I blogged on 14 June:

Have heard from two separate sources that two very senior staff in David Shearer’s office are departing.

Have been wrong once before on this issue so not naming staff, but as I said have heard from two different people. No doubt will be confirmed one way or another this afternoon.

Labour denied that any of their staff were departing. However I had heard from (by the end of the day) three sources that Chief of Staff Alastair Cameron had agreed to depart, and Labour were searching for a successor. They denied that also.

Yesterday we learnt:

There are further changes in Labour leader David Shearer’s office after his chief of staff Alastair Cameron resigned to be replaced by his former chief press secretary Francesca Mold.

The change is effective immediately, Labour confirmed.

So it was correct.

What is interesting is that David Shearer has been leader for just 18 months and he is onto his third chief of staff. As a contrast John Key has been Leader of National for six and a half years and has had the same Chief of Staff throughout. In fact many of his office have been with him the whole time.

The Herald reported:

Labour is accusing the National-led Government of cronyism after Social Development Minister Paula Bennett hired her former adviser – a Cabinet minister’s sister – as Chief Families Commissioner.

Mrs Bennett defended the appointment of Belinda Milnes, saying she was the right person for the job. As minister, she had been careful in the hiring process because of the candidate’s ties to the National Party.

Ms Milnes was previously a senior adviser to Mrs Bennett and is Cabinet minister Amy Adams’ sister.

I know Belinda well. She is a star, and will do a great job. I would also point out she has been involved in the welfare area for at least 10 years before Amy became an MP. I think few would claim she should not be considered for a role, because of her sister.

Now Belinda can be considered a political appointment as she has worked for Roger Sowry and Paula Bennett. However here’s what I blogged in July 2008 on political appointments:

1. Never have those with political connections forming a majority or even close to a majority on a board.
2. Unless someone was already a professional company director (or widely seen as possessing similar skills), they should not be appointed to more than a couple of boards.
3. Appointees must bring genuine value to a board – their appointments must be based on merit, even if they have political connections.
4. The more important a board, the more critical it is that the appointees be top class.

So what I have consistently said is that of course Governments will appoint people who are fairly like-minded to boards. But the key thing is that they should not be close to a majority on a board, they should not get multiple boards unless highly qualified, and they must bring value and make it there on merit.

I have no doubt Belinda will be of great value to the Families Commission.

Labour was also accused of political appointments while in Government, but its MPs felt National was especially guilty of this.

This is so outrageous that I can’t let it pass. Let me say that many in National actually complain that so few of its supporters have ended up with board positions, and the contrast with Labour is enormous. Here’s just a few political appointments made by Labour when they were in office.

• Geoffrey Palmer invited to conduct review of Law Commission, appointed to the International Whaling Commission, made Chair of the Legislation Advisory Committee, appointed as President of the Law Commission in November 2005
• Lesley Soper (Labour candidate and later MP) appointed to the Southern Hospital and Health Services Board (HHS)
• Simon Mitchell appointed to the LTSA

