/opinion/rss 九一星空无限 The latest analysis and opinion from 九一星空无限talk ZB Thu, 30 Jan 2025 23:26:13 Z en /opinion/roman-travers-is-burglary-on-the-rise/ /opinion/roman-travers-is-burglary-on-the-rise/ The police used to refer to summer as ‘burglar weather’.  It makes sense that when we all have windows, doors, sheds, and garages open for longer, due to the heat of the day, there’s more likelihood of the crimes of opportunity taking place.  Do you think theft and burglary are on the increase? Is that the case where you live?  I would have thought that power tools, lawn mowers and chainsaws would be the more common targets out in the garages of the country, and then there’s the usual list of probable targets in the home with all the mod-cons we love to have on hand.  But fencing panels? Why on earth would anyone want to steal something of such questionable value as metal road fencing? What would the market for that be? How on earth do you fence a bunch of fencing?  No doubt you’ve heard the news about brazen thieves who’ve stolen more than 70 fence panels from roads around Auckland's North Shore, costing ratepayers $75,000 and creating the potential for all sorts of safety hazards.  Authorities are appealing to the public for information about the thefts. The most recent took place last week, but these thefts stretch back to November last year.  More than 60 fence panels have been stolen from the top of a new retaining wall, between Silver Moon Rd and a raised pedestrian crossing on Gills Rd in the Auckland suburb of Albany.  The statistics from 2024 show that in terms of theft, burglary, and robbery, the number of charges is rising much more steeply than the number of people charged, meaning on average each offender is committing more offences.  The biggest surges in the last year have been for court charges against young people, in particular for theft, burglary and robbery. There was a 41% increase in theft charges in court against young people, compared to 2023.  Back to the theft of those many fencing panels: be wary of anyone wanting to sell you a whole lot of metal fencing as scrap metal – or someone on TradeMe with a fencing deal too good to be true.  So what’s happening in your home or business environment? Those statistics around theft and burglary show that you and I are having more stolen.  So what is being stolen? What preventative measures have you taken at home or at work to ensure that either those planned, or the crimes of opportunity don’t afflict you?  What these concerning statistics tell me, is that more people are caring less about you, your property or anything that may see them before the courts.  The risk of being caught and the penalties for the crimes committed are not the deterrent that they should be.  Thu, 16 Jan 2025 22:57:33 Z /opinion/roman-travers-emails-complete-time-wasters/ /opinion/roman-travers-emails-complete-time-wasters/ I tend to admire anyone who says that they don’t have a computer and that they’ve never engaged with email or the endless proliferation of pointless, mind-numbing content that the internet provides.  You can almost hear the nation’s collective sharp intake of breath, as thousands of people return to work, fire up their computers and then gasp at the quantity of emails in their inbox, ignored while they’ve enjoyed the peace and solitude of the festive season.  Sir Brain Roche is the Public Service Commissioner. He’s been in the job just 73 days, but already he’s making a great deal of sense.  He’s been a fix-it man for all Governments in the past 40 years, and that clearly would have been a full-time occupation for anyone. A job that most of us would run away from at high speed.  Many chief executives have asked him what he thinks isn’t working – and so he’s told them. He’s not only told them, but he’s setting up a select group of these inquisitive chief executives to address the problems.  Essentially, there are too many meetings in the public service, too many layers of management, too much duplication, not enough clarity about its role and not enough focus on outcomes. Wow. There you have it, straight from the mouth of Sir Brian Roche; a man qualified to make that call and confident enough in his leadership to instigate positive change.  One of the key aspects that Sir Brian Roche wants to focus on is the need to improve the quality and timeliness of decision-making.  How much of what you do at work is determined by endless meetings, or you sending and receiving emails?  The advent of email was thought to be the great new way to communicate, but in my lifetime, I’ve seen email used as a form of belligerent belittling, complete time wasting with no obvious purpose, and of course: arse covering. It’s effectively, rightly or wrongly, used as the modern form of a paper trail and ergo - arse covering.  When you’re getting to work for the first day of 2025, are you tempted to delete your entire inbox? Have you considered having an out of office message that simply says: I’m away – when I return, I will delete the contents of my inbox. If your email is important, send it again upon my return?  My advice to anyone right now who may be in the throes of writing an email, is to get off your bottom, walk down the hall and knock on the door of the person you were about to email.  Sometimes, the old ways of communication are still the best.  Wed, 15 Jan 2025 21:26:21 Z /opinion/roman-travers-do-you-have-faith-in-the-new-direction-for-education/ /opinion/roman-travers-do-you-have-faith-in-the-new-direction-for-education/ I wonder how many teachers are as nervous about the return to work for the start of the school year, as the students today are awaiting their NCEA results.  The anticipation will be palpable for students and families, as the National Certificate of Educational Achievement results hit the internet for the country’s year 11, 12, and 13 students.  More than 160,000 students are now able to access their results through the New Zealand Qualifications Authority website. There will be huge demand on the website, so hopefully it copes. How's that going for you and your nervous children?   Do you recall those days of awaiting exam results? I do. I was almost apoplectic with anticipation of the postie arriving at the front gate with the official envelope and the impending doom of having to return to be second year 5th, as it was called back in the 80’s.  These days, the results appear to be designed so that everyone’s a winner. The exam results of late seem to replicate the outcome of a sports match at primary school level, where the coach tells everyone that both teams are winners, and then you’re encouraged to walk along a line of peers, slapping hands in that ubiquitous high five style, repeating ‘good game, good game…’ in order to appease the losers who didn’t do so well.  The Minister of Education has set education standards in a new direction, and Minister Erica Stanford is excited about the uptake, enthusiasm, and direction that our students and teachers will hurtle towards this year.  Whatever we do from here on in has to be better, right?  We have to do better for our children. But how do you feel about the constant change in direction since the advent of tomorrow’s schools and NCEA? Until now, several generations of our children have been the lab rats for successive governments didactic and woeful attempts to do the right thing.  ERO is the Education Review Office, and they have questions around NCEA Level 1. I wonder how many teachers about to return to work with more change to adapt to have great confidence with the new direction set by Erica Stanford?  The ongoing manipulation of the education system and ergo, the children within it and the teachers charged with delivering it has to stop. 2025 has to be the year where we begin to get it all right so that more of our young can succeed academically.  Do you have great faith in the new direction we’re heading in with education in 2025?  Tue, 14 Jan 2025 21:01:16 Z /opinion/roman-travers-im-sick-of-hearing-that-children-are-resilient/ /opinion/roman-travers-im-sick-of-hearing-that-children-are-resilient/ There are things you hear in life that never sit well with you, and once they’ve been heard, they sit with you like a dark cloud. Often for weeks or months - and sometimes forever.  One thing I hate to hear is that children are resilient. I can assure you that this statement is almost entirely untrue.  It’s a statement made by those who often inflict pain and huge change upon their children, in the vain hope that everyone will be happy with a decision that they’ve made – that almost certainly has life changing impact for those left trying to deal with it.  I’m not a psychologist, but I really get sick of adults telling me – and telling their children – that they’re resilient and that they’ll be okay. Statements like that are promulgated in order to make an adult feel good about the crappy decision they’ve made.  One of the largest studies of its kind in New Zealand shows that 87% of children endure some form of trauma. For the purpose of this study, trauma is defined as family violence, addiction, bullying, abuse or divorce.  One of the ramifications of having had endured trauma, shown in this study, is the likelihood of the effected child becoming obese amongst other things.  This isn’t some random, poorly constructed study with whinging children who feel afflicted by their parents' decisions. The cohort for ‘The Growing Up In New Zealand Study’ was 5000 strong, and the sole focus of those running the study was to measure the effect of ‘adverse childhood experiences’.  There have been earlier studies here in New Zealand that show about half of Kiwi adults had such episodes in childhood, but the latest data shows that the prevalence of trauma is indeed much higher.  Children love their parents. Children don’t play a role in the decision of their parents to divorce. Children are left wondering what happened in light of the decision to end the family unit by one – or both parents. Children often wonder if what happened is their fault.  How many children affected by the trauma of separation and divorce are offered the ongoing care and attention that they need with professional counsellors and psychologists? How many have access to these crucial services long term? Not many, but having money makes a difference here.  Socioeconomics do not make you a better or worse parent. Love is not limited by money or your access to it.  Socioeconomics should not play the key role in determining the outcome for children and the trauma they suffer, under the dark cloud of decisions made by those who say they love them.  Mon, 13 Jan 2025 21:31:01 Z /opinion/roman-travers-its-time-for-our-hospitals-to-have-better-security/ /opinion/roman-travers-its-time-for-our-hospitals-to-have-better-security/ Health New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora, could well be described as the possum in the headlights of every government over the past many decades, struggling to avoid the oncoming cars from the left and right of the centreline.The New Zealand health system itself is in great need of focus and fiscal attention.What’s wrong with our society when we’re continually talking about beefing up security for those at the frontline of our public health service? I find myself cringing at the news that another of our busiest hospitals is once again under the spotlight with staff safety issues.Health New Zealand say that they’re set to increase security at Middlemore Hospital’s Emergency Department in the coming weeks after an attack on a nurse last Monday. The impatient patient, attempted to strangle an ED nurse, and a 23-year-old man has been charged accordingly.There’ve been many other incidents of concern. The incident comes just nine days after another nurse was hospitalised with stab wounds following a callout to a property in Rotorua.Our Nurses, doctors, administration and reception staff are already under immense pressure to perform in light of successive government’s hell-bent, maniacal focus on cost reduction.The Health New Zealand Chief Clinical Officer, Richard Sullivan, says that “no level of violence is acceptable” and it intends to increase security at Middlemore Hospital’s ED in the coming weeks to send a clear message that hospitals are no place for aggression.This is of course, is the reaction and response that you and I would not only expect – but demand for those at the frontline of public healthcare – but is it the right answer?You’ve seen how ineffective security is at the front doors of our supermarkets. Will any presence of woefully ineffective security at the front doors of the country’s emergency departments, provide any form of deterrent to those who for whatever reason, decide to have a verbal or physical festering outburst, with the very people that are there to help them?We don’t want to see police resources used for the security of our public health staff, but what will work?Is it time to give our security staff better training and the powers to restrain and contain those who do nothing but exacerbate the fraying nerves of our healthcare professionals?The time to do more for our healthcare professionals, is now – and even now is proving to be a little too late. LISTEN ABOVE Mon, 13 Jan 2025 02:41:20 Z /opinion/roman-travers-maybe-unruly-kainga-ora-tenants-arent-really-that-unruly/ /opinion/roman-travers-maybe-unruly-kainga-ora-tenants-arent-really-that-unruly/ There wouldn't be too many days in a week where Kainga Ora and housing issues across New Zealand are far away from the news.  The news this morning is great! Complaints about disruptive behaviour are now handled in around 13 days - that's down from around 60 days a year ago.  553 Section 55A notices were issues by Kainga Ora since July 2024, up from 41 issues during the same period in the previous year.  Of that 553, first notices made up around 83%, second notices made up approximately 16%, and third notices - which can trigger the end of a tenancy - made up less than 2%.  The latest data shows Kainga Ora is taking action against disruptive tenants, which in turn is leading to improved behaviour.  There's nothing worse than living next to the banshees from hell, who have absolutely no consideration for their neighbours. They don't care that you can hear each and every domestic act of stupidity and verbal outburst, often accompanied by the Greatest Hits of some very average band on repeat.  I reckon one of the biggest issues is that we build and shove people in these Kainga Ora blocks and call it "social housing".  Kainga Ora and the plans they approve for ordinary people who - like you and me - just want somewhere to call home, end up living in housing that simply isn't what it used to be, back when we once called it state housing. Properties were much larger, with front and back lawns, with room for a family to live in and outdoors.  These new builds are all about value for money - not quality of living.  If you can hear each and every sound emanating from your immediate neighbours; above, below, as well as left and right, as is the case with an apartment block; then it stands to reason that you're more inclined to make complaints.  Why are we hell bent on building these very nice to look at, modern ghettos - and then acting surprised when the wheels fall off in terms of social decorum? If rowdy and completely unpleasant people are eventually evicted from these Kainga Ora properties, as they should be - where are they supposed to go? Are we happy to kick the can down the road, so that these trouble makers simply become someone else's problem?  LISTEN ABOVE Thu, 09 Jan 2025 22:51:53 Z /opinion/roman-travers-councils-need-to-step-it-up/ /opinion/roman-travers-councils-need-to-step-it-up/ There are many of us who work through the festive season for a whole range of reasons: We need the money, we want to support those who need to have a break, some of us have older families - and so letting those with young children take time off seems like the right thing to do.  Many of the services provided by central and local governments have to keep going, regardless of the time of year. Our hospitals, Police, and Fire and Emergency are a few that come to mind, along with transport companies and supermarkets.  But what about your local council staff - and those that contract to your local council? How available are they over the festive season?  Rotorua Lakes Council has apologised after failing to pick up the dumped rotting bones of a large butchered animal for two months, despite a Rotorua ratepayer reporting them five times.  Haylee Ellen first called Rotorua Lakes Council about the 'dead animal carcass' on Gee Road back on the 4th of November. Two weeks later, she called the council again, only to be told that staff couldn't locate the dump site.  There was a third call, then a fourth, before eventually staff had a proper look and found the mess.  How good is your local council at responding to issues you've raised in recent times? Do you get the feeling that you're being taken seriously when you make complaints about the variety of issues you see that make your town or city look less than desirable? One contact I have had to lodge an official information act application with their council in order to know whether any action had been taken or not, vis-à-vis the many complaints they'd make over a long period of time. The OIA came back - no action had been taken.  Here's what's happened to me over the past 7 years of phoning and lodging several complaints to the Auckland Council about our street and the drains never being cleaned or dug out: Nothing. Not one response to one complaint.  Has your council abdicated responsibilities for those core jobs that they once took pride in keeping on top of? Do you get any action when you lodge complaints - and if you've taken things further, have you had any luck with your councillors? Even your mayor? As your rates increase and the services decline, just remember what they promised when they ran for the job they were voted in to do. And don't be afraid to remind them.  LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 08 Jan 2025 22:01:16 Z /opinion/roman-travers-just-another-issue-for-the-rural-community/ /opinion/roman-travers-just-another-issue-for-the-rural-community/ I remember a time when our rural sector was held in high regard. I remember a time when we called farmers the back bone of the country.  Not only have those days gone, but we seem hell bent on thrashing the rural sector into some form of submission - to the extent that many in the rural sector are feeling more and more culpable for each and every environmental crime broadcast in the news.  Without question, there are things that could - and should - be improved, to ensure the viability of our primary producers, the waterways, and the very land they cultivate to ensure that you have something to enjoy off your barbecue.  But now it seems there is more for the rural sector to deal with.  And that's the demise of rural services.  "The internet is coming"... still a phrase that many rurally repeat, in the hope that this vita service that many of us take for granted gets to the farm gate sooner than later.  Cheque books have gone. Many rurally operated their finances on the writing of cheques and then posting them with the rural delivery services for many.  The word 'service' is now itself, under threat from those who look at the bottom line of everything, under the misapprehension that everything provided by general taxation in New Zealand needs to make money, or at least be viable in the short and long term.  Does it though? What else will be strip away in order to attempt to get the country back on track from a fiscal point of view? This penny pinching attitude to the rural bus services seems mean spirited and entirely punitive.  