This photo was sent to me by a reader. It was taken well before the current storm. What it shows is water welling up out of two massive bulges in the new asphalt of Thorndon Quay’s new cycle lane.

Great job!

Bob (Sir Robert) Jones has died aged 85. Bob was one of my favourite authors growing up, and I was fortunate enough to get to know him quite well in recent times. His larrikin sense of humour will be sadly missed – we need more in his mould.

In 1973 he published a book called “The first twelve months : a study of the achievements of the third Labour government in 1973”. It was 100 blank pages.

Later on he put up a pole in Wellington measuring the credibility of the Government. Every few weeks he would lower it. Then he started digging a hole. Finally he wrote to the Mayor of a city in Spain that is opposite Wellington and asked them to put up a pole there as the credibility had dropped so much, it had burrowed through the planet.

Other stunts includes the many humorous billboards such as “Mat Rata reads comics” and gatecrashing an interview with Bill Rowling with a human sized mouse.

He was a supporter of Muldoon but then became an implacable opponent as Muldoon went interventionist. His New Zealand Party in 1984 played a role in defeating the Muldoon Government. Later on though Bob organised a surprise farewell dinner for Muldoon as he was preparing to leave Parliament, as he was outraged no one else was doing anything.

I have read every single one of his books (and have many signed editions). My favourites by far were his “Letters” which were sidesplittingly funny as he dealt out humour and generosity to nuns and others. His letters to Sir Ron Brierley as a “gravely concerned shareholder” (he had one share) were especially great. Also great were his letters with the Secretary of Transport over his speeding tickets and his reference to various officers as “Moustached dwarves of indeterminate gender”. The Secretary made the mistake of asking if he could just refer to them as Officer X, and Bob replied that he doesn’t called the garbage collector “Garbage Collector X” and as that his a similar status to a traffic officer, why would he call them Office X.

I first met Bob in person in 2005. I was involved with the campaign against the Electoral Finance Bill that could have criminalised sending an e-mail that discussed policy. A colleague was meeting Bob to see if he was interested in relaunching the New Zealand Party with the sole purpose of repealing the law. Bob had some questions on the proposed law, and I was the expert on it so around 2 pm I got a phone call asking if I could pop over and join the meeting.

14 hours later at 4 am I staggered out of his building, having drunk more wine than I thought was possible. I lurched into the nearby petrol station and wolfed down a pie, as the 14 hours of talking and drinking with Bob involved much wine but little food.

Since then I’ve been a guest at his house (his parties are legendary – as is the view), and even helped him set up his own blog. I managed to hide from him that I was once a scout leader (he viewed them all as clones of Bill Rowling) but he still managed to find many things to hassle me about over the years.

In recent years I would often see him at the Taxpayers’ Union office as he was their landlord. He would often sit down for drinks with the staff, and provoke various degrees of outrage and amusement from them. He loved to be provocative, but it was never in a nasty way. It was always with humour.

New Zealand is the better for Bob Jones. He contributed so much in business, in politics, in sports (boxing) in literature and in humour.

He will be greatly missed, and I hope his style of irreverent humour will not pass away with him.

Stuff reports:

The metal gates are padlocked now at the Parichaya Samaj centre that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and supports the queer community in Nepal. A sign at the entry says they are unable to help anymore. The staff and volunteers are gone.

Ever since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration began dismantling the US Agency for International Development, which was responsible for humanitarian aid, most of the help centers for Nepal’s LGBTQ+ community have been closed due to lack of funds. Thousands of people have been left without support.

This story seems to be designed to show how terrible the US spending cuts are, but I suspect the vast majority of Americans would not think that their taxes should be going on the Nepal LGBTQ+ community!

The Herald reports:

Act leader David Seymour is taking aim at the size of government, calling for a limit to the number of Cabinet members, scrapping or merging Government departments and abolishing ministerial portfolios, including some created by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. 

In a speech to Tauranga Business Chamber members today, Seymour proposed capping the number of ministers at 20, with no ministers outside Cabinet. There are currently 28 ministers, including eight sitting outside Cabinet. 

