Stats NZ reports:

The latest Household Economic Survey (Income) shows average annual household income rose 9.1 percent in the two years to June 2014, from $81,227 to $88,579.

That’s a big increase. Inflation over those two years was 2.3% so average household incomes have risen 6.6% in real terms.

Median household incomes also up strongly – 7.8% over two years.

In the same period, average household weekly spending on housing costs rose 11.1 percent, from $256 to $284.

So incomes went up $7,352 on average and housing costs up $1,460.

“The increase in housing costs was largely due to higher mortgage and rent payments, as well as an increase in property rates,” labour market and household manager Diane Ramsay said.

“A really interesting shift we’ve seen is that a bigger proportion of mortgage spending is going on repaying the principal than on covering the interest payments.”

Paying off more of the principal is a good thing.

Some other interesting stats:

• 27% of households in the bottom income quintile say their income is inadequate to meet their needs, as do 5% of households in the top quintile
• Age has a significant factor in income. Under 20s have a median income of below $1,000, 20 to 24s a median income of $28,000 approx, 25s to 29s are $37,000 approx, and 30s to 60s are $47,000

Stuff reports:

A study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today estimates that, even with steep tobacco tax rises and the introduction of plain packaging, tens of thousands of Kiwis will still be smoking by 2025.

One of the study authors, Otago University professor Tony Blakely, said the Government needed to start thinking about more “radical solutions” if it was committed to the goal.

Those included requiring smokers to have a tobacco licence, forcing tobacco firms to phase out nicotine, restricting tobacco sales to pharmacies, or subsidising less harmful alternatives such as e-cigarettes.

Blakely said it was too early to endorse any of those options, but a business-as-usual approach would not work. “We are going to need one of these extra radical things that hasn’t been tried anywhere else,” he said.

“Even a packet of cigarettes costing $40 will not be enough.”

The idea of licensing smokers sounds totalitarian.

The idea of restricting sales to pharmacies, recognising it is a drug, is worth debating.

Also worth considering is what role e-cigarettes can play, as they are exponentially less harmful.

Stuff reports:

Recaptured murderer and paedophile Phillip Smith is on his way back to New Zealand following deportation proceedings in Brazil.

Smith departed Rio de Janeiro earlier this morning, New Zealand police said.

Smith is serving a life sentence, so I’ve got some advice for the Department of Corrections.

• No parole
• No temporary release
• No home detention
• No running companies from prison
• No enrolling in courses and claiming student allowances

Following those simple guidelines above for Smith will be very helpful to everyone.

Stuff reports:

Anyone exceeding the speed limit this summer can expect to be pulled over, regardless of whether there’s a 4kmh speed tolerance.

The warning comes as police move towards zero tolerance of speeding after a successful campaign last summer when fatalities dropped 22 per cent.

“Anything over the limit is speeding and anyone speeding can expect to be pulled over,” police assistant commissioner, road policing, Dave Cliff said

Yes we must target those criminals driving at 101 km/hr. Disgraceful people.

The death of Phillip Hughes is incredibly sad – not just for his family, colleagues and friends – but also for the cricketing world.

No game is without its risks, but the rarity of dying from playing the game has been minuscule.

One really doesn’t know what to say. It is just such incredible misfortune.

The ODT reports:

An ear-splitting shriek of joy and relief rent the air at Dunedin’s Gigatown office last night as the city was named the winner of the Gigatown competition.

The win came after a massive online push from residents and supporters that lifted the city above its five competitors to the top of the competition.

Seconds after the annoucement, Mayor Dave Cull was at the podium in Wellington accepting the prize he said would have a real effect on Dunedin residents.

”This will affect their lives, it will affect their children’s job prospects, it will affect their educational possibilities, it will affect their medical services, it will affect their retail, it will affect every aspect of our lives.

”This will enhance the possibilities for our whole community.”

Thank God I never have to see another #giga tweet in my life.

Congrats to Dunedin for winning though. Having all residents with access to a gigabit connection will be cool.

The Herald reports:

The State Services Commission is about to embark on a search for one of the most prestigious jobs in the public service – head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Chief executive John Allen is leaving to take the reins of the Racing Board. The board is responsible for all racing and betting in New Zealand.

He is likely to get a pay rise from the $600,000 he earns. The last chief executive of the Racing Board earned $960,000.

Maybe David Shearer should apply? Could do a lot more as Secretary of Foreign Affairs than ranked No 16 in Labour’s caucus. He’d be good at the job also.

Stuff reports:

The country’s spy watchdog has issued a “please explain” to Labour MP Phil Goff over why aspects of her report into SIS information were given to reporters.

Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn said she was aware of Goff’s statements that he had disclosed some information concerning findings in her report into the release of information by the SIS.  

She would be seeking further information from Goff and others, she said in a statement.

“That disclosure was contrary to the non-disclosure obligations under which affected parties received some limited prior notice of the report and was also unfair to others,” she said.

“The broadcast or publication of that information may also have contravened the IGIS Act and, in any case, these events raise questions for the handling of future reports.  Any issue of prosecution will, however, be for the Police.”

Under the IGIS Act, convictions for a breach could trigger a fine of up to $50,000 against a company or corporation, or a $10,000 fine and a year in jail, or both, for an individual.

Goff won’t be prosecuted for leaking the report, but he has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. He pissed away his own moral high ground.

Stuff reports:

The Labour Party is looking for a new president after Moira Coatsworth confirmed will stand down in mid-December, giving the party new leaders in and outside Parliament.

New party leader Andrew Little said Coatsworth left in good standing with Labour.

He would not name a front-runner and said nominations had not yet opened.

Front-runners? from what I hear the possible contenders are running in the other direction! Does anyone want the job?

They could do a lot worse than bring back Mike Williams – but perhaps as General Secretary, rather than President this time. He is a very good organiser.

SUBMISSION OF DAVID FARRAR ON THE
COUNTERING TERRORIST FIGHTERS LEGISLATION BILL TO THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DFEENCE AND TRADE SELECT COMMITTEE

About the Submitter

1. This submission is made by David Farrar in a personal capacity. I would like to appear before the Committee to speak to my submission.

The overall Bill

1. With one exception I am broadly in support of the Government’s proposed law changes to help counter terrorist fighters. The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a significant threat to not just the local populations in the areas it controls, but to countries and people around the world.
2. I am broadly supportive of the proposed changes to the Passports Act, information sharing with Customs, and allowing the SIS to do electronic visual surveillance under warrant.

Emergency Surveillance by the SIS

1. I oppose the proposed law changes to allow the SIS to do emergency surveillance for up to 48 hours without a warrant.
2. I believe it is important for New Zealanders to have confidence and trust in their law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies.
3. At present the Government can say that no New Zealand citizen is spied on by any state agency unless a warrant is approved by an independent judicial officer such as a Judge, JP or Commissioner of Security Warrants. This is a hugely important check and balance in our system. No New Zealander can be spied on by a state agency without effectively judicial approval.
4. This proposed law would do away with the status quo. No longer could New Zealanders be told that they can only have their communications intercepted if an independent judicial officer agrees.
5. For Parliament to do away with this long standing right, they need to be convinced that the consequences of not doing so would be worse than remaining with the status quo. This should be a very high threshold. No matter how temporary the exception may be, the fact is that the law will go from an absolute guarantee of no surveillance without judicial approval to no guarantee. Parliament should be loath to make such a change.
6. I accept that threats may emerge quickly and it is desirable for intelligence to be gathered quickly. However rather than water down the requirement for prior judicial approval, other alternatives should be considered.
7. We live in a connected world. The Commissioner of Security Warrants and the Minister for the SIS can probably be contacted close to 24/7. Documents for a warrant can be sent electronically for approval. With planning, one should be able to get a warrant within a couple of hours where haste is necessary.
8. Other options is for the Commissioner and the Minister to have deputies who must be available in Wellington, when the principals are likely to be difficult to contact.
9. This law change will make it harder for the security agencies to keep the confidence of New Zealanders that they can only be spied on if prior approval is given by a judicial officer.
10. There is a massive difference between a system of checks and balances that occurs before surveillance occurs, and one that checks afterwards if it was appropriate.
11. Changing the law to allow the SIS to do surveillance without prior judicial approval should be the last resort, not the first. I would urge the Committee to delete this section of the Bill.

    Possible further safeguards

12. If the Committee does not agree to remove the sections on emergency surveillance powers, I would ask them to consider some or all of the below as possible further safeguards.
13. Change the threshold from a warrant being “impractical in the circumstances” to “highly impractical” and change the impact of a delay from “likely to result in a loss of intelligence” to “highly likely to result in a loss of important intelligence”.
14. Reduce the time period for emergency surveillance from 48 hours to 12 hours. I can’t conceive of a situation where the Commissioner and/or Minister can’t be located within 12 hours. This also syncs it with the requirement to notify the Commissioner, Minister and Inspector-General within 12 hours.
15. Have any report on use of the power also going to the Inspector-General automatically under S41E(4) so they can investigate on their own initiative, even if not referred by the Minister or Commissioner.