How much more can the rural sector take before many more throw in the towel and head to town? Are we at risk of punishing our rural community to the point where the appeal of the good life completely loses its lustre? If we don't support the rural sector more, and give them greater reasons to stay on the land, who the hell do we think is going to milk the cows and give us sausages for tonight's barbecue? LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 08 Jan 2025 01:30:46 Z /opinion/roman-travers-the-treaty-principles-bill-is-misunderstood/ /opinion/roman-travers-the-treaty-principles-bill-is-misunderstood/ Today may well be just another day for many, but it is the last day for you to make a submission on the Treaty Principles Bill. You have until midnight tonight to make yours.  I think it's fair to say that there's a great deal of misunderstanding and conjecture around this bill - a bill that is not supported by the National Party. This bill will not be supported beyond select committee.  There appears to be a great deal of expense enveloping something that David Seymour and the Act Party know is nothing more than a contentious, ideological pot stirrer that has served to do nothing more than create outrage and uncertainty.  There is another element to the Treaty Principles Bill that I think has been overlooked, and that's my observation that we have almost entirely become reliant of a 40 second news story on the telly - or indeed the hourly news on 九一星空无限talk ZB - or New Zealand news websites, in order to be fully informed.  How many conversations have you had with friends or family on this issue, that eventually gets to the point where it becomes demonstrably obvious that no one really understands just what it is that the Treaty Principles Bill would mean if it became a reality? The Treaty stood for 135 years until 1975 when the then-Labour government passed the Treaty of Waitangi Act, which stated the Treaty had principles, and it was the job of the Waitangi Tribunal to interpret them.  Since then, the Tribunal, the courts, and the public service have gradually built up the principles. But New Zealanders as a whole have never been democratically consulted on these Treaty principles.  The Treaty Principles Bill will not change the Treaty itself. That was set in 1840 and will remain forever.  What the Act Party are seeking to do is continue the process of defining the Treaty principles, for the first time incorporating the voices of all people through a democratic Parliamentary process, instead of through the Tribunal or the courts.  Is it as simple as that? Equality in education, health, the judicial system, and several other parameters - has not worked well for Maori. If we don't continue to address the pressing need borne by the statistics, then we're doomed to incur more cost and more failure for Maori.  LISTEN ABOVE Mon, 06 Jan 2025 23:19:14 Z /opinion/media-council-upholds-inaccuracy-complaint-against-column-about-wellington-mayor-tory-whanau/ /opinion/media-council-upholds-inaccuracy-complaint-against-column-about-wellington-mayor-tory-whanau/ A complaint against a column by 九一星空无限talk ZB's senior political correspondent Barry Soper has been upheld by the NZ Media Council, on the grounds that it contained a serious inaccuracy and attempts to correct it were inadequate. The first four paragraphs of the article, titled How did Tory Whanau get the Wellington mayoralty?  published on 23 October 2024, suggested Ms Whanau's election was due to the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. Thomas Nash complained the assertion was factually incorrect. Ms Whanau had received the largest number of first-preference votes, making the claim the STV system was pivotal to her win misleading. The day after the article was published, the headline was changed to Barry Soper: Inconsistency the hallmark of Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau’s leadership, which was the same as the heading in the NZ Herald, where the column also appeared. Twelve days after the article was published, the first four paragraphs addressing the STV claim were removed. A correction was added, saying an earlier version “inferred” Ms Whanau relied on the STV system for her win, but that she did receive the largest number of first preference votes.  Mr Nash argued the correction did not fully address the issue. It should be crystal clear that Ms Whanau’s win had nothing to do with the STV process, Mr Nash said.  九一星空无限talk ZB’s parent company 九一星空无限 said both publishers had added a correction to the beginning of the column and the headline change reflected that the purpose of the column was to convey Mr Soper’s perspective on Ms Whanau’s suitability as mayor.  The Media Council found that the complaint should have been considered with more urgency and changes made earlier. It was an error to assert, as the article effectively did, that Ms Whanau's election was due to the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, when she had received the largest number of first-preference votes.  The error was serious and cast doubt on the legitimacy of Ms Whanau’s election win. The incorrect claim remained live for a fortnight. A vastly larger audience would have seen the false claim than saw the correction. The correction itself was also inadequate, the Media Council found, being confusing rather than simply stating that the original claim was incorrect.  The full Media Council ruling can be found here.  Sun, 22 Dec 2024 16:00:00 Z /opinion/why-christopher-luxon-is-my-politician-of-the-year-barry-soper/ /opinion/why-christopher-luxon-is-my-politician-of-the-year-barry-soper/ THREE KEY FACTS Christopher Luxon became 42nd Prime Minister in November 2023. He was elected to Parliament in October 2020. Luxon was the CEO of Air NZ from 2012 to 2019. As the year draws to an end spare a thought of what life must be like for Christopher Luxon. This is a man who’s been in politics for just four years. To describe his rise to the top as meteoric would be an understatement. No one in modern political history has become Prime Minister with so little political experience. The board room comes no where near the Cabinet office. For starters as the chief executive of Air New Zealand what Luxon said to his executive was essentially done. In the Cabinet room anything he says is the subject of debate and frequently his view doesn’t always win the day. He’s had to learn to compromise big time. Luxon isn’t your typical politician, let alone the leader of the country. For starters the demon drink has never got so much as a sniff from him. And he’s a Christian to boot. Christopher Luxon on his first day at Parliament in October 2020 at his induction. Photo / Mark Mitchell Almost 35 years ago when Jim Bolger became the Prime Minister, there was a feeling from some he’d never make it because he was a Catholic! Luxon was advised when he was about to give his maiden speech to Parliament to leave out the Christian side of his life. He ignored the advice and went full-on about his beliefs. The public seemed to have liked it. It led to a healthy debate about Christianity and politics. This man was pilloried by the media for having too many properties - he had seven. In recent months he’s sold three and again he’s been vilified for the profit he’s made without paying tax on it. You’d surely be asking questions of a man with his professional, highly paid background, if he didn’t have investments. He was attacked, as if it was immoral, when he said on 九一星空无限talk ZB Drive a while ago “let me be clear: I’m wealthy, I’m, you know, sorted.” It may have been clumsy but the quote was for some reason seen as the quote of the year in some quarters, as though he was removed from the pain of those who haven’t done as well as him are going through. Of course he does, he didn’t enter politics with a blindfold. He did enter politics earning a fraction of what he was on as the airline boss! And he entered politics genuinely hoping that he could put the place back on track. And he should be celebrated for that, not condemned. It’s true, he entered politics to make a difference. For those of us who knew him before he made the leap, they would appreciate he came into the job coveting the Prime Minister’s role. Never did he think though he’d achieve that in a few short years. But he should have, the National Party which he led just a year after signing on as an MP was a dog’s breakfast. His leadership brought unity to the political wing of the party, putting it in the position it is today. Winston Peters (left), Christopher Luxon (centre), and David Seymour (right) after signing their coalition agreement in 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell It’s a tougher job than any recent incumbent has had, dealing with the egos of those around him. He’s certainly done it with the old warhorse Winston Peters, dining at each other’s houses. He likes Peters despite the fact that he derailed the Government on the ferry deal. Whatever the outcome, Peters will declare it as his victory and no one in the coalition will likely publicly disagree with him. Act’s David Seymour is another kettle of fish, much more slippery even than Peters. He’ll be deputy Prime Minister in May, just in time for Nicola Willis’ austere Budget. That’ll be a significant coalition test for him. So as Luxon packs his bags for the holidays with his family and friends, he can reflect on a stinker of a year, but one that he’s survived pretty well. His ratings were never going to be high given the mess that he inherited, but in my making-it-against-all-odds book, he has to be my po... Wed, 18 Dec 2024 05:02:36 Z /opinion/barry-soper-the-h%C4%ABkoi-was-m%C4%81ori-partys-crowning-glory/ /opinion/barry-soper-the-h%C4%ABkoi-was-m%C4%81ori-partys-crowning-glory/ The Māori Party will be well pleased with the hīkoi this week.  There was the long-planned haka in Parliament’s debating chamber last week, for which they’ll be slapped on their wrists with a wet bus ticket, but the hīkoi was their crowning glory.  This was all about politics, grievances aside, and they’ve got what they craved, publicity. The march could easily have turned ugly with a good representation of bikies, legally showing their patches for the last time before they’re made illegal on Thursday.  But the protesters were well behaved, respectfully moving aside to let yours truly into the Beehive.  Parliament’s Speaker Gerry Brownlee wisely prevented the public from watching proceedings from the galleries overlooking the debating chamber, preventing a repeat of the raucous outburst last week. It allowed the business to be conducted unhindered.  The Greens were meaningless, trying to embarrass the Prime Minister for not addressing the crowd outside. As his deputy Winston Peters rightly said, he wasn’t invited.  The man in charge of the bill that saw people marching around the country, David Seymour, might not get his referendum on the Treaty, but he’s now got six months of public hearings on it before the justice select committee.  That will keep the Act Party in the limelight as the articulate Seymour pontificates about equality for all, while at the same time picking up wavering centre-right voters.  So ironically, the hīkoi and the months that follow it will benefit the two diehard political enemies.  The Greens will also benefit simply for being green and supporting any anti-establishment cause, while New Zealand First will be unaffected because it’s simply Winston Peters.  National and Labour will be licking their wounds. But they’ll heal in time for the next election, which is the feeling of those in the parties even though they acknowledge they’ve taken a hit.  It’ll be tougher for Labour though with its leadership joining in with the protesters and, as a result, publicly aligning itself with the Māori Party.  And if you’re wondering just how silly they can be, get a load of their latest antic in Parliament – they’ve laid a complaint against the beleaguered Speaker Brownlee, claiming he overused his powers, going further they said, than for any other protest.  Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngawera-Packer must have been asleep in Parliament listening to Barry Manilow when Speaker Trevor Mallard blasted his dulcet tones to the deafened Covid protesters.  She also complained about the party not being able to give the whānau water. Well, the Speaker could have done a Mallard and turned the sprinkler system on.  And she’s also complaining about Brownlee denying the marchers access to Parliament’s Wi-Fi. She mustn’t know about the ability of smartphones to use their own data.  Now that’s the coalition partner Labour will likely need. It doesn’t bear thinking about!  Wed, 20 Nov 2024 19:31:54 Z /opinion/jason-walls-the-haka-haunting-the-prime-minister-half-a-world-from-home/ /opinion/jason-walls-the-haka-haunting-the-prime-minister-half-a-world-from-home/ THREE KEY FACTS Act’s Treaty Principles Bill passed its first reading in Parliament on Thursday with support from National, Act and NZ First. National and NZ First have said they will not support it beyond the select committee stages. The video of the Te Pati Maori-led Haka in Parliament has gone viral, and has been covered by the New York Times, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and the Daily Mail. Apec CEO summit. A combination of words likely to send even the most extreme insomniac into the sweet land of the slumber. Throw in a panel discussion titled Driving Prosperity: Financial Access and Economic Growth and you’ve got yourself one hell of a nocturnal cocktail. Not for Christopher Luxon. The Prime Minister was well and truly in his element as he waxed lyrical about the importance of e-invoicing, business supply chains and the importance of financial infrastructure. But his audience was less than engaged. Looking down from the press balcony, the audience was sea of bowed heads, faces illuminated by the glow of phones. Once such phone revealed a familiar image. As the hosted asked about the difference between “formal, and informal banking”, a muted video of Te Pati Maori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke tearing a copy of the Treaty Principles Bill in half, before launching into a haka with half the House, played on one man’s iPhone. It was not a surprise to see the video had reached the Apec summit in the Peruvian capital of Lima. The video’s gone viral - by now viewed likely hundreds of millions of times. The New York Times, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Daily Mail and hundreds of other media outlets have reported on the haka in the House. It was a familiar story to more than a few reporters at the Apec media village too. One Korean reporter told the Herald he had seen the now viral video; another from Colombia also said it had popped up on their news feed  -“it was a beautiful sentiment,” she said. Moments before going on air at midnight local time Friday night, a man asked 1九一星空无限 reporter Jack Tame about the video. “Just as we were setting up, two minutes ago, someone came up to me and asked us where we’re from. I said New Zealand and he said: You know what, I saw this amazing video of this haka performed in your Parliament”. Chris Luxon was not at the first reading of the bill - he was on his way to Lima for the summit. But in the days leading up to the bill, he was putting as much distance between the himself and controversial bill as possible. “A Treaty Principles Bill that is simplistic, that hopes to rewrite a debate and discussion over 184 years through the stroke of a pen, is not the way forward.” But try as he might, he can’t escape the impact the opposition to bill has had to New Zealand, and now its international reputation. It seems not even half a world away is enough distance for the Prime Minister. Asked if he was concerned that the discourse over the Treaty Principles Bill was spilling beyond New Zealand, he told reporters that this was not an issue that has been raised by any international leaders. No one was suggesting it was. Luxon met with major world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, for less than 25 minutes - the suggestion that the Treaty Principals bill would be brought up was a laughable deflection from the Prime Minister. But he can only deflect for so long. He arrives back in New Zealand on Monday morning. The next day, the anti-Treaty Principle Bill hikoi arrives in the Capital. Thousands are expected to turn up outside Parliament. Try as he might, Luxon will not be unable to ignore this mighty opposition - and that’s just the start. The six-month select committee process proceeding the successful first reading will dominate the news agenda for some time to come. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s not finding many friends. Former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley has warned the bill was “inviting civil war;” former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson said the bill wi... Sat, 16 Nov 2024 20:44:34 Z /opinion/barry-soper-the-h%C4%ABkoi-organisers-already-lost-the-argument/ /opinion/barry-soper-the-h%C4%ABkoi-organisers-already-lost-the-argument/ Any Māori grievance you could ever think of will be embraced by the hīkoi, which is winding its way from the far north and the deep south to converge on Parliament next Tuesday. We're told by the organiser Eru Kapa-Kingi that the Treaty Principles Bill, which is about to receive its first and last debate in Parliament today, is a minor part of the hikoi. That's surprising, given the large number of placards that are being lugged across the country denigrating the bill. That's presumably why the bill's architect and ACT leader David Seymour's offer to meet Kapa-Kingi was rejected.Kapa-Kingi says any meeting would be pointless, saying the protesters were not at Seymour's beck and call or with anyone else who doesn't have the necessary expertise to lead or facilitate conversation around the Treaty of Waitangi The protest organiser says it's being pushed by the likes of David Seymour - and the many ignorant people behind him, who have a lot to say about the Treaty, but don't know a lot about it. Kapa-Kingi told 九一星空无限talkZB this week that he expects a crowd of a million when they arrive at Parliament - yeah right! The numbers were certainly building though, as it crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge yesterday - bringing peak hour traffic to a standstill on a day that thousands of students had to get to their end-of-year exams in the city, to name just one of the multitude of engagements that had to be postponed or cancelled. They lost the argument for many right there, whatever that argument is.   Trying to find out from those trudging along the Auckland waterfront under the snarled up Harbour Bridge what exactly what their gripe is was met with a frowning, blank stare, or a cold shoulder. One chap, sporting a moko kanohi and also heavily tattooed arms and legs, looked approachable and paused, responding to a kia ora as I posed the question that many have been asking: What specifically are you protesting about and what is it that you want? Kia ora may have given him a false impression, because he asked whether I spoke Māori and when I replied in the negative, he showed he had a good understanding of English telling me to f... off, before heading off to Wellington. Still, it was safer asking him the question than posing it to the King Cobras, the patch-wearing gang members who were there showing their solidarity. If you listen to the Māori Party co leader Rawiri Waititi, gang members do have a gripe, and no doubt they will also turn up in large numbers to show solidarity.   