Joelle Daly at Stuff reports:

A lawyer friend of Christchurch-based MP Aaron Gilmore was so embarrassed by the politician’s behaviour after a bottle and a half of wine that he wrote an apology to hotel staff.

Sources close to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel said Gilmore called a waiter a “dickhead”, handed over his business card and made a comment along the lines of “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician.”

Gilmore’s carry-on prompted Christchurch lawyer Andrew Riches to leave the waiter an apology note the next day.

Hotel management declined to comment yesterday, but a source said when Gilmore ordered more wine while settling the bill, the young man refused, saying they had had enough.

Gilmore then insulted the waiter, the source said.

However, the National Party backbencher yesterday called the incident a “misunderstanding” and denied he used his position as a politician.

While “some inappropriate comments might seem to have been made”, they had been apologised for, he said.

I understand Aaron has also now apologised on Twitter, and will be apologizing to the Prime Minister.

It’s not at all a good look, and a reminder that MPs are in the public spotlight and need to be mindful of that. I recall one MP lamenting to me the worse thing about being an MP is that is some jerk cuts them off in traffic with a dangerous maneuver, they can no longer give them the fingers!

I have little doubt the Whips have been in contact with the MP, and stressed the desirability of no repeat occurrences. I also imagine the PM is very unimpressed. It is no secret that after he became PM he spoke caucus about expected behaviour in a number of areas.

Still some way to go to beat the behaviour of Dover Samuels who actually pissed in a hotel corridor (and allegedly on a hotel staff member he was annoyed at), but this is not a competition you want to win.

Professor Doug Sellman of Alcohol Action recently met with two representatives of the Brewers Association to discuss initiatives to reduce alcohol related harm. The two reps were executive director Jenny Cameron and the (male) president of the Brewer’s Guild.

Professor Sellman wrote an article for NZ Doctor on their meeting. It is embedded below. Now bear in mind this is an article by a medical professional for NZ Doctor about a health issue. So what does he say:

We met at Christchurch’s Boatsheds Café, just across the Avon River from the National Addiction Centre. Ms Cameron and her colleague had arrived a little early. When they approached me at the entrance, I did a momentary double take. Her strikingly attractive appearance transported me back to the times when I was still agreeing to meet big Pharma drug reps at the clinic

So he focuses on the appearance of Ms Cameron and feels the need to share with the world she is “strikingly attractive”. Her male companion doesn’t even rate a mention.

I felt sad that such a talented and vibrant person, hailing from heartland New Zealand, had been taken in by Big Booze and was gearing up so enthusiastically to repeat all the same hollow and deceptive arguments we have heard for decades. Ms Cameron has the charm and intelligence to be a very effective government relations advisor

Talented, vibrant, charm, intelligence. It is almost as if the Professor had a wee crush. If only he could lure her away from the dark side!

I’m somewhat surprised that NZ Doctor thought an article on the “striking attractiveness” and “talent, vibrancy, charm and intelligence” of Ms Cameron was deemed appropriate for a medical publication. Maybe they hope to become the official journal of Mad Men!

NZ Doctor by David Farrar

The Justice & Electoral Select Committee has (finally) reported back on its inquiry into the 2011 general election. A lot of recommendations to comment on. I’ll cover the major ones.

Examining the merits of a standalone postal vote versus a referendum in conjunction with the general election when making decisions about future public referenda

I think it was a mistake in hindsight to have the MMP referendum with the general election. There was a dearth of coverage in broadcast media on the referendum as it was focused on the election. It would be better for referenda in future to be postal (preferably with an online option also).

Prohibiting electioneering activity on election day, including the wearing of rosettes, lapel badges, ribbons, streamers, and party apparel, other than the wearing of a party rosette by a scrutineer inside a polling station

Not a big issue, but it is silly to have a prohibition on advertising but still allow the above stuff.

Commissioning a review of existing regulations applying to social media on election day, to determine whether they are workable

It got very silly when people were warned that even tweeting about the weather could be an offence as it could discourage some people from voting. The law needs to distinguish between communications aimed at persuading people how to vote, and communications that are just sharing how people voted etc.

