This time he is said to be the go between person whereby the private email sent by Michelle Boag to Judith Collins found its way to the Herald on Sunday.
He is something of a retiring person and does not seem to enjoy public disclosure.
He has a public website, or at least did have one. Remarkably yesterday this website became password protected.
Interestingly the cached version says that “[t]his site has been established as Simon wishes to remove any chance that his anonymity becomes the focus of a campaign.”
It looks like his desire to remove this chance has now dimmed.
Looks like a strategic leak from a certain Minister’s office to try and transfer the blame!
The primary issue IMHO is who leaked the Boag email. My reading of the original Herald article is that it was based solely on the email and the Smith/Pullar correspondence were subsequently leaked. They may have occurred at the same time but the Boag email was the one that caused the immediate damage.
The other burning question is did the Minister’s office also access the file containing the letter and if so on what date?
Reading it further the initial Fisher article in the Herald was published on March 18 and no doubt written before. The letter Pullar is referring to is important but not, I think, the document that caused the controversy to form.
Feel free Petey to point out any comment of mine where I have said something that should not be part of the robust discussion that should occur about this country’s politics.
Typical reaction of a NACT bully. When the pressure comes on, squeal to the Police or run and consult a lawyer.
Nothing to worry about here as far as I can see Mickey (I’m a lawyer too). Defamation wouldn’t stick – too many defences available here 🙂
Crusher is just trying to shut down debate because she is quaking in her boots as her time is up and her leadership aspirations thwarted
You note the total lack of evidence put up by Trevor. It is his normal just invent a story, which for somebizarre reasons the media think has some credibility.
The exchange in the House yesterday was pretty clear cut:
Hon Trevor Mallard: Did she or any of her staff discuss the contents of the Boag email with Simon Lusk?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: No.
Hon Trevor Mallard: Did she or any of her staff discuss the systemic privacy issues that Boag and Pullar raised with her with Simon Lusk?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: No.
Trevor has a fascination with Simon, but the fascination doesn’t extend to accuracy. He stated on numerous occasions last year that Simon Lusk worked for Steven Joyce and on his orders orchestrated the ACT coup.
It is hard to describe how off the planet this is. All I can say is if you do not believe me, just go up to any National MP and ask them “Does Simon Lusk work for Steven Joyce” and around five minutes later you’ll get a response once they have picked themselves up from the floor, and stopped laughing.
Trevor Mallard is to accuracy what Charlie Sheen is to celibacy.
No Petey I used to read Kiwiblog occasionally but I worked out I have better things to do with my time.
And no I have never met Mr Lusk but it is fascinating how often his name pops up. And National does appear to be in utter turmoil right now and the Boag email may mean the end of someone’s Prime Ministerial ambitions if not their Cabinet Career.
Your trying to suggest that investigating this issue is dirty politics but if the allegations are correct and a Minister has breached the rights of privacy of two people for political advantage then I suggest you should be more upset about this.
MS, do you have any evidence at all that Lusk is involved? Or are you just joining the throwing of any old mud to see if something might stick?
If he’s not involved do you care that he’s been dragged into this? Would that just be collateral damage as a part of the game?
This sort of tactic may bite you on the bum sometime. I presume you have a reputation and business interests you’d prefer weren’t used as someone else’s fodder for the fight, just another political pawn and too bad about any damage.
I don’t know Lusk and haven’t had any connection with him at all. I’m just wondering what lengths political operators will go to to pursue their power, and how little they care about who they might trample on along the weay.
Pete, asking questions and making accusations is how you find things out. Do you think a govt is just going to tell everyone what’s going on all by themselves?
I’m sure PG is very well versed in Lusk’s style of politics. The distraction, deflection and reframing of the dirty little tale on a new target for instance, which he is trying to do here to Mallard.
How do you find out facts without first fishing Petey? Maybe National will be kind enough to summarise all of them in a press release for us to save everyone the trouble?
At least you are playing the part of a good little sycophant competently.
Hmmm, one example of transparency that occurs to me is that Peter Dunne could have explicitly explained to the electorate he was in favour of asset sales before the election. Is that the sort of thing you mean, Pete?
No doubt the frenzy will continue today. I suggested yesterday that it’s not nice to see attack politics in full fury, and got some expected criticism.
Do we just shrug our shoulders and say it’s just the way it is? I’m in agreement to an extent with Redlogix:
I actually agree with your basic sentiment PG. This kind of politics doesn’t appeal anymore to me than it does you.
It is one of the least appealing things about our politics to the wider public. Many don’t see wins and losses, just a bunch of tossers.
I don’t agree that it’s just brought about because of National’s faults. It’s due to a longstanding culture of crap politics from across the House. All MPs and parties should play a part in cleaning up their acts. And political blogs could lead the way too, if they chose to ditch the bitter war and find a better way.
