The Age reports:

The owner of a popular Dickson vegetarian restaurant was morally opposed to wiping out a cockroach infestation because it would have involved “killing little insects”.

They take being vegetarian seriously!

Mr Hoang attended an interview with the Health Protection Service in June 2013, where he admitted he had been aware of the cockroach infestation but did not carry out pest control measures as it involved “killing”.

A noble belief, but rather incompatible with running a restaurant.

An interesting article last October in Vanity Fair on Greece. Some extracts:

But beyond a $1.2 trillion debt (roughly a quarter-million dollars for each working adult), there is a more frightening deficit. After systematically looting their own treasury, in a breathtaking binge of tax evasion, bribery, and creative accounting spurred on by Goldman Sachs, Greeks are sure of one thing: they can’t trust their fellow Greeks.

Hard to see how they can pay the debt off. Maybe better to default, and then start with a new currency.

In addition to its roughly $400 billion (and growing) of outstanding government debt, the Greek number crunchers had just figured out that their government owed another $800 billion or more in pensions. Add it all up and you got about $1.2 trillion, or more than a quarter-million dollars for every working Greek. Against $1.2 trillion in debts, a $145 billion bailout was clearly more of a gesture than a solution. And those were just the official numbers; the truth is surely worse. “Our people went in and couldn’t believe what they found,” a senior I.M.F. official told me, not long after he’d returned from the I.M.F.’s first Greek mission. “The way they were keeping track of their finances—they knew how much they had agreed to spend, but no one was keeping track of what he had actually spent. It wasn’t even what you would call an emerging economy. It was a Third World country.” As it turned out, what the Greeks wanted to do, once the lights went out and they were alone in the dark with a pile of borrowed money, was turn their government into a piñata stuffed with fantastic sums and give as many citizens as possible a whack at it. In just the past decade the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled, in real terms—and that number doesn’t take into account the bribes collected by public officials. The average government job pays almost three times the average private-sector job. The national railroad has annual revenues of 100 million euros against an annual wage bill of 400 million, plus 300 million http://mpp-teamsite.conde-dev.com/iw-cc/command/iw.group.formspub.save_valid_formeuros in other expenses. The average state railroad employee earns 65,000 euros a year.

Government pensions have bankrupted several US cities also, including Detroit.

The Greek public-school system is the site of breathtaking inefficiency: one of the lowest-ranked systems in Europe, it nonetheless employs four times as many teachers per pupil as the highest-ranked, Finland’s.

Labour’s policy was of course to spend any extra education money on increasing the teacher to pupil ratio!

The retirement age for Greek jobs classified as “arduous” is as early as 55 for men and 50 for women. As this is also the moment when the state begins to shovel out generous pensions, more than 600 Greek professions somehow managed to get themselves classified as arduous: hairdressers, radio announcers, waiters, musicians, and on and on and on.

Do you start to understand how no amount of bail outs will fix the problem here.

This went on for a week. Among other things turned up were a great number of off-the-books phony job-creation programs. “The Ministry of Agriculture had created an off-the-books unit employing 270 people to digitize the photographs of Greek public lands,” the finance minister tells me. “The trouble was that none of the 270 people had any experience with digital photography. The actual professions of these people were, like, hairdressers.” By the final day of discovery, after the last little hand had gone up in the back of the room, a projected deficit of roughly 7 billion euros was actually more than 30 billion. The natural question—How is this possible?—is easily answered: until that moment, no one had bothered to count it all up. “We had no Congressional Budget Office,” explains the finance minister. “There was no independent statistical service.” The party in power simply gins up whatever numbers it likes, for its own purposes.

Ruth Richardson’s great legacy to us is the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The scale of Greek tax cheating was at least as incredible as its scope: an estimated two-thirds of Greek doctors reported incomes under 12,000 euros a year—which meant, because incomes below that amount weren’t taxable, that even plastic surgeons making millions a year paid no tax at all. The problem wasn’t the law—there was a law on the books that made it a jailable offense to cheat the government out of more than 150,000 euros—but its enforcement. “If the law was enforced,” the tax collector said, “every doctor in Greece would be in jail.” I laughed, and he gave me a stare. “I am completely serious.”