The aim of the non-electioneering law on e-day is to stop people being bullied into how to vote. It isn’t meant to stop conversations – even online ones.

Amending the Electoral Act 1993 to ensure that there is a significant penalty to act as a deterrent to failing to file a return in a deliberate attempt to defeat the operation of electoral law

Sensible. The current law encourages parties to file no return, as it is a lesser penalty than a false return.

Amending Part 6 of the Electoral Act 1993 to authorise the Electoral Commission to use an EasyVote card as the record an ordinary vote has been issued and as evidence that a special voter is eligible to vote, and to compile manual or electronic records of who has cast an ordinary or special vote using the EasyVote card or other verification methods

That is a very good idea. An electronic record of who has voted (but not how they voted) would provide invaluable demographic data which could be useful in efforts to increase turnout.

Amending the Electoral Act 1993 to make it clear that the Electoral Commission has the power to recalculate and amend the allocation of list seats for an election as the result of a successful election petition regarding an electorate seat

This is important, albeit unlikely. If (for example) a party got 4% of the vote and lost an electorate seat by 10 votes, then they get no seats in Parliament. If an election petition concluded they actually won the electorate seat then there is no mechanism for them to get the four or five list MPs they would have got if they had been declared winner of the electorate seat initially. This change would remedy that.

Examining the current electoral enforcement provisions to determine whether they are adequate

I’m disappointed this recommendation is not stronger. The Police have shown for three elections in a row that they have no interest in enforcing electoral law, and worse little knowledge of it. Their decisions in 2005 were legally incompetent, and they never acted on scores of referrals in both 2008 and 2011. I will be very upset if no change is made in this area, as it is dangerous to have no effective enforcement of electoral law.

Sunset light on ridgelines, Rangitata River Valley Canterbury. New Zealand landscape photography by Todd Sisson.

Welcome to yet another late instalment of Wednesday Wallpaper.  I have fallen foul of the combined tyranny of school holidays and home renovations – last week I didn’t know that it was Wednesday until it was Friday….

This image is another ‘back catalogue’ discovery that turned up on a dusty hard drive last month – it catches my eye, maybe it will stir your tea too 🙂

I’m back in the office next week, so I should be on time.

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link:  Please note the new, shorter, Password = wwp

This image is available as a greeting card here.

See you next week!

Cheers – Todd [www.sisson.co.nz] 

The obsession by some on the left with Susan Devoy’s appointment as Race Relations Commissioner is getting tiresome. They seem to be outraged that the Government has appointed someone who is not a left-wing activist or academic. Well this is what happens when you lose an election – you don’t get to decide who is appointed Race Relations Commissioner.

Now Green MP Catherine Delahunty has even attacked the interview panel, Radio NZ reports:

The Secretary of Defence and head of New Zealand Post were on the panel that interviewed Dame Susan Devoy for the job of Race Relations Commissioner, it has emerged.

They were: New Zealand Post chief executive Brian Roche, Secretary of Defence Helene Quilter and Justice Secretary Andrew Bridgman.

Greens MP Catherine Delahunty said on Wednesday the so-called independent assessment panel did not have the background to do its job.

Ms Delahunty said defence and postal communications have very o hlittle to do with race relations or the commissioner’s job, and there are many others with more direct professional experience who could have been on the panel.

Can I respectfully suggest Ms Delahunty acquaint herself with Mr Roche’s background before she comments on his background.

Over the last 20 years Brian Roche has been appointed by both Labour and National Governments to numerous roles in the areas of education, transport, health and Treaty Settlements. Specifically he has played a significant role in four Treaty settlements:

• Ngai Tahu – 1997 ($170m)
• Port Nicholson Block – 2008 (part of a $45m settlement)
• Ngati Awa – 2003 ($43m)
• Waikato River settlement – 2008 (part of the same $45m settlement package as Port Nicholson)

So dismissing him as just being about postal communications is trite and unworthy. I’d suggest someone who has been involved in four major Treaty settlements knows a hell of a lot about race relations in New Zealand, and is more than suitable to be on an appointment panel for the role.

