John Banks; Conviction Quashed

Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, May 19th, 2015 - 198 comments
Categories: Abuse of power, accountability, democracy under attack, john banks, Politics - Tags: , ,

Disgraced former National MP, ACT leader and Auckland Mayor John Banks has had his appeal against conviction for electoral fraud upheld and his conviction quashed. He has been formally acquitted and there will be no second trial.

The Court of Appeal has accepted that Kim Dotcom changed his evidence once affidavits from American witnesses contradicted his claims about the date and circumstances of the lunch at which it was alleged that Banks took two $25k cheques in order to circumvent electoral law. Kim ‘two lunches’ Dotcom’s credibility has dropped even further, possibly harming his ongoing attempt to avoid deportation to the States to face charges there.

Banks is now free to run for the Auckland mayoralty next year, presumably against Labour’s Phil Goff.

198 comments on “John Banks; Conviction Quashed ”

  1. alwyn 1

    Is there any chance that DotCom will be charged with perjury?
    Seems appropriate to me.

    • Clemgeopin 1.1

      Leaving aside the court verdict, do you personally and honestly believe that John Banks is not guilty?

      And talking about ‘appropriate’, did the Parnell pony-tail pulling behaviour by the other John, our esteemed Prime Minister, also seem appropriate to you?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 1.2

      Does it? The Solicitor General’s remarks – quoted below by Penny Bright – show just how twisted and prejudiced your opinion is.

      But we already knew that.

      • alwyn 1.2.1

        “The Solicitor General’s remarks – quoted below by Penny Bright – show just how twisted and prejudiced your opinion is. ”

        Really? You mean that the Solicitor General is squeaky clean?
        I’m not surprised that he is trying to defend himself. After all isn’t he the man responsible for what led to the Court of Appeal saying’
        “”We hold rather that the Crown could not both withhold the memorandum and resist the appeal in the manner that it did. The effect was to mislead the Court.”

        He has just been given a caning by a clearly very unhappy Court who have been mislead by this man and his minions.
        I think that after a slapping down like this he really ought to be considering whether he can stay in the job. Has any other person in this job been admonished quite so harshly?

        • One Anonymous Bloke 1.2.1.1

          No, I’m saying that you really ought to inform yourself before running your mouth.

          Her evidence supported the defence case, which was that Mr Banks and Mr Dotcom had held a private and quite different discussion about donations in a conservatory or loggia off the dining room.

          The Court of Appeal.

          Oops.

          • alwyn 1.2.1.1.1

            Where exactly does that statement, that you are giving as a direct quotation, come from?
            Then I can find out who “she” is and when this was, if at all, said.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 1.2.1.1.1.1

              Paragraph 13 of the judgement. You haven’t read the judgement?

              That was obvious.

              • alwyn

                But this doesn’t say, and give any information about, what the discussion may have been.
                If Banks had asked DotCom for a donation, in private, and been told that DotCom would give something then there is no way of saying that Banks knew who had actually given anything and could have honestly signed any return as saying that they were anonymous.
                The argument that he knew depended on Kim’s little helpers claiming that they were present for the meeting and that cheques were handed over.
                They weren’t present if there were such a private meeting and the only people who could possibly comment on what happened there were Banks and DotCom. DotCom has clearly been proved to be a liar, or if that is too strong for your constitution, an “unreliable witness”

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  In fact, the C of A’s judgement is that the Crown made an “error of process”.

                  Human memory being what it is, witness reliability is a myth, I am reliably informed by my legal chums.

                  What is not in doubt is that the conversation occurred, that two cheques were made out, and that Banks subsequently characterised them as anonymous donations when, by his own statements to the Court, he knew damn well who they were from.

                  One thing is clear: that’s ok with you. Let’s agree to disagree.

                  • Andrew Carrot

                    Actually, the CoA determined that there had been a miscarriage of justice. The “error of process” that you refer to was sufficiently overt to allow the CoA to conclude that there had been a miscarriage. This is a very serious determination by the court.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      John Banks to 3News, 27th April 2012: “Well I met with them, I know them, but I can’t recall discussing money with them.”

                      John Banks’ defence in court: ‘that discussion didn’t take place at the dinner table’.

                      Your candidate for mayor of Auckland. Will you wipe him off your shoe or tread him all over the carpet?

                    • alwyn

                      You are right of course. They did describe it as a “miscarriage of justice” didn’t they.
                      Quite a rare thing that. It was what was said about the Arthur Allan Thomas Case, and about David Dougherty and as probable about David Bain.
                      Quite damning about the senior lawyers involved isn’t it.

                • dukeofurl

                  Banks was proved a liar in a previous court case in 2003.

                  The judge said his sworn affidavit didnt match his testimony.

                  So who has been ‘proven a liar previously’ ?

    • dukeofurl 1.3

      Read the original judgement.

      John Banks personally went out to solict his campaign donations and made them out as anonymous when he knew who they were. Thats an offence.

      The legal technicalities mean he has got away it. Doesnt mean he didnt do it.

  2. Clemgeopin 2

    Oh, how nice! Now we are blessed with not one, but TWO honest Johns! John Key and John Banks! Jesus wept!

  3. Old Mickey 3

    In breaking news – Penny Bright & Graham McCready are filing a public prosectuion against Kim DotCom for perjury.

  4. Detrie 4

    I don’t agree with J Banks policies and always thought him a self-serving egotist, like many politicians. But we always thought his heart was in the right place and he at least tried to do good work, be it in a somewhat misguided fashion. We’d never vote for the guy, but don’t have issue with him being in the next race against Phil Goff. Both appear honourable men, which is more than you can say for the incumbent.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 4.1

      Yeah, the man who forgets helicopter rides and speeches at birthday parties is totally in the clear. No, wait, I’m glad his career has been so thoroughly tarnished: he’s a hatemonger who deserves every bit of it.