Read the whole article – very long, but absolutely fascinating. The sad thing is that rather than fix the problems in their country, they have elected a Government that tells them it is all Germany’s fault, and they simply don’t have to pay anymore. It will end in tears.

Stats NZ reports:

The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent in the December 2014 quarter, while the labour force participation rate reached a record 69.7 percent, Statistics New Zealand said today.

“Employment didn’t keep up with the record number of people entering the labour force, so even though employment growth was also strong over the quarter, the unemployment rate increased,” labour market and households statistics manager Diane Ramsay said

Annually, the number of people employed rose 3.5 percent in the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS). While Auckland and Canterbury remain key contributors to national employment growth, employment growth in Canterbury eased in the year to the December 2014 quarter compared with previous quarters.

Eric Cramption notes:

NZ’s latest labour force survey numbers are really good news. Sometimes, an increasing unemployment rate is just fine. This quarter is one of those times and don’t let anybody tell you different.

The Labour Force Participation Rate has almost cracked 70%. Wage earnings growth is well in excess of CPI inflation. The increase in the unemployment rate coincides with a simultaneous, and bigger, increase in the employment rate: more people are being drawn into the labour force by strong employment growth. Some of those new-to-the-market or returning-to-the-market workers could take a little while to land, and so the unemployment rate is higher. 

And remember too that we’re also in the midst of very high net migration to New Zealand. 

Remember: increasing unemployment rates while labour force participation is increasing even faster generally is a good sign. Decreasing unemployment rates while labour force participation is dropping hard is generally not a good sign: it means people are giving up on the idea of getting a job. 

Year-on-year, the employment rate is up a full point, the unemployment rate is down a third of a point, and LFPR is almost up a point. Smokin’.

• Employment is up 27,000 for the quarter (and 80,000 for the year)
• The labour force has grown 36,000 for the quarter (and 76,000 for the year)
• Manufacturing jobs increased by 10,000 in the quarter
• FT jobs are up 69,000 on a year ago and PT jobs up 11,000

Also average hourly earnings increased 2.6% over the year, which with inflation at 0.8% is a 1.8% real gain.

The Press reports:

A giant slip n slide event which drew 3000 people to Sumner yesterday descended into chaos as unhappy customers spent up to two and a half hours queuing to get a turn.

Concerns about safety were also raised and a 54-year-old man was taken to Christchurch Hospital by the Westpac rescue helicopter  with suspected spinal injuries after being knocked over by another slider at the bottom of the 250-metre slide.

The Christchurch Monster Slide event was the first of a series being held around New Zealand, with another one scheduled for Nelson today. 

Ticket prices varied from $15 for three slides up to $99 for 10 slides and special lane access.

Waiting two and a half hours for a go is not anyone’s idea of fun. It should not be difficult for them to work out the maximum number of tickets to sell, to ensure that queues are manageable.

Also the ticket prices are misleading. I purchased tickets for the Wellington event and on top of the advertised fee, you also have to pay a booking fee, compulsory insurance and a credit card fee. That increases the price by a staggering 50% or so.

Half of the Christchurch event’s 40 volunteer slide marshalls had not turned up which Templeton said had put a lot of pressure on the existing staff.

He was considering employing marshall volunteers for future events.

You’re raking in money from selling tickets/ Damn right you should hire staff rather than depend on volunteers.

The Herald reports:

The Islamic State group has released a video purportedly showing the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot it had captured in December.

The video released online showed images of a man purported to be Maaz al-Kassasbeh engulfed in flames inside a metal cage.

To a degree the Islamic State is more barbaric than the Axis powers in WWII. Executing prisoners is bad enough, but burning them alive is a hideous form of suffering.