Clare Rogers at Stuff reports:

Unionised McDonald’s staff will protest at the Queen St store in Auckland tomorrow before a countrywide strike threatened for next week. Unite union spokesman Joe Carolan said its 1500 members at McDonald’s planned to walk off the job next week over pay rates and working hours. McDonald’s had offered a 25-cent pay rise across the board, which was not enough, given the company had reported an almost $32 million annual profit, he said.

An inane comparison that tells us nothing. Tell us what the unions’ proposed pay increase would cost over the entire company, and then you’re getting a bit closer to useful information. Also tell us what that profit is as a percentage of both capital and revenue.

The proposed pay rise was less than an eighth of the cost of one of the fast-food chain’s cheapest items, a small serving of fries at $2.20.

Also a meaningless comparison, that the media parrot. And actually they have a number of items they sell for $1. But again what the hell does the price of a product have to do with how much staff get paid? By this logic staff at BMW should get paid 100 times as much as those as McDonalds, as their items costs $30,000 each.

Carolan said McDonald’s workers wanted parity with staff at KFC, where pay rates were considerably higher. For example, KFC employees received a $1 pay rise on the minimum wage after about six months in the job, compared with a 25c lift at McDonald’s.

if I worked at McDonalds and could earn more at KFC, I’d move over to KFC. I’m sure they have job vacancies come up all the time and would welcome experienced fast food service staff. Market pressure can be a very good way to get a pay increase.

According to records filed with the Companies Office, McDonald’s Restaurants made a net profit of $31.8m in New Zealand last year – flat on the previous year – as revenue edged up 2.7 per cent to $204.7m. The results are understood to include fees paid by franchisees to the company and sales at company-owned restaurants, not sales for all 160-odd McDonald’s stores in New Zealand.

Good to have some data at the end. But we’re still not told what the cost of an extra $1 an hour would be overall. Also if those figures exclude franchises, thet are of little value.

UPDATE: A reader does some calculations:

There are 160 McDonalds in NZ. A McDonald’s site for all the restaurants in Michigan says they employee an average of 61 people restaurant in Michigan. I assume this would be similar in NZ, or not far off. I can’t see why NZ restaurants would be more, or less labor intensive. That would be 9,760 employees approximately. In the US wages and benefits take up 31.9% of all revenue for the corporation and 25+% for the individually owned franchise.

I don’t know how many hours the average employee works, some are part time and some a full time, but some restaurants are open 24 hours as well. 

If you assume an average of 30 hours per employee you have added wage costs of $292,800 per week, or $15,225,600 per year. Those are approximates, but I think based on reasonable assumptions. This would effectively, based on the article you cited, mean a reduction in profits by more than 50%, all things being equal. If you assume that prices will have to rise to pay for additional wages then you can assume consumption will decline. Depending on the demand curve, which I think is somewhat flexible, sales would decline below what they would be otherwise. Given that sales in NZ McDonald’s have barely increased over the last year it could well mean a reduction in total sales and income, making the wage increase even more expensive. Both are likely to reduce the demand for workers, thus giving the increase to one class of workers at the expense of those who lost their jobs. 

I wish we got analysis like this in the media. It shows how importance context is.

The Herald reports:

The political right is already hailing the prospect of Maurice Williamson as Mayor of Auckland as a potential “circuit breaker” for local government in the Super City after the National MP yesterday confirmed he was considering running.

MP for Pakuranga since 1987, Mr Williamson yesterday told the Herald he was “getting a lot of approaches from a lot of people wanting me to stand for the mayoralty”.

“At this point I’m doing nothing other than just giving it some consideration. I have made no decisions whatsoever.”

But centre-right councillor Cameron Brewer was enthusiastic about the possibility Mr Williamson would run against current Mayor Len Brown this year, a prospect he said had been talked about for some time before yesterday.

“It would really energise the centre right and could be a game changer and a circuit breaker for local government in Auckland.

“One thing Maurice has got that people look to in mayors is experience and he’s got 26 years’ experience.” …

That experience included stints in several ministerial portfolios pertinent to the mayoralty in Auckland such as building and construction and transport.

“He’s been around, he’s got a huge following in the southern part of the region, he understands the issues, and he would be a clear alternative to Len Brown,” said Mr Brewer.

