The Herald reported:

Auckland Mayor Len Brown is backing down in the face of a citywide revolt against high-rise apartments and infill housing in a new planning rulebook for the city.

Mr Brown says the council will reduce heights proposed in some coastal suburbs and around town centres where apartment buildings butt into residential streets.

“We have had a lot of feedback and concern expressed going from a one- or two-level home to a four- or five-level apartments right on the boundary,” he said, adding better rules were needed.

He dropped hints that the coastal suburbs of Milford and St Heliers could see a reduction in eight- and four-storey buildings respectively. The Herald understands Mt Eden could be spared four-storey apartments tucked behind the self-styled shopping village.

Any back down will probably be the least they can get away with.

I loved this line:

Credit where credit is due. The Labour Party has finally adopted one of the very sensible policies of the National Government, and that is the Mixed Ownership Model. That’s right, these days the Labour Party is 51% owned by Labour and 49% owned by the Greens

Heh.

Isaac Davidson at NZ Herald reports:

Dame Susan Devoy was the second choice for the role of Race Relations Commissioner, official documents show, but she received a glowing assessment from the panel who interviewed her for the job. …

The interview panel, made up of Defence Ministry chief Helene Quilter, NZ Post Group chief Brian Roche and Secretary for Justice Andrew Bridgman, said Dame Susan demonstrated good insight into the range of issues the commissioner would have to face.

They emphasised that she had a particular interest in Maori and Pacific Island unemployment, had good communication skills and was capable of making complex information accessible to a broad audience.

“Dame Susan satisfied the panel she would be a sensible and intelligent voice for race relations issues.”

The panel also noted that she had governance experience, mature judgment and good media skills.

Members said either Dame Susan or another unnamed candidate – revealed to be former All Black Michael Jones – had the ability and mana to be commissioner, but Mr Jones was the stronger candidate because of his “greater immersion in a world in which race issues are ever present”.

He decided to turn down the five-year post for family reasons.

Some would have you think Ministers are personally selecting appointees, but for both recent HRC appointments the appointee was the highest rated applicant (who was available) by a neutral interview panel.

Have been in the Budget lock up since 10.30 am. Some key details of the 2013 Budget are:

Surplus

• The 2014/15 surplus projection remains razor thing – $75m, but projected to increase to $2.6 billion in 2016/17.
• The deficit was $18.4 billion in 2010/11, will be around $6.3 billion for the current year and projected to be just $2.0 billion next year.
• Over five budgets a total of $15 billion of spending has been reprioritised (eg cuts in one areas to allow new initiatives to be funded)

Expenditure

• Core crown expenses to increase by $5.5 billion over four years but dropping from 35% of GDP to below 31%.
• This is a key strategy – that expenditure growth is less than economic growth. Expenditure grew at 6.1% annually from 2003 to 2012, but will only grow 2.7% annually over next four years.

Debt

• Net debt projected to peak at 29% of GDP in 2014/15
• Net debt projected to be 18% by 2010 2020, compared to 60% which was the 2009 projection before policy changes
• Contributions to NZ Super Fund will not resume until net crown debt is below 20% of GDP

Research & Development

• An extra $100m a year for internationally-focused growth opportunities in research & development, tourism and education marketing
• Research and development funding to increase to $1.36 billion in 2013/14, 28% higher than four years ago

ACC

• Projected ACC levy reductions of $300m in 2014/15 and $1 billion the following year, resulting in levies being 40% lower than in 2011
• Both households and businesses will benefit from lower ACC levies. A $1 billion reduction is around $500 per household, but no details yet on exact changes to employee and employer levies.

Asset Sales

• Total Crown Assets forecast to grow from $250 billion to $273 billion
• $1.5 billion of spending from the partial asset sales including $426m to redevelop Christchurch hospitals, $94 million for Kiwirail, $80 million for irrigation, $50 million for school networks
• Meridian Energy to be floated later this year, probably October

Housing

• $100m over three years for home insulations for low-income of high health needs households which should cover 46,000 homes on top of 230,000 homes already done
• $27m over four years to extend income-related rents to community housing providers
• Special housing areas as agreed by Government and Councils will have streamlined (faster) consenting under a new law
• Reviewable tenancies will be extended to all social housing tenants, to ensure those in the most need can get into social housing. Will actually increase government spending as rents by tenants to Housing NZ will on average be lower
• MSD not Housing NZ to assess housing needs, so Housing NZ can focus on being an excellent social housing provider
• Housing Warrant of Fitness to be developed and trialled, starting with state houses