I’m amazed that Labour seem to be saying that NZ should not contribute to the fight against the Islamic State. It is hard to think of a more moral case for intervention since WWII.

Now that is not to say we should send in ground troops. I’m against that. But the proposal to send 100 NZers to work with Australia on training up the Iraqi army seems reasonable.  It is possible that the Iraqi Army will fail, as they have in the past. But a change of Prime Minister seems to have improved things in Iraq, and just walking away and doing nothing isn’t a great strategy.

Former Labour MP Mark Peck is a Wellington City Councillor. He is best known for voting to force the Council to pay a so called living wage to all Council employees, yet refusing to pay it to his own staff on the basis he can’t afford it.

Once again he seems to be conflicted between his role as a business (cafe) owner and a Councillor.

The Council has put in a temporary pop up on Bond Street.

This photo is from Blandforddaily, taken by AnnaB.

Looks pretty cool.

Cr Peck said on Facebook:

“Pop-up feel-good” unwelcome subsidy against hardworking business owners!

Wellington City Councillor Mark Peck says he has been contacted by some retailers who are angry that the “pop-up feel good” in Bond Street is an unwelcome attack on their ability to trade and discriminatory in the extreme.

Spending $100K of ratepayers’ money to temporarily enhance Bond Street with a pop-up display makes fish of them and fowl of the rest, he said. There is a strong call for everyone to be treated the same.

Using this logic, there would be no Cuba Mall developments, or basically anything at all that enhances a retail area.

Now Cr Peck owns a cafe just around the corner from Bond Street, in Dukes Arcade. Despite his disclaimer, it seems clear he is advocating on his own behalf, but using his role as a Councillor.

Comments on Facebook were not very supportive:

A real shame you’ve taken this angle Mark. I’ve been to the pop-up and it’s brilliant – I’ve never seen so many people on Bond Street. Great council initiative and clearly serving rate payers and visitors well.

Of course it’s Council’s job to get involved, provide social spaces, beautify the CBD and, yes, help business development. There can’t be a popup over the entire city and a dark, dead end with a majority of small businesses (exception of the Mojo chain) is a great place to have it. To places like the Rockshop – what a shame they are on an already busy street which didn’t need a “pop-up”.

This inner city resident who has you as a councillor and helped run your campaign would be thrilled if you perhaps stood up for residents before businesses.

That’s a member of his own campaign team!

Our streetscapes should be as exciting and vibrant as our city aspires to be, and as it often achieves. It’s excellent to see spaces like Bond Street experiencing this treatment. …

So would you prefer full-time polkadots, or none at all? Both are absurd, and it’s clear you’d have preferred none at all. I’m not entirely sure what your post achieves other than making you appear as a bit of a grump. Wellington’s retail sector is doing terribly. Yeah, Bond St benefits. That’s great. Where in your post is a plan or advocacy for the other businesses you’re saying you’re representing? Where’s the recognition that the positive news, albeit made weird by Ritchie, translates to good national advertising as Wellington as a happening and exciting place? It seems to me that these events are an obvious strategy for our city, so if you were speaking on behalf of our businesses then shouldn’t your position be “more”, not “less”? …

They money is also spent now, Mark, so it would be a waste to take it down immediately. And just dumb. In all of your media release, there isn’t thought at all to the people of Wellington – and I’ve only heard positive comments so far from people about the pop up ideas. I haven’t been down to Bond Street yet but looks pretty fun to me. …

Firstly I love the look – and what it’s done to the dark, often forgotten little street. I remember around six years ago when Dale from Mojo and Ian McKinnon were first talking about making something happen – so the idea has been brewing – and needed for some time. Looking beyond Bond Street the new activity is helping pull people through to traders like Man to Man and others who also feel out on a limb sometimes, I felt proud when I walked down the street today and saw what was happening because it’s pretty damn cool the city has made this happen. …

A real own goal.

The Demolition of the Century is a clever but frustrating play at Circa. It’s a cabaret style experience with a neat mixture of narration and singing.

