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August 3, 2013 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 3 August 2013

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General Debate

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wiseowl

Yay!
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August 3, 2013 8:06am
Pete George

The Henry inquiry debacle gets worse and worse – and worse.

Yesterday it was revealed that:
– a senior Parliamentary Service staffer also sent Vance phone data, not just a contractor
– contents of Dunne’s and Vance’s emails were sent to Henry (they claim the couldn’t open them)

And like the phone data, there has been a coverup on the emails – but this time from Key’s office.

But in a further development the chief executive of Mr Key’s own Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) has been dragged into the affair after admitting he had known about the email privacy breach for almost a month, but sat on the information and did not disclose it to Mr Dunne, Vance or even Mr Key.

Mr Key found out about it only yesterday morning.

“I have checked my records and can confirm that I first became aware of this on July 5. In hindsight, and notwithstanding the inquiry never viewed the email files . . . I acknowledge we could have prompted Parliamentary Services to inform you of their error,” Andrew Kibblewhite said in a message to Vance yesterday.

Key must be furious – and he surely has to now take responsibility, along with urgent action.

Henry inquiry e-mail disgrace upon disgraces
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August 3, 2013 8:06am
kowtow

Arab Muslims contribute so much to civilisation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10218869/Syrian-Christian-towns-emptied-by-sectarian-violence.html
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August 3, 2013 8:10am
hj

‘Immigrant stockpile’ claims rubbished
http://www.3news.co.nz/Immigrant-stockpile-claims-rubbished/tabid/423/articleID/307139/Default.aspx#disqus_thread

Check out family reunification applications by country.
http://nzfirst.org.nz/sites/nzfirst/files/people_granted_residency_in_top_8_countries.pdf
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August 3, 2013 8:11am
All_on_Red

“The Henry inquiry debacle gets worse and worse – and worse”

Oh please. No one cares. Especially about Peter Dunne, emails, and self important puffed up “journalists” who think they are paragons of virtue. Particularly someone ex News of the World!
The media are despised and are just proving they deserve to be despised by thinking they deserve special treatment when the fact is they fail to do their jobs impartially and with any semblance of accuracy.
I’d wager that if you went down to the local mall and asked people what they thought about the Henry inquiry, they would reply;” Has Graham Henry done something wrong?”
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August 3, 2013 8:20am
Kea

kowtow, read some history. Syria was the cradle of christianity for centuries and christians were well respected there. It was a secular country. Obama backed Muslim extremists are seeking to change that. Obama has backed the fundamentalist Muslim brotherhood in a number of countries to destabilise and destroy them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E_oOuqsuQs
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August 3, 2013 8:24am
Pete George

“Oh please. No one cares. ”

If no one cares why didn’t you ignore it. Why comment on it?

But you may be in a minority.

How is the prime minister handling the Parliamentary phone records scandal?

Badly 1390 votes, 68.4%
Well 212 votes, 10.4%
It’s more a Parliamentary Service issue 240 votes, 11.8%
Don’t really care 190 votes, 9.4%

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics

It is mushrooming and is now blowing up in the Prime Ministers department. I suspect Key will be starting to care, a lot.
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August 3, 2013 8:27am
hj

New Zealand First revealed in Parliament yesterday that 5,500 parental reunion applications have been stockpiled at Immigration New Zealand because the Government is trying to conceal the number of parental reunion cases.

“The Minister is in China courtesy of China Southern Airlines, which is part of the Government’s shonky fast tracked visa scheme to allow Chinese gamblers quick access to Sky City Casino.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00020/come-home-from-china-and-sort-out-your-immigration-mess.htm

http://nzfirst.org.nz/sites/nzfirst/files/people_granted_residency_in_top_8_countries.pdf

however this is denied

“Mr Peters was questioning Prime Minister John Key, who said he doubted the numbers Mr Peters was using.

Mr Woodhouse later issued a statement saying Mr Peters’ claims were “nonsensical, simply rubbish, baseless and confused”.

He said the Immigration Department could only issue 5000 parent category visas each year.

Changes made last year had tightened the parent category and altered the criteria.

“Applications from parents who have higher income sponsors, or who bring a guaranteed income or funds, are being processed faster than other applications,” he said.

“Because more people are interested in applying under the parent category than there are places available, applications can take a while to be processed.”
http://www.3news.co.nz/Immigrant-stockpile-claims-rubbished/tabid/423/articleID/307139/Default.aspx

So presumambly only rich bolt holers from China will be able to get the Gold Card and National Super (after 10 years) whereas the others won’t be allowed in (unless meat is held up on the wharves)?

I see the Greens wont be worried:

“We have no fear of migrants. The Green Party says ‘Welcome Home – this is your country now’. Our welcome extends to the families of new migrants. The Green Party policy is fundamentally humanitarian, not exclusionary like Mr Peters’.
https://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/greens-counter-peters-welcoming-immigration-policy

So they are a Big NZ Green Party.
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August 3, 2013 8:31am
Chuck Bird

Teina Pora case: Police fear miscarriage of justice
By Phil Taylor
5:30 AM Saturday Aug 3, 2013

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10907529

This guy has done 21 years for a crime that even many in the police believe he did not commit. Surely, he should be released on either bail or parole while the options are being considered.
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August 3, 2013 8:33am
calendar girl

PG: “- contents of Dunne’s and Vance’s emails were sent to Henry (they claim the couldn’t open them)”

Can we take it that, with some sort of evidence, you don’t believe that comment from Henry’s office? Or is it a smear?
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August 3, 2013 8:34am
Kea

hj, why mention the Chinese and not the far greater numbers of pasty faced Poms ?
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August 3, 2013 8:36am
Black with a Vengeance

What did Eagleson know and when?

And who gave him the authority to overstep the speaker in authorising ministerial email releases?
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August 3, 2013 8:36am
wiseowl

Can anyone inform us just what is the Governments immigration policy.?
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August 3, 2013 8:36am
Reid

What the US is spending money on.

http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/the-important-things-we-dont-have-money-for-and-the-crazy-things-we-do-have-money-for/54163/

And this is one of them. Luckily, they aren’t tewwowists, they’re fweedom fighters, so that makes it all OK, apparently.

http://www.storyleak.com/bama-funded-syrian-rebels-beheading-christians-child-soldiers/
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August 3, 2013 8:37am
hj

Singapore’s downward trend of population growth is damaging to its economy, said former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew on Friday.
“Comparing the number of babies born in Singapore when he was prime minister in 1959 (more than 62,000) and the number of babies born in 2011 (about 36,000), Lee commented that the task of increasing the nation’s population is its “biggest challenge”.

