Stuff reports:

Two murderers face becoming New Zealand’s first criminals jailed for the rest of their lives after an historic appeal of the three strikes law.

The lawyers of Shane Pierre Harrison and Justin Vance Turner had successfully argued such a tough sentence was unfair in the men’s cases, even though criminals with first strike convictions who later committed murders could be jailed for life without parole.

However, the Crown has appealed their sentences, claiming the High Court judges were wrong to fail to jail the two killers for life without parole. 

So the High Court decided that life without parole would be manifestly unjust. This shows that the law doesn’t totally eliminate judicial discretion – which was the intent. But it is good to have the Court of Appeal decide if the High Court got it right.

Harrison jointly murdered Alonsio (Sio) Matalasi during a gang confrontation in Petone, Lower Hutt, in August 2013. Turnerwho bashed and stomped to death a fellow homeless man, Maqbool Hussain, in Auckland in March 2014.

Harrison’s first strike offence was for pinching a policewoman’s bottom and brushing his hand across her groin and thighs in 2011.

At his October 2014 sentencing for murder, Justice Jill Malyon said Harrison’s indecent assault conviction was “relatively minor” and while it could trigger life imprisonment without parole, that was “an entirely disproportionate response”.

“It would be manifestly unjust and is the kind of unfair case that Parliament has recognised can arise in providing the judge with the discretion,” she said in the High Court in Wellington.

She sentenced him to life in jail with a 13-year minimum non-parole period.

But Harrison has killed before. He also killed in 1989. That was of course before three strikes, so can’t be used for a strike. But he qualified for LWOP on the basis of the two convictions under three strikes, and I would have thought his earlier conviction could be a factor in whether LWOP is manifestly unjust.

The other case is of Justin Turner. He bashed and stamped to death a homeless man in 2014 and his first strike was:

Turner’s first strike conviction was for wounding with intent after hitting a female acquaintance in the head several times in 2011, causing traumatic brain injuries. She required life support when admitted to Auckland Hospital and needed ongoing, serious rehabilitative treatment. 

Nasty.

When sentencing Turner in February, Justice Mark Woolford said the 29-year-old could spend as long as 59 years behind bars before he died, which Turner’s lawyer argued was “disproportionately severe”.

I’m not sure it is.

The Harrison case is more arguable as his first strike was relatively minor. But Turner almost killed with his first strike. He did kill with his second strike. The three strikes law is about protection of the community and certainty of outcome to deter crime.

It will be very interesting to see how the Court of Appeal rules.

It seems rather obvious all is not well in Winston First, as Tracy Martin speaks out:

In July Martin was rolled from the deputy leadership by “assertive and aggressive” Ron Mark and while she says he has the credentials for the job she also believes her gender played a part in her fall.

“I was asked by a reporter in Warkworth that said, why aren’t you deputy leader anymore, what did you do wrong? I’m not aware I did anything wrong so my flippant answer was, I was probably born the wrong gender. It’s an answer but it’s an unprovable answer,” says Martin.

Not good for an MP to be saying she got sacked as Deputy as she is female.

Martin says while Peters has a “1950s respect for women” he also sees the politics in everything, which is why he has previously sided with women on issues including underage forced marriage and paid parental leave.

That sounds like a back handed compliment, at best. So basically he sees women in the home, but as they have the vote will side on some issues for them! And this is from his own former deputy!

Peters says he was not sure what Martin meant by his “1950s respect”, but said that NZ First had more women on the board at a high level than any other party.

Do they make the tea also? And do they have more women on their board than Labour and Greens?

Martin’s time in Parliament could be tied to Peters – she says that if she was still there when he retired she would question whether she could stay on with another leader.

Translation is she won’t work for Ron Mark, or I suspect Shane Jones.

If you were a fan of Ewen Gilmour and want a good night out in Wellington for a good cause, check this out:

In honour of our mate Ewen Gilmour and Variety the Children’s Charity, a few of us that gigged with the Westie a lot are getting together for a celebration of the biggest in the west! (well Wellington). Come have a beer at VK’s, wear your bike gear long hair westie T-shirts and don’t make any plans for the next day.

The line up of Tarun Mohanbhai, Jarred Fell, Urzila Carlson & Vaughan King will be having a few and telling some on the road stories.

Don’t miss out on this top NZ comedy night and the chance to help out the Variety – The Children’s Charity.