The play is created by Duncan Sarkies who also is one of the two performers. Sarkies reads out a series of extracts or vigenettes from his novel of the same title. They are followed or sometimes blended with nine musical numbers performed with excellence by Joe Blossom (Sean O’Brien).

The novel is about Tom, who we are told is an insurance investigator who seems to have lost his job, his ex-wife, his socks and his 10 year-old son. The first extract pricks your curiosity as a dead horse becomes part of the mystery.

Blossom composed three of the nine songs he performed, and used a mixture of an electronic keyboard and various guitars. He’s a great performer and you enjoy the music, even if you struggle to relate at it times to the narration.

Just as we struggled at times with how the music fits in, it was also a challenge to work out how the different extracts all relate to each other. The final extract does help close the loop to some degree, but for much of the play I was in a state of mild confusion.

This was not accidental. Sarkies said “Yes, it’s all part of a much larger jigsaw puzzle, but I won’t be giving you enough pieces to work it out, so just relax and enjoy the mystery.”

For me though, not being able to work it out did detract from the otherwise excellent productions values, set, acting, and music. My partner commented that you want a play to be greater than the sum of its parts, and in this case it wasn’t.

The play did make me want to buy the novel (on sale for $30) as the plot sounded intriguing from the parts I worked out. As an advertisement for the novel, the play was successful. But as an evening’s entertainment, I’m afraid it was less so for me. That may be a reflection of my inability to catch onto some of the subtler aspects of the play, and certainly it got a great reception from most in the audience.

From Jim Rose’s blog, this shows the level of our unemployment benefit is higher than Sweden, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and the UK.

This is worth bearing in mind when people claim benefits levels have been so low since 1991, that they must be massively increased to keep relatively with NZ superannuation.

Stuff reports:

John Key has dismissed a push for councils to be able to broaden the way they raise money, saying major changes are not on the government’s agenda.

Today Local Government New Zealand released a funding review paper, claiming a need to address the gap between spending and revenue.

Pointing to pressures from an ageing population as well as local pressures created by tourism and nationally significant projects, the paper mooted revenue gathering including from local taxes and cost sharing with central government.

“The goal is not to increase the overall tax burden for New Zealand, but rather to determine whether a different mix of funding options for local government might deliver better outcomes for the country,” LGNZ president Lawrence Yule said.

According to LGNZ, councils spent about 10.5 per cent of all public expenditure, but raised only 8.3 per cent of the revenue.

The answer to me is to reduce spending to match revenue.

If I had confidence that different funding mechanisms would be used to reduce the level of rates, then I’d support Councils having the ability to use a broader range of measures such as a local GST. However I’m almost certain that we’d end up with rates remaining just as high as they currently are, and have local taxes piled on top of that.

If any new local taxes were subject to approval by referendum, then that could be a goer.

Computerworld reports:

New Zealand has ranked joint-fourth in the recently published World Wide Web Foundation’s Open Data Barometer, which highlights the role that cities could play in countries’ open data strategies.

The 2014-15 edition of the Open Data Barometer examines open data readiness, implementation, and impact across 86 countries, providing a country ranking based on scores in each of these three categories.

The findings from the newly released report point to a growing divide between those countries able to establish and sustain open data programmes, and those countries where open data activities have stalled, moved backwards or not yet begun.

The UK once again earned the top spot in the Barometer’s global rankings this year, followed by the US, Sweden, France and New Zealand while Australia ranked joint-tenth in the list.

“Governments continue to shy away from publishing the very data that can be used to enhance accountability and trust” and highlighted the power of open data “to put power in the hands of citizens,” says Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Web inventor and founder of the Web Foundation.

Bill English has played a key role in championing an open data strategy for the New Zealand Government, and while stil much work to be done, good to see we are well placed.

Stuff reports:

A midwife who had an affair with her client’s partner during the pregnancy has been chastised by the health and disability commissioner.