A good scandal is very healthy for politics. Like sunlight it’s a disinfectant against the festering slime of political spin and deception. It should make insiders think twice about abusing their power. It is the most honest form of politics there is. Far better then sweeping things under the carpet and pretending that everything is OK.
Scandal are likely when the National backbenchers know how close they came to losing, and know that annoying everyone in society somehow leads to electoral oblivion. This is all about positioning, and yes cleaning house, for the new leader to stand up and show themselves. i.e. going into the next election with a dagger in Keys back, and lollies for the new leadership team members. Ask Goff, he knows all about the theory, and similar practices.
I agree Petey. For instance calling Greens racist and communist supporters when there is no evidence whatsoever is really unappealing politics. And denigrating the Finnish people is pretty crass.
You might have a point if you didn’t distort and rephrase what I said so much. But what you are doing is ignorant or dishonest. That’s not very appealing, is it.
And you must have forgotten already, I denigrated Brownlee’s Finnish crassness.
Pete, as someone pointed out to you yesterday, if the Toxic Right didn’t engage in such nasty tactics (sending in an ex-Nat Party President to meet with Senior ACC managers on behalf of a claimant – come ON! as if the ordinary NZer can do this!) then the Opposition wouldn’t need to engage in such politics would it?
What do you suggest, that the Opposition just sit back and take this kind of insidious, fishy behaviour and let it go in the interests of “playing nice”? How is that good for NZ and ordinary NZers?
Beatifully put Frida. I suggested to Vicky a day ago that she not complain we were hard on PiG, the issue is that his political theories and their practical application hurts real people. Give him some pain back I reckon.
I see that TVNZ have pulled up Hosking over his conflict of interest in Skycity with Hosking declaring he didn’t bother as he only works part time.
Ellis may be gone but the arrogance culture is well entrenched and they trod a well beaten path by using another talkback rantmeister as their current affairs host.
Also the well trod path of UF troll Petey is busy defending his paymasters.
Sorry guys, Have to link whore today. This is huge!
It’s not so much that John Key is a bad liar, he just doesn’t give a fuck about being found out.
He once said that the instruments now causing the destruction of the entire financial world were developed after he left banking. Today I can reveal this to be untrue.
In fact I caught John Key in another whopper! And no I will never suicide myself. LoL
According to the plan, a third party would assume the risk of the debt going bad and in exchange would receive regular payments from the bank — similar to insurance premiums. JP Morgan would then be able to remove the risk from its books and free up its capital reserves. The concept had circulated around the Street for a couple of years, but JP Morgan was the first bank to heavily bet on these new instruments.
I don’t disagree that Bankers Trust may have used early versions of CDS, but their evolution into the highly leveraged, widely speculated on forms which led to the collapse of the MBS market in 07/08, was driven by Blythe Masters and her team at JPM.
Frankly, Key is simply not smart enough nor mathematical enough to have played a big role in the development of innovative new derivatives. That’s what they hire physics quants from Caltech for.
“Frankly, Key is simply not smart enough nor mathematical enough to have played a big role in the development of innovative new derivatives. That’s what they hire physics quants from Caltech for.” – Agreed!
The point is that many people still underestimate Key, and what he does or does not know!
The issue is not when CDS were used but how they came to be in existence and what they were intended for all along and why John Key tells us that the destructive products were developed after he left banking when they clearly were not. What that tells us is that John Key wants to distance himself from banking and what he did in his banking past.
Bankers Trust bank in itself is a fraudulent set up in the first place.
Frankly, Key is simply not smart enough nor mathematical enough to have played a big role in the development of innovative new derivatives.
Key’s a “Yes man” middle manager. His owners tell him what they want him to do and he does it. He doesn’t need to think about what he’s doing, merely organising getting it done.
John Key is not a middle manager. He was head of Merrill Lynch’s department for Bonds and Derivatives Europe and Foreign Exchange Globally in the most important period in banking since they caused the Great depression but he does know on which side his bread is buttered and wants to play with the big boys.
He was head of Merrill Lynch’s department for Bonds and Derivatives Europe and Foreign Exchange Globally…
Yep, and that makes him a middle manager as there will be people above him although I was thinking more along the lines of the mindset – he does what he’s told using the people he’s in charge of.
I disagree with Key’s classification as a “middle manager”, if only for the fact it downplays too much his position and repute in the organisation.
In the mafia set up Key was clearly more than a ‘soldier’. He’d also done his time as a ‘lieutenant’. Looks to me like he was definitely a ‘capo’ (captain). A relatively senior one at that. Does that mean he was in the topmost echelon? Probably not quite. He was a divisional head, but not on the chief executive team back at Head Office (but surely riding a fast track there, and no doubt was on a first name basis with all of them).
So although technically correct, labelling Key a “middle manager” doesn’t describe the nuances of how far up the ladder he really was.
BTW he probably took up the job as NZ PM with the explicit backing and pre-approval of the senior team at Merill Lynch.