He added that having babies may be a personal matter, but has “considerable consequences” for Singapore, reported ST.

He noted how trends of women being more highly educated and the movement toward greater gender equality at the workplace have contributed to the phenomenon of a declining birth rate, adding that currently, some 44.2 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women between the ages of 30 and 34 are still single.

The broadsheet also reported that Lee compared Singapore’s economy to that of Japan’s, saying that their resistance to receiving immigrants has resulted in stagnation in its economy.

“The Japanese have large reserves and can withstand slow growth for a long time,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the choice to take a hostile stance to immigrants is something that Singapore “cannot afford to make”.

“Like it or not, unless we have more babies, we need to accept immigrants,” he added.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/%E2%80%98unless-we-have-more-babies–we-need-to-accept-immigrants%E2%80%99.html

and the U.K
and the U.S
and N.Z under national.
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August 3, 2013 8:38am
All_on_Red

Pete,
Because you seem to have lost all perspective on the realities of life as it applies to NZers. The fact you believe a Stuff survey proves my point.
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August 3, 2013 8:39am
Pete George

calendar girl – it’s justifiable doubt, a number of things in this saga have been denied and later found out to be different.

For example they have previously said no email contents were accessed, now they admit they were but were not read. Is this the final story, or another step in the unraveling?
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August 3, 2013 8:40am
Akaroa

See Alll on Red at 0820.

Spot on!

Who really cares – outside the incestuous Wellington beltway, that is?.

It’ll rumble on for a while with certain pollies deluding themselves that they’re being listened to by the bated-breath public.

Well, I have news for you guys: “Get over yourselves”.

Life – (if you know what real life is, that is) – goes on!!
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August 3, 2013 8:42am
bringbackdemocracy

John Key asleep at the wheel zzzzzzzzz again!!!!!
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August 3, 2013 8:45am
Kea

African warlord Nobel Peace Prize news:

The 2nd Brigade is scheduled to hold more than 100 military exercises in 35 countries, most of which have no al-Qaida presence. So, although there is no doubt that the U.S. will be deeply involved in the impending military operation in Mali, the 2nd Brigade’s deployment is a much larger assignment, aimed at making all of Africa a theater of U.S. military operations. The situation in Mali is simply a convenient, after-the-fact rationale for a long-planned expansion of the U.S. military footprint in Africa.

This year the violent warmonger Obama is sending troops into 35 African countries. This is on top of increased drone strikes.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-12/war-terror-spreads-africa-us-sending-troops-35-african-

http://stpeteforpeace.org/factsheets/obama.html
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August 3, 2013 8:45am
Pete George

All_on_Red – online polls should be taken with a grain of salt, they are at best a bit of an indicator. But that Stuff poll indicates there could be a lot of salt being rubbed into the Henry inquiry wound.

Sure the general public may not be very interested in it.

But it’s the political story of the year as far as the media and Parliament are concerned. And it’s far from over yet.

And something curious – topics raised here that no one is interested usually get ignored.
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August 3, 2013 8:46am
Pete George

Stuff ‘Most Popular” news list – Adviser knew of privacy breach

Top story on 3 News: Email disclosures prompt more fury
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August 3, 2013 8:52am
hj

Kea (6,387) Says:
August 3rd, 2013 at 8:36 am
hj, why mention the Chinese and not the far greater numbers of pasty faced Poms ?
……………………………
Because it is Chinese who stand out like dog’s balls in the parent, sibling reunification category and after 10 years they are eligible for national super, gold card etc.

http://nzfirst.org.nz/sites/nzfirst/files/people_granted_residency_in_top_8_countries.pdf
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August 3, 2013 8:53am
Yvette

Emails show the service recalled the emails within an hour of them being sent and Mr Kibblewhite said they were not opened because the file format could not be opened by the DPMC server.
– http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8997730/Adviser-knew-of-privacy-breach

NZ First leader Winston Peters is on the committee and has made claims about the content of Mr Dunne’s emails, although he has not produced the emails themselves.
– http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10907497

It appears the emails in question were enclosed in an Attachment to a primary email and that attachment could not be opened because of its format.
So it appears the only known release of the Dunne/Vance emails was not in fact a release because no one saw them
EXCEPT WINSTON PETERS
Winston wouldn’t be lying would he, or has he another source of the emails?
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August 3, 2013 9:00am
Fisiani

Pete is just like Labour and the Greens. Banging away on a pimple assuming that people care. Please keep up the obsession. It is irrelevant to how people feel and vote. If anything I suspect that it causes increased support for John Key and National. The obsession on trivia proves unfitness to govern.
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August 3, 2013 9:01am
Kea

hj, no it is not the Chinese who stand out in immigration figures. It is the dreadful English. And yeah, the Chinese often have Mum come and live with them. We should take a lesson from that.
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August 3, 2013 9:03am
Right of way is Way of Right

I am shaking my head in disbelief at the short memories of the loony left here in regards to the unauthorised release of Andrea Vance’s phone data.

When we are looking at John Key fronting up, and ensuring that this issue is investigated, and that those responsible for this shortfall are in fact being held to account, I cannot help but contrast this with the behavior of a previous occupant of the 9th floor.

