Labour had gone into the last two elections promising to lift the top personal rate “and we are looking closely again at that”, he said.
“I think it is core to the kind of fair society I think we should have, that those who earn the most contribute a little bit more to ensure everybody has better opportunities. I never resile from that. The exact detail of that is what we are working on.”
Robertson said 2016 was the year Labour would put forward more concrete policies.
People on the top tax rate pay 33% on income over $70,000 and 15% on top of that on good and services they consume. I reckon that is more than enough.
Those earning over $70,000 already pay 59% of all income tax in New Zealand.
Chorus [NZX: CNU] hasn’t said yet whether it will appeal the Commerce Commission’s decision not to backdate the latest changes to the pricing of copper wire phone services but does say the changes deliver it a $120 million boost to annual operating earnings.
If I was Chorus I’d be thanking Father Christmas (the Commerce Commission) for the 50 cent rise in their share price and take the $120 million with gratitude!
The corporate regulator has raised the total price Chorus can charge for its copper wire services by $6.75 a month compared with the $34.44 it has been charging since December last year.
The new price is a surprising $3.30 a month increase from the last draft decision in July and Telecommunications Commissioner Stephen Gale says that’s because the July decision inadvertently excluded trenching costs.
How can you forget trenching? Arguably the most expensive part for new installations.
The final copper wire price of $41.19, rising to $42.35 in 2020, isn’t very far from the $44.98 price Chorus had been allowed to charge up until last December – when Chorus was still part of Telecom, the price was about $1 a month higher again.
$3.50 a month cheaper is better than not cheaper at all, but disappointing the final price is so much higher than the draft price. The difference should be minimal if the draft is done correctly.
This handy table from Chris Keall shows the changes. $34.44 looked good to me! But the Commerce Commission has to follow the law which dictates a different methodology.
The Content subject to complaint appeared on the Whale Oil Beef Hooked website and was titled “Special Investigation: Charity Begins at Home.” It focused on the registered charity, The New Zealand Network Charity, and included a sound recording of a conversation between the Complainant, founder Angela Sothern and Editor Cameron Slater.
The Complainant raised concerns about the accuracy of the article and the content of the recording and said the Publisher was rude and disrespectful and it was irresponsible “to not have ensured the things he was accusing me [of] were correct, founded and evidenced”.
The Complaints Committee found the information presented was an accurate reflection of the recording and included links to other sources. The Complaints Committee accepted the Publisher had made reasonable efforts to ensure that news and current affairs content was accurate and did not mislead in relation to all material points of fact.
The Committee noted the Complainant had approached the Publisher to promote her charity and it considered the recorded discussion was robust questioning from a journalistic standpoint. The Committee concluded that taking into account the context and public interest in the subject, the Publisher had dealt with the Complainant fairly. It noted recording interviews was common and acceptable practice in the media industry.
Taking into account the article was not presented in a way that it would cause panic, unwarranted alarm or undue stress, the Committee ruled the article observed the requirements of Standard 5 Responsible Content and was not in breach of Standards 1, 3 and 5 or Guideline 3(a) of the OMSA Code of Standards and ruled the complaint was Not Upheld.
I doubt even the harshest critic of Cameron will find fault with this ruling, if they read his story and the full decision. I think he raised very legitimate concerns over the charity.
Any recommendations for home security systems. Not looking for a monitored solution, but ideally one with a loud alarm when triggered, a video camera you can view on your smartphone to see what is happening, and ability to turn the system on and off remotely via your phone. If you have a system like this, interested to know who you got it from, what it cost and how happy you are with it.
I didn’t want a system that when there is a false alarm you pay $100 for a callout fee and even worse that if there is a real burglary it takes 20 minutes for someone to turn up just to check if it a burglary and then call the Police.
I got some names of good alarm and security companies and had a couple come up to do a quote for what it would take to have such a system. The price was close to $10,000.
But then I got lucky. A mate who works for Spark told me that they would soon be releasing a product that sounded like what I was after. And a month or so later, we got put onto the pre-release trial for Morepork.