Waititi said the recent police raids on the Mongies was terrorism motivated by a racist agenda, but was typical of the state's predatory behaviour. The Māori MP seems to have lost sight of the fact that 28 arrests were made, two possible murders were avoided, and a haul of methamphetamine, cash, weapons and property were seized. Waititi was also upset the raids happened where children and women were. Police Minister Mark Mitchell rightly said it wasn’t the police officers who 'choose to keep weapons and drugs in the houses'. This hīkoi is very much the work of the Māori Party, with Eru Kapi-Kingi being the son of Te Tai Tokerau's new MP  Mariameno Kapa-Kingi who was just two places behind his mum on the party list. Just to show how politically savvy he is, the Labour leader Chris Hipkins plans to join the hīkoi when it reached Wellington next Tuesday! Wed, 13 Nov 2024 16:00:40 Z /opinion/barry-soper-theres-no-accounting-for-americas-political-taste/ /opinion/barry-soper-theres-no-accounting-for-americas-political-taste/ There's no accounting for public taste - and that would surely have to apply to the American public with the election of Donald Trump. Despite seeing himself as pulling off the biggest political comeback in the history of the world, he shows that he's no historian. And we'll find out over the next four years whether he's the peacemaker he claims to be after he calls his buddies Vladimir and Benjamin and tell them to stop fighting their wars. Trouble with that is there's still more than two months to run before he takes up what he has declared as the most important job in the world.  Between now and then there's a real possibility that the wars may well rark up to get them over and done with before the President takes the oath of office. Trump met with the Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in New York in September, so that was a start. But the only reason the Ukraine's been able to hold off the Russian onslaught is because of the significant financial support of NATO. Thing is, Trump's not a fan of NATO and hreckons the countries that belong to it are bludgers, given the Americans are by far the biggest funders of it. And the President-elect appears to have a better relationship with Putin, although how close the two are is something of a mystery - with Trump refusing to say whether he's had contact with the Russian dictator over the past year. But in May last year, he was saying he would be able to end the war there within 24 hours.  Israel's Netanyahu was one of the first leaders on the blower to congratulate Trump for obvious reasons, given the Americans' support of the country's demolition of Gaza. When the Israeli leader was in Washington recently he was told by Kamala Harris that she was unhappy with the number of civilians being killed.     Contrast that with Trump's repeated assertion that Israel should be allowed to finish the job. It's obvious Trump would be more supportive of Israel than Harris would have been if she had won. With Trump winning the popular vote, it means most Americans like the cut of his jib, whatever that is. Since losing the election in 2020 that jib's been blown all over the place - so what does that say about Americans? The irony is that one of the biggest turnarounds in support for him came from the Hispanic community, which has since the 70s been a Democrat stronghold. It's ironic considering the comments he made about them eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, a state he won with the biggest majority of any President within the past 40 years. It just goes to show that what some of us consider verbal diarrhoea flowing from his unguarded mouth has little effect on how he's seen. Some of the stuff he's said in this campaign and in his two previous runs for the White House would be cringed at in any locker room. But it's kept him in the news - and like they say, bad news travels at the speed of light whilst good news travels like molasses. And this President-elect isn't a good man. He's a convicted felon, making it the first time a criminal has ever been elected to the nation's highest office.  He'll be sentenced later this month for the hush money scandal in New York. Still, accolades have flooded in for him from around the world, including from this country. The most pointed must surely have come from France's President Emmanuel Macron which read: 'Ready to work together as we did for four years, with your convictions and mine.' Trump never did like the way Macron shook hands. Thu, 07 Nov 2024 07:48:42 Z /opinion/barry-soper-harris-is-reading-from-a-familiar-political-playbook/ /opinion/barry-soper-harris-is-reading-from-a-familiar-political-playbook/ As political promises go, they should be familiar to all of us- lifting children out of poverty, removing red tape and building much needed houses more quickly, and giving women the right to decide their fertility. Kamala Harris told her audience she remembered sitting at her mother's yellow formica table as she struggled to put food on it and juggled household bills. It's as though Harris was reading from the Jacinda Ardern political playbook - and if she was, she should remember how our former Prime Minister's popularity plummeted after she failed to deliver on her promises, and how the fear she instilled in some of us over Covid wore thin after many of us got it and survived. But in her final set piece address to kick off the last week before next week's poll, Harris was more convincing than Ardern ever was, essentially because she has an opponent in Donald Trump, who's off the planet. If Americans can't see that then you'd have to ask whether they belong to the real world. If they're again willing to support a man who urged them to riot on the Capitol just up the road from where Harris was speaking to overturn the result putting Joe Biden into office, you would have to ask what galaxy they are in. And if Trump loses next week, then expect the same sort of rhetoric that we heard the last time he lost - that the election was rigged. He's already started banging on about vote rigging in the weathervane state of Pennsylvania, where he falsely claims two and a half thousand voter forms were filled out by one person. Trump claims Biden and Harris hate Americans and will do everything to crush the Republicans if ever they hold power again. But he's done nothing to distance himself from the bile that came out of a comedian's mouth at his own wind-up rally who said "there's a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean called Puerto Rico." Well, Puerto Ricans are actually American citizens. Those living on the island can't vote in US general elections, but millions of them have moved to the mainland United States and can fully participate in elections, and many have taken up residence in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. You can see why the Democrats have kept Biden away from their campaign though when he gave his response to that, saying -"the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters." That was reminiscent of Hiliary Clinton's faux-pas in the final two months of her battle against Trump in 2016 when she described half of Trump's supporters as "deplorables". The comments were seized on by Trump supporters as evidence of the Democrats’ contempt for some Americans. Immigration is the centrepiece of Trump's campaign, with him declaring this week that he'll enact the death penalty for any immigrant who kills an American citizen or a cop. As Harris' campaign rally was just getting underway, Joe Biden's motorcade was pulling up in the driveway to the White House. As he was about to turn in for the night, he would have heard the cheering crowd and was probably thankful that it wasn't him who was taking the stage. Harris told the fawning crowd that if Trump walks into the Oval Office next January he'll have a list of enemies, whereas she would walk in with a “to-do list”. But like all political lists, they are not all that easy to do, ask Ardern. Wed, 30 Oct 2024 07:54:43 Z /opinion/barry-soper-inconsistency-the-hallmark-of-wellington-mayor-tory-whanau-s-leadership/ /opinion/barry-soper-inconsistency-the-hallmark-of-wellington-mayor-tory-whanau-s-leadership/ An earlier version of this opinion piece inferred Tory Whanau relied on the Single Transferable Voting (STV) system to win the mayoralty. While there were seven iterations of counting to reach the threshold to win, she did receive the largest number of first preference votes. A complaint against this column has been upheld by the NZ Media Council. Celia Wade-Brown has finally made it to where Tory Whanau would like to be, in Parliament for the weird and wacky Greens. Whanau may have blotted her copybook though, initially rejecting her previously held Green credentials until she won the mayoralty and then embracing them afterwards. This is the first citizen of the country’s capital who lacks the intellectual rigour to remember what she said at the beginning of an interview, only to contradict it later. Whose understanding of governance is as deep as a puddle. Who seeks forgiveness for doing a runner on paying for a restaurant meal because she has an alcohol problem, who appears to suffer from an attention deficit disorder and has had weeks off work because she’s had Covid more times than Andrew Bayly has said he’s sorry. Is there any wonder then why Simeon Brown, a Cabinet Minister who looks young enough to be Whanau’s son, has decided to lend her a helping hand with a Crown observer to watch over her? Essentially the observer is Brown’s nark. If the council under Whanau’s stewardship is as shambolic as we’re told it is, then the role will eventually be taken over by a Commissioner. Even Brown tripped over his tongue in an interview by calling the observer a Com..., before correcting himself, which is probably a good indication of where it will end up. After the Government intervention, Whanau’s response was to welcome it, saying she hopes the council will finally agree to the elusive long-term plan for the troubled city. But then the trolls got to work on her Instagram account telling her the decision was a disgraceful hit job and suggesting the politicians behind it were corrupt and she should hold tight until they’re voted out of power. Despite earlier saying she will happily work with the Crown observer, Whanau signalled she liked the damning comments on the account about one being appointed, that is until the ghoulish media noticed them and suddenly the likes became unlikes. And that’s the inconsistency that’s become the hallmark of Whanau’s leadership. The cost of the observer overseeing the way the council operates, comes at the expense of the long-suffering Wellington ratepayer. But if this madness is allowed to continue, perhaps getting rid of the mayor will be a small price to pay. Wed, 23 Oct 2024 08:05:42 Z /opinion/barry-soper-luxon-shouldnt-be-vilified-for-his-wealth/ /opinion/barry-soper-luxon-shouldnt-be-vilified-for-his-wealth/ The late Michael Cullen let the veil slip when he glared across Parliament's debating chamber in December 2007 and labelled the then Opposition leader John Key 'a rich prick,' adding 'scumbag,' as presumably he thought rich people were. As such, Key should never have been the Prime Minister.   Well, that appears to be the feeling in this country - where wealth seems to be something to denigrate rather than being seen as something to aspire to and celebrate, and that's sad. If the naysayers had their way, those holding the country's top political office should be like Norman Kirk who left school at 12 and started painting roofs and then became a stationery engine driver. Or Mike Moore who left school at 14 and worked as a labourer and then a printer. The only label that was ever attached to them in terms of their achievement was successful, and that they most certainly were. But it would appear their saving grace was that they didn't make a great deal of money along the way. The current incumbent has been vilified for his wealth - and more so because it's allowed him to own seven properties.    Surely if he didn't, after earning several million bucks a year in previous chief executive roles, there would be a reason to question his financial acumen. The fact that he took a salary drop the equivalent of what many people could hope to earn in a lifetime is surely a reason for praise. What it does show is that he sees the country as more important than the cash. But that doesn't stop some in the media from painting him as a money grubber. State television breathlessly told us he made $200,000 after four years by buying and recently selling his apartment opposite Parliament. It's been suggested that skullduggery's at play with his Government paring back the bright-line test to two years, where National originally set it at, rather than Labour's extension to five. Under their rules, he would have paid a hefty tax bill for the capital gain on the apartment. Where that argument fails is that if the five year rule was still in place, he's got enough wealth to hold on to the apartment and rent it out for a year before selling it and avoiding the bright-line test. He sold the apartment because he belatedly moved up the road to the drafty Premier House after new carpet was laid. It replaced the carpet which had been there since the early 90s, when Jim Bolger was Prime Minister and new curtains were hung with a new paint job applied. Clearly, Luxon's fuse is becoming a little short with the alright-for-some whingers, with him reminding those who would care to listen that both his parents left school at 16 but they did quite well. He went to university in his hometown of Christchurch, paying his own way through his studies by working part-time at McDonalds and as a porter at the Parkroyal Hotel. It's ironic that the Cullen 'rich prick' John Key also had his beginnings in a Christchurch, in a  state house being brought up by his Austrian-Jewish refugee - a solo mother who escaped the holocaust. She raised them after his father died when he was 8. He, like Luxon, made much of his fortune overseas, but came back to New Zealand because he felt he owed his country something. It's also ironic that the four Prime Ministers mentioned here all came from Christchurch with the earlier office holders avoiding the 'rich prick' mantra of the latter two. And that says something about the egalitarian society we once prided ourselves on.That's based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. We should be equal, enjoying equal rights but unfortunately that's no longer the case in many spheres. Woe betide anyone though who has the wit and uses that opportunity to personally make a financial success of it. LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 02 Oct 2024 08:26:53 Z /opinion/barry-soper-the-fractious-relationship-between-media-and-politicians/ /opinion/barry-soper-the-fractious-relationship-between-media-and-politicians/ The relationship between the media and politicians has always been a fractious one which is exacerbated by the quality of questions they are asked. Parliament in the last four years of the Muldoon administration was something current incumbents could learn from. He was an expert at answering a question with a question. Some of the more obvious ones were easy for him to bat off like: “Did it come as a surprise?” “Did it surprise you,” he’d ask in response. “Were you shocked,” was likely met with “were you?” “Have you had time to reflect?” “Have you?” which likely meant, “have you thought about the question before you asked it?” David Lange was also one to deflect a question, like when he was walking into his caucus meeting once and an eager journalist called out: “Can we have a word Prime Minister?” Lange shot back: “Wombat,” and carried on walking. But Lange was acutely aware of the media and his portrayal in it. He once stopped his weekly press conferences and as press gallery chairman, it was my job to try and put it right. In short, Lange said if he picked his nose, it would feature that night on television. I offered an obvious solution and the problem was solved with his nose being given a rest. Move forward several decades and consider how the media was manipulated during the reign of Jacinda Ardern. It may have been amusing to hear her call out the names of the two television political editors first and then take questions from the rest of us. If you were the barking dog from the also-ran pack you would finally get to ask a question, but rarely would she entertain a follow-up which meant she was never properly held to account. Contrast with the current Prime Minster, he gives no preference and appears to answer virtually everything that’s thrown at him, even if at times he doesn’t address the query. For Christopher Luxon going from a lifetime of boardrooms was a bit like being thrust out of the frying pan into the fire and he’s been frantically busy stoking the flames. His popularity as a new Prime Minister isn’t anything to write home about and no-one has been. But the polls are starting to move in the right direction as Luxon, it would seem, is operating a little more from his own instincts. He’s lately been pushing back on some of the more inane questions leaders have to field. Like when he lost his rag last week over gang numbers and, with a flushed face, said: “It’s not about the frickin targets, it’s about the outcomes.” Just as he seems to have found his feet though, he’s losing his chief spin doctor, which is a prestigious but thankless job with someone usually drawn from the media ranks. Writing about them rather than being told what to write for them is no easy task, although Adern’s long-suffering chief press secretary was hired just after she became the Prime Minister until well after she’d gone. So what does it say about Luxon that his chief media adviser, Hamish Rutherford, is calling it quits? Around the traps it’s said he’s relentless, a tough taskmaster, doesn’t easily take direction and isn’t an altogether easy person to work with. As tough as that may be for staff, it’s acknowledged by those close to him he gets the job done even if some fall by the wayside while he’s doing it. Wed, 25 Sep 2024 08:51:56 Z /opinion/barry-soper-there-was-no-debate-harris-won/ /opinion/barry-soper-there-was-no-debate-harris-won/ How on earth anyone can go out and vote for a man like Donald Trump is beyond me. His stupidity in another setting would be certifiable and he'd be admitted to an institution for the confused, but this 78-year-old is running for what's arguably the most powerful job on earth - and if you listen to him, he'd have no problem in putting that power into action. We were told in his first debate with Kamala Harris that he'd resolve the two and a half year old Ukraine slaughter even before taking the oath of office next January if he won in November and the conflicts in the Middle East would be a piece of the proverbial cake for him. This is the same man who heightened the volatility on the North Korean peninsula by calling its leader 'Rocket Man'. After annoying him, they met and subsequently exchanged love letters. Nothing happened to reduce the tensions on the peninsula while Trump was in the Oval Office. So what did we get from the man who wants to occupy the White House again? Nothing on how he was going to deal with the economic woes of the United States - other than dealing to illegal immigrants. Every ill that America has at the moment is the fault of the Biden administration, he'd have the debate viewers believe. Like the 11 to 12 million immigrants in the country. They're not walking around waving signs about their immigration status, but Trump will round them up and send them home. It seems Trump's animal welfare soldiers will be able to find out where they are. He says they're eating cats and dogs, people's pets - well that's what he said. Apparently that bizarre extrapolation came from someone he saw on telly saying their pet was missing. And not only is this man morally conversative - when it comes