I was sitting at home waiting for poll data to come in and my computer reminded me I was due at Beep Test* in half an hour. I thought to myself “What the hell is Beep Test*” and then remembered it is a Fringe Festival production I had been invited to attend and review.

So I quickly headed down to the Thistle Hall on Cuba Street and entered the hall. The first thing I noticed is that (apart from John Smythe) I was possibly the oldest person there. This is quite different to many theatre outings when I am almost the youngest 🙂

As I sat down I couldn’t work out who and what was or was not part of the show. There were drinks for sale, and also people making sandwiches next to them. Were the sandwiches for sale also or part of the show? (was the latter) There were a group of people doing exercise warm ups. Were they actors or audience or both?

So I sat down reasonably confused, and having no idea of what it would all mean.

At the end of the night, I’m not sure I was any wiser about what it all meant, but I did enjoy a cool night of frenetic fun. It was classic fringe festival where you are equal parts amused and bemused.

If you spend too much time trying to work out why she is wearing a gold cocktail dress on top of her gym gear, you’ll go mad. You just enjoy that she is, and somehow it works.

Normally in a review I’d give an outline of the production, but I don’t want to give too much away as the fun is in finding out what happens next. But a few details.

The main event so to speak is seeing the two actors (Simon Haren and Isobel MacKinnon from Binge Culture) run from end to end of the hall as the robotic voice tells them to. The pace gets faster and faster and you get quite enthralled at seeing how long they can last. But it isn’t just them, audience members are encouraged to take part also and around 20 start off doing it. And they don’t just run – they bounce off the walls, they do high fives, and more.

That wasn’t the only audience participation (the whole show is about audience participation). One unlucky soul gets picked to go up onto the sofa for a multi-choice interview, again against an ever quicker count down. I was unfortunately the chosen one in this case and had to answer a dozen questions such as whether at school I was popular, weird or other (I said all of the above). Then as the clock runs out, the two hosts end up leading the audience in dancing and somehow Isobel and myself spend a couple of minutes doing a Tom Cruise impression holding hands and jumping up and down on the interview couch in best Oprah style. Very hilarious and surreal. Luckily for the couch this production wasn’t a year ago 🙂

There’s other fun segments also such as the maths tests and the stand up comic routines. The whole show lasts an hour, and was an excellent way to live up an otherwise boring weeknight.

Not everyone is into fringe humour, but if you are this is a great fun show to go along to.

I enjoyed it so much, I am almost considering going back on Thursday. Not so much to see the show again, but because I regret not taking part in the running segment. I reckon I could have lasted until the final few. Mind you they were saying that one of the guests at a future show is a marathon runner so best you don’t try to keep up with him!

Skyline

EveryTrail – Find hiking trails in California and beyond

The Skyline Walk is one of the best walks in Wellington as you get a near continual view of not just the city and harbour, but also of the Western coastline.

The 12 km walk starts at Johnsonville and finishes at the South end of Karori at the saddle of Makara Road.

There is an initial climb up to Mt Kaukau, but after that it is a fairly easy walk to Karori (with the exception of one further steep climb). Very well signposted and the track varies from 4WD paths to narrow goat like paths. Fun when someone comes the other way!

The continual views make this a great walk. Took just over three and a half hours.

This was walk no 11 of the 13 walks over summer. Just two to go.

Dave Armstrong writes in the Dom Post:

And then there was the library. Every Friday night the four Armstrong kids would troop down and get our books. The librarians were friendly and though the library was small, it had a copy of my favourite book – Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel. It’s about a steam shovel operator who digs a great big hole but forgets to create a path out. Little did I know that Mike Mulligan would provide me with a perfect metaphor for the Wellington City Council in the second decade of the twenty-first century.

I grew up in Island Bay, and the Island Bay Library was an important part of my childhood. I was a fast reader and would visit there almost every fortnight to borrow more books. Because it was in my neighbourhood, I could walk there on the way home from school. There is no way I would have gone to the central library in town.

