously, a series of “unlimited” public transport strikes are to begin next week just days before the Euro 2016 football tournament kicks off.

Hollande is toast if he gives in. Mind you he is toast also if he doesn’t.

Meanwhile, hotel operators warned that the union’s “scorched earth tactics” have seen occupancy rates fall by 50 per cent to their lowest since the immediate aftermath of the November Paris terror attacks, as French and foreign tourists fear travel chaos or worse.

Trying to bankrupt the country.

When France’s national newspapers refused to publish a tract on his position for free this week, the CGT arm of the printers’ union blocked their publication, letting just one daily through: l’Humanité, the Communist organ. Even Laurent Joffrin, editor of the left-wing Libération, criticised the move as “shameful and stupid”.

And will destory any media who don’t print their propoganda for them.

As polls currently stand, the winners are likely to be the centre-Right, whose candidates for presidential primaries are falling over themselves with ambitious liberal reform proposals.

If, however, the blockages and unrest persist, that could play into the hands of the far-Right Front National, whose leader Marine Le Pen has called for more workers’ rights on top of an anti-immigration line. The FN has discreetly backed the protests.

Le Pen has a solid 30% support in the polls, around 10% ahead of the next candidate. She is almost certain to make the 2nd round, between the two top polling candidates.

Unlikely she would win the second round, but not impossible.

The Herald reports:

Controversy over bar trading hours has polarised authorities, with police contesting Auckland Council’s provisional Local Alcohol Policy.

The two authorities are fighting over the time bars should be shut to best prevent alcohol-related brawls.

The argument has come down to one hour that they can’t agree on. A lot can happen in 60 minutes.

Both sides cite contradictory research and statistics to back up their arguments.

A 2013 law change limited the latest closing hour of bars to 4am and handed over the power to councils to enforce earlier closing times and one-way door policies within their own jurisdictions.

Since then, 20 councils have delivered provisional alcohol policies that are now under appeal.

The Auckland Council has proposed closing bars in the city centre at 4am, and a 3am curfew for suburban bars.

The council justified its position by saying closing city-centre bars any earlier would result in a mass exodus of punters at the same time, likely increasing violence.

Police say the council’s argument is “just wrong” and want to see suburban bars close by 1am and city-centre bars shut by 3am – with a 1am one-way door policy – to reduce the consumption of alcohol and, in turn, the fights.

However, police data obtained by the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act shows violent disorder offences, often linked to alcohol intake, have decreased consistently over the past nine years – from 3569 in 2007 to 2541 last year – in the Auckland Central area.

That is around a 30% decrease.  So on average there are eight offences a night, for a city of 1.4 million people.

Davey says the council must decide whether it’s more important to keep bars open an hour later to appease the alcohol and hospitality industries or to close them earlier and reduce the levels of harm.

Inspector Davey is sounding like a wild eyed lobbyist rather than a rational public servant.

He thinks the only interests served by having bars open later are the alcohol and hospitality industries.

No. The tens of thousands of Aucklanders who like to be able to go into town around midnight and drink and dance for a few hours. Of whom, the vast majority have a good time and don’t hurt themselves or anyone else.

But, Davey counters that reducing the availability of alcohol by even one hour would prevent “some of the needless death, serious injury and violence”.

I’m sure it would. But that is an argument to also go back to 6pm closing. It is about the balance.

Lowering the Bar writes:

As many of you know, one of my chief focuses as an academic is the separation of powers and that I hold a robust view of legislative authority under Article I. Indeed, I view the erosion of legislative authority in the United States to be one of the most dangerous trends in our country. That is why I noticed a story out of New Zealand where the Prime Minister John Key was actually tossed out of Parliament for not adhering to the rules of the body. It was an incredible moment at a time where executive powers are being consolidated around the world. For those who still believe in equal legislative power in a tripartite system, it was a rare contemporary assertion of independent authority.

Further:

That is an important function, because Question Time can be a raucous affair. I think Americans find it very entertaining (I know I do) because we are saddled with a Congress that now debates almost nothing—mostly reading stuff into the record in an empty chamber—and the only time the President addresses Congress directly is the semi-regal and incredibly dull State of the Union Address. I personally think presidents shouldhave to go over there every so often and answer questions hurled at them by the opposition, complete with the jeering by both sides that punctuates Question Time

Question Time is imperfect but it is an opportunity for a good Opposition to hold the Government and Prime Minister to account.