Health

• $1.6 billion over four years for frontline health services

Education

• $900 million more for education including $173 million over four years for early childhood education.
• ECE spending now $1.5 billion compared to $860 million in 2007/08
• Education spending now 7.2% of GDP, compared to OECD average of 5.8%

Christchurch

• An extra $2.1 billion for Christchurch increasing Crown contribution to $15.2 billion
• Total cost of Christchurch rebuild now estimated to be 20% of annual GDP

General

• $189m over four years for welfare reforms and helping people into work
• Economic growth over next three years projected to be higher than US, Canada, UK, the Euro zone and Japan
• The 11% earning over $80,000 will contribute 49% of all personal income tax collected

I’ve got an article in the Dominion Post tomorrow where I do a more detailed commentary. My overall take is that it is a good Budget for 2013 – still on track for a surplus, a big drop in ACC levies and significant extra spending in priority areas.

But next year’s Budget will need to be the one which spells out the vision, post getting back to surplus.

The Herald reports:

The Department of Internal Affairs has warned the Government that extra pokie machines at SkyCity, resulting from its convention centre deal, risks increased harm to the community, Steven Joyce confirmed yesterday.

Gambling opponents cite research suggesting the extra 230 pokie machines alone could cost society as much as $6.6 million a year. But with the Government touting a $90 million annual boost to the Auckland economy from the international convention centre, Cabinet “decided on balance that it was best to go with the deal”, Economic Development Minister Mr Joyce said.

That’s a 13:1 benefit to cost ratio. Not even close to marginal.

Costs at a glance

230 extra pokie machines at SkyCity
184 extra problem gamblers
$36,000 a year’s potential cost to society of each problem gambler
$6.6m total annual cost to society of additional problem gamblers
$90m annual injection into the economy from the international convention centre

They loo pretty good numbers to me. 800 more people in jobs.

Was in Parliament yesterday for Jackie Blue’s valedictory speech. It was a nice reminder that you can achieve things in Parliament as a List MP. Some extracts:

While I was a new MP in 2005, Herceptin became high-profile, with many countries funding a 12-month course for a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. It was being used for treatment in metastatic breast cancer in New Zealand, but the trials were showing that it was reducing death in early stage, newly diagnosed breast cancer. I am grateful that Tony gave me the opportunity to advocate for 12-months’ Herceptin funding for women with breast cancer in New Zealand. I was extraordinarily proud when John Key made this a National Party election promise in 2008. One of the most marvellous memories from my time in Parliament was shortly after the November 2008 election, when I joined Tony, who was the new Minister of Health , and key officials from the Ministry of Health and Pharmac. The meeting was to work through the logistics of ensuring that the women who needed Herceptin had access to it by Christmas 2008. The timing was very tight, but it was a case of “Yes, Minister.” at its very best. Everyone worked together to ensure that the policy rolled out smoothly. With results of recent trials, time has proved that funding 12 months’ Herceptin was the right decision. Twelve months is considered to be the international gold standard.

A decision that has helped save lives.

Early in 2008 I met with a group of refugee and migrant doctors who were meeting regularly at the Auckland Regional Migrant Service , or ARMS, in Mount Roskill. The group had been struggling to get registration with the New Zealand Medical Council . They were frustrated that we did not have a bridging programme like Australia had. Over several years they had made successive approaches to health Ministers without making any traction. They were meeting regularly at the Auckland Regional Migrant Service to study and to support each other, and I would like to acknowledge the amazing support that Dr Mary Dawson and Anna Fyfe-Rahal from the service have been providing to this group. Without their support and encouragement, I am quite sure that this group would have disbanded long ago. My heart went out to these doctors. After the election I re-established contact with the group and began to meet with them each month. I went back to Tony Ryall and I said that we simply had to do something for them. Tony was very supportive and agreed that I could start investigating options, and I began discussions with the Ministry of Health and the Medical Council. However, when Professor Des Gorman, chair of Health Workforce New Zealand, got involved in the latter part of 2009, the project developed a momentum all of its own. The NZREX preparation placement programme began in 2011 and has been hugely successful, with 33 out of 38 migrant doctors passing the Medical Council registration exam. This programme has been truly life changing for those doctors and their families.