But if you investigate further you find that this pillar of the Brooklyn community is at risk from a far greater natural disaster than earthquakes – city councillors. Brooklyn Library’s services have been deliberately run down by cutting staff hours and stock circulation. Though Brooklyn is categorised as a District Centre, which entitles it to a library, this apparently conflicts with the council’s recent Centres Policy, which sees Brooklyn as a Neighbourhood Centre. And under this policy, because Brooklyn is (just) less than 3 kilometres from the city library, then it doesn’t qualify for a library. To think our rates pay for this ridiculously bureaucratic way to define a community. You wouldn’t read about it – especially now that they’re wanting to close libraries.

Wadestown’s excellent library is also under threat, though community facilities portfolio leader Justin Lester said recently that closing Wadestown Library would not be worth “the amount of hurt that you go through trying”. I would prefer that the councillors I elect to say things like “Wadestown Library will close over my dead body” than to tell me that they don’t want to engage in a bitter public fight over its closure.

I doubt there is a lot Dave Armstrong and I agree on politically, but community libraries may just be one of them.

I think it is vital that kids can easily access a local library and borrow books at no or low cost. The benefits of having kids be enthusiastic readers is massive. I do regard this as a clear public good, which should be funded by ratepayers.

Kids should be reading as much as possible. Few families can afford to buy scores of books a year. That is very libraries are so brilliant, with temporary borrowing. They make it easy for all families to have kids who read. Of course there are other barriers such as parental attitudes, but libraries at least remove the barrier of cost.

Bill English and Tony Ryall have announced details. They are:

• Pre-registration period will begin tomorrow
  
• Pre-registration period ends 22 March
• Offer document in mid April
• A 3 week offer period after that when individuals can apply for shares
• After the individual offers, institutional investors can apply
• Main listing on NZX and secondary listing on ASX, because some institutions with NZ investors could not apply without an ASX listing
• Sale process to conclude mid May
• minimum share application will be $1,000
• All NZers guaranteed at least $2,000 of shares without scaling back if they apply
• The loyalty bonus for NZ retail investors will be detailed before the share offer opens

I’m looking forward to buying some MRP shares, especially as I was banned from being able to buy Contact Energy shares when they were floated.

Likely to but Meridian shares also. Not so sure about Genesis, and also unsure about Air NZ.  Air NZ is one of the more successful airlines, but it is a very temperamental industry.

A for Solid Energy, I suspect I could buy it with my collection of loose change – a good reminder of why the Government shouldn’t own risky competitive businesses. Their jobis to regulate not own.

Rodney Hide writes in the HoS:

I know I would have a lot to learn if I wanted to teach in a school. But I don’t understand why the Teachers Council gets to demand that prospective teachers attend Auckland University for a full year to get a Graduate Diploma in Teaching before doing so.

I already have three degrees, have taught science and economics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, have worked in a successful merchant bank and have some knowledge of government and its operation.

In some capacity I would have something to teach students. But I can’t. The Teachers Council declares I must complete a diploma that includes a course called EDPROFST 612, which “explores questions relating to … the Treaty of Waitangi and the socio-political influences that shape the interconnections between learning and context”.

This might explain a lot!

I am amazed we have the many good teachers that we do. But I wonder how many potentially good teachers the Teachers Council and their asinine courses and processes have driven away.

I like the Teach for America programme where top graduates spend two years or more working as teachers, after a five week summer training course.

Bail should be granted to most people awaiting trial, as  they are innocent until proven guilty. Obviously not for the most serious cases such as murder.

But when someone has a history of offending on bail, or multiple previous convictions – then sticking them out on bail is just a recipe for creating further victims of crime. Especially that often any additional offences while on bail will not lead to greater punishment.

Now look at this case reported by Anna Leask:

A teenager on bail when he robbed an 81-year-old woman, breaking her hip and wrist and disabling her for life, has been sentenced to home detention.

But Darren Fidow’s elderly victim wants him jailed and is demanding a harsher sentence.

Patricia Sutcliffe’s hip and wrist were badly broken when she was robbed in 2011. She was in hospital for more than three months, is in constant pain and can no longer walk without a crutch.

