Seymour's latest social media fail

We should all know by now that the Act party are a bunch of nasty right wing sycophants who should never have been allowed into our parliament let alone the government.

Their MP's are without a doubt some of the most corrupt New Zealand has ever seen. From pressuring woman to get abortions to stealing the identity of dead babies, the Act party candidates have shown on numerous occasions that they simply cannot be trusted.

But just in case you were in two minds about who to vote for this coming election, here’s another good reason to not support the little weasel of a leader, David Seymour.

Really loving this #content from the group @dbseymour set up. Call it out and delete it, David. pic.twitter.com/DUEypUJhyW

— Reed Fleming (@reedfleming) August 31, 2017

Of course the idiot Seymour feigned ignorance.

Huh? I haven't set up any groups, where is this?

— David Seymour (@dbseymour) September 1, 2017

Unfortunately for him, the Internet never forgets.

That'd be the one your staff and candidates are running, and is named after you. pic.twitter.com/0BrL4yWx0g

— Reed Fleming (@reedfleming) September 1, 2017

Heres a photo (Excuse the quality) of you posting in said group ... "David Seymour Memes for Over-taxed Liberal Teens" pic.twitter.com/dagZcZS0ym

— louis donovan (@louisdonovan2) September 1, 2017

Chalk another one up for an Act party own goal. It’s no wonder they're only polling 0.3%.

John Banks - Asshole of the Week

What is it about the Act party that they attract a very low form of political life form? Could it be that one of the party’s founders, Roger Douglas, wasn’t exactly an upstanding citizen and his devious mentality has simply continued to pollute the party in his absence?

Even Act’s current so-called leader is a dishonest and mealy-mouthed fool! David Seymour, with his campaigning akin to fingernails scratching a chalkboard often tries to make political capital by obnoxiously attacking positions other parties don’t actually hold.

It’s a pathetic form of politicking that only survives because of National’s dirty deal in Epsom.

Gaining just 0.6% in recent polling, the Act party is clearly desperate for public attention and will do anything to get it. However the only notice people are presently paying the rogernomes is because of Seymour’s bad fucking language and their former leader, John Banks, being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

On Wednesday, the NZ Herald reported:

Paternity case: John Banks urged abortion and helped source the drugs - claim

John Banks urged the mother of his illegitimate child to have an abortion and then supplied drugs to make her miscarry and pressured her to take the necessary dose, court documents allege.

The woman, who says in a sworn affidavit she became pregnant after having sex with Banks in a Hamilton motel, claims she refused to take the pills and the two-term Auckland mayor ended their relationship.

She also claims he encouraged her to form a new relationship then pretend her next sexual partner was the child's real father. She subsequently did - perpetrating the lie for three decades, she says in a sworn affidavit.

I have no doubt at all that these allegations are true.

When Shaw finally tracked him down in an Auckland courthouse last year, Banks allegedly was reluctant to speak to him. An aide blocked Shaw's path then told police Shaw was "mad and stalking John", it's alleged.

The Herald was granted exclusive access to court documents relating to the paternity case, including sworn affidavits by Mayes and Shaw.

They allege Banks admitted to having fathered Shaw when he was a travelling salesman for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and that he wanted to meet his illegitimate adult son.

But the documents allege he refused to undergo a DNA test on the advice of his QC lawyer, and wanted the situation kept "under wraps" due to his public profile and fears the story could be leaked to a woman's magazine or broadcaster Paul Holmes.

Even though Banks is still denying that Shaw is his son and refusing a test, you really don’t need DNA to see the truth of the matter.

What makes this all the more sickening is that John Banks was a Member of Parliament for 33 bloody years. Of course he didn’t want this damaging and shameful story to leak out because it would have ended his political career. In my opinion that’s 33 years too long in parliament where Banks received taxpayer money he wasn’t entitled to.

That’s why the immoral John Banks wins this week’s Asshole Award. As well as paying child support and being awarded against, he should be made to pay back the taxpayer for all those years he was employed under false pretences.

Newshub hypocrisy over dirty deals

There can be no question that the mainstream media and how they report helps people choose who to vote for, and to some degree has determined the last few elections in New Zealand.

Often referred to as the fourth estate, journalism is vitally important to a functioning democracy. That’s why it’s concerning to once again see the ugly face of hypocrisy and bias raise its ugly head above the political parapet in the lead up to this years election.

On Wednesday, Newshub reported:

National confirms electorate deals

National has committed to its usual electorate deals with ACT and United Future at this year's election, but Prime Minister Bill English doesn't think the Māori Party needs their help.

…

Mr English encouraged National supporters in Auckland's Epsom electorate to give their electorate vote to ACT candidate David Seymour, and in Wellington's Ōhāriu to United Future's Peter Dunne, and their party vote to National.

Isn’t that just lovely then. Nothing to see, just move along. Not one mention of a dirty or grubby deal anywhere.

Let’s contrast that far too reasonable and sanitised piece that makes National out to be squeaky clean with Newshub's reporting on the Green’s and Labour deal for Ōhāriu.

In February, Newshub reported:

Patrick Gower: Labour-Greens do double dirty deal in Ōhāriu

Labour and the Greens have just done the dirtiest electorate deal in New Zealand political history - and it is all about destroying Peter Dunne.

The tree-hugging Greens will not stand in Ōhāriu to help the gun-toting former cop Greg O'Connor win the seat for Labour.

…


This could be the end of Dunne. And that is worth a double dirty deal for Labour and the Greens.

Wow! A double dirty deal no less. But according to Newshub, the National party doing essentially exactly the same thing is just fine.

Obviously not wanting to recall the past, they couldn’t even bring themselves to mention John Key’s disastrous cup of tea with the discredited John Banks.

It’s OK for Patrick Gower and crew to be opinionated, but when they’re this biased in favour of the National party you know the fourth estate and the principles it should stand for are in decline.

Banks follows fathers footsteps

For over three years after it became common knowledge that John Banks had intentionally filed a false electoral return, the National led government has relied on the disgraced MP's support to pass numerous controversial policies.

Unfortunately National was allowed to continue using a fraudster’s support because the police decided not to pursue the case against John Banks. In light of recent events, it appears that undue influence has caused the police to make that incorrect decision; especially considering that other disgraced National MPs have been caught trying to manipulate active police investigations.

Instead of doing the right thing and immediately dismissing the errant Minister, John Key decided not to even bother reading the evidence put under his nose showing that Banks is a crook! He did this because the right wing agenda of asset stripping was hanging on by a thread, a thread that relied on the Prime Minister accepting Banks’ weak assurances.

Banks’ assurances were proven entirely false today, with TVNZ reporting:

John Banks convicted, could face jail time

Former Act Party leader John Banks has been convicted of filing a false electoral return.

There was no application for a discharge without conviction when he appeared in the High Court in Auckland this morning.

He is due to be sentenced today.

A conviction that clearly shows John Key's judgment was completely wrong when he claimed:

He's (John Banks) been an honest straightforward guy who's dedicated his life to try and make a difference to others.

The only difference Banks has made is to further undermine the integrity of parliament and help an illegitimate government pass socially destructive legislation into law. The former Act party leader clearly has no integrity and neither does the Prime Minister for continuing to allow a fraudster to remain a member of parliament for so long.

Mr Banks was found guilty last month of filing a false electoral return relating to two $25,000 donations from internet millionaire, Kim Dotcom, for his failed 2010 Auckland mayoral campaign.