Details are:

• Saturday 3 October, 8 pm to 11 pm
• VK’s Comedy & Blues Bar, 60 Dixon Street, Wellington
• Tickets $30 – online here or by phone or office

From the Illinois Review:

The tribal wisdom of the Plains Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

However, in government more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1.  Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead  horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses,

and, of course…

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

Incredible. Wales beat England 28 to 25. This has been such an unpredictable World Cup.

If England lose to Australia the host nation may not even make the semi-final!

Patrice Gaffaney Heather du Plessis-Allen writes the NZ Herald:

If there was a prize for sounding like the biggest pack of sad sacks, the Labour Party would win it.

He cites three things. First:

Our biggest rivals had just been told by their new Prime Minister that the leader he’d most like to emulate is the guy running New Zealand.

Malcolm Turnbull had the whole world to pick from: Obama, Cameron, Merkel. …

Andrew Little told Australians he pitied them if that’s what their new leader wants.

That was the third time he missed the chance to display a little magnanimity or leadership in the past fortnight. If he carries on like this, it will be as hard to vote for his party in 2017 as it was in the last election a year and a week ago.

The second is the flag:

Possibly his biggest mistake though was playing politics with the flag referendum. Forget what Labour was saying publicly about wanting to get Red Peak on the ballot. They didn’t want that. …

That’s why Labour mucked around and that’s why the Greens and National outmanoeuvered it. Labour was more interested in embarrassing the Prime Minister than making sure we hand the right flag on to our grandkids.

Yep. And the third:

How do you turn a story about panda bears into something negative? Here’s how.

It sounds increasingly like our biggest trading partner might hook us up with a couple of cute – but admittedly expensive to keep – YouTube favourites.

If you’re Little, you don’t use this as a chance to show your sense of humour and crack a few panda puns or display your understanding of the tourism the bears generate.

Instead, you say there are better things to spend money on. There are always better things.

Little will have done his research. He’ll know about panda diplomacy. He’ll know getting pandas from China is the equivalent of a diplomatic BFF note.

Overall Labour and Little has just come across as relentlessly negative on everything.

Duncan Garner writes at Stuff:

They need to now promote Jacinda Arden who last week appeared in the unprompted preferred PM rankings.

She should replace current deputy, Annette King.

King is strong, popular and performs, and my sources tell me there are some who want her to stay as number 2.

But Labour needs to excite the public and signal change and that’s where Ardern comes in.

As capable as King is, I don’t think they look like a party for the future with her as Deputy. If they retain her, it is almost a vote of no confidence in the rest of the caucus. However she is undeniably their best performing MP.

Suzy McKinney writes at Public Address:

The case of the I-Kiribati man Ioane Teitiota being deported after failing to become the world’s first climate change refugee in the Supreme Court of New Zealand is unfortunate, but is not unfair and misrepresents the reality of climate change to Kiribati in a harmful way.

I’m a self-proclaimed climate activist – I protested at the UN climate negotiations in Peru last year and submitted to the Ministry for the Environment’s consultation process calling for ambitious action on climate change. I am also currently living in Kiribati, working at the hospital here as part of my medical training.

My climate change activist friends back in New Zealand think this man being deported is disgraceful. Although the long-term impacts of climate change upon Kiribati are certainly disgraceful, Teitiota’s deportation is not and to think so is to misunderstand the unique situation that these low-lying islands and their proud peoples face.

Further:

It would be unfair for me to speculate as to Ioane Teitiota’s reasons for originally leaving Kiribati, or how much of a role the impacts of climate change at home played in his decision to fight to stay in New Zealand. I can only observe the comments of those I-Kiribati people involved in climate advocacy here and quote to you the words of Pelenise Alofa, National Coordinator of Kiribati’s Climate Action Network – “no one has ever left Kiribati because of climate change”.

Does he even claim he left because of it? He is just using it as a way not to get deported as an overstayer.

Research carried out in Kiribati shows that I-Kiribati people want to continue to live in their country for as long as possible and desire adaptation projects such as sea walls that will allow them to do so, rather than to flee Kiribati in 2015. The failure of Teitiota’s claims make it harder for people working to protect Kiribati’s climate to secure assistance and funding for the adaptation projects the country really needs .

So he is harming his own country.