Auckland Crown Solicitor Simon Moore, QC, is considering an appeal. The Crown originally sought a sentence of more than five years’ jail.

The sentence is bad enough. But look at the history.

Fidow was on bail facing a burglary charge when he robbed her.

In June 2011, Fidow was charged with aggravated robbery. He appeared in court and was released on bail.

1st time.

Fidow was arrested again in February last year for breaching supervision conditions and was warned and re-bailed.

2nd time.

He was also arrested in June after failing to appear in court. He was remanded in custody after evading police for several months, but released again in July on electronic bail.

3rd time.

Days later, after a scheduled court appearance, Fidow was caught burgling another house. This time he was remanded in custody, but in October, he was bailed again to Odyssey House, for alcohol abuse treatment.

4th time.

What is the bet he breaches his home detention?

Stuff reports:

It’s another case of she said, she said. Labour MP Jacinda Ardern was yesterday bemoaning record benefit numbers during National’s reign.

DPB, sickness and invalid beneficiary numbers were at the highest since records began in 1940, she said.

It didn’t take long for Social Development Minister Paula Bennett to respond with her own gloating statement.

The number of people on the DPB, unemployment and invalids benefits all decreased last year, she said. It seems statistics are everyone’s friend.

Rather than just report that both MPs are claiming different things, it would be nice if the media actually provided the full data and allowed people to decide for themselves.

I blogged yesterday that the numbers cited by the HoS and Ardern were over a year out of date. That’s not opinion – it is fact.

The excellent Stats Chat site also gives people the full data, in graph form. Sadly the number of people who read that site is far far less than those who read newspapers.

Lindsay Mitchell also has some useful fisking of Ardern’s claims.

Ironically Anthony Robins at The Standard is also unhappy with the article. Not for the misleading claims, but because a Labour MP is suggesting that it would be a good thing to have fewer people on welfare!

Hamish Rutherford reports:

Housing New Zealand is planning to ditch three-bedroom homes on quarter-acre sections in favour of one-bedroom units.

Details of the department’s plan to reconfigure its portfolio are revealed in a briefing for new Housing Minister Nick Smith.

The owner of more than $15 billion worth of state housing, the government department openly admits that barely half its portfolio properly meets the needs of its tenants.

While 43 per cent of its 69,000 homes are three bedroom houses, only 16 per cent of its “priority demand” requires a property of that size. And only 10 per cent of its portfolio is one-bedroom units, meeting 33 per cent of its highest demand.

I suspect when most state houses were purchased or built the typical tenants were working families with several kids. Today I’d guess that most tenants are not in work and have smaller families.

This is one of the problems of attempting to deliver housing assistance through state houses rather than through accommodation subsidies. If the profile of those most in need changes over time, you end up with a mismatch.

Catherine Harris at Stuff reports:

A former adviser to the Reserve Bank and World Bank says the cost of bringing in tougher tests for earthquake-prone buildings would far outweigh the benefits.

Economic consultant Ian Harrison said he had analysed proposals put forward by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on building standards, and it showed the cost of the tougher regime would be 50 times the benefits.

In Auckland the cost was 1762 times the benefit.

Harrison said his research was based on the ministry’s own expert analysis.

“The proposals will save only 0.25 lives a year at a cost of over $4 billion,” he said.

This speaks volumes.

Risk must always be balance against cost. Far from clear that the Government has it right in this case.

UPDATE: Have just had clarified that the Government has made no decisions on building standards, so ipso facto don’t have it wrong or right.

The proposals are from the Royal Commission on the Canterbury Earthquakes. MOBIE are consulting on those recommendations, but the Government itself has made no decision on any changes. They are just doing what a Government should – consulting on what the Royal Commission has recommended.

Incidentally submissions close this week on 8 March on them.

While I think a lot of deference should be given to the Royal Commissions, I don’t think that means what they recommend should automatically be accepted. I think the balance of cost and risk has to be carefully considered, and at this stage it doesn’t appear the Commission has got that balance quite right. We’ll see in time what the Government itself actually proposes.