He also supported scrapping all associate ministerial roles, aside from the associate finance ministers, of which he is one. 

The proposal, which Seymour says could be Act Party policy for next year’s election, plans to abolish some of the 82 ministerial portfolios and to either cut or merge the roughly 40 Government departments. 

In his speech, he mentioned several portfolios in his sights: Racing, Hospitality, Auckland, the South Island, Hunting and Fishing, the Voluntary Sector, and Space – all currently held by either National or New Zealand First ministers.

I support the direction Seymour wants to move government in, but I would go even further. In 2011 I proposed a Government of just 12 Ministers and 12 Ministries – one Minister and one CEO for each sector.

1. Ministry of Internal Security – Crown Law, Corrections, SIS, Justice, SFO, Police
2. Ministry for Environment – Environment, EPA, Conservation, Biosecurity
3. Dept of Administrative Affairs – DIA, LINZ, Building & Housing, Customs, Stats
4. Ministry for Economic Development – Labour, MAF, MED, Fisheries, MORST, Transport
5. DPMC – DPMC, PSC
6. Ministry of Education – Education, ERO, TEC
7. Ministry of External Relations & Security – GCSB, Defence, MFAT,  NZDF
8. Treasury – Treasury
9. Ministry for Incomes – IRD, WINZ
10. Ministry of Culture – Culture & Heritage, Nat Lib, Archives, NZ on Air
11. Ministry of Health – Health
12. Ministry of Social Policy – Pacific Island Affairs, MSD, CYF, Youth Development, Community Sector, Senior Citizens, Families, Women’s Affairs, TPK
13. Parliament – Parl Serv, Min Serv, Office of Clerk, PCO

The Speaker would be in charges of the parliamentary agency, and 12 Ministers in charges of the 12 main ministries or departments.

Stuff reports:

Whanau’s exit has come with plenty of speculation about the possibility of a deal, so that she and Little might work together and advance Labour/Green interests.

But Little has no such plans, and he would not consider the current mayor to be his deputy, he confirmed.

“This election is about change. The sentiment is clear that people want change, and I am standing because I represent change.”

“That change has to be reflected, not just in the mayoralty, but in the deputy mayoralty.”

This comes after Whanau said she would be keen to be Little’s Deputy Mayor. Little could dodge this question by saying that would be decided after the election, once he knows who is on Council (if he wins). But by ruling out Whanau in advance, he is trying to distance himself from her, as he knows that she is incredibly unpopular.

On Tuesday, Little told Stuff that council officers should hold off from signing any contracts that would bind the council after the election. …

Whanau pushed back, commenting Little is not elected yet and does not have a say at the council table.

“I have been tasked with delivering on the Courtenay Place precinct. Delaying that project even further will only add more cost to something that we desperately need,” she told Stuff on Tuesday, adding that she is confident they can get the crucial contract signed before the October election.

But Little stood by his comments.

“In central government, there’s a convention that when you’re months out from a general election, you don’t make decisions that are of significant or material value that you know would bind the next government. And I am not sure that convention applies at local government, but it should do.”

Little is right. Nominations for Council open in just over two months. Outgoing Councils should be very hesitant about commiting ratepayers to expensive projects which would undermine the whole point of the upcoming election.

Stuff reports:

Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry and his wife Laura are in a bitter property dispute with her mother.

Suppression orders originally made at the Barrys’ request ended on Tuesday after they abandoned an attempt to have them continue at the High Court at Wellington.

So the Mayor got a suppression order against his own mother-in-law!

Laura Barry’s mother, Debra Harris, said in online posts she had health issues and claimed her daughter, a lawyer, and mayor son-in-law, wanted her removed from the property that the Barrys had bought with she and her now-estranged husband in 2019, the Barrys told the court.

According to a March High Court judgment on the non publication application, the Barrys sought an order from the court under the Property Law Act that the property they own half-shares as tenants in common be divided on terms by which the Barrys acquire the Harris’ title at current market value. The substantive application is still to be decided.