As an observer here in South Tarawa, Kiribati, I see anger at Teitiota for his actions and the words he has spoken about his country. I see resentment for him from civil society here for the way his court case has mischaracterized how I-Kiribati people want to respond to climate change.

This article should get as much media attention, as the overstayer’s claims did. And shame on Labour for backing his claims.

Trans-Tasman scribes some possible responses from parties to Pig-gate.

Parliament rose this week for recess, but not without the parties giving their views on the allegations about British Prime Minister David Cameron and his youthful indiscretion with a pig.

National stands by its previous position on the issue, whatever it was, and points out Labour had nine long years to engage in debauched behaviour with animals but failed to do so. Also PM John Key is quite into pigtails.

Labour is setting up a Commission on the Future of Pork which will give it some policy. It has also unearthed official advice saying National ignored official advice on debauched behaviour with animals. MP Phil Twyford is protesting the traditional method of calling pigs, “SooEY!” sounds Chinese.

The Greens are querying the pig’s contribution to climate change, and also whether it could be used to combat child poverty.

The Maori Party is keeping a low profile, as it tends to do these days. There isn’t a Whanau Ora aspect to this, unless there is a chance to use the pig for some sort of koha – and really, they would rather not, considering where it has been.

New Zealand First doesn’t know what to think, as Winston is away right now. But whatever it is they are really really angry about it.

Peter Dunne meanwhile is just really irritable about the whole thing, and is hoping to annoy NZ First about it if he can’t annoy the government this time.

ACT’s David Seymour has a really amusing, accidental double entendre all prepared for the next photo op.

Heh, not bad.

The Herald reports:

The Dalai Lama has suggested that his successor could be female – but only if she is “very attractive”.

The spiritual leader said there was no reason a woman could not replace him, adding that she would be more biologically suited to show affection and compassion.

Speaking to the BBC, the Dalai Lama recalled how he had originally made a comment to a French journalist about 15 years ago.

He said: “I think females should take more important role.

“I told the reporter, if a female Dalai Lama comes her face must be – should be – very attractive.”

When asked for clarification, he continued: “When female Dalai Lama comes, then that female must be attractive, otherwise not much use.”

Oh dear.

I guess it is proof that all religious leaders can say stupid things.

ABC reports:

The Fair Work Commission has found that a Tasmanian woman was bullied by a work colleague who unfriended her on Facebook after a confrontation in the workplace.

It is part of a wider bullying claim that also allegedly involved hostile behaviour and inappropriate comments.

Rachael Roberts, a Launceston real estate agent, complained to the commission that she was bullied by her colleague Lisa Bird, leaving her with depression and anxiety.

The Facebook incident took place in January this year, after Ms Bird allegedly called Ms Roberts a “naughty little schoolgirl running to the teacher” during an aggressive meeting in the tea room.

Ms Roberts told the commission she left the office crying and when she later checked Facebook to see if Ms Bird has commented on Facebook about the incident, she found that Ms Bird had deleted her as a Facebook friend.

Fair Work Commission deputy president Nicole Wells said in her decision that the unfriending was unreasonable behaviour

If I was Australian, I’d like to unfriend the Fair Work Commission.

Gerry Brownlee reports:

The Crown and Christchurch City Council have signalled a new era in central and local government relations with the development of a joint entity to drive the city’s regeneration.

The Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, and the Mayor of Christchurch, Lianne Dalziel, today outlined plans to establish Regenerate Christchurch – a joint entity tasked with overseeing the long term development and enhancement of the Central City, residential red zone, New Brighton and other potential regeneration zones. …

Regenerate Christchurch will be jointly owned and funded by the Crown and the Christchurch City Council.  It will have a board which will report to both the Crown and Council. After five years the organisation will transfer to the city as a fully Council Controlled Organisation (CCO).

Appointing an independent Board ensures that Regenerate Christchurch will be managed in a completely different way to the current entities, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority and the Christchurch City Council.

Having it eventually revert to full Council control is the right thing, along with having an independent board.