Some commenters and others have alleged that the Government is “rushing” the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment bill through Parliament. This is incorrect, and in fact isn’t even possible. The Government can control the order and timing of Government bills, but has no ability to speed up or slow down Members’ Bills – especially ones that are conscience issues.

The process and timing for Members’ Bills is controlled by Parliament’s Standing Orders. I thought it would be useful to take people through what these are, and how they have worked in this case.

1. An MP submits a proposed Members’ Bill to the Clerk – SO 274. Louisa Wall did this on 1 June 2012
2. If at any time less than eight Members’ Bills are awaiting a first reading, a ballot is triggered under SO 277(1). This occurred on Wed 27 June and Wed 25 July when the House had a Members’ Day and considered a number of other Members’ Bill that were awaiting first reading.
3. Ballots were held on Thu 28 June and Thu 26 July. On 28 June four bills were selected out of 65 submitted and on 26 July five bills were selected out of 63 submitted. The Marriage (DOM) Bill was one of those selected on 26 July.
4. The bill was introduced to Parliament that day – SO 277(3)
5. The bill is set down for a first reading three sitting days later – SO 281(2), which is Thu 2 August 2012.
6. In every two weeks of House sitting, Govt bills are debated on five of the six sitting days, and Members’ bills are given priority on every second Wednesday – SO 74(1). Generally there will be four and a half hours available.
7. On Members’ Days, any local or private bills take precedence – SO 63. This means that a Members’ Bill will not be debated until any local or private bills scheduled for a reading or committee stage are dealt with first.
8. If they get to Members’ Bills, any bills awaiting third reading, committee stage or second reading are given priority over a bill awaiting first reading. S70(1)
9. There was a Members’ Day on 15 August which did not see the Marriage (DOM) Bill got to, but on Wed 29 August its first reading was held. There are 11 speeches lasting 65 minutes under Appendix A. The vote was 80-40.
10. At the conclusion of the first reading, the MP in charge nominates a select committee for it to be referred to. SO 283(1). It was referred to the Government Administration Select Committee.
11. The Select Committee is required under SO 291/1 to report back the bill within six months, which in this case is 28 February 2013. The only way this deadline can be extended is if Parliament unanimously (or near unanimously consents.
12. The Select Committee called for submissions on 12 September, and allowed the normal six weeks until 26 October.
13. They received 21,533 submissions with 10,487 in favour and 8,148 against. 2,898 of the submissions were individual ones, not form letters.
14. The Select Committee starting hearing oral submissions on the 7th of November and the last submission was heard on 30th of January. They heard 220 submissions in person with hearings in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The final day for oral submissions was only 4 weeks before the bill had to be reported back.
15. The Select Committee then considered the bill, the submissions, proposed amendments, had a report drafted and voted to accept the report. They reported back on 27 February 2013 – the second to last day possible.
16. The bill is then set down under SO 292 for a second reading three sitting days later. This is Thu 6 March.
17. The second reading will occur automatically on a Member’s Day once any local or private bills on the order paper are dealt with, and any committee stage or third readings of Members’ Bills. There are three such bills ahead of it on the Order Paper which will take place on Wed 13 March – the next Members’ Day. This is all automatic under Standing Orders – the Government gets no say on it.
18. If the second reading passes on 13 March, then the committee stage is likely to be on Wed 27 March when amendments can be considered.
19. After the committee stage, the third reading is likely to be Wed 17 April.

All this timetabling is basically automatic. The rules of Parliament are binding. Only with unanimous leave can dates or timing be changed. This is deliberate. It is important that the Executive only controls its own bills, but doesn’t control Parliament as a whole.

Kate Chapman reports:

An announcement will be made this afternoon after the Cabinet makes its final decisions.

One of those will be whether to dual-list stock on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges, as indicated by an Australian media report on Friday.

To do so would fly in the face of the Government’s promise that Kiwi mum-and-dad investors would be at the front of the queue.

It won’t, but it may be perceived as doing so. In reality dual listing is unlikely to greatly change the proportion purchased by New Zealanders. The impact is more likely to be on price.