• Louisa Wall appointed to LTSA
• Shane Jones appointed to the Industry New Zealand board, appointed to the Poutama Trust, appointed to the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, appointed him to the RMA Reference Group
• Jill White appointed to the board of the Environmental Risk Management Authority, later appointed chair of Bioethics Council. 
• Graham Hill appointed to the MetService. 
• Rosslyn Noonan appointed Human Rights Commissioner
• Warren Lindberg appointed to Human Rights Commission
• Ella Henry appointed to Human Rights Commission
• Maryan Street appointed to the board of the Housing New Zealand corporation and also appointed to the board of the Centre for Housing Research in August 2003
• Alison Timmsappointed to the Radio New Zealand Board, appointed to the New Zealand Parole Board, a member of the Casino Control Authority 
• Stan Roger appointed to chair Pay Parity Working Group for Kindergarten Teachers, also appointed to a new panel providing independent advice to the government on injury-related information, also appointed as a Commssioner of the Electricity Commission 
• Kathie Irwin was appointed head of the Teacher’s Council
• Judy Callingham appointed to the board of NZ on Air and to the Film and Literature Review Board: 
• Ken Douglas appointed to Industry and Trade agency, appointed Chair of Whanganui DHB
• Ray Potroz appointed to Biology Taskforce and appointed the ACC Board
• Andrew Little  appointed as member of the Transition Tertiary Education Commission and also appointed to the Manufacturing Advisory Group.
• Gregory Fortuin appointed to Accident Compensation Corporation, Families Commission, NZ Post, Kiwibank, the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, and Transpower
• Dave Morgan, appointed to the MSA board
• John Wright appointed to the Transit Board
• Sandra Lee, is appointed as High Commissioner to Niue.
• Eamon Daly is appointed to the Bioethics Council, to the Human Rights Review Panel
• Helen Kelly appointed to Fee Maxima reference group
• Graham Kelly appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to Canada.
• Sam Huggard appointed the Lottery youth committee
• Dame Anne Hercus appointed to TVNZ Board.
• Philida Bunkle, appointed to the Alcohol Advisory Council
• Charles Chauvel appointed to the Lotteries Commission
• Angela Foulkes to the board of the NZQA
• Alick Shaw to Creative New Zealand and ALAC.
• Dr Rajen Prasad appointed as Chief Commissioner of the Families Commission
• Polly Schaverien appointed to the Correspondence School’s board and a director of Meridian Energy and the MetService.
• Bryan Gould appointed to TVNZ Board and to chair of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology
• Carol Beaumont appointed to the Food and Beverage Taskforce, appointed to the Government’s Small Business Advisory Group, appointed to the Workplace Health and Safety Council
• Russell Marshall made chair of the Tertiary Education Commission 
• Ross Wilson appointed to Tertiary Education Commission
• Sue Piper, appointed to the Local Government Commission, appointed to the board of Te Papa, appointed to the board of Quotable Value, the New Zealand Law Practitioner’s Disciplinary Tribunal.
• Greg Presland appointed to the NZ Film and Literature Review board and LTSA
• July 2006 – Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Judith Tizard today announced new appointments to the Board of Te Papa Tongarewa.
• Bob Harvey is appointed to the NZ Film Commission, Te Papa Board
• Jenny Agnew appointed to the Government’s Small Business Advisory Group
• Robyn Northey to the Alcohol Advisory Council.
• Peter Conway appointed to NZTE Board
• Garry Moore have both been appointed to the board of Transit New Zealand.
• Andrew Casidyappointed to the Workplace Health and Safety Council
• Paul Jarvie appointed to the Workplace Health and Safety Council
• Ross Wilson appointed ACC Chair
• Sandra Lee appointed to Te Papa Board
• David Shand appointed TEC Chair:, chair of  a Local Government rates inquiry, chair of the Tertiary Education Capital Investment Fund, board of Meridian Energy
• David Caygill, appointed Chair of the Electricity Commission
• Phil Harington appointed to Lottery Grants Board
• Mike Williams to board of Genesis Energy and Ontrack and ARTA and Transit NZ and GNS.
• Alick Shaw to NZTA Board
• Garry Moore to NZTA Board
• Christine Caughey to NZTA Board
• Dianne Yates appointed to FSANZ Board, board of Learning Media, Trust Waikato and Waikato Institute of Technology.
• Helen Kelly appointed as director of the Growth and Innovation Advisory Board.
• Chris Eichbaum was appointed to the board of the Reserve Bank.
• Penny Hulse appointed to the EECA board
• Richard Northey appointed to an Arms Control Advisory Group
• Andrew Campbell appointed to the Fee Maxima reference group [UPDATE: Andrew was there as President of NZUSA, not a Govt appointee]
• Richard Pole to Doctors in Training Workforce Roundtable
• Kevin Hague to Quality Improvement Committee 

I’ve probably missed heaps. but that gives you an idea of how rampant these appointments were under Labour. Now as I said previously the fact they had political connections does not make them all bad appointments. But if Labour ever again try and suggest they did not do political appointments when in office, I’ll republish this list. Feel free to add on in the comments any I have missed!