So she said they were trying to remove her from a property she part-owned with them, and in fact this is what they are trying to do.

Campbell Barry, who was not seeking re-election, said politicians expected a certain level of personal attacks and insults but not the broadcasting of private family information. It was that private interest and not his political life that he wanted to protect, his lawyer had told the High Court.

This may be a bit simplistic, but wouldn’t the best way not to have your private family information made public would be not trying to evict your mother-in-law from a house she part-owns?

Audrey Young does her usual ratings for the Ministers. Quite a few Ministers have improved ratings. The summary is:

• 9/10 – Chris Bishop (nc), Judith Collins (+2), Chris Penk (+2)
• 8/10 – Christopher Luxon (nc), Winston Peters (nc), Simeon Brown (-1), Erica Stanford (-1), Mark Mitchell (+1), Todd McClay (+1), Shane Jones (+1), David Seymour (nc)
• 7/10 – Nicola Willis (-1), Paul Goldsmith (-1), Louise Upston (+1), Simon Watts (nc), Brooke van Velden (nc), Nicole McKee (nc), James Meager, Andrew Hoggard (+1), Karen Chhour (-1)
• 6/10 – Shane Reti (-1), Tama Potaka (nc), Casey Costello (+1), Scott Simpson, Mark Patterson (+1)
• 5/10 – Matt Doocey (-1), Penny Simmonds (+1), Nicola Grigg (nc)

As always, these are Audrey’s ratings, not mine. I will say I agree with the increased scores for Collins and Penk, who are both doing very well.

As expected the Liberal Party won the Canadian election, but they have fallen short of a majority.

Here’s how each party has gone.

Liberals

• Vote went from 32.6% to 43.5%
• Seats went from 160 to 168

Conservatives

• Vote went from 33.7% to 41.4%
• Seats went from 119 to 144

In a shock though leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat

NDP

• Vote went from 17.8% to 6.2%
• Seats went from 25 to 7

Leader Jagmeet Singh lost his seat. The NDP has also lost party status in the Parliament.

Bloc Quebécois

• Vote went from 7.6% to 5.4%
• Seats went from 32% to 23

Greens

• Vote went from 2.3% to 1.2%
• Seats went from 2 to 1

People’s

• Vote went from 4.9% to 0.7%
• Seats went from 0 to 0

Mark Carney will be able to govern either with support from the NDP or the BQ so it should be a fairly stable minority Government.

In a fit of modesty outgoing Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau rated her Mayoralty a 9/10 on NewstalkZB.

This seems to be in slight contrast to the Curia poll in January which found only 17% of Wellingtonians thought she was doing a good job.

But Tory has ambition that would make Tim Shadbolt seem wise. In different interviews yesterday she declared she:

• would be keen to be Andrew Little’s Deputy Mayor
• might run again for Mayor one day
• wants to run for Parliament
• aspires to be a Minister

If we were a republic, no doubt the presidency would also beckon. But she may have to settle for Governor-General.

There would have been four articles but the use of taxpayer’s money to pay for teacher registration has already been posted.

1. An interesting article re moving away from State Schools altogether.
   
   I believe that there are a number of reasons why the Australian system now appears to be moving well ahead of NZ. You can stipulate the others but the fact that nearly 36% of students are in private schools in Australia and less than 4% in New Zealand.
   
   This article – raises many interesting points – e.g.
   
   “Thus, ‘modern education’ has abandoned the school functions of formal instruction in favor of molding the total personality both to enforce equality of learning at the level of the least educable, and to usurp the general educational role of home and other influences as much as possible.”

2. In a small nation like NZ we are far more prone to pendulum swings in “best practice”.

In our current situation I believe that it will be shown up in the directives that every school must deliver “structured literacy” to every child. As I have pointed out to some proponents – just my three children alone would have been lost to the system as they were proficient readers of chapter books at 5yo and had heard books such as The Lord of the Rings read to them from 3yo. Someone asking them to say: rat, cat, fat, twat … would have seen them disappearing into the distance. Plus – the very best programme can only have, at best, marginal gains – if the children that need learning the most are not regularly at school. The government needs to point the hose at the heart of the fire.