I think Maurice would be an excellent Mayor. He is a people person and hugely energetic. I think his nick-name used to be Tigger. And 15 years experience as a Minister would serve him rule in over-seeing the billion dollar Auckland Council. His tenures as Building and Transport Ministers would be exceptionally useful for Auckland in confronting those two issues.

Stuff reports:

After 12 months and $250,000, an inquiry into leaked Foreign Affairs Cabinet papers may never see the light of day.

In the High Court at Wellington yesterday, the lawyer for a person known only as “A” said the report by inquiry head Paula Rebstock voiced a “strong suspicion” that his client was responsible for the unauthorised disclosure of sensitive Cabinet documents, but offered no evidence to back it up.

The identity of Person A is well known around Wellington.

It is rare for a leak inquiry to actually determine who did it, or probably did it. It’s good that Rebstock appears to have been able to do so.

Labour have been calling out for months that the leak inquiry should halt. This to me reinforces that they know their source had been identified.

It is worth reflecting upon the fact that you will never get cast iron proof of whom leaked unless you capture them on video handing the documents over. But what you can establish is whom they scanned, copied or e-mailed documents with no valid reason for doing so.

Lawyer Jason McHerron told the court it was clear Ms Rebstock intended to proceed to find that “A” was responsible for the unauthorised disclosure of two Cabinet committee papers at the centre of the leak inquiry.

That was despite “A” denying being responsible.

Last month, Justice Dobson agreed to an injunction to delay the completion of Ms Rebstock’s report pending a judicial review. He also issued a gagging order against Ms Rebstock and State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie, who ordered the inquiry.

As I said the identity of Person A is well known, and even if they win their court case, I suspect their identity will not remain a secret.

The court heard yesterday “A” scanned and copied Cabinet documents but had repeatedly denied distributing them. A forensic examination was unable to find any evidence “A” sent the documents to anyone else. Without such evidence, the allegation should not be repeated, Mr McHerron said.

If you scanned in a cabinet document without being asked to do so, you’d better have a bloody good explanation for doing so.

The Herald reports:

In the same poll 48 per cent of voters said internet magnate Kim Dotcom should be allowed to stay in New Zealand – 42 per cent say Dotcom should be sent back to the US, and 10 per cent didn’t know.

This was a poll by 3 News.

I think it was a very bad decision to do a poll on this issue. It is tantamount to doing a poll on whether someone charged of a crime is guilty – before it has even gone to trial!

The decision on extradition is effectively one for the courts. Their role is to determine whether the offences he has been charged with in the US qualify under our extradition treaty and laws.

The decision on extradition is one for the courts, not one for public opinion. Of course Mr Dotcom is trying to make it into a cause celebre, but I am unsure as to why TV3 would play along.

If the courts find Dotcom should not be extradited, then he is very welcome here. If he is extradited and is found not guilty in a trial, then again he is welcome here. But the court processes should be allowed to reach a conclusion.

Stuff reports:

Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party all say they would repeal or alter the three-strikes legislation after the issuing of a second strike to Hastings man Elijah Whaanga.

Whaanga, 21, was sentenced to two years’ jail and issued with his second strike by Judge Tony Adeane in the Napier District Court on April 18 after pleading guilty to two charges of aggravated robbery.

I understand he has a total of 72 convictions. I look forward to Labour and Greens campaigning up and down New Zealand that he should be given not 3 strikes, but 73.

Whaanga, who now has 20 convictions as an adult, was given his first strike in 2010 for a violent aggravated robbery for which he was jointly charged.

Presumably 52 of his convictions were as a youth. He has raked up a huge number of criminal convictions in a very short time. Hopefully the thought of 14 years prison for another aggravated robbery will mean he stops offending, and he creates no more victims.

But’s let’s say he does continue upon his ways. Well then for the next 14 years there will be no more victims. While prior to three strikes, he’d probably chalk up another 50 or so convictions over the next 14 years.

The Greens would “definitely” seek to repeal the law if they came to power, Mr Clendon said.

No surprise there.

Labour justice spokesman Andrew Little said the party had not committed to repeal the law but believed there were parts that might need to be altered.