Stuff reports:

A Black Power member says he wants to change his ways after hearing he will become a grandfather.

“I don’t blame nobody but myself,” William Herangi Wanakore, 34, told Judge Allan Roberts prior to sentencing after admitting to his latest raft of offending.

Wanakore, who has 97 convictions, was about to be sentenced to his 51st prison term after pleading guilty to assault with intent, two burglaries and twice breaching protection orders in May.

Not sure what is worst – 97 convictions, 51 prison terms or being a grand dad at 34.

So the next Sovereign of the United Kingdom (and for now New Zealand) after William will be a King, which will make it three Kings in a row.

As members of the Royal Family get the best health care and probably will all live to 100, the baby boy will probably become King in around 2080!

I predict New Zealand will be a Republic long before then – but we will continue to have fond regard for the British Monarch.

Just noticed a blog by Russell Brown where he basically compares the convention centre deal to the Electoral Finance Bill. This is over a clause in the agreement which says:

In considering the acceptance of bookings for Events to be held at the NZICC, SKYCITY must use good judgement in considering first the type and style of Events that are best suited to the NZICC and secondly Events that would not reasonably be expected to be materially prejudicial to international relations or to national security interests of New Zealand and would not reasonably be expected to materially affect the reputation or brand of the NZICC.

I think people forget how draconian the original Electoral Finance Bill, approved by the Labour Cabinet, was. It would have made it illegal for me to e-mail someone and talk about a policy issue, unless I put an authorisation statement on my e-mail. Any comparison of the Sky City deal to it, is hysterical nonsense.

While I probably should not dignify the nonsense with a response, I will point out three rather pertinent points. They are:

• National announced the convention centre deal prior to the 2011 election. Labour never mentioned the Electoral Finance Bill prior to the 2005 election and had no mandate for it.
• National gains no personal benefit from the Sky City deal. The only benefit is jobs. While Labour’s Electoral Finance Bill was designed to stop people attacking them, and help Labour get re-elected.
• The convention centre is unlikely to be completed and operating while National is in Government, so the hysterical suggestions that the clause above (which is probably pretty standard in most contracts with a Government) is so National can stop Greenpeace having a conference there is ridiculous.

I don’t care whether or not such a clause is there. Any Govt of the future that used the clause to block a legitimate convention would suffer a political backlash.

Stuff reports:

British Prime Minister David Cameron challenged the Internet search engine providers Google, Yahoo and Bing on Sunday to block images of child abuse, calling for more action against online pornography.

In a television interview, Cameron said search engines must block results for searches using blacklisted keywords to stop Internet users accessing illegal images.

Cameron’s demands should be resisted. Search engines should not blacklist keywords. Where does that stop?

If people deliberately access child abuse images on the Internet, then they are breaking the law and can be charged – as they should be.

But having a blacklist of search terms (as China does) will end up also blocking searches for educational resources that fight child abuse.

The hard core traders in child abuse images tend to not use the web much anyway. They do file sharing in chat rooms etc.

John Key has announced the following changes to the GCSB Bill after negotiations with John Banks and Peter Dunne:

• A set of guiding principles will be added, in line with requests from Mr Banks and Mr Dunne.
• The Inspector General will be supported by a two-person advisory panel.
• The removal of the proposed Order in Council mechanism which would have allowed other agencies to be added to the list of agencies able to request assistance from the GCSB. Any additions beyond the Police, NZSIS and NZ Defence Force will now be required to be made by a specific amendment to the legislation.
• To ensure effective oversight in the issuing of a warrant, the Bill will be amended so the Inspector General is informed when a warrant is put on the register relating to a New Zealander.
• The GCSB will be required to report annually on the total number of instances where it has provided assistance to the Police, NZSIS or NZ Defence Force.
• The GCSB will also be required to report annually on the number of warrants and authorisations issued.
• The Intelligence and Security Committee will hold public hearings annually to discuss the financial reviews of the performance of the GCSB and the NZSIS.
• There will be an independent review of the operations and performance of the GCSB and NZSIS and their governing legislation in 2015, and thereafter every 5-7 years.
• Mr Dunne will have a role in the Government’s upcoming work to address the Law Commission’s 2010 report Invasion of Privacy: Penalties and Remedies. This work will include a review of the definition of ‘private communication’, which was highlighted as an issue by submitters on the GCSB legislation.