Stuff like this often flies below the media radar.

 It has been the work of these committees that has left me utterly convinced that society must back its women and girls. Women make up one-half of the world’s human capital. No society can achieve its full potential when half the population is denied the opportunity to achieve theirs. Empowering and educating women and girls is fundamental to succeeding and prospering in the ever more competitive world. This is particularly true in developing countries but it is also absolutely relevant in developed countries like New Zealand. As women progress, everyone in society progresses, including men and boys. Tapping into the potential of women and girls is not only the right thing; it is the smart thing. Sexual reproductive health and rights and education go hand in hand. When women have the opportunity to control their fertility and have access to reproductive health services they are more likely to stay in education, get employment, and provide for their family. Education leads to more choices and opportunities.

All true.

Mark Mitchell speaking on Todd McClay’s bill to prohibit gang patches being worn inside government buildings:

I would just like to talk about one of my first contacts with gangs. It was as a police dog handler working in Rotorua. For those who have lived in Rotorua, who are either in the police or even just as residents and members of the community, will be very aware of the old Mongrel Mob headquarters on Sala Street. When I first started there we had two young ladies come to the police station obviously in a terribly distressed state, and, in fact, one of them probably to this day has not recovered from what she had to endure at the hands of the Mongrel Mob at their pad on Sala Street. What had happened to them is that the Mongrel Mob had two young prospects and one of them was her cousin. As part of their initiation, as part of their pathway towards earning a gang patch, they had been instructed to entice these two young girls—15 and 16—down to the gang pad. Once they got them down there, they then proceeded to put them on what the gang members called the block, and they were gang-raped by patched gang members and the prospects were forced or encouraged to rape them also. So I just want to be very clear that when we are in this House and we are talking about gang patches, we actually understand clearly what a gang patch means and what it signifies. What it means is that when you see a gang member walking around patched up with a gang patch on, it is telling you, it is telling us, the rest of the people in the community, that they have committed crimes against us, and that they have probably committed violent crimes against us.

Gang patches are a form on intimidation. Now I didn’t support the law change for Wanganui District Council as that sought to prohibit patches in public anywhere – and that goes too far. But I think the Government has every right to ban them in buildings such as WINZ offices and courts.

Mr Goff got up and said that currently there are laws available to deal with gang members who decide to wear their patches and intimidate people. He quoted the Trespass Act . Well, what happens with the Trespass Act is that someone has to trespass a gang member. I am telling you now that people are intimidated. Who is going to stand up and say: “I am going to take a step and I am going to trespass someone.”? We are removing that from them. We are removing the intimidation and fear from that person with this piece of legislation.

I’d rather not be the person who has to trespass a gang member to their face.

There is one submission that I do want to refer back to. It was made by Jacob Te Kurapa from the Murupara Area School . Murupara, of course, is in Mr McClay’s electorate. Murupara has got social issues that it is constantly facing and tackling. It has a big gang presence down there with the Black Power , the Tribesmen , the Mongrel Mob . In his submission he said: “Children and students do not need to see gang insignia plastered about our school they need to be protected from it.

Gang patches should have no place in schools.

National, ACT, United Future and NZ First voted for the bill’s second reading. Labour, Greens, Maori and Mana voted against – defending the right of gang members to wear patches in schools etc.

Joelle Daly at Stuff reports:

Corrections Minister Anne Tolley wants to keep 24-hour tabs on serious domestic violence offenders – the same way high-risk and sex offenders are tracked.

The move comes after Christchurch man Nikki Roper was found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Alexsis Tovizi, only days after he was released from jail for a previous assault on the 21-year-old mother.

The killing, in December 2010, happened despite a protection order she had in place.

Protection orders are sadly of little benefit when the offender breaches them. It takes too long for a breach to lead to action.

Twenty-four hour GPS monitoring, announced last June, means Corrections are alerted to intervene if a tracked offender strays into a designated exclusion zone.

It must be imposed by the Parole Board or sentencing judge, and currently applies only to high-risk and child sex offenders.

However, in light of the Alexsis Tovizi case, Tolley said she had instructed officials to investigate how this could be extended under current legislation to cover domestic violence offenders.

“We want to do everything that we can to prevent and deter any would-be perpetrators.

“If this can stop one potential victim from being harmed, then it will be worth it.”