to other people rather than himself that is - he wants to crack down on abortions. If you believe him, babies are being 'executed' after they've been born in the United States - which of course is offensive rubbish, as a debate moderator had to point out. The bullet that grazed his ear a few months back has now been amplified by him saying he 'probably took a bullet to the head because of the things the Democrats say about him.' Never looking at Harris, the would-be President accused her of trying to get transgender operations for 'illegal aliens' who are in prison. It was pure, jaw dropping, off the rails stuff from Trump - but it should have been expected from a man who is like a disjointed word machine, spilling out verbiage without any thought. It was said of Kamala Harris in the leadup to her first debate with Trump, and the first time she's actually met the man, that all eyes would be on whether she was a match for him. Who wouldn't be? If he was a Joe Blow in a bar, you wouldn't give him the time of day. Harris gave her view of what America should be looking for: "What's important is a President who actually brings values and a perspective, that is about lifting people up and not beating people down." There was no debate: Harris won. Wed, 11 Sep 2024 08:31:45 Z /opinion/barry-soper-luxon-needs-to-become-more-relatable/ /opinion/barry-soper-luxon-needs-to-become-more-relatable/ It's not much shy of a year ago that Chris Luxon signed the warrant to become New Zealand's 42nd Prime Minister. Having been congratulated by the Governor General at Government House in Wellington, the gathered throng applauded. That's when the show was over and the real work began. It's been one hell of a year for Luxon, who just over four years earlier never had a decision he made questioned in any serious way as the boss of our national airline. This man was corporate through and through and the learning curve to become the country's leading politician, answerable to everyone, can't have been easy. Politics is a tough game and the attacks from your opponents can be vicious, as they have been with Luxon, who had lived a relatively sheltered life up until he decided to enter the fray. Coming into the place in 2020, he would never have dreamed that he would have been the Prime Minister so soon, after just three years. Jacinda Ardern, who was also shocked she'd got the job even though Labour lost the election, had a nine year apprenticeship and in just five years went from being deified to vilified. The day they become Prime Minister is the day the writing's on the wall. They will leave the job of their on volition, as Ardern did, knowing she couldn't win the next election, or the electorate makes up their mind for them at the ballot box. This Government has had the shortest honeymoon period of any in recent history. They couldn't bask in the glory of success, they had to get on the deal with the mess. For Luxon it was a baptism of fire, he had never been confronted in the corporate world with what was tantamount to salvaging the Titanic. They have legislated more than any other in their first 100 days and are still out there trying to dig this country out of the post-Covid hole. Luxon told me recently he loved the job - and if that's really the case, he falls in love too easily. The skill in politics is reading the room and that's the most difficult task. His deputy Winston Peters has written the book on it and Luxon, who genuinely likes the New Zealand First leader, could learn a thing or two from him. Even though he may have been in politics for a short time, the PM's an enthusiast. He likes to be liked, who doesn't? But unlike his predecessor John Key, he's a little more clumsy at it, even though the ever-popular Key even himself felt at times worried he'd gone too far. Like the time early in his tenure in the top job he asked me whether he'd taken it too far, laden with flowers and swivelling his hips, in his colourful shirt in the Pacific. He was told it's the sort of thing the public likes, a Prime Minister being one of us and being prepared to let his hair down. And that's what Luxon, who has a keen sense of humour has got to do, become more relatable. LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 04 Sep 2024 08:45:11 Z /opinion/barry-soper-will-the-treaty-bill-be-as-offensive-as-everyones-making-it-out-to-be/ /opinion/barry-soper-will-the-treaty-bill-be-as-offensive-as-everyones-making-it-out-to-be/ If you go into politics you live in a goldfish bowl. Everything you do and say comes under scrutiny, as the Green Party knows more than most recently with a number of them going belly up, and rightly so. It's the big fish that do their best to stay away from the glaring eyes, but try as they might to smudge the glass, they can't avoid the glare. And that's the case with the debate over the much maligned Treaty Principles Bill, which actually doesn't exist at the moment, something that seems to have been ignored by the Waitangi Tribunal which launched a scathing criticism of it last week. The Prime Minister was moved to rightly say that the tribunal was getting ahead of itself. But then given his and the National Party's opposition to 'the bill,' saying they won't support it past its first reading - surely that's a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. They haven't seen it, and yet they are allowing it to be sent to a Parliamentary select committee for a lengthy hearing of public submissions, and that is a wanton waste of taxpayers' money, given without their support it's destined to fail. New Zealand First is also opposing the bill, although the wily old fox Winston Peters seemed to be a little equivocal in the debating chamber yesterday when he was standing in for Chris Luxon. "I think one is entitled to believe, despite all the previous statements, if there was prevailing, compelling evidence to change one's mind - as a famous economist once said - when the facts change, I change my mind," he said. He doesn't think that'll be the case with ACT's bill, but concluded that sometimes "we do have a faint hope that others might have it right." Peters has long been a critic of Māori being treated any differently from anyone else. In fact, in a speech to supporters in Nelson in the lead-up to the election last year, he claimed Māori weren't the indigenous people of this country. He said they came from the Cook Islands and Rarotonga and if we go back 5000 years, their DNA came from China. “Every tribe will have in its ancestry where it came from, and it’s not New Zealand,” he said. “Why are we lying to each other? We should be believing in truths and not myths.” The truth about the upcoming Treaty bill is that never in a thousand years would Winston Peters ever have thought he'd have to share power with David Seymour, let alone agree with anything he said. Next year, he will have to face the ignominy of having move aside to let Seymour take over his deputy Prime Minister's role. Seymour's a shrewd operator and his Treaty bill won't be as offensive as many are making it out to be. It will reinforce a democratically elected government has the right to govern and that all New Zealanders have equal rights, although Māori have special rights, like customary title over marine and coastal areas, although not exclusivity. ACT's polling showing its stance has the support of 60 percent of the country, and the one thing it's got without the bill being introduced to Parliament in November, is widespread debate - which is what Seymour's argued for from the start. And if support grows, where does that leave the majority in the coalition Government, going against the will of the people? Perhaps Peters' economist is right - when the facts change, so do minds. Wed, 21 Aug 2024 08:00:00 Z /opinion/barry-soper-this-weeks-announcement-is-a-relief-for-the-scientific-community/ /opinion/barry-soper-this-weeks-announcement-is-a-relief-for-the-scientific-community/ Twenty years ago, the naysayers were telling us the world was about to mutate, we'd see all sorts of weird things appearing on our supermarket shelves and on our streets and in our streams, like two headed fish - at least it would have doubled the chance of catching one! But while the rest of the world turned their back on this country, leaving it to wallow in its mantra of 100 percent New Zealand Pure, which the former Aussie Prime Minister Scott Morrison claims to have penned when he was working for image makers in Wellington, they got on with the science of genetics. The announcement this week, ending the almost 30 year time warp of the gene technology ban, would in the past have led to uncontrolled outrage, as it did when the ban was coming up for renewal 20 years ago. Thousands of anti-genetic modification protesters took to the streets throughout the country. In Auckland, the crowd was put at around 9,000, rivalling the anti Springbok tour protests in 1981. They accused the then-Prime Minister Helen Clark of being a dictator and ignoring the wishes of the vast majority of the population. But the moratorium on testing outside the laboratory continued until the announcement this week which saw the scientific community, those who stayed in the country, breathe a sign of relief. Up until now they were only permitted to do genetic research, anything outside the lab had to go through a complex approval regime. As one leading scientist said, the relaxation will bring productivity and climate gains for this country, and also health advances, like gene therapies for cancer. The examples of improvement in many aspects of life can be seen overseas. Food's become more nutritious and tastier and at a lower cost and a longer shelf life, thanks to genetic modification, or as the Prime Minister calls it, genetic editing. The environmental benefits are also obvious with fewer resources, like water and fertilizer, having to be used on disease and drought resistant plants. And when it comes to down on the farm, the benefits should be felt here, making life more pleasant with modified grass, like ryegrass, reducing the flatulence in the dairy herd. None of this will happen overnight, but the scientists will at least be able to test their research without having to cope with the big stick of Government, although there will be a regulator to make sure things don't get out of hand. There'll be no repeat of what happened in China a few years back when a highly qualified scientist caused an international uproar after admitting to genetically modifying twin embryos before they were placed in their mother's womb. The modification targeted the pathway used by the HIV virus to enter cells, which it was claimed would give the babies immunity. They're now living a normal life, he says. The Chinese jailed him for three years but he's now in Beijing, working on affordable gene therapies for rare diseases. Put the baby experiment to one side, his current work could indeed be the future for medical advancement, providing consent is given. This country is of course nowhere near that, but now that we've come out of hibernation and into the real world, who knows what the future will bring? A leading health academic welcomes the end to the moratorium but says on the medical front it has to be put into some sort of perspective. He says the moral debate has to keep pace with the scientific one. But he says it has to be rooted in the real world. Our sense of humanity has to be kept - we don't need a handbrake but we do need careful oversight. Welcome the brave new world. Wed, 14 Aug 2024 09:06:14 Z /opinion/barry-soper-the-m%C4%81ori-partys-on-a-mission-to-stir-up-discontent/ /opinion/barry-soper-the-m%C4%81ori-partys-on-a-mission-to-stir-up-discontent/ The world as we know it is coming to an end, the "big one" is coming, but what that is the Māori Party's co leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is leaving us in the dark to contemplate. In more than 40 years, sitting above the battlers in the debating chamber below, never has such a provocative, and for many, insulting speech been delivered. It's in stark contrast to what the former Prime Minister John Key pleaded at the National Party's annual conference last weekend, to tone down the racial friction. On becoming Prime Minister in 2008, Key embraced the Māori Party, even though he didn't need them for support, giving them two seats at the Cabinet table. Today National's the Grim Reaper if you listen to Ngarewa-Packer. Her people she said, in a prepared speech, are punch drunk, are fatigued and are feeling persecuted in what she says in the biggest attack on them since the 1860s. She spoke of a tsunami of constant and deliberate assaults to grind them down. The party's co leader cited a number of areas where that's happened, like scrapping the Māori wards, which the Kaipara Council voted against yesterday and which was one of the first acts of the last Government to bring them in. They are rightly seen as undemocratic, just as John Key once saw the seven dedicated Māori seats which gives the Māori Party its platform today. Among the other things she cited was the boot camps, which are currently being piloted. She asked: "where's the aroha from this Government." The more salient question would surely be, where's the aroha from the families that the participants have come from? But her bile became even more trenchant when she talked about ACT, saying the party's groomed the Prime Minister and the Government into exercising "ethnocide" on Māori culture.She lamented what she saw as the Government being driven "to make us into one - their one, our none." Then she accused them of destroying Māori culture, one punch at a time "very hard and very low." Oh and she wound up with a dire warning of how this country's being led by a "dark triad," with three personality traits, the Machiavellian, the psychopath and the narcissist, leaving us to figure out which trait belongs to which party leader. Put those traits together, Ngarewa-Packer says, are dangerous to Māori, delivering the "cruellest" social chaos, the worst ever inflicted on an indigenous population! It's going to take a revolution of minds to withstand what's coming, she warned. Oh please! At the behest of ACT, Speaker Gerry Brownlee's been asked to review what was said, which he's going to do. But if others, like Winston Peters, had sounded off like this, we would never have heard the end of it. This current crop in the Māori Party are clearly on a mission to stir up discontent, rather than showing any attempt to be constructive, and there are many areas where they could do just that. And that's the danger! Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:00:40 Z /opinion/barry-soper-ethnicity-no-longer-factor-in-waiting-list-a-fair-outcome-for-all/ /opinion/barry-soper-ethnicity-no-longer-factor-in-waiting-list-a-fair-outcome-for-all/ It’s not often in this business that you can sit back with some satisfaction and feel justified a year later that a story you broke resulted in an outcome fair to all. The formal part ethnicity played in hospital waiting lists caused a political storm. It was justified by the then Labour Government whose Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said she was happy with the policy that gave Māori and Pasifika patients priority over Pākehā and other ethnicities. The electorally sensitive Prime Minister at the time Chris Hipkins said there was clear evidence Māori and Pasifika, rural people and those living in low-income communities have had to wait longer for care. But then he told Verrall to make sure the discrimination that already existed wasn’t replaced by another discriminatory tool. That was in fact happening until the lists were made public which detailed the points allocated to those waiting for surgery, and that was discriminatory. Those at the pit face of the policy, many surgeons, were not only unhappy with the policy, they rightly argued they didn’t study long and hard to give priority to any one ethnicity, ahead of others. There was only one criterion, they believe, that should be at the forefront of treatment and that’s need. Health NZ, after the story broke, and no doubt after a ticking off from the Government, ordered a review of the policy that found that while it was “legally and ethically justifiable it didn’t follow best practice”. In other words, it appears, they conceded that people were being bumped up the list ahead of those who had in many cases, waited longer for the same operation. And we’re not talking a few months, we’re talking well over a year for non-urgent surgery. Even though the internal review recommended that hospitals, not already factoring in ethnicity, should not use the priority system, others could continue with it, it seemed. The southern region and Northland had already stopped using the system and the massive Auckland catchment will now do the same, and rightly so. The current Health Minister Shane Reti stated the bleedingly obvious - clinical decisions should be made on health need first. The message seems to have hit home at the bloated Health NZ which now says a fundamental relook at the system is required. One of their gloriously anonymous spokespeople there was quoted as saying that they will now look into the possibility of adopting a new prioritisation tool across the whole health system, but emphasised no decisions had been made. The decision shouldn’t be too difficult to make; give health care to those who need it first, rather than expecting them to jockey for position on a waiting list based on their ancestry. Thu, 01 Aug 2024 08:53:23 Z /opinion/barry-soper-bring-on-darleen-tanas-replacement/ /opinion/barry-soper-bring-on-darleen-tanas-replacement/ Darleen Tana was an ideal candidate for The Greens, she was an environmental scientist with a degree in chemical technology, she won a Rotary Foundation to study, getting an MBA and of course was involved in an electric bike business, right up there with pedal powered party's ideology. The party's co leader, Marama Davidson, was certainly impressed, standing aside from an electorate she herself couldn't win in Tāmaki Makaurau to let Tana have a crack. Unfortunately for her, the Maori Party candidate allegedly propped up with some dodgy electoral practices which are under investigation, won the seat over longtime Labour MP Peeni Henare. Tana won fewer than three thousand Green votes, or a third fewer than each of the two that beat her. She came in a poor third but was high enough of the Green Party list to give her a job in Parliament. Presumably unknown to the Greens, Tana's hubby's bike shop was being accused of migrant exploitation with a number of complaints being made from underpaid workers. That turned the Greens red with fury. They ordered a taxpayer funded investigation by a lawyer and Tana was suspended, ultimately spending more time away from Parliament on full pay than she had actually been in the place . The investigation's report is being kept under wraps - but if you listen to the Greens' sole leader at the moment, Chloe Swarbrick, it was damning enough for all the 14 Green MPS , excluding Tana of course, to ask her to resign. Tana's not budging - or so we were led to believe. When you defiantly sit on the findings of a report, speculation becomes rife and leaks abound as they have done here. They vary from Tana being innocent of migrant exploitation to her being all over it. In her initial statement, she claims it was a set-up, her colleagues had decided to get rid of her even before she put her case to them last weekend. The Greens are now in an ideological cesspit. They can get rid of her alright by using the so called waka-jumping legislation, which means if 75 percent of a party's caucus wants a member to resign from Parliament, then she's gone after the involvement of the Speaker. Trouble is, the Greens hate the law, even though they