Polity: Judith Collins on crime

Written By: - Date published: 2:36 pm, July 14th, 2014 - 32 comments
Categories: crime, Judith Collins, police - Tags: ,

polity_square_for_lynnReposted from Polity.

Last week, new information became public about potential stat-juking by our Police. The practice of reclassifying hundreds of “burglaries”, which appear in the crime statistics, as “incidents”, which do not, has the effect of artificially reducing the apparent crime rate. This practice occurred mainly in the Counties-Manukau police district, which operates in the electorate of then-Police Minister Judith Collins. That is, of course, troubling on a number of levels.

Further, we learn that the Minister has been aware of this issue since 2011, and told no-one and did nothing. She even retains on her website a National Party local newsletter from that time hailing the big reduction in crime in the area:

Crime down in Counties-Manukau South

Increased pressure on criminals and a greater focus on crime prevention has shown the fight against crime can be won with a well-supported and well resourced Police service.

The 2011 Crime Statistics released this week indicate reported crime is down 15 percent in the Counties-Manukau South District, which includes Papakura and Pukekohe, during the fiscal year ended 30 June 2011.

Theft, fraud and harassment offences were all down and the number of burglaries in our area has dropped 36.7 percent.

A Minister of the Crown has a duty to the public to ensure that information about crime in their area is accurate. Even more so when that information comes form the Minister’s own patch. Collins’ failure to investigate is yet another strike against her political judgment.

And today, her bullying instinct came to the fore again as she cried victim, saying the leak of the information was politically motivated and pointing the figure at Labour’s Jacinda Ardern. Collins claimed to be “disgusted” at Ardern’s behaviour. Two points here:

  1. Ardern’s job is to hold the government to account on the subject of policing. That is what New Zealanders expect her to be doing. Responding to media questions about a pattern of reporting errors favourable to government of the day is entirely proper. Collins should get over herself.
  2. What we might better describe as disgusting, however, is news that a Minister learned of serious reporting errors in her former portfolio, in her area, but decided that she could not be bothered doing anything about it, or even asking for more information. That is a failure of her duty to the public.

 

Updated: Rob Salmond has a new post on the same topic. It starts with:-

This morning Judith Collins said categorically that there was no political pressure being placed on Police in terms of reported crime numbers. That is not true. Here is an info graphic from National’s website showing the reduction-in-reported-crime target the government has put over the police.

Nationals reported crime reduction

Updated: Occasionally erudite weighs in with “Judith Collins makes no sense on the dodgy police stats issue

32 comments on “Polity: Judith Collins on crime ”

  1. One Anonymous Bloke 1

    That’s how she came by the idea that Ministerial corruption could be downgraded to a cup of tea.

  2. Weepu's beard 2

    Judetrout has no duty to the New Zealand public, only duty to #TeamKey!!!

  3. NZJester 3

    She is the victim in this?
    Well I guess because all those cases are not burglaries according to the files, all those people that had items vanish magically are not victims of crime so someone has to be the victim in this. They have had everything else taken from them, why not let her steal their victim status from them also!

    #TeamShonkey

  4. Weepu's beard 4

    Blubber boy (even his username screams death to the environment) is now reaching back to 2005 using unsubstantiated sources to discredit the legitimate questioning of this National government. Goat shooting Cameroon Slater is now posting false, made-up, emails from phantom policemen via his “tip-line” as evidence. Now, if anything is disgusting, that is.

  5. deep throat 5

    another day in paradise.
    a further example of the banal and lowbrow culture in the National party and their approach to politics.
    its time to turn these rascals out and elect a government that believes in honesty and fairness.

    • North 5.1

      Thatcher replicant BullyWomanCollins obviously doesn’t understand how counter-productive is her ‘Poor me the victim…..’ gig.

      It’s a delightful and ubiquitous human response to enjoy seeing the bully brought down. The bully then snivelling can only sharpen that response. In the style of “Ha! Good job !”

      Thereafter the bully is not just a bully, but a sniveller as well. The malodourousness of that combo promotes enduring dislike. Were she capable of ever genuinely saying sorry………but no. As she imperiously said at some stage in the Oravida debacle – “I don’t apologise…..” or some such.

      It just gets worse for this crazy woman. Ha ! Good job !

      PS – What was the Herald thinking ? Her photograph accompanying the dodgy police crime figures piece is quintessentially ‘hectoring-bully-comin’-right-at-ya’. Scary malevolence defined. Perhaps forces within the National Party have consulted Crosby Fukd’er.

  6. Anne 6

    Jacinda Ardern has got to stand up to bully girl Collins over this one. Collins is attempting to make it look like Jacinda started the story for political gain when it was the HOS who broke it. Jacinda was rung by the media and asked for a response and she gave them one.

    Don’t let her get away with it Jacinda. Give it back to her. It’s what she deserves.

    • AmaKiwi 6.1

      +1

      Jacinda, the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them IMMEDIATELY.

      You are in the ring with the worst bully in NZ politics. Stomp her or you’re finished.

  7. Craig Glen Eden 7

    Bullies always claim the victim status. Its time people woke up to this Minister, she is plain nasty.

  8. McFlock 8

    One of the things I miss from my security days was the faux indignation of the perpetrator caught redhanded. Usually followed by a similar look to what banksie had in the dock when the judge’s decision was announced.

  9. Weepus beard 9

    Test

    [Sorry Weepu the machine does not like you and keeps putting you in moderation … MS]
    [lprent: He was running a test. I suspect the ‘ in his handle. So this would have been the first comment with a different handle. The next one with this handle is the test. ]

    • Weepus beard 9.1

      Been in touch with Lprent to try get a solution. This is the second part of the test.

      [lprent: Did it work? Did this one go through immediately? I didn’t release either. ]

  10. Hami Shearlie 10

    I think old “Jude” should wake up to herself and realise that the public (especially those who have been robbed) are indignant that she knew about the report and DID NOTHING – it profited her and the Natz Government to do ZILCH! Ms Collins has overdone her hubris this time, the same way she overdoes plucking the inner part of her eyebrows! Extreme!!!

  11. greywarbler 11

    That image of Collins would be a great pic for the cover of a crime novel.

    • Stuart Munro 11.1

      Well it’s not her response to crime but to being questioned.

      Collins seems to embody the old Gestapo trope ‘we ask the questions’.

  12. Tracey 12

    2009 to 2012 is “historical” , so where was her outrage at a 2003 letter used against cunliffe?

    the cabinet manual says she must behave to “highest ethical standards” … and she is our highest representative for justice in NZ

  13. Pip 13

    There are 12 Policing Districts in NZ. The numbers from Counties Manakau don’t seem a lot but if each district manipulated their figures by 1% they are close to achieving the governments goal on a national basis.