Finally relented and gave in to my crossword addiction and bought a New Zealand Fox News Herald yesterday for the first time in months . . . things must be tight over there: how long has the business section been folded into Section B ?
Taupo is super volcano. So no worries there, if we release pressure by fracking sub-strata rock and open fissures for high pressure water and gas to depressurize in surrounding containment strata. A small earthquake effect caused by an explosion or two would not block lava and start a lava bottleneck. No. We’re not like the moratorium on the America plains where the most dangerous hazard is a cowboy company pumping nasty chemicals into ancient aquifers, we have volcanos, have earthquakes and a legislator that knows all when it knows nothing.
There is a wonderful scene in Frackingland (a doco) in which the fracking company declare their practices to be safe. The anti fracking party fronts up at the hearing with water from a fracked well and challenges the fracking advocate to drink it..of course he wont.
That in a nutshell is the problem: industry can mobilise talking heads and never be forced to taste the bitter fruit of their deeds. We must make them do so.
Farmers are going to find, maybe in a few years, maybe over decades time, hydrocarbons finding their way into water sources. I mean oil and gas were ‘trapped’ by the strata above them, when we break them and do not pump all the resource out, that remaining resource will rise to the water table. So what fracking does, is accelerate the pollution of the world, from the plastic ocean to the deepest well, our hippy boomer generation has destroyed the world for future generations.
The (Dis)honourable Peter Dunne aka ‘the hair’ betrays students …yet another illustration of the fact that UF doesn’t give a f**k about the people or future of New Zealand.
Looks as if the flood gates are opening even further, and it’s not not a good time to be on board the national boat with a captain that’s on holiday a first mate, who upsets the foreigners along with a crew that can’t divert or plug leaks.
An excellent decision in Australia regarding urine sampling for drug use. In summary, it has been decided that urine tests are not precise enough to determine exactly when dope has been smoked, so can’t be relied on to prove a worker is under the influence while at work.
”A person may be found to have breached the policy even though their actions were taken in their own time and in no way affect their capacity to do their job safely,” he said. Because of this, where oral fluid testing was available, he said, the use of urine testing by the applicant would be ”unjust and unreasonable”.
I thought I was reasonably IT literate, but was surprised today to hear that Ms Pullar was able to check her email of months previously to see who had opened her file, and at what time. Can someone explain.
There is some discussion on this in the comments on the Unaswered questions post. Sorry, I can’t seem to link to the particular ones but you might like to look at that post and its comments.
Since we are in the season to call for inquiries, I would like to suggest that an inquiry be held in the impartiality of Herr Doktor Lockwood Smith.
In spite of the evidence that Collins spoke about the ACC emails on Radio Live this morning, Lockwood ruled that Collins could hide behind her refusal to answer questions on the grounds that it was subject to Privacy Commissioner investigation and was therefore not in the public interest.
The inquiry was announced yesterday (NZHerald, Fairfax,) and Lockwood has the effrontery to say it was not “outrageous” the Collins was wanted to hide behind the investigation.
Does that make Radio Live a higher forum than the House of Parliament for the minister to address her accountability. That in itself is outrageous!
China successfully used the information to hack into Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), a top U.S. defense contractor. It is thought that China’s remarkable progress in stealth fighter technology has been fueled by stolen U.S. Department of Defense Secrets..
Whether the Chinese government is perpetrating these attacks first hand, sponsoring third parties to conduct them, or merely condoning corporate interests to conduct them is almost as hazy as the sketchy financial ties the Chinese government holds to many of its private sector business (to be fair such allegations have increasingly been raised about the U.S. gov’t).
POAL have stuffed up, big time. The Employment Court has given its reasons for the granting of the injunctions earlier this week and they are scathing of the Port’s strategy. The court finds that there is a ‘seriously arguable case’ that POAL has undermined the bargaining since the beginning.
MUNZ are pretty restrained in their press release, but Gibson, Pearson and their overpaid advisors will be spewing about now:
The Maritime Union of New Zealand welcomes the Employment Courts written reasons, released today, for Tuesday’s granting of an injunction stopping the Ports of Auckland contracting out.
The Court found there is a ‘seriously arguable case’ that the Ports of Auckland has breached the Employment Relations Act and Undermined the Collective Bargaining. It also found it likely other aspects of the Act have been breached.
It was on this basis that the court issued the injunction.
“This decision reiterates the fact that the Port Board is not able to manage the port in the manner required by law,” said Maritime Union President Garry Parsloe.
“The crime here is the workers at the port have suffered five weeks without pay because their legal right to bargain was undermined. The businesses and people of Auckland have suffered severe losses and the Council has lost money through both lost revenue and the huge costs the port company has incurred attempting to implement these ill thought out plans.”
“It is time for this to stop now. We are ready to negotiate a collective agreement. We want to return to work and we want this attack on our workforce to stop.”