originally jumped from the Alliance waka to allow them to stand under their own flag. The argument here is simple enough. Darlene Tana was elected to Parliament on the Green ticket, she couldn't win a seat, but she came in on the list. She's there purely and simply because enough voters went out and voted Green. She wasn't voted in as an independent, which she currently is, because she's shown she couldn't win a seat in her own right. And just in case she needs reminding, we have a Mixed Member Proportional voting system, which means we have a set number of constituent MPs can win their seat for their party and the list MPs who are there at the behest of their party, depending on how many party votes they can attract. If your party doesn't want you, move on and let the party bring in the next person on the list which maintains the proportion of the vote the punter opted for. LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 10 Jul 2024 06:00:00 Z /opinion/barry-soper-whats-the-point-of-the-david-seymour-snapchat-story/ /opinion/barry-soper-whats-the-point-of-the-david-seymour-snapchat-story/ It's not often that you would feel the need to jump to the defence of a politician, they're usually more than capable of looking after themselves, with a few exceptions. One politician who isn't an exception, in terms of looking after himself that is, is the straight as a die David Seymour, ACT's leader. What you see is what you get. And that's what teenage schoolkids got when they have contacted Seymour on social media over the years. He's politely responded to them saying he's always behaved online as he is in person, courteous, responsive and polite. But the fact that he even engaged with the kids has some sections of the media in high dudgeon, how could a middle aged politician reply to a questions from schoolgirls, some as young as 14? The answer is simple, they asked him a question but then, so did schoolboys, which to the ghouls seems to be less offensive. The media outlets, which unfortunately included 九一星空无限hub, in its final few days of life, ran a breathless report suggesting Seymour making contact with schoolgirls back in 2016 was in some way sleazy. The content of the messages wasn't inappropriate, so what's the point of the story? Well after eight years the anonymous mother of a then 14-year-old is now calling for guidelines around how politicians communicate with young people on social media. A former Epsom Girls Grammar student said she too was a 14 year old when she started messaging Seymour on Snapchat. The television piece showed young people crowded around phone cheering that Seymour actually replied. Clearly it was seen as something of a badge of honour to get a politician to reply, all harmless fun, most of us would think. But not that anonymous mum who's complained so long after the contact saying the fact that a much older politician was direct messaging them at all was bizarre. A former Auckland Grammar Student was quoted saying he messaged Seymour when he was 15. He said, at the time, it was hilarious. He remembers being thankful and going around the school, feeling like a big deal, showing everyone that the ACT leader had replied to him. Like all the others he said messages from Seymour were never inappropriate. It seems to me like a political hit job which hopefully will backfire on all of those who have brought into it. Although we will never know because they've hidden behind the cloak of anonymity. The reason for stirring the pot so long after the event is only for them to know. If there was any grooming done, which of course there wasn't in that sense, it would have been to encourage the young to take an interest in politics. It was never Seymour who initiated the contact. He was on Snapchat because his party used to spend election campaign money with the site. And what if it was a female politician replying to questions from schoolkids? You would likely have never have heard a squeak. Apparently Jacinda Ardern did it all the time! Wed, 03 Jul 2024 09:01:57 Z /opinion/barry-soper-are-we-seeing-the-first-cracks-in-the-new-government/ /opinion/barry-soper-are-we-seeing-the-first-cracks-in-the-new-government/ So are we, as has been widely reported, seeing the first major cracks in the National-led coalition Government? Of course we are not. How on earth anyone can believe that three political parties, in this case, can surrender their identities at Government House when they're sworn in is nothing short of fanciful. Beg-to-differ clauses have been in coalition agreements ever since coalition Governments came into being under MMP in 1996. The only time they haven't been in place was of course during the unbridled Labour Government over the last three years, and look where that got us. The cracks, as painted by some, came from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters who begged to differ with the Government decision to continue with the Covid Royal Commission of Inquiry until November and then continue with it after that, with new commissioners. Stopping a Royal Commission, the most powerful inquiry that can be held in this country, was unthinkable to ACT, and it seems National. Peters argues it should have been canned after the former National Party minister Hekia Parata resigned as a commissioner in November last year. He argues it was set up by the Labour Government to tell it what it wanted to hear, citing the chief commissioner Tony Blakely, a renowned epidemiologist based in Australia, who's a mate of those involved here in our response. Labour's Chris Hipkins, the former Beehive podium of truth preacher, who frequently shared it with Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield, is adamant the Commission was designed to be neutral. Hipkins says that's why it was set up with a robust, independent public health expert from Australia and says Peters is simply courting the conspiracy theorists. Before he got the job Blakely, during the pandemic, provided direct advice to key policymakers and advisors to the Beehive, including Ashley Bloomfield and Professor David Skegg, chair of the Covid 19 Public Health Advisory Group. Blakely also disclosed “close collegial relationships and friendships with many of the key players" in the NZ Covid-19 Policy Response, including Bloomfield and the inimitable Michael Baker. Professor Blakely also played a role in the Government decision making, extending the life of the loathed managed isolation and the quarantine system, including when to end it. He still maintains it wouldn't compromise his impendence though. There are many instances where the Labour Government appeared not to understand what a conflict of interest was. After the current commission, another one will operate with a wider brief, hopefully to include the lotto system forced on Kiwi passport holders wanting to return home, in other words denying them their sacrosanct citizenship. Attacking Peters, Labour through Hipkins, laboriously defends creating a society which for a time resembled a totalitarian state, throwing borders around Auckland for much longer than it was warranted. Claims that New Zealand was a world leader in saving the country from the apocalypse, saving thousands of lives, are spurious if you read analysis of country fatality records carried out by John Hopkins University, among others. In the same year we were all finally relieved of restrictions, at the end of 2022, Peters had been trespassed from Parliament's grounds for two years (lifted when it was seen as stupid) by the Speaker Trevor Mallard, who's now our ambassador to Ireland, and is ironically under Peters' control as Foreign Minister. Pity he doesn't do to Mallard what Mallard did to him, and trespass him from the ambassador's residence in Dublin! Wed, 26 Jun 2024 09:34:58 Z /opinion/barry-soper-loose-lipped-apprentice-pm-fallout-from-luxons-c-listers-clanger/ /opinion/barry-soper-loose-lipped-apprentice-pm-fallout-from-luxons-c-listers-clanger/ The Prime Minister’s trade mission to Japan’s been pretty successful but who would have noticed? Most of the business signed there, like the Rocket Lab agreement to send Japanese satellites into space, is a great yarn. But the trip will be remembered for anything but the business foray to our fourth most important export market. It’ll be remembered for a broken down RNZAF jet in Papua New Guinea, and the rescue of the mission by the Air New Zealand boss, who happened to be on the trip with his chairwoman, by diverting a plane out of Auckland to pick them up in Brisbane. It’ll also be remembered by the airline’s passengers on what they thought was a direct flight to Tokyo. They didn’t seem to be placated by airline CEO Greg Foran and chair Dame Therese Walsh genuflecting up and down the aisle, serving coffee, saying they were sorry. And the trip will also be remembered for Christopher Luxon’s comment that trade missions under Labour were made up of “C-listers”, while his sometime passengers on this mission were the creme-de-la-creme of the country’s boardrooms. What Luxon said was true, the few trade missions Labour did while in office were usually short on numbers, which likely had a lot to do with the then Government’s ability to connect, let alone travel, with the business community. There were many times, having been on most trade missions over the years, that you had to look askance as to why some of these people were on board. The answer was obvious, it was an opportunity to have the ear of the country’s top politician, although some Prime Ministers were more willing to engage on board with them than others. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon meets with Japanese buyers and New Zealand producers at a Costco supermarket in Tokyo. The issue here is, should Luxon have said what he did about earlier missions? The answer is emphatically no, to do so is to insult the many legitimate businesses who have travelled. Luxon came across as a loose-lipped apprentice Prime Minister which he effectively is. He now says he could have expressed it in a better way which is something of an understatement. Luxon says he puts an enormous effort into making sure he’s got the business and media delegation right on these trips. Even though the media have never been turned down to be part of a delegation, at times you would have to wonder. A good part of his penultimate press conference in Japan was taken up with a complaint from a reporter about the media not being allowed to ask questions of the Chinese Premier when he was here last week. Ask away I say, regardless of officialdom’s dictates. But that in itself can have problems. Joe Biden visited here in 2016 as Barack Obama’s 2IC. No questions were allowed, but before the press conference ended I fired one off. The then Vice President left the podium, came down, cupped his ear to me, and politely said: “I didn’t quite catch that.” My microphone was still on the podium. Oh, and a politician has refused my participation on a trip, a visit to North Korea by our Foreign Minister of the day in a Labour Government, Winston Peters. And on the Prime Minister having a reliable plane to travel to our export markets, there’s a very old saying, you have to spend money to make money. The bloke who first said it though, Titus Plautus, was a failed businessman. Wed, 19 Jun 2024 08:43:54 Z /opinion/barry-soper-farmers-have-been-feeling-the-pinch-for-too-long/ /opinion/barry-soper-farmers-have-been-feeling-the-pinch-for-too-long/ The Agricultural Fieldays in Hamilton was expected to be a pretty low key affair when it came to selling stuff to farmers. Like the rest of the business sector, farmers are feeling the pinch. They are feeling punch drunk after three years of an unbridled Labour/Greens Government. But over the past two days the music has come back into their ears, even if it's still pretty low volume. The news yesterday from the Beehive that they won't be paying the ETS tax from next year will come as a great relief, although a number of cockies admit they haven't got their heads around it yet. Those who have, firmly believe that marginal farms that have been in families for several generations would have gone to the wall. They argue - why does New Zealand need to be the first in the world to set a price for taxing farmers on their emissions? And farmers in this country are some of the most carbon efficient food producers in the world. Why bite the hand that feeds us, feeding more than this country but leading our exports by a country mile? Then the Fielday music turned up a bit with the announcement yesterday by the Finance Minister that a couple of select committees will come together to look at one of the major costs facing the rural community in particular, imposts from the banking sector. Parliament's finance and expenditure select committee will work with the primary production committee to see why farmers are paying much higher interest rates than the rest of us. And hopefully why we are paying higher interest rates than the Aussies where our four leading banks are domiciled. Figures out for bank net profits here last year was a paltry $7.21 billion, and we were meant to shed a tear because we were told the banking sector result appears to have plateaued, up only 0.28 percent from the year before. Cry me a river, because the small increase, we are told, comes on the back of an almost 17 percent net interest income for the year of almost $15.34 billion. So it's those of us with mortgages and business loans feeding the furnace. Talking around the farming traps, it's clear the hands that feed us are coping it the most. They call banks predatory, preferring urban portfolios well above rural. Farmers generally borrow to invest in their properties, it's called productivity. And yet whilst they toil seven days a week to keep their heads above water, they are being caned. Those talked to say their bankers are always telling them they've got their backs. But the farmers say that's where their target is, and with good reason. They are encouraged to increase their overdrafts rather than securing a new loan, say, for a piece of machinery. The overdraft rate is around 12 to 14 percent! Even a farm loan of 9 to 10 percent outstrips what we would be expected to pay for a house mortgage in town. Farmers, whether you like them or not, are the backbone of this export hungry country and they should be treated as treasures not as tyrants. As one farmer said: "We love what we do, we love the country, get out of our way and let us get on with it." And thankfully that, it seems, is what the current crop of politicians are finally doing. Wed, 12 Jun 2024 17:00:40 Z /opinion/zb-plus-guest-opinions/winston-peters-the-state-of-new-zealands-media/ /opinion/zb-plus-guest-opinions/winston-peters-the-state-of-new-zealands-media/ The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".  He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy.  New Zealand First has always held the view that the "fourth estate" is essential to any successful functioning democracy.    But it’s not just the existence of the fourth estate that is essential.  It is the matter of a fourth estate that is impartial, politically neutral, fair and objective.  These are the qualities and attributes that the public expect of an effective media in any free society – but they are lacking in much of the media landscape today.  The revelation that 九一星空无限hub is set to close is obviously devastating not only for those who will lose their jobs, but it is also seriously concerning for the robustness of our media scene.  However sad this situation is, it has not come as a surprise to many.  The reasons for 九一星空无限hub’s closure are obviously many and varied, including increased online and streaming options, but the media has been on this downward trajectory for a long time.  One of those reasons is the increased lack of trust in New Zealand’s media, which has seen much of the public actively avoid engaging with them.  But this dire situation they have found themselves in has not arrived overnight.  My concerns with the state of our media are long held and well documented.  Five years ago, I warned that "Our fourth estate is collapsing" … that the industry was in "dire straits" with advertising revenue falling, local newspapers being closed and reporter numbers falling … our reporters are underpaid and overloaded with the current state creating a focus on "breaking news, not thinking news".  In 2002, I warned that the media were on a precarious footing where they have moved away from expected principles of a fourth estate - "it is as though the views, opinions and musings of those who have never run for public office are somehow able to divine the public’s mood.  There is a risk of the mainstream media becoming a sort of informal club, a coterie, a fraternity whose members find that their political agendas coincide." The impartiality of media should be the foundation of reporting, but in the main, it has morphed over the past few years to rely on opinion, narrative, agendas and click bait.  This is one more significant reason why the majority of mainstream media are no longer trusted by the majority of New Zealanders.  Over the past four years the sign-up of media outlets to receive $55 million of public funding through the Public Interest Journalism Fund has cemented that mistrust from the public for obvious reasons – most of which, it seems, is lost on the very media outlets that received those funds.    It is a plain fact that for media organisations to be eligible for funding they had to sign up to certain criteria and conditions – including forcing certain narratives of the Labour government at the time.  Jacinda Ardern said when addressing the issue of alternative or dissenting views about Covid-19 – "We had to act so we made it a priority to establish a Public Interest Journalism Fund to help our media continue to produce stories that keep New Zealanders informed" i.e. funding media to promote a government narrative – the "single source of truth".  One of those conditions is based on a purely political view that is not supported by many New Zealanders or many political parties.  It states that the media organisation must “actively promote the principles of partnership, participation and active protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi acknowledging Māori as a Te Tiriti partner”. And have a “commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to Māori as a Te Tiriti partner”.   If they didn’t sign up to this condition, they wouldn’t get the money.  How can a politically neutral and independent media organisation give... Thu, 29 Feb 2024 16:00:34 Z /opinion/jason-walls-surprised-the-leaders-debate-was-a-snoozefest-you-haven-t-been-paying-attention/ /opinion/jason-walls-surprised-the-leaders-debate-was-a-snoozefest-you-haven-t-been-paying-attention/ The first televised leader’s debate of the 2023 election campaign proved that blue paint dries slightly faster than red paint.   Political editors and commentators broadly agreed that Chris Luxon was the winner, in what was probably the most lacklustre debate in more than a decade.   There was no instantly iconic “show me the money,” or “this stardust won't settle” line from either of the Chrises – and certainly no “my husband is from Samoan, so Talofa”.   Instead, viewers got a barrage of reheated lines both leaders had already trotted out time and time again on the campaign trail.   But anyone who was surprised that the debate was a fizzer has clearly not been paying attention to the campaign so far.   The first three weeks have been remarkably low energy, compared to previous campaign periods.   In fairness, the bar is quite high. In 2020, Covid-19 once again reared its ugly head – derailing the campaign before it had really begun and forcing a new election date.   