Archive for October, 2013

TPPA: Kelsey vs Mapp debate

Written By: - Date published: 5:51 pm, October 18th, 2013 - 21 comments

Last week there was a Fabian debate between Wayne Mapp and Jane Kelsey about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement that New Zealand started originally as a free trade agreement. Bearing in mind the short notice there were a quite credible audience. However to enhance the audience, Lyn Collie was inveigled into filming and editing the debate. Here is the film of the debate..

Weekend social 18/10/2013

Written By: - Date published: 4:36 pm, October 18th, 2013 - 7 comments

Christmas truce 1914

Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can’t we all just get along?

The “cabbage boat” defence.

Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, October 18th, 2013 - 33 comments

It’s starting to look pretty shredded. Increasingly, it seems that John Banks has “got nothing to hide” – behind. The key question is what Banks knew when he signed a declaration recording known donations as anonymous. Paul Holmes did put the question directly to Banks on Q+A last year. He didn’t get a straight answer; Banks tried the cabbage boat defence.

Note to Labour leader: Rudimentary thoughts I

Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, October 18th, 2013 - 98 comments

In a series of short opinion pieces The Black Rod examines the road to victory for Labour in 2014.

“It may upset some Labour members who position themselves to the Left in the Labour camp, but in broad terms Labour should seek to target and capture the support of those who generally consider themselves centrist. And those who would consider themselves to be an intermittent Labour voter. This is the real ground to be captured in 2014.”

The NBR and Editorial Independence

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, October 18th, 2013 - 21 comments

The NBR has fired long time senior reporter Jock Anderson for writing a sympathetic Len Brown editorial.  This apparently was against instructions even though the comments appeared to be balanced and fair.  This raises concerning issues about NBR’s editorial independence and the control over content that management has.

Stopping casinos hurting our communities

Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, October 18th, 2013 - 97 comments

Imagine if cigarette makers gave out free packs to target groups to get them hooked and if you were trying to quit smoking and you had a ‘loyalty’ card with your cigarette maker then, when they noticed you had stopped making purchases, they sent you a free pack. That’s what casinos do. Freebies are used to hook people into gambling and keep them hooked. The Greens will stop them.

Open mike 18/10/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 18th, 2013 - 189 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…

Bridges over troubled waters

Written By: - Date published: 11:17 pm, October 17th, 2013 - 43 comments

Simon Bridges rose to John Banks’ defence in today’s snap debate in Parliament. For one of National’s supposed bright hopes, a leader of the future we are told, I thought he was pretty pathetic. Watch and contrast it with Grant Robertson’s superb speech. I think the tide is running out for National.

Roy Morgan – easy win for Labour/Greens?

Written By: - Date published: 6:54 pm, October 17th, 2013 - 104 comments

The latest Roy Morgan poll has Labour 37%, Green 12.5%, and National down to 41.5%. As Roy Morgan says, this is the closest Labour has been since 2008.  Morgan’s comment: “If a National Election were held now the latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows that a Labour/ Greens alliance would win easily.” The Conservatives have dropped from 2% to 0.5% – no help there.

Point of order, Mr Speaker!

Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, October 17th, 2013 - 35 comments

The Speaker’s ability to do his job is being questioned strongly after Metiria Turei was thrown out of the debating Chamber after calling the SkyCity deal “sleazy”.  How can John Banks provide an impartial vote on the SkyCity Bill?  It should be delayed! [Update: Video]

NRT: More police crime

Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, October 17th, 2013 - 26 comments

No Right Turn reports on a case that is symptomatic of just how out of control the police in NZ are getting. The response of Wellington’s Tactical Policing Unit was both completely disturbing in its use of violence to try to create the type of incident that they were expecting. The police lying, not only to the public, but also to themselves about the actions is even worse. If there are no prosecutions and stiff sentences for the officers involved, then it is time to start actively initiate a program of private prosecutions of individual police.

Double Dipton’s doublethink

Written By: - Date published: 12:48 pm, October 17th, 2013 - 41 comments

Bill English praised the Cullen Fund on its 10th anniversary yesterday. He noted it has achieved an average return of 8.84%, well above its target. He failed to mention that he opposed the Fund being created and that he suspended contributions to the Fund at the worst possible time.  And he still doesn’t want to resume them for 7 years.

The two legs of Banks’ defence trip each other

Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, October 17th, 2013 - 28 comments

John Banks is to stand trial for knowingly submitting a false electoral expenses return. He’s charged, thanks to the private prosecution after the Police failed to act, with breaching s134(1) of the Local Electoral Act. Let’s take a look at the two lines of defence Banks has argued, and how they contradict each other.

In defence of Bevan Chuang

Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, October 17th, 2013 - 283 comments

We have two politicians in trouble in New Zealand.  One is facing two years jail.  The other is facing opprobrium for inappropriate moral behaviour.  Of course the politician who breached the moral code is facing the most examination.  The character of the other woman has also been heavily scrutinised and commented on and she has gone into hiding.  Perhaps it is time that her wish for privacy is respected.

The sick state of the right

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, October 17th, 2013 - 77 comments

The Herald reports today that John Palino’s campaign team were up to their eyeballs in the Len Brown dirty digging (or should that be “pantie sniffing”) with Bevan Chung releasing evidence that it was a calculated political move.