Trans-Tasman writes:

What those who label Key as “Teflon John” or “Lucky John” can’t fathom is the leadership skills the PM brings to the job. These include an ability to communicate unmatched by previous PMs, and an unerring instinct connecting with the issues of the day, allied to a systemic cheerfulness. Key’s own personal chemistry has blunted the inherent rivalry visible in previous administrations where Ministers jostled for advancement. The result is a sense of teamwork between the PM and his senior Ministers unrivalled in NZ’s political history …

Key exploits the architecture of Govt, with cabinet committee agendas deeper and more challenging than in previous eras. Ministers who demonstrate they know what they are doing are given their head to do what needs to be done in their portfolios (witness Hekia Parata in Education). But then it is Key who delivers the surprises, as in the decision to raise benefits for the first time in 43 years. Some commentators say the Govt hasn’t done enough in reform, ignoring the welfare, education and social policy developments (which have totally de-fanged Labour), and dismissing the $40bn cost of the Christchurch rebuild as an inconsequential bagatelle. What may prove even more disconcerting to Key’s opponent is his determination to win a fourth term.

I’m going to do some posts next week looking at what reforms National has managed, that would appeal to centre-right people, but also what policies they have implemented that appeal more to centre-left.

People say Key operates from the centre, but this is not quite right. His overall policy programme is centrist, but he actually does do a fair amount of centre-right policies – it just he also does some stuff that usually you expect from a left Government. Overall by darting to the left on some issues, it allows him to advance policies on the right also.

The Herald reports:

A review panel is scathing of Child, Youth and Family’s performance, saying the current system is focused on immediate risks and containing costs at the expense of tackling harm and supporting long-term outcomes.

The panel, led by economist Paula Rebstock, has recommended CYF should adopt an “investment approach” to needy children, intervening earlier in partnership with other agencies.

This is sensible, and is working well in ACC and welfare. Ultimately should be extended to most areas of social provision.

It also recommended a new advocacy service for children in state care which would be run by the philanthropic sector.

Also sounds worthwhile.

However, it is highly critical of CYF’s nine youth residences, suggesting that they should be replaced by “smaller, more localised services”.

“Evidence and experience show that the propensity of large-scale institutions to cause harm to vulnerable children generally outweighs the security and safety benefits,” the report says.

“Cold, sterile facilities like some of the CYF residences run the risk of re-traumatising children and young people.

“Security and safety can often be dealt with by smaller, more localised services where a stronger connection to communities and tailored support would also provide a better chance of healing and development.”

Again, seems sensible.

Mrs Tolley said some of the statistics in the report were “horrifying”.

She said by the time children with a care placement who were born in the 12 months to June 1991 had reached the age of 21:

• Almost 90 per cent were on a benefit;
• More than 25 per cent were on a benefit with a child;
• Almost 80 per cent did not have NCEA Level 2;
• More than 30 per cent had a youth justice referral by the age of 18;
• Almost 20 per cent had had a custodial sentence;
• Almost 40 per cent had a community sentence;
• Overall, six out of every 10 children in care are Maori.

“This simply cannot be allowed to continue,” Mrs Tolley said.

Those outcomes are awful, and it is good to see the ambition to lift them.

However we should also be aware there are limits to what the state can do. Many or most of those in state care have been abused, beaten or neglected by their parents. They may have been exposed to alcohol or drugs in the womb, or during their childhood. By the time they get taken away from their parents, they’re already in a pretty crap state. And with the best will in the world, the harm done to them may be very very difficult to reverse.

But we certainly can do better than the status quo.

The Nelson Mail reports:

And so the question remains: Who writes this stuff?

Who is the unnamed man or woman that sits in Prime Minister John Key’s corner silently passing him zingers written on paper napkins under the table? This staffer (one imagines you could only pay someone to do this job) has collated an incredible trove of whimsy in Key’s seven years in power.

There has been that one about being eaten by members of Ngati Porou. The one about killer paedophile not being invited around to the Chilean president’s place for lunch.

Knowing the PM’s media and comms staffers, I can say with certainty that none of them write his jokes, or certainly not ones about being eaten by Tuhoe. In fact they probably are the onces wincing the hardest when he tells such a joke.

There was also the one, or was it the two, about having a gathering in Australia and not knowing which Prime Minister would show up.

Key told that one twice on Thursday.

These jokes have always been bad. But they are bad in the same way dad jokes are bad, or jokes told to audiences of business people are bad.

The former may cause a slight, uncomfortable cringe and no harm done. The latter will attempt to be edgy and often lame but will always be met with raucous laughter.

For some reason audiences full of business people are prone to raucous laughter no matter the subject matter. This is as it was in Nelson.