    • nigel 13.1

      Actually, no. If each one changed figures by 1% it would still mean it was 1% overall difference, not 12%. And the target graphic referred to overall crime anyway, so changing the coding for a crime wouldn’t affect the overall crime stats, but it would affect the different ratios between burglary and theft.

  14. Pollygal 14

    Ah – the McCully excuse. ‘It wouldn’t have been right for me to interfere in an operational matter …’

    I wish ‘Team Key’ would list them. If people would wake up to the fact they’re voting for Collins, Parata, McCully, Brownlee etc and not just the genial, superficially charming Key, I suspect votes would drop off dramatically for National.

  15. teehee 15

    Oh Pip, you don’t know how numbers work do you m’dear?

  16. reason 16

    So crusher collins knew the stats were false …………… but still used them for political ends in claiming what a great job she was doing as police minister at the time.

    Why does this not surprise me in the least.

  17. BLiP 17

    Following up on the Murray McCully tactic of “blame the public servant”, Judith Collins has defended her actions in remaining silent and repeating the cooked up statistics on the basis that it was an error by staff and there was nothing she could do about it. Meanwhile, neither Judith Collins when she was Minister for Police nor her replacement Anne Tolley have shown no leadership or concern about the criminal activities of the New Zealand Police since the John Key led Natoinal Ltd™ government came into office. The list of crimes includes . . .

    05/12/08 – Wellington police officer Jason Manu Casson is discharged without conviction for stealing $90.

    11/12/08 – Another police chase, another crash.

    16/12/08 – Palmerston North police officer Timothy Hesketh, 27, who lied during investigations and showed no remorse was found guilty of breaking a prisoner’s neck yet escapes a jail sentence.

    09/02/09 – A police recruit escapes assault charges and is permitted to graduate with any sanction or note on his personal file. He first posting was South Auckland.

    11/02/09 – Lower Hutt police leave confidential documents behind after executing a search warrant putting witnesses at risk of gang violence and then fail to own up at a subsequent IPCA enquiry. The inquiry noted: “The conflicting accounts given by the two officers, and the facts that no officer has taken responsibility for the loss of the Operation Order and that the Police investigator has not been able to identify that officer, are undesirable. Whilst there is no evidence of criminal conduct in relation to the loss of the order, its loss does amount to misconduct.” The Mongrel Mob say they know who left the report behind but were never interviewed.

    17/03/09 – The IPCA criticises police for their continuing failure to develop procedures for the prompt drug and alcohol testing of officers involved in serious incidents.

    27/03/09 – A Christchurch officer broke a number of police protocols in the lead up to the fatal shooting of Stephen Bellingham. The IPCA finds that the unnamed officer: did not tell his communications controller he was going to the scene, nor did he advise them he was armed, failed to brief two other officers who were on their way to the scene so that he could tackle Bellingham with support, and, crucially, a dog patrol unit, which would have been a huge asset to the effort to contain Bellingham, was diverted to another crime.

    30/03/09 – Nelson police officer Anthony Dale Bridgman is convicted of two counts of dangerous driving after he pulled out in front of two motorcyclists, seriously injuring both.

    24/03/09 – Another police chase, another crash.

    19/05/09 – Head of the Police Prosecution Service Superintendent Graham Thomas steps down after it is revealed that he refused to undergo a breath test.

    29/05/09 IPCA states that Auckland Police officer Constable Aaron Holmes was breaking the law and ignoring official policy when he seriously injured innocent teenage Farhat Buksh.

    20/06/09 – An unnamed police officer is reprimanded for writing out the employment details of a driver on a speeding ticket as “kitchen bitch”.

    25/07/09 – Northland police run down two pedestrians, killing one and injuring another.

    15/08/09 – An Auckland constable is suspended after it was alledged that he leaked sensitive information to help a known criminal to avoid arrest. The unnamed officer was in a squad which targets “volume crime”, in particular burglaries, and had access to the police intelligence database.

    05/08/09 – Hamilton police tell a disabled man they are too busy to investigate the alleged theft of $1600.

    07/09/09 – Senior Instructor at the Porirua Police College, Detective Sergeant John Gualter, is convicted for drunk driving after being found to have an alcohol reading at more than twice the legal limit.

    09/09/09 – A Wellington man has his neck broken by a police baton while a party is being shut down.

    19/09/09 – Auckland police officer Constable Matt Hooper is charged with perverting the course of justice after attempting to make use of a legal loop hole to avoid drunk driving charges.

    26/09/09 – National Head of Police Professional Standards, Superintendent Jon Moss resigns after news of an affair he had with a junior colleague comes to light. Moss helped introduce the new “professional distance policy” last year which covers sexual conduct for officers with the public, victims of crime and work colleagues.

    28/09/09 – Masterton detective Sue Mackle goes public on the fact that police are failing to investigate hundreds of sexual abuse complaints in favour of focussing on property crimes because doing so makes the statistics look better.

    04/10/09 Revelations that a senior police was a paedophile and interfered with investigations into the activities of Bert Potter and the Centrepoint commune come to light.

    09/10/09 – Dunedin police fail to follow procedure and a prisoner is found dead in the cells when they finally get around to checking.

    09/10/09 – Nelson police officer Senior Constable Garry Dunn is sent to trial for assault after a two day depositions hearing was told he rammed a cyclist with his car and then pepper sprayed the man for not wearing a safety helmet.

    04/11/09 – Whakatane police prosecutor Adrian Hilterman was sentenced in Tauranga District Court today to 150 hours community work for assaulting his wife. He was convicted and discharged on three charges of assaulting his children. In the same court last month, he was found guilty of assaulting Deborah Hilterman, 37-years-old, by kicking her around the groin area between June 1 and June 29 last year at Whakatane. He was also found guilty of assaulting her in a car travelling from Auckland to Whakatane on June 30, 2007. He was discharged on 10 other charges of assaulting his wife, a Whakatane general practitioner.

    09/11/09 – Figures released under the Official Information Act show that half of all police officers charged with drunk driving are convicted.

    16/11/09 – Auckland police officers Patrick Garty, 32, and Wiremu Bowers-Rakatau, 21, charged with assault.

    21/11/09 – 51 police officers were disciplined in the year to date for a variety of things including turning up to work drunk, unlawfully using their police ID, assault, speeding, using excessive force, and inappropriate behaviour on duty.

    08/12/09 – Former constables Reuben James Harris and Benson Lyle Murphy are accused of making false statements in regard to the prosecution of a third officer who was charged with manslaughter. Harris and Murphy had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring to defeat the course of justice. Their jail sentence was subsequenrly quashed by a judge who refused to explain why.