      • Tracey 4.1.1

        knew nothing about finances of hujlich when being paid as ED.

        he is not guilty but i dont want a mayor who signs stuff he doesnt read…. or one he takes the pay but is hands off.

    • dukeofurl 4.2

      Dont forget the other donation from Sky City.

      Banks met personally with the top management to ask for money ($25,000) and he walked out the door with the cheque in his pocket and then listed it as “anonymous”

      Unknown to Banks , Sky City listed the donation in its annual report- which is where all this saga began.

      Luckily for Banks , because the cheque was in his name, it was returned to Sky City and a new cheque was made out in ‘Team Banksy’.

      Purely because of this technicality Banks escaped conviction on this charge. The solicting of Dotcoms money was in a smiliar manner.

      The reality is Banks made false declarations on ALL of his so called anonymous donations.

      This case made the law clear, if you know who made the donation, you cant make it anonymous.

      You can see the panic in nationals donation to individual candidates, where in virtually all cases they had to use an intermediary , head office national party, to cover up who made most of the candidate donations

  5. Richard Christie 5

    Without doubt, people are lying.
    The question is who is lying?

    Personally I believe it to be those supporting the person caught holding two cheques rather than the person who for no imaginable reason chose to write two cheques, when one would have sufficed.

    • Bob 5.1

      So you believe the person who received a dodgy payment rather than the person that made a dodgy payment, and this is based on nothing other than political alliances, does that sum things up?

      I would rather the facts be played out in court and let a judge decide, but now we can’t even get that because the person that made a dodgy payment (the one you believe) ‘changed his story’ (which could be construed as lying, and would most definitely make Blip’s list if this was John Key we were talking about) when his affidavit was contradicted by other parties.
      This doesn’t mean the person that received the payment wasn’t a guilty party, but we may never find out the full story now because the person you believed, according to the courts, now shouldn’t be believed, but that doesn’t stop you believing them.

      Glad we cleared that up.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1.1

        You misread Richard’s comment. He says the supporters of the man holding two cheques are lying.

        • Richard Christie 5.1.1.1

          Thanks OAB, you read my comment correctly, however upon reflection I withdraw it. I cannot know what went on at each occasion under scrutiny.

          I do nevertheless believe the man left holding the two cheques to be the liar.

          Whether the conversation was at one dinner party or at another is largely immaterial to the substance of the charge, for somebody, at some stage, advised KDC to write two cheques instead of one to be paid into Mr John Banks’ campaign fund. No prizes for knowing from whence the instruction came.

          Banks has escaped on a technicality of process which has allowed him to avoid answering the serious substance of the allegations.

    • Tracey 5.2

      i suspect dotcom and banks are both liars.

  6. Colonial Rawshark 6

    I see the old school establishmentarians can’t resist putting the boot into Dotcom with snide remarks. At least Dotcom made a serious effort and investment to hold Banks to account. He deserves credit for that.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1

      “Serious”? His diary fail has thrown this vile criminal hatemonger a lifeline.

      • alwyn 6.1.1

        ” this vile criminal hatemonger ”
        Is DotCom really that bad? I’ve never met him but perhaps some of you who are his mates could comment.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1.1.1

          Let me make this perfectly clear so that even you can understand it: John Banks is a vile criminal hatemonger.

      • Colonial Rawshark 6.1.2

        Why fucking help the Left, after all, is the lesson Dotcom should take away from this court case debacle, the time and money he has put into it. They are an ungrateful bunch of losers.

        • te reo putake 6.1.2.1

          What’s it got to do with the left? The principle players in the court case, KDC, Banks and McCready, all seem to be various shades of right wing. His only assistance to the left appears to be putting a few of us on the payroll for a while, when it looked to be advantageous to his personal circumstances to do so. As far as I can see, his ‘help’ has destroyed one left party and hobbled two others. Do we really need that kind of assistance?

        • McFlock 6.1.2.2

          lol
          The only reason he put money into the left was because the money he gave to banks got him absolutely nothing.

          • Andrew Carrot 6.1.2.2.1

            So he attempted to buy the right, and failed, and then attempted to buy the left and succeeded. Oh dear.

            • Colonial Rawshark 6.1.2.2.1.1

              So he attempted to buy the right, and failed

              well, more precisely the Right took his money, made promises, and reneged.

              • Andrew Carrot

                I’m not sure what those promises would have been, given that it was a local government election. He pays candidates to get influence. And clearly the payments come with one expectation: get results or i’ll take you down. So when Banks didn’t get him released from Auckland Remand Centre (as if he could), he pulled out the threat/promise. Some call it bribery, others call it patronage.

              • Colville.

                Got a link to the promises Bank made and reneged on?

                Or you just made that bit up? yip thought so.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  If I help you in the the future it’s better no-one knows about your donation.
                  John Archibald Banks.

                  So no, not made up.

                  • Colville.

                    Link?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Google is your friend, although I do offer a Google search service at an exhorbitant fee which you can’t afford.

                    • Colville.

                      Well instead of spending my valuable time googling your imaginary quotation I made an apple pie.

                      [It’s not imaginary. However, it’s not directly a John Banks quote. It’s Kim Dotcom’s evidence in court about what Banks said to him at the time the cheques were signed and was clearly accepted by the court that convicted Banks as being reasonably accurate. Next time, please do use google first. Otherwise you end up wasting my valuable time. And that won’t end well. TRP]

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Willful ignorance is your friend.

                    • Colville.

                      I thought the apple pie was far more worthy of my time…

                      and still no one has put up a link to this most well known of quotes…

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Must you provide supporting evidence for dubious psychological studies of right wing “thought”?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      still no one has put up a link

                      I’m happy to paraphrase it for you:

                      Crown: Mr. Banks, you told Mr. Dotcom at the dinner table that “If I help you in the future it’s better no-one knows about your donation.”