This could be a life saver. If the offender’s enters an area they have been banned from entering, then Police could be immediately notified and get there in time to save a life.

I imagine it would be used only when someone has already been convicted of threats and/or violence against someone and there is a significant risk of them causing further harm.

This table is from Stats Chat.

So every country thinks Germans are the most trustworthy, except the Greece who think they are!

For least trustworthy, the British choose the French (fair enough), three countries choose Greece, Italy chooses itself (which is hilarious but perceptive) and Greece and Poland choose Germany. Maybe due to invasions but how do Poles say Germany is both most and least?

France and Germany are the only two countries chosen for most arrogant (also fair enough) while interestingly citizens of each country choose themselves as most compassionate – which suggest we see compassion locally.

Truth reports:

ONE OF Auckland’s top cops has been boasting about having Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Bush sacked when his brother, Labour leader David Shearer, becomes Prime Minister.

Alan Shearer is the former Manurewa Area Police Commander and used to work under Bush during the years he spent as Counties Manukau district commander.

It is understood some bad blood exists between the pair after Bush removed him as Manurewa Area Commander into a new job at Counties Manukau where he is responsible for “planning and ending family violence” in South Auckland. …

A well-placed police source confirmed that Shearer had been “running his mouth off around town” about having Bush sacked once his brother David became Prime Minister.

“He’s been badmouthing Mike Bush. He is bitter and telling police officers in Counties Manukau that when his brother is Prime Minister he’s going to get Mike Bush,” the source told Truth.

“Alan Shearer is pissed off about being removed from his personal fiefdom in Manurewa and holds Bush responsible.”

Truth attempted to speak to Alan Shearer but he did not return calls.

I couldn’t work out why Labour would declare Mike Bush unsuitable to be Commissioner just on the basis of some ill-judged comments at a funeral. Is there a personal feud involved?

MPs are not responsible for their family members – but if the family member is boasting of using their relatives influence for their own purposes, they need to clearly state their family member is not speaking for them.

Avik Roy at Forbes blogged a list of the 10 worst fact checks of the 2012 US election.

“The problem,” observes Ben, “is that a combination of ignorance and bias warps the perspective of fact checkers, and their focus ends up being on their own personal prism of what’s far as opposed to what’s accurate.”

It is true not all fact checkers are equal.

The one I prefer is Fact Check, as it is independent. It is not run as part of a newspaper, which can mean the editorial direction of the newspaper can influence it.

I think NZ would do well with a Fact Check type site – but again one not linked to any media outlet, and with staff that have no history of political involvement or support. It would need a benevolent non-involved funder – which is the difficult part.

Trevor Mallard asked in Parliament:

Hon Trevor Mallard: Will she rule out supporting Mike Bush as a candidate for the soon to be vacant police commissioner’s position, in light of his appalling judgment in reading those comments out in that eulogy?

Hon ANNE TOLLEY: We currently have a commissioner, and it would be inappropriate for any politician, at any stage, to make any comments about the future employment of any of our outstanding police commissioners. I am amazed that that member would sully the name of the one of the top serving police officers in this country.

I am one of those who think Mike Bush made a mistake in reading out the comments from Bruce Hutton’s service record. But hell it was the man’s funeral. Of course you are going to say nice things at a funeral.

Labour seem to be saying that one error of judgement, not even directly related to policing duties, means Bush should not be eligible to be Commissioner.

Apart from the unfortunate politicising of the appointment, I think that is a woeful attitude. Bush is highly respected by rank and file officers, and had a great record as Counties-Manukau District Commander. On his watch (helped by extra police officers) crime fell significantly in Counties-Manukau.

An article on his record in the Police is here. It includes a fall in crime, busting major drug rings and 100% resolution rate for homicides. Labour would have all of that count for nothing because of a comment at a funeral!

Look at what has happened to crime in Counties-Manukau. It was once almost a no go area.

• Total offences down from 56,041 in 2009 to 44,699 in 2012 – a 20% drop in three years
• Violent offences down from 6,579 to 5,803 – a 12% drop
• Robberies down 30%
• Thefts down 22%
• An increase in the resolution rate from 43.05 to 47.5%

As I said, I thought the funeral comments well ill-judged. But I believe you judge someone on their overall record of 30 years service, and Labour is not serving the public interest by trying to pressure him out of a job.

An interesting blog post at media monitoring company iSentia. Some graphs from their blog post:

Interesting that initial media coverage was pretty positive, but as the ramifications became clearer, the negative articles increased.

