“Higher income taxes are a razor guillotine poised to descend on the bare neck of prosperity.”
– Thomas H Kean
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.
The Herald reports:
New Zealand has imposed some of the world’s strictest blasphemy laws by stealth, a Humanist group says.
The new Harmful Digital Communications Act, intended to stop cyber-bullying, could have the effect of landing a person in jail for two years for committing blasphemy, the New Zealand Humanist Society said this week.
Not really, as it hs to be ham to an individual, not harm to a religion. But they raise a useful point:
The Act stated digital communications “should not denigrate an individual by reason of his or her colour, race, ethnic or national origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.”
You can’t choose your colour.
You can’t choose your race.
You can’t choose your ethnic or national origin.
You can’t choose your gender.
You can’t choose your sexual orientation.
You can’t chose whether to be disabled.
But you do choose your religion.
Religion seems the odd one out to me.
If someone choose to be a Scientologist, I reckon I should be able to mock them for that choice, just as I can mock someone if they choose to join the National Front.
The Herald reported:
Another slice of Kiwi coastal paradise could be headed for the open market after the Department of Conservation turned down the chance to buy it. …
The family said they would not take less than $15 million, which Elliot said was a discount on the $20m-plus they believed the holding was worth.
The best way to find out what something is worth, is a competitive tender or auction.
But DoC turned down the offer, meaning the property will now go on the open market, likely early next year, Elliot said.
“Everyone in the family wants to see it left as it is. That’s why we went to DoC. I’m interested in the public response. If this beach is closed there will be a public uproar.”
Sounds a bit like trying to pressure DOC to pay the price wanted.
Elliot did not know what price the property would fetch on the open market. It has a Government valuation of $6m-$8m.
Now GVs don’t mean a lot sometimes, but the “discount price” is double the GV.
But he believed the sale of a Helena Bay site 27km away to Russian billionaire Alexander Abramov for $15.9m had set a “benchmark for the area”.
Possibly, but only for Russian billionaires.
Metro Magazine reports:
David Farrier, broadcaster, and David Farrar, pollster, died April 1, 2077.
This article was featured in the July/August 2015 issue of Metro. Illustration by Daron Parton.
David Farrier and David Farrar had almost nothing in common and yet they would eventually become as entangled as an earphone cable. They died together, violently, savaged by a deranged parakeet, in a flat they shared with Samantha Hayes. An attractive TV presenter, Hayes is 94.
The two men’s beginnings were profoundly different. Farrier was tall, ruggedly good looking, a popular head boy at his Christian college in Tauranga. Farrar was more the Wellington chess club type.
Farrier liked babes and dudes, Farrar liked babes and debating. They both knew what they wanted and before long they had it: Farrier, a quirky late-night TV news show; Farrar, a blog.
They came to prominence during the long administration of Prime Minister John Key, a man who believed in doing as little as possible. In this he was assisted by Farrar, whose polling company prepared a variety of excuses for doing nothing and tested them by phoning families at dinner time. How little did people care about boat people? How untroubled were they by waitress harassment? The PM had him on speed dial.
Farrier travelled a gentler road, toting a video camera and an abundant curiosity. He sat in a sauna to better understand Colin Craig; he travelled to the Gobi Desert to better understand the Mongolian Death Worm.
The similarity of their names endlessly confused people. Farrier would feel a stab of unhappiness when someone called him a contemptible stain on politics. Farrar would be sad to find he wasn’t the dude Lorde was trying to phone.
But the confusion invited comedy. Together they interviewed singing twin sisters the Veronicas. They prank-called the Prime Minister. As TV current affairs rubbed itself down to a nub, their quirkiness grew ever bolder.
When Farrier’s Newsworthy show began, head transplants were only being spoken of as far-off medical fantasy, but the science developed swiftly, and so did the clamour from the viewers to see the two Davids switch heads. The result was “mad”, wrote TV reviewer Diana Wichtel, “but strangely compelling”.
And yet behind all the laughter lay deep trauma.
In his early thirties, Farrier had acquired Keith, a handsome orange parakeet, but discovered within a short time that he detested the bird, so hateful and incessant was its scream.