So much for Key holding his Minister's to a higher standard. Although Banks resigned from his Ministerial portfolios back in October, he was allowed to remain an MP because without his support the government could have faced a vote of no confidence.

Mr Banks faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison or a $10,000 fine.

I hope they're warming up Archie Banks' old prison cell, but I presume his son and convicted fraudster will be given a slap over the wrist with a wet bus ticket.

Update: Members of the old boys club don't do time.

Dotcom's explosive evidence

It doesn't matter if you love or hate the Internet entrepreneur Kim Schmitz, you've still got to admire his ability to gain media attention and win some very high profile court battles against the government.

Not only can we thank the German-Finnish businessman for sticking to his guns and taking out the corrupt John Banks, who had to resign after being found guilty for filing a false electoral return, the former hacker now known as Kim Dotcom looks set to take out one of the left's most formidable foes, John Key.

Last Wednesday, the NZ Herald reported:

Dotcom promises election eve political bombshell

Mogul claims residency checks set aside to lure him within FBI’s reach but government denies interference.

Kim Dotcom has announced he plans to drop a political bombshell five days before the general election which he says will prove the Prime Minister has been lying about when he first knew about the German internet tycoon.

Dotcom made the announcement yesterday to 3News on the first day of the internet Mana party's road trip campaign.

"On September 15, I'm doing a Town Hall event in Auckland and I invite everyone to come there because that is going to be the day when I'm going to reveal my evidence.....my evidence around the political interference and my evidence that John Key lied," Dotcom said.

Reaction to this announcement has been rather mixed, with many arguing that Dotcom should release the information now. Assuming that the evidence that John Key lied is robust, I think Dotcom showing his hand now would be a mistake, being that many voters only make up their minds a few days out from an election.

If you're wondering why Dotcom is keeping his powder dry, look at what the teapot tapes scandal did for NZ First. It was the leaking of what Key and Banks talked about that gained a serious amount of attention and subsequent votes to ensure Winston's return. After that well timed release of information, NZ First experienced a resurgence in support to secure eight seats in Parliament.

Some have argued that having the information release timed in this way is manipulative, but it's really no different to what other parties do on a regular basis. Dotcom is simply gaining further media attention by indicating that he has the evidence. In my opinion there's really no reason to criticize this type of politicking or not believe him.

Other commentators have said that the release of information just five days out from an election won't give them enough time to properly analyse it. This is a pretty silly claim, being that any competent political analysis should only require a day or two to work through the details.

It might take the government propagandist's a bit longer to develop a counter story, but that would only be the case if they didn't already know what the evidence was. It's likely that they do and already have John Key's script ready and waiting to go.

Unfortunately much of the recent commentary against Dotcom doesn't seem to be based on the actual issues being raised. Instead it appears to be about diverting from those issues, undermining a rival party and dare I say it; jealousy because Dotcom is richer than they are.

The other implication is that many politicians are feeling unhappy about being outmaneuvered by a larger than life German and don't know how else to react apart from going on the attack. That's only going to play into the multi-millionaires hands and increase support for the Internet/Mana party alliance.

Whether you love or hate Kim Dotcom, the party he supports looks set to be a force to be reckoned with after the September 2014 election.

The cult of personality

Following closely on the heels of a rather lopsided piece requesting that Labour leader David Cunliffe resign over an 11-year-old letter comes another John Armstrong masterpiece in that Tory rag, the NZ Herald.

Not content with simply airing his rather soiled blue undies in the public domain, Armstrong takes another step backwards towards political irrelevancy by openly endorsing the National party in what is best described as a Herald love fest for the right wing.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel Armstrong parroting John Roughan plays the sympathy card over and over again desperate to try and make the Prime Minister appear human. John Key is just the bloke next door they imply; why don't you pop over for a beer and a yarn? The reader is drawn into the article with a hint that the ever so humble and all round nice guy thought about resigning in 2012 because he might lose something. How terrible would that be for his ego?

Armstrong's article then elucidates how John Key prided (past tense) himself on his ability to focus on the things that really matter. He even goes so far as to claim that the Kim Dotcom donation that caused John Banks to eventually resign was just a trivial side issue. Other side issues of little consequence to the Prime Minister, Armstrong and Roughan include; the SkyCity convention centre for pokies deal whereby the government changed our gambling laws, the ongoing Novapay debacle that the government can’t or doesn’t want to fix and the back down on increasing class sizes.

Apparently John Key let one such “trivial matter gnaw away at him for months” while the teapot tapes saga unfolded. OMG! What could that be? I'm really starting to feel sorry for the guy, are you?

At least John Key managed through all his soul searching to use the police to strong-arm the press. While wringing his hands he still managed to take a court case against Bradley Ambrose, the journalist who inadvertently left his recording device behind that recorded the now infamous conversation. After weeks of speculation, how terrible it must have been when the content of the tape was finally revealed. Banks and Key must have felt terrible that they’d been caught out joking about elderly New Zealand First supporters dying off. Pity they didn't bother to apologize.

Don't worry your pretty little heads about it though. The article then becomes positive with Armstrong bringing Bronagh Key into his story telling:

Roughan writes that at the end of 2012, Mr Key had a "quiet discussion" with his wife, Bronagh, during which they "kicked the tyres" after his four years of running the country and asked themselves, "Are we still committed to all this?"

Mr Key's strong belief and confidence in the progress the country was making under his prime ministership prevailed. "Sure I could walk away, but the test of being a successful Prime Minister in my mind is doing the best job I could do in the circumstances we faced," he told Roughan.

John Keys' confidence in the progress the country was making prevailed? Well Thank god for that! Unfortunately back in the real world New Zealand has been steadily going backwards under a National led government. Things like child poverty, inequality, third-world diseases, housing affordability, unemployment and incomes have all become worse under Keys' so-called leadership. In particular the growth in government debt under National's mismanagement has been astounding!

None of that matters to Armstrong or Roughan though who seem determined to not only get Key back into power next year, but also sell a few books along the way. Thankfully the NZ Herald is happy to help with some free political advertising, no authorization statement required.

Armstrong then makes a "startling" revelation:

John Roughan, the author of a biography of John Key published today, has a new take on why the Prime Minister has such a strong rapport with voters.

The senior Herald journalist says politicians normally follow advice not to put themselves in potentially embarrassing situations - such as wearing a funny hat or unbecoming clothing - especially when the media and cameras are present.

Mr Key, however, is an exception. He indulges in "publicity risks" - such as appearing at the Big Gay Out or his memorable but excruciating catwalk strut modelling Rugby World Cup uniforms - because such events play well for him.

Roughan argues that the more ordinary and even error-prone Mr Key appears in such moments, the more it works - because it's marked contrast to his wealth and business success.

Obviously it has nothing to do with the love fest between our mainstream media and the PM eh? Key's popularity apparently all comes down to him being error-prone with nothing to hide.

Isn't it just great that none of the voting public is antagonized by John Key...not one of them. That's because Key is such an honest man and why he's decided to fire his diplomatic security squad and save us taxpayers a few million bucks each year, because the whole world just loves him. /sarc.

While Armstrong and Roughan are trying to rewrite history and openly endorsing the National Party in the run-up to the election, the policy direction John Key stands for is being ignored. That’s because if the media actually did some proper investigative reporting on what each party really stands for, National would get decimated at the polls come September 2014. But who really cares about the details when we can simply worship a cult of personality in the form of the Prime Minister? Who actually gives a damn about the environment, society or our international standing when we have the scripted soap opera that is the Prime Minister, John Key?