That seems much healthier to me than a system where the president only shows up once a year, and then parades in and reads a speech like some monarch addressing subjects from a balcony.

I agree.

An interesting report from the Commerce Commission on our telecommunications market. Some key points:

• Calling on a mobile phone is becoming more popular than calling on a fixed‑line phone, with mobile voice minutes poised to overtake fixed‑line voice minutes
• Fixed broadband connections continued growing to reach 1.45 million as at 30 June 2015
• Average data consumed per fixed line is 48 GB/mth up from 32 GB
• A bundle sufficient for 900 calls and 2GB of data in February 2016 could be purchased for $59 a month compared to $69 in August 2014
• Fixed line broadband connections per 100 pop have increased from 22.8 in 2008 to 32.6 in 2015
• Average broadband speed up from 3Mbps in 2008 to 9.3 in 2015
• 121 mobile phones per 100 people
• 197,000 premises connected to fibre
• 922,000 premises have fibre available

The Herald reports:

Parental breakups, not unemployment, are given in a new report as the prime cause of New Zealand’s high rate of child poverty.

The report, published today by the Family First lobby group, says the near-trebling of sole parents from 10 per cent of families with dependent children in 1976 to 28 per cent of families in the last two censuses is “the elephant in the room” in the child poverty debate.

Child poverty has tracked sole parenting almost exactly. Children in homes earning below 60 per cent of the median household income rose from 14 per cent in 1982 to 30 per cent in 2001, then declined to 22 per cent by 2007, although they have risen again recently.

“The correlation between sole parent and child poverty rates is stronger than between unemployment and child poverty rates,” says the report, by welfare commentator Lindsay Mitchell.

“Unemployment, low wages, high housing costs and insufficient social security benefits are consistently blamed for child poverty, yet a major culprit (if not the major culprit) is family malformation, that is, a lack of two married committed parents.”

I don’t think whether the parents are married is the issue, but whether or not they are committed to each other and having children together. Some couples never get married and stay together and have children.

Sole parents are naturally poorer than couples, on average, because they have only one potential income earner who often can’t work fulltime because of the children.

In 2014, 62 per cent of sole parents’ children lived in homes earning less than 60 per cent of the median income, compared with only 15 per cent of children in two-parent homes.

Not rocket science that one fewer parent involved tends to be one fewer income.

The report links the rise of separated parents to the growing acceptance of living together outside formal marriage. Children born to legally married couples plunged from 95 per cent of births in 1961 to 51.3 per cent in 2010, before recovering in each year since then to 53.5 per cent in the latest March year.

For Maori, children born to legally married parents collapsed even more spectacularly from 72 per cent of Maori births in 1968 to just 20.9 per cent in 2011, recovering to 21.6 per cent in the latest year.

Wow did not realise the rate was so low.

Stuff reports:

Autumn Nicholl, 4, and her brother Theo, 5, were among those who came out in support, with their Mum Fiona Nicholl.

Young Theo had been learning about climate change at his West Spreydon school.  

He said he was worried about the “fish dying”, while younger sister Autumn was most concerned about the whales.

They’re preaching doom and gloom to five year olds? I hope not.

No problems with teaching about climate change in secondary school, but telling five year olds that the fish are going to die because of climate change is appalling.

Bernard Hickey writes:

Prime Minister John Key has upped the ante in the Government’s battle with the Auckland Council to free up more land for housing, saying a new National Policy Statement in the next fortnight would direct Councils to release land as a matter of law.

Responding to Council concerns that it could not afford the NZ$17 billion infrastructure bill to provide the roads, public transport, water and sewage pipes to underpin that housing, Key said the Auckland Council may need to look at selling assets.

Key used his flagship post-Budget luncheon address to a Trans Tasman Business Council audience in Auckland to increase the political heat on the Council ahead of its decision on the Unitary Plan due on August 19, and to deflect some of the political heat building up on the Government around Auckland’s housing supply shortages.

Key described the Metropolitan Urban Limit put around Auckland in 1992 as an “utterly failed experiment” that increased land prices from NZ$100,000 per section to NZ$450,000 per section now.

Excellent. The two major parties agree that it is a failed experiment that should go.

The one person who doesn’t agree it seems is Phil Goff.