In 2017, Jacinda Ardern bust onto the scene and transformed what was going to be a landslide victory for National into a nail-biter. This year, we have two men called Chris who both bought houses before their 25th birthdays: It’s not exactly a made-for-Hollywood tale of David vs Goliath.   Behind the scenes of the political machines, focus groups results are showing the policies and promises are just not registering like they have in previous campaigns. That much is clear on the road with both political leaders. Jacinda Ardern’s mall walkabouts drew a crowd of hundreds. Chris Hipkins’ was only able to fill out half a hall full of supporters at a union rally last weekend.   People just don’t care as much this time around, and who could blame them. When it’s going to cost $3.50 a liter to fill up your car by Christmas and you're looking to refix your mortgage at 8 percent, a polite squabble over which parts of Wellington’s boated public service will be cut will not move the dial for many.   And it’s unlikely to get much more exciting from here.   Both Labour and National have fired their major policy shots – GST off fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables and tax cuts respectively.   The latter was barely even mentioned in Tuesday’s debate. But both leaders did provide somewhat of a snapshot of how the remaining three and a bit week of the campaign will play out, during the first debate.   Hipkins – with his back against the wall after last night's 1 percentage point slide to 27 percent – will stay in attack mode. His daily press stand-ups are less about why voters should re-elect Labour, and more about why they shouldn’t elect National.   Speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s debate, Hipkins said it had been 20 days since National released its tax cut plans, but refused to release its costings.   The day before, he opened with the same line... the day before, the same line again.   The tactic is reasonably straight forward: Muddy the waters. With an apathetic public, Hipkins is desperately trying to seed the idea that “National want tax cuts, but their math is a bit dodgy”. Luxon, meanwhile, has a different plan: Endure.   He’s spent weeks batting away questions about his party’s tax plan, continuing to refuse to publicly release the costings.   Despite the seemingly endless coverage about his lack of transparency, National’s vote remains well ahead of Labour's. Luxon’s riding out the criticism until people get bored – hoping that at the end of the day, their one takeaway from the wider tax cut debate is: “I'll have more money to pay for out-of-control food and petrol prices with National”. Last night’s poll shows National’s plan seems to be working. It’s extremely hard to see Labour pulling itself out of this polling hole. It’s understood that many Labour MPs have already seen the writing on the wall, and are preparing for the bitter transition back to Opposition.   Meanwhile- while voters white-knuckled it through Chris vs Chris on Tuesday – tonight’s Wins... Thu, 21 Sep 2023 05:21:44 Z /opinion/barry-soper-david-seymour-got-too-big-for-his-boots-this-week/ /opinion/barry-soper-david-seymour-got-too-big-for-his-boots-this-week/ The past week has been dominated by opinion polls, and they've certainly been on the minds of the leaders as they travel throughout the country. Act will be mindful of the fact that it's toppled from a high of 18 per cent in one poll to the TVNZ poll the other night, at just 10 per cent. What's led to this drop in the opinion of the Act leader, David Seymour, in particular? In my view, he's become a little too cocky, a bit too big for his boots. What he's saying now is, and has indicated pretty strongly, that if there is a coalition between National and Act, what may happen is that he will give them support on confidence, but not on supply. That would mean basically an ungovernable government. It's ridiculous, really. David Seymour has backed away a bit and saying he wants a full coalition with the National Party. But just consider it if there was no support on supply it would mean that National would have to go cap in hand to Act on every piece of legislation. Now it's different when they're sitting around the Cabinet table because there's collective Cabinet responsibility. That means that any decision that's signed off has the full support of Cabinet. But in the absence of Act, that'll certainly complicate matters. I don't think it'll come to that. I think David Seymour has made that pretty clear in subsequent statements he's made. But I think he overplayed his hand and that's why people are looking a bit askance at him and maybe looking towards New Zealand First and Winston Peters. The polls now are tracking at around 5 percent and for Winston Peters, a month out from the election, a 5 per cent rating is pretty good because it means on election day he'll probably be quite a bit above the 5 per cent threshold. The bitching between David Seymour and Winston Peters, though, continues with Seymour saying that he wouldn't sit around a Cabinet table with Peters. Thu, 14 Sep 2023 05:07:49 Z /opinion/barry-soper-as-the-week-has-progressed-so-have-the-porkies-from-labour/ /opinion/barry-soper-as-the-week-has-progressed-so-have-the-porkies-from-labour/ They've been out on the hustings for a week now and there are a couple of things that have stuck in my craw. As the week's progressed so have the porkies, coming from the self-proclaimed most kind, transparent Government we have ever experienced. Labour cares about wellbeing and it's become apparent that applies only to themselves in their desperation to retain the baubles of office. It seems they're willing to say anything that will keep the centre-right wolves from their door, like Willie Jackson screaming in a debate about that National's planning to get rid of the minimum wage, which was clearly wrong and dismissed by his political betters, and most of them are, as Willie being Willie.       And then we had Andrew Little, the leader who handed the reigns over to Jacinda Ardern, telling anyone who was silly enough to listen, that National and Act were going to sack all the teachers and close the schools - preposterous. If that wasn't bad enough, we had Labour's Shanan Halbert telling his Facebook followers that National planned to reduce sick days to five a year which was again was simply untrue. Is there any wonder then why Labour's now languishing in the psychological opinion poll vortex? And the media have reason to be reflecting on the high dungeon expressed in some quarters about the email correspondence between National's health spokesman Shane Reti and the Vice-Chancellor of Waikato University Neil Quigley over a third medical school. We were told Quigley went to considerable lengths to help National develop their policy to establish the school. He even made the observation to Reti that the new school, scheduled to take its first students in 2027, could be a present for National to begin its second term in Government. Now that was seen by some quarters in the media as some sort of clandestine, sinister cuddle-up between professors and power.     What it was in fact was the chief executive of an academic institution, rightly lobbying a politician to extend the university's offering. And why not? National had been in talks with Waikato University a year before Ardern limped to power only to see the idea canned by her government the year after she had settled into the Prime Minister's chair. With the idea being resurrected, why wouldn't the University boss embrace it?   There were suggestions our universities should be politically impartial which defies any sort of logic. All of them have political studies professors who are always expressing their views, without fear nor favour, and no one has a problem with that. Fri, 08 Sep 2023 05:58:27 Z /opinion/barry-soper-can-labour-turn-its-polling-slide-around/ /opinion/barry-soper-can-labour-turn-its-polling-slide-around/ This has been touted as one of the most important elections in recent history, and it's hard to argue against that.   We have Labour – who have had two terms in office, which isn’t a long time in politics. The last government that was voted out after six years was ironically David Lange’s Labour government.   This iteration is going to find it very difficult to survive, given the opinion polls.   They're now down in the 20s and that's a psychological kick in the arse, if you'd like to say, for the Labour Party.   Nevertheless, I think both parties are confident that they're going to win, even though the last opinion poll put National 10 percent ahead of the Labour lot. So it's going to be a fascinating campaign.   Let's hope they can keep it clean and let's hope that we don't have more of those Vision New Zealand nutters out on the campaign trail.  They're annoying, but they get the publicity and that's the problem.   They know if they turn up to annoy a politician, either at a stand up, press conference or certainly, as we saw last weekend, at the Labour Party launch, then they'll get the publicity almost as much as the two major parties.   So, the next four weeks are going to be extraordinarily interesting, and I'll be along for the ride. I hope you will be too.  For more of Barry Soper's Election 2023 analysis, follow Behind the List with Barry Soper on I-Heart Radio.      Thu, 07 Sep 2023 05:39:54 Z /opinion/barry-soper-the-ardernhipkins-government-left-a-lawless-impoverished-struggling-country-longing-for-relief/ /opinion/barry-soper-the-ardernhipkins-government-left-a-lawless-impoverished-struggling-country-longing-for-relief/ Jacinda Ardern was perplexed after quitting the Prime Minister's job in January- she was asked to write a book, which will probably be worth more to her than her five years as leader. She was perplexed as she was unsure of what to write about, after all this woman was on record not long before being anointed to become Prime Minister as saying she would never want to do the job. Pity she never made good on her musings. Someone suggested to her she should write it about leadership and she liked the idea, and that's what we're going to get in the bookstores sometime in the future. It should be compulsory reading for all aspiring MPs, essentially so they can avoid the sort of leadership she'll be writing about. Her five years at the top were a disaster, showing how ill-equipped she was for the job. Okay, there was her outpouring over the ghastly Mosque massacre in Christchurch, even if wearing the hijab was frowned upon by some who felt it degraded women. She said the right words, but then anyone who was leading the country at the time would have expressed similar sentiments. What Ardern has done though is to leave her colleagues this year to clean up the mess she created. The sous chef in her kitchen Cabinet, Chris Hipkins, has done his best to distance himself from her acquiescence to factions, particularly to Maori. Her Cabinet appointments and her arm's length approach to them (think Michael Wood telling her he'd sold his Auckland Airport shares) has left Hipkins to clean up the mess as the true face of her Cabinet appointments are becoming clear. Hipkins did learn something from her though, to capitulate until the inevitable happens with him running out of options and the public running out of patience. Four Ministers have now surrendered their warrants this year after, with the exception of one, being given chance after chance to redeem themselves. The exception is Meka Whaitiri, although Ardern did stand her down for a while after she got pushy-shovey with one of her staff members. In the end, Whaitiri had enough and threw her support behind the Maori Party, to add to the chaos. The on-again off-again leave given by Hipkins in recent weeks to Justice Minister Kiri Allan is another example of the Ardern treatment of transgressors.     This Government has become as messy as the last two term Government, ironically also lead by a populist leader David Lange. He exited in the same way as Ardern, although his reasons were a little more salacious. There are more than twenty new Labour MPs who came in at the last election who will now be filling out job applications. The Ardern/Hipkins Government have failed on so many fronts, despite their unbridled power, the strongest majority since the first Labour Government of Mickey Joseph Savage 1935. At least Savage left a legacy of state housing and free medical care, as did the Lange Government, the economic foundation stone which set the country on the difficult recovery path after the Muldoon misery. This Government has left a lawless, impoverished, struggling country longing for relief. Mon, 24 Jul 2023 06:46:07 Z /opinion/barry-soper-michael-woods-behaviour-went-from-unacceptable-to-plain-dishonest/ /opinion/barry-soper-michael-woods-behaviour-went-from-unacceptable-to-plain-dishonest/ Sacked Labour Cabinet Minister Michael Wood is either so stinking rich that he doesn't know which trust he's stashed his cash in, or he's just plain dishonest. The latter's much more likely when it came to his embarrassing performance over his Auckland Airport shares.    On no fewer than a dozen times, he was asked by the powerful Cabinet office whether he had dispensed with his shareholding. "I'm on to it," he said on each occasion, even when he was asked by the now Grande Dame Jacinda Ardern whether he had got rid of them, because as Transport Minister they would have been a conflict of interest. Why Chris Hipkins didn't sack him then is beyond belief, especially when he said his actions were unacceptable. It seemed then that unacceptable behaviour was acceptable when it comes to sitting at the Cabinet table in this Government. His behaviour went from unacceptable to just plain dishonest. Hipkins says he asked Wood at the time of the airport debacle whether he had anything else to declare. No was the answer, which beggars belief. An inquiry into his stash was to find otherwise and again it beggars belief that Wood could have thought his shareholding in Chorus and Spark would have gone unnoticed. As Immigration Minister he put telecommunications technicians on the green list after representations from Chorus for him to do so. And he's got shares in the National Bank of Australia, parent company of the Bank of New Zealand but shareholder Wood remained silent at the Cabinet table when they were discussing an inquiry into banking, which was announced this week. Given he's now resigned from Cabinet, in the real world sacked, which Hipkins couldn't get his mouth around, Wood will be regretting ever selling his airport shares, which he did in order to save his bacon, or so he naively thought. Well, he's now out of the fry pan and into the fire, burnt to a cinder. Any chance of him making it back into Cabinet in the future is remote, unless of course, they win the upcoming election. A 'conscientious and hard-working minister' he's been described as by his executioner Hipkins, and goodness only knows the talent pool in the Labour caucus is obviously no deeper than a puddle. At 62 MPs, it has the biggest caucus in recent history and yet all of his portfolios have gone to overloaded, senior ministers, meaning none of them will get the attention they deserve. And that says everything about this parlous Government. Wed, 21 Jun 2023 04:44:22 Z /opinion/barry-soper-the-government-intended-to-roll-out-equity-adjustor-scores-before-media-scrutiny/ /opinion/barry-soper-the-government-intended-to-roll-out-equity-adjustor-scores-before-media-scrutiny/ It seems the Government's put on ice plans for a nationwide roll out of the equity adjustor scores being given to Auckland patients on waiting lists for surgery because of the publicity given to them by The Herald and 九一星空无限talk ZB. Since the story broke on Monday, the Prime Minister's spoken to his Health Minister Ayesha Verrall about the lists having one of its weightings devoted to ethnicity, putting Maori and Pacific patients at the top. Chris Hipkins said he doesn't want to replace what he says is one form of discrimination in the clogged-up hospital system with another. The Government's intention was clearly to rollout the adjustor scores nationwide, with Verrall saying so in a written Parliamentary question from National's health spokesman Shane Reti. She said: "I am advised that a wait list prioritisation tool has been developed and is currently being implemented across the Northern Region before a national roll out." In fact, the scores aren't being used in Northland and are at this stage confined to two hospitals, Auckland and Middlemore. It seems Hipkins was left in the dark about it though. On the Mike Hosking 九一星空无限talk ZB breakfast show yesterday he said: "My understanding is there's two DHBs, I think it was Auckland and Northland, certainly from the conversation I've had with the Minister of Health there's no intention to roll this out nationally." To reporters at Parliament who told him of Verrall's reply to Reti's question, Hipkins said he hasn't seen that and they'd have to ask Verrall about it. In Parliament, Reti did just that by asking her who was correct, the Prime Minister saying there would be no roll out or her replying to his written question saying that it was her intention. Verrall said she's been asked by Hipkins to find out whether the scoring system's being used in the way it was intended and there'll be no roll out until she's satisfied that it is. Hipkins, a former Health Minister, told reporters at Parliament: "There is evidence that Maori and Pacific patients, rural people, people from low-income families have been waiting longer in that two year plus waitlist category and that isn't acceptable and the health system should do something about that." However, he said he didn't want to see one form of discrimination replaced by another form of discrimination. But on the equity adjustor score waiting list leaked to 九一星空无限talk ZB, no-one has been waiting for more than two years - the longest wait is for a Middle Eastern patient who's been waiting 644 days for surgery, but won't be seen anytime soon because he has a low score. The two Maori on it, both with the highest score by far, therefore likely to be operated on first, have been waiting 441 and 518 days, a shorter wait than a number of others with lower scores. One of the Maori patients has been waiting for exactly the same time as an Indian, but with a score of 1116 compared to the Indian's 744 will go under the knife much sooner. Former Auckland District Health Board member for eight years, Doug Armstrong, said giving priority on waiting lists was discussed as far back as 2020 and then on and off until it was disbanded last August. Armstrong doesn't like the equity adjustor scores giving priority on ethnic grounds. He would expect clinicians to make their decisions based on need and nothing else.  