Business commentator Rod Oram said the Government faced a dilemma.

“On the one hand it wants to get the best price it can for the shares, but in terms of stimulating demand, it’s going to run into political flak.”

Australians can buy shares on the NZX, but listing In Australia would make it easier and increase demand.

Rod Oram is correct. Dual listing will increase the price, but also that Australians can buy shares directly on the NZX also.

I own a number of shares that are listed on the ASX only – and I’m not Australian.

It would also create demand from institutional investors that did not trade in New Zealand.

That would drive up the price and ensure the Government got the maximum benefit from the sale, Mr Oram said.

“The counter of that is, in doing that, they would be guaranteed to increase the foreign proportion of shares held in the company.”

There would be some impact, but the Government’s allocation model will be the prime factor. They are very focused on over 80% being NZ owned.

Dual-listing would also seem to fly in the face of the Government’s argument that the asset sales would boost domestic capital markets.

“Listing in Australia does somewhat undercut that,” Mr Oram said.

A fair point.

Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove said the four state-owned energy companies that the Government planned to sell down would inevitably end up in foreign ownership.

A stupid point. This is literally impossible under the law passed by Parliament.

The graph above shows the average of all the public polls since the 2011 election.  Have just published Curia’s monthly newsletter:

February saw just five political polls published in New Zealand – one each from Colmar Brunton, Reid Research and Ipsos and two Roy Morgan polls.

The average of the public polls has National 14% ahead of Labour – the same as January. The seat projection is centre-right 61 seats, centre-left 57.

Australia has Labour and Gillard in trouble. The Coalition lead by 9% to 10% and for the first time Tony Abbott has overtaken Julia Gillard as Preferred Prime Minister.

In the United States Barack Obama’s approval rating is at +8%, and the country direction is -23%. The generic congressional poll average has the Democrats 3% ahead of the Republicans.

In the UK the Conservatives are now 11% behind Labour. They came third in the recent Eastleigh by-election. The Lib Dems retained the seat but the UK Independence Party came second.

In Canada the Conservatives are on 32%, NDP 28% and Liberals 25%.

The normal two tables are provided comparing the country direction sentiment and head of government approval sentiment for the five countries. New Zealand continues to top both by considerable margins.

We also carry details of polls in New Zealand on Hekia Parata, asset sales, four year term, Christchurch jobs, David Bain, same sex marriage, adoption plus the normal business and consumer confidence polls.

The full newsletter is only available by e-mail.  If you would like to receive future issues, please go to http://listserver.actrix.co.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/polling-newsletter to subscribe yourself.

Wall Street has an article with the estimated net worth of US Presidents in current dollars. These are the ones that were worth over $50 million.

1. John F Kennedy $1,000m (family trust)
2. George Washington $525m
3. Thomas Jefferson $212m
4. Theodore Roosevelt $125m
5. Andrew Jackson $119m
6. James Madison $101m
7. Lyndon Johnson $98m
8. Herbert Hoover $75m
9. Franklin Roosevelt $60m
10. John Tyler $51m
11. Bill Clinton $50m

I wonder what the NZ equivalent list would look like!

The HoS reports:

University Students Association president Pete Hodkinson said graduates with loans would spend less and businesses would suffer.

The changes to loan repayment rates mean someone earning $1000 a week will pay an extra $658 a year. “This, for most people, will mean things like not going out to dinner (as often),” Hodkinson said.

Oh dear, the grind of poverty. Someone on $52,000 won’t be able to go out to dinner as often.

“If 200,000 people are now not spending money in an industry like hospitality … think about the economic impacts.”

Oh Good God – save us from wannabee economists. They are repaying student loan debt. This means the Government is not borrowing so much money. Debt fueled consumption is not sustainable.

People choosing to pay back loans quickly will no longer be rewarded.

Currently, people making voluntary payments of $500 or more a tax year on top of obligatory repayments earn a 10 per cent bonus, credited to their loan account.