Answer this then, you lefties! Which former Prime Minister once replied to a question about the unauthorised release of information by stating, “I am the Prime Minister, by definition, I cannot leak!”
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August 3, 2013 9:10am
Paulus

Have just read Armstrong’s article in the Herald this morning regarding the relationship between the Press Gallery and other Media persons concerned with Politics.
It makes very sad reading as unusually for Armstrong he is losing balance, something of which he used to be very good.
Perhaps he would have been better to sit and explore the reasons from both sides.
It is particular that opinion is said to be that politicians rank just below the media – perhaps this has something to do with the regular perception put forward by the media against politicians, that none of them can be trusted.
The other way probably applies to the politicians with a number of exceptions, under the MMP system, who play the media like children.
Politicians could raise the same point perhaps, that the media continue to make the news, and do not report it.
The Press gallery is full of testosterone in trying to get inside information “off the record” perhaps, whereas politicians should realise that like one’s mistress it will bite you in time.
This we appear to be seeing, over the last 2 or 3 years particularly, where their is virtually no respect left between the current Government and the four opposition parties who will resort to anything to drag a Government politician down, often clearly aided by the media, as suits.
Whilst that is the nature of New Zealand politics since the introduction of MMP.
What has also been seen is that some of the Press Gallery people have taken jobs with any party which will have them.
I have tried to stay away but Fran Mold is one whereby an experienced Press Gallery representative has how her once perceived balanced, colours were perhaps deceitful, now by swanning in and out of Davis Shearer’s office.
Unlike Helen Clark, whereby selected Press people had her private number, this current Government, currently polling close to 50% favourable does not appear to be in the same category.
Clark and her off sides, slobbered over the media and they lapped it up, deceitful of not.
The Media collectively should look at themselves and cease to make them selves the subject of their personal opinions and articles and go back to more balance.
This does not apply just to the written median but Radio and TV also.
Paper media is well on the decline, having personally cancelled two Sunday papers, over the last two years.
I can do without a Sunday paper after 50 years of taking one or even two, due to their imbalance articles.
Without the crosswords I would cancel the Herald.
Some media is now looking to follow overseas and make readers pay for online copy – good luck – I will not bother to read sometimes made up stories to sell copy. There are a number of good blogs anyway.
The continuation of “Ambrose UTU” continues – the media are not precious – do your job properly and honestly..
It would appear that the media are now of the mind to ensure that the current Government fails at the next election.
I hope they get what they want – they could well regret it, but do not appear to understand the delicate economic position New Zealand is in.
The Government has to balance the country why cannot the media do the same.
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August 3, 2013 9:10am
calendar girl

PG @ 8:40 – “it’s justifiable doubt”. Well, in your own mind that’s fine, and you are fully entitled to hold such view.

But that’s not quite the same as implying, publicly, that Henry and / or his office are telling a deliberate untruth.
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August 3, 2013 9:15am
hj

KEA Says:

And yeah, the Chinese often have Mum come and live with them. We should take a lesson from that.
…………………………………
yes they get super after 10 years plus the Gold card and can go back and live in China while receiving super for 6 months a year.
http://nzfirst.org.nz/sites/nzfirst/files/people_granted_residency_in_top_8_countries.pdf

What’s more skilled and business could be a van to drive tourists or fish and chip shop.
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August 3, 2013 9:16am
hj

A quick look at bus parks in Rotorua and Queenstown will reveal who is driving Chinese tourists around attractions, shops etc.
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August 3, 2013 9:19am
Yvette

There is considerable irony in the claims of violation of Vance’s “rights’ considering it was her and Fairfax who took stolen material and printed it in the first place – least everyone forget.
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August 3, 2013 9:31am
wat dabney

“after 10 years they are eligible for national super, gold card etc”

The problem here is obviously the Welfare State, not the people.
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August 3, 2013 9:32am
hj

Emails show the service recalled the emails within an hour of them being sent and Mr Kibblewhite said they were not opened because the file format could not be opened by the DPMC server.
…..
There are people who can open attachments by finding the correct file associations. They are called: the average computer user?
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August 3, 2013 9:35am
hj

wat dabney (2,863) Says:
August 3rd, 2013 at 9:32 am
“after 10 years they are eligible for national super, gold card etc”

The problem here is obviously the Welfare State, not the people.
….
at least you agree it is a problem (incentive), but there is more to it an imbalance of population/environment.
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August 3, 2013 9:42am
Reid

Putin has banned all single people in NZ from adopting Russian children.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10907481

This is because we’ve legalised gay marriage and we join 13 other countries on that list.

It occurs to me that out of all people the Russians are the ones who truly understand the corrosive power of feminist social engineering since it was inflicted on them all through the communist era until Gorbachev. And isn’t it interesting that the country who used to be the world’s test lab for this monstrosity now refuses to have a bar of it. There’s a lesson there, but of course the first step toward recognising the lesson is to stop hallucinating that feminism is about human wights, and that’s not going to happen anytime soon to the billions of useful idiots who live in this and other Western societies.
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August 3, 2013 9:43am
Tom Jackson

All of this crap swirls around the GCSB. It’s not hard to see what’s going on now.

The Americans have decided to expand the surveillance powers of the NSA (see Snowden, et al.). That requires expansion in the other members of the five eyes network (see this weeks Guardian for how the NSA funds the UK spy network – we’d be dumb to think the same is not true of the GCSB). Part of this expansion seems to be mission creep towards internet “crimes” like copyright violation (see Dotcom and the new head of the GCSB and the timeline of events around Dotcom).

Whether or not you agree with this expansion is up for debate.

However, none of this would have been much of a problem if Edward Snowden hadn’t piped up when he did. Now the government is tasked with passing legislation that it had hoped to get done without attracting public attention, but they’re now caught in the open and the Vance/Dunne affair is part of the fallout.
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August 3, 2013 9:47am
publicwatchdog

So – Peter George – we can now look forward to Peter Dunne NOT supporting the GCSB and TICS Bills at their Third Reading?

If not – WHY not?

Kind regards,

Penny Bright

‘Anti-corruption/anti-privatisation’ campaigner

2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
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August 3, 2013 9:49am
dime

This dung/gscbh-46by thing should get pg to 20,000 comments in no time. Riveting stuff for the reader…
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August 3, 2013 9:49am
OneTrack

Yvette – “There is considerable irony in the claims of violation of Vance’s “rights’ considering it was her and Fairfax who took stolen material and printed it in the first place – least everyone forget.”

No we haven’t forgotten. But anything, including blatant hypocrisy, is ok in the lefts (including the partisan msm in that) drive to “Get Key”. Apparently key personally sent all these emails and logged on to the PABX to dump the call logs.

Wonder what it is like to have a professional opposition and a professional MSM who investigate real issues, that really matter to the voting public, as opposed to what all their beltway Chardonnay socialist mates chatter about? Because I have forgotten. They are just both incompetent. By the way, kiwi jornolists are now below politicians on my trust list.