This article raises good points: e.g.

“If schools want across-the-board gains in reading achievement, using one reading curriculum to teach every child isn’t the best way. Teachers need the flexibility and autonomy to use various, developmentally appropriate literacy strategies as needed.”

3. I was a huge advocate in the last National government for the potential and effect of Charter Schools.

As I have stated – currently – Ass Minister Seymour has over-promised, underdelivered and attempted to defend the indefensible re Charter Schools.

He has accused me of sour grapes. That is simply impossible given that I have offered to create schools that cost me a lot more than I can otherwise do. Same for a range of other applicants.

Here his Seymour interviewed by Jack Tame on this:

My follow up to Jack Tame has been:

Well done on your interview with David Seymour re Charter Schools.

David thinks a few of us are picking on him. We are not. I am a huge supporter of the potential of the policy. What we are asking is:

• Why – according to his own statements – is the reality so different from what he promised?

• Many applicants were bemused by the first round process. David kept telling media (including yourself) that there was enough funding for 15 schools to be established at the beginning of 2025. Many good people and significant organisations (plus people with suitable properties – worth millions – holding off leasing them) took David and the CSA at their word. The applicants were equally bemused when the first 6 tiny schools (and by definition most of them will stay tiny) were announced. Followed by Tipene in December.

• It took an OIA to explain what was really going on. Seymour only has $10m to allocate until June 30 2025 for establishing and running the schools (and $2.5million was used for CSA salaries) – so only small schools could be approved. We have an OIA in to discover when Seymour knew about that funding level – because it is not in keeping with many of his 2024 statements.

• Around that there was much secrecy, applicant blaming and incredibly poor and time delayed processes.

• In the interview Seymour stated that they were further ahead than last time. Not true by two measures:
  
  – 2014 saw 5 start and 2015 saw 4 more start.
  
  – There were more students. For example – South Auckland Middle School started with 120, quickly went to 180 – and had 100+ on a waiting list. That could actually be regarded as good demand. Middle School West Auckland (started 2015) also got to near 200 quickly. Vanguard was over 100 and Raewyn Tipene’s two schools in Whangarei were also well populated.  NB: the schools had an average of 85% Maori and Pasifika. 

We also know now that the fund through to the end of 2026 is only $123million but, bizarrely, $30million of that is allocated to the CSA, Authorisation Board and ERO. The salaries for advertised roles have been stunning – an assessment of the schools role was advertised for $263k for what I would generously estimate to be a month’s work.

A few things with the State School conversion situation:

1. It is State, State Integrated and Designated Character Schools that can convert. Some considering it might be former Charter Schools but most of those did the numbers and it did not work.

2. What research was done to support the notion that 35 would want to convert anyway?

3. The CSA, Seymour and AB give different answers when asked if the 15/35 ratio is fixed.

4. I think that your question about Seymour and his lack of appeal to Maori is accurate. For David to say that Maori people put off by him are politicising it and are “maybe not the right people” is poor. He is also barely shifting the dial on our attendance crises – and is probably the wrong person in both roles.

A possible theory on why none of the CS this time around in any way challenge the established network is that Seymour did not want to rile the unions (who have been very quiet) in an attempt to try and minimise the opposition to State school conversions. 

For David to say that there is a “whole lot of children benefiting” was laughable. 215 out of 850,999 is … umm … a tiny amount.

Tipene should always have been approved as an Integrated School – either by Labour or by the new government. The CS approval for them was cost-saving as there is little/no property funding and no boarding funding the CS model. They have 45 students. The cost of boarding there is $20,000pa – although the Tipene Board is assisting with some of that – which is an expensive option for families.

In summary. We have a genuine education crises in NZ but we are tinkering like only National/ACT can do.