    17/12/09 – Christchurch police officer Nathan Thorose Connolly is sent to jail for inducing sexual connection from the sex worker by means of a threat.

    19/12/09 – Another police chase, another crash.

    23/12/09 – The IPCA announces a nation wide investigation into how police are dealing with child abuse complaints, following on from revalations made public in November.

    05/01/10 – Police are filmed carrying out illegal road stops and searches.

    12/01/10 – Taranaki police are criticised by the IPCA for not preventing a drunk driver going on to kill three people when Hawera officers could have taken steps to immobilise the driver’s vehicle when they found it parked up outside a pub after a chase.

    19/01/10 – Two unnamed police officers fail in their duties resulting in the otherwise avoidable death of a Hamilton woman.

    22/01/10 – Rotorua District Court convicts an ex police officer for possession of child porn.

    23/01/10 – Two Papakura detectives charged with indecent exposure and offensive behaviour after a drunken escapade.

    31/01/10 Unnamed police officers are filmed putting the public at risk with a crazy display of dangerous driving at a school fair

    14/02/10 – Auckland High Court takes two minutes to throw out a murder charge brought by police who had used huge amounts of resources and dodgy investigation techniques to manufacture the arrest and 16-month incarcertation of an innocent man.

    16/02/10 – Christchurch police are slammed in a report for failing to adhere to policy during a chase which left an innocent bystander in hospital with horrific head injuries.

    20/02/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    21/02/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    26/02/10 – Innocent Auckland man, 62 year old Brett Abraham is admitted to hospital for weeks of treatment after being savaged by a police dog. The police dog handler left Mr Abraham alone, bleeding and crawling up the driveway to his home.

    28/02/10 – Christchurch police, despite a complaint of theft, failed to arrest a man who, the next day, committed murder. Police said at the time they were too busy to handle the theft complaint. Area police commander, Dave Cliff, refused to discuss the matter.

    01/03/10 – Union’s criticise a double-jeopardy situation produced by police circumventing privacy legislation in grubby deals with employers to ensure drink drivers are dealt to at work as well as in Court.

    01/03/10 – 1300 Police officers fail their fitness test.

    01/03/10 – Auckland police go to great lengths to keep the identity of the officer who shot to death innocent man Halatau Naitoko secret. His lawyers had earlier sought to deny justice by seeking to have the shooter exluded from attending the hearing at all.

    13/01/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    02/02/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    03/03/10 – Dunedin police reveal that they failed to follow up a possible sighting of missing British girl Madeline McCann after a local security guard’s approach to police was disregarded.

    04/03/10 – A man helping police is bitten by a police dog.

    05/03/10 – Invercargill District Court throws out an assault charge brought against a bus driver by local police after the driver was arrested for allegedly “assaulting” a child by stopping the child from assaulting another child on the bus.

    07/03/10 – Detective Sergeant Lloyd Schmid is investigated for encouraging a junoir staff member to have sex with an informant in order to gain additional information.

    14/03/10 – An unnamed senior police officer is accused of abusing his powers after a friend of his is held up at a check point when on the way to a sports match.

    18/03/10 – Police management refuse to name two officers being investigated for fraud.

    19/03/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    27/03/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    27/03/10 – Another police chase, another crash. Two in one day.

    31/03/10 – Senior police deny systemic faults played a part in the fact that Senior Constable Len Snee broken a number of rules in the lead up to him being shot by Napier gunman Jan Molenaar.

    1/04/10 – A police officer who works in a serious crash unit is under investigation for alleged drink-driving after he was reported for backing into a parked car.

    1/04/10 – Karl Walter Vincent, a North Otago police officer loses name supression in a case involving accusations of indecent assault.

    4/04/10 – Independent Police Complaints Authority Investigator Larry Reid describes a man who had his neck broken while in police custody as a “complete arsehole”.

    04/04/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    18/04/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    30/04/10 – Significant faults in the “Kahui Twins” police invesitgation are identified and which hampered both the defence and the prosecution teams.

    04/05/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    08/05/10 A three-year-old boy was mauled by a police dog at a kindergarten visit that was meant to teach the children about dog safety.

    14/05/10 – Police are found to have failed in their duty to protect after delaying the arrival of emergency medical staff to the scene of Navtej Singh’s fatal shooting.

    18/05/10 – A senior Wellington police officer receives name supression when appearing in court on assualt charges.

    21/05/10 A senior under cover police officer admits interfering with and removing objects from a murder scene. No disciplinary action follows.

    21/05/10 – An man helping police is bitten by a police dog.

    30/05/10 – A police officer’s vile on-line diary is investigated in the hope of identifying the officer concerned. All posts from the gpforums are deleted shortly thereafter.

    31/05/10 – An official information request shows that five police officers have been charged with drink driving over the previous 12 months, including a senior constable in the serious crash unit.

    05/06/10 – Constables Brenton David Rooney and Duncan Roy Hollebon are found guilty of assault after kicking a suspect already in custody.

    12/06/10 – Sergeant Jason Lamont gets to keep his job after being let off a drunk drive charge where he had been found to be one and a half times over the limit.

    20/06/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    23/06/10 Police are accused of improperly obtaining DNA samples from Maori.

    25/06/10 – Constables Patrick Garty and Wiremu Bowers Rakatau are convicted of assault.

    02/07/10 – Ex-Superintendent Jon Moss, the former head of “professional standards” faces new accusations of criminal behaviour.

    04/07/10 – Senior police deny a culture of violence exists in the force following the standing down of a fourth officer from one Auckland district for assault allegations.

    07/07/10 – Harsher laws for offences against police introduced but no requirement for harsher sentencing for police officers committing offences considered.

    10/07/10 – Police apologise after telling a woman she would have to wait two days for a follow-up to the burgalry of her house.

    10/07/10 – Two unnamed police officers to face charges for driving offences after crashing their police vehicles.

    10/07/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    29/07/10 – Armed police unnecessarily smash windows and fire ten tear gas cannisters into a house while searching for a suspect.

    29/07/10 – Gisborne police supress information in an effort to make the community feel safer.

    03/08/10 – a Mongrel Mob member and two associates walk free after a judge rules police acted unlawfully.

    06/08/10 – Police officers Keith Parsons, Erle Busby, John Mills, and Bruce Laing escape criminal conviction but are found to have used excessive force against a prisoner being held in Whakatane cells. The victim of the police violence subsequently received compensation.

    06/08/10 – Disbelief as the man responsible for tormenting Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui , former SIS director Richard Woods, is appointed to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) for to years.

    08/08/10 – Seedy details of a police officer’s secret life start to come to light after he is stabbed to death.