Labour’s policy in 2011 was to repeal it, off memory. They voted against it, and I have no doubt they will repeal it unless they give a cast iron assurance not to before the election. However, even if they claim they will just amend it, the nature of MMP means that they may agree to its repeal as part of a coalition agreement with the Greens. Under MMP, you can’t hold parties to their manifestos unless they get a majority in their own right.

Massive Mag reports:

The Vice-President of the Extramural Students’ Society (EXMSS) and the executive Extramural and International Students representative say they have been “unlawfully dumped” from their positions.

President Jeanette Chapman announced the removals of Vice-President Dave Crampton and International Students’ executive Linda O’Dea in an April 12 message on the EXMSS website and Facebook page.

It says the pair were removed from the association because they “failed to…ensure [theirs and others’] membership of EXMSS”.

Membership costs $15, and according to the EXMSS 2012 constitution from the website, is to be paid within 60 days of the issue of an invoice, but both Crampton and O’Dea claim they did not receive an invoice.

And even if they did, you follow it up and do a reminder.

According to the Incorporated Societies Act, the most recent registered constitution from EXMSS is from 1997. Media Advisor from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Britton Broun states “Under the Incorporated Societies Act, any alteration to the rules of an incorporated society will only take effect once it has been registered.  Accordingly, it would appear that the rules that are legally in effect for the Massey University Extra-Mural Students’ Society Incorporated are the 1997 rules which appear on the register – the 2012 rules will only come into effect once they have been signed by at least three members of the society, delivered to the Registrar for registration, and registered.”

If this version is to be taken as the valid one, a member shall cease to be a member if he/she (iii) “Fails to pay the society’s annual subscription by the date of the Annual General Meeting.”

Crampton says that no AGM has occurred this year and a date for such has not been set.

The law is clear, that the 1997 constitution is the one legally in force.

It says something about the competence of EXMSS they no one has registered any constitutional changes in the last 15 years.

UPDATE: For avoidance of doubt, my criticism of the lack of registration of constitutional changes is not directed at the current Exec, but previous ones.

Marty Sharpe at Stuff reports:

A Mongrel Mob leader with a long list of convictions for violence has been freed on parole after vowing to change his ways.

Sonny Charlton Kaori Smith, 48, was freed in January, two years after he was sentenced to eight years’ jail for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

One of our lawyers may be able to help, but I thought you had to serve at least a third of your sentence before you were eligible for parole. I’ve not previously heard of parole two years into an eight year sentence.

I’m not commenting per se on the decision of the Parole Board, as I don’t have enough info to comment on why they though such early release would lead to rehabilitation. But I am surprised that someone can gain parole at such an early stage.

Danyl Mc at Dim Post blogged:

I’ve just watched the Q & A section on the Labour-Greens power policy, in which Susan Wood agonised over the massive financial destruction the announcement visited on all the ordinary New Zealanders who have investments in KiwiSaver (and, indirectly, in the Cullen Fund and ACC), so have lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the last week because of the massive market crash.

This is a talking point the government’s shills have been throwing around all week – Hooton claimed the total loss was in the ‘billions’ on National Radio – so I thought I’d take a look and see how the NXZ has actually been performing recently. The red line is April 18th, the day Labour and the Greens launched their announcement.

The graph is

I’m amazed Danyl is trying to argue that as the overall sharemarket is up, then the destruction of value in some companies doesn’t matter.

To use an analogy, it is like someone going into your street and burning your house down, but then telling you not to complain about it because the value of the rest of the street has risen.

Yes the NZX is up.That is because global investors are buying shares in Xero like it is the next Google. Now that is great for Xero shareholders like myself. It isn’t much use however to the person who only has shares in Contact Energy.

Having said that there seems to be a growing consensus that the Greens and Labour policy will never be implemented, even if they win the election. NBR reports:

The Woodward report makes no calculation for the impact of the Labour-Greens policy on MRP’s profits, but considers “the likelihood of occurrence to be low”, in part because the policy would be complex to implement and likely to face court challenges.

I think they are correct. At the end of the day I just don’t think the Government can effectively nationalise 14 power companies.