These are good changes. I had talked on TV about one area of concern being the proposed ability for the Govt to add other agencies onto the list of agencies the GCSB can assist with interceptions. Having Parliament, not the Government, make any changes is desirable.

Despite these significant changes, Labour appears to still be voting with the Greens against the bill. Ironic as it was a Labour Government that caused this problem with their 2003 law change.

Dunne and Banks have shown how you can have a constructive role in improving legislation.

Also the Herald reports:

Mr Key said today that he did not believe that the GCSB had engaged in the mass collection of metadata and he confirmed that it should be treated the same as communication and any collection of it would require a warrant. He planned to make a clear statement about it in the bill’s second reading.

Also welcome.

THIS WEEK ON PRIME TV’s “BACK BENCHES”—AUCKLAND CENTRAL SPECIAL: Watch Wallace Chapman, Damian Christie, the Back Benches Panel and special guests discuss the week’s hottest topics!

THE FUTURE OF AUCKLAND: Over the next 30 years, our largest city is set to become even larger, will another million people moving to Auckland. What to do with all of them? Auckland needs to grow and change, but how? What will the future of Auckland look like? What should it look like? The decisions made will have ramifications on the rest of New Zealand. What kind of lessons can we learn from other fast growing large cities around the world? And why Auckland—should we be encouraging people to move to other New Zealand cities instead?

A PLACE TO CALL HOME: Is the supercity set to become the high-rise capitol of NZ? Is the dream of a house on a quarter acre disappear for most Aucklanders? Instead, will the increased intensification mean more and more of us are living in high-rises? And will these tall buildings be popping up next to your little villa? Is it time to take a page from New Yorkers—getting used to living in smaller places in closer quarters? Affordability is an issue right now—so, what can we do to make it easier to get into the housing market? Who will be able to afford to live in Auckland? Will people have to move further and further out? Will young people every be able to afford a house? More houses are needed? But how do we build affordable housing? Labour says they have a solution—but will it work?

GETTING AROUND: More people means more cars & passengers. The Inner City Rail, the loop, roads, harbour crossing, tunnels, busses—the ways to get around Auckland are numerous but not necessarily convenient or quick. So, how to fix it? The Government has pledged several billion dollars to improve some of Auckland’s transportation woes, but is it just a drop in the bucket? Where should we be placing most of our transportation dollars—roads or rails? Or is it really roads AND rails? Who should be paying for the majority of upgrades to Auckland’s transport system? Aucklanders? Government? Or should all of us be chipping in? What’s the best way to pay? Gas tax? Congestion tax? Toll booths?

There are two ways to get in on the political pub action:
First, you can join the live audience from the Britomart Country Club (31 Galway Street, Auckland) on Wednesday, 24th of July at 6pm. Filming begins around 6:15pm.

Or watch us that night on PRIME TV at 10:30pm!
http://www.primetv.co.nz/

Plus, Follow us on Facebook (BackBenchesTV) or on Twitter @BackBenchesTV.

Our Panel: Labour Leader & MP for Mt Albert David Shearer, National MP for Botany & Party Whip Jami-Lee Ross, and Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman.
Plus—we are joined by several fantastic guests in the audience, including Auckland Mayor Len Brown!

http://www.primetv.co.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=352
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Back-Benches/148104478699579?fref=ts

Now in Dallas for a couple of days and nights. After leaving Mesa Verde National Park, we headed from Colorado to New Mexico and had lunch at Albuquerque. Then we travelled along the famous Route 66 to Tucumcari where we spent the night. Tucumcari appears to be little more than a giant pit stop for trucks and RVs!

The next day we drove more along Route 66 into Texas and Amarillo, and then headed South to Dallas. They say when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so when in Dallas we went to a Kid Rock concert of course!