Who refused to release the letters?

Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

Letters of support from two Government MPs for Donghua Liu's citizenship bid have been kept secret - despite letters from Labour politicians for his residency bid being released this week.

The Herald reported in March that Liu received citizenship in 2010 against official advice after lobbying by Maurice Williamson, the Minister for Building and Construction, and John Banks, the Mayor of Auckland at the time who later entered Parliament as an Act MP.

However, the Department of Internal Affairs refused to release the letters sent by Mr Williamson and Mr Banks under the privacy and commercial provisions in the Official Information Act.

The privacy and commercial provisions within the Official Information Act seem like a weak excuse for not releasing all the letters.

These are clearly letters between Ministers and Donghua Liu that should not really contain information that would prejudice or disadvantage people's commercial activities.

I should also mention that these letters can easily be redacted to remove any private information and should therefore be released because of the public interest in this matter.

No Right Turn blogs:

So it turns out that Immigration released letters from David Cunliffe and Chris Carter in support of Donghua Liu, but kept letters from government MPs secret.

(...)

This looks like a blatantly political release decision to advance the interests of the government of the day. It is an abuse of the Act which shames the entire public service and calls its impartiality into question. Transparency of official information applies to everyone, not just the government's enemies.

I would very much like to know if it really was Internal Affairs or Immigration that refused to release the letters written by Maurice Williamson and John Banks, or was it the Minister himself?

That would likely be the inept Peter Dunne, who would have to sign off on the release of any official information. However it could also be Michael Woodhouse, who is compromised because of his associated with the corrupt Donghua Liu. Either way, there are clearly spurious grounds for not releasing all the letters, as Idiot/Savant succinctly points out. Let's hope the Ombudsman makes the right decision in this matter.

Being that this whole thing has been carefully orchestrated to make David Cunliffe look bad in the run-up to an election, it wouldn't surprise me if Peter Dunne or Michael Woodhouse received a pro-release briefing paper with the letters in question attached and simply chose what information to withhold because they're biased.

The minister in question may well have then instructed Internal Affairs or Immigration to refuse to release the letters that would make the government look bad in favour of releasing an 11 year old letter soon after getting their media cohorts to ask David Cunliffe certain leading questions in order to entrap him.

That would seem to be a far more logical explanation for the letters from government MPs concerning Donghua Liu to be kept secret than any privacy or commercial reasons.

I very much doubt that Internal Affairs or Immigration would make such a politically biased decision on their own. In fact the evidence is pretty clear that one of these two ministers is responsible for this prejudiced decision.

Most ministry's are overly careful to not get caught up in political point scoring, because in general they want to keep their jobs when a new government is elected.

Contact MPs voting for GCSB and TICS legislation

Below is a list of the parliamentarians planning to force NZ ISPs to decrypt all traffic, (TICS) and let the GCSB spy on all New Zealand citizens.

Your opinion is important, please contact these MPs to let them know you do not support such invasive legislative changes.

Encourage them to do the right thing and cross the floor to vote against these bills. Make it clear that if they support these bills you will not vote for them in 2014.

Peter Dunne
Email: peter.dunne@parliament.govt.nz
Phone electorate (04) 478 0076
Phone electorate (04) 560 4773

John Key
Email: john.key@national.org.nz
Website: www.johnkey.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6800 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4122496 (Electorate)

Bill ENglish
Email: bill.english@national.org.nz
Website: www.billenglish.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6801 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)2033000 (Electorate)

Gerry Brownlee
Email: gerry.brownlee@national.org.nz
Website: www.brownlee.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6802 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)3590582 (Electorate)

Steven Joyce
Email: steven.joyce@national.org.nz
Website: www.stevenjoyce.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6813 (Parliament)
Phone: (04)8176813 (Electorate)

Judith Collins
Email: office@judithcollins.co.nz
Website: www.judithcollins.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6806 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)2997426 (Electorate)

Tony Ryall
Email: tony.ryall@national.org.nz
Phone: (04)817 6804 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)5780175 (Electorate)

Hekia Parata
Email: h.parata@ministers.govt.nz
Website: www.hekiaparata.co.nz
Phone: (04)8176829 (Parliament)
Phone: (04)2370746 (Electorate)

Chris Finlayson
Email: c.finlayson@parliament.govt.nz
Website: chrisfinlayson.co.nz
Phone: (04)8176808 (Parliament)
Phone: (04)8016130 (Electorate)

Paula Bennett
paula.bennettmp@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.paulabennett.co.nz
Phone: (04) 817 6815 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)8388161 (Electorate)

Jonathan Coleman
Email: jonathan.coleman@national.org.nz
Website: www.jonathancoleman.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6818 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4198021 (Electorate)

Murray McCully
Email: murray.mccully@national.org.nz
Website: www.mccully.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6810 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4780207 (Electorate)

Anne Tolley
Email: anne.tolley@national.org.nz
Website: www.annetolley.co.nz
Phone: (04) 8176807 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)8677571 (Electorate)

Nick Smith
Email: nick.smith@national.org.nz
Website: www.nick4nelson.co.nz
Phone: (04)8176805 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)5472314 (Electorate)

Tim Groser
Email: Tim.Groser@national.org.nz
Phone: (04)817 6811 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)8278985 (Electorate)

Amy Adams
Email: amy.adams@national.org.nz
Website: www.amyadams.co.nz
Phone: 048178225 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)3440418 (Electorate)

Nathan Guy
Email: nathan.guy@national.org.nz
Website: www.nathanguy.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6821 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)3679110 (Electorate)

Craig Foss
Email: craigfoss@backingthebay.co.nz
Website: www.backingthebay.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6625 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)8703480 (Electorate)

Chris Tremain
Email: chris.tremain@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.christremain.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6832 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)8340207 (Electorate)

Simon Bridges
Email: s.bridges@ministers.govt.nz
Website: www.simonbridges.co.nz
Phone: (04)8176835 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)5799016 (Electorate)

Nikki Kaye
Email: nikki.kaye@national.org.nz
Website: www.nikkikaye.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 8227 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)3782088 (Electorate)

Maurice Williamson
Email: maurice.williamson@national.org.nz
Phone: (04)817 6820 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)5720000 (Electorate)

Jo Goodhew
Email: jo.goodhew@parliament.govt.nz
Website: goodhew.co.nz
Phone: (04) 817 6635 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)6831386_Timaru (Electorate)

Chester Burrows
Email: chester.borrows@national.org.nz
Website: www.borrows.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6834 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)3489150 (Electorate)

Michael Woodhouse
Email: michael.woodhouse@national.org.nz
Website: michaelwoodhouse.co.nz
Phone: (04)8176836 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)4777330 (Electorate)

David Carter
Email: david.carter@national.org.nz
Website: www.davidcarter.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 9321 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)3840008 (Electorate)

Kate Wilkinson
Email: kate.wilkinson@national.org.nz
Website: www.katewilkinson.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6819 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)3107468 (Electorate)

Phil Heatley
Email: phil.heatley@national.org.nz
Website: www.heatley.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6816 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4389992 (Electorate)

Louise Upston
Email: louise.upston@national.org.nz
Website: www.louiseupston.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 8218 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)3765563 (Electorate)