This video reminds me of a Xmas lunch many years ago at a cafe on Tinakori Road, and a woman was trying to parallel park her car outside the cafe. She was only marginally more successful that the woman in this video, and it probably didn’t help that she could see our group pissing ourselves with laughter.

However we were not laughing at her directly. One of the girls in teh group went outside to tell her why we were laughing. She told the joke which she had just told to us, which was “Why are women so bad at parallel parking?”. The punchline being “Because men tell them that this is six inches” while holding up two hands just a few cms apart.

As she repeated the joke to the woman, she cracked up laughing also. It still took her several more attempts to par the car though!

Kiwiblog has five double tickets to give away for Ewen Gilmour’s Midlife Circus at the San Francisco Bathhouse on the opening night of Tuesday 7 May. The show starts at 8.30 pm. the show blurb is:

Join Ewen as he regales you with tales about tattoos, motorbikes, beer, fast cars, overseas trips, beer, cholesterol, hearing aids, beer, glasses, prostate checks and beer.  Welcome to Ewen Gilmour’s Midlife Circus…

If you would like to attend, comment below and if you are one of the first five, then e-mail me your name and contact phone numbers so tickets can be reserved for you.

I’m attending the same night, and looking forward to it. A big fan of the Comedy Festival.

The Governnment has just published a very readable regional economic activity report. It is full of data and graphs such as this one.

It’s a great resource for people wanting to understand our economy at a regional level.

Su’a WIlliam Sio says:

The call by the Pacific community for allocated seats on local councils is a result of the frustration of being left out of decision making says Labour’s Local Government and Pacific Island Affairs spokesperson Su’a William Sio.

“Given the Pacific community wants a stake in decisions that affect its families, communities and kids it is obvious there is a need for a discussion on how we ensure our minority groups are represented properly.

Does that mean Labour will change the law to give allow Pacific Islanders guaranteed seats on Councils, as they did for Maori?

“An active, participative democracy allows for full inclusion and I support a discussion to explore how current systems can be improved to ensure Pacific representation isn’t left by the wayside.

“Pacific, Maori and Asian communities are the youngest and fastest growing populations in New Zealand. Their voices matter and our governance structures shouldn’t mute their contributions,” Su’a William Sio said.

It seems obvious that Sio thinks there should be Pacific seats on Councils. Does Labour? Is this something they want to do, but don’t want to announce?

Wil that be followed by guaranteed Asian seats on Council? Will all seats be race based in future? Because that is the logical end point of race based seats.

I fully understand the historical background to the parliamentary Maori seats, and why many in Maoridom see great value in them. I don’t support “taking them away” without the consent of Maori, as that is a pretty hostile thing to do.

But I hate the precedent they set of race based seats being acceptable. And we saw Labour extend this to local government by allowing Councils to create race based seats for Maori. And it is inevitable that so long as you have race based seats for Maori, then of course other ethnic communities will aspire to having them also, such as Pacific Islanders. Of course you can argue the status of Maori is different as tangata whenua, but nevertheless the existence of the seats means they do create a precedent.

If you have seats for Pacific Islanders, how could you argue against seats for Asians?

I’m proud of the fact that Asian New Zealanders have been elected Mayors in Dunedin and Gisborne. It was no big thing, they just happened to be Asian. That is how it should be.

I’m all for improving the diversity of both Parliament and Councils, but not through race based seats or quotas. I also support recognising the unique interests of Iwi in local issues such as resource use, but I don’t think Maori roll seats are the way to do that.

Global Metal Apocalypse writes:

Global Metal Apocalypse is adding a new dimension to the site and it may be the first time that a music blog / site has done this, if it is then what can we say? Other than let this new adventure bring greater achievements and a greater global established presence as I conduct interviews and / or gain quotes from different nations in particular their culture ministers on how Heavy Metal is viewed in their country, bring out the controversy and support, this is going to be a bumpy ride.

Focusing on a host of established and highly underground metal scenes, this post is aiming to express the feelings of Heavy Metal in the respective country outside the core community by trying to voice opinions and views that ministers of culture express and at the same time seeing if the world’s most extreme music genre has impacted on the traditional cultures of the specific nation.