                      Banks: I can’t remember meeting that man and in any case the conversation happened in the conservatory.*

                      *Remember when the lying trash you’re placing your faith in said he couldn’t remember meeting KDC, and then gave evidence in court that they’d discussed political donations? How we laughed at you.**

                      **I laughed at you. Other more charitable folk laughed at lamented your willful blindness and gutter ethics.

                  • Ron

                    Obviously the help did not extend to helping Dotcom get a decent mattress whilst in gaol.
                    In fact it did not even extend to help at all.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Obviously the public statements Mr. Banks made: that he could not remember discussing donations, were lies, as shown by the discrepancies between his media statements and evidence given under oath.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1.2.2.1.2

              It’s the right wing overbite – pretending Mana is “The Left” – neuters their rhetoric every time.

              • McFlock

                alongside their questionable definitions of “succeeded”.
                Dotcom did for mana what Fox does to news presenters every day – you don’t direct them to change their tune for you, you just pay the ones who sing your tune.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  That being the case, I suppose the difference is that Fox provides value for money.

                  • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                    Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Apple pie.

    • Bill 6.2

      The fact is that it was the Crown Prosecution that fucked up; not Kim Dotcom.

      “The Crown misled the Court of Appeal by failing to disclose a document to John Banks ahead of an appeal hearing, according to a new judgment.”

      Still, precious few will let the facts get in the way of reflexive self righteousness and of pointing fingers of condemnation towards that most favoured of bogey men.

      edit – and so, what may well be considered a political judgement sails under the radar …

      • dukeofurl 6.2.1

        Crown prosecutors do this sort of thing all the time.

        Look at Kim Dotcoms prosecution , littered with mistakes and unlawful actions.

        Court of Appeal has gone a long with a free pass to the Crown in all those instances.

      • Actually, both KDC and the prosecution fucked up. Dotcom ‘forgot’ about the second lunch until after Banks’ wife came up with the affidavits. The prosecution failed to alert the court and the defence of the change of KDC’s testimony. The initial fuckup was Dotcom’s and that was compounded by the prosecution’s mistake.

        • Bill 6.2.2.1

          The inverted commas suggest you don’t believe Kim Dotcom forgot or got confused. The central issue around the donations remains the same regardless. (ie – did it happen at this dinner or that dinner is a ‘who gives a fuck?’ piece of background…no-one denies the substantive issues around the donations.).

          Which then begs the question as to why everything’s been kicked into touch.

          • te reo putake 6.2.2.1.1

            Confused, Bill. As I understand it, KDC had one date in mind, then suggested another, then said there were two lunches, then finally reverted to the original date.

            • Bill 6.2.2.1.1.1

              And if whatever clarification from Kim Dotcom had been passed to the defence by the Crown last October, then everything would have proceeded in a normal legal fashion, yes?

              • No. I believe that the appeal court has indicated that if it had known of the retraction/change of date it might not have ordered the re-trial. That is, it may well have thrown the case out at that point.

                • Bill

                  heh – surely they’d have stated that to be the case (shonky witness evidence) if that was the case? That they throw up a technicality as an excuse to throw everything into touch suggests simply that any possible way out was going to be grasped.

                  And as McFlock comments, off below somewhere, Crown prosecution had to be shamed into taking the case in the first fucking place.

                  But hey, sit back and watch the next round of hate and ridicule being unleashed on the bogey man.

                  • They do state that to be the case, Bill. In the judgement, they find that if they’d known about the relevant facts at the time, they would not have ordered the retrial. So not just a technicality, but a finding about the substantial nature of the evidence.

                    It’s at the end of the judgement, which can be found here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11451091

                    • Bill

                      I’m just reading it as saying that since everyone was ‘settled’ on the discussion having taken place on the 5th when they ordered a retrial, then they couldn’t order a re-trial where the Crown were going to say the discussion took place on the 9th.

                      That’s nothing to do with dodgy evidence per se. More like a convenient ‘out’, opened wide and beckoned to by the Crown.

                    • Richard Christie

                      Retrials involving new scenarios are no barrier, ask Mark Lundy.

          • Robert M 6.2.2.1.2

            I think it unlikely that the American businessmen were anymore credible than Moana or Dot Com. Our lingo is not Dot Com’s first language and he clearly had little understanding of our politics or legal system.
            The glaring fact , is that Act needed the money and Act needed Banks. What a worthless illprincipled party

            • Andrew Carrot 6.2.2.1.2.1

              I believe this case is all about the funding of John Banks’ 2010 mayoralty campaign. I don’t think Banks was even a member of Act when this was all unfolding. He was still a Nat then.

              And where ‘Dotcom’s donation cheques are concerned, one witness who has been spared closer examination by the MSM is Dotcom’s accountant at the time, McCavanagh – the cheque writer and (according to him) the depositor. The guy was murdered by the defence in court; under cross-examination he admitted that everything he had said about the banking of The Cheques in Queenstown by him was a lie, as the cheques were actually deposited in a Westpac branch in Albany, which is quite a few miles and a couple of flights away from said holiday town. He too got the days of the meetings wrong, among other things. For some reason known only to His Honour, Wylie J seemed to regard McCavanagh’s testimony as reliable.

              • Tracey

                yup. and banks still signs declarations without reading them

                cos he doesnt take declarations at law seriously
                he wants to deny the contents later
                he is not intelligent

                not guilty of a crime but hardly the talents for mayor of auckland

                • Rodel

                  Trust dot com?…never
                  Trust John Banks?…Sure Can (not)
                  Two liars don’t make make a truth.

              • Tracey

                oh and the accntnt didn’t look gd in the original finding as i recall so did get scrutinised contrary to your claim.