Sorry if I sound grumpy. I just got up and turned on the Nation. I lasted about 5 minutes before it got switched off.
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August 3, 2013 9:51am
m@tt

The claim about not being able to read the attachment on the server is a completely moronic attempt at miss direction. Whether you could read it or not on the server is completely irrelevant, it is the recipients client machine where they’d actually click on the link that’s important. There is also every chance that the attachment may have been cached(downloaded) locally as soon as it was received so there is actually no way they can legitimately say it was not accessed. Reports are that the attachment was an outlook pst file so anyone with a copy of Microsoft office on their machine could have read it.
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August 3, 2013 9:52am
publicwatchdog

FYI Kiwibloggers – this email was sent at 4.53pm 2 August 2013

2 August 2013

‘OPEN LETTER’

Andrew Kibblewhite
CEO
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

RE: The role and functions of the Office of the Prime Minister, compared with the role and functions of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet – have these ‘lines’ being crossed by the ‘Chief of Staff’ from the Office of the Prime Minister?

Dear Andrew,

“Mr Eagleson emailed the offices of the Ministers who had received the report to inform them that on my wishes they should comply with the inquiry, and, secondly, on 9 May he emailed Geoff Thorn at Parliamentary Service to confirm that I wished him to make available the inquiry records in relation to Ministers and their staff’

http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/business/qoa/50HansQ_20130731_00000003/3-prime-minister%E2%80%94chief-of-staff

QUESTIONS:

1) Upon what lawful basis is the Chief of Staff (Wayne Eagleson) from the Office of the Prime Minister, playing a role, which, in my considered opinion, is one that should be played by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet?

http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/dpmc

THE ROLE OF DPMC

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet occupies a unique position at the centre of New Zealand’s system of democratic government. It exists to support the effective conduct of executive government by the Prime Minister, the Governor-General and members of the Cabinet. The department’s principal role is provision of advice, on a daily basis, to the Prime Minister and Cabinet on the wide range of complex issues that confront the Government – particularly its policy priorities. Issues that governments are required to deal with are often complex or pressing, and require well-founded advice and judgement. DPMC also provides impartial advice, through the Clerk of the Executive Council and Government House, to the Governor-General. In addition it plays a role in coordinating and leading the work of government departments and agencies, and other entities as appropriate, to ensure that decision making takes account of all relevant viewpoints and that advice is as coherent and complete as possible.

Supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet
The Prime Minister is the political leader of the government and the country – and its main public “face”. The Prime Minister is also the chair of the Cabinet, and is responsible for the effective operation of executive government. These roles combine political and executive responsibilities.

DPMC provides assistance to the Prime Minister in three broad categories.

Issues that are the direct responsibility of the Prime Minister
This entails the provision of free and frank advice and support on constitutional issues relating to the conduct of executive government – including during elections and transitions between administrations – and issues associated with the operation of the Cabinet system.

Issues that arise across the full range of government business
DPMC provides a continuous flow of advice to the Prime Minister on major and daily issues, along with oversight of wider government activity and access to information and assessments. DPMC also works directly with Ministers on specific issues. The Deputy Prime Minister plays a lead role on behalf of the Prime Minister over a number of the government’s policy programmes and DPMC supports him on some of these matters from time to time.

DPMC works with central agencies to draw together departments in support of the Government’s priorities, to focus agencies on providing options for action, to ensure implementation of agreed programmes and policies, to drive for enhanced agency performance, and to deal effectively with issues which affect the nation. DPMC also provides the secretariat support for decision making by the Cabinet and its committees.

Administrative support to the Prime Minister
This includes preparation of replies to Parliamentary questions, and dealing with Official Information Act requests and other correspondence.

A totally separate body, the Office of the Prime Minister, also advises the Prime Minister: it is the primary point of responsibility for managing political issues and relationships with other political parties and for providing administrative and media support.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) How is it that apparently neither Prime Minister John Key, nor his Chief of Staff Wayne Eagleson, appear to know the lawful functions and different roles of the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national

” ..John Key said this morning that Wayne Eagleson acted “absolutely professionally and quite correctly” by intervening in the so-called Henry inquiry into the leak of a report on the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).

He said the chief of staff’s job was safe, and that he didn’t accept claims that the phone records were only released because of emails from Eagleson.

“He has acted totally professionally and has my 100 per cent support. I think I have a very good understanding of what he’s done and he’s done what everyone would have expected him to do,” Key said.

Key said Eagleson had helped set up the inquiry, including writing the terms of reference on his behalf. Those conditions had then been put in the public domain, making it clear the inquiry was aimed at ministers and their staff.

“No information about a journalist was accessed that was sent to the reviewers. Actually they rejected that. With the one exception where the reviewers did ask for the swipe card information and I’ve already said publicly I don’t agree with that decision that they made.”

Key said he was not expecting further resignations over the phone records issue. He felt he and Eagleson had been accountable and they stood behind the review. …”

3) Whose role is it to make sure that those at the highest levels of the NZ Government – know what they are doing, and HOW they should do (in a proper way), what they are doing?

ie: Whose job is it to TRAIN staff (including the ‘Chief of Staff’ from the Office of the Prime Minister) – to ensure that they inducted and familiarised in a proper way of their role and duties, pertaining to this Office?

I look forward to your prompt reply.

Kind regards,

Penny Bright

‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner

2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
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August 3, 2013 9:53am
Pete George

Penny – the GCSB bill is a different issue, but Dunne’s support for that gets increasingly interesting. Trust is severely shaken by the Henry inquiry shambles.
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August 3, 2013 9:54am
wat dabney

“ Putin has banned all single people in NZ from adopting Russian children.”

Translation: ‘Orphans thrown under the bus’

Still, Reid’s celebrating.
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August 3, 2013 10:03am
Reid

Paulus very well said.

The Government has to balance the country why cannot the media do the same.

Here’s a quote from Armstrong.

That trust can take a long time to establish. It can be destroyed in a matter of seconds. Even so, when trust does break down, it usually amounts to little more than a pin-prick on the fabric of democracy. Not so this week, however. The prevailing sound was of the democratic fabric being ripped asunder.