Thank you for considering this submission. I would like to make an oral submission in support, and look forward to appearing.

David Farrar

The Herald reports:

Blogger Cameron Slater has claimed in texts to Prime Minister John Key that senior Labour staffer Matt McCarten was involved in hacking his emails and that Labour even tried to kill him.

To put that into context, it is referring to an alleged conversation among some of those involved in the Dirty Politics saga that they hoped the pressure would lead to Cameron killing himself. As far as I know, no one is saying Matt McCarten is an assassin 🙂

THE TRANSCRIPT

Cameron Slater: gave it away to me…Goff leaked SIS report

John Key: It’s a joke isn’t it. They will attack Jason for talking to u and they break the confidentiality agreement. Classic lab.

Slater: Yup…I’m very angry over it…Goff is the one who leaked oravida stuff too.
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Slater: They still have standard bloggers on staff

Slater: And Mccarten was involved in hack

Key: Hopefully it will all come out in time

Slater: I wish they would hurry up…they played the real dirty politics…even tried to kill me…I have evidence of.

Cameron blogs:

I had confirmation from two journalists that Phil Goff was the one who briefed them about the report and the source of the leak.

I texted John Key, and informed him of the source of the leak. He thanked me. No discussions of the content of the IGIS report were held, it was a brief exchange.

I did not text Judith Collins and have not texted Judith Collins for some months. We had no discussions regarding the content or otherwise of any report.

In my conversation with Josh Forman I got suspicious because of his intense interest and so fed him some information that wasn’t strictly true so that it could be easily verified by cellphone records.

I repeat. I never had a text conversation with Judith Collins on Monday night. Cellphone records will clearly show this.

The following day Josh Forman continued along that line of inquiry and was imploring me to out the txt with John Key, I couldn’t work out why.

That is until this afternoon.

Josh Forman is a man who lacks integrity. In good faith I was willing to coach someone from the other side so they could have a better voice in the blogosphere.

I now know that his request for coaching was a subterfuge, at the behest of the Labour party in order to gain my trust.

I thought the campaign was weird enough, but this has now reached a new level of weirdness. The biggest issue of the moment is Cameron Slater – he was mentioned 124 times in Parliament this week!

I suspect 90% of the public are confused or bemused or both – or just change the channel when the latest politics story comes on.

Stuff reports:

Murderer and sex offender Phillip Smith swindled $26,700 in student living costs while housed at public expense in prison.

The Ministry for Social Development has confirmed it has been trying to recover the payments. But Department of Corrections officials were unaware of the scam until yesterday.

Can we have a new rule.

If a prisoner is in trouble with any other state agency, then that agency should let Corrections know.

Incredible.

The video is from Gareth Morgan, but a colleague of his presents it.

A lot I disagree with him on, but not this issue.

Liam Hehir writes in the Manawatu Standard:

Half a century ago, Richard Nixon addressed the media after narrowly losing election for governor of California.

The defeat was all the more bitter for Nixon since, just two years earlier, he had missed out in one of the closest presidential elections in history.

Dejected, he assured reporters that they wouldn’t have “Nixon to kick around any more” as he declared the end of his public career.

In just six years, however, Nixon was elected president.

Not sure Grant sees that as a good precedent though!

We should keep this in mind as we consider Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson’s latest disavowal of ambitions to lead the Labour Party.

Having been beaten twice in his quest for the leadership, Robertson says his aspirations are over and that he intends to give the new leader his full support.

We should take Robertson at his word. He has put his name forward to lead Labour twice now – and has lost both times. That would demoralise anyone.

I’m sure Grant is committed to his new role.

Robertson retains a following within the Labour caucus, the permanent bureaucracy and the media. He has been accused of using that platform to destabilise at least the last two leaders. By any measure, he will be a natural rallying point for dissent.

The conventional wisdom is that Little should appease Robertson’s loyalists by allowing him to retain a large degree of independence and influence within caucus.

This would be the path of least resistance. In the short term, it would also bring plaudits as a unifying gesture.

However, it could also prove to be Little’s undoing. Such a settlement would hold while things were going well.

Once things got rough, however, the peace could quickly fall apart.

What happens if Labour’s prospects still look bleak by 2016?

What if Little has a period of rough polling, poor media performances and strained caucus relations? Does Robertson just forget the leadership?

In the end the party’s performance will determine how united they stay.

The Herald reports:

Internet mogul Kim Dotcom says he is officially broke.

The German entrepreneur and failed politician has revealed this week that his three-year, $10 million legal fight against extradition to the US to face trial on an alleged conspiracy to commit the biggest-ever breach of copyright has seen him run out of cash.