    • dukeofurl 6.3

      The person who started the ball rolling was Mallard

      Sky City published its annual report listing a $15,000 donation to Banks which started Mallard going.
      KDC only got going after this was public.

  7. Penny Bright 7

    ‘Sensational’ Court of Appeal decision?

    More like bloody unbelievable!

    How did Kim Dotcom know to split his $50,000 donation into 2 x $25,000 donations?

    OSMOSIS?

    If John Banks knew the identity of electoral donor – Kim Dotcom – then Kim Dotcom’s donation(s) should NOT have been listed as ‘anonymous’ – end of story.

    John Banks should not have relied upon his Treasurer to compile the list of donors, when his Treasurer was NOT present at all meetings when donations were discussed or solicited.

    I’m with the Solicitor-General on this one!

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11440033

    ” …The Solicitor-General, Mike Heron, QC, appeared by video-link and maintained that while Kim Dotcom’s evidence against Mr Banks has changed since the first trial, the story remained the same in one crucial respect.

    The Butler memorandum did not change the key plank of the false electoral charge, said Mr Heron.

    “Dotcom maintains there was a conversation with Banks in his house about donations. There is no fundamental change about whether there was a conversation. Mr Banks himself accepts that.

    “Mr Banks knew that these donations had been made. He knew who the donor was. Whether there was one lunch or two, cannot totally undermine that,” said Mr Heron.

    This was backed by the corroborating evidence that the two cheques were made out for $25,000 each.

    Mr Heron said he was “not defending Mr Dotcom’s credibility for one moment” but a judge could rely on parts of his evidence and dismiss others, as Justice Edwin Wylie did when he convicted Mr Banks.

    Mr Heron said there was also an issue around whether the Butler memorandum needed to be disclosed to the defence and, in any case, the material did not change the key tenet of Dotcom’s evidence.

    ….”

    In my opinion, there should have been a retrial.

    Penny Bright

    http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz

    • Dave_1924 7.1

      Yeah Penny, you know the law soooo much better than 3 Judges on the bench of NZ’s ultimate court of law, outside parliament. Brilliant. I take it you won’t be apologising then ….

      • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1.1

        Mr. Heron’s remarks show that for once, Ms. Bright has nothing to apologise for.

        • Dave_1924 7.1.1.1

          Mr Heron’s remarks? The counsel for the prosecution…….. Hmmmm yeah right. Weighed and founded wanting by three judges of the NZ Supreme Court…

          Banks and his campaign team were dumb filing as they did. But just because Banks wouldn’t be bought and intervene to help KDC when he was in jail, doesn’t make him a criminal and corrupt.

          But you know OAB – the playbook has been set and the endless left smears right, right smears left will continue ad nauseam . And the average punter gets no benefit to their life from all these super smart people running around in circles of small time politic bs…

          • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1.1.1.1

            😆

            You really ought to read what they said if you’re going to pretend to know all about it.

            We are satisfied that there has been a serious error of process. It is, we accept, attributable to an error of judgment rather than misconduct.

            Getting off on a technicality means you’re in the clear on Wingnut.

            • Dave_1924 7.1.1.1.1.1

              “Getting off on a technicality means you’re in the clear on Wingnut.”

              ?? What does that even mean? Why resort to the old you don’t agree with me you’re a wingnut/from wingnut blah blah personal attack bs OAB?

              An accusation of KNOWINGLY filling in an incorrect electoral return was made against Banks. It relied on KDC and his cohorts testimony. That testimony has been shown to be all over the place in terms of who was where, when and what was discussed. The key thing of knowingly asking for donations to be made anonymously has not been proven

              Banks has been acquitted…..

              The error of judgement comment above is all about the legal fraternity not coming down hard on its own. Heron and his office “made an error judgment” in not sharing evidence with the defence and the court. yeah right…. In my opinion that is very close to saying misconduct but we will let you walk right now….

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                “All over the place”

                In fact, in part, Banks’ defence is that he had a conversation with Dotcom about donations, so that salient detail is not in doubt.

                Perhaps it’s ok with you if politicians solicit their own donations. If so, then Cabinet Club says you’re probably a National Party enabler voter.

          • dukeofurl 7.1.1.1.2

            Dont forget the Skycity donation, which was the place it all started ( KDC only chimed in after it become public).

            It too was a technicality that go tBanks off ( they had to re-issue the cheque)

            he walked out of the building with the cheque is his pocket, for gods sake.

            And then tried to claim ( but not in the witness box) amnesia when it was time to sign the declaration of his donations.

            Who is the biggest liar here ?

            • Dave_1924 7.1.1.1.2.1

              Duke… not going to disagree with you. Politicians using trusts to hide identities of donors and incorrectly filling in electoral forms is just rubbish in my view. But Banks is not alone in any of that type of behaviour

              I’d like to see the Police grow some nads’ and actually hammer politicians and their staff for the numerous incidents of breaking electoral law that occur. Incorrect returns, tweeting political messages on election day and all the rest of the dodgy behaviour and end around behaviours.

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                grow some nads

                Too funny: you think they’re too afraid to lay charges.

              • Draco T Bastard

                But Banks is not alone in any of that type of behaviour

                Ah, the old RWNJ defense of But THEY did it toooooo

                And, yes, more politicians should be behind bars at this moment in time.

          • dukeofurl 7.1.1.1.3

            And the Sky City cheque ?

            This was the cheque which revealed Banks lies in his donation declaration, KDC only piped up after this was made public

      • Chris 7.1.2

        Given the state of our current Court of Appeal it’s not surprising at all.

      • the pigman 7.1.3

        Oh Dave, still the same old wingnut.

        Never afraid to let facts get in the way. The Court of Appeal is not New Zealand’s ultimate court of law. That would be the Supreme Court.