In a report released today, Commissioner Anthony Hill ruled by entering into a sexual relationship with the woman’s partner and continuing to provide midwifery services at the same time, the midwife failed to provide services in accordance with ethical and professional standards and breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights.

The self-employed midwife had been close personal friends of the couple for some time, and provided care to the woman during her second pregnancy.

In 2013, the woman became pregnant with her third child and employed the midwife again.

She said she began to suspect the midwife was having an affair with her partner towards the end of her pregnancy, but was in denial.

“I went into shock, I could not believe that two people who were supposed to care for me could possibly be so horrible and act with such disregard,” she says in the report.

“The final two months of my pregnancy were horrible. I was working, I had two small children and I thought I was going crazy to be thinking that my midwife and so-called friend was sleeping with the father of my children. 

“I literally thought I was losing my mind. I was paranoid and in a high state of anxiety.”

It is hard to imagine a crueler betrayal. I’m staggered that she has been chastised only, and not recommended for loss pf practicing certificate.

Generally it is a serious no no for any health practitioner to have a relationship with a patient.

To have an affair with the partner of a patient is terrible, and destroys the trust needed between a health provider and patient, to be acting in the best interests of the patient.

For it to be your midwife, who is involved with your pregnancy and birth in such an intimate way, is beyond terrible.  And the suffering the woman went through sounds awful.

She has also been referred to the Director of Proceedings.

The names and location of the parties have been suppressed.

Surely this must be loss of licence?

The Herald reports:

Labour Leader Andrew Little says he alerted the Prime Minister’s office about allegations concerning Mike Sabin in late November.

Mr Little said he first heard about Mr Sabin’s personal matters soon after he became Labour leader on November 18.

“My office received two pieces of information, independently of each other, that a National MP was under investigation.”

He said that he made the decision to notify the Prime Minister’s office and this chief of staff did so at the end of November.

He said he was confident he had a note on file showing his chief of staff had contacted the Prime Minister’s office by November 28.

Mr Little: “My concern is that if the Prime Minister was aware of information that meant that Mike Sabin – being the chair of the law and order select committee – was compromised, then he should have acted as soon as it was apparent that there was that conflict of interest.”

But Prime Minister John Key said Mr Little was mistaken and that Mr Little’s chief of staff, Matt McCarten, had contacted his chief of staff, Wayne Eagleson, about it on December 3 – although Mr Eagleson knew already.

Mr Key said he himself had found out on December 1.

“We’ve never denied that my chief of staff knew in late November. I was told in very early December.”

All dates were well after the September 20 election in which Mr Sabin was returned as MP for Northland and after Mr Sabin had been appointed chairman of the law and order select committee on October 22.

They’re quibbling over whether it was 28 November or 1 December or a few days after that. It doesn’t matter.

They key issue is whether it was known when he was nominated as Chair of the Law & Order Select Cmte. And even if you accept Little and McCarten’s dates, it was five weeks after that.

And that is no surprise. There is no way they would have nominated him for Chair if they had known. You’d be idiotic to do so. There were many other MPs who could have taken that role.

Mr Key said yesterday he may have stood Mr Sabin down in early December if he had been a minister but at that point did not believe it was necessary for Mr Sabin to be removed as a select committee chair.

“The reason I didn’t was because I thought on balance, given the information I had at that time, the course of action I took which was to let things ride and see how they progressed was about the right course of action. If he was a minister I probably would have taken the step of standing someone down, but as a select committee chair, I don’t think so.”

Especially as the select committees basically don’t meet in December and January. He found out in December, let the Police investigation take its course, and when it reached a certain stage, Sabin resigned – as is appropriate.

Mr Key said it would have been “useful” if Mr Sabin had told the party about the personal matter earlier “but he didn’t and we didn’t know about it.”

Indeed.

Stuff reports:

The Commerce Commission’s investigation into Air New Zealand’s “opt-out” charges could be expanded to include other companies using the sales tactic.