No no. It’s safe to assume that POAL has the bestest lawyers ever spawned, and that they have a bulklet proof case that has followed the letter of the law. This activist judge just doesn’t realise that MUNZ has overplayed its hand and totally lost the PR battle.
Not our dear leader! He who makes the sun to shine and the rain to come in it’s season.
If he was then it wasn’t his fault…
– “I was not at the meeting”
– “I’ve had no reports on that”
– “This matter is before….the police, the courts, the commissioner”
– “I have no recollection of…..knowing Ms. Pullar, opposing the Springbok Tour, speculating on my own country’s currency or selling crap financial products…Oh, I was not in Berlin in ’45”
That had a brief mention on TV 3 News. The link might have been several years ago. However you would think that Mr Key might have declared an interest if indeed there was more than casual conversations.
Indeed,the Auckland Wharfies have recieved due vindication from the Employment Court,unfortunately we could place a large sum of our scarce coinage upon the Auckland ports management paying scant regard to the decision from the Employment Court and carrying right on planning to contract out the employment of the unionized Wharfies of Auckland and expect to win the bet,
This dispute on a political level is a perfect picture of the huge disconnect between the average working head and the political leadership,both locally and nationally,
We will ask the question that has already been asked of Labour leader David Shearer as this attempt to circumvent the rights of workers to collectively bargain with their employers reached such an ugly empasse,
The real question tho, and a more pertinent one in light of the Employment Courts decision,has to ask of Auckland Mayor Len Brown,(a supposed lefty0,is He so powerless as to have been forced to sit idly by as the workers in the city He presides over have been done over by a company owned by that city,or did He just chose to park up on the couch and let it happen,
Within that Ports of Auckland industrial dispute lies the disconnect,the widening chasm,between the shop floor left,the cloth cap so to speak and the Beamer riding hierarchy of the Lefts Leadership,such Leaders should look to themselves and fix it fast or move on,(and we aint talking here about having the posteriors carted about in the Beamers,a rides a ride)…
Makes a mockery out of “If you can’t do the time , don’t do the crime”
“Sir” Doug Graham gets 300 hours community work, $100k fine in Lombard sentencing.Bill Jefferies , ex Minister of Justice received the same fine & 400 hours of community work[he showed no remorse!].
Lawrie Bryant & Michael Reeves , co-defendants received similar sentences.
Lombard Finance went into receivership in April 2008, owing approximately $127 million to about 4,400 investors.
Lets do the sums : $127,000,000 less $400,000 = $126,600,000
divided by 1400 hours [combined sentence] = $90,428/hour
Solid Energy:
One of the proposed SOE’s up for “sale’.
The SOE has rights to huge deposits of Lignite/Brown Coal in Southland which they have been planning to exploit and covert to Diesel .
Interesting article below brings into focus the real cost to you & me of the ‘sale’ & this plan to make synfuel. Under National’s ETS [ one of the first things they passed under urgency in 2009] the “Carbon Tax” due on such a venture would be subsidised to the tune of $275 Million /year by the government/taxpayers!!!!!!!!
An unfortunate coincidence??
Not likely , wake up folks we are being systematically and cynically rorted by smiling John and his thieving cohorts.
Clearly there’s a lot more riding on the inquiry than just the way National hands out permits like lollies and how the oil and gas industry goes about fracking New Zealand. There’s the question of safety and whether fracking should be occurring at all?
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Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
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Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
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:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track 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 publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
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 publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
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So who is Simon Lusk?
He came to attention last year because he seemed to be a go to person for potential national Party MPs wanting to sow up candidacy campaigns. He was also thought to have had a major involvement in National’s hostile takeover of the ACT party.
This time he is said to be the go between person whereby the private email sent by Michelle Boag to Judith Collins found its way to the Herald on Sunday.
He is something of a retiring person and does not seem to enjoy public disclosure.
He has a public website, or at least did have one. Remarkably yesterday this website became password protected.
But thanks to the miracle that is Google cache the world can still enjoy the site that is simonlusk.com.
Interestingly the cached version says that “[t]his site has been established as Simon wishes to remove any chance that his anonymity becomes the focus of a campaign.”
It looks like his desire to remove this chance has now dimmed.
So, if it was the ACC case worker who leaked the letter to the Herald, would Lusk be likely to have been involved in that?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6655745/ACC-worker-re-viewed-leaked-Smith-letter
Thanks Carol
Looks like a strategic leak from a certain Minister’s office to try and transfer the blame!
The primary issue IMHO is who leaked the Boag email. My reading of the original Herald article is that it was based solely on the email and the Smith/Pullar correspondence were subsequently leaked. They may have occurred at the same time but the Boag email was the one that caused the immediate damage.
The other burning question is did the Minister’s office also access the file containing the letter and if so on what date?
Reading it further the initial Fisher article in the Herald was published on March 18 and no doubt written before. The letter Pullar is referring to is important but not, I think, the document that caused the controversy to form.