The self-righteous nature of that comment answers your question. IMO the media really don’t think they are biased, in the same way that fanatical politicians like the Gweens don’t think they’re biased. IMO the media see themselves as much better informed than their readers/listeners/viewers and therefore, in their minds, their job is to provide us with their “wisdom” and “insight” rather than merely, the bare facts. The media given most of them haven’t worked a day outside a “news” organisation, have absolutely no idea how the real world of work works. This is why the idiots and Mary Wilson is a classic keep demanding for example, an absolute guarantee that [insert travesty] will never happen again. Ever. Such an approach is as naive as a 10-year-old stamping their foot and demanding world peace because don’t those big baddies know that fighting each other is wrong? But such approach persists and just like the 10-year-olds, none of the media ever recognise such attitudes are simplistic childishness.

Same with Armstrong’s column, where the media’s culpability in turning from reporters to spinners has quite escaped them. Time they woke up and smelled the roses, shame their arrogance means they never will. They’ll go to the grave thinking they made a positive difference, just like the Gweens will. Shocking, isn’t it. That their introspective thinking is and will remain so profoundly shallow.

Still, Reid’s celebrating.

Really? Perhaps you’re reading something into what I said and how I said it that isn’t there wat. Suggest you read it again. This time, try to read what I actually said. Actions have consequences wat. Simple as that. If you hallucinate that’s celebrating, you’re a fool.
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August 3, 2013 10:05am
Nookin

I am completely with Yvette on this.
The news media rejoiced in the revelation of Brash’s “gone before lunch” leakage. It received the leaks involving the MFAT review with a chorus of breathless panting. It positively salivated over the leak of Brash’s email which led to the Hollow Men and its delight in any revelation that that might embarrass Key is close to orgasmic rapture.

All of a sudden, the tables are turned and the sky is falling in, the free world is coming apart and the pillars of society are collapsing around us. Come on! Let’s get some perspective here.

Somebody stole material. Andrea Vance received it. That is an uncontestable fact.

The owner of the information/documentation tried to find out who it was, had access to information to which it was not entitled and declined to use it. Despite that, the precedent is set. The sanctity of the journalist’s refuge has been violated and all hell is breaking loose.

There is a slight difference between the various incidents. The news media published all of the leaks it received. It did so on the pretext that the public has a right to know. That right is greater than any breakdown in ethical behaviour, breach of confidence, possibly even theft.

The Henry enquiry has not used any of the information inappropriately provided to it. We know that the leak was to Vance. There is a reasonable assumption that the email, if read, would have revealed the source of the leak. However, there is not a skerrick of an intimation that the Henry enquiry knew when, how and by whom the leak occurred having regard to specific material provided.

Why is it that the public have a right to know about all of the information that the news media publishes but does not have a right to know that certain members of the news media act improperly in securing that information?

If the news media maintain that that they are other protectors of the free world and that we are to trust them, is it appropriate that they be accountable and have to prove that they are trustworthy?
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August 3, 2013 10:10am
Kea

hj , yes yes yes and so can every other immigrant. Why single out the “Chinese” ?

The worst immigrants are the English. Just look at the mess they made of their own country. I would ban all immigration from the UK and Somalia.
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August 3, 2013 10:12am
Tom Jackson

The news media rejoiced in the revelation of Brash’s “gone before lunch” leakage. It received the leaks involving the MFAT review with a chorus of breathless panting. It positively salivated over the leak of Brash’s email which led to the Hollow Men and its delight in any revelation that that might embarrass Key is close to orgasmic rapture.

That information was leaked to the media – the media did not personally violate National Party confidential documents, someone else did.

If the government had come across Vance’s emails after they were leaked by someone else, that would be a different situation from the one we have.
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August 3, 2013 10:14am
hj

We know best:

Immigration is one of the most complex and inflammatory areas of public policy. As such, it should be kept as far away from politics as possible. Instead, the Conservative-led Coalition – unimpeded, it would seem, by the feeble protests of its junior partner – is playing ever more stridently to the gallery, currying favour with the most narrow-minded and ill-informed of the electorate, and shamelessly following public opinion when it should be leading it.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/immigration-and-the-politics-of-fear-8743836.html

Chris trotter:
What the audience gathered at the Hornby Working Men’s Club deserved to hear from Shearer was an acknowledgement that Labour’s challenges are specific and immediate. To raise incomes by re-empowering working people and redistributing wealth.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/chris-trotter/7849085/Without-immigrants-economy-would-stall
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August 3, 2013 10:15am
publicwatchdog

Pete George – HOW is the GCSB Bill a ‘different issue’?

The GCSB Bill will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders, thus attacking OUR lawful rights to privacy.

How can Peter Dunne be so outraged at violations of HIS lawful rights privacy, whilst continuing to support the GCSB Bill which will violate New Zealanders lawful rights to privacy?

Whatever happened to ‘leading from the front’ and ‘practicing what you preach’?

Rather than Peter Dunne taking legal action, how about NOT supporting GCSB and TICS proposed legislation?

In my considered opinion, that would be a FAR more effective way for Peter Dunne to defend his lawful rights to privacy?

By defending ALL New Zealanders lawful rights to privacy?

Kind regards,

Penny Bright

‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner

2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
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August 3, 2013 10:15am
Pete George

“The GCSB Bill will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders”

No it won’t.
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August 3, 2013 10:16am
Nookin

The leaks by Goff, person A (supposedly) and the person having access to Brash’s computer should never have happened and only happened because some unscrupulous politician and equally unscrupulous journalist were more than happy to use them.

The leaks to the Henry enquiry, equally, should never have happened. Fortunately, they were not acted upon.

Instead of engaging in a paroxysm of selective bitching, I think it is time that we fastened upon an acceptable ethical standard and regarded leaks for what they are – the dishonest theft of information. That should apply across the board and we do not need a law that suggests that journalists are exempt.
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August 3, 2013 10:20am
Tom Jackson

“The GCSB Bill will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders”

No it won’t.