A couple of days later a box turned up by courier with our security system. I was slightly nervous about installing it ourselves, but figured we’d give it a go.
First up was the control panel. This is what makes the noise, and controls the sensors. And it has a backup battery so that even if someone cuts the power it will still work. It can communicate with the sensors if they are within 200 metres of it. You need to have spark mobile phone coverage as it connects to the Internet via mobile.
The setup was simple. Plug it in, enter an initial code, tap the test button and then change the default code. That’s it!
Next are the sensors. The default package has three, but you can get extras for $40 each. You just affix them to doors and windows where the two elements are normally aligned. If the alarm is set and the door or window is opened, then the alarm goes off.
You can also set them to notify you if you leave a door or window open for more than x minutes. This is really useful I’ve found.
You just follow the guide to affix them and then the control panel tells you they are working. Each one took less than five minutes to do.
Then you install the image sensor. You get one with the package and additional ones are $130 each. The logical place for these are areas where someone may try and enter by.
This takes a bit more work to install. You have to hold them at various heights and angles and then through the web interface get it to take a photo to check it is capturing the right area. We did have a small glitch installing this one, but Morepork has an online chat support line and they sorted the problem out quickly for us.
The camera works day and night (is infrared) and will take a photo when triggered as it is also a motion sensor. You can view these photos almost immediately on your smartphone.
So if an alarm goes off, you can near instantly see if the person who set it off is someone you know.
Finally you have the video camera. Again you get one with the package and additional ones are $180 each. This was the most challenging to install, and we did have some problems as were on the trial. But the support people were great again and sorted it.
Basically you need to get the video camera connected to your home wireless, and then once that is done plug it in somewhere where you are likely to have people going through.
If the alarm goes, it will record two minutes of video automatically. Also you can immediately access it via a smartphone and view the video feed in real time. The camera is also infrared so works at night.
Being able to check the video feed at any time is great, especially when you have kittens!
In addition to the image and video sensors, you can also get motion sensors for rooms where you don’t want images (say bathrooms) but do want to detect movement. Also you can get a smoke alarm added to the package also, so you get notified if it goes off when you are not home.
The smartphone app
The app is the best part of it. So easy to use. You can use your phone to do the following:
Set and deactivate alarm
Check image sensor
Get live video feed
Set up multiple users, with their own codes (good for guests)
Notify you if you leave home without setting the alarm
You can actually set up almost any combination of alerts based on time of day, activity, lack of activity etc.
Summary
There were a couple of glitches with set up, but the support team sorted them out very professionally.
The system is exactly what I was looking for. A great combination of motion sensors, image and video monitoring and instant access through a smart phone so you can decide what to do. If it is a burglar you can call 111 straight away, plus you may get photos or video of them.
I’m on a year’s free trial, but will definitely be carrying on when it is up. In fact am about to order a couple more sensors and a another camera.
The quote I had from a security company was close to $10,000. With Morepork it is $500 for the package and $30 a month for service. So over a year $860. and then just $360 a year going forward. If you want the ability for security guards to turn up to an alarm, that is another $20 a month – but I reckon 95% won’t need that – more for those away from their phone a lot.
I’m really really happy with it. Doing it all through your smartphone makes it so easy, and being able to check out what has happened when there is an alarm is great. It’s given me huge peace of mind, and for a lot cheaper than I thought would be possible. Incredibly happy that someone from Spark put me onto this before it launched as if they hadn’t, I probably would be $10,000 or so poorer by now.
In their first term the Government constantly used urgency to pass bills quickly, and in some cases to bypass select committee scrutiny.
I worked with Grant Robertson to highlight this, and since 2010 there has been far less use of urgency. This is partly due to a change to standing orders allow for extending sitting hours.
From 2011 to 2013 there were no bills that bypassed select committee and on average there were only 30 hours of urgency a year.
In 2015 the Government seems to have again taken to using urgency frequently, and to bypass select committees.