    20/08/10 – And unnamed police officer is stood down after being charged with multiple accounts of indecent assualt.

    24/08/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    25/08/10 – Police get special treatment in liquor licensing law changes.

    25/08/10 – Detective Inspector Dave Archibald who had been caught illegally accessing the police computer system to help the defence of convicted pack rapist Brad Shipton gets a promotion.

    26/08/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    04/09/10 – Coroner David Crerar finds that having an extra officer involved in a search of Jan Molenaar’s Napier home would have prevented the death of police officer Len Snee.

    17/09/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    19/09/10 – Armed police terrorise a couple for hours after raiding a house looking for a suspect who had moved out months ago, a simple fact police could easily have verified. An apology is given and $2000 spent on repairing damage caused by police in the raid.

    22/09/10 – Auckland police sergeant Martin James Folan is name as the officer charged with assaulting five prisoners over a three month period.

    01/09/10 – Police accused by lawyer of silencing dissent by arresting those who’s political views they disagreed with.

    23/09/10 – Oamaru police constable Karl Walter Vincent is found guilty of multiple counts of indecent assault.

    25/09/10 – Increasing concern expressed at rising number of fatalities due to police pursuit tactics.

    25/09/10 – Police pursuits for traffic offences result in 11 deaths in the nine months to September 2010.

    28/09/10 – Former Otago police officer Neil Ford is jailed for perjury.

    28/09/10 – Superintendent Bob Burns says that other officers were involved in covering up perjury and the wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice which is why it took five years to bring charges against only two officers.

    08/10/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    10/10/10 – Evidence given by two police officers is thrown out and the officers concerned are under investigation for failing to disclose information to a defence lawyer which would almost certainly have led to a not guilty finding.

    11/11/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    16/10/10 Veteran barrister Barry Hart details some of the history of a criminal culture within the New Zealand police force which goes back at least until the 1970s.

    19/10/10 – More evidence of endemic corruption in the New Zealand obfuscated.

    23/10/10 Superintendent Gary Smith gets promoted to a plum job despite a secret police report which states he acted unlawfully and totally mismanaged a complaint about the unlawful arrest of a justice of the peace. No charges have been laid.

    23/10/10 It is discovered that the Independent Police Conduct Authority has decided that a report which highlights illegal actions by police does not need to be published because it “is not in the public interest.

    27/10/10 – All Black coach Graham Henry gets let off a fine after being snapped travelling at over 30kmh above the speed limit.

    28/10/10 – Complaints of of “widespread police involvement” in local body electioneering in Manurewa and Papakura are being investigated by the police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority. The Authority never bothers to report back about this investigation.

    14/11/10 – The mother of a 12-year-old beaten by bullies is turned away from Christchurch Police station when she went to make a complaint because there were no officers on duty to deal with the matter.

    18/11/10 – Former police officer Dairne Olwen Cassidy gets home detention after being found guilty of wilfully attempting to pervert the course of jusitice.

    18/11/10 – Former police officer Anthony Dale Bridgman already notorious for another incident involving his dangerous driving of a police vehicle, is back in court again.

    04/12/10 – Another police chase, another crash.

    17/12/10 – Police are found to have failed to comply with rules regarding pursuits in case where the fleeing driver was seriously injured.

    17/12/10 Most crime in New Zealand goes unreported, a survey finds. Of those quizzed, 24 percent said they felt the police would not or could not be able to deal with the situation.

    20/12/10 – West Auckland police constables Alan Michael Douglas and Gareth John Needham are found guilty of assault. This is not the last the courts will hear of this pair.

    01/01/11 Bay of Plenty police refuse to reveal how many people were arrested during New Year celebrations.

    03/01/11 – Superintendent Ted Cox lies to a fellow officer after being pulled over for speeding on the Auckland southern motorway

    05/01/11 – Another police chase, another crash.

    07/01/11 Another “hurry up” issued to the police in regard to the culture change required as per the 2008 Bazley inquiry into police sexual misconduct.

    20/01/11 Another “hurry up”, this time from the State Services Commission is issued to the police in regard to the 2008 Bazley inquiry into police sexual misconduct.

    21/01/11 – Constable Raymond Dunbar is convicted of drunk driving.

    29/01/11 – Police National manager of youth services Superintendent Bill Harrison is under investigation for using police letterhead to lie in an effort to get out of a parking ticket.

    31/01/11 – Police are highlighted are persistent breakers of the do not drive while on the cell phone law.

    04/02/11 – Senior Constable Terry Beatson is found to have accessed the police computer system 17 times in order to assist his wife in a custody case against he ex-husband. Beatson gets to keep his job.

    18/02/11 – Detective Sergeant Mark McHattie is identified as having lied about a backlog of child abuse cases in the Wairarapa being cleared up.

    24/02/11 – Police are ordered to make an apology after being found to have released personal information containing untested factual allegations concering Tony Veitch to the media

    09/03/11 – Police are accused of assaulting a young autistic man who was then presented as the face of looting in Christchurch.

    09/03/11 – North Shore police use a taser to stop a protester.

    20/03/11 – Its revealed that Deputy Commissioner Viv Rickard did not act on allegations about a former colleague’s relationship with a senior civil servant which later led to a criminal investigation.

    29/03/11 – Start of the trail of Sergeant Martin James Folan who is subsequently found not guilty of assalt but who’s actions remain under investigation by the IPCA authority – two years later and nothing to show for it.

    16/04/11 – Police are under investigation for attempting to convince other officers not to testify against sergeant Martin Folan in an assault case.

    17/04/11 – Court actions against the police and corrections department come up against both political and institutional obstacles in what is described as a “David vs Goliath Battle for justice”.

    17/04/11 – Another police chase , another crash.

    17/04/11 Another innocent man sent to jail by dodgy police work finally receives compensation while the original case remains open and the police officers involved show little remorse or even interest in solving the case.

    06/05/11 – IPCA says rules were broken in police pursuit which ended in fatality but not action required or recommendations necessary.

    08/05/11 – Detective Sergeant Peter Govers is named as the officer responsible for sending two innocent men to jail. Govers keeps his job, even after subsequently being labelled as “reprehensible” for pressuring a female informant into giving him a blow job.

    09/05/11 – Constable Raymond John Dunbar loses appeal against his conviction for drunk driving.

    17/05/11 – Police officer Matthew Blythe fails in his bid to overturn a conviction for punching a very drunk suspect in the head as the man was being handcuffed by other officers.

    18/05/11 – Senior Constable Matthew Leslie Blythe loses an appeal in the Court of Appeal against a conviction for assault.

    26/05/11 – Former Detective Inspector Mark Franklin is arrested and charged with drug dealing in Rarotonga.