        Now bye bye, ta ta, I’d go back to another alias while the going is good, commenters who persistently attempt to mislead and derail tend to be amenable to the ban hammer.

    • Andrew 7.2

      How ironic your surname is Penny!

      It beats me how the Left tethered their entire election campaign on this obviously dodgy foreigner with previous convictions, expulsions from other countries and running an internet scam which was bound to come unstuck.

      You are judged by the friends you keep… and in this instance the electorate did the judging.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 7.2.1

        So tethered, in fact, that Kelvin Davis won TTT.

        No, wait, this just in: your feeble pretence that the Mana party is the entire Labour movement marks you as bewildered or mendacious.

        Which is it?

      • Tracey 7.2.2

        now you are just being silly. like someone who claims they have the nouse to run a city but signs declarations without reading them. takes large ED fees to run a finance company but knows nothing of the finances.

      • In Vino 7.2.3

        Well Andrew, please let us know if Andrew is your forename or surname. I think you will find that Penny’s surname is Bright. And please stop exaggerating. It is most unconvincing. ‘Their entire election campaign’ ??

    • Cancerman 7.3

      If I remember correctly you were in breach of electoral law by advertising on the day. I believe I saw your posters up long past the allowed date.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 7.3.1

        Opportunity missed to lay a complaint if you ask me. Ms. Bright’s flailing scattershot accusations of corruption would make it well deserved.

    • pat 7.4

      I agree with you Penny, the mere fact that 2 cheques for $25 grand each,
      shows there must have been a conversation,requesting two cheques of $25,
      grand each. Justice has not been served here.

  8. Redball 8

    The judgment makes for a very interesting read. KDC claims that there were two meals BUT accepts that Banks may not even have been present when the cheques were written out. The two lunch theory has already been dis-proven by many people. I think that there are so many variations to his story that perjury must be on the cards.

    • Ron 8.1

      If you are suggesting that people should be prosecuted for having a faulty memory then can we start with the Prime Minister he sure does have a strange memory

      perjury must be on the cards.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.2

      What is not in dispute is that the candidate, by his own sworn statements, was present when the donations were discussed, despite his public denials.

      He then went on to pretend that the donations were anonymous. That’s why he was found guilty.

      Scrape him off your shoe before you come inside, please.

  9. Mr Nobody 9

    How exactly has Banks been disgraced?

    Its seems quite the opposite now that his name has been cleared.

    • He was disgraced by his own behaviour in taking two cheques, then further by trying to bluster/forget his way out of the situation. He may now be cleared of criminality, but his actions at the time were still disgraceful. Being charged at all is disgraceful, as is being convicted. Being forced to quit Parliament is disgraceful. He was also an ACT MP, which may actually be the most disgraceful thing of all.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 9.1.1

        None of those things are as disgraceful as his vile right wing hate speech.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 9.2

      Mr. Banks does not dispute the conversation about donations occurred. I’m sure you will find some way to justify that to yourself.

    • dukeofurl 9.3

      Dont forget the Sky City cheque.

  10. TheContrarian 10

    John Banks is a moron and completely inept. That said – looks like in this instance he may have actually been in the clear. And so sayth the law.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1

      “In the clear” made me think of Jimmy Carter.

      …I’ve read parts of the embarrassing transcripts, and I have seen the proud statement of a former attorney general, who protected his boss, and now brags on the fact that he tiptoed through a mine field and came out quote clean unquote. You know, I — I can’t — I can’t imagine somebody like Thomas Jefferson tiptoeing through a mine field on the technicalities of the law, and then bragging about being clean afterwards.

    • Tracey 10.2

      yup. but moronic and inept arent qualities i will vote for…

      btw the MP for Epsom sent out his newsletter yesterday. It seems no one told Goldsmith that ACT holds the seat… what a strange bunch these people are.

      • felix 10.2.1

        Is Goldsmith representing himself in print as “MP for Epsom”?

        Is he using a parliamentary crest?

        • Tracey 10.2.1.1

          no. cleverer than that. i will scan it and upload it…. but the inference is clear. he is very excited cos his street just got ultra fast broadbank.

    • lprent 10.3

      Nope. What he did was unlawful. He signed a form saying that several donations were anonymous when he damn well knew where they came from.

      However there is some dispute all the way from the police investigation to the court of appeal about if he performed the unlawful act of signing the form knowingly. That is the difference between not being charged and taken to court because of the timeouts and being being taken to court for a different offence.

      Either way he was certainly guilt of one of the offences, and admitted guilt to the lesser.

  11. b waghorn 11

    Just proves that if you’re rich enough to keep going to court at some stage you’ll get a judge that sides with you.

    • Enough is Enough 11.1

      Lets see how far Kim Dotcom get with that theory….

      • DoublePlusGood 11.1.1

        Ah, but USA has infinite money and power and influence, so they win.

      • Ron 11.1.2

        …and Dotcom does not have his money it is being kept by the Crown until such time as it can be handed over to Warner Bros

  12. Differentview 12

    Not worth my time to research the details, but didn’t the very same judicial body that quashed Banks’ conviction also say in the very same document that there *should* be a retrial?

    How nice it must be to have the power to shout out the one part you like and make headlines read as you want, and also forget the other!

    Next, the PR people who help run our lives will be dissecting out single words to delete from official statements instead of whole sentences. We can even predict they’ll be words like ‘not’, that can reverse original intent.

    • dukeofurl 12.1

      Its bizzare, the Court of Appeal has allowed affadavits from two Americans to overide the normal process of a retrial.

      Normally they would have to be in the witness box so their ‘memory’ can be tested.

      Remember in all of this , ‘nothing to hide’ John Archibald Banks has never testified from the witness box.