Auckland University Students Association president Daniel Haines said scrapping the bonus was “unfair and harmful” to students.

This is ironic. Do you know why?  When National announced this voluntary repayment bonus policy, it was attacked by NZUSA. They said:

“We question why National has created such a narrow policy that will merely reward the rich and leave everyone else to struggle”

So let’s be very clear. NZUSA attacked the policy when National announced it, and now attack National for scrapping it.

This confirms my perception that most of the time NZUSA is not about actually advocating for the welfare of students, but promoting Labour and advancing the political careers of wanabee Labour MPs.

The HoS reports:

Paula Bennett’s reputation for being tough on beneficiaries is in jeopardy as figures reveal record high numbers on state financial support.

Labour spokeswoman for social development Jacinda Ardern said the highest unemployment numbers were at around 10 per cent in the early 1990s but support for solo parents and invalids have hit record highs during Bennett’s reign as Social Development Minister.

“When it comes to the worst DPB, sickness, and invalid benefit numbers, these have all been since 2010 and under Paula Bennett,” Ardern said. “Interestingly, the two highest figures for the DPB were both after the introduction of Bennett’s welfare reforms, which mostly targeted DPB recipients by increasing their work obligations.”

Ardern provided the Herald on Sunday with figures which showed:

Between January 2009 and January 2012, the number of people on the DPB rose by 13.2 per cent. During the same period, the number of people on the unemployment benefit rose by 82 per cent. “The Government seems to be clamping down on DPB mums in an effort to show ‘action’ to mask their ‘inaction’ in employment and job creation,” Ardern said. “But neither figure will budge unless the core issue of job availability is first addressed.”

The moment I saw this story, I had a fair idea of what the actual data would show. Yes more people on those benefits between those two dates, but not a linear pattern. Of course Jan 2009 was as the GFC was in full force, and hence job losses occurring.  Also the comparison stops 12 months ago. Why?

Let’s look at the actual data, in terms of increase or decrease each year. For DPB they are

• 2008 +2,128
• 2009 +9,007
• 2010 +3,576
• 2011 +1,365
• 2012 -5,112

I think we now understand why Jacinda left the 2012 figures off. What I don’t know is why the Herald on Sunday did.

Let’s do the same with Invalid’s Benefit numbers.

• 2008 +3,419
• 2009 +1,537
• 2010 +67
• 2011 -1,062
• 2012 -472

And for those interested in the Unemployment Benefit.

• 2008 +7,760
• 2009 +35,820
• 2010 +756
• 2011 -7,120
• 2012 -6,217

They all show the same thing. The increase in benefit numbers started in 2008 (under Labour) and worsened in 2009 as the Global Financial Crisis struck.  Despite patchy economic growth since 2009, benefit numbers in all three categories have fallen in the last two years.

One has to congratulate Jacinda for getting the Herald on Sunday to run an entire story based on selective cherry-picked data. That’s a good achievement for an Opposition MP.

Stephen Franks blogs:

Marcus Lush recorded an interview at 5-50am this morning with me on the pros and cons of banning foreigner purchases of houses here. …

I realised that the issues could be summed up simply. Prices go up when supply can’t increase to respond to demand. There is no a shortage of building supplies, or builders. So foreign buyers’ money can only affect prices if there is a shortage of land to build on. But New Zealand is not short of land. It is short of consents to use land. And probably more important than the supply of new land, is the cost, delay and risk in trying to intensify the use of land that is already built on, nearer the centre of our cities.

We need to build both upwards and outwards. We do need to intensify, but we also need more rational urban limits.

In other words, our housing problem is the inevitable consequence of the political success of selfish middle and upper class families, working with  their stupid green children. They enforce their aesthetic preferences for the status quo (labelled as ‘heritage’) by locking newcomers out of their leafy and quaint inner suburbs. The RMA has frozen the dynamic processes of rebuilding and intensification that have created all great cities (and our own towns and cities up till 3 decades ago. The result is that poorer people must pay for more expensive housing ever further from where the work is.

To blame the resulting prices on foreign money is a nice distraction from their own culpability, for the selfish generations, and the councillors and MPs who pander to them.