I can only speak for myself, but if I was running out of cash, I wouldn’t spend $4.5 million on a pet political party.

Simon Lusk has written A Campaign Professional’s Guide to Winning New Zealand Campaigns. He’s releasing it a chapter at a time on Amazon.

The first chapter is on the need to start with a good candidate. His first point is a good candidate should be friendly and outgoing. He suggests the following tests:

• Can they walk into a room of strangers and enjoy it?
• Do they have charisma?
• Do they have a prodigious work ethic?
• Are they are a fighter?
• Avoid “risk takers” and “sinners”
• Are they realistic about their chances and career prospects?

This is more a guide for campaign managers than candidates, but prospective candidates would find much of it useful also.

A guest post by John Bishop. His eat drink travel blog is here:

It’s hard to imagine government buildings being interesting but Malaysia’s administrative centre at Putrajaya about 30 minutes outside Kuala Lumpur certainly is proof to the contrary.

Putrajaya is a planned city and government shifted there in 1999 after downtown KL became too crowded. However Kuala Lumpur is still Malaysia’s capital. It is home to the King and Parliament, as well as being the country’s commercial and financial centre.

In Putrajaya every government agency makes a solid statement with its own building with its own style. No expense has been spared in this strenuous assertion of Malaysian prosperity and prestige as a nation. In Sanskrit, “putra” means “prince” or “male child”, and “jaya” means “success” or “victory”.

The architectural parallels with foreign capitals are unmistakeable.

The centrepiece is the seven kilometre boulevard leading to the palace like structure entirely devoted to the offices of the Prime Minister.

At the other end of the boulevard is the convention centre designed to look like a space ship where the government hosts large international delegations.

The grandeur of the architecture recalls Paris and Washington, with the broad sweeping tree lined boulevard suggesting the Champs Elysée.

The area is clean, planned, and orderly and not a shop or a hoarding in sight. This is about government. It is a statement that Malaysia is a regional power, economically if not militarily, confident, prosperous, and not to be taken for granted.

The city is within the ‘Cyberjaya’ the government’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). The government plans to make Malaysia into a thoroughly modern state by 2020, partly through a knowledge based societal framework, and the multimedia super corridor is a vital component of that strategy.

The Australians journalists I was travelling with were impressed. Looking at the lake from the bridge along the boulevard, one commented that it certainly put Canberra in the shade.

Of course Wellington has nothing even remotely like this, plans for a lavish government centre around the Molesworth Street area having been shelved long ago.

Actually I was in KL as a guest of Malaysia Airlines who want to promote KL as a stopover from travellers from New Zealand and Australia going either to north Asia or Europe.  A group of writers were shown through MAS’s operation where the satay makers work every day turning out thousands of Malaysia’s signature dish.

After the concerns over safety and security crew training is important and all crew do regular refreshers on resuscitation and other emergencies including evacuations down the big slides.

MAS is about to delist from the Malaysian Stock Exchange after the minority shareholders voted to accept a buyout offer from the government owned investment company.

Malaysian taxpayers have already put in a total of $7B into the company since 2001, and after the loss of two aircraft and the decline in traffic, the company is forecast to lose $1.2B – $1.8B this financial year. Without remedial action, MAS was scheduled to run out of cash entirely in 2015.

Under the 12 point recovery plan now being implemented there’ll be a further capital injection of $2.6B and jobs will also be reduced from 20 000 to 14 000.  Service will be modernised, new aircraft may be purchased but little change is expected to routes. Already commentators in KL are talking of a return to profitability and a relisting of the company in three years’ time.

The Press editorial:

Gwyn found, however, that Tucker, in defending himself, had provided an account of the briefing that was “objectively” misleading, by omissions and failure to provide context. The Prime Minister was also misled by the information Tucker provided. When public discussion about the matter blew up, Tucker failed to correct the situation.

Tucker’s errors were undoubtedly serious. He was not as measured and objective as he was required to be. These failures compromised the service’s obligation to appear politically neutral and the service has formally apologised for them, both to Goff and to the Prime Minister.

But contrary to much of the public debate on the matter, Gwyn found no partisan political motive on the part of the SIS or its director. Tucker’s faults were errors of judgment, no more. She also found that no SIS member had improperly leaked information to the blogger Cameron Slater or colluded with him.

Most importantly for the Prime Minister, Gwyn emphatically rejected any allegation of political collusion or direction of the SIS in its disclosure of information. The so-called “Dirty Politics” conspiracy did not exist.

Indeed.

She did find that information was provided by an employee in the Prime Minister’s Office to Slater for political purposes, but that employee was a political one who was not expected to be politically neutral and the information was not classified.