@Hilary_Barry
“Justice Minister Judith Collins says she’s taking defamation proceedings against two Labour MP’s and a news organisation. ”
No word of any lawyer being a target there.
Not sure what you are trying to say there Pete, but how does a defamation suit fit into your scheme.
A good thing, or a bad thing?
Or is it contextual?
If contextual, what do you think about this particular case.
Be as detailed as you like.
Feel free Petey to point out any comment of mine where I have said something that should not be part of the robust discussion that should occur about this country’s politics.
Go on, I dare you.
You seem to have missed these questions:
MS, do you have any evidence at all that Lusk is involved? Or are you just joining the throwing of any old mud to see if something might stick?
Go on, answer, I dare you.
PG using “evidence” as an excuse to shut down discussion and investigation. Useless.
Petey you really are a crack up.
You seem to have answered indirectly.
Typical reaction of a NACT bully. When the pressure comes on, squeal to the Police or run and consult a lawyer.
Nothing to worry about here as far as I can see Mickey (I’m a lawyer too). Defamation wouldn’t stick – too many defences available here 🙂
Crusher is just trying to shut down debate because she is quaking in her boots as her time is up and her leadership aspirations thwarted
Thanks, Micky. Successful spin though if it blurs the distinction between the 2 emails.
I presume you’ve read this MS?
Do you have a Lusk lust too?
No Petey I used to read Kiwiblog occasionally but I worked out I have better things to do with my time.
And no I have never met Mr Lusk but it is fascinating how often his name pops up. And National does appear to be in utter turmoil right now and the Boag email may mean the end of someone’s Prime Ministerial ambitions if not their Cabinet Career.
Your trying to suggest that investigating this issue is dirty politics but if the allegations are correct and a Minister has breached the rights of privacy of two people for political advantage then I suggest you should be more upset about this.
Time will tell …
MS, do you have any evidence at all that Lusk is involved? Or are you just joining the throwing of any old mud to see if something might stick?
If he’s not involved do you care that he’s been dragged into this? Would that just be collateral damage as a part of the game?
This sort of tactic may bite you on the bum sometime. I presume you have a reputation and business interests you’d prefer weren’t used as someone else’s fodder for the fight, just another political pawn and too bad about any damage.
I don’t know Lusk and haven’t had any connection with him at all. I’m just wondering what lengths political operators will go to to pursue their power, and how little they care about who they might trample on along the weay.
Pete, asking questions and making accusations is how you find things out. Do you think a govt is just going to tell everyone what’s going on all by themselves?
Are you aware of what type of politics lusk specialises in?
\
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Dirty-The-Negative-Campaigning/dp/0742545008
He wrote a book on it. He sells his sevices.
Would he be one of the heavies you think should get the heave-ho?
I’m sure PG is very well versed in Lusk’s style of politics. The distraction, deflection and reframing of the dirty little tale on a new target for instance, which he is trying to do here to Mallard.
asking questions and making accusations is how you find things out.
Questions and accusations based on facts – ok.
But if accusations are fishing without any facts, just on the hope of getting a hit, then that’s very poor politics. Don’t you think?
How do you find out facts without first fishing Petey? Maybe National will be kind enough to summarise all of them in a press release for us to save everyone the trouble?
At least you are playing the part of a good little sycophant competently.
How do you find out facts without first fishing Petey?
Better government and party transparency.
And that would be helped by ditching the wild trample on many to try and hit a few approach.
Should we just wait quietly for this better transparency?
And what exactly do you mean? It’s pretty vague.
Tie it to this case.
Who should be doing what?
Hmmm, one example of transparency that occurs to me is that Peter Dunne could have explicitly explained to the electorate he was in favour of asset sales before the election. Is that the sort of thing you mean, Pete?
Perhaps Ms Collins should have used a placard with the letters NO printed on it, like Winston did once.
No doubt the frenzy will continue today. I suggested yesterday that it’s not nice to see attack politics in full fury, and got some expected criticism.
Do we just shrug our shoulders and say it’s just the way it is? I’m in agreement to an extent with Redlogix:
It is one of the least appealing things about our politics to the wider public. Many don’t see wins and losses, just a bunch of tossers.
I don’t agree that it’s just brought about because of National’s faults. It’s due to a longstanding culture of crap politics from across the House. All MPs and parties should play a part in cleaning up their acts. And political blogs could lead the way too, if they chose to ditch the bitter war and find a better way.
Holding to account, or heaves of destruction?
A good scandal is very healthy for politics. Like sunlight it’s a disinfectant against the festering slime of political spin and deception. It should make insiders think twice about abusing their power. It is the most honest form of politics there is. Far better then sweeping things under the carpet and pretending that everything is OK.