He expected it would live another 20 years, an impossibly long time to wait for some peace and quiet. He was quite sure no one would take it, not with all that ghastly racket. He couldn’t contemplate wringing its neck.
He turned to Farrar, a master of dark arts, for suggestions. Farrar had plenty. They put Keith in a courier parcel to the Green Party. They left him on the seat at a Peter Jackson movie. They did things with superglue they weren’t proud of. And yet no matter what they did, he found his way back, each time more shrill, each time more enraged. Worst of all, he lived many, many more years than 20.
“I told David it was going to end badly, but now I just wonder if I even told the right one,” lamented Hayes. “They used to say only their mothers could tell them apart. And look, I was just their flatmate,” said the attractive redhead, whose new show starts this Sunday.
Micky Savage at The Standard noted a tweet by Amy Adams celebrating the first time an all woman Court of Appeal bench sat.
However he tried to claim that it was little to do with Chris Finlayson, as two of the three Judges were merely promoted by Finlayson, not initially appointed by him.
I thought it would be interesting to look at the how the judiciary has changed over the last few years. We have some data from the two yearly census done by the HRC (2015 figures are calculated by me from the public websites).
So no real change from 2005 to 2010, but in the last five years there has been a slow but steady increase. As most law graduates are female, I expect this will continue.
Comparing the individual courts in 2007 to 2015, you get:
The Herald asked some questions of potential Auckland mayoral candidates. The more important answers (my summaries) are:
Would you cap the rates rise?
What projects would you cut?
Priority for transport – roads or public transport?
The CTU has complained:
The CTU has today announced that its Health and Safety Representative Training programme, supported by ACC since 2003, will be ending in its current form this November.
Business New Zealand and private provider Impac Services are also affected by ACC’s decision.
ACC has supported this training since 2003, and over 33,000 Health and Safety Reps have been upskilled by the CTU in this period.
This training was a huge money maker for the CTU and Business NZ. The Taxpayers Union in 2014 exposed that ACC’s own internal papers found that of every $1 spent on this training, it returned a benefit of just 16 cents, so 84 cents was wasted.
Over ten years the CTU and Business NZ had received $19 million of ACC funding, yet the benefits delivered were estimated to be just $3.04 million.
I’m pleased to see ACC focus its money on effective prevention programmes, rather than fund two wealthy organisations.
The Herald reports:
Andrew Little says another bad season for dairy farmers could cause New Zealanders to lose some of the country’s best agricultural land to offshore buyers.
The Labour leader said Fonterra had offered interest-free loans to some struggling farmers.
On the Q&A programme, he said banks had told him they’d help farmers for one tough season, but beyond that there were uncertainties.
“There is a crisis in dairy…we do have some tough times ahead.” He told TV One
Thank you Andrew Little. To date there has been a 94% correlation between Labour claiming something is in crisis, and that industry then recovering strongly. Their manufactured manufacturing crisis has seen record job growth in manufacturing.
So having Labour declare a crisis in dairy, should see world dairy prices rebound.
The NZ Initiative has announced:
Next Generation Debates Semi-final in Wellington
Tuesday, 11 August 2015 | 5:30 pm | Register for Wellington
Where: Mac’s Function Centre, Te Aro room, 4 Taranaki Street
Moot: “This house would legalise euthanasia”
Panellists: Hon Maryan Street (former Labour MP) and Dr Stephen Child of NZMANext Generation Debates Semi-final in Auckland
Wednesday, 12 August 2015 | 5:45 pm | Register for Auckland
Where: The University of Auckland Business School, 12 Grafton Road, Owen G Glenn Building, Level 0 Foyer 071
Moot: “This house believes that economic growth always comes at the expense of people and the environment”
Panellists: Sir Roger Douglas and Sue BradfordNext Generation Debates Grand-final in Wellington
Wednesday, 19 August 2015 | 5:30 pm | Register for the Final
Where: Te Wharewaka Function Centre, 15 Jervois Quay, Wellington Waterfront
Moot: “This house believes that high house prices make us poorer as a nation”
Panellists: Phil Twyford, MP, Labour Party Housing Spokesperson and Andrew King, Executive Officer, New Zealand Property Investors Federation
Great topics and good choices of panelists. Well worth going to.