Claudette Hauiti
Email: claudette.hauiti@national.org.nz
Phone: (04) (Parliament)
Phone: 021896163 (Electorate)



H/T Geoff Silbery

John Banks
johnbanks.epsom@parliament.govt.nz
Phone parliament 04 817 9496
Phone electorate 09 522 7464

Chris Auchinvole
Email: chris.auchinvole@national.org.nz
Website: www.auchinvole.com
Phone: (04)817 6936 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)7558301 (Electorate)

Colin King
Email: colin.kingmp@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.colinking.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 9517 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)5793204 (Electorate)

David Bennet
Email: david.bennett@national.org.nz
Website: davidbennett.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6937 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)8343407 (Electorate)

Paul Hutchinson
Email: paul.hutchison@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.drpaulhutchison.co.nz/
Phone: (04)817 9364 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)2385977 (Electorate)

Jackie Blue
Email: drjackieblue@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.jackieblue.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6941 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)6294982 (Electorate)

Eric Roy
Email: eric.roy@national.org.nz
Website: www.ericroy.org.nz
Phone: (04)817 6797 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)2187749 (Electorate)

Tau Henare
Email: tau.henare@national.org.nz
Phone: (04)8176934 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)8383147 (Electorate)

Jacqui Dean
Email: jacqui.dean@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.jacquidean.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6958 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)4347325 (Electorate)

John Hayes
Email: john.hayes@national.org.nz
Website: www.johnhayes.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 9096 (Parliament)
Phone: 08002HAYES (Electorate)

Nicky Wagner
Email: nicky.wagner@national.org.nz
Website: www.nickywagner.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6959 (Parliament)
Phone: (03)3658297 (Electorate)

Lindsay Titch
Email: lindsay.tisch@parliament.govt.nz
Phone: (04)817 9161 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)8232264 (Electorate)

Shane Ardern
Email: shane.ardern@national.org.nz
Website: www.ardern.co.nz/
Phone: (04)8179357 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)7656608 (Electorate)

Jonathan Young
Email: jonathan.young@national.org.nz
Website: www.jonathanyoung.co.nz
Phone: (04)8178232 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)7582919 (Electorate)

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
Email: Bakshi.mp@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.bakshi.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 9303 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)2789302 (Electorate)

Katrina Shanks
katrinashanks.mp@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.katrinashanks.co.nz
Phone: (04)8179509 (Parliament)
Phone: (04)4617193 (Electorate)

Melissa Lee
Email: melissa.lee@national.org.nz
Website: www.melissalee.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 8221 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)8150278 (Electorate)

Sam Lotu-Iiga
Email: sam.lotu-iiga@national.org.nz
Website: www.lotu-iiga.com
Phone: (04)817 6988 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)6220300 (Electorate)

Tim Macindoe
Email: tim.macindoe@national.org.nz
Website: www.timmacindoe.co.nz
Phone: 048178216 (Parliament)
Phone: 078460055 (Electorate)

Todd McClay
Email: todd.mcclay@national.org.nz
Website: www.toddmcclay.co.nz
Phone: (04) 817 8230 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)3485871 (Electorate)

Jami-lee Ross
Email: jami-lee.ross@national.org.nz
Website: www.jami-leeross.co.nz
Phone: (04)8176627 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)2713255 (Electorate)

Cam Calder
Email: cam.calder@national.org.nz
Website: www.camcalder.co.nz
Phone: (04)8176615 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)2671110 (Electorate)

Scott Simpson
Email: scott.simpson@national.org.nz
Website: www.scottsimpson.co.nz
Phone: (04)8178390 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)8683529 (Electorate)

Jian Yang
Email: jian.yang@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.jianyang.co.nz
Phone: (04)8178386 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)6308677 (Electorate)

Alfred Ngaro
Email: alfred.ngaro@parliament.govt.nz
Phone: (04) 817 8396 (Parliament)
Phone: . (Electorate)

Paul Goldsmith
Email: paul.goldsmith@national.org.nz
Website: www.paulgoldsmith.co.nz
Phone: 048176945 (Parliament)
Phone: 095244930 (Electorate)

Simon O'Connor
Email: simon.oconnor@national.org.nz
Website: www.simon.org.nz
Phone: (04)8178388 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)5759842 (Electorate)

Maggie Barry
Email: maggie.barry@national.org.nz
Website: maggiebarry.co.nz
Phone: (04)8178398 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4860005 (Electorate)

Ian McKelvie
Email: ian.mckelvie@national.org.nz
Website: www.ianmckelvie.co.nz
Phone: (04)8178395 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)3237253 (Electorate)

Mark Mitchell
Email: mark.mitchell@national.org.nz
Website: www.markmitchell.co.nz
Phone: (04)8178382 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4266215 (Electorate)

Mike Sabin
Email: Mike.Sabin@parliament.govt.nz
Website: www.mikesabin.co.nz
Phone: (04)8178384 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4077219 (Electorate)

Stop the GCSB bill

Urgent Public Meeting

When: Monday 19th @ 7pm

Where: The Auckland Townhall.

H/T The Daily Blog

Two victories!

It's not often that left wing MPs manage to get their bills passed through parliament these days. Usually it's the right wing ramming through socially detrimental legislation that passes with slimmest of majorities.

Sometimes there isn't even any select committee or public input into the process, which is somewhat demoralizing and puts into question whether we still have a functioning democracy in New Zealand?

However yesterday the left had two significant victories: the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill 2012 and the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, both passing despite strong opposition inside and outside parliament.

David Clark's Holiday Bill passed by only one vote, with the Maori Party and Peter Dunne switching allegiance to vote in favour of the worthwhile legislative changes. In my opinion, they should be commended for supporting left wing principles.

The Marriage Bill passed by 77 votes to 44, with many right wing MPs siding with the bills sponsor, Labour MP Louisa Wall. Even John Banks voted for the law change to allow same sex marriages, which is sure to get under the skin of most Act party supporters.

This is pretty big news around the world, with The Guardian reporting:

New Zealand's parliament has voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage, prompting cheers, applause and the singing of a traditional Maori celebratory song from the public gallery.

Seventy-seven of 121 members voted in favour of amending the 1955 Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to wed, making New Zealand the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so.

"Two-thirds of parliament have endorsed marriage equality," said Louisa Wall, a gay opposition Labour party MP who campaigned in favour of the bill. "It shows that we are building on our human rights as a country."

The bill was widely expected to pass, given similar support for the change in a preliminary vote held last month. It is likely to come into effect in August.

New Zealand becomes the 13th country to legalise same-sex marriages, after Uruguay passed the law last week. Australia rejected a similar proposal last year.

So an excellent result, and one that has assuredly reduce discrimination. In fact the public discussion surrounding the process has likely helped to change some people's perceptions for the better.

Now on to the next victory!

Urban deforestation

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Epsom residents are powerless to stop the removal of a century-old pohutukawa tree after blanket tree protection rules were axed in the leafy suburb.

A tree removal company is taking three days to fell the 20m-high tree with numerous limbs stretching out from a large trunk in the front yard at 134 The Drive.

Acting on a complaint, Auckland Council officers put a stop to work on Tuesday, but allowed work to continue yesterday after discovering the tree was not scheduled or protected in any way.

The Pohutukawa tree is considered New Zealands Christmas tree, and is a taonga (national treasure). Being 20 metres tall, this particular tree would have been over 100 years old, and should therefore have been protected.