I’ll compare 2012 with 2015, as both are post-election years. Key stats are:
Sitting Hours 549 (2012) and 555 (2015)
Urgency Hours 10 and 63
Bills Passed 92 and 122
Bills bypassing select committee 0 and 10
Weeks with an urgency motion 1 and 5
Having ten bills bypass select committee is way too many. Some legitimately were urgent such as fixing a problem with sworn Police officers, but one in 12 bills did not go to a select committee. That is way too many.
I didn’t realise until I got this data (thanks to Trevor Mallard for getting it for me from the Parliamentary Library) how excessive the use of urgency had been in 2015.
In 2016 I’m going to watch this much more closely and highlight whenever urgency is used. It should be rare and a last resort.
Auckland will have spent half a million dollars on a new image and catchphrase by the time its “Global Auckland” branding project is completed next year. …
Auckland has had a number of brands over the years, from “City of Sails”, to “Big Little City’, to the current slogan “Auckland: The Show Never Stops”.
Auckland Council’s tagline is “the world’s most liveable city”.
Spending $500,000 every few years on a new slogan is nuts. Pick one and stick to it. What a waste of money.
Uber could be forced to check drivers’ log books and vehicle safety, after the Government recommended forcing it to become an approved transport operator.
However drivers which use the mobile platform to find passengers appear set to continue to operate without being forced to install in-vehicle cameras, which are required in taxis.
I’m pleased they are not going to try and force Uber cars to install cameras. It would be a huge unnecessary cost. Uber cars do not do random pick ups. They are booked through an app and the identity of the driver and passenger is known. Plus there is a GPS trace of the route. That is far more secure than a video camera in the car.
The consultation document is here. The overall theme looks good – reducing regulatory requirements on the taxi industry, rather than increasing them on services such as Uber.
However it could go further. At present it takes at least eight weeks and $1,500 for someone to get a passenger licence. That’s way too costly and slow. The Government should set a target of turning applications around in under a month and reducing the cost to say $500.
A brand new Fiat Punto Easy is about to be sold at reverse auction where the price will continue to drop for as long as the one minute auction lasts.
Consumers will need to have “nerves of steel” as they watch the car’s price plummet before choosing when to swipe their smartphone or click their mouse to make the winning bid.
This sales concept, which combines the thrill of gaming with the world of online shopping, is the brainchild of Mount Maunganui company Websoft Ltd who launched their auction website and mobile app Dropit earlier this month.
Dropit sells premium items with no reserves in under one minute. There are 5 auctions per day starting at 10am, on the hour until the last one at 2pm, with the Fiat Punto Easy car supplied by Tauranga’s Farmer Auto Village set to be auctioned on Wednesday 16 December 12pm
Reverse auctions are often good for buyers, but not so much for sellers. You only get to bid once, and you win it. But if you hold off you may get it cheaper – but someone may beat you to it.
Dropit CEO Peter Howell says they expect thousands of New Zealanders to experience their first reverse auction bidding on this premium product.
“It’s going to be a pretty exciting 60 seconds! One lucky punter is going to secure an incredible deal on what is the biggest ticket item we’ve offered to date.”
Over the past month Dropit players have collectively saved thousands of dollars on high-end goods such as Bose speakers, ipod shuffles, an Xbox 360, mobile phone top up vouchers, a Tom Tom navigation unit, a Beach Cruiser Bike, Phil & Teds buggy and Laneway tickets.
“We auctioned off an iPhone 6 worth $1199 and it sold for $796 – saving the winning bidder over $400 on the brand new item,” Howell says. “A $550 Go Pro camera sold for a stupid price of $147, while Beats by Dre studio headphones worth $520 went for an incredible $191. Kiwi consumers are loving it.”
As I said, great stuff if you’re a buyer. You simply bid what you are willing to pay.
Farmer Auto Village spokesperson Melissa Smith says the sporty Fiat Punto Easy is worth $16,940 and has all the latest safety features plus six speaker audio system and a three year/150,000km roadside assistance and warranty.
“We’re excited to partner with Dropit to help promote this new way of shopping. Their website and mobile app is slick, fun and fast – just like this Fiat Punto Easy car. We can’t wait to see what price it goes for on the day.”