Perhaps you should try reading news from outside of NZ. You’re so naive.
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August 3, 2013 10:24am
hj

Kea (6,389) Says:
August 3rd, 2013 at 10:12 am
hj , yes yes yes and so can every other immigrant. Why single out the “Chinese” ?
…………………..
Because Chinese have a one child policy as a response to it’s gigantic population and parents are a cost to the tax payer. Also people from the U.K get a pension from the U.K (I think).

the difference is staggering
http://nzfirst.org.nz/sites/nzfirst/files/people_granted_residency_in_top_8_countries.pdf
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August 3, 2013 10:24am
Kea

hj, who cares about Chinese family planning policy ! Immigrants come from more places than just China, yet you focus on them. Outside of Auckland there are bugger all Chinese in NZ.
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August 3, 2013 10:27am
Reid

Backgrounder to Pentagram thinking on China which will force us eventually to make a choice between the West and China as our preferred global partner.

http://yalejournal.org/2013/06/12/who-authorized-preparations-for-war-with-china/

And a response to it from the astute Paul Roberts:

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/07/25/the-two-faux-democracies-threaten-life-on-earth/

For the past 68 years, most military aggression can be sourced to the US and Israel.

Yet, these two originators of wars pretend to be the victims of aggression. It is Israel that has a nuclear arsenal that is illegal, unacknowledged, and unaccountable. It is Washington that has drafted a war plan based on nuclear first strike.

Roberts misses the influence of the UK in these games but that’s not surprising, most people do. Also the word is with China, the US will use biologicals targeted at Asian DNA. These weapons were originally developed by Israel to target Arab populations. All part of the perverted science Churchill talked about.
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August 3, 2013 10:31am
Kea

Reid, look around. That choice is already made. Check out how much of the Wests -stuff- is made in China.

The establishment of Israel was the most damaging and unjust thing to happen in centuries and the whole world is paying the price. To give exclusive domain to one religious group, on already occupied land, is simply absurd. It is a view shared by many Jews.
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August 3, 2013 10:37am
wat dabney

“ “The GCSB Bill will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders”

No it won’t.”

In practise, it will.

These agencies all around the world have shown themselves to be totally untrustworthy. They are the real threat to liberty.
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August 3, 2013 10:38am
Kea

wat dabney, people have no idea of risk. They think that “terrorists” or “criminals” are the biggest threat to their safety. Yet every single war and large scale oppression of human rights is done by the authorities. Anyone who doubts it does not need to read history, today’s news paper will prove my point. One random act by an individual killing a small group of people will make international headlines, while the authorities kill hundred of thousands with little comment.
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August 3, 2013 10:42am
Nookin

Tom

You are correct about the facts but it does not affect my argument. We have violations of confidence/privacy and we have people who are either complicit or, not if necessarily complicit, are aware of the violation and who are happy to use the information anyway. Receivers are not thieves but without them we would not have anywhere as much theft.
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August 3, 2013 10:45am
publicwatchdog

“The GCSB Bill will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders”

No it won’t.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Pete George – you are exhibiting what is known as ‘wilful blindness’?

Have you not read the following?

(For starters ……)

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/214622/another-blow-for-pm's-spy-bill-plan

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/gcsb-bill-reported-back-house-ck-143384

http://www.hrc.co.nz/2013/human-rights-commission-releases-report-to-prime-minister-on-security-and-intelligence-matters

Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption/anti-privatisation’ campaigner

2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
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August 3, 2013 10:45am
hj

Kea (6,392) Says:
August 3rd, 2013 at 10:27 am
hj, who cares about Chinese family planning policy ! Immigrants come from more places than just China, yet you focus on them. Outside of Auckland there are bugger all Chinese in NZ.
……
tell that to Thai’s.
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August 3, 2013 10:53am
Tom Jackson

You are correct about the facts but it does not affect my argument. We have violations of confidence/privacy and we have people who are either complicit or, not if necessarily complicit, are aware of the violation and who are happy to use the information anyway. Receivers are not thieves but without them we would not have anywhere as much theft.

Fair enough, but journalists have rights the rest of us don’t have regarding confidentiality of sources. That’s the cornerstone of a free press.

Now you, like me, might think that our press usually behave like a bunch of numpties, but that’s an argument for improvement not an argument for the withdrawal of rights that guarantee a free press.
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August 3, 2013 10:54am
hj

Chris Laidlaws big thrill for the boys and girls:

11:12 Helen Clark – UN Stories
What’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark been up to since she took up a job at the United Nations? Ms Clark talks to Chris about her work leading the UN Development Programme.
At the UN. Addresses from Helen Clark’s first term leading the United Nations Development Programme, is published by Dunmore Publishing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
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August 3, 2013 10:57am
Tom Jackson

Look. There’s an easy test here.

Consider any press right or freedom. Then consider whether Nixon would have gotten away with Watergate if that right or freedom had been removed. If the answer is “yes, he would have gotten away with it”, then that right or freedom is essential to the functioning of a liberal democracy.

Note that “Deep Throat” (W. Mark Felt) was essential to Watergate and the investigation would have stalled without him.
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August 3, 2013 10:58am
Nookin

“These agencies all around the world have shown themselves to be totally untrustworthy”
Not quite. In every endeavour, humans have proved that they are capable of corruption, cruelty and abuse of power. Secret services, government, police, religious sects – you name it – will all produce rotten elements. Ultimately, there has to be a balancing factor. We have to look at the risks against which GCSB or any other Secret Service are providing protection and the extent to which the powers conferred, with a view to minimising or eliminating those risks, can be abused. Sometimes, this may simply have to come down to the ethos of the country. In some cases we have to put our trust in those exercising the powers.

The alternative is complete disclosure of all the issues under investigation and accountability for all powers exercised. This appears to be what the Greens (who question the very need for such a service) and labour are clamouring to achieve. Frankly, I take the view that labour is being totally hypocritical and are simply using the issue for its own political purposes knowing damn well that they would have done (and in fact did do) exactly the same thing if they were in government. In fact, they would have been worse. It is the current government’s transparency that has brought all this to light. It was the previous government’s secrecy that kept all this hidden from view.

The opponents will argue that there is no trust, there is abuse and that rights are being trampled upon. Imagine the situation if a Secret Service had to justify its existence and had to justify the exercise of its powers to the populace at large. If their investigations were publicised and the division, suspicion, distrust and antipathy directed towards different people or sectors was really allowed oxygen we would really have a dingdong battle between elements of society
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August 3, 2013 11:01am
bringbackdemocracy

hj What’s Helen Clark been up to?