The other issue here is that trees in general are beneficial to the environment. In fact we need more trees in urban areas to maintain a natural ecosystem and encourage the return of birdlife.

If Gareth Morgan thinks cats are such a disaster, cutting down native trees should be considered a catastrophe! Lets hope he pipes up about the habitat of native birdlife being destroyed by ignorant private landowners.

Resource consents team manager David Oakhill said the tree was protected but a rule change last December meant the tree could be removed without resource consent.

Auckland Council backed down from its blanket tree protection rules in a legal dispute with the Property Council, meaning trees previously covered by all-encompassing rules on about 500,000 Auckland properties could be removed.

Tree Council field officer Hueline Massey predicted in January that the rule change would lead to "open slather" on trees.

I bet there are no stats being kept as to exactly how many trees that previously had protection are being chopped down.

Rosemary Clapham, who has lived nearby in Pukehana Ave for 18 years, said the tree was a familiar part of the local environment and home to tui and thrushes.

"It's beautiful at Christmas time when the pohutukawa flower comes out. It's very, very sad," she said.

So, as well as an impact on local birdlife, there's also a detrimental impact on the community by allowing private land owners to chop down ancient native trees whenever they feel like it.

Ms Clapham said the removal of blanket protection, prompted by changes to the Resource Management Act, was wrong and leading to the destruction of trees in Epsom.

She said a number of residents were upset and planned to contact Epsom MP and former Auckland City Mayor John Banks.

Good luck with that... Perhaps somebody should inform her that the Act party promoted the previous amendments to the RMA that made it hugely difficult to protect urban trees.

In fact John Banks has been advocating for further changes to the RMA that make it even easier to destroy the natural environment most New Zealanders know and enjoy. The governments proposed changes have received widespread condemnation, even from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Lets hope that opinion results in enough political pressure to ensure further detrimental changes are not implemented.

The owner of 134 The Drive is believed to be an overseas-based landlord and could not be reached for comment.

Obviously the overseas owner doesn't share our values.

John Banks - Asshole of the Week

There's been a number of nominations for Asshole of the Week this week, from Judith Collins appointing Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner and then calling Annette Sykes a stupid person for her justified criticism of that appointment to the Solid Energy debacle which highlighted Nationals incompetence, particularly by the idiot Bill English who tried to once again blame his mismanagement on Labour.

Then there was Rodney Hide proposing a slave trade of unemployed people in yet another blatant attempt to gain support by bashing some beneficiaries. However, what really takes the cake this week is yet another conflict of interest by the ever-corrupt "leader" of the Act Party John Banks.

On Wednesday, the NZ Herald reported:

Associate Education Minister John Banks had shares in Australian company Talent2 at the same time he sat on a Cabinet committee that received progress updates on a planned rollout of Talent2's Novopay payroll system before it was launched.

Mr Banks is a Minister outside of Cabinet, but is on the Cabinet Committee on State Sector Reform and Expenditure Control (SEC).

Between January and May last year SEC received key documents relating to a planned rollout of Novopay and a backup.

The question here is whether John Banks had any influence on the decision-making process concerning Novopay and the roll out of an inferior payroll system while he was set to personally gain.

The conflict of interest occurred when John Banks became Associate Minister of Education, while holding shares in a company that is a major contractor with the government.

In my opinion, the waft of corruption from John Banks over this issue has become overpowering.

On Friday, the Herald also reported:

Act leader John Bank's office has produced Cabinet Committee papers in a bid to prove that he did not take part in any meetings concerning Novopay while he was a shareholder in Novopay's parent company Talent2.

Mr Banks has previously stated that he had declared the potential conflict of interest, and had not seen any briefing papers or taken part in any meetings or discussions about Novopay before he sold his shares on May 28, last year.

Here's the relevant Register of Pecuniary Interests (PDF):

Hon John BANKS (ACT, Epsom) 1 Company directorships and controlling interests

Talent2 International Limited (ABN 19 000 737 744) (shareholder as Trustee for The Pukenui Family Trust) – Talent management solutions in HR advisory, payroll, learning and recruitment across the Asia Pacific region

So, apparently Banks divested himself of the shares at the end of May last year... However there was six months for him to have influenced the decision making process as Associate Minister while holding those shares and who's to say that he didn't influence the government previous to him becoming an MP?

The question in my mind of whether there was undue influence has been answered... Why else would National sign off and continue with such a flawed system if it wasn't for the benefit of one of their own? After all, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours is still entrenched philosophy within the old boys club.

Coupled with previous examples of corruption, that clear conflict of interest makes John Banks Asshole of the Week... He's certifiably not fit to be an MP.

Mr Corruption can't talk

It was somewhat amusing to see the totally discredited John Banks get so steamed up about David Shearer's brain fade concerning an overseas bank account. The Act "leader" certainly didn't do himself any favours by trying to compare Shearer's forgetfulness to his far more numerous and egregious instances of corruption. In fact he looked downright ridiculous!

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

But the MP for Epsom, also known as the Act Party caucus, appeared to mistake the Prime Minister's remark for an endorsement of Banks' statements. He had shown an uncharacteristic distaste for the public spotlight since about the time that John Key was refusing to read the police report on donations to Banks's failed Auckland mayoral campaign. But look at him now, springing up like some great gurning Jack-in-the-box. Here, at last, was a chance to exact revenge on the cretins who gave him such a hard time last year.

Whether or not Key had empowered his teapot confidant to let rip I do not know. But it was a gift for Shearer. What better way to make his foolishness look trifling? By explicitly comparing Shearer's brain fade with his own over the Dotcom donation scandal, Banks was inviting us to recall that ugly episode, replete with allegations of impropriety. Not so in Shearer's case.

It invites us to revisit, too, the means by which Banks ended up back in Parliament, those unsightly tea stains that just won't wash out. We're invited to mull again this week's slap on the wrist given to Banks by the Ombudsman for withholding information about charter schools. To recall that the planned charter schools, which Act apparently insisted on, themselves will not be subject to the Official Information Act. And then, on top of all that, come fresh questions about whether he held shares in Novopay operator Talent2 while sitting on a committee that received updates on the school payment payroll system's progress. This is hardly a man that can boast of an exemplary commitment to disclosure and transparency.

Toby Manhire is spot on here... There's no comparison between Shearer forgetting to register his bank account and Banks' numerous instances of outright corruption, and the Actoid pontificating about Shearer's oversight just makes him look foolish!

But where I diverge from the status quo is that in my opinion Shearer admitting that he has an overseas bank account shouldn't dull Labours ability to hold the government to account.

There is no question that Shearer should have registered his pecuniary interest, and that him not doing so looks bad, but if we say that such things mean the government is somehow absolved from their numerous instances of corruption, we're saying that democracy has failed and we accept that failure... We're saying that two wrongs make those wrongs right, when each instance should instead be judged on its own demerits.

I've lost count of how many demerit points John Banks has, but it's safe to say that he has more than enough.

National punishing the poor

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Welfare benefits will go up by just 0.61 per cent from April 1 because the Government has decided not to give beneficiaries any compensation for higher cigarette prices.

The increase is the lowest for many years and represents only an extra $1.25 a week for a single unemployed person aged 25 or over, or $2.08 a week for a couple.