Scandal are likely when the National backbenchers know how close they came to losing, and know that annoying everyone in society somehow leads to electoral oblivion. This is all about positioning, and yes cleaning house, for the new leader to stand up and show themselves. i.e. going into the next election with a dagger in Keys back, and lollies for the new leadership team members. Ask Goff, he knows all about the theory, and similar practices.
I agree Petey. For instance calling Greens racist and communist supporters when there is no evidence whatsoever is really unappealing politics. And denigrating the Finnish people is pretty crass.
Oh wait, was that you who did that?
What is that word starting with “h”?
You might have a point if you didn’t distort and rephrase what I said so much. But what you are doing is ignorant or dishonest. That’s not very appealing, is it.
And you must have forgotten already, I denigrated Brownlee’s Finnish crassness.
What is that word starting with “h”?
Honesty? Something you seem to struggle with.
Oh is that a whore in the whore house protesting her obvious virginity, Mr George.
Pete, how are the ‘political heavies’ to be ‘given the heave ho’?
How, exactly, are you asking that they be held to account and given the ‘heave ho’ so that you can claim democracy back?
Does that not require that some political actors point out that their behaviour is unacceptable, and that they should be held to account for it?
Is PG still trying to position himself as being the most fair minded and civil of them all?
Dude we’ve already seen you with your pants down around your ankles, why keep trying to pretend that we haven’t?
Pete, as someone pointed out to you yesterday, if the Toxic Right didn’t engage in such nasty tactics (sending in an ex-Nat Party President to meet with Senior ACC managers on behalf of a claimant – come ON! as if the ordinary NZer can do this!) then the Opposition wouldn’t need to engage in such politics would it?
What do you suggest, that the Opposition just sit back and take this kind of insidious, fishy behaviour and let it go in the interests of “playing nice”? How is that good for NZ and ordinary NZers?
Get real, man. You live in a fantasy world.
Beatifully put Frida. I suggested to Vicky a day ago that she not complain we were hard on PiG, the issue is that his political theories and their practical application hurts real people. Give him some pain back I reckon.
Thanks Bored
The beancounters have been maintaining their perfect record…
Treasury ‘asleep at the wheel’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10795088
Incompetent prats.
I see that TVNZ have pulled up Hosking over his conflict of interest in Skycity with Hosking declaring he didn’t bother as he only works part time.
Ellis may be gone but the arrogance culture is well entrenched and they trod a well beaten path by using another talkback rantmeister as their current affairs host.
Also the well trod path of UF troll Petey is busy defending his paymasters.
Sorry guys, Have to link whore today. This is huge!
It’s not so much that John Key is a bad liar, he just doesn’t give a fuck about being found out.
He once said that the instruments now causing the destruction of the entire financial world were developed after he left banking. Today I can reveal this to be untrue.
In fact I caught John Key in another whopper! And no I will never suicide myself. LoL
http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/coming-later-today-john-key-more-lies-bankers-trust-and-credit-default-swaps-or-did-john-key-help-birth-the-instrument-of-financial-mass-destruction/
I’m pretty sure that Blythe Masters, a young star at JPM, was most fully responsible for the creation and initial use of credit default swaps.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/20/wallstreet.banking
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/249633/Who-is-John-Key
“Forms of credit default swaps had been in existence from at least the early 1990s,[48] with early trades carried out by Bankers Trust in 1991”
http://wallstreetandtech.com/top-innovators/2011/Blythe-Masters
I don’t disagree that Bankers Trust may have used early versions of CDS, but their evolution into the highly leveraged, widely speculated on forms which led to the collapse of the MBS market in 07/08, was driven by Blythe Masters and her team at JPM.
Frankly, Key is simply not smart enough nor mathematical enough to have played a big role in the development of innovative new derivatives. That’s what they hire physics quants from Caltech for.
“Frankly, Key is simply not smart enough nor mathematical enough to have played a big role in the development of innovative new derivatives. That’s what they hire physics quants from Caltech for.” – Agreed!
The point is that many people still underestimate Key, and what he does or does not know!
He knows!
CV,
The issue is not when CDS were used but how they came to be in existence and what they were intended for all along and why John Key tells us that the destructive products were developed after he left banking when they clearly were not. What that tells us is that John Key wants to distance himself from banking and what he did in his banking past.
Bankers Trust bank in itself is a fraudulent set up in the first place.
Key’s a “Yes man” middle manager. His owners tell him what they want him to do and he does it. He doesn’t need to think about what he’s doing, merely organising getting it done.
John Key is not a middle manager. He was head of Merrill Lynch’s department for Bonds and Derivatives Europe and Foreign Exchange Globally in the most important period in banking since they caused the Great depression but he does know on which side his bread is buttered and wants to play with the big boys.
Here is part 1 of my series on John Key, Credit default swaps and more lies.
Yep, and that makes him a middle manager as there will be people above him although I was thinking more along the lines of the mindset – he does what he’s told using the people he’s in charge of.