      It wasnt just Kim Dotcom in the witness box to verify his story, there was his wife, his security guard and another person who banked the two deposits.

      • repateet 12.1.1

        John Banks could not testify. Not for any nefarious reason of course. His memory could not be put to the test simply because he does not have one.

        • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 12.1.1.1

          Its bizzare, the Court of Appeal has allowed affadavits from two Americans to overide the normal process of a retrial.

          No. It was the fact that the prosecution misled the Court.

          [25] …We hold rather that the Crown could not both withhold the memorandum and resist the appeal in the manner that it did. The effect was to mislead the Court.

          • Tracey 12.1.1.1.1

            yup. the prosecution misled the court. dotcom changed his affidavit when prompted by new evidence. contrary to what are suggesting i dont think that will give rise to perjury. the right will spin this to

            banksie is honest
            dotcom is a liar

            when the prosecution… representing the crown msled the court… not mt dotcom per se.

        • dukeofurl 12.1.1.2

          Lats time he was in High Court as a witness , back in 2003, the Justice Venning found Banks was untruthful then too !

          http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3250543

          The Judge said Banks sworn affidavit did not match his testimony in court.

          ie Liar liar.

          “”The statements about the fraudulently altered documents, the falsified reports, the secret bank accounts” were shown to be wrong, Justice Venning said.”

          And why would Banks make all these false allegations ?

          “He told the court last December: “The prospect that he [Mr Banks] would lose his executive salary and his car allowance enraged him.”

          That was the $39,000 annual lease on his Bentley Arnage

          MONEY ! When it comes to money , Banks will lie all the way

      • seeker 12.1.2

        duke of url

        “It wasn’t just Kim Dotcom in the witness box ……there was his wife, his security guard and another person who banked his deposits.”

        – or as Andrew Geddis so churlishly puts it in his latest post on Pundit “his cronies.” For crying out loud Andrew …… “cronies”!?…definitely showing bias.

        cannot link as on a borrowed tablet, but Andrew’s Pundit post,”If you want people to believe you are honest then it’s best not to….” is on the sidebars of this Standard page (47 mins. ago)

  13. saveNZ 13

    John Banks is guilty.

    Probably pretty hard to fight another trial when the government has seized the assets of Dot Com. I don’t know how you can be acquitted without a trial? New rules?

    There is no justice in this country. Look at Judith Collins also acquitted under extremely limited scope of investigation.

    The right need John Banks acquitted to keep selling off Auckland councils assets if he gets in as Mayor.

    How to make sure you get to sell off Auckland? You run two candidates who believe in the same thing.

    But at least Phil Goff is more honest.

  14. tinfoilhat 14

    So Banks has been acquitted.

    Hopefully what this episode has served to do is make all politicians far more vigilant and careful about their fund raising and recording of the same.

    I still believe we should have mandatory disclosure of all donations above $1000 in any electoral cycle.

    • dukeofurl 14.1

      Has occurred all ready, notice virtually all nationals candidate donations are listed as party HQ ?

      Its a way of covering their arses over who donated the money , as in most cases the MP knows who the money came from

    • Tracey 14.2

      i wld imagine they think they are more untouchable now

  15. SHG 15

    John Banks is guilty.

    He is in fact the complete opposite of guilty. He has been found to be not guilty.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 15.1

      Keep telling yourself that. His defence was that the conversation about donations was held in another room.

      Read the judgement.

      • SHG 15.1.1

        Are you unclear on what the word “acquitted” means?

        • te reo putake 15.1.1.1

          It’s not the same as ‘not guilty’. Ask OJ Simpson.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 15.1.1.2

          Are you unclear on what the word ‘technicality’ means?

          How about “error of process”?

          How about “Mr Banks and Mr Dotcom had held a private and quite different discussion about donations in a conservatory or loggia off the dining room.”

          • SHG 15.1.1.2.1

            He has been acquitted and is thus innocent of the crime of electoral fraud. Throw as many toys out of your cot as you like, nothing can change the fact that he is not guilty.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 15.1.1.2.1.1

              No toys thrown here: just simply and calmly laying out the facts according to John Banks: he discussed the donations with Kim Dotcom then signed them off as anonymous, and you don’t have a problem with that.

              • SHG

                Oh, I think the whole election-campaign-donation system is rotten. Banks’s cheques, Cunliffe’s secret trust, all of it. But Banks has been found not guilty of electoral fraud. The End.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  “Charity” golf games, Cabinet Club.

                  You’re absolutely right: get money out of politics, and vote accordingly.

    • dukeofurl 15.2

      The court ordered a retrial, they then recalled that judgement and stopped the retrial for technical reasons.

      No one . No where has there been a verdict of not guilty.

      A verdict has a specific meaning.

      The CoA has got itself into a lot of trouble over this ruling. Misleading the court by the prosecution can now be grounds for voiding the verdict.

  16. Paul Campbell 16

    So when I write a cheque it has my name on it, did Banks somehow come down with some sort of magical blindness where you can only read the value of a cheque but not the rest of it? Or was it simple willful ignorance.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 16.1

      As the Court of Appeal makes clear, Banks’ defence was that he discussed the donations in the other room, not at the dinner table. (Paragraph 13)

      • Paul Campbell 16.1.1

        Whether or not the colluded to have two cheques is not the point here if you get a cheque with someone’s name on it and you claim it is “anonymous” you are telling a lie

        • One Anonymous Bloke 16.1.1.1

          Prosecution: You discussed the donations at the dinner table!
          Defence: That’s a damn lie! We went to another room first!

          😀

        • chwaga 16.1.1.2

          He did not get the cheques. They were made out and banked by the accountant and put into the election fund. Last time I looked at my bank statement it did not say who the banked cheque came from. So only his campaign manager saw the bank statements.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 16.1.1.2.1

            That must be why he was found guilty then let off on a procedural technicality, eh.