But superannuation rates will go up by 2.44 per cent in line with the net average wage, providing an extra $8.50 a week for single superannuitants living alone and an extra $13.08 a week for a couple.

That seems entirely unfair... If superannuitants get the full increase, why aren't beneficiaries? That makes Nationals decision discriminatory, and it also makes a mockery of Paula Bennett's claim that benefits would match general inflation.

It's incorrect to make the calculation by averaging inflation across the board when most beneficiaries rent the house they live in. Rents have increased dramatically; therefore the cost of living for beneficiaries has increased more than the average waged person.

Having an increase of only 0.61 per cent in comparison to general inflation will simply cause more inequality, which is a shameful result that indicates a failure of governance to properly look after the populace. New Zealanders don't want a country divided between the haves and the have nots... We want an equal society where everybody can prosper.

The diverging trends mean that the super rate for a couple will stay fixed at 66 per cent of the net average wage, while the benefit for a working-age unemployed couple will slip further from 42 per cent to 41.3 per cent of the net average wage, continuing a trend which has been steadily downwards since the late 1980s.

A Treasury paper prepared for the Long-Term Fiscal External Panel in January forecasts that benefits will roughly halve again as a proportion of wages as wages continue to increase faster than prices out to the year 2060.

With many areas not having any opportunities for people to work themselves out of poverty, reducing benefits in comparison to inflation will simply have an adverse effect on society. It will dramatically increase inequality and hardship.

For instance, less beneficiaries will be able to afford health care, which accompanied by higher prescription costs, will lead to an increase in acute cases of illness and subsequently more time spent in hospital. That being the case, one has to ask whether Nationals attempt to save money is going to save any at all?

Salvation Army analyst Alan Johnson said a "low-income consumers price index", based on typical spending by low-income families, rose by 1.4 per cent during the year, significantly above the 0.9 per cent official average.

Which clearly shows that the governments decision to effectively cut benefits by by 0.79 per cent will adversely impact on those who are already struggling, and not just smokers I might add.

Unfortunately National is ideologically hard wired to punish the poor, and their stupidity looks set to increase inequality in New Zealand even further.

The Herald also reported:

Sweeping changes to the welfare system came closer to passing into law despite losing the support of New Zealand First and official advice that the changes would lead to a decline in poor families' health.

After a fiery, personal debate in which Opposition members accused former beneficiary and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett of "kicking away the ladder", the reforms passed their second reading 61 votes to 60.

That one vote is why nothing will be done about the corrupt John Banks.

Ms Bennett said that despite "hand-wringing" by the Opposition and claims of beneficiary bashing, National campaigned on the changes in 2011 and was overwhelmingly supported by New Zealanders.

Overwhelming support by New Zealanders? With a million Kiwis deciding not to vote at the last election, National only receiving 47% of the vote and such a slim margin of MPs supporting the defunct legislation, one has to ask whether the current government has a mandate to pass these detrimental changes into law at all?

But Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei pointed to Ministry of Health advice, released under the Official Information Act, which warned ministers that the economic benefits of the changes could be undermined by health impacts. Families who were sanctioned were likely to defer healthcare and increasingly show up in emergency departments instead of primary care.

The ministry also warned that making Well Child checks compulsory for beneficiaries' children could change the relationship between families and health providers and make the system less effective.

So, the government is once again ignoring its own official advice, and instead ramming through ideological changes that will have no benefit to society at all. There's also no benefit to the governments budget, which makes Nationals archaic policy changes not about helping the poor, and all about punishment for the sake of it. How stupid is that?

More corruption from dodgy John

Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

The Ombudsman's office found Associate Education Minister John Banks wrongly withheld information about how proposed charter schools would be funded.

The Post Primary Teachers Association made a request under the Official Information Act (OIA) about resourcing, capital and operating funding for charter schools. The information was withheld in February last year.

You've got to wonder why they wanted to keep charter school funding information secret... I mean what are they trying to hide?

This is taxpayers' money after all, and therefore the public has a right to know how and where it's being spent.

Ombudsman David McGee has recommended that Mr Banks release the information.

He advised that there was no good reason to withhold information on the funding of charter schools.

Which should raise suspicions about why the information was withheld in the first place.

Charter schools would get money for set up costs and property funding that their private-sector backers would be able to keep if a school folded.

That's a sure way to get a lot of dubious organisations setting up charter schools just so they can acquire property, and perhaps that's what a few of John Banks' mates have been planning all along... Talk about dodgy.

Government unravelling at the seams

Today, TVNZ reported:

Senior Government officials are understood to be distancing themselves from a controversial car park tax that has sparked fierce opposition from business groups and unionists.

The proposal to extend a fringe benefit tax (FBT) of almost 50% to employer-provided onsite parking was the brainchild of United Future leader and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne.

The tax, which would apply only to workers in the Auckland and Wellington CBDs, has been widely described as petty and discriminatory.

Now National Party officials at the very highest levels are understood to be trying to shift the heat to Dunne, who is currently out of the country.

Talk about another National party PR disaster!

Being that United Future has a no surprises agreement with the National party, John Key and Bill English must have agreed to Peter Dunne's car park tax for it to be before parliament.

In fact Nationals Confidence and Supply Agreement (PDF) with United Future states:

Advance notification to the other party of significant announcements by either the Government or United Future.

Therefore it's safe to say that National did previously support the car park tax wholeheartedly... In fact along with Act they voted for it through its first reading, totally failing to raise any concerns about the issue, probably because they didn't realise at the time it would be so unpopular.

That was before a public backlash that subsequently initiated a strongly worded blog post from Cactus Kate, in which she asked a most poignant question:

Didn't John Key promise no new taxes?

Why yes he did, and in 2005 also pledged not to entertain any suggestion of applying new taxes to car parks. National supporting the car park tax through its first reading means the dishonest Prime Minister has once again broken his word.

Cathy Odgers' blog post in turn caused John Banks to come out strongly the next day against the new car park tax... However, the Act Party has now removed their "leaders" article, perhaps realising it doesn't look good to be attacking one of their own coalition partners.

Praise for Cathy Odgers doesn't come easily to me, but she's really outdone herself here... Firstly by encouraging the idiot John Banks to contradict himself and back track on supporting the car park tax, and secondly to once again show National up to be the duplicitous bastards that they are.

Today, Odgers follows up:

Peter Dunne has failed and Bill English has failed.  Spectacularly.

[...]

They are meant to represent the centre right and the far extreme left presently are upholding more principles of the right than they are.  It is not and never will be about the $17 million, it is about principles.

It is about principles and it presently appears that "Senior Government officials" are simply going to leave Peter Dunne blowing in the wind in order to avoid public criticism, after they knowingly agreed to the new on-premises car park tax... That backtracking succinctly shows the National party, and Act party for that matter, have no solid principles at all.

Perhaps them cutting Peter Dunne loose has something to do with his recent comments on how National has mismanaged some of their policy announcements, and the fact that United Future will be unlikely in a position to prop up any defunct neoliberal government after the next election.

Clearly all is not well within the right wings rank and file.

Teachers must be registered

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

In New Zealand, all teachers must be registered. If you are not registered, you can't teach. Overseeing the registration is an outfit called the New Zealand Teachers Council.

The council has just told Parliament that teacher registration ensures teachers are "subject to scrutiny" and "held to account for their professional conduct".

But there's no way we can know that. As the Herald on Sunday has revealed, the council's "scrutiny" and "holding to account" is done behind closed doors. It's against the law to report anything about a teacher's disciplinary hearing, even after the hearing has concluded and the teacher is deregistered.