During each daily auction punters can see how many others are vying for the same item. The website and mobile app have been designed to prevent people accidently buying items – only a very definite swipe up will seal the deal.
Very cool to do it via an app so you can see how many others are following.
The Remuneration Authority has published its latest determination for MPs salaries. They no longer have discretion as to any increases – a law change saw it tagged to the average increase in the overall public sector. This has seen a 2.6% increase.
The salary is only part of their package, so I’ve estimated what the overall package is for each type of MP.
Super is the value of the 20% subsidy they get based on a normal MPs salary
Perks are the estimated value of free domestic travel for MPs and their families, and for Ministers the value of their self-drive cars
Allowance is the allowance set by the Remuneration Authority. This is to cover expenses, but does not need to be accounted for.
By turning down a ministerial job, David Seymour is taking is around $65,000 a year less than what he would have got.
Interesting that the Labour Deputy Leader and Senior Whip get paid more than the Green and NZ First party leaders.
A Northland principal says a fast-track training scheme found to be breaking employment laws has provided his school with “outstanding” teachers.
Jim Luders, of Northland College in Kaikohe, is calling for the Teach First debacle to be resolved before the new school year begins so schools and teachers are not left in limbo.
Teach First puts high-achieving university graduates into an eight-week intensive training programme then bonds them for two years to a low-decile school. But the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ruled the scheme is illegal because it puts trainee teachers into jobs without the positions being advertised.
Those already in the scheme aren’t affected but the ERA ruling casts doubt on the next batch of Teach First appointments due to start in 2016. The case was taken to the ERA by the Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA), the union representing secondary school teachers.
Mr Luders said Northland College had so far had three Teach First trainees – one had finished her two-year stint, two more were halfway though – and found them to be “outstanding”.
So the outcome of the court action is schools are losing outstanding teachers that were making a difference. Great outcome.
To switch obsessive Craig theme for a moment, from Colin to Daniel, I went and saw the 2015 instalment of James Bond 007 this week “Spectre” in a packed cinema. (With the Colin version, I feel I’m also watching a movie perhaps even in it: a black tragi-comedy).
The opening Spectre sequence is a bit creepy; naked dancing women caressed by embracing erotic inky black octopus tentacles in the style of Hans Ruedi Giger. It suits more Octopussy and Goldfinger than Spectre. Perhaps it’s a hat tip to those two past Bond films. But haven’t we moved past that 70s misogyny of women as dehumanized sex objects? No faces on these babes, just thighs and curves.
The modern Craig Bond movies (this is Daniel’s fourth) all begin with a hallmark opening chase scene (remember the chase up the construction crane?). This is no exception but has creative twists. There is a chase by… walking, and through a crowd of close-packed people.
After an opening hint of the Bond music, the movie starts typewriter font on black screen “The Dead…[pause]…are living.” Then BOOM we’re plunged in to the midst of the Mexico City Day of the Dead festival amidst floats and crowds wearing skeleton masks (Mardi Gras meets the grave). Bond is about to bed his seductive Mexican beauty but slips instead out the balcony window, as ya do, walks casually across the rooftops bringing his cool laser assassin gun in to kill mode as the dead pass below; kills two guys in a building opposite before a bomb unexpectedly goes off; building collapses almost on top of Bond and the chase is on. And then, oh boy, it cranks up with a helicopter fight above a stadium filled with skeleton people worshipping gigantic skull floats. Dramatic EXCELLENT opening in the Craig genre. 10/10.
Spectre has the usual international conspiracy; a secret Illuminati organisation (“SPECTRE”) taking over the world (see your Bond history). It’s CEO is revealed in dramatic back-lit fashion after a prospect has his eyes squashed out by a heavy (Mr Hinx) with metal finger nails (like Jaws with his metal teeth in The Spy who Loved Me;orOddjob with his steel-rimmed death hat in Goldfinger). Hinx pursues Bond throughout the movie (oh and the girl of course). He’s as broad as an oak tree but has those metrosexual fingernails. Every self-respecting SNAG should.