He said there could be the odd exception, like if an elderly pakeha man was due for the same surgery as a young Maori expected to provide for his four children, then the latter would get priority and vice versa. He said circumstance should be a priority and not race. Armstrong said the ethnic rule doesn't send the right message and has no place in this country. Tue, 20 Jun 2023 05:45:44 Z /opinion/barry-soper-michael-woods-airport-shares-raise-questions-about-other-decisions-hes-made/ /opinion/barry-soper-michael-woods-airport-shares-raise-questions-about-other-decisions-hes-made/ On the face of it $13,000 worth of shares wouldn't be seen by many as a windfall, certainly nothing to lose your job over. That's the value in Auckland Airport shares owned by the man known as the Little General around Parliament, mainly because he's always so cock sure of himself. But and it's a big BUT, Michael Wood is the Transport Minister, or was up until a couple of days ago, and the Prime Minister says he will be again once he sells down his shares to avoid any conflict of interest. Wood was asked by the all powerful Cabinet office a dozen times over the past two years or so to get rid of the shares. The requests came from November 19, 2020 with the latest one coming on March 27, 2023. On each occasion he said he was about to divest himself of the shares. Most of us would simply be able to do this by picking up the phone. That seems beyond Wood's capability, and if he didn't he doesn't seem to remember it. An embarrassed Chris Hipkins says it's unacceptable for the minister to hold on to the shares for so long and after so many requests to rid himself of them. But it seems unacceptability is acceptable in this Government's books. It also seems, at least at the moment for the Minister in his transport role, to turn down a case by a North Shore airport to get a more formal status. Of course it would work in competition to the super city's airport and for a share holding minister to turn down an application by competitors is what is really unacceptable. Now it would be too far fetched to suggest that Wood, holding such a small share ownership in the airport would make the decision to preserve the value of his shares. But it's the perception that doesn't pass the sniff test and given he had so many opportunities to shed the shares makes it worse. It raises questions about all the other decisions he's made and then gone back on at great cost to the taxpayer, and the $50 million wasted on the Baby Boomers Bile Bridge to Birkinhead is the most obvious. There should be no coming back for Wood, he's transgressed in one of the worse ways a minister can. It's incredible to think that he follows a line of ministers who've crossed the line since Hipkins took over from Jacinda Ardern. Stuart Nash is still under investigation, there's Jan Tinetti who faces the privileges committee on Thursday for either being dumb, or obstinate or arrogant by not correcting a statement she made to Parliament when she had plenty of opportunity to do so. And there's Kiri Allan who's faced a number of transgressions. All but Nash appear to have been forgiven, simply it seems, because they've shown some sort of contrition. Ministers in other Governments over the years have been given the boot for less. But it seems Hipkins, the sous chef in Ardern's kitchen Cabinet, is as weak as her when it comes to Cabinet discipline. It's even worse when there should be a raft of MPs to call on to step up, given Labour has the biggest caucus in memory. The fact that there isn't speaks volumes about the unbridled power of this Government. Wed, 07 Jun 2023 03:11:45 Z /opinion/barry-soper-no-one-wants-to-see-a-repeat-of-the-dawn-raids-50-years-on/ /opinion/barry-soper-no-one-wants-to-see-a-repeat-of-the-dawn-raids-50-years-on/ If someone overstays their visa then the authorities have a right to talk to the offenders to at least establish why.  Every country in the world does it but it's the way it's done that's the issue. No-one in this country wants to see a repeat of what went on in this country 50 years ago, cops bashing down doors and dragging the offenders away from their screaming children. It was a dark chapter in this country's history and it's one the Ardern Government profusely apologised to the Pacific community for, with Ardern pictured sorrowfully embracing the descendants of those who were invaded and denouncing it. Ardern's father Ross, as a young police officer, was ordered to take part in the Government ordered crackdown and she said at the time of the apology that he was uncomfortable with the raids and felt it wasn't part of a cop's job. Well, despite the "sorrow, remorse and regret" Ardern expressed at the mea culpa ceremony, incredibly they're at it again. Community Law South Auckland lawyer Soane Foliaki revealed to Tagata Pasifika that police showed up at 5am at the home of one of his clients, scaring his children and taking him into custody. The cops were banging on the back and front doors, the parents were upstairs with their youngest child while the other four children were left cowering downstairs. The distressed children's father was taken away. And this raid wasn't a one off.  Immigration New Zealand has confirmed about 18 or 19 raids have occurred between July last year and April this year, occurring "outside of hours" which doesn't take.an immigration consultant to figure out what that means. It seems the highly embarrassed Government's been blindsided on this one, at least that's what they're claiming, and the fact the raids have continued, despite assurances given at the apology.     If Immigration didn't consult the Government then bureaucratic heads should roll. The sounds of dogs barking, people beating on doors and crying children played at the emotional apology ceremony should still be ringing in the Government's ears with Ardern saying at the time the Pacific community continue to "suffer and carry the scars.". There are surely more humanitarian ways of dealing with people who overstay their visas, like nabbing them after they leave their property for work. The mighty Minister who seems to be in charge of everything that goes wrong, Michael Wood, is now considering an amnesty for the 14,000 overstayers in this country. Ardern essentially said the same thing almost two years ago! Tue, 02 May 2023 06:41:43 Z /opinion/jason-walls-sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word-for-this-government/ /opinion/jason-walls-sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word-for-this-government/ If ever there was a time for an apology from this Government, it would be for the bureaucratic blunder that forced Northland into lockdown last year.  Documents, obtained under the official information act, reveal clear evidence of a departmental screw-up that forced Northlanders to stay at home for 11-days in October last year.  At that time, then-Covid Minister Chris Hipkins told the country that two women had provided fake information to obtain travel documents to get into the region.   But, as it turns out, there was no fraud – just a mistake.   In an October 5th email, a Government official said they had had another look at the woman in question’s application and concluded: “it should have been declined (approved in error) - I will reopen the case and revoke it”.  The email signed off: “Sorry, my mistake”.  That official was the first, and last, representative from Government to utter that five-letter word in regards to this saga.  Three days after that email, Hipkins claimed the women had traveled from Auckland to Northland by providing “false information in order to get the document to travel across the border”.  It’s not clear what happened behind the scenes and why this information wasn’t passed on to Hipkins.  But after the comments were made, there was understandable outrage at the women.   The entire country had been sold a tale of a Thelma and Louise-esque escapade which resulted in close to 200,000 people being locked in their homes for 11 days.   And since then, the entire country was under the impression Northland was locked down because of fraud.    When responding to the official’s email about the error, Hipkins said it was a “clerical error” made by an official at the Ministry of Social Development, at the time.    So why is most of the country only learning about this now? According to Hipkins: “It was a matter of record that a clerical error was admitted at the time”.     He told a reporter – who had asked if the women he accused of falsifying documents deserved an apology – that he “didn’t want to get into the ins and outs” of what happened.   “All of this was a matter of public record at the time,” Hipkins said.  But the only reference to the lockdown being caused by a “clerical error” appears to be midway through an interview Hipkins did with RNZ on October 13 – five days into the 11-day lockdown.  “There was a degree of error in the approval in the first place, and that was corrected, but obviously it was corrected after they had already travelled across the border,” he said in the interview.   That’s not a clear admission and it’s hardly the same platform he used to make the initial accusations.   New Zealanders were on tenterhooks for much of 2021 – at any moment news could break that any given city was going into lockdown.   It’s fair to say Hipkins had the whole country’s attention that night – as it braced for the inevitable bad news.  Mentioning a “degree of error” in one media interview is a world away from using the Beehive podium to tell hundreds of thousands of people that Northland was locked down because travel documents were obtained via fraud.  One of the women at the centre of the bureaucratic blunder says Hipkins needs to say sorry.  “They owe the country an apology and an explanation as to why this whole ordeal was not transparent, and full of misinformation that not only affected us and our families - but the people of this country as well.”  It’s hard to disagree.  Wed, 07 Sep 2022 06:18:00 Z /opinion/opinion-labour-mp-dr-gaurav-sharma-blows-whistle-on-parliament-bullying-takes-aim-at-officials-party-whips/ /opinion/opinion-labour-mp-dr-gaurav-sharma-blows-whistle-on-parliament-bullying-takes-aim-at-officials-party-whips/ OPINION Much has been said this week about bullying and the abysmal culture of our political parties who, in my opinion, continue to betray the trust of our voters. Over the last few years and under the outgoing Speaker Trevor Mallard there have been a lot of press releases to indicate that the broader work culture in the halls of Parliament is being changed for the better. While this does sound like the right thing to do, it is - in my experience - a PR exercise to placate some of the backlash from the public in recent years. If there was any serious intent or effort to make a genuine change in Parliamentary culture, the current Speaker and the powers to be would have included Member-to-Member bullying in its terms of reference, if not initially then at least in response to the Francis Report which flagged this as a serious issue after interviewing MPs who spend upwards of 30-35 hours on the Parliamentary precinct over the three or more days we are based in Parliament on sitting weeks. What makes this worse is the unusual legal relationship where the MPs are not employed directly by the party or Parliamentary Service, but by their own constituents who would be appalled if they saw even half of what their elected representatives have to bear in terms of harassment from inside the Parliament without anyone specific taking legal or moral responsibility for addressing these concerns. For those who need an example, Louisa Wall talked in her valedictory speech about how she was bullied by a senior Labour Party MP early in her career and despite being one of our most outspoken MPs she found out that she had no agency in the halls of Parliament when it came to her own wellbeing. If any of my more recent colleagues could speak freely, I am sure the list of similar stories with no support for MPs being bullied and no consequences for MPs bullying their colleagues would easily fill a book or two. Labour MP Gaurav Sharma. Photo / Supplied Crucial to addressing the bullying issue in Parliament is the role of the Parliamentary Service - which is supposed to be an independent and neutral organisation to provide support to MPs. Their own mandate states that "due to the nature of the organisation, Parliamentary Service staff must uphold the highest standards of integrity and trust. We take pride in the fact that we assist members of Parliament to carry out their roles. As well as displaying high levels of integrity, the Service looks for people with political acumen, exceptional customer service skills and an ability to work collaboratively". In my opinion, if only this was true. The above Member-to-Member and Party-to-Member bullying rampant in Parliament is - I believe - promoted and facilitated by this very organisation by working behind the scenes with the Whips Office, the Offices of the Leaders of various Parties, along with the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister's Office. The Parliamentary Service's lack of accountability to both the MP and their constituents and the meddling of political parties in a triangular relationship where they end up being the fourth wheel is cause for much concern, in my view. With the way the current Parliamentary Service is run, you can go weeks and months before getting a reply to urgent issues and when they do have an answer it is seldom in writing and often from behind the desk of the party whips who - in my opinion, and based on what I have seen in my time in Parliament - use the Parliamentary Service to bully and harass their MPs "to keep them in line". The Parliamentary Service, established in 1985, is headed by a chief executive in a supposedly non-political role, accountable to the Speaker for the running of the Service. In order for our democracy to be strong, it is important that the Parliamentary Service is led by people not interested in their own long-term careers but by public servants interested in upholding one of the most crucial offices in the country.... Thu, 11 Aug 2022 04:06:30 Z /opinion/politics-professor-counters-willie-jacksons-one-person-one-vote-argument/ /opinion/politics-professor-counters-willie-jacksons-one-person-one-vote-argument/ OPINION: Willie Jackson argues that 'one person one vote' is just one value within democratic principles, not the only one. But everyone having a vote or votes of equal weight to elect those who represent them is not just one value, it is a foundational principle. As such, it is recognised in the Bill of Rights Act 1990. Of course, in local government, where there is only one vote, we talk of one vote/one value. Under MMP we can talk of two votes of equal value. It is the same principle. Examples from other countries simply illustrate that the principles of democracy are rarely applied as fully as they could or should be. Analysed in depth, democracy is a matter of degree. Countries can be more democratic, or less, or not at all. Of course, no one votes for the British House of Lords; it has quite limited powers, and many people would like to see it abolished. The US electoral college and Senate are elected by one person-one vote within each American state. But because there is such variation in populations between states and US elections are held under the first-past-the post system, the outcome at the federal level is often undemocratic. Because the results of US federal elections have become increasingly perverse of late, American democracy has entered the 'flawed' category in many people's estimates, including that of the influential weekly magazine The Economist. It is hard to believe that Willie Jackson was indifferent to the election of Donald Trump as US President on a minority of the popular vote, and would really want to argue that the US is no less of a democracy as a result. The rights of non-residential property owners to vote in local elections in New Zealand are a tricky topic. Only one vote per property is allowed. Within any local government area, all votes remain of equal value. But if a person owns multiple properties across local Councils, they can cast more than one vote, but for different Councils. The same practice is possible if a person holds citizenship of more than one country, and can often have rights to vote in each. Few people object to this. A non-residential vote in local government is justified on the grounds that local government is funded on rates, a property tax, and so the principle here is 'no taxation without representation'. Voting in general elections used to be based on property qualifications, until the principle of voting equality for everyone became established. One can observe that non-residential voting rights are a throwback to that pre-democratic period, and go on to argue for their abolition of non-residential voting on those grounds. Willie Jackson acknowledges that Aotearoa has changed from a majoritarian democracy to 'a more moderate, consensual and participatory democracy'. On most estimates of the quality of democracy, our country rates high. 'Co-governance' has become part of that process. Co-governance is also something that is neither either/or: we can have more or less of it. Some aspects of co-governance conflict with votes being of equal value, with implications for the quality of our democracy. We do not know how far the government intends to take us in that direction, nor the specifics of their thinking. What we have seen so far smacks of ad hoc and reactive constitutional tinkering, rather the application of consistent principles. Perhaps after Willie Jackson presents his paper to Cabinet responding to He Puapua, we will find out more. Jack Vowles, Professor of Comparative PoliticsVictoria University of Wellington Wed, 10 Aug 2022 03:11:35 Z /opinion/sir-ian-taylor-governments-we-know-best-approach-strikes-again/ /opinion/sir-ian-taylor-governments-we-know-best-approach-strikes-again/ OPINION:  Sorry!  It's such a small word, but it appears that the Government has banned it from all the spin-doctoring that has now become the standard response to the ever-increasing array of information that is finally emerging from behind the locked doors of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) via the Official Information Act.  The latest examples include the emails they desperately tried to block that showed that, back in November last year, the Ministry of Health (MOH) advised the Government that it was time to start winding down managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).  This was a revelation to me and the team at the Cross Sector Border Group because, at the exact same time that the MOH was advising the Government that MIQ was well and truly past its use by date, we had presented the results of our privately funded 151 Off the Bench trial that showed how, by using a number of Kiwi technologies that up until then had been ignored by the Government, we could start bringing our stranded Kiwis home by Christmas.  As part of the trial, we had commissioned an independent report from Ernst & Young.  Their finding was that:  - The trial we conducted exceeded all of the health and safety protocols that had been set by Government, and;- The process we had trialled was immediately repeatable and scalable. The DPMC were aware of this report, but they never put the Cross Sector Border Group together with the MOH to start working out how we could help them start the process of bringing people home safely as they wound down the requirement for MIQ.  Quite clearly there was work that needed to be done to bring the process into play, but we had designed a system built on science and technology and deployed it in the real world — not the simulated world that the Government used to scare us with facts like 40,000 people dying if we didn't keep everyone locked away.  It is telling that this Government, one that had built its spin on a "be kind" message at every available opportunity, could not find it in its conscience to say sorry to the thousands of Kiwi citizens and essential worker immigrant families who had become victims of a lottery system described by our High Court as inhumane — and unnecessary.  Sorry!  Such a small word with such an important message. We made a mistake; we won't do it again.  Which leads me to the spin around the announcement that they are about to trial a "new test" called Lucira.  A Lucira Check It Covid test, a trial of which was announced by the Government on Sunday. Photo / Alex Burton  The spin includes a huge amount of self-praise and back slapping, thanking all and sundry for the great work they have done in pulling the trial together.  Here are some facts to help put this in context.  