Open mike 17/10/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, October 17th, 2013 - 186 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…

The fish rots from the head

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, October 16th, 2013 - 91 comments

Today’s decision that John Banks will stand trial for signing a false donations return signals the beginning of the end of the Key government. Increasingly it resembles the last days of the Shipley government only worse, as corruption replaces shambles. The decision also puts the famous tea party conversation between Key and Banks, where they stitched up the deal to provide the present Government’s majority, into new perspective.

John Banks to stand trial

Written By: - Date published: 3:14 pm, October 16th, 2013 - 120 comments

John Banks is to stand trial for allegedly filing a false electoral return for his failed 2010 Auckland super-city mayoralty bid. It appears that the issue will be did he intend to treat the Dotcom donation as anonymous when clearly it was not. And John Key needs to reconsider Banks’ presence in cabinet as it is becoming increasingly untenable.
Update: Banks has stood down from his Ministerial portfolios.

Making sense of the census: regional decline

Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, October 16th, 2013 - 30 comments

Yesterday John Key, some MSM journos and a few Standard commentators were gloating that recently released Census 2013 data showed David Cunliffe was wrong in his concern with regional decline.  The evidence shows Cunliffe is correct.

What’s the play?

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, October 16th, 2013 - 108 comments

No-one’s happy with the revelations about Len Brown’s private life, apart from Slater (himself also an adulterer) who is wallowing in all the details that Chuang seems only too happy to provide. But what’s interesting is that this is clearly a political play. Who’s behind it and what do they have to gain? The players: Slater, Slater snr, Chuang, and Palino.

The Land of the Free

Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, October 16th, 2013 - 15 comments

The Republican majority in the US House of Representatives changed their standing orders to remove the right of any Representative to move that a Senate resolution be adopted. Watch Rep Chris van Hollen explain it. If his motion was allowed to come to the floor, there would be enough moderate Republicans in the House who would support the Democrats, and the gridlock that threatens the world economy would be removed. No wonder the Republicans are tanking in the polls.

Operation 8: Te Putatara

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, October 16th, 2013 - 31 comments

As the resulting court battles die away and the suppression orders lift, the level of sheer dumb stupidity and outright silly paranoia of the police and other agencies involved in Operation 8 becomes clearer. It is time to start examining the officers in the police who brought so much dishonour and disrespect to their force. And where better than Te Putatara who has a post up which details a raid who had a court examination of the validity of the bloated and illegal search warrant to court – while a raid was in progress.

The attack on Auckland’s Democracy

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, October 16th, 2013 - 172 comments

With Tea Party type zeal Cameron Slater is trying to bring down Len Brown’s mayoralty.  What has happened is a tragedy for Len’s family and himself.  But as Mayor of the super city we need him to move on from this.

Where did Mighty River get that spare $50m?

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, October 16th, 2013 - 44 comments

So, Mighty River Power has so much spare cash at the moment that it just doesn’t know what to do with it. Rather than pay out a special dividend, they’re going to buy back some shares. This, naturally, has raised eyebrows because these shares were only just sold to ‘mum and dad’. But the bigger question is: where did Mighty River get a spare $50m in the first place?

Open mike 16/10/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, October 16th, 2013 - 258 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…

Why drop on Len today?

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 pm, October 15th, 2013 - 177 comments

Len’s acknowledged affair can’t have been a secret until today – there are affidavits involved. It can’t have been about  the campaign for mayor – otherwise the Slaters would have dropped it  before the election. I think there is a bigger story that may come out tomorrow, involving Len’s opponent in the previous mayoral election. For what it’s worth, I also don’t think Len’s affair is a hanging offence. He’s a good man and has been a very good mayor, for Manukau and for Auckland.

Dotcom on what Banks knew

Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, October 15th, 2013 - 27 comments

The District Court is hearing evidence today as to whether John Banks should stand trial for signing a donations return that he knew to be false. Kim Dotcom has given evidence – the Herald reports that when he agreed to give Banks a donation of $50,000, Banks asked for it to be split and to be made anonymous., so that if Banks helped DotCom in the future it would not be known that he had donated to him.

This is how it’s done

Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, October 15th, 2013 - 37 comments

This morning Cunliffe shows how to front the media on current issues, and respond to journalists questions clearly and decisively while being informed on the issues.  Questions about Kōhanga Reo National Trust, US government debt crisis, affordable housing, need better skills training, Euthanasia Bill.

Granny Herald tries to de-legitimise political opposition, again

Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, October 15th, 2013 - 36 comments

Yesterday, the Greens illustrated the size of the gambling concessions in the SkyCity deal with a to-scale cardboard display in Aotea Square. The visually striking move got extensive coverage on Breakfast yesterday and a rather, odd, story in the Herald, which chose to focus on the cost of the protest. What was that, presumably, outrageous cost? $3,000.

Open mike 15/10/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:36 am, October 15th, 2013 - 415 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…

Angry Simon implodes on Campbell Live

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 pm, October 14th, 2013 - 239 comments

This must be one of the worst “interviews” given by an NZ cabinet minster tonight on Campbell Live.  Simon Bridges all bluster, anger, spin and diversions, and fails to answer the real questions about the dangers of the deep sea drilling off NZ’s coast.  The ugly face of John Key’s government. [Update: Youtube video of the interview]