The prime minister has thrived on both these forms of humour. As he has evolved into a more comfortable political animal, his demeanour while telling these jokes has become more relaxed, more confident. They have become something of a signature of Key’s. If Key is not joking then you know something is wrong. Most of the time he is joking.

So the unnamed staffer should be given a pay rise out of the prime minister’s own pocket because bad jokes seem to have as much to do with brand Key as anything else.

Of course, that is unless Key writes this stuff himself.

Yep, he does.

Just as you think they can’t get more lunatic, they do.

The Guardian reports:

The new shadow environment secretary believes meat should be treated in the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it, according to an interview she gave to a vegan magazine. …

“I really believe that meat should be treated in exactly the same way as tobacco with public campaigns to stop people eating it.”

This is not some obscure backbench MP. This is their shadow environment secretary. Absolutely bonkers.

Has been viewed 3.7 million times so far on You Tube. Great ad.

Not a great score or great display from the top ranked team against the bottom ranked team.

I can only hope they were being extra cautious and not wanting to get any injuries.

But still Namibia managed to score a try, which really should not have happened.

The first two All Black games have been average and the next two games against Georgia and Tonga won’t test the team much before the quarter final.

That will be against the runner up of Pool D. Probably Ireland. And again that may not test up too much. We have never lost to them in 110 years of matches

Then if we get past that a semi vs the winner of Pool B winner and Pool A runner up. The runner up of Pool A will be England or Australia, and I’d say our likely SF competition.  Up until then we will have played no top tier teams while England or Australia will have both played each other, and probably also South Africa.

The Herald reports:

Spark has been identified as New Zealand’s most complained about company in a report released by the Commerce Commission today.

The Consumer Issues 2015 report notes the telecommunications company received 128 complaints under the Fair Trading Act last year.

This was closely followed by Vodafone, which received 112 complaints in 2014 and Auckland Academy of Learning, which received 106 complaints.

The first two are are two largest telcos who each have over a million customers. So no surprise they had more complaints than most companies.

But the Auckland Academy of Learning is a very small company. To get 106 complaints, they must be doing something very bad. And indeed they are, as this story shows.

24 most complained about companies:

• Spark NZ Trading Limited – 128
• Vodafone NZ Limited – 112
• Auckland Academy of Learning Limited – 106
• ANZ National Bank Limited T/A The National Bank and ANZ – 99
• Sellers on Trade Me – 78
• New Zealand Business Funding Centre – 50
• Progressive Enterprises Ltd (Countdown) – 45
• Air New Zealand Limited – 43
• GrabOne Limited – 39
• Noel Leeming Group Limited (Noel Leeming) – 35
• Brand Developers Limited (TV Shop) – 35
• Foodstuffs (NZ) Ltd (New World/PAK’nSAVE/Four Square) – 34
• ASB Bank Limited – 33
• Parking Enforcement Services – 31
• DSE (NZ) Limited (Dick Smith Electronics) – 30
• DB Breweries Limited – 29
• Callplus Services Limited (Slingshot Communications) – 27
• Dead Sea Skincare – 27
• The Warehouse Group Limited (The Warehouse) – 26
• NZ Sale Limited – 26
• KLiB Technologies Group Limited (24/7 Hosting and Web Design) – 25
• Two Degrees Mobile Limited (2degrees) – 24
• PB Technologies Limited – 24
• IPL Laser Solutions Limited – 23

I’ve bolded the ones who are not major retailers or the like, suggesting there are real issues with them.

Stuff reports:

In a stunning reversal of decades of copyright claims, a federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that Warner/Chappell Music does not hold a valid copyright claim to the Happy Birthday To You, song.

Warner had been enforcing its copyright claim since it paid US$15 million (NZ$23m) to buy Birch Tree Group, the successor to Clayton F. Summy Co., which owned the original copyright. Royalties on the song bring in about US$2 million (NZ$3.1m) a year for Warner, according to some estimates.

Judge George H. King ruled on Tuesday (Wednesday, NZ time) that a copyright filed by the Summy Co. in 1935 granted only the rights to specific arrangements of the music, not the actual song itself.

Tuesday’s ruling means that the song is now considered a public work and is free for everyone to use without fear of having to pay royalties, according to a statement from the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

A good example of the need to reform copyright law. The maximum term of copyright should be the life of the author + 20 years.