On June 10, 2020, this email was sent to the Government's Covid Response Team.  Good morning, As a Silicon-Valley-based American who has had a home in Wanaka for 20 years (and plenty of Kiwi friends), I'm keen to try to help New Zealand. My company (www.lucirahealth.com) is bringing a handheld, fully disposable molecular test for Covid to market a little later this year. I wondered if this might be interesting to use in New Zealand, particularly as a way to screen arriving passengers at AKL. The test uses a simple nasal swab, and takes 30-minutes to run. It provides a hospital-quality result.The Instructions for use are attached for your reference. It's a very easy test to run. Best regards. This was the reply that was received, on the same day. It appears the one thing that the Government isn't slow at, is turning down offers of help. Kia ora, I thank you for offer of assistance to the New Zealand Covid-19 response. We are currently examining a large number of testing methods and protocols to determine their reliability and appropriateness. We are not seeking further tests or testing methods at this time. However, we have retained your information. If your offer meets a need in the coming we... Tue, 03 May 2022 06:19:16 Z /opinion/jason-walls-mallard-s-revenge-is-banning-winston-from-parliament-a-step-too-far/ /opinion/jason-walls-mallard-s-revenge-is-banning-winston-from-parliament-a-step-too-far/ Speaker of the House bans former Deputy Prime Minister from Parliament is one hell of a headline. But that looks to be the current state of play in the Capital. After attending the anti-mandate protests for the better part of an afternoon two months ago, Winston Peters has been issued a trespass notice from Parliament. That means he can’t come onto the grounds, or inside the hallowed halls, for at least two years. If he does, he faces a fine or even jail time. It’s a significant move from Parliament’s security team – and by extension the man in charge, Trevor Mallard.   Mallard won’t respond to 九一星空无限talk ZB’s request for comment – but told 九一星空无限room Parliamentary Security made the call independently.   Be that as it may, Mallard’s in charge of the Parliamentary precinct and Peters puts the blame squarely in the Speaker’s lap. “This dictatorial behaviour by Mallard, supported by Labour, should be reserved for third world banana republics,” Peters said. He’s now seeking legal advice. Former National MP Matt King – who’s been disowned by Chris Luxon – has also been issued a trespassing notice. And there’s presumably a laundry list of people who took part in the protests who’ve also made the list. Whether any media are on that list remains to be seen. The issue with King is he’s seeking election in 2023. His independent party never stood a real chance of being elected; the 5 percent threshold on getting into Parliament is simply too high for new parties to stand a chance. But Winston Peters is another story. As the old political adage goes: Never count Winston out. He defied the odds in 2011 and brought his New Zealand First party back into the halls of power after languishing in the political cold for three years. New Zealand First winning 5 percent at the 2023 election was never a prospect that was out of the question. A more pressing issue is the Tauranga by-election. Peters hasn’t revealed if he will run in the seat vacated by Simon Bridges – before today it was more likely than not he would have a crack. Would he have won? Probably not. Tauranga is National country – even the Prime Minister’s not bothering to pretend Labour has a shot. Even with Winston’s extensive history in the electorate, winning the by-election was also a tough ask. But now that’s beside the point. It appears Mallard has essentially taken the option of voting for Peters away from the people of Tauranga. You can’t be much of an MP if you can’t come to Parliament. Winston has every right to be calling his lawyers and will be gunning for Mallard. Game on. Tue, 03 May 2022 02:05:06 Z /opinion/barry-soper-pm-needs-to-learn-how-to-deal-with-talent-and-trouble/ /opinion/barry-soper-pm-needs-to-learn-how-to-deal-with-talent-and-trouble/ Jacinda Ardern's unknowingly become an expert at doing the dance of the unveiled - the seven have long since been shed even though she clearly believes she hasn't missed a step and they're still in place covering her embarrassment.  So, did she directly tell Louisa Wall, one of her most talented MPs, that she wouldn't have a place at her Cabinet table?    Wall makes no bones about it:  "The Prime Minister told me I would never be in her Cabinet.   It wasn't just that she didn't want me in her Cabinet, she was obviously very clear she didn't want me in her caucus."  Getting a direct answer from Ardern though and the music starts playing and the dance begins.  "The fact that she was in our caucus, she had a strong list position, she now has a role where I think she'll be using her strengths, which speaks to the fact that as a caucus, and as a Labour party, we've seen her strengths, we've acknowledged her strengths," the PM opined  Ardern says she didn't want to get into dissecting the statement Wall made because it detracts from all the good work she has done.    Wall now goes into a role, Ardern tells us, where she'll be able to serve New Zealand incredibly well.  Now to dissect that waffle is pretty easy.  Wall had a strong list position alright, not because Labour loved her, quite the opposite.   It had brokered a deal with her over her sacking from the Manurewa seat before the last election; back off, stop complaining, drop the legal challenge and accept it.   In return you'll get to stay on in Parliament until we find a job for you, she was told  The role found for her was created for her through Foreign Affairs, Pacific Gender Equality Ambassador, which will see Wall, by the job description, develop partnerships and programmes 'that support the full and effective participation by women and LGBTQI+, and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life in the Pacific."  Now in this country, few of us would take issue with those objectives, but in the morally ultra conservative Pacific?     And what does it say for our often-espoused diplomatic banter that this country never involves itself in the domestic affairs of other countries?  Still, Labour's got rid of an irritant, but was clearly not expecting that thankless irritant to leave a festering sore.    Wall's laid bare that they're not all on the same team and the captain's not in total control of the good ship lollipop as she would have us believe.  The door's clearly not open to all in the captain's cabin, testified by one Cabinet Minister who sought me out at a social function recently to enlighten me about disharmony in the ranks.  Perhaps Jacinda Ardern should have learnt at the knee of Helen Clark when she was a junior apparatchik in her office of the way to deal with those who get up your nose.  When Clark was derided as being Miss three percent, a delegation comprising the late Michael Cullen, Phil Goff and Annette King went to her office and told her she should step aside.  She of course refused and instead promoted them to her front bench, never to hear a murmur from them again.  Now that's how you deal with talent and potential trouble. Mon, 11 Apr 2022 19:15:31 Z /opinion/barry-soper-why-there-was-no-point-sticking-around-for-ashley-bloomfield/ /opinion/barry-soper-why-there-was-no-point-sticking-around-for-ashley-bloomfield/ Sounding like the politician he's become, the country's best-known public servant Ashley Bloomfield announced he was standing aside to spend more time with the family. But like all announcements of that sort there's much more to it than that. The Prime Minister who at times privately had a fractious relationship with the Covid custodian laid it on with a trowel, saying she had come to know the Director-General probably better than any other public servant, describing him as a true servant of the public. Jacinda Ardern talked of his sense of humour, which he'd need to have, even if she was on occasion the butt of his jokes, more times than she probably realises. His resignation would have come as no surprise to her though, she'd been privately confiding since late last year that he'd be unlikely to serve out his contract which ends midway through next year. And her observation also wouldn't have come as a surprise to any one of those she talked behind cupped hands to. Bloomfield was being done out of a job, if he'd stuck around, he would have ended this year as a diminished general with few to direct - the guts of his job was disappearing.     The Beehive was seeing to that with its drive to do away with the 20 District Health Boards and replace them with Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority. Their new bosses don't have a patch on his academic or practical background experience but they appeal to Ardern and that's important as she reshapes the public service. The new head honchos in health are both middle-aged women, conveniently coming from demographics with the worst health outcomes, up until now. New Zealand-born Samoan Margie Apa, currently about to be made redundant at the Counties Manukau DHB, will take over the big role at Health NZ. And Riana Manuel, a former nurse who worked her way up through Māori healthcare ranks takes over the other body. They'll be living in what will be a Wellington powerhouse apparently, planning to become flatmates in the capital. So essentially Bloomfield, a man who was privately described by those in the know as a control freak, could see the rug was being pulled from beneath him with the remnants he'd be left with resembling little more than a policy shop. He'd even lose control of the Covid calamity which gave him a public profile that no other public servant has ever managed to achieve. For him, there was no point sticking around. At least he'll be better known and more qualified on the job market than the other 19 Health Board CEOs who will also soon be looking for work. Wed, 06 Apr 2022 07:21:43 Z /opinion/barry-soper-the-pms-announcement-that-wasnt-shes-playing-a-cracked-record/ /opinion/barry-soper-the-pms-announcement-that-wasnt-shes-playing-a-cracked-record/ Jacinda Ardern gave every indication during her round of media interviews yesterday, with the exception of 九一星空无限talkzb unfortunately, that we could expect some movement in the red light that's been frozen for the past several months now. The PM waxed about how the peak had been reached in Auckland and Wellington and that the hospital system, that they've had four years to fix, wasn't overwhelmed. It was with a sense of guarded relief that restauranteurs thought people could begin moving around in them rather than being stuck to their seats and that event planners could start planning with crowd sizes increasing from the impossible 200 indoors. You can imagine how disappointed they were then as they tuned in to hear from the Pulpit of Truth that seemed to have reverted back to the Delta days with Ashley Bloomfield standing at Ardern's side putting a dampener on things. The country had done what it was told, in fact it had been doing that for the past two years, 95 percent of people are vaccinated with promises of nirvana from the pulpit for doing so, and they'd kept their distance and washed their hands and worn their masks to slow the spread of Omicron, and they'd achieved it. The wheels were surely going to start moving again with the lights surely about to change to orange - let's get the show on the road..     Instead, the sermon from the pulpit sounded like they were reading from the same script they had preached so many times before. We're not out of the woods yet, we don't want to spoil the gains we've made, it's better to be safe than sorry, our record speaks for itself - of course it does, it's a cracked one. What we got was what Act David Seymour so eloquently observed. An announcement that the announcement wasn't being announced and that another announcement might come later. In fact, another announcement's been scheduled for April 13, a couple of days before Good Friday, when the lollipop man will yet again consider flicking the switch to orange. If their past record is anything to go by, it's unlikely incorporate the long weekend. The irony is that from today vaccine passes are no longer required which means the unvaccinated can now have relative freedom of movement, they are no longer second-class citizens. Most of them have probably had the dreaded lurgy anyway, is Ardern's thinking. But it's as though this Labour Government's wrapped in a red flag. Their politicians don't have to come to Wellington, daily they beam in from their living rooms wherever they are, posing patsy questions to their ministers on the big screen erected in the debating chamber. It means they are kept away from the pesky media who usually gather to ask them questions on their way into their caucus meetings - they haven't been here for many weeks now. And the other downside to that is staff aren't required to come to work either and neither are public servants, they're allowed to work from home, away from their taxpayer funded high-rise offices, meaning business in the Wellington CBD are doing a starve. If it all made sense, we would understand, but it simply doesn't as we wearily limp toward the next full, frank and meaningless announcement. Mon, 04 Apr 2022 19:35:44 Z /opinion/jason-walls-labour-s-worried-about-opposition-donation-spike-for-good-reason/ /opinion/jason-walls-labour-s-worried-about-opposition-donation-spike-for-good-reason/ The Labour Party appears to be worried.   Since coming to power in 2017, Jacinda Ardern and her team haven’t had too much to be worried about when it comes to their opposition.  Ardern’s given various different iterations of “we’re concentrating on the issues that matter to New Zealanders” when asked about Labour’s recent slumping poll numbers.   But it took one of the party’s top backroom players to finally actually drop the ‘W’ word last week.  Not about the polls per se – but on party donations.   Labour's general secretary Rob Salmond said it was “worrying” to see a nearly $2 million influx of donations to National.   “$1.8 million is a huge amount for the Opposition to receive in only a few months.”  He was speaking candidly to the Herald, after news of the massive donation haul came to light.   The money was from a who’s who of UHNWI (ultra-high-net-worth individuals).  New Zealand’s richest man, Graeme Hart, gave $250 grand. As did business high-flyers Murray Bolton and Nick Mowbray.  Former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett led the donation drive and says she plans to keep hustling for more.   Salmond says the scale of the donations shows a “return to normal” as National once again became “competitive”.  And it’s true.   In 2020, National only declared $285,000 worth of donations over $30,000 and that was in an election year. To put that in perspective that number was more than $400,000 in 2011 and $833,000 in 2014 and both years National was in Government.   The fact Bennett was able to raise so much for National while in Opposition outside an election year is a clear indication the party’s once again become competitive.   And it’s not just the Nats bringing in the cash.  With great fanfare, the Act Party announced it had raised $1 million from its high-profile donors.  Graeme Hart was again in the mix, giving away another $100,000. Murray Chandler, one of New Zealand’s richest men also donated $100,000 as did Xero Founder Rod Drury.   Both National and Act have been touting the new money as major wins for their parties.   But Labour’s been fighting back.  In an email to supporters after news of National’s $1.8 million haul,   Rob Salmond was straight on the offensive – drawing a straight line from National’s tax cut policy and the motives of their wealthy donors.  “National's focus on the wealthy is paying off in donations for their war chest, with some of New Zealand's richest people giving them huge amounts.”  Similar comments were made in the House by Labour MPs last week.   And, as National continues to raise more cash and outline further details about its tax cut plans, the comments will no doubt continue.   But for now, one thing is clear: Money talks and it’s saying National’s finally ready to fight back.  Mon, 04 Apr 2022 19:26:49 Z /opinion/barry-soper-labour-is-abusing-its-absolute-power/ /opinion/barry-soper-labour-is-abusing-its-absolute-power/ What's happening to democracy in this country, let alone the promised transparency of this Government?  Labour is abusing its absolute power and it seems those opposing it are powerless to do anything about it because the majority rules.  A couple of weeks ago, National wanted the Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to appear before the Justice Select Committee to answer questions about the three-week occupation of Parliament's grounds by protesters.  The Labour majority of MPs on the committee blocked their request arguing the Independent Police Conduct Authority was the "appropriate place for the review of police operational activities."  The IPCA this week complained they are overloaded with work. Not surprising considering close to two thousand complaints have been lodged against the police by the protesters.  And by any logical reasoning that's not the body that should be inquiring into the protest anyway.      The request by parliamentary security to the police to remove the first tents erected is unlikely to be covered by the IPCA and neither is the actions of Speaker Trevor Mallard who many believe exacerbated the situation by turning sprinklers on the occupiers and blaring the worst music be could find at them.  And in a democracy, why should MPs be denied the right to question a public official without any good reason?  Certainly, the Minister wasn't providing any when I spoke to her on her way into the debating chamber.  These things, she said, are taken on a case-by-case basis and she's decided to decline Mitchell's request.  Williams says police have been extraordinarily busy over the past few weeks.  So, have they told her they are too busy to see Mitchell? Well, no, but as their Minister she just knows how busy they've been.  And besides, she justified banning Mitchell, claiming Stuart Nash, when he was Labour's police spokesperson, was "declined on number occasions" by National from meeting with the Commissioner.  That simply isn't the case, say those in the know. He may have been declined once from visiting the Kaikoura police station during the earthquake there, which is perfectly understandable but he was never stopped from seeing the commissioner.    It seems Labour's become the gatekeeper for the consensus commissioner, personally appointed by Jacinda Ardern against all odds.  And if featherbedding Andrew Coster isn't bad enough, get a load of what they are doing when it comes to questions being asked about its $1.9 billion spend on mental health, which has come under fire from the Government's own Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.  The majority of Labour MPs on the health select committee have blocked National's attempt to ask questions about the commission's first damning report.  National's mental health spokesperson Matt Doocey says it's bizarre. Not long ago they legislated to set up the commission and now they're blocking MPs to ask questions of it.  Labour MPs apparently didn't think there were any questions to be asked given the commission's report had been made public.  That's not for them to decide, Doocey argues, given that National, Act and the Greens all wanted to quiz the experts.  And of course, he's right.    This goes beyond simply controlling the message. Like they say, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Wed, 30 Mar 2022 18:22:45 Z