    31/05/11 – Nelson police arrest and charge a man for theft after he took pies out of a rubbish tin at the back of a petrol station. The owners of the petrol station had twice told police these did not want to press charges. The charges were withdrawn in court.

    16/06/11 An unnamed police officer found guilty of assault after punching a prisoner escapes conviction after a judge agrees that such a conviction would have effects out of all proportion.

    25/06/11 More evidence of historic and systematic police perjury surfaces.

    20/06/11 – Contables Alan Michael Douglas and Gareth John Needham are found guilty of assault.

    11/07/11 – Constable Jamie Anderson was driving on an unlit rural road and texting on his cellphone when he ran over a pedestrian. No problem says ICPA.

    11/07/11 – Unhappy with coverage of the police beating of an autistic man Christchurch Central Police Area Commander Inspector Derek Erasmus announce an investigation into TVNZ’s Sunday programme.

    18/07/11 – Another police chase, another crash.

    27/07/11 – Former police officer Neil Robert Ford gets an early release after being sent to jail for perjury.

    28/07/11 – Police employee Patrick Bruce Phipps is found guilty of charges of illegal possession of a Finnish Valmet semi-automatic rifle and a Czechoslovakian VZ58 fully automatic rifle.

    02/08/11 – Superintendent Ted Cox finally pays a $120 speeding ticket after first going through $8,000 of police budget trying to get out of it.

    13/08/11 – Senior Constable Michael Lenihan is fined $250 for careless use of a motor vehicle after doing a u-turn in front of motorcycle resulting in the death of the rider. Lenihan was acquited of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing injury

    22/08/11 – Police finally find a good enough reason to drop charges against am autistic man they had beaten and held in custody for stealing two light bulbs before charging him with looting after the Christchurch earthquake.

    24/08/11 – Hasting Senior Sergeant Luke Shadbolt says to the media about a missing girl “she is missing, but it’s not the story of the century. And if we had a major concern about the disappearance, we would have [issued] a media release about it”.

    05/09/11 Police drop charges against Tiki Taane after he was arrested for expressing his opinion on what police describe was a “misunderstanding”.

    25/08/11 – Detective Inspector Dave Archibald is promoted to a senior position despite his illegal searching of the police computer system for information to assist officers’ defence in a pack rape charge.

    13/09/11 – Police blunders at Pike River Mine subject to questioning at inquiry. Assistant police commissioner Grant Nicholls does his best.

    16/09/11 – Illegal actions of police in regard to Urewera detailed in a Supreme Court judgement that couldn’t previously be released.

    18/09/11 – Another police chase, another crash.

    20/09/11 – Police apologise for breach of privacy after faxing a confidential parenting order to media.

    25/09/11 Police get a caning from the Supreme Court for knowingly breaking to law to illegal gain evidence. No charges are ever laid and the government changes to law to cover the officers concerned.

    29/09/11 – New Zealand police officers are described as racist by visiting journalists here to cover the Rugby World Cup.

    04/10/11 – Police Inspector Turepu Keenan is snapped texting on his cellphone.

    09/10/11 – Another police chase, another crash.

    19/10/11 – Accusations that police are lying about security threats in order to get their residential properties improved.

    25/10/11 – Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope admits that he knew about the history of Superintendent Gary Smith who had previously been found to have acted illegally before he was later promoted to a plum police job.

    30/10/11 – Superintendent Gary Smith appointed to the plum London job had previously been accused of sexually harassing a female police employee.

    09/11/11 Police are accused for forcing an Indian woman suspected of being in the country illegally to sign documents.

    17/11/11 – Police staff are among those arrested in a drug swoop.

    17/11/11 – Former Nelson policeman Garry Dunn is found not guilty of two assaults but resigns from the police after having illegally accessed the police computer system to assist his defence in the case.

    21/11/11 Dozens of police officers face criminal charges according to details released under an official information request. Very few such cases appear to merit media coverage, it would seem.

    22/11/11 – Police officers are found to have broken pursuit rules in a fatal chase.

    16/12/11 – Police officers use excessive force in the unjustified arrest of a Christchurch man. District Commander Gary Knowles says the police will not apologise.

    22/01/12 Police officers arresting protesters at the Occupy event are filmed all wearing the same ID number in an orchestrated attempt to hide their identities and hamper the processing of any complaints about the actions of individual officers

    09/02/12 Chinese tourist Naiju Li lays complaint against the police alleging brutality in their arrest of the 56 year old woman. She suffered a dislocated elbow and required stitches to her face.

    02/02/12 – Police are filmed illegally closing a road to support the activities of a corporate

    09/02/12 – Police commence an investigation after a 65 year old deaf, mute man dies while in police custody.

    17/02/12 Police officer Karis Rewa Charnley makes her first appearance in court after being charged with lending her uniform to someone for use in the theft of a car. The charge Charnley was eventually dismissed after the judge described a “vacuum” in the evidence.

    02/02/12 – Police employee Darren Ian Hodgetts admits to providing a drug ring with access to the police computer system.

    03/03/12 – Police prosecutor Timothy John Russell Sarah pleads guilty to a representative charge of supplying methamphetamine, four specific charges of supplying the drug and one charge of dishonestly accessing the police computer – the National Intelligence Application.

    30/03/12 – Constable David Mear is found not guilty of assault . . . hmmmm.

    05/04/12 – Police officer Karis Charnley is charged with being a party to theft , being a party to impersonating a police officer and assault.

    11/04/12 – An unnamed police officer appears in court allegedly involved in a collision with another car after doing a U-turn in front of it has appeared in court, charged with careless driving. But the officer is likely to avoid conviction after being offered diversion.

    12/04/12 – A unnamed police officer was disciplined after giving false details to the Rotorua harbourmaster after being caught breaching a bylaw while riding a jetski on a lake.

    18/04/12 – Various protesters at the Glenn Innes evictions of tenants in government housing claim the police used excessive force

    15/04/12 – Detective Sergeant Rod Carpinter receives support after carrying out an illegal raid which was described by a judge as “consciously reckless”. Mr Carpinter was earlier criticised for his involvement in a drug bust in 2005 where his actions were also found to be “unreasonable and unlawful”.

    20/04/12 Superintendent Bill Harrison, one of the country’s top policemen, was found guilty of serious misconduct after accusations he used police letterhead to dodge a $200 parking fine. Superintendent Bill Harrison retired on May 17 last year, before an independent investigation was completed so no disciplinary action was taken.

    24/04/12 – Detective Senior Sergeant Mark McHattie who was at the centre of a major child-abuse cover-up has kept his job after a code-of-conduct investigation but police will not reveal the outcome of the long inquiry.