    • Colville. 16.2

      Incredible isnt it?
      You can have your name on the cheque and yet it is anonymous.

      Which is why Len Brown used a blind trust to launder his donations. So he could shake hands, take the bribes and the only donation he disclosed was from his blind trust.

      Oh and that is what David Cunliffe did too for the leadership contest for the Labour party.

      But in both cases it was totally legal.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 16.2.1

        If you say so.

        In Banks’ case, by his own testimony, he solicited the donation personally, then pretended the source was anonymous. Then he got off on a technicality.

        The obvious solution to these examples and Cabinet Club is to get money out of politics.

        • Colville. 16.2.1.1

          Yip just the same as Len Brown and David Cunliffe did. The same as every politician does.

          Money isnt a problem at all, it just needs to be disclosed. Every cent of it and instantly upon receipt.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 16.2.1.1.1

            Keep telling yourself that.

          • Paul Campbell 16.2.1.1.2

            While I agree every dollar should be disclosed – and promptly, I do think money is a problem.

            I think of politics as a “marketplace of ideas” – an idea shouldn’t be better or worse just because it has more money behind it, that just corrupts the basic underlying fabric of the forum where you’re trying to determine the fitness of ideas.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 16.2.1.1.2.1

              How do you disclose dollars that are delivered in the form of lucrative business opportunities after you’ve left office, as per the current National Party procedure for bribery?

              • Paul Campbell

                you make it illegal and expose those who do it – make it a legal requirement for those who receive ministerial warrants that they not work within the sectors they regulate for 10 years after leaving parliament – you get paid well for being a minister and get a goodly sum when you leave it shouldn’t be any great hardship to live on a minister’s pension.

                Just because there’s one loophole is not a reason to close all the others

                • Colonial Rawshark

                  Nah the intent is good but it would never work in practice. So a 60 year old lawyer who is Minister of Justice can’t work for a law firm ever again? So a 60 year old doctor who is Minister of Health can’t work for a hospital ever again?

                  • Ten years is a bit long. In the UK, there is a stand down, but I think it only applies in certain ministries and only for a couple of years. Defence is one of them, as I recall. But as most ascendant MP’s have second jobs as consultants or non exec board members in the industries they eventually have ministerial control over, the whole thing is a charade.

  17. McFlock 17

    So the crown prosecutors who didn’t want to take the case in the first place (until McCready demonstrated they were incompetent in making that decision) withheld evidence and thereby scuppered the case.

    So – who gets fired?

    • Colonial Rawshark 17.1

      More like who gets promoted.

    • Tracey 17.2

      went thru my mind too mcflock… no one will get fired if it were a plan. disbarred if true. but wont be struck off… perhaps they didnt read the documents when they declared to follow rules on admittance to the bar, so are not bound by them

      • McFlock 17.2.1

        disbarred?
        Sure they won’t call a “brain fade” and promise that they’re weally weally sorry about the temp who no longer works there and just get a slap on the hand?

  18. Puckish Rogue 18

    Well it took long enough but the correct decision has been made, its a shame his reputation had to suffer as much as it did but now at last he can move on with his life

    • One Anonymous Bloke 18.1

      You’re partly right: getting off on a technicality would tarnish a good reputation.

      • Puckish Rogue 18.1.1

        John Banks was aquitted so his reputation is restored and the left were shown to be, again, hopelessly naive when it comes to John Key

        I mean did the left really think you could trust someone like Dot Con? Of course you did…

        • One Anonymous Bloke 18.1.1.1

          John Banks’ defence was that he didn’t discuss the donations at the dinner table. It happened in another room. He got off on a technicality, and you are pretending his reputation hasn’t suffered.

          Not sure why, unless you’re trying to provide supporting evidence for the notion that right wingers are stupid and unethical.

        • repateet 18.1.1.2

          His reputation hasn’t changed. To repeat this: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3250543

          “Outlining Mr Banks’ evidence, and his change of heart regarding the Cooks, Justice Venning said the mayor’s sworn affidavit did not match up with his subsequent testimony in court.”

          His reputation in our house is that of a liar and charlatan. Now he’s jumping up and down crying as if his purity has been wrongly impugned. He expects his arrogance to be harnessed to ignorance. He is right.

          • Colonial Rawshark 18.1.1.2.1

            Puckish Rogue sets much lower standards for “reputation”, I must say.

        • Tracey 18.1.1.3

          i dont think you understand who prosecuted banks cos it wasnt the left.

    • Hateatea 18.2

      What reputation? Surely you jest! As long as moving on with his life keeps him out of politics, he can move anywhere he likes. In fact, when the other ‘Honest John’ leaves for Hawai’i, this one should go and live in the house next door so they can endlessly re-hash old times without any need for the rest of us to be burdened by their blether.

      • Puckish Rogue 18.2.1

        Don’t worry Sir John Key will leave after he wins the 2017 election so maybe around 2018, early 2019

        • McFlock 18.2.1.1

          you reckon ol’ tugger will last that long, eh.

          The scraping sound from caucus ain’t shears being sharpened, it’s “daggers, back, for insertion into”.

      • seeker 18.2.2

        Hateatea it may be difficult for them to ‘rehash old times’ as both frequently admit to having no recall whatsoever of events or conversations they have taken part in.

  19. North 19

    Whatever whatever…….Banks was fetid, indeed very stinky long before all this business. No one’s fooled. Not even those whose political senses are uplifted more or less by this result. I mean like no other party ACT has form in embracing the dodgy ones, even when they know beforehand. Bugger all morals you see.

  20. millsy 20

    That John Banks thinks that animals are more important than children in poverty, and his desire to slash wages to zero and close down anything that is publicly owned makes him an evil person.