Political staff have political discussions with bloggers. How surprising.

On an issue of most concern to media, Gwyn found that differential treatment of requests for information from mainstream outlets, compared with one received from Slater, arose not from political partisanship but rather poor process, inadequate resources and lack of political awareness. The picture she paints is of a department unused to dealing with Official Information Act requests and under pressure for a quick response, rather than one seeking to act as part of any conspiracy.

Incompetence rather than malice. As is often the case.

The Herald editorial disagrees and says it is all John Key’s fault.

As expected rioting and looting broke out after the Grand Jury decision on the Michael Brown shooting was announced.

The Washington Post has posted a series of  graphics that according to them is the correct sequence of events that led to Brown being fatally shot.

The grand jury documents are here.

Juan Williams from Fox News has written an opinion piece in which he asks.

Where is the black leadership now that a grand jury has decided not to indict the police officer that killed Michael Brown?

Where is Al Sharpton? He advertises himself as a spokesman for the best interests of black America. But he is absent.

Where is Jesse Jackson, another popular media personality who says he speaks for black America? He’s missing in action, too.

Perhaps its cynical to think it but I’m not sure that Sharpton is a voice of reason. Williams goes on to comment on how Brown’s family have handled themselves post the Grand Jury announcement.

Incredibly, the best leadership on the scene has come from the family of the murdered teen.

Michael Brown’s family issued a statement right after the prosecutor announced that the grand jury was not going to indict the officer. They said they are “profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions.”

They then spoke about the need for “positive change…[the] need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen.” They specifically called for requiring the police to wear body cameras and then they added “please keep your protests peaceful.”

“Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction – Let’s not just make noise, let’s make a difference,” their statement read.

[CORRECTION] At least the family are acting with dignity  This isn’t accurate as although a statement as cited was released Michael Brown’s stepfather was recorded on video inciting the crowd to “burn this bitch down”.

As for the looters and rioters it looks like some level of pre-planning has gone into their actions. It doesn’t look like one of those ‘spontaneous demonstrations’ that we sometimes hear about.

[Update] Here is the video footage of Michael Brown robbing the convenience store prior to the altercation with the police officer.

A lioness greets the man who raised her since birth.

A few people have asked about who we used for our Latin American trip, and what the itinerary was. For those now planning to go there, here’s the basic details.

1. 2 nights in Santiago, Chile
2. 5 nights/6 days around the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
3. 3 nights in Quito, or surrounding area, Ecuador
4. 3 nights in La Paz, Bolivia
5. 3 nights in Amazon Rainforest, Bolivia
6. 2 nights around Lake Titicaca
7. 4 nights in Cusco
8. 3 nights on Inca Trail
9. 1 night in Cusco

The NZ company we used was Harbour City Travel, through Trish Brennan. HCT worked with Viva.

In each country there was a local company that would pick us up, do all the transfers, and give us the vouchers and details for the activities in each country.

In Chile the local company was CTS Turismo. They were good. No problems, and did a vineyard tour, a city tour and walked around some parks. Around all you want to do there.

In Ecuador it was Galacruises Expeditions. The cruise we went on was the Grand Odyssey which was superb. Highly recommended. The Quito tours were very good and we had the same guide for four days which was helpful. Recommended.

In Bolivia it was Transturin. For the first part of our stay they were very good, with the city tour and transfers. However I would not use them for the Lake Titicaca experience as they constantly ran late, and their pick up and drop offs point were not well thought out. From others we spoke to, they said it is better to do Lake Titicaca if going from Peru to Bolivia rather than vice-versa. For the Amazon we stayed in the Chalalan Eco-Lodge and that was very good – good guides, good food, and great location. Facilities very basic though.

In Peru it was Coltur and for the Inca Trail it was Pachamama Explorers. Pachamama Explorers were first class on the Inca Trail and guiding us around Machu Picchu. William was our guide- ask for him. Coltur started well, but did not cope with some changes needed due to illness, and we didn’t get consistent information from them.

All up we were away for 31 days. If doing it again I’d do it in the reverse order (Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador) as ending with Galpagos would be great and Lake Titicaca works better that way. We had to do it in that order as the Inca Trail was all booked up earlier in our trip. Was pretty exhausted at the end of it (now need a holiday to recover from the holiday) so with hindsight would have a couple more do nothing days. We only had one of those in 31 days (which became a large shopping day!). I’d also have a policy in future to make sure all hotel stays are for at least two nights as getting to a place late at night and leaving the next morning is not so much fun.

But overall an amazing trip, and a great way to see some of the highlights of Latin America.