Spending other peoples money, something she’s very good at.
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August 3, 2013 11:01am
Nookin

Tom

Good point but where is the line drawn?
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August 3, 2013 11:02am
Kea

hj, what have Thai’s got to do with it ? Are you saying they don’t like Chinese ?

Don’t remind them their precious King is Chinese 🙂
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August 3, 2013 11:03am
James Stephenson

The worst immigrants are the English. Just look at the mess they made of their own country.

You do realise that the great Kiwi “OE” is a government-backed program to send young people overseas, especially to the UK, to snare partners and bring them back to improve the country’s gene pool, don’t you?
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August 3, 2013 11:05am
Kea

James Stephenson, I dispair over the white middle class rite of passage, where they go off to the UK like sheep. No wonder they return more narrow minded and banal than when they left. The English agree with my view, which is why they sold out their culture to other more interesting people.

What is the national dish of the UK ?

What is the most popular boys name ?
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August 3, 2013 11:09am
Nookin

“Now you, like me, might think that our press usually behave like a bunch of numpties, but that’s an argument for improvement not an argument for the withdrawal of rights that guarantee a free press.”

How do you exert any influence leading to improvement unless there is exposure?

The news media say that they hold the government to account by exposing abuses of power (actually they will expose anything if there is a story in it). Why doesn’t the same principle apply to the news media. There is a difference. We get to elect the government. We get to know what they stand for. Journalist are picked by editors who are accountable to the board – not by the public. If the news media are to be our trusted watchdogs, with protections that we do not enjoys, then their behaviour must be held to a commensurately higher standard.

Deep throat stands apart because there was criminal activity. Maybe that is the benchmark. If so, it must also apply to journalists.
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August 3, 2013 11:10am
calendar girl

@ 9:53 – “Upon what lawful basis is ……………… playing a role, which, in my considered opinion, is one that should be played by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet?”

All too frequently from this commenter we are subjected to the fatuous “… in my considered opinion …” comment.

The word “considered” seems to be intended solely to add weight to her view. Is it likely to have any relationship to the effort, thought, time or research expended in reaching the opinion being offered?
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August 3, 2013 11:12am
kowtow

Pasty faced Poms?

Fuck off,those pasty faced Poms created this country,along with a few other pasty face Celtic types.
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August 3, 2013 11:13am
Kea

kowtow, they created much of the problems too.
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August 3, 2013 11:18am
kowtow

So where’s perfect?
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August 3, 2013 11:19am
Redbaiter

“Then consider whether Nixon would have gotten away with Watergate if that right or freedom had been removed.”

Oh what crap. “Press freedom” today is a fraud, a door that only opens one way.

Apply this test.

While the “press” went after George Bush’s dental records, and went dumpster diving in Sarah Palin’s rubbish up in Alaska, where’s the investigation into Obama’s shady past, his fake US citizenry, his most probably illegal immigration and his incompetence and treason on Benghazi????

????????????????????????????

I’ll tell you.

Nowhere, all covered up by a media complicit in those crimes.

First of all we need a real press, (not a bunch of communist propagandists) then we can talk about its freedoms.
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August 3, 2013 11:23am
Kea

kowtow, that is subjective. Here is pretty good though 😉
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August 3, 2013 11:24am
James Stephenson

You mean they come back realising that Kiwis, by and large, have no clue about beer and can’t fucking drive?
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August 3, 2013 11:32am
hj

China-Samoa relations:

The latest controversy in Samoan-Chinese relations centres on the Beijing Investment Zhao Yi Li Management Company and their intention to build hotels and casinos in Apia, Samoa. This company is expecting a lot from Samoa in return for coming to the island, namely a land lease for 160 years and tax exemptions. Crucially, anyone wondering if the arrival of hotels and casinos would at least provide significant employment opportunities for residents of Apia can think again. The Beijing Investment Zhao Yi Li Management Company is also demanding the right to bring across 30,000 of its own workers. These workers must be allowed over for at least three years and will also get to live in Samoa tax-free.

One of the many grounds for objecting to such requests is the feared loss of Samoa’s most beautiful lands. Faapo told Radio Australia that he believes, for hotels and casinos, the Beijing Investment Zhao Yi Li Management Company will want Samoa’s beaches.
http://www.theforeignreport.com/2013/06/13/samoa-will-the-island-be-exploited-by-chinese-firms/

of course economists will be able to scrub that up into economic concepts that make it seem dandy!?
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August 3, 2013 11:32am
UglyTruth

In every endeavour, humans have proved that they are capable of corruption, cruelty and abuse of power. Secret services, government, police, religious sects – you name it – will all produce rotten elements. Ultimately, there has to be a balancing factor.

No amount of human balance can remove the atheism of human government.
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August 3, 2013 11:34am
hj

I imagine the big Choi brothel, Sky City, Casinos in Samoa etc are all connected… at the umbilical chord to National.
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August 3, 2013 11:40am
hj

Pasty faced Poms?

Christchurch:
Professor Kenneth Cumberland (geographer)
Bold young men drove sheep on to the vast grazing runs to found pastoral empires and land owning dynasties. Out of the wealth from the squatters’ wool clips, and from wheat when the tussock was ploughed, grew a city of scholarship, grace and dignity” Landmarks

Christchurch:
Professor Paul Spoonley (sociologist):

One thing he is clear about is that the demographic changes set to occur in Christchurch could transform the city infamous for its white supremacist National Front movement. While Christchurch does have small ethnic enclaves, hosting lantern festivals for Chinese New Year and Diwali festivals for the Indian community, the scale of the anticipated migrant influx is unparalleled in its history.
http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=86EB3C7F-B375-B8DF-A111-53B3788C75E5
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August 3, 2013 11:46am
Fletch

Oh dear – seems Sarah Palin was right about those “death panels” after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOKzNc_2S6w
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August 3, 2013 11:47am
Redbaiter

“Here is pretty good though”

Hey Arab, you’re lucky you were ever allowed in.

If it wasn’t for the idiocy of feminism and its destructive effect upon the birth rate, you probably wouldn’t have been.
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August 3, 2013 11:47am
UglyTruth

The establishment of Israel was the most damaging and unjust thing to happen in centuries and the whole world is paying the
price. To give exclusive domain to one religious group, on already occupied land, is simply absurd.