The concert was at the Gexa Energy Pavilion, and it was a great location for it. Much nicer to be sprawled out on the lawn, than cramped into a seat. Also much more social, as could mix with others there.

The warm up act.

This was just behind us.The viewing platform doesn’t just rotate around, but also goes ups and down. So you board it at the bottom, and it rotates up.

For those who can’t see all the words, they say “Fuck Y’All, I’m From Texas”.  Very apt. Texans love, well being Texans.

Getting ready for the main act.

And Kid Rock in action.

Was a great concert, and tickets very reasonably priced. Definitely a highlight to go to a rock concert in Texas. Based on my limited experience I’d say there was even more cannabis being smoked at this concert, than at NZ ones!

Also enjoyed how they got around the law saying you can only buy two drinks at a time. Even seen almost one litre cans of Budweiser? They were nice!

Stuff reports:

Controversial Labour Party bigwig Shane Jones has moved to position the party well clear of the Greens and their “anti-development” message.

In Taranaki for a two-day visit with party justice spokesman list MP Andrew Little, the regional development spokesman spent much of the first day pow-wowing with oil and gas industry players.

“I am keen to defang these misapprehensions that are abounding that somehow industry has disappeared from our purview.

“Nothing could be further from the truth and if my visit provides the opportunity to reinforce the centrality of jobs, the importance of industry and the need for a future Labour-led government to assuage whatever anxieties might be there in the minds of employers or future investors then I am up for the task,” he said.

Offshore oil and gas drilling was an essential feature of domestic and export growth, Mr Jones said, and businesses and enterprises enabling it would get full government support.

Shane may say this, and believe this, bus his caucus doesn’t. They’ve voted with the Greens on pretty much every law around drilling and off-shore oil.

They send Shane into Taranaki to say Labour supports off-shore drilling, and Moana Mackey into Gisborne to say they’re against it.

UPDATE: Further proof of Labour saying one thing in Taranaki and another thing elsewhere. Last year Grant Robertson was campaigning against oil prospecting.

Simon Collins reports:

The Government should stop giving contracts – and knighthoods – to companies that pay their bosses more than three times their lowest-paid workers, an economist has suggested.

Dr Geoff Bertram, a retired Victoria University economist who inspired a Labour Party plan to force down electricity prices, made the proposal at a conference on inequality in Wellington yesterday.

It is useful that Dr Bertram has said what he really thinks. His vision for New Zealand is essentially that of the Soviet Union. They spent 40 years where no one was allowed to earn too much more than anyone else. Doctors would be paid only slightly more than rubbish collectors. Everyone was equal – equal in their misery.

However Dr Bertram’s views would be even more devastating for NZ, than they were for the USSR. Citizens are far more mobile than several decades ago. Imagine how many people would be left in NZ if no one could earn more than $75,000 a year?

Of course a company could pay their CEO more than $75,000 a year, but then they would be ineligible for any Government contracts at all.

What is scary isn’t that Dr Bertram has such views. NZ has a range of extreme views from the far right to the far left. People are at liberty to propose communist economic policies. What is scary is that Labour is basing its electricity policy on Dr Bertram’s work. Their policy is based on the work of someone who thinks no-one should be able to earn more than $75,000 a year.

Now we know this, it explains a lot. It also explains why Labour should not be allowed anywhere near office at the moment.

Labour in 2007 campaigned against John Howard’s Pacific solution which saw boat people go to Naaru, while their claims for asylym were processed (but if they qualified, they could them come to Australia). Howard was demonised for this policy, but Labor’s replacement policies have been disastrous, with the number of boats and people attempting the voyage increasing almost exponentially, and many many people dying in the attempt.

Kevin Rudd has now come out with a policy that is to the right of John Howard’s. He has announced that all boat people will be sent to Papua New Guinea, regardless of whether or not they qualify for asylum.

This could well help him win the election, as Labor’s failed policy was indefensible. However will his own party and activists support such a policy? The next few weeks will be interesting.

I’ve blogged the latest two polls at Curiablog. A Roy Morgan poll and a 3 News Reid Research poll.