The Washington Post reports:
Carly Fiorina took the stage at a conservative summit here Friday to a standing ovation, her first of four. She smirked and said: “I think we kind of won last night. What do you think?”
Fiorina spent the day traveling, bouncing between television interviews, taking selfies, fielding calls from giddy supporters and trying to capitalize on her highly praised performance in a debate for lower-tier Republican presidential candidates Thursday night.
The two things that I have heard time and time again were about Donald Trump attacking Megyn Kelly, and Fiorina doing very well in the lower-tier debate.
Here on Friday afternoon, a reporter asked Fiorina why she criticized Trump for being cozy with the Clintons when she was a featured speaker at an event hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative. Fiorina’s eyes narrowed as she stared down the reporter.
“So, you really don’t understand the difference between getting a personal phone call from Bill Clinton and showing up at a conference?” she said.
A great answer.
That became the focus of an interview Fiorina did that night as a guest on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” — a show many Republicans avoid in favor of Fox News Channel appearances. Matthews asked Fiorina why she would paint a possible opponent as an all-out liar.
“I was very specific, very fact-based — actually, you were the one who has made a generalized comment about her,” Fiorina said, refusing to let Matthews cut back in while rattling off critiques of Clinton.
Some of Fiorina’s most devoted followers point to that interview as more of a success than the debate.
Clinton will be the Democratic candidate and Fiorina may be the Republican who can make the strongest case against her.
The Herald reports:
In October 1996, Palmerston North detective Brent Garner was found beside his scorched home, bound and gagged.
A crude pentagram had been carved into his back. He had survived a visit from “The Executioner”, a Satanic maniac so bizarre, detectives on the hunt for him thought the only place he could exist was in the movies.
And now he does. Venus and Mars revisits the dual police investigations in the hunt for Garner’s attacker.
Venus was the official investigation in which detectives believed The Executioner was real. Several weeks later a covert operation — Mars — was launched in which Garner was treated as a suspect. It was led by Inspector Grant Nicholls.
The police suspicions were right — the 32-year-old had faked the crimes so he could claim insurance money to build a new life without his wife and two young daughters.
I’d forgotten about this case, until reading this article. It all comes back though.The only thing bigger than the original investigation was when they announced Garner’s arrest for faking his own attack.
I especially recall how painful it must have been, and difficult, to disfigure himself. You have to have something seriously wrong to do that to yourself.
Rodney Hide writes:
I already thought Colin Craig the oddest thing in New Zealand politics but I have just received a pamphlet in my letterbox that makes him appear even odder. On the front is a picture of a haunted, hunted Craig, and it is titled Dirty Politics and Hidden Agendas.
I flicked it open to see an image of a man’s hand on a woman’s knee and in bold: “Craig has only ever had one sexual relationship which is with his wife [Helen] of over 23 years.” …
There’s no author. Craig is spoken about in the third person and he and his wife have “authorised” the pamphlet but “do not agree with every statement made nor endorse all viewpoints”. I am hoping they do agree on the statement of fidelity.
The pamphlet comments on allegations made by blogger Whaleoil and others, including Conservative Party board members. There is quite a cast of characters and some deep intrigue. I got a little lost in it and am left wondering why I needed to know all this. Or why I should care.
The essence is the claim there has been a “campaign of lies” against Craig. Some of the “lies” are repeated and responded to. Nothing is proved either way.
We are told of lies 4, 7 and 14, but I am left wondering about the others. I am thinking that 1, 2 and 3 must be juicy.
I thought I was special but my neighbours also got the pamphlet.
It’s odd to complain about lies being told about you then repeat them to every household in my neighbourhood and, supposedly, the country.
Stranger is to suggest, through numbering the lies, that there are more — and to provide references to where they may be found.
Like Rodney, I find this very strange. I’ve never ever before known someone who claims something defamatory was said about them, to publish a pamphlet about the alleged lies, and mail it to what appears to be every household in New Zealand.