The establishment of the political state of Israel wasn’t for the benefit of any religious group. It was for Zionism, Judaism and Zionism are very different things.
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August 3, 2013 11:50am
Scott Chris

Well, Dunny could pull the rug out from under the GCSB bill at the last moment in a vain attempt to save his political career but I suspect that if he were to do so those email exchanges with Vance will be surreptitiously leaked to Whale.
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August 3, 2013 11:50am
Fletch

Oh dear – Spain is planning to tax sunlight –

Proving that idiocy truly has no bounds, Spain issued a “royal decree” taxing sunlight gatherers. The state threatens fines as much as 30 million euros for those who illegally gather sunlight without paying a tax.

The tax is just enough to make sure that homeowners cannot gather and store solar energy cheaper than state-sponsored providers.

The Secretary of State for Energy, Alberto Nadal, signed a draft royal decree in which consumption taxes are levied on those who want to start solar power systems on their rooftops. The tax, labeled a “backup toll” is high enough to ensure that it will be cheaper to keep buying energy from current providers.

http://x.co/1XYEo (original article translated from Spanish to English).
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August 3, 2013 11:50am
UglyTruth

seems Sarah Palin was right about those “death panels” after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4BEY1lZDyg
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August 3, 2013 11:53am
Kea

Red, I was born here. Where were you born ?
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August 3, 2013 11:57am
Fletch

I’m wondering about those academic success rates that DPF posted about yesterday, after reading THIS –

The resignation of Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett couldn’t have come at a better time. His disgraceful grade-fixing scandal is the perfect symbol of all that’s wrong with the federal education schemes peddled by Bennett and his mentor, former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush: phony academic standards, crony contracts, big-government and big-business collusion masquerading as “reform.”

Bennett stepped down Thursday after the Associated Press reported that he had meddled with charter school accountability ratings in Indiana last fall while serving as that state’s schools superintendent. The beneficiary of his intervention? Big GOP donor and charter school operator Christel DeHaan, who has forked over nearly $3 million to Republicans (including $130,000 to Bennett).

DeHaan’s Christel House Academy charter school magically went from a “C” rating to an “A” rating despite failing 10th-grade math scores. An abysmal 33 percent of the school’s 10th-grade Algebra I students passed. Note: The school uses the widely panned elementary-level Everyday Math curriculum (which I’ve exposed in previous columns) and a newfangled secondary program called the Carnegie Learning Math Series, whose website prominently brags that its “courses were developed to align to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.”

(More links at the story following the infamous “Common Core” education programmes)

I guess you can make anything look how you want it if you massage the data the right way.
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August 3, 2013 11:57am
kowtow

Fletch

Under present management Europe is truly fucked.Whether they’re Christian Democrat or Socialists ,no one stands for Europe anymore, just taxation , mass immigration and decay.

I think the Cyprus theft said it all. In order to bail out a broke ,over spending government, the EU and Cyprus govts stole bank deposits. Legislated theft.

But then there ‘s a general disregard for private property rights all over the formerly free and once capitalist west.

Detroit on a continental scale.
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August 3, 2013 12:00pm
Andrei

VDV Day – someone tries to get in on the act, hilarity ensues

http://youtu.be/_zdBxEm4cu0
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August 3, 2013 12:02pm
Tom Jackson

the investigation into Obama’s shady past, his fake US citizenry, his most probably illegal immigration

So you’re a birther too.

Lawl.
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August 3, 2013 12:02pm
Fletch

Congress dislikes Obamacare so much (despite being so keen to pass it), they kicked up a fuss about it, so now Congress and their staffs will be exempt from parts of it.

All over the country, people are worried about how Obamacare will affect the cost and quality of their health coverage. Members of Congress and their staffs were especially panicked, because it appeared that the Affordable Care Act required them to purchase coverage on the law’s new insurance exchanges, but without the generous subsidy they receive for their current coverage. Capitol Hill collectively exhaled yesterday, when it came out that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management would allow members and their staffs to keep their insurance subsidies.

Obama gets personally involved

According to John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman of Politico, President Obama has personally involved himself in the controversy over whether or not Congressmen and Hill staffers should retain access to their insurance subsidies. “It is extraordinarily rare, to say the least, for the president of the United States to get involved in an inside-the-Beltway flap over the payment of health care premiums,” note the Politico authors.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/08/02/congressmen-rejoice-govt-to-subsidize-their-health-insurance-through-obamacares-exchanges/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_vUyz5ZwrY
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August 3, 2013 12:02pm
Kea

Tom, forget Obamas past. He needs to hang for what he is doing now.
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August 3, 2013 12:08pm
Tom Jackson

Tom, forget Obamas past. He needs to hang for what he is doing now.

True. It’s just that every time I doubt Redbaiter’s insanity, he comes out with something utterly crazy that confirms it.
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August 3, 2013 12:12pm
Redbaiter

Note the lack of counter argument?

Note the Stalinist attempts at ridicule.

All typical commie strategy.
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August 3, 2013 12:14pm
Redbaiter

“Red, I was born here.”

Fair enough. I withdraw and apologise.

It was your old man who was lucky.
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August 3, 2013 12:16pm
Manolo

An imbecile or a forked tongue? http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/kerry-egypt-s-military-did-not-take-over_742520.html
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August 3, 2013 12:18pm

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Justice in Brazil
No Right Turn
The Presidential Bicameral Adjournment Clause Is Almost An American Equivalent to Prorogation
Utopia
"Seymour is only doing openly what M?ori nationalists and their Pakeha allies have been doing, quietly for the past 50 years."
Not PC
This Weeks Email To Prime Minister Luxon.
No Minister
Daily review 22/11/2024
The Standard
More young offenders will get boot camp, bus drivers will get some protection – and there’s relief for southern farmers
Point of Order
Sowell says
Hompaddock
New Zealand government urged to back ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders without equivocation
The Daily Blog
The transgender agenda sunk Kamala
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
What does “reciprocity” mean in New Zealand laws?
Croaking Cassandra
A Day of Reckoning
NZCPR
Media Link: “A View from Afar” on the US elections.
Kiwipolitico
This will not end well
Offsetting Behaviour
Top 14 Predictions for Round 10
Stats Chat
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker
Angie Warren-Clark: Meet the Newbies
Dan Moskovitz

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