I think it's best for the disciplinary process to be private, because if it weren't people like Rodney Hide would use that information to try and besmirch the reputations of all teachers.

The Teachers Council pulls a cone of silence over naughty teachers and their misdeeds.

Hide is basically saying that the Teachers Council is failing to forward cases of criminality to the police, and in my opinion his baseless claims amount to defamation.

The Teachers Council tells the Minister of Education it exists to set standards. But something is clearly amiss. Thirty per cent of students leave school ill-equipped to prosper in the modern world.

Rodney Hides' 30% is quite frankly wrong! Research conducted in the eighties showed that 20% of school leavers didn't have enough qualifications to succeed in the world.

Since then, there's been no further comprehensive research undertaken that shows educational outcomes have worsened, and some minor research that shows things have improved.

In fact our educational system is rated very highly by international standards, which makes Hides' entire argument for fixing things with charter schools rather defunct!

Moreover, NZ now has a long list of registered teachers convicted of the most vile abuse of students. Teacher registration has done nothing to protect these students.

There's no evidence to show that not registering teachers would reduce the occurrence of such crimes... In fact with a lack of any formal process to weed out such criminals, the opposite would likely apply.

Imagine the outcry in any other industry if staff were convicted of sexual abuse of customers as often as registered teachers are. No other business or industry would survive such an appalling record.

I'm not aware of any increase in sexual abuse cases within schools compared to any other industry that works directly with children, and Hide appears to be just making shit up again without any research to back up his accusations.

Child, Youth and Family for instance has a high percentage of social worker child abuse cases, but there's very little being done by the current government to remedy that problem. There's also very little public outcry because of a disproportionate amount of media coverage.

Unfortunately any profession that allows access to children is going to attract those kinds of people, and to say that the Teachers Union is somehow responsible for such disgusting crimes is reprehensible! Likewise, it's disgusting to suggest that such crimes would be reduced if teachers weren't registered.

The Teachers Council's failure is made worse by its closed disciplinary system, with all details subject to blanket suppression.

It has every appearance of a protection racket. Any disciplinary action it takes is hidden well away from public gaze.

So the idiotic Hide is ramping up his attack on teachers by saying their Council is protecting child abusers... What a stupid argument to try and gain ground for privatising our schooling system.

Clearly implementing charter schools that will be operated to make private profits will not reduce child abuse within educational institutions at all... Rodney Hide is simply deluded!

It's ironic that so called charter schools won't have to operate to any set charter that gives consistency across the education system... Instead they will basically be able to teach whatever they like while being granted extensive public funding to do so.

There's no evidence to show the charter schools National has planned will save the taxpayer any money at all, and because they'll be set up to make a profit for private investors, it's likely costs will increase while educational outcomes suffer.

Certainly the evidence people like Hide have supplied in support of privatising our educational system is inconclusive to say the least, which is something the Child Poverty Action Group highlight in a recent Scoop article:

Currently, all schools whether public or private, operate under a charter that sets out their contract with the school community and the state. Schools must comply with the Education Act’s National Curriculum and Teachers’ Council provisions. They are also obliged to be transparent in their operations and open to scrutiny.

None of these obligations apply to the proposed ‘partnership schools kura hourua’.

The proposed ‘partnership’ is between the ‘sponsors’ and the Minister for Education, not with the community. This removes the democratic decision-making power from local communities.

The privately owned ‘partnership schools’ would receive public funding, and would be given the power to absorb existing state schools, without requirements for transparency or public accountability or oversight.

Because they would be permitted to function without trained teachers, and without delivering the National Curriculum, there is no assurance that they will prepare their students for further education. This puts every one of their students at enormous and unnecessary risk.

That's a risk New Zealand shouldn't take.

Privatising schools is an Act party policy that John Banks negotiated with National to secure his single vote in parliament... John Key was desperate for that one vote because at times it's all their stupid neoliberal legislation passes by.

With the racist right wing Act party barely polling above 0.1%, there's obviously no mandate for their destructive policies. Therefore charter schools as envisioned by bigots like Rodney Hide and the criminal John Banks should be consigned to the dustbin where they belong.

John Banks is corrupt

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

A judge is considering whether Act Party leader John Banks should face charges this month for allegedly misleading investors.

The threat hung over Banks' head as he took the podium at yesterday's annual party conference.

Court papers supplied to the Herald on Sunday allege that because Banks was an executive director of finance firm Huljich Wealth Management, he has absolute liability for false statements in the company prospectus.

That's correct... Anyone who makes investment recommendations, as John Banks has done with Huljich, is an investment adviser under the law and can be prosecuted as such for any misconduct.

Prospective investors were not aware Huljich had injected his own money into the fund following losses made on investments he selected.

But a spokesman for Banks said last night that the Act leader could only be in breach of the Securities Act if it could be shown that the politician had been reckless, negligent or had known of the false claims in the prospectuses.

"Mr Banks can only be held liable for what he knew at the time."

That's incorrect... As an executive director of the company, Banks doesn't actually need to be aware of the misleading information. He only needs to have reckless disregard for his position and fail to ensure all advertisements are correct.

There's some evidence that shows Banks was aware that Huljich was in trouble when the false advertisements were made, and it was his job to ensure all advertisements (especially those with his photo on them) were not misleading investors.

In this way Banks' improbable ignorance is no excuse, and he only needed to allow misleading material to be published while he was a director to be guilty of committing a crime.

This newspaper has seen copies of the company's glossy prospectus that identified Banks as an executive director as recently as 2008.

But after concerns emerged about how the company was paying its returns to investors, the word "executive" was removed from in front of Banks' title on the website and in a subsequent prospectus.

That hardly lets Banks off the hook. As a director of the company, he's liable under the law. With there being no reasonable grounds for him to believe that the misleading prospectus was correct, he's likely to be found guilty.

When the judge considers the allegation, Banks' lawyers will argue that is irrelevant: that a director is a director under the Companies Act, and the word "executive" is legally irrelevant to his liability.

The fact that investors were misled is clear evidence of Banks' negligence as the executive director of Huljich Wealth Management. If his lawyer wants to argue that he was just a director at the time investors were misled, that won't change his liability under the law.

Banks, and former leader Don Brash, had until earlier this month to respond to papers filed in Wellington and Auckland district courts. The pair stand accused of making false statements in the prospectus.

A guilty verdict would undoubtedly mean the end of Banks' political career... It could even mean a bit of time in jail, which in my opinion is where corrupt cretins like Banks and Brash belong.

Banks' sprawl not wanted

Today, the Act party reported:

When questioned on TVNZ’s One News last night, a Fletcher Building representative confirmed they could “build significantly more” [houses] but their “biggest constraint is land availability.”

“ACT has said this from the start - no new land means no new houses, and the land that is available is too costly for first home owners,” Mr Banks said.

Land on the private market is often too expensive for first time homebuyers because foreign investors have pushed up its price. That, and the fact that there's no Capital Gains Tax on investment properties is why land is now priced out of the reach of your average Kiwi family.

“Both the 2025 Taskforce, in its 2009 report, and the Productivity Commission report of 2012 reach this conclusion.

However the Productivity Commission recommendation differs to Banks' interpretation, and the changes to the RMA that Act wants will assuredly mean uncontrolled urban sprawl and unregulated housing projects similar to those that caused the leaky buildings disaster.