    29/04/12 – A Northland man who received paralysing neck injuries while in police custody is in a “bad way” after surgery and is struggling to breathe on his own, his parents say.

    03/05/12 – Constable David Mear returns to work after being found not guilty of using excessive force against a man who suffered a broken eye socket and cut to the head

    16/05/12 – An unnamed police officer resigned late last year after being investigated for theft in the aftermath of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

    04/06/12 – Police officer Gareth John Needham has lost his attempt to appeal his conviction for assault to the Supreme Court.

    25/06/12 – Police officer Marcus Guy Andrew Molnar is convicted of theft after admitted stealing cash and soft drinks from a bar at the police station on four separate occasions

    11/07/12 – National Crime Manager Detective Superintendent Rodney Drew defends the police force’s organised abuse of the court system by arranging the false arrest and court hearing of an undercover officer

    11/07/12 – Inspector Paul Dimery resigns and, in a parting shot, tells the media that the New Zealand police force is compromising front-line safety because it is being run like a business

    12/07/12 – Senior Constable Tony Andrews is found to have acted inappropriately due to a conflict of interest, and to have engaged incoercion and the breaching of privacy.

    14/07/12 – Another police chase, another crash – three dead, police failed to follow policy.

    28/07/12 – Another police chase, another crash

    07/08/12 – Senior Sergeant Rod Carpinter and Constable John Grantham escape criminal charges after having “materially misled” the court about a a drugs raid.

    14/08/12 – Police justifications for using anti-terrorist officers to raid Kim Dotcom’s home were partly based on claims the tycoon assaulted a former staff member with his stomach.

    24/08/12 – A police officer is filmed driving like a bloody idiot tail gating traffic on the open highway

    28/08/12 – New Zealand police have been praised by the White House for their role in the case against Kim Dotcom, but are keeping it secret.

    29/08/12 – An unnamed police officer appeared in court charged with <a href= appeared in court charged with illegal hunting. The officer appeared in the Blenheim District Court after earlier denying a charge of hunting deer and goats on land at Blue Mountain near Ward on April 17 without the authority of the property owner.

    17/09/12 – Senior Constable Sean Ramkissoon accuses senior police officers of conspiracy, corruption and dishonesty, and his employment grievance escalated to the Employment Court.

    22/09/12 – Details of the police force’s idiocy, excessive use of force, general illegality, and perjury in relation to the Kim Dotcom affairs starts to become public.

    25/09/12 – Police officer Jan Paul de Moor appears in court charged with assault

    25/09/12 – Its revealed that Police Commissioner Peter Marshall signed the indemnity order which accepts potential liability if Kim Dotcom lays a claim for damages, it has been confirmed.

    27/09/12 – The police are slated in the 2012 Ombudsman’s annual report to parliament after it topped the list of crown agencies ducking and diving official requests for information.

    29/09/12 – Police receive a rebuke in court for leaving three drunk men in a vehicle with the keys in the ignition. Judge David Saunders told police it was a recipe for disaster.

    29/09/12 – Police are heavily criticised for failing to abandon a pursuit that endangered the public and culminated in the deaths of two young men.

    03/10/12 – Two girls, aged 14 and 16, are arrested, denied contact with their family or a lawyer, strip searched, and held in a police cell for 36 hours . The 16 year old, who was nursing a baby, was forced to express breast milk into a cell sink.

    13/10/12 – Jakob Christie had his neck broken by a police baton more than three years ago. He is still waiting for the police to do something about it.

    14/10/12 – Detective Senior Sergeant Al Symonds ignores evidence and spends 18 months dragging an innocent man’s name through the mud only to have the case dismissed in minutes.

    16/10/12 – Police wait nine months after receiving instructions from the Minister before contacting a family to take formal criminal complaint

    18/10/12 – Few of the recommendations of a commission of inquiry into police conduct, concluded five years ago, have been fully implemented. Acting Police Commissioner Viv Rickard says he accepts the finding that more focus is needed on sexual assault investigations.

    19/10/12 – A report by the Office of the Auditor-General reveals an “unacceptable” level of inappropriate sexual behaviour within police and said improvements were still needed in training staff who were involved in adult sexual assault cases.

    20/10/12 – Police funding cuts have seen sex crime investigation courses slashed and firearms training reduced.

    21/10/12 – Increasing numbers of teenagers are being held in police custody for days, breaching United Nations protocols and sparking concern from human rights agencies. Child, Youth and Family statistics show the number of young people held for more than 24 hours in police cells almost trebled in the past three years.

    21/10/12 – Detective Sergeant Mark Keane and Detective Dale Forman were criticised in a stinging Independent Police Conduct Authority report for failing to fully investigate claims that Tineke Foley had been raped by a male nurse at a Christchurch mental health facility.

    23/10/12 – Police are found to be breaching basic human rights in the practises employed in the detention of young people in police cells. A review is called for, no action is taken.

    25/10/12 – A police blunder results in four alleged Chinese people smugglers being awarded a $2000 payout.

    02/11/12 – Police ignore three 111 calls to respond to an accident.

    12/11/12 – Another police chase, another crash.

    19/11/12 – Detective Jamie Woods is caught out providing a transcript containing “mistakes” as part of an application for a search warrant to intercept the phone calls and emails of senior Switched on Gardener staff.

    19/11/12 – Constable Gary Neil Morgan of the North Shore Police strategic traffic unit is charged with careless driving after he crashed his patrol car into a tree.

    28/11/12 – A convicted drug dealer is freed on bail pending an appeal because police involved in an investigation were found to have acted corruptly following a staged search for evidence against an undercover officer.

    21/12/12 – Mikayla Paul is found guilty of assaulting a woman may yet be discharged without conviction.

    22/12/12 – Police go over the top in protecting John Key from having to keep his word about buying a Christmas dinner for two Wellington men.

    24/12/12 – A Hawkes Bay family is left shocked and upset with the treatment they received from police after an officer smashed their windscreen with his torch at a drink-drive checkpoint this week.

    15/01/13 – Constable Perry Griffin is accused of excessive use of force after making an arrest.

    20/01/13 – After cut backs in fire arms training, almost 1000 new gun safes are removed from police cars because of potential security issues, just months after they were rolled out across the fleet.

    31/01/13 – An unnamed police officer who was sacked for using excessive force loses his case for unjustified dismissal.

    06/02/13 – Another police chase, another death

    11/02/13 – A fifteen year old girl lays an assualt complaint against police after being left bloodied and brusied when police were breaking up a party.

    15/02/13 – An unnamed police officer admits receiving money from people who had criminal charges against them dropped. At the request of defence counsel Pip Hall, Judge Brian Callaghan did not enter convictions because the defence wants to argue for a discharge without conviction.