Nicely put. Blaming house prices on foreigners is just blatant xenophobia.

Whale has done some good research on a family highlighted in the media as being unable to afford a house. He did some basic research and found out they did have enough money for:

• booze
• pets
• cigarettes
• Playboy branded paraphernalia
• iPhones
• tatoos

He also reveals that they simply paid no rent at all at the place they were previously living at.

The Dom Post reports:

A waste of time and money is what some are labelling Wellington City Council’s $40,000 review of traffic congestion solutions at the Basin Reserve after it found in favour of a flyover. …

Ms Wade-Brown and transport portfolio leader Andy Foster presented the findings to the Transport Agency board yesterday.

Their study weighed the flyover option (Option A) against proposals from Auckland architect Richard Reid (Option RR) and the Architecture Centre (Option X), both of which had been previously dismissed by the agency as unworkable. Option X sent traffic underground through a cut-and-cover tunnel while Option RR focused on widening and upgrading the existing roads.

A copy of the council’s findings, obtained by The Dominion Post, says the flyover “provides the broadest range of improvements”. Journey times, the reliability of public transport, accessibility, and opportunities to promote cycling and walking would all improve.

Option X and Option RR were found to have little or no improvement in those areas.

Option X had the potential to hurt the traffic flow of surrounding roads, which could be “problematic” if a light rail system was ever introduced.

Option RR was found to have similar outcomes to doing nothing at all.

So what did those Councillors who voted to change their mind achieve? $40,000 of wasted money and an unnecessary delay.

Geoff Cumming at NZ Herald reports:

It is the holy grail of New Zealand tourism: easing the path to Milford Sound for domestic and international tourists without destroying what lures them there in the first place – its scenery, ecological value and remoteness.

For decades, tourism entrepreneurs have laid schemes at the door of the Conservation Department without quite prising it open, from a coastal road defying engineering conventions to a gondola.

Now, DoC has allowed two proposals a foot in the door – one a bus-only tunnel with approach roads through two national parks; the other a “back-country experience” involving boat, 4WD bus and monorail. Both promise to cut in half the circuitous 4hr road journey from Queenstown to Milford around Lakes Wakatipu and Te Anau. The applicants plan international marketing to bring an estimated 20,000 extra visitors a year to New Zealand, targeting time-poor tourists who want the greatest hits at speed.

I would have thought environmentalists would be keen to support a tunnel that means that you don’t have scores of buses driving several hundred extra kms a day. But the reality is that many of them are preservationists – they oppose all change.

Opponents argue that getting there is half the fun: the existing route takes in outstanding natural landscapes

It’s simple. If there is a choice of routes, then everyone can be happy. It is true there are some good stops on the way, but the four hour trip back doesn’t see anything new. Some operators could do a loop – drive down via Te Anau but come back directly. That would mean that tourists would gain an extra two hours in Milford itself.

NZ Herald quiz is here.

The old Stuff website allowed you to customise your frontpage so you can choose which sections to see. This allowed you to remove the Stuff Nation section so that you wouldn’t see it unless you wanted it.

That ability seems to have disappeared. Or maybe it is just me. Does anyone know if there is a way to hide Stuff Nation?

Sam Sachdeva in The Press reports:

Less than a week after being dumped from Labour’s top 20 MPs, Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel is putting on a brave face.

The week before the announcement, Labour leader David Shearer took her aside for a “long chat” about the decision and explained the need for rejuvenation in the ranks.

This is the rejuvenation that saw Annette King promoted, despite entering Parliament in 1984.

Lianne got demoted because she is in the wrong faction.

A much-discussed mayoral bid still appears highly unlikely, with Dalziel concerned about the potential disruption a by-election in her electorate would cause.

While it is unlikely, it is still not off the table, not yet anyway.

“Like I said to someone the other day, my answer is 99 per cent no. Is 1 per cent wiggle room?

“I suppose it is, but I’m really not thinking that’s what I want to do.”

Watch that 1% become, 2% and 3% and ….