Initially the focus was on the policy itself. Then more stories started to focus on the market impact and also on the overall political strategy.

This one is especially interesting. Basically any story that looks at the actual impact on the market is a negative story, but those that look just at the policy or the strategy are more positive than negative.

My first reaction to reading the news that Angelina Jolie had both her breasts removed was to quip to my flatmate that this is a greater disaster than the great depression.

But after my customary initial tasteless humour impulse, I did reflect that she is a massively courageous woman to do what she did.

I can’t imagine a double masectomy is an easy decision for any woman at all, but for a woman whose body has attracted global fame, the pressure would be even greater. And to have to make the decision not based on a current risk of cancer, but a future one, just adds to it.

While she did it for personal reasons, what a great role model for other women who may have to make such a difficult decision. If Angelina Jolie is willing to do it, it may help many more people to put their lives ahead of their looks, and do what they can to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Jolie wrote:

On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.

But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.

I suspect her decision to both have the double mastectomy and to write publicly about it will do more for raising awareness of this issue that probably all the public health campaigns combined in the world.

Some celebrities use their status to boost their egos. Other use it to do a world of good – Jolie is definitely one of those.

15 May 2013_Party Positions on MMP

A useful table showing the total lack of consensus on the MMP recommendations.

I’d be careful concluding that retaining the status quo is beneficial to National. Neither United Future or ACT got any List MPs via the one seat threshold in 2011, and frankly I am dubious they would so in 2014.

If anything the party most likely to bring in a List MP might be Mana.

Also lowering the threshold from 5% to 4% is most likely to benefit the Conservative Party, which is a potential coalition partner for National. So again retaining the status quo is not really of much benefit to them – in fact could disadvantage them.

Nick Smith has announced:

Housing Minister Nick Smith today announced two initiatives which will result in the building of up to 3000 new state house bedrooms and 500 new homes.

Dr Smith said the first initiative is called Project 324&5 and is designed to convert three bedroom houses into four and five bedroom homes.

“Project 324&5 recognises that Housing New Zealand, and particularly Auckland, have an oversupply of three bedroom homes and a real shortage of larger ones,” Dr Smith said.

“The initiative is expected to deliver up to 3000 new state house bedrooms to 2000 properties over the next two years, with three quarters of them in Auckland.

Sounds very sensible. You get far more extra capacity by expanding current houses, rather than having to buy land and build new sections.

Dr Smith said the second initiative will see an additional 500 two bedroom state houses built over the next two years on large Housing New Zealand properties in Auckland.

“There is strong demand from Housing New Zealand tenants for more two bedroom homes in Auckland. This is a result of a shortage of supply and increasing demand for two bedroom properties, particularly for single people with caregivers, couples with children, and solo parents.

“The Simply Smart Homes infill project will see pre-fabricated modular homes, to minimise disruption to existing tenants, assembled on the sections of large Housing New Zealand properties in Waitakere, North Shore and Manukau.”

Also seems pretty sensible to me. By not buying more land, it means you get more actual houses for the amount of money you have.

The Herald reports:

An American doctor may face the death penalty after being convicted of the gruesome killings of three babies shortly after their births in his filthy backstreet “abortion mill”.

Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of the first-degree murder of three newborn children, as well as the manslaughter of one of his patients.

A jury in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania also convicted the 72-year-old of carrying out 21 abortions later than the state’s limit of 24 weeks into pregnancy.

The court heard how Gosnell and his unqualified staff persuaded vulnerable women seeking abortions to give birth to live fetuses, whom they killed by “snipping” spinal cords.

What an awful man, and horrible case. Absolutely horrific.

Mirror reflection of Mitre Peak in Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park. South Island, New Zealand. Photography by Todd Sisson

It’s Wednesday Wallpaper / (Fortnightly Foto?) time again.

This week we return to Fiordland for a majestic morning view of Mitre Peak & Milford Sound.

Apologies for the gratuitous use of alliteration…

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link:   Password = wwp

See you next week!

Cheers – Todd [www.sisson.co.nz] 

The Herald reports:

The one thing alternative finance minister, Labour’s David Parker, won’t be criticising in tomorrow’s Budget is the Government’s confirmation that it is on track to return to surplus in 2014-15.

“I always thought it would; I’ve always said it should, and we would have too,” Mr Parker says.