We traverse Mexico City, the Tunisian desert, the Austrian Alps, London and the Thames as well as Rome. Nice Bond city cinematography tick box. I like the London scenes (James’ eternally unpacked flat; Thames-side modern architecture) and we get a lot more British M15, M16 and the ’00’ programme, ‘M’ (who as Judy Dench posthumously commissions Bond’s current mission, “If I’m dead, Bond, don’t miss the funeral in Mexico City”). There’s ‘Q’ and ‘C’ and all that.
Ralph Fiennes plays Bond’s very British boss ‘M’ (Dench’s’ successor) defending democracy and on-the-ground Intelligence against a rising technologically distracted surveillance mega-Geek ‘C.’ He’s an amalgamation upstart establishing a Joint Intelligence Service consisting of the recently merged MI5 and MI6. ‘C’ campaigns for Britain to join “Nine Eyes,” a global surveillance and intelligence co-operation initiative between nine member states, and uses his influence to close down the ’00’ programme.
[SPOILER] he’s actually in league with Big Baddy (combining the intelligence of nine nations which will be hacked and controlled by SPECTRE, a veiled ref. to the real “Five Eyes” agreement? ‘M’ and Bond covertly fight a geo-political all-seeing”Big Brother” and defend British sovereignty. “Ru-uuule Britannia…” I’m air punching in the dark. I always want accountability and the human factor. If you’re gonna play dirty spies, it has to be done with manners.
Bond has traceable blood fused in to him by ‘Q’ so he can be tracked by Her Majesty’s Secret Service after several roque operations which created political problems for the Home Secretary.
There are some great extended punch-up scenes (in a train; in a helicopter; in an exploding building, on boats; and one of those nasty protracted medical psychopath torture sessions in an impeccably clean white room with eyeball drills, similar to Dragon Tattoo).
There is a great scene in the rigged for demolition old HQ of M15/6 (ruined in the bomb blast in Skyfall) when target practice posters flip round with James’ face on them and he passes illuminated ante-rooms show-casing recent dead Bond characters put there by Big Baddy. I would have liked these to have been past 007s i.e. Connery, Brosnan etc. Nevertheless, Spectre has some great retro nostalgia. For example, SPECTRE first appeared in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and the Octopus ring central in this movie, inOctopussy (1983). So this latest outing ties several old Bond movie themes together as well as story-cycles. Tick.
The Bond back story is finally completed (hooray I hate it when things are left unresolved, like the entire LOST series). James’ dark past is revealed; Why ‘M’ (Judy Dench) was killed and by whom and for what purpose. Turns out [SPOILER] that James was adopted as an orphan but German step dad preferred James’ blue eyes to his real German son who has nursed a psychopathic grudge ever since and killed off all James’ Bond girls, including ‘M,’ to ruin his life. “It was me all along James, to give you a life of pain.” Boys need their Daddies attention.
There’s a nice play on the classic James Bond original Austin Martin (Goldfinger andThunderball; which recently sold for $4.4 million) and perhaps a hint at the end that this is the last of Bond and the departure of Daniel Craig.
Big Baddy is revealed as ‘Ernst Stavro Blofeld‘ aka Franz Oberhauser and is here presented as the ULTIMATE Bond villain. I’m not clear after a first watch if Franz has taken on the persona of this well-known previous Bond villain (the inspiration for Dr Evil in SpyWhoShaggedMe) or whether he was him all along. Franz receives the same eye scar as the classic Blofeld/Dr Evil fiend. He is rather ordinary till James’ up-scars his face and eye with a clever ‘C’ device while Bond is being tortured. He then becomes a much more suitable Big Baddy with a poppy dead eye and facial scar to Bond’s square jaw good looks. Bond: “Ouch, that must hurt!”
A nice script quirk in that at the end James’ chooses justice over guns after his woman has worked on him psychologically. This is a visual romp but it’s well-worn James Bond franchise.
I enjoyed Spectre but this line from the film perhaps sums it all up, “James what would you do if you stopped?” “Stopped? I don’t know.”