Alwyn Poole
[email protected]
alwynpoole.substack.com
www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/

16 days ago I wrote on Patreon why I was predicting that Tory Whanau will withdraw from the Mayoral race.

I hear from informed sources that Whanau has indeed withdrawn, and that the Herald has an exclusive story on this tomorrow morning, due for release at 5 am. It seems the Green Party have pulled their support from Whanau, which was the final straw.

UPDATE: Whanau may still be on Council though. I hear she is looking to stand in the Māori Ward.

The Herald reports:

The Government has announced a $53 million boost for teacher registrations and practising certificates fees through to 2028.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said it will also cover any increases the Teaching Council may implement through their current fee review.

From July 1, teachers will save up to $550 when applying for registration or renewing their practising certificate, Stanford said in a statement.

Many teachers are not that highly paid, so the renewal fee was a significant cost to them. I’m comfortable with the Government funding the Teachers’ Council directly, but with that should come stricter fiscal discipline.

The Herald reports:

Several people were killed after a vehicle ploughed into a crowd at a street festival in the Canadian city of Vancouver today, local police said.

“A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured,” Vancouver Police posted on X, formerly Twitter. “The driver is in custody.”

The incident happened as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim posted on X.

Sadly it is almost beyond doubt that this wouldn’t be an accident, but a cowardly attack on innocents.

1 News reports:

China’s embassy in New Zealand has expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” over a visit to Taiwan by a cross-parliamentary group of MPs.

A lengthy statement posted by the embassy accused the MPs of “wrongdoings” and that they “insisted on colluding with ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces” during their trip.

By meeting with Taiwan’s president, China said the visit sent a “gravely wrong signal” which was not in line with China-New Zealand relations.

China viewed the Taiwanese government as separatists and said the meeting was a violation of New Zealand’s commitment to the One China policy.

“The wrongdoings of relevant New Zealand MPs severely violate the solemn political commitments made by New Zealand to China when the two countries established diplomatic ties,” the spokesperson said.

China lodged “stern representations” with New Zealand in both Beijing and Wellington.

According to the Chinese embassy spokesperson, New Zealand responded that the MPs did not hold official positions in government, their trip to Taiwan was “private and individual,” and their “words and deeds do not represent the New Zealand Government.”

Taiwan is a democratic country, and it is good that MPs visit it. The agreement is that Ministers do not visit it as they are the Government, but MPs who are not Ministers are free to do so.

The Canadian election is on Monday (Tuesday NZ time) and the Liberal Party has gone from being 20% behind a few months ago and facing a loss of well over 100 seats to leading in most polls and projected to win re-election.

They may not get a majority, which needs 172 seats. Current projections have them getting 186 seats. 338 Canada projects they have an 89% chance of winning the most seats and a 68% chance of getting a majority.

The chances of a Conservative majority is now under 1% and in December the chances were over 99%! Trump has destroyed the chances of the Canadian Conservative Party with his attacks on Canada.

The seat projections are:

1. Liberals 186 (+26 from 2021)
2. Conservatives 124 (+5)
3. Bloc Quebécois 24 (-8)
4. NDP 8 (-13)
5. Greens 1 (-1)

The last few polls have shown the race getting tighter, so the Conservatives may do better than the projections, but the betting markets have the Liberals at between 82% and 88% favourites to win, so it would be a real upset.

NZ Herald reports:

TVNZ says it cut a story featuring an anonymous Destiny Church whistleblower from the digital version of a 1News bulletin out of an “abundance of caution”.

Some viewers claim the whistleblower’s face was too visible during the segment and say they were shocked by what they saw. …

Campbell, in the clips that aired on 1News, interviewed a woman who was said to be living in hiding after fleeing abuse from her former partner, a member of the Destiny Church’s anti-violence group, Man Up.

But the face of the victim – who is said to be “under a protection order” and “asked for her face to be hidden” – was too visible during the bulletin, according to some viewers.

That’s a pretty bad way to treat a whistleblower. Surely someone viewed the footage before it went to air?