    . . . but wait, there’s more

    • BLiP 17.1

      . . .

      20/02/13 – The Independent Police Conduct Authority promises to try harder after being found out for unnecessarily keeping reports secret.

      21/02/13 – A police blunder in a major drugs investigation has revealed the identity of confidential informants and undercover officers and their secret intelligence-gathering techniques.

      23/02/13 – A former undercover officer comes clean about spying on protest groups, environmental organisations and trade unions.

      23/02/13 – The IPCA finds that police could have prevented a murder had they acted earlier on information received.

      01/03/13 – Hundreds of police officers across the country are withdrawn from the front line and told not to interact with the public, after failing a key fitness test

      03/03/13 – Another police chase, another accident.

      10/03/13 – Police officers who deliberately faked their uniform badge numbers to avoid being identified as they weighed into a violent public protest will keep their jobs and won’t be investigated by the force’s watchdog.

      16/03/13 – The police attempt to silence a retired officer for speaking to the media about the Teina Pora case.

      16/03/13 – Another police chase, another crash

      27/03/13 – Police still need time to introduce changes identified as necessary six years earlier following an investigation in its culture and practises.

      27/03/13 – About 20 people protest outside Masterton police station over claims young people have been mistreated during arrest. The protesters included two teenagers who alleged they had bones broken while being arrested.

      09/04/13 – An analysis of police statistics highlight the fact that Maori youth are far more likely to go to court after an arrest than pakeha youth.

      13/04/13 – Another police chase, another crash

      13/04/13 – More on the orchestrated miscarriage of justice in the Teina Pora case.

      15/04/13 – Retiring Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward says police officers are leaving the force in droves, frustrated with the “budgets, the judiciary, new systems in place alienating the community and traffic taking precedence over everything,”

      17/04/13 – Police admit to “dropping the ball” by failing to pay more than $5000 in rent to a tiny Christchurch community group run by volunteers and war veterans.

      20/04/13 – Former drug squad detective Ernest Langford escapes jail after being found guilty of stealing thousands of dollars from a police safe and colleagues desk. Charges involving the theft of thousands of more dollars were dropped.

      21/04/13 – Comments by Constable Paul Sharples about judges results in Auckland’s top police officer making an apology and starting an investigation into the way Sharples handled the case.

      24/04/13 – Police sergeant Blair Donaldson pleads guilty to careless driving. Magistrate Ngaire Mascelle say a conviction would outweigh the severity of the offence and discharged Donaldson without conviction.

      05/05/13 – The Independent Police Conduct Authority has received two complaints about the nation’s second-highest-ranking police officer, Mike Bush – but it will not be taking any action . The complaints were in response to Bush’s comments at the funeral of former police officer Bruce Hutton, a detective who was found to have planted evidence used to wrongfully convict Arthur Allan Thomas of murder.

      09/05/13 – Another police chase, another crash.

      17/05/13 – Police officer Peter Pakau appears in court on a raft of drug charges.

      12/05/13 – Another police chase, another crash.

      21/05/13 – an unnamed police officer appears in court accused of asking for sexual favours in return for not prosecuting a motorist on a driving charge.

      06/06/13 – Police refuse to engage with a lawyer representing teenagers seeking discussions about possible compensation.

      18/06/13 – Hastings police officer, Adam Dunnett, 37, charged with indecently assaulting five women from a Hawke’s Bay surf club loses his bid to keep his identity suppressed.

      08/07/13 – An investigation is begun after an unnamed police officer is accused of assault.

      09/07/13 – Another police chase, another crash.

      24/07/13 – Two expert reports about an incident in which a wedding guest was run over on a Waikato road were ignored by a police crash analyst, a coroner’s inquest has been told.

      04/08/13 – Lawyers are demanding a review of how police intercept private communications after a photo-journalist’s cellphone logs and messages, including exchanges with a lawyer, were obtained in and inquiry instigated by the PM.

      05/08/13 – Police officer Dugal Matheson is slammed by a judge and convicted for dragging his former partner around by her hair and “manhandling” her son.

      07/08/13 – Police officer Lotovale Ulufafo Solofa Perese appears in court charged with a variety of offences involving the smuggling of contraband for delivery to people being held in police cells.

      12/08/13 – Detective Sergeant Mike Blowers appears in court charged with supplying methamphetamine and cannabis.

      16/08/13 – Police have accidentally shot a man as he lay on the floor of a Hastings house while being taken into custody this afternoon.

      18/08/13 – Concerns are raised after police do not lay charges against a care giver who locked an austic man in a flat and who later died in a fire at the property.

      27/08/13 – Police breach confidentiality agreement concerning compenation paid to the mother of Halatau Naitoko.

      29/08/13 – The police decide to take no action of illegal spying.

      31/08/13 – Police carrying out a “cold case” investigation of the Crewe murders demand an alibi from Arthur Thomas and members of his family.

      04/09/13 – Officers working in OFCANZ fear internal reprisals if they were to tell police bosses about inappropriate conduct.

      07/09/13 – Casual racism, ignorance, disrespect and insensitivity on the part of the police when dealing with the family of a murder victim exacerbate their grief.

      09/09/13 – A sober woman left stranded in a pub car park in the early hours after police confiscated her car keys was raped shortly afterwards.

      15/09/13 – The family of Danielle King, 15, claim she was “thrown around like a rag doll” by officers breaking up a party.

      15/09/13 – Police are being slammed for a “monumental blunder” in which they searched and damaged an Auckland family’s home in the hunt for a man who brutally bashed a police officer – but they were at the wrong house.

      15/09/13 – Hawkes Bay police leaving the force in droves amid a “draconian climate” after a regional restructure .

      19/09/13 – Inspector Richard Wilkie is discharged without conviction for assaulting two teen agers.

      21/09/13 – Police have agreed to pay a Southland farmer $14,000 in damages and costs after armed officers entered his property without permission and, in a resulting tussle, pepper-sprayed him, punched him in the face and Tasered him while he was handcuffed.

      22/09/13 – Road safety data being submitted by the public is being ignored by the police.

      24/09/13 – It is revealed that police have not investigated the February 2011 death of a man in custody and have still not completed an investigation into another death of a man in custody dating back to October 2010.

      28/09/13 – The detective who blew the whistle on his alleged drug-dealing boss was removed from his squad and investigated before senior police took his concerns seriously.

      28/09/13 – Central District commander Superintendent Russell Gibson, in a letter to convicted child rapist Robin Peter Abraham’s wife, described one of the rape victims as a willing party to the sexual abuse.