And that’s the thing. Bond has no life. It’s just all – to requote the film- “liars and killers…liars and killers” and at some point we need something more. Not sure how long James can keep on running, jumping, shooting, ‘C’ inventing, and fighting global conspiracies. It gets a bit “m-eh.”
Great “Shaken not stirred” dialogue at a bar at an Austrian alpine celebrity clinic. “I’m sorry sir, we don’t serve alcohol here.” Later “Do me a favor. Tip this organic fruit shaky thing down the toilet and bypass the middle man.”
There’s a few red herrings [SPOILER] : “the Pale King” is “Mr White” who introduces us to the ‘Bond Girl,’ the daughter of one of Bond’s nemesis’ who has to now protect her “because he gave his word” and sealed it by passing over his loaded Bond pistol to the bad guy who could shoot him or trust him.
I’d like to see James in the future reworked back in to the conventional Her Majesty’s Secret Service 007 assassin; maybe do a retro 1950s -look movie. The new stuff is fun but it’s starting to lack soul and purpose. We can only take so many cars crashing in to canals, zooming down luscious old Roman street steps (ala BourneIdentity etc) it’s all been done before so many times.
This is the cast with Moneypenny on the left and the Big Bad Guy (Franz Oberhauser) on the right.
YUP and NUP
‘Q’ (Quartermaster) has not really worked well recently: John Cleese and this guy (above right Ben Wishaw) a younger cardie wearing be-spectacled British computer geek). Inventors are really old guys and I’d like to return to an older, perhaps retired 007, who is a whizz at making ever so British things like Dam Busting Bouncing Bombs and RADAR and magnetic mines and stuff. Desmond Llewelyn was a great ‘Q’ seen here in Octopussy in 1983 (above left).
Spectre has implausible falls and leaps and crashes without wrinkling fabulous suits (as we love with James Bond) but it’s plausible enough not to laugh out loud which I did once or twice, like when he fell several stories in a collapsing building only to land on a well-placed sofa. The British have all the lucky escapes (Dunkirk, Gallipoli).
But what I do like is the British counter to Americana BIG GUN IS BEST with James in his impeccable suit and wee suit pocket aesthetic Walther PPK pistol. A deadly cigarette case.
Spectre is classic Bond and a visual fast-paced feast. So go see it but the next James Bond has to turn over some new leaves or corners if we aren’t to get bored with the modern James Bond franchise.
I liked this but not as much as Craig’s first and second outings CasinoRoyale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) but more than number three Skyfall(2012). This is Craig’s fourth Bonding. Actually we’d have to throw one of my favourite ‘Bond’ movies in here, the in-between 2011 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also starring Craig. He may as well have been Bond. It’s brilliant.
I give this a 6.5 + 0.5 for the opening Death Festival sequence and the opening chase, so maybe up to a 7/10.
We were shaken, but not stirred. ~ John Stringer (Christchurch)
Sweeping changes about how courts handle sexual violence cases have been recommended by the Law Commission amid concerns a high percentage of offending is unreported.
On Monday, it released its 252-page report on the issue, The Justice Response to Victims of Sexual Violence: Criminal Trials and Alternative Processes, which noted many victims feared how they would be treated in a criminal trial so as many as 80 per cent opted out.
“They are doing so largely because they perceive the formal criminal justice system to be alienating, traumatising and unresponsive to their legitimate concerns,” commission president Sir Grant Hammond said in the report.
Some victims, especially those violated by a family member or someone they were in a relationship with, also would not report the violence because they did not want the assailant to go to prison if convicted.
“A high percentage of victims of sexual violence are ‘opting out’ of the very system that is designed to deliver them justice. Appropriate justice processes are required for all victims of sexual violence, including those who may not want to go to trial,” Hammond said.
The commission proposed three major changes, including ways to improve trial processes, such as piloting a specialist sexual violence court, establishing a Sexual Violence Commission to give victims more support and offering an alternative justice process outside the criminal system if sexual violence victims preferred.