The commission confirmed yesterday that it was investigating the national airline over travel insurance contracts on domestic flights that are automatically added unless customers choose to opt out of them.

However, Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin said Air New Zealand was not the only airline that added opt-out charges during the booking process.

“Jetstar aren’t very good and they may be marginally worse than Air New Zealand,” she said.

Jetstar’s website shows several opt-out charges during the booking process for a typical domestic flight between Auckland and Wellington.

These include:

Opting out of a 20kg extra baggage allowance: $11

Opting out of seat select: $5

Opting out of insurance: $10.95

Jetstar has been asked for comment on its opt-out charges.

Opt out charges are a rort. They make money by hoping people will forget to deselect them. I’ve travelled probably 500 times with Air NZ. Not once have I ever had a situation where their flight insurance would have been beneficial. Yet if I did not opt out each time they would have had $5,000 more money from me.

Non-compulsory charges should be opt in.

Wellington lawyer Michael Wigley, who triggered the Commerce Commission inquiry with articles criticising Air New Zealand, said people who bought insurance accidentally should have it refunded, even if they had already had their flight.

“You don’t get any benefit from the insurance if you don’t even know you’ve paid for it.” 

Exactly.

President Obama has sent his 2016 budget to Congress which features spending at record levels of $US4 trillion. Real Clear Politics (with contributions from the Associated Press) reports.

Obama’s budget projects a deficit of $583 billion in 2015, up significantly from last year’s $485 billion imbalance. Obama’s budget plan never reaches balance over the next decade and projects the deficit would rise to $687 billion in 2025.

The administration contends that various spending cuts and tax increases would trim the deficits by $1.8 trillion over the next decade, leaving the red ink at manageable levels.

Obama calls his proposals “practical and not partisan”. There are numerous tax increases of which the main rationale is to increase taxes on the rich and the corporate sector so to give tax breaks to the middle class.

In a lengthy run-up to Monday’s budget release, the administration highlighted a number of its proposals, including $320 billion in increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations that would be used to pay for expanded middle class tax breaks.

The budget documents reveal that all the tax increases will total $2 trillion, including a number of proposals Obama has made before to limit deductions the wealthy can take to reduce their tax bill.

The Republicans predictably are not in agreement and are accusing the Obama administration of advocating tax and spend policies. The GOP have promised to introduce a balanced budget to Congress.

Congressional Republicans say the budgets they produce will achieve balance and will attack costly benefit program like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

So the battle lines have been drawn between increasing the size of government when there is already $US18 trillion dollars in public debt and balancing the budget. The GOP will have to produce good ideas and workable policies as just sitting on the side-line sniping won’t help them in the battle for the White House in 2016.

I’m not convinced that increasing the size of the US federal government is the right strategy at this point in time. Surely sensible policies that reduce the flab is the way to go?

Finally the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last week released their Budget and Economic Outlook: 2015 – 2025 which includes deficit projections based on current policies. That will be covered in a separate post.

Office of Budget and Management 2016 Budget

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal has published a series of graphics along with its own analysis of the budget. It doesn’t seem to be behind a paywall.

Stuff reports:

A former Doctor Who actor says a woman should never fill the role but he’s OK if the time lord’s ethnicity changes.

The fifth doctor, Peter Davison, who has been a public supporter of UK Labour and once voiced an election ad for the party, wants the character to remain male.

“My instinct as a viewer is that the Doctor is a male of the species even on Gallifrey (Dr Who’s home planet) and probably shouldn’t undergo a sex change”, he told a reporter in his Sydney hotel room.

I agree. Doctor Who is a male Gallifreyan. There is a difference between changing appearance and changing gender. Having said that, the Master appears to have changed.

Though Davison doubts a woman in control of the Tardis would be appropriate, he says he’s sure the character will one day be non-Caucasian.

But, the actor to break the mould will have to do so completely on merit, he said.

“Whether or not you have a black or ethnic actor playing Doctor Who is entirely down to the best actor for the role,” he said.