Both have National up and Labour down, and the 3 News poll has a huge 17.1% drop in the net approval rating for David Shearer. This is of course what those in his caucus briefing against him want – to damage him so badly, that a change is inevitable.

This is the current average of the public polls.

Stuff reports:

Police say sink-holes have opened up in the Wellington CBD following a severe magnitude 6.5 earthquake that damaged buildings, cut power, trapped people in lifts and injuring at least two.

Inspector Ian Harris, of Police Communications, said there had been sink-holes reported on Featherston St between Johnston and Waring Taylor streets.

The sink-holes were on the road but it was not known how big of how many there were, he said. The road has been closed.

Good that there were no serious injuries, but a reminder of how vulnerable Wellington is to earthquakes.

I worry how Wellington will fare when an even bigger quake strikes. If the CBD comes down, like in Christchurch, then different parts of the city are effectively cut off from each other, including the hospital. The road links north are also very vulnerable.

Wellington CBD workers are being urged to hold-off heading into work till noon tomorrow to give landlords and engineers time to assess quake-damaged buildings.

Wellington Region Civil Defence Controller, Bruce Pepperell, said people should check with work before heading into the CBD and if they did come in, stay away from quake-damaged facades.

“I am worried about some of the facades. It would only take a little shake to move some of that stuff and it could end in tragedy.”

KiwiRail spokeswoman Sophie Lee said there had been no reports of damage to the tracks this evening. But because much of the assessment was done after dark, the call had been made to do a more thorough check in the morning, she said.

“Given the seriousness of the aftershocks and the fact that (the inspection) is taking a lot of time, we’ve decided to take every precaution.”

No buses were available on such short notice so rail commuters would need to make alternative arrangements, she said.

KiwiRail was hopeful of having at least some services back up and running by midday on Monday.

Rather glad I was out of Wellington for this one. Being on the top floor of an apartment building, we get pretty shaken about in even minor quakes. I’m told the TV fell off the stand, books all came off the shelves, glasses smashed etc.

Stuff reports:

Moves to push for a law change allowing battered wives who kill their husbands in cold blood to plead self-defence are being considered by a government committee.

The Family Violence Deaths Review Committee says New Zealand is out of step with other countries in not offering at least a partial defence for women who kill their husbands after years of abuse.

If there is to be such a defence recommended, surely it should be available to all spouses/partners – not just wives?

The defence can be used when the killing is an immedite retaliation but not when the killing is premeditated.

The committee initially planned to recommend a law change, but has stepped back from that while it continues discussing the proposal.

I’m against it being lawful to do a premeditated killing. Apart from the fact that when someone is dead, it is very easy to claim they were an abuser (as they can’t contradict any claims), the preferred response to domestic abuse is to leave them, not kill them. I know it is not as simple as that for some people, but killing is never the answer unless you are in immediate harm.

Stuff reports:

British comedian Mel Smith, who became a household name for a series of television sketch shows in the 1970s and 80s which colleagues said had inspired a generation of comics, has died of a heart attack, his agent said overnight (NZ time).

Smith, who died yesterday (NZ time) aged 60, found fame starring in hugely popular shows Not The Nine O’clock News and Alas Smith and Jones and went on to direct the films Bean and The Tall Guy.

I loved both Alas Smith and Jones and Not The Nine O’clock News. Sad he died aged only 60.

After Bryce Canyon, we drove east to Canyonlands, and after a quick look around there headed to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The views from the car as we drove away from Bryce Canyon were incredible, and varied.

The road away from Bryce.

Then from canyons to forest.

A typical view.

This may not look very impressive at first glance – just a crumbling cliff. But look at those trees at the bottom and you get some idea how huge it is.

This cabin belonged to an original settler. Believe it or not, his family of 10 slept in that cabin.

Very different colours to before.

Looks like a face.

Then big plains ahead,

Another huge crumbly piece of nature.

It was two to three hours of views like this.

Back to the rock formations seen more back at Bryce.

You have no idea how vast that space is.

And this was over at Canyonlands.

The headline:

Schools fail to meet ambitious Government targets

The first para:

National education data shows schools are not meeting ambitious targets set by the Government as part of its better public service targets and Maori and Pasifika students are still trailing in achievement.