    • North 20.1

      And while the right wing weeps about the ‘injustice’ Banks has suffered how many of them really, really, even now, give a toss about that little ‘underclass’ fulla Teina Pora ? Or his family ? His world was smashed apart at 17 years of age.

      I’m not talking about the principled example of the right wing type. There are some. I’m talking about the enablers of the likes of Banks, the wannabee bastards whose moral entirety is directed by questions of money, power and status. And their own pathetic ‘asprayshuns’ to the same. Tough for you Banks. It wasn’t 20 years in the slammer was it dear ? Moaning scum !

  21. Nick K 21

    Disgraced former National MP, ACT leader and Auckland Mayor John Banks…

    Why is he disgraced?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 21.1

      Because his ‘defence’ was ‘I didn’t solicit bribes at the dinner table: I solicited them in the other room.’

  22. North 22

    Banks ……you’re raving on in the Herald about the “lonely place” you’ve been in. Tough. It wasn’t the slammer ! Grande Dame Michelle Boag stood by you didn’t she ?

    This shit happens to truly innocent poor people all over New Zealand every day at the hands of ‘The Law’ and pricks like you. Entitled, snivelling little germ you are. In the small picture ‘The Law’ says you’re acquitted. I’ll buy that. On principle I have to. You are not to be subject to criminal penalty. Still, it’s a tunnelled, convenient, ‘master-of-the-universe temeritously challenged’ view. The big picture……no one’s fooled Banks. Morally crook as, you !

    Careful, as you busily rush off to “my QC” to whinge about compensation……careful you don’t trip over the art-form calumny you’ve heaped on countless others for decades – the cheap and nasty little talkback shows, the vile carry on in parliament.

    I reserve my sympathy for Arthur Thomas, Dougherty, Teina Pora. The list’s by no means exhaustive.

    • marty mars 22.1

      + 1 We will now be subject to inundation of bankys droop dog look endearing sympathy.

      • dukeofurl 22.1.1

        hes looking for ‘compensation’ for the pain and suffering his family has been through.

        I suppose that will come up against the test’ Did he do it’

  23. Reddelusion 23

    What a ( rymthes with tanker)? You are North, typical sanctimonious left git who thinks they have a mortgage on caring and what’s right thank god the average joe and those you (in your little delusional Kingdom) supposly represent don’t drink your kool aid

    • Weepus beard 23.1

      The socially conscious left do have a mortgage on caring. That is the definition of socially conscious.

      • Colonial Rawshark 23.1.1

        Reddelusion seems to have a lot of caring for John Banks. Yeeuch.

  24. ianmac 24

    On the TV3 Late news they flashed a statement from Kim Dotcom.
    They didn’t read it but it seemed to be a set of short sentences.
    eg Banks was offered $50,000
    The cheques were made out as 2 amounts of $25,000
    plus another 9-10 lines. (They just flashed it onscreen.)

    “A technicality gets him off,” Mr Dotcom tweeted today. “One law for them, one law for us.

    “A great day for John Banks, a bad day for justice.”

    Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/kim-dotcom-a-bad-day-for-justice-2015051921#ixzz3aaByaGER

  25. Facetious 25

    The price to pay for relying on the words of KDC, the man who bought Harre, Corkery, Minto and Harawhira. Never mind.

    Thank God for Kelvin Davis.

    • vto 25.1

      I believe dotcom over key, Obama, five eyes, john banks et al every day of the week.

      You should try assessing facts instead of running on simplistic assumption and knee jerks

      • Halfcrown 25.1.1

        “You should try assessing facts instead of running on simplistic assumption and knee jerks”

        I could not have said it better.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 25.2

      We don’t have to rely on KDC to know Banks discussed donations with him, because that was Banks’ defence in court.

      • Nick K 25.2.1

        Banks didn’t have a “defence”.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 25.2.1.1

          Her evidence supported the defence case, which was that Mr Banks and Mr Dotcom had held a private and quite different discussion about donations in a conservatory or loggia off the dining room.

          The judgement of the Court of Appeal.

          Found guilty and convicted, then let off on a procedural technicality (the CoA described it as a “process error”).

          I note that you are running your mouth without having read the judgement.

  26. Nick K 26

    The defence case was that KDC and his henchmen were liars. That’s not a defence. The defence case could be that Banks was insane, and that would be a defence. But saying someone else is lying is not a defence.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 26.1

      “John Banks to 3News, 27th April 2012: “Well I met with them, I know them, but I can’t recall discussing money with them.”

      John Banks’ defence in court: “Mr Banks and Mr Dotcom had held a private and quite different discussion about donations in a conservatory or loggia off the dining room.”

      Your candidate for mayor of Auckland. Will you wipe him off your shoe or tread him all over the carpet?

      • Nick K 26.1.1

        Neither. I’ve stood by him through all of this and will continue to do so. It’s called loyalty to your friends. Ever heard of it?

        • One Anonymous Bloke 26.1.1.1

          Turning a blind eye while your friend signs a false election return isn’t the act of a good friend, sweety.

  27. Nick K 27

    Is that what you said to Helen Clark when she stood up for and backed Taito Philip Field?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 27.1

      As a Green voter I find the question risible, not to mention that HC stood TPF down etc etc.

  28. North 28

    Through thick and thin what, Nick K(in) ? How noble of you ! You are correct about one thing though……the weirdly shrill Woody Allen replicant had no defence…..a disclosure based Crown cock-up he did have but no defence. That’s it. Enjoy the vicarious martyrdom, idiot.

  29. reason 29

    john banks is as innocent as the roastbusters ……………… well maybe a tad less innocent as they never even made it to court.

    Its a great judgement for bringing the legal system into further disrepute.

    It’s also good for showing the ‘standards’ that we are being governed by ……

    Sure is a brighter future for some ……………..

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    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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