      29/09/13 – A martial arts black belt who became a morphine-dependent invalid after a beating by Senior Sergeant Ron Greatorex , has won a five-year battle for compensation. Greatorex has never been charged and still works as a senior-ranking police officer in Christchurch.

      10/10/13 – Police Association president Greg O’Connor says most complaints made against the police are from “perennial complainers who complain about everything to everyone”.

      17/10/13 – No apology and no charges after police who broke a man’s neck are found to have used excessive force.

      17/10/13 – Police prosecutor Brent William Thomson pleads guilty to possession and use of methamphetamine and cannabis.

      17/10/13 – Another police chase, another crash.

      20/10/13 – It is proved in the Privvy Council that police use dodgy evidence and failed to provide all information to the defence in the Mark Lundy case.

      06/11/13 – Police admit to having lied to the public about not receiving any complaints in relation to the Roast Buster case.

      08/11/13 – Police threaten a blogger in an effort to stifle public discussion surrounding its own inaction and mendacity concerning the RoastBuster rapes.

      18/11/13 – Senior Constable Gordon Stanley Meyer pleads guilty to bribery, corruption, and sexual assault.

      18/11/13 – Police officers Brent Liddle and Gerard Russell are convicted of assault but discharged without conviction.

      18/11/13 – Police Senior Constable Gordon Stanley Meyer pleads guilty to bribery, corruption and indecent assult. Another unnamed police officer was also investigated but no charges were laid.

      19/11/13 – Police Senior Constable Keith Rose pleads guilty to assault after grabbing a referee around the throat.

      20/11/13 – An innocent man is mauled by a police dog.

      22/11/13 – Police Sergeant Brent English is investigated after a junior police officer complains that he made a lewd suggestion and exposed his penis to her.

      http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/229037/police-accused-of-double-standards-by-greens

      05/12/13 – police refuse to explain how a dangerous criminal escaped from Dunedin Police Station.

      11/12/13 – Sergeant James Casson takes a case to the Employment Relations Authority claiming he was subject to “bullying and threatening behaviour” by members of the Hamilton police management who had “closed ranks” against him.

      11/12/13 Tasman district police are ordered by the Emplyment Relations Authority to re-hire its business services manager after finding his redundancy was invalid. Derek Coffey had worked for police for 23 years before losing his job in February as part of a nationwide police restructure.
      The ERA found his redundancy was invalid and he was unjustifiably disadvantaged by police’s failure to redeploy him to an available suitable position.

      11/12/13 – Police Commissioner Peter Marshall admitted to police failings in the “Roast Busters” case before going on to say that a drop in the public confidence of the police from 82 percent to 76 percent wasn’t much of a change.

      13/12/13 – Police Constable Tako Cocker is arrested and suspended from duty after being arrested in Auckland for allegedly damaging a taxi side mirror after a dispute over the fare.

      20/15/13 – A group of Christchurch police officers are threaten to sue Police Commissioner Peter Marshall for defamation over comments made about leadership at the Christchurch South Station where corrupt ex-cop Gordon Stanley Meyer worked.

      22/01/14 – Christchurch District Police Commander Gary Knowles is expected to make an apology to a man arrested in November 2011 when the arresting officers were found to have used excessive force leaving an innocent man bruised and humiliated.

      04/04/14 – Former Police officer Timothy Phillip Hartnell is charged with assault following an incident when he was working as an officer.

      14/04/14 – Another police chase, another serious injury.

      24/04/14 – Police refuse to answer an Official Information Act request for details about a government minister interfering in a criminal investigation on the grounds of “maintenance of the law”.

      01/05/14 – Another police chase, another serious injury.

      01/05/14 – Greymouth police sergeant Matthew Charles Frost who had nine drinks before crashing his car on a West Coast country road was convicted of careless driving but let off without punishment.

      02/05/14 – Detective Inspector Mark Gutry resigns from the police before an employment investigation into the circumstances leading to him escaping charges in relation to a criminal sex complaint.

      03/05/14 – It becomes apparent Superintendent John Tims buckled to political pressure in January 2014 after receiving a phone call from a government Minister requesting that a domestic violence prosecution be subject to review. Police National Head Quarters claims to have not been advised of the political interference until two months later when an Official Information request was made by media. Police National Head Quarters did not advise the Minister of Police about the situation until 28 April 2014.

      04/05/14 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11249346 <— katie bradford says police family relationship political preferemces

      08/05/14 – Police are found to have acted unlawfully in a ”disrespectful and degrading” breach of human rights when hundreds of New Zealanders taking part in a charity event to raise money for the Christchurch earthquake appeal were unlawfully detained.
      24/05/14 – It is revealed that two Auckland police staff allegedly filmed themselves in a sex act during work hours and sent the footage to a junior colleague as an invitation to join them.

      05/06/14 – Another police chase, another crash

      18/06/14 – Another police chase, another fatality.

      22/06/14 – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11279057

      26/06/14 – Another police chase another fatality

      04/07/14 – Detective Inspector Chris Page admits that a murder could have been prevented were it not for a series of errors by the police.

      08/07/14 – Police apologise for failing to tell the mother of a child assault victim about their decision to downgrade the charge.

      08/07/14 – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/10241968/Victims-mum-angered-by-leniency-towards-assailant

      14/07/14 – It is revealed that Counties Manukau Police have been “cooking the books” with statistics to make it look like burgalry crimes have reduced.

  18. Will@Welly 18

    BLiP – your list is remarkable. Truly a ‘star of the left’. The Opposition needs to copy this list and shove it right up NACT’s nose. + 100%

  19. deep throat 19

    This matter of tweaking the numbers made the mainstream news this morning on RNZ.
    The Police do themselves no favours when they bow to political pressure to put a gloss on things.
    In general kiwis believe in the honesty of the police but when rogue cops try to grease up the minister then their star begins to fade.
    But wait there is more.
    The tories tell lies about everything.
    They hate the truth.
    Their philosophy is to weaken the public discourse and confabulate everything so nobody can discern the truth and make proper decisions.

    • mickysavage 19.1

      I had to laugh at Collins’ description of what had happened as an “isolated event”. It was an isolated event that occurred 700 times and involved five police officers …

      • adam 19.1.1

        Standard Police procedure there Micky. For example ” the Gentleman in question feel down 700 times, it was worrying and in the end we took him to hospital.” OK OK made up – but wait we can all make up shit now – I love Crusher see has set the bar so low, any old lie will pass the mustard these days.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 19.2

      …when rogue cops try to grease up the minister then their star begins to fade.

      A sign of integrity, or simple reflexive territory protection?

      Will I need to stock up on popcorn?

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    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    16 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    18 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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
    2 days 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
    4 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
    7 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
    12 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
    14 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
    14 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
    5 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 ...
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    5 days ago
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