Other ways it recommended to boost trial processes for victims included shortening the time it took for sexual violence cases to reach trial, using less traumatic ways of giving evidence by victims and giving special training for judges.
Its proposed alternative justice process for sexual violence cases outside of the criminal system would be managed by accredited facilitators with expertise in sexual violence.
These proposals look very worthwhile and I hope the Government takes them up.
I was worried the Law Commission might go down the path of Andrew Little’s policy, where you are deemed guilty of rape unless you can prove you had consent.
The proposed alternative justice process has considerable merit. It would allow victims who don’t want to go through a criminal prosecution and trial, to still have the alleged offender have to answer questions about their actions, and potentially acknowledge they acted wrongly.
Vic Crone has resigned her role as Xero’s managing director, NZ and new markets, to focus on her tilt at the Auckland mayoralty, promising she will bring fresh thinking and a focus on fiscal responsibility should she win next year’s election.
Victoria is giving up her job to campaign fulltime for the Mayoralty. A real contrast to Phil Goff who will be remaining in his taxpayer funded job for the next ten months.
Although she says she will run as an independent and would be happy to work with National and Labour if her bid is successful, she notes that she believes “strongly in the values of fiscal responsibility and share this view with others on the centre right.
It’s going to be simple for Aucklanders. If you want affordable rates then vote for a centre-right Mayor and centre-right Councillors who are committed to a cap on rates increases.
As well as her mayoralty campaign, Ms Crone also announced the launch of a website to support it: http://vic4mayor.nz/
“From each as they choose, to each as they are chosen.”
– Robert Nozick
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Activists will picket IHC’s headquarters to protest the organisation’s interest in the Government’s state housing sell-off.
The intellectual disability support service revealed in August that was considering purchasing some or all of the 1140 state houses the government intends to sell in Tauranga.
State Housing Action Network says it’s “appalled” at the move, with its supporters staging a protest outside the IHC’s Wellington office today.
The network’s convenor John Minto accused IHC of “colluding in the betrayal of the most vulnerable families”, and allowing the government to walk away from its responsibility.
I suspect the IHC is in a better position to judge how to help the most vulnerable, than John Minto and his merry Marxists.
“We want the public to know that this once proud organisation, IHC, has become an eager collaborator in one of the National government’s most despicable policies,” Mr Minto said.
“IHC would not support Victorian-era approaches and attitudes to people with disabilities so neither should they support the National government returning housing for low-income families to Victorian times when the only options were charities and churches.”
The despicable policy that the Marxists are against is to extend the income related rent subsidy for state houses to all social provider houses, hence helping many more struggling families.
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Key put Collins back in Cabinet. He saw his previous leader Don Brash off and out of Parliament. He made National’s leader before Brash – Bill English – his number two.
And what a choice. English is the heart and brains of the Government. I consider him the best minister I’ve seen.
I agree.
There’s constant speculation on who might replace Key if National gets a fourth term. But just as important a question is who might replace English when he chooses to retire?
English is not just the Finance Minister of the Government, but effectively the Chief Operating Officer also. He is constantly looking at how to improve the performance of the public sector.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum rewrote record books yesterday when he smashed his 100th six in Test cricket, equalling Australia great Adam Gilchrist’s record for most number of sixes in the five-day format.
McCullum, who remained not out on 17 on Day 4 of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Dunedin, belted his second six of his innings to equal the world record. It took his total to 100, joining Gilchrist as the most prolific boundary busters in Test history.
McCullum is aged 34 and could well play for several more years. He could well set a record that will last for a long time.
Mountain bikers have loved riding on Wellington’s Te Ahumairangi Hill for years and will ignore council attempts to close the illegal tracks, warns a resident and a rider.
Riders have been at loggerheads for years with Thorndon and Wadestown residents about whether bikers can use the hilly reserve behind Tinakori Rd.
Last week, Wellington City Council announced it would close the illegal mountain biking tracks and appealed to riders to contact council staff about creating tracks through official channels.