USA Today reports:
In what would have been a fascinating telephone conversation to overhear, The Washington Post reports that Donald Trump, the leader in every recent poll of GOP presidential candidates, and Bill Clinton, the 42nd president and husband to the leader of every poll of Democratic White House contenders, had a “casual chat” about politics in late May.
The Post cites “four Trump allies and one Clinton associate” who said that, in the call, Clinton encouraged the billionaire real estate developer to take on a more active role within the GOP. …
Current campaign rhetoric notwithstanding, Trump and the Clintons have been friendly in the past, as evidenced by the former first couple’s attendance at Trump’s 2005 wedding as well as past donations from Trump to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaigns.
The major beneficiary of the Trump candidacy is Hillary Clinton. If Bill was behind Trump standing, then he is even more cunning than James Carville.
The Herald reports on documents from the earlier trial of Tony Robertson, when Simon Bridges was the prosecutor:
The Herald was granted permission by the High Court to access the 2006 court record – including Mr Bridges’ blistering cross-examination of Robertson.
The young prosecutor’s first question set the tone: “Mr Robertson, can we begin by agreeing you are a liar?”
What followed was a heated defence from Robertson, littered with swearing and Mr Bridges’ insistence the young man was lying. …
Robertson is shown raging at Mr Bridges, accusing police of tampering with evidence, witnesses of getting it wrong, and others of lying.
I suspect Robertson’s rage worked against him.
Justice Keane rejected Mr Bridges’ bid to hold Robertson indefinitely and gave him eight years in prison. He told Robertson: “You are not simply deemed to be a lost cause at the age of 19.”
Sadly he was a lost cause.
Mr Bridges, Cabinet Minister and MP for Tauranga, told the Herald it was an “unforgettable” case.
“It was a combination of the remarkable circumstances and Robertson himself. The crimes I prosecuted were incredibly cold and premeditated. I can still clearly remember the little girl telling the court that Robertson had stolen her on her walk to school. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare.”
The other striking aspect was Roberton’s presence at the trial, which Mr Bridges described as “chilling”, especially as he gave evidence in the witness box.
The transcripts in black-and-white only hint at the full story, Mr Bridges said today.
“He is an incredibly cold, angry and dangerous individual. I had to ask for extra security to stand between us as I questioned him, which I had not done in any other case. You just had a sense you couldn’t predict what he would do,” said Mr Bridges.
I’d find it very hard to be a prosecutor, as I’d be constantly worried that criminals would come after you for revenge once they’re released. It’s probably an irrational fear, but I do wonder if this has happened in NZ?
The Guardian reports:
Under the proposals, it is claimed that administrative costs will be saved in the public sector as 3.8 million trade union members – 54% of the public sector workforce – are told to make their own arrangements to pay their union subscription, mainly by direct debit. Unions say this will lead to a loss in funds by making subscription payments more complicated.
But Hancock said: “In the 21st-century era of direct debits and digital payments, public resources should not be used to support the collection of trade union subscriptions. It’s time to get rid of this outdated practice and modernise the relationship between trade unions and their members. By ending check-off we are bringing greater transparency to employees – making it easier for them to choose whether or not to pay subscriptions and which union to join.”
Totally support this, and would love to see this in NZ.
Not just for the public sector. Employers should be left out of this. If an employee wants to join a union, they should pay the fees directly. Very easy with Internet Banking to set up an AP or DD.
Stuff reports:
With profits expected to go even higher Shearer said the government should be “demanding a better deal for New Zealand households”.
“An example of where Kiws are paying through the nose is on credit card interest. We still pay around the same interest rate on them – more than 17 per cent – as we did eight years ago, despite bank borrowing rates plummeting five points to 3 per cent in that time.”
What does Shearer want the Government to do? Pass a law so the Cabinet sets credit card interest rates like Muldoon used to almost do?
Credit card interest rates vary from 13.6% to 24.95%. I prefer competition to government dictate.
Shearer said Kiwis were a “soft target and a nice little earner” for Australian banking giants, who were using “unfair” tactics on New Zealanders.
What is unfair exactly?
With Australian banks making a profit of about $1000 off every adult and child in the country it was time for the Reserve Bank to put a microscope on the issue, he said.