“I don’t think it should just be about `let’s pick a black actor just for the sake of doing it’.”

Now they have got rid of the limit of 12 regenerations, I’m sure there will be one also.

The actor, who was cast in Law and Order UK after his Doctor Who stint, says he’d like female time lords other than the doctor to play a bigger part.

I agree. Time to bring back Romanadvoratrelundar!

Stuff reports:

Tony Abbott has junked his most controversial personal policies, promised no changes to the GST without Labor backing, and pledged to lead Australia’s most consultative government in the future as he attempts to head off a challenge to his leadership.

But some Liberals remain hostile in the wake of mistakes, the Queensland election result and polling showing that most voters expect him to be replaced.

Unveiling plans for a comprehensive families package, a new tax cut of at least 1.5 per cent for small business, tighter restrictions on foreign investment in the housing market, and stronger national security laws including a ban on the radical Islamist group, Hizb ut Tahrir, Abbott urged colleagues to “buckle down to the business” of governing rather than succumb to internal division.

The junking of the hideously expensive paid parental policy is a good thing – except for the fact they campaigned on it. So his integrity takes another hit. And the pledge to be more consultative will only work, if people think it is genuine.

“People are sick of Australian citizens – including people born and bred here – making excuses for Islamist fanatics in the Middle East and their imitators here in Australia,” he said.  

“It’s not good enough just to boost the police and security agencies, which we’ve done … and to improve data retention, which we’re doing. We have to tackle the people and the organisations that justify terrorism and act as its recruiting agents – such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

“If cracking down on Hizb-ut-Tahrir and others who nurture extremism in our suburbs means further legislation, we will bring it on and I will demand that the Labor Party call it for Australia.”

That will be interesting.

“At the heart of our small business jobs package will be a small business company tax cut on July 1 – at least as big as the 1.5 per cent already flagged,” he told the National Press Club.

Not sure about having different tax rates for different business sizes. Could lead to huge avoidance.

UPDATE: Sky News is reporting Abbott asked Julie Bishop to pledge not to challenge him, and she has refused!!

“It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low, and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the tax rates.”

— John F. Kennedy

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.

Mt Albert MP David Shearer facebooked:

There was a disastrous meeting in my electorate tonight. About 150 local people turned up in good faith to consult on a frankly overdue Mt Albert town-centre upgrade, only to find half the funding had been cut by Auckland Transport.

This is the third time the community has been promised an upgrade but everything up until now has come to zero. What an arrogant waste of local people’s time and money.

Auckland Council has totally lost control of Auckland Transport. This time, the dysfunction showed in public. By the time the meeting ended, half the people had gone home.

At this rate, the mayor and councillors can kiss their jobs goodbye at the next election.

A Labour MP slamming the Council headed by a Labour Party member, and controlled by left Councillors.

Some have suggested to me this is part of a campaign to get his mate and neighbouring MP Phil Goff made Mayor, but I think the anger is real.

The dates are:

• Writ Day Mon 23 February
• Nominations close Tue 3 March
• Advance voting starts Wed 11 March
• E-Day Sat 28 March
• Official results Wed 8 April
• Writ returned Tue 14 April

Until the 14th of April National will have 59 MPs in a Parliament of 120. To pass laws they’ll need two additional votes which will means both Act and United Future – or the Maori Party.

Stuff reports:

A late-night romantic encounter in a Christchurch insurance office on Friday night  that was witnessed by bar patrons across the road could cost the couple their jobs.

The Marsh Ltd employees, who left the lights on in the Papanui Rd building, were filmed and photographed by patrons at the Carlton Bar and Eatery who posted images on Facebook and Twitter.

The photos have attracted thousands of likes and hundreds of shares.

“The whole pub knew about it and was watching, while they were totally oblivious to it. And afterwards celebrating with wine,” one man posted. 

The wine afterwards is a classy touch.

“They should have turned the lights out,” said another. 

Indeed. Or gone to someone’s home, or a hotel.