I disagree with Key’s classification as a “middle manager”, if only for the fact it downplays too much his position and repute in the organisation.
In the mafia set up Key was clearly more than a ‘soldier’. He’d also done his time as a ‘lieutenant’. Looks to me like he was definitely a ‘capo’ (captain). A relatively senior one at that. Does that mean he was in the topmost echelon? Probably not quite. He was a divisional head, but not on the chief executive team back at Head Office (but surely riding a fast track there, and no doubt was on a first name basis with all of them).
So although technically correct, labelling Key a “middle manager” doesn’t describe the nuances of how far up the ladder he really was.
BTW he probably took up the job as NZ PM with the explicit backing and pre-approval of the senior team at Merill Lynch.
Finally relented and gave in to my crossword addiction and bought a New Zealand Fox News Herald yesterday for the first time in months . . . things must be tight over there: how long has the business section been folded into Section B ?
I can’t really remember but I reckon it has been like that for the last 5 years or so?
Why’d you buy one?
It’s just not the same though. You need to be able to scribble in the margins and draw little pictures and put your anagrams in circles and such.
But mostly you need to be able to casually leave it lying around on the smoko table when you’ve finished it 😀
😆
Taupo is super volcano. So no worries there, if we release pressure by fracking sub-strata rock and open fissures for high pressure water and gas to depressurize in surrounding containment strata. A small earthquake effect caused by an explosion or two would not block lava and start a lava bottleneck. No. We’re not like the moratorium on the America plains where the most dangerous hazard is a cowboy company pumping nasty chemicals into ancient aquifers, we have volcanos, have earthquakes and a legislator that knows all when it knows nothing.
There is a wonderful scene in Frackingland (a doco) in which the fracking company declare their practices to be safe. The anti fracking party fronts up at the hearing with water from a fracked well and challenges the fracking advocate to drink it..of course he wont.
That in a nutshell is the problem: industry can mobilise talking heads and never be forced to taste the bitter fruit of their deeds. We must make them do so.
Farmers are going to find, maybe in a few years, maybe over decades time, hydrocarbons finding their way into water sources. I mean oil and gas were ‘trapped’ by the strata above them, when we break them and do not pump all the resource out, that remaining resource will rise to the water table. So what fracking does, is accelerate the pollution of the world, from the plastic ocean to the deepest well, our hippy boomer generation has destroyed the world for future generations.
The (Dis)honourable Peter Dunne aka ‘the hair’ betrays students …yet another illustration of the fact that UF doesn’t give a f**k about the people or future of New Zealand.
Stealth claims fly during student loan debate
It would seem that the breaks are being applied to the governments asset sales program. courtesy of the Waitangi Tribunal.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/6655601/Water-ownership-hearing-threatens-asset-sales
Looks as if the flood gates are opening even further, and it’s not not a good time to be on board the national boat with a captain that’s on holiday a first mate, who upsets the foreigners along with a crew that can’t divert or plug leaks.
An excellent decision in Australia regarding urine sampling for drug use. In summary, it has been decided that urine tests are not precise enough to determine exactly when dope has been smoked, so can’t be relied on to prove a worker is under the influence while at work.
”A person may be found to have breached the policy even though their actions were taken in their own time and in no way affect their capacity to do their job safely,” he said. Because of this, where oral fluid testing was available, he said, the use of urine testing by the applicant would be ”unjust and unreasonable”.
I thought I was reasonably IT literate, but was surprised today to hear that Ms Pullar was able to check her email of months previously to see who had opened her file, and at what time. Can someone explain.
Hi dans
There is some discussion on this in the comments on the Unaswered questions post. Sorry, I can’t seem to link to the particular ones but you might like to look at that post and its comments.
Cheers
Since we are in the season to call for inquiries, I would like to suggest that an inquiry be held in the impartiality of Herr Doktor Lockwood Smith.
In spite of the evidence that Collins spoke about the ACC emails on Radio Live this morning, Lockwood ruled that Collins could hide behind her refusal to answer questions on the grounds that it was subject to Privacy Commissioner investigation and was therefore not in the public interest.
The inquiry was announced yesterday (NZHerald, Fairfax,) and Lockwood has the effrontery to say it was not “outrageous” the Collins was wanted to hide behind the investigation.
Does that make Radio Live a higher forum than the House of Parliament for the minister to address her accountability. That in itself is outrageous!
China steals details of widely used encryption standard, accused of massive theft from US companies and govt organisations
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=24328
POAL have stuffed up, big time. The Employment Court has given its reasons for the granting of the injunctions earlier this week and they are scathing of the Port’s strategy. The court finds that there is a ‘seriously arguable case’ that POAL has undermined the bargaining since the beginning.
MUNZ are pretty restrained in their press release, but Gibson, Pearson and their overpaid advisors will be spewing about now:
The Maritime Union of New Zealand welcomes the Employment Courts written reasons, released today, for Tuesday’s granting of an injunction stopping the Ports of Auckland contracting out.