It’s a huge hill with scores of potential tracks. There’s room for both cyclists and walkers, but the Council is right that the tracks need to be done officially. Mark two or three as reserved for cyclists, so that pedestrians can avoid them.
Millar described his will as “necessarily uncommon and capricious” because he had “no dependents or near relations.” What Millar lacked in heirs, though, he made up for in cash and property. In addition to his work as a lawyer, Millar amassed a net worth of more than $10 million (in today’s Canadian dollars)1 through a series of investments, including the property that would eventually be used for the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, one of the busiest crossings between the United States and Canada. He wanted to give that wealth away.
But he wanted to do it in as roguish a way as possible. Millar started off by giving shares in a jockey club to gambling opponents and shares in a brewery to teetotalling religious leaders.
Heh I like it.
The religious leaders have to actually participate in its management to get the shares!
Then he left his house in Jamaica to three men who hated one another, on the condition that they own it together.
Did they have to live there also?
But those were just a prelude to the big finish. In clause 10, Millar revealed a biology and math challenge that would change the lives of dozens of Toronto families. The remainder of his fortune — about $9 million — would be bequeathed a decade later to “the mother who has since my death given birth in Toronto to the greatest number of children as shown by the registrations under the Vital Statistics Act.” If there were a tie, he wanted his fortune to be divided equally among the winners.
I can see him chuckling away at the thought of scores of families all trying to have as many babies as possible to win his money.
In his last days in the job, outgoing Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-Iiga has backed calls for an independent prisons inspectorate, in the wake of failures at privately run Mt Eden prison.
The Department of Corrections announced this week it would not renew private operator Serco’s contract for Mt Eden at a break point in March 2017, following reports of “fight clubs”, the use of contraband and alleged mistreatment of prisoners.
Cassandra Harwood, whose partner, Wayne Hotton, was found dead on his own in a locked isolation cell at Mt Eden, said earlier this year an independent prisons inspectorate was needed to prevent similar tragedies.
Lotu-Iiga has thrown his support behind the idea as he prepares to vacate his corrections role, saying an independent inspectorate for public and private prisons is “something that I’m eager to see put in place”.
“I believe that the current inspectorate does a great job … but I also believe that an independent inspectorate is a good idea.
“It is about strengthening the independent oversight of the whole corrections system, and ultimately what that does is provide assurances for the public, for ministers, and also for offenders and their families.”
Sounds a good idea to me.
It could be modelled on the IPCA, or even form a combined agency with them.
She’s the boss of Xero’s New Zealand operation, and before that she was at Chorus, where she came up with the idea for that Gigatown competition.
She used to help out at the City Mission before her career got too busy.
She plays the piano and likes to kayak. She has two daughters, has an Auckland apartment and a house in Muriwai.
You’ve probably barely heard of her, but for her next trick she wants to try running New Zealand’s biggest city.
On Monday, all going well, Victoria Crone, 42, will get off the fence she’s been perching on for the past month, and announce she’s going to take a tilt at the Auckland mayoralty. …
She grew up in Wellington. Her mother Marvyn trained as a nurse and was a stay-at-home mum; her dad Rowland was an accountant and later a chief executive and national president of the Manufacturers Federation.
She was raised Anglican and believes in God. Both parents did voluntary work, including for the Special Olympics, as did Victoria.
She has a masters in Commerce and Administration from Victoria University and took piano to LTCL level – “I had the option to pursue music, but picked business.”
She spent 18 years at Telecom then Chorus in marketing and sales roles before taking the Xero job in April last year.
She’s single. She sits on a number of boards including that of Wellington’s business incubator Creative HQ and Figure.NZ, an online open-data organisation.
She enjoys kayaking and endurance sports. She likes the food at Depot in Federal St, and the Strand in Parnell. She likes Coldplay and U2 but her musical choices are currently dominated by the poppish taste of her daughters Megan, 15, and Mackenzie, 11.
The Auckland Council put rates up 99 times greater than the rate of inflation. We have 0.1% inflation and they stuck Aucklanders with a 9.9% increase. Auckland needs a leader and Council who will reduce spending, not increase it.