The Herald also reports:

Many people took photos and posted them on social media, which have attracted hundreds of likes and comments. The band playing at the Carlton stopped playing and let everyone in the bar watch, some posters said online.

“There were about 150 people watching at one point. It was awesome,” one poster said.

The band couldn’t compete with this entertainment.

Marsh Ltd chief executive Grant Milne found out about the incident this morning after the images surfaced on social media.

He confirmed that the two people were Marsh employees.

I hope they don’t lose their jobs, as the embarrassment will be punishment enough. They will have to live with:

• Constant jokes from their colleagues
• The knowledge 150 people watched them at it
• Near inevitable publication of their names

UPDATE: I hear the gentleman involved in married with kids. If this is correct, then much less funny, and very sad for the family. All the more amazing they didn’t turn the lights off!

I blogged last week on the Helensville electoral petition by Arthur Taylor. He has e-mailed me (presumably through a proxy) a response, which I’m happy to publish:

I  believe I saw you in Court this week , so I’m surprised  you get facts wrong about the Helensville petition and some of your commenters to  do likewise  , although  others seem to support  my actions in Court .

John’s obviously worried, to have sent you along . You make  out I’m a frivolous litigant , but you probably know , ( because you  are the type  who occasionally does homework ) that I have a very high  win rate – one that is the envy of  many members of the bar .  I wish I had access to your blog to respond directly .

If my electoral petition  had “little prospect of success’ , it would have been thrown out long ago – you know that !

The taxpayer is NOT funding my legal costs  in Helensville. I’m meeting my own legal costs , including the  $1,000 deposit  required by the Electoral Act.  Electoral petitions are specifically excluded  from eligibility for funding  by the Legal Aid Act .

It’s not a day out for me to appear in Court . I only do so where it is absolutely necessarily . My previous  voting  hearings  have been by videolink. At the end of a day in Court , I am  handcuffed  and returned to  my non-air-conditioned Auckland Prison  cell , where  I  prepare my handwritten submissions for the next day. Others in the  room retire to their G & T’s etc .

I am NOT going to spend the rest of my life in prison . I am in a Parole Board encouraged  program and I expect to be released in 12 months . Even if I served  my full sentence , I would still have to be released in 2022 .

The 4 lawyers are NOT all representing John Key . Other then  John Key’s lawyer Peter Kiely , they represent the Crown entities involved .

I object to being called a “thug” . I have no convictions for  carrying out violence ( see your own list of my convictions ).

I haven’t been labelled a “vexatious litigant” because  I WIN , so often – even up to Court of Appeal . Do the research on nzlii.org . It’s all there in black and white .  You should run stories on why the taxpayer pays for so much mediocrity in the Crown Law ranks that they can’t match  a litigant with  no  formal legal qualifications.

Chris2 says “Taylor was only in Court last year trying to get the ban on smoking in prisons removed.” Someone should tell Chris2 , I  WON that case .

David , for those who disparage human rights . We have legislation on all different  subjects , but we can only access the legal rights contained in the legislation if officialdom  accepts were are full human beings. The rights  many THINK they have disappear  the minute that  respect for humanity  is withheld .  

Mr Taylor is currently in the maximum security wing of Auckland Prison at Paremoremo. I hope he is correct that he does not spend the rest of his life in prison, as that will mean he has stopped offending, which would be a win/win.

There was a wide variety of topics to keep the cartoonists busy this week. The Obama administration and Mitt Romney have been selected this week.

The first by Michael Ramirez mocks the Obama administration’s bad habit of falling over their words in regards to who is a terrorist and who isn’t.

© Michael Ramirez: found at Real Clear Politics.

Mitt Romney and on-again off-again 2016 presidential campaign.  ‘Deflategate’ refers to the New England Patriots NFL ball tampering scandal by Steve Benson.

© Steve Benson: found at Real Clear Politics.

Once it dawned on Romney the financial backing and grass roots support wasn’t there from inside the GOP he wisely decided to give it away.