They contacted the NZ Govt:

I directed an email to the right honourable Christopher Finlayson of whom is the minister for arts, culture and heritage in New Zealand, upon receival of his reply he had forwarded his answer through his press secretary Mr. Ben Thomas. Owing to New Zealands small metal scene recognition, it has a fair number of metal bands going around regardless of how well known bands like Ulcerate have garnered international attention, it would seem that the general public only know New Zealand for kiwis, the mountainous terrain and Lord of the Rings, but even Saruman took up the opportune moment.

And then the reply from the NZ Government:

There is no official government support for young people to learn instruments for use in metal music. The government does fund an initiative called Sistema Aotearoa, which enables primary-aged children from disadvantaged communities to learn classical music under the instruction of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. It is not inconceivable that these young players may one day end up accompanying power metal groups such as Nightwish as part of a full orchestra, or providing ominous strings and horns on a black metal record by the likes of Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir”.

You have to enjoy a response to a question about promoting heavy metal by quoting how the Govt is helping poor kids learn classical music!

Hat Tip: Dim-Post

The Herald editorial:

The first of the group’s two recommended solutions to plug a $10 billion to $15 billion funding gap in the council’s 30-year integrated transport programme fails to meet that criterion. This option suggests that from 2021, the money should come from hefty increases in rates, a regional fuel tax, tolls on major new roads, further government contributions and small public transport fare increases. The financial burden would, in effect, be widely spread. An advantage of this approach is that it would be reasonably simple to implement. But that does not outweigh the fact that much of the funding would be drawn from homeowners.

Neither home owners or taxpayers should be primarily funding roads and public transport. The users of roads and public transport should fund them.

The second option is better targeted. It envisages the introduction of road pricing supplemented by smaller increases in rates and fuel tax, further government contributions and small public transport fare increases. Motorists would be levied to use existing roads through motorway tolls, or charged to pass through cordons on other congested arterial routes. This would be more expensive to implement but the approach has several benefits, as well as drawing most of the funding from the major beneficiaries.

Most importantly, it would prompt immediate behavioural change by drivers, a feature not associated with the other option. Virtually overnight, there would be less road congestion.

Claiming overnight cures to congestion is silly, but the point about behavioural change is important.

The Super City was established ostensibly to provide the people of Auckland with strategic direction and leadership. If the council can convince them to supply the bulk of the funding on the basis that there will be a dramatic improvement in traffic movement, the Government should get out of the road.

The best way of achieving that outcome would be through a referendum run as part of October’s local-body elections. It cannot be a yes or no vote on the public paying more for transport. Such a vote would always see higher charges rejected. The question would have to be carefully tailored so as not to simply provide a chance for the venting of spleen. In essence, it should be boiled down to a vote on what is preferable – increased rates or road pricing.

I agree with a referendum, but disagree that you only ask people how they want to pay, and not how much they want to pay?

Why not do a referendum on the City Rail Loop, with funding options for it? Tell Aucklanders the cost of it, and get them to vote on say one of say these options:

1. Fund $2.9b CBD rail loop by rates impost of $250 a year for 10 years
2. Fund $2.9b CBD rail loop by a petrol tax of 25c a litre for 10 years
3. Fund $2.9b CBd rail loop by road charges of $4 a day (assume 300,000 vehicles charged)
4. Not build CBD rail loop

Not quite as simple as that, but Aucklanders should get to vote on how they pay for the CBD rail loop, if they want it.

Whale Oil has a lethal blog post on the massive hypocrisy of Jeremy Elwood.

Matthew Hooton tweeted:

Go @derekfox for byelection. U wld win for @maoriparty against @nzlabour – and become leader. #nzpol

Now I think Matthew’s timing was insensitive. Of course there will be talk of the political consequences of Horomia’s death, but to tweet about it two hours after teh death was poor judgement.

Comedian Jeremy Elwood tweeted:

@MatthewHootonNZ You know someone just died, right? I want to think you don’t because the level of fucktardness if you do is inexcusable.