The Court found there is a ‘seriously arguable case’ that the Ports of Auckland has breached the Employment Relations Act and Undermined the Collective Bargaining. It also found it likely other aspects of the Act have been breached.
It was on this basis that the court issued the injunction.
“This decision reiterates the fact that the Port Board is not able to manage the port in the manner required by law,” said Maritime Union President Garry Parsloe.
“The crime here is the workers at the port have suffered five weeks without pay because their legal right to bargain was undermined. The businesses and people of Auckland have suffered severe losses and the Council has lost money through both lost revenue and the huge costs the port company has incurred attempting to implement these ill thought out plans.”
“It is time for this to stop now. We are ready to negotiate a collective agreement. We want to return to work and we want this attack on our workforce to stop.”
No no. It’s safe to assume that POAL has the bestest lawyers ever spawned, and that they have a bulklet proof case that has followed the letter of the law. This activist judge just doesn’t realise that MUNZ has overplayed its hand and totally lost the PR battle.
Anyone got a link to that story where Key was explaining the extent of his own relationship with Pullar?
From memory he was saying she was around Nat party circles, that he’d met her, and that she’d mentioned her problems with acc.
Hope he wasn’t being less than transparent.
http://www.facebook.com/closeup
Not our dear leader! He who makes the sun to shine and the rain to come in it’s season.
If he was then it wasn’t his fault…
– “I was not at the meeting”
– “I’ve had no reports on that”
– “This matter is before….the police, the courts, the commissioner”
– “I have no recollection of…..knowing Ms. Pullar, opposing the Springbok Tour, speculating on my own country’s currency or selling crap financial products…Oh, I was not in Berlin in ’45”
That had a brief mention on TV 3 News. The link might have been several years ago. However you would think that Mr Key might have declared an interest if indeed there was more than casual conversations.
Indeed,the Auckland Wharfies have recieved due vindication from the Employment Court,unfortunately we could place a large sum of our scarce coinage upon the Auckland ports management paying scant regard to the decision from the Employment Court and carrying right on planning to contract out the employment of the unionized Wharfies of Auckland and expect to win the bet,
This dispute on a political level is a perfect picture of the huge disconnect between the average working head and the political leadership,both locally and nationally,
We will ask the question that has already been asked of Labour leader David Shearer as this attempt to circumvent the rights of workers to collectively bargain with their employers reached such an ugly empasse,
The real question tho, and a more pertinent one in light of the Employment Courts decision,has to ask of Auckland Mayor Len Brown,(a supposed lefty0,is He so powerless as to have been forced to sit idly by as the workers in the city He presides over have been done over by a company owned by that city,or did He just chose to park up on the couch and let it happen,
Within that Ports of Auckland industrial dispute lies the disconnect,the widening chasm,between the shop floor left,the cloth cap so to speak and the Beamer riding hierarchy of the Lefts Leadership,such Leaders should look to themselves and fix it fast or move on,(and we aint talking here about having the posteriors carted about in the Beamers,a rides a ride)…
Makes a mockery out of “If you can’t do the time , don’t do the crime”
“Sir” Doug Graham gets 300 hours community work, $100k fine in Lombard sentencing.Bill Jefferies , ex Minister of Justice received the same fine & 400 hours of community work[he showed no remorse!].
Lawrie Bryant & Michael Reeves , co-defendants received similar sentences.
Lombard Finance went into receivership in April 2008, owing approximately $127 million to about 4,400 investors.
Lets do the sums : $127,000,000 less $400,000 = $126,600,000
divided by 1400 hours [combined sentence] = $90,428/hour
Can’t see this discouraging the next round of Corporate thieves.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1203/S01057/doug-graham-gets-300-hrs-community-work-100k-lombard-fine.htm
In the UK you could steal $20 worth of booze during a riot and get prison time!!!
+1
Solid Energy:
One of the proposed SOE’s up for “sale’.
The SOE has rights to huge deposits of Lignite/Brown Coal in Southland which they have been planning to exploit and covert to Diesel .
Interesting article below brings into focus the real cost to you & me of the ‘sale’ & this plan to make synfuel. Under National’s ETS [ one of the first things they passed under urgency in 2009] the “Carbon Tax” due on such a venture would be subsidised to the tune of $275 Million /year by the government/taxpayers!!!!!!!!
An unfortunate coincidence??
Not likely , wake up folks we are being systematically and cynically rorted by smiling John and his thieving cohorts.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1012/S00279/solid-energys-lignite-should-remain-in-the-ground-pce.htm
Those energy reserves must stay 100% NZ owned and controlled.
Phil Heatley – Asshole of the Week
Clearly there’s a lot more riding on the inquiry than just the way National hands out permits like lollies and how the oil and gas industry goes about fracking New Zealand. There’s the question of safety and whether fracking should be occurring at all?