An average can be misleading. If like me you have a large mortgage, then your bank makes a large profit out of you. If you don’t have a mortgage they make a small profit. And on my credit card they make nothing from me directly, as I pay my account off every month.
Stuff reports:
Radio New Zealand head of content Carol Hirschfeld says Rachel Smalley’s column about John Campbell’s appointment at RNZ is “muddled” and “self-promoting”.
Smalley, a Newstalk ZB host, said in a column Campbell’s new job meant “introducing yet another white male broadcaster to prime time, at the expense of a strong, capable, experienced female interviewer”.
Smalley said that the appointment leaves Susie Ferguson as the only woman left on prime time radio news.
Hirschfeld, who worked for many years with Campbell at TV3, said Wilson’s new role was more senior, and one she had wanted to take up previously.
“[Smalley] seems to be suggesting somehow that it would be better if Mary Wilson stayed on air to satisfy some kind of false gender balance, rather than taking on a role where she is shaping a day to day news operation that is one of the biggest and most powerful in New Zealand.
The new role may be more senior, and in theory more powerful, but a behind the scenes editorial role is very different to an on air role. Would anyone regard the producer of Campbell Live as having been more powerful than John Campbell?
Stuff reports:
The ideas are outlined in the party’s second paper on the future of work, which points to the Danish model of “flexicurity” as one option.
The Danish approach aims to promote employment security over job security according to that country’s official website.
The flexicurity “golden triangle” involves flexible rules for employers when hiring and firing alongside a guaranteed unemployment benefit at a relatively high level – up to 90 per cent for the lowest paid workers.
Hey why work, when you can get 90% of your income by not working.
Labour says the minimum wage should be $16.25 an hour. For a 40 hour week that is $650 a week so 90% is $585 a week or $30,500 a year to be on the unemployment benefit.
Say 120,000 on unemployment benefits (inevitably will be way way more than that if you make it more generous) and that is $3.66 billion a year just on the unemployment benefit.
This is Labour’s future of non work!
The Herald reports:
Former Telecom boss Theresa Gattung is believed to be seriously thinking about standing for the Auckland mayoralty next year, sources have told the Weekend Herald.
Ms Gattung and Labour MP Phil Goff are the two biggest names to emerge to challenge Len Brown, who has not said if he will seek a third term. Last night, Mr Goff said he had still not made a final decision, but sources close to the MP put the odds on him standing at 95 per cent.
That would be great.
I can’t imagine Phil Goff could possibly lead Auckland Council to reduce costs. The current left dominated Council has just put rates up 9.9%. Someone like Theresa Gattung could get rid of waste and focus the Council on core business.
News.com.au reports:
A BRITISH mum of three says she is going blind due to drinking too much Red Bull
So how much is she drinking? Four can a day?
Lena Lupari, 26, says she put on weight and her brain started to swell due to sonsuming 28 cans of Red Bull a day, or more than seven litres.
Good God. And this is Red Bull’s fault?
She believes that Britain’s National Health Service should provide her with a gastric band for free.
“I’ve done this to myself but I deserve surgery on the NHS,” she told The Sun.
No, you don’t.
Eric Crampton blogs:
Well, this is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in the past… half year?
Steve Moore, from the Civil Aviation Authority was on Morning Report describing the new rules on flying drones. Bottom line: unless your local government has said it’s ok to fly a remote control helicopter in your park, it’s forbidden. He claimed that it’s all about the safety.
Susie Ferguson, the Radio NZ host, had a few great questions, like why not also ban kids from playing cricket in parks since cricket balls are hard and also can hurt people. She also asked whether this wasn’t just killjoy stuff.
Look, National. You got elected in 2008 on an anti-nanny-state ticket. Now you’ve even got Radio New Zealand’s morning report surprised at what a bunch of killjoy plonkers you’ve turned into. What’s wrong with you?
To be fair, I’m not sure this is as a result of a Government decision, probably more the law not keeping up with technology.
But I agree with the sentiment – needing permission to fly a toy helicopter by remote control is ridiculous. You just need a general rule at best to say do it safely.