That is unadulterated crap. Nothing Labour have done in the last five years suggests they would have done the same. Quite the opposite.

Labour left the incoming Government with not just a decade of deficits, but actually a permanent structural deficit. A deficit that would never have been plugged without policy changes. One so large that you could not just rely on economic growth and increased tax revenue to get back into surplus.

National has both frozen and cut spending. On every single occasion they have done so, Labour has attacked them for it. Labour has also consistently come up with massive new spending proposals such as extending paid parental leave and attacked the Government for not agreeing to it.

They also relentlessly criticised the Government what what they said was austerity measures, and said it was the wrong policy.

So to turn around now, and say “Oh yeah we would have got the Government back into surplus also” is just crap. They’ve spent years opposing every single spending cut and even explicitly saying that there is no rush to get back to surplus (I don’t regard six years as a rush!).

If you want an idea of what would have happened if Labour had been in power, just look at Labor in Australia.

Okay most of us know that when Labour was Government a deal was done with Sky City for 221 extra pokie machines in return for a $140 million convention centre. It seems that if you get a quango to negotiate the deal then it is a very good thing, but if a government department negotiates it is evil and bad.

But did you know Labour’s 2011 manifesto pledge a convention centre for Auckland? They said:

Business tourism is essential to NZ but we lack facilities to cater for large conferences.  If we want to be a true business tourism destination we need to have a world class conference centre and Auckland is the most practical place for it.”

Labour supports the concept of a world class Conference Centre and will work with Auckland Council in progressing such a project. “

So here’s my question? Is Labour going to announce that they will borrow $400 million to fund the convention centre directly? And will they pledge to have it Government owned and run, so that if it ever makes a loss then the taxpayer has to bail it out?

Also let us recall what Labour said about the existing convention centre, that also got funded by a gaming concession:

“The potential gains from this are widespread – not only for SKYCITY but for the Auckland city region, the tourism industry and the whole of New Zealand.”  

That was Tourism Minister Mark Burton at the opening of the SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre on 3 August 2004.

So in summary:

• Labour had a quango do a similiar deal (but for a centre one quarter the size) in 2001
• They proudly opened the centre as a result of the deal in 2004
• They committed to a convention centre in 2011

So again, isn’t it time for them to front up and announce how they would pay for it?

As I’ve previously blogged, the Australian Government have been unable to get a path back to surplus, despite the mining boon and previously strong economic growth.

So yesterday’s Budget saw $43 billion of spending cuts and tax increases on the back of a $13 billion deficit for the upcoming year. This is what happens when you let spending get out of control.

Some of the major announcements:

• Scrapping family tax benefits and bonuses $4.9b
• A 15% surtax on super fund earnings over $100,000 a year

It will be interesting to compare and contrast the NZ and Australian budgets on Thursday.

From Hansard:

HOLLY WALKER (Green) to the Minister of Justice: Does she intend to bring legislation to the House that will implement the recommendations of the MMP Review in time for the 2014 election?

Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Justice) : No.

Holly Walker: Why did she bother to hold the MMP review if she had no intention of implementing its recommendations in the time line intended?

Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Of course, I did not hold the MMP review; that was a matter that was undertaken by the Electoral Commission. But I can also say that I have made it very clear that we need consensus on these matters for any change, and there is no consensus for any change.

Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I believe that Dr Holly Walker was correct on this matter when she wrote: “There is a tradition of legislation making changes to the electoral system being passed unanimously in Parliament, and it would be great if all parties were able to put aside their own short-term political interests and build a consensus around the Electoral Commission’s report.” Dr Walker wrote that on 6 November last year in a little-read blog called Frogblog, and I agree with her.

This was entirely predictable.

I agree that significant changes to electoral law should not be made without wide-spread support from affected political parties. A policy Labour shattered with the malignant Electoral Finance Act, but one honoured by National in drawing up replacement legislation. In fact I actually think National compromised too much on that legislation by agreeing to third party spending limits.

I actually think National should have backed changes to both thresholds, namely reducing the party vote one from 5% to 4% and eliminating the one electorate seat threshold. But they have decided not to, and such a significant change should not occur without wide-spread parliamentary support.

I remain very nervous that when there is a change of Government, Labour and Greens will again abandon any commitment to not making significant partisan changes to the Electoral Act and will rewrite it to suit themselves. Time will tell.