Now Matthew deserves the raps he got from several people for his tweet, but is Jeremy the one to take the moral high ground. Whale finds this tweet from Nov 2012:

Please tell me the rumours of Margaret Thatcher dying are true? Please do not let that be a prank. I’ve been waiting too long.

And then just two weeks ago:

Ding dong the witch is dead.

I’m sorry but what a “fucktard” hypocrite. Hooton was insensitive, but not gloating. To take the moral high ground after your gloating posts over Thatcher is fucking sick.

And he is totally unrepentant:

I will never apologise for dancing on Thatchers grave. She was my personal Hitler. P.H. was just a guy.

In other words, it is fine when I do it.

Personally I find his hypocrisy and obvious hatred of right wing politicians so sickening that if I was a National MP, I’d tell him to go fuck himself if he ever invited me onto a show he is part of. Why helps a guy who hates you get ratings?

The Commerce Commission has published its sixth annual telecommunications market monitoring report.

Some interesting facts:

• Investment $1.26b
• Revenues $5.22b. Voice revenues falling, data revenues growing.
• 78% of households with a fixed line, have a broadband connection. We have the fastest growth rate in the OECD.
• The number of voice call minutes dropped from 6.1 billion to 5.7 billion
• Telecom’s fixed line market share dropped from 65% to 61%
• We have 111 mobile phones per 100 people
• 13.9 billion text messages sent, which is around 3,000 per person, the highest by far in OECD. Love to see a breakdown by age!
• Increase in Naked DSL connections from 30,000 two years ago to over 100,000 in the last year.
• Average data use per DSL line increased from 10 GB to 19 GB
• Average download speed of 3.9 Mbps – pretty crap
• Overall the telco market becoming significantly more competitive, while UK and Australia are static
• Text or SMS revenues of $376m greater than Mobile broadband revenue of $354m, but next year broadband revenue should be larger
• Mobile data doubled to around 4 petabytes or 4 million MBs.
• 66% of NZers own a laptop, 48% a smartphone and 29% a tablet

Telecommunications is such a dynamic industry as people move from voice to data, and from fixed to mobile.

Stuff reports:

A police plea for the name of the writer of a letter threatening to unload an automatic assault rifle in Canterbury University’s library has been turned down by the institution’s students association.

The letter, written anonymously and published in the students association’s magazine Canta on March 20, lists a series of gripes the author has about university life, including people who ride bikes on the footpath and students who wear camouflage. It then reads: “The above things are slowly transforming me from a Gandhi-like character to the kind of guy who is going to walk into James Hight [the library] one day with a fully loaded automatic assault rifle and unload my anger into you.”

The letter has also featured on the magazine’s website since March 20, but only came to the university’s attention when a student’s mother complained about it on Friday.

University Vice-Chancellor Rod Carr said he only became aware of it yesterday and referred the matter to police.

“This is a person who needs help,” he said. …

Despite police asking for the individual’s name, Carter said, the University of Canterbury Students Association (UCSA) had declined to release it on privacy grounds. Since no offence had been committed, police were unable to seek a warrant to force the release of the name.

“We are looking at other options for getting in touch with this person,” Carter said. “We would like to speak with them, and hopefully satisfy ourselves that there is no need for concern. If they would like to come forward and contact us, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss the letter and the concerns it raises.”

Canta editor Hannah Herchenbach would not comment and forwarded all queries to UCSA president Erin Jackson.

Jackson did not respond to questions about why UCSA would not release the name to police. But she did say the last paragraph contained content that “could be interpreted to look like a non-specific threat”, but the “tone of the letter was largely hyperbolic”.

She said given the tenor of the letter, and UCSA’s previous dealings with and knowledge of the author, it was assessed there was no serious threat.

I’m with UCSA on this one. Those who are serious threats, don’t tend to write letters to Canta about it. The letter maybe somewhat bad taste, but so are the vast majority of letters to student newspapers. They range from the hilarious to the defamatory. The letter was an obvious rant, not a threat. There is a difference, and we don’t want to end up like the UK where a guy got arrested for tweeting how he’d blow up an airport because they made him miss a date with his girlfriend. You obviously don’t say such things while in the queue for security scanning or on an aircraft – but that is different from saying one can never ever ever joke about such stuff.