The second para:

Only four of the 16 regions across New Zealand are meeting a target of 98 per cent of children participating in early childhood education by 2016.

Is it 2016 yet?

The story is fine in that it reports 12 out of 16 regions are not yet at the target, three years out from it. But you can’t label that a failure.

Note sub-editors do the headlines, not the story authors.

Audrey Young quotes Phil Goff in an article on David Shearer:

But Goff said that Shearer, like every Leader of the Opposition, was up against the combined resources of a Government machine with huge resources and of some powerful bloggers behind it, intent on discrediting him.

Powerful??

Influential one could argue, but powerful? Who exactly do we have power over?

Sure both Cam and I have had good stories that have damaged Labour. My rumbling of the Labour MPs at the Sky City box, and the leak to Cam of the Labour Party rule changes, including the man ban.

But to blame bloggers for the political incompetence that should have stopped both stories before they even gestated is making excuses. Likewise the inability to respond to the stories when they did emerge. Labour managed to drag the Sky City story out an entire week by trying to hide who actually attended. The was nothing to do with powerful bloggers, just stupidity.

Audrey Young writes:

 Labour made the GCSB story about John Key, not Kim Dotcom, or the agency itself. And with a few victories against him, such as fingering him for shoulder-tapping an old school mate for the GCSB directorship, it could not bring itself to support Key’s bill.

Key has not been given credit for much in the process. But he clearly had concerns about the GCSB before the unlawful spying on Dotcom.

It had been run by a tight club within the defence and intelligence community and established some disturbing work habits, as the Kitteridge report exposed.

The notion that everything was hunky dory back in the days of former Chief of Defence Force Sir Bruce Ferguson is myth. Most of the legally dubious spying on New Zealanders went on under his, and Labour’s, watch.

Of the 88 cases, only four were warranted, according to the agency itself.

Ian Fletcher’s appointment should, at the very least, be seen as an attempt to break the stranglehold of the old boys’ defence network on the agency and letting some civilian light into it.

Rebecca Kitteridge’s appointment said a lot too. As Cabinet secretary she is not the minute-taker but the guardian of proper process, ensuring that things are done by the rules and the law.

It is clear from her report that the GCSB was not following the law on the issue of collecting metadata on New Zealanders and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security thought it was.

Key is cleaning up a mess entirely uncreated by him. The only area of real criticism is not being more forthright over his ringing Ian Fletcher to let him know about the job. Labour created the mess with their 2003 law change and seem to be refusing to play a constructive role in fixing it. In fact they have said a public inquiry should review if we even stay in the Five Eyes network with Australia, Canada, UK and US – possibly the stupidest of all their policies.

There are three things he could do in the coming week that would make the bill more acceptable than it is now, to the public and other parties.

First, he could write two reviews into the bill, one to begin in 18 months, straight after the next election, and one every five years after that, as the Australians do.

It’s effectively what Labour is promising.

Several weeks ago Key said he would promise a review only if it would get Labour on board.

He should do it to get the public on board, whether or not Labour agrees.

Secondly, he should go back to the Kitteridge report for a lead on how to beef up oversight. The report cited this quote from the 1999 Inspector-General as evidence of how woeful oversight had been: “The fact that there are very few complaints and little need for any inquiry … of the GCSB indicates … that the performance of their activities does not impinge adversely on New Zealand citizens”. …

Thirdly Key, as Prime Minister and the minister responsible for the GCSB, needs to make a clear statement on metadata (information about communications).

Specifically, he needs to say what the GCSB has done in the past and what constraints it will operate under in the future. He should admit that the agency has previously, on many occasions, collected metadata on New Zealanders unlawfully – believing it was doing so lawfully.

He should reassure New Zealanders, if he can do so truthfully, that there has been no mass collection of metadata passed on to intelligence partners overseas and there won’t be in the future.

He should assure the public that any collection of metadata of New Zealanders in the future, like other communications, will have to be by warrant.

The first two seem sensible. The third could be more challenging. People use the term metadata in different ways.