Here's exactly what the Productivity Commission recommended in their 2012 Report (PDF):

Adopt a strategy that allows for both intensification within existing urban boundaries and orderly expansion beyond them.

They believe this is achievable by developing a more centralized mechanism to coordinate housing developments:

Planning must take account of the RMA, the Local Government Act (LGA) and the Land Transport Management Act (LTMA). These statutes have different legal purposes, timeframes, processes and criteria. With multiple participants and decision-makers, there is no single mechanism for facilitating engagement, securing agreement among participants and providing information for robust decision-making. The Government should consider the case for reviewing planning-related legislation.

Reviewing planning-related legislation and an orderly expansion into other areas available for construction is obviously different to what the Act party wants to see happen, and the fact that John Banks entirely fails to acknowledge that the Productivity Commission has also recommended further intensification says it all.

Len Brown has stated that the Auckland City Council will help the next governments housing initiatives by coordinating resource consents, which means there should be very little delay in getting the housing built that New Zealanders require... This has of course been totally ignored by the idiot Act party leader.

Leaving it up to the "free" market has clearly been a huge disaster and reducing the effectiveness of the RMA will not help that to change... In fact it's likely to make it worse.

Here's what the Productivity Commission means by reviewing planning-related legislation and an orderly expansion into other areas:

Resolving the issues surrounding the legal, institutional and decision-making frameworks in which urban planning occurs will take time. However, there are a number of measures that councils should progress that will remove impediments to the supply of housing. Specifically, a more balanced approach to urban planning is required in the interests of housing affordability. Land for housing can come from the development of brownfields sites, by infill development in existing suburbs and by making suitable greenfields sites available, ideally in a complementary manner and in a way that provides for substantial short, medium and long-term capacity.

All of these things can be achieved without the need for more urban sprawl, which effectively adds additional travel times to and from work, and along with the requirement for more costly infrastructure development, makes the Act party's policy in this area unproductive.

Auckland is already the largest city in the world in terms of landmass per head of population, increasing that to help property investors make more money is clearly not the answer.

“Labour and the Greens both claim they can provide affordable homes, yet their policies fail to address the problem of land supply.

“Rather than making houses more affordable for many, they would rather take money off all New Zealanders to subsidise houses for a few. This will not solve the problem.

The problem is that there are not enough houses available to first time homebuyers, which is why Labour and the Greens policies target both middle and low-income earners respectively.

The government already owns considerable amounts of residential land that can be used to build houses on. Increasing the amount of houses will help to keep land prices from increasing even further out of the reach of your average Kiwi family, even for those that don't take advantage of their housing policies.

Along with a CGT and restrictions to foreign investment, these are the only ways to remedy to issue of falling home ownership levels in New Zealand. In comparison to these excellent solutions, the senile fool John Banks has no answers.

“The only credible way to address housing unaffordability is to increase the supply of land. This can only happen if we significantly reform the RMA. It’s the RMA that gives local councils their power to restrict land for residential houses and to drown building projects in resource and building consents, and other red tape.

Red tape is often there for a very good reason, and there's enough land available to build on, it just needs a proactive government to actively find it and assign it to building houses. Not only does the government own vast amounts of acreage that can be used for housing, the free market is very slack at utilizing land efficiently.

There’s approximately 763 acres that are zoned Vacant Residential Property north of the Bombay hills that the government already owns that National could build on right now if it had the gumption to.

Most of the required infrastructure is already in place for this land that has a capital value of approximately $120 million. There’s also Defence owned land of 1,147 ha, Rail 1,365 ha and other 385 ha etc etc, some of which could be appropriated. So there's already lots of residential land available, which in my opinion makes urban sprawl entirely not required.

Asshole of the Year - 2012

Welcome to The Jackal's prestigious Asshole of the Year Awards for 2012. The Jackal has been running a weekly asshole award with recipients automatically nominated for the coveted Asshole of the Year Award. It's what you've all been waiting for... Here are the nominees:

The previous National party lister, Greg White, won an Asshole Award for having the clear stench of corruption about him. Through his various conflicts of interest and underhanded dealings the asshole ensured a Taranaki iwi lost almost $20 million in dodgy investments Greg White had set up. The money has not been recovered and the conman has not been held to account.


The usually thoughtful Gareth Morgan won an Asshole Award for his ranting about "lefties, extremists, nutters," the "green extreme" and the "loony left" and saying that they are inhibiting their causes. Unfortunately the entrepreneur and philanthropist's inability to control himself has often undermined much of the good work he does concerning the environment, with many environmentalists now not giving him the time of day.


Mark Unsworth of government relations consultancy Saunders Unsworth, is perhaps the best example of a capitalist running dog that New Zealand has ever seen. His despicable attack on Massey University environmental scientist Dr Mike Joy for speaking out about environmental pollution was totally unacceptable! His attempt to use a position of power to try and close somebody down just because of what they're saying is why the prick won an Asshole Award... And rightly so.


Those who know Louis Crimp and what he believes in will fully understand why he's won an Asshole Award. The thoroughly racist Act party financial backer is as deluded as they come and typifies the old bigoted fool! People like Louis Crimp are why the Act party will not be around after the next election.


The ever repugnant Cameron Slater won an Asshole Award for yet another feckless rant about how terrible Winston Peters is and failing to check the facts. The deluded right wing propagandist was proven completely wrong about what Peter's said when the Teapot Tape transcript was leaked to the public.

Despite the transcript proving Slater to be full of shit with his accusations about the NZ First leader, he still continued to promote his poisonous brand of disinformation. Anybody who keeps track of Slater's blog knows that he's a consummate liar... Believing what he writes is akin to believing the holocaust never happened.


Judge Raoul Neave won an Asshole Award for giving Guy Hallwright a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket after he was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard.

There were some real doozy judgements this year that were completely disproportionate to the crimes committed. Raoul Neave unequivocally displayed that there is one law for the rich and another for the rest of us. The problem of rich people being able to buy their way out of more serious sentences is something that's so entrenched within our judicial system as to be somewhat unfixable. The problem is now so large and systemic that it's ignored by judges and politicians alike.


Tim Groser won an Asshole Award for spending up large again while on an all expenses paid first class trip to Paris costing the taxpayer $33,494 in airfares. However he has undoubtedly exceeded himself with other acts of assholism concerning the Kyoto protocol, with Groser's lack of negotiation skills leaving the rest of the world thinking Kiwi's must be a bunch of inbred hicks to have voted such an idiot into power.

The Minister for Climate Change Issues is obviously a climate change denier, with his ability to come up with the worst possible excuses for not dong anything about climate change having no equal. Similarly Groser's excuses for implementing the TPPA with it's entirely detrimental investor-state dispute provisions were entirely feckless. Groser is more than just an asshole, he's also a traitor to New Zealand.


Bill English is the worst Minister of Finance New Zealand has ever had. Not only has he failed to meet every financial projection National has made, he's now going to go back on their promise and increase taxes to pay for Gerry Brownlee's roads of little significance. The Minister of Finance won't get us back in the black of course, because he couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery. Through the disasterous neoliberal agenda Bill English has ensured that many generations of Kiwi's will be shackled through the governments unprecedented levels of debt that are now comparable to Greece's.

English won his Asshole Award for duping the public into believing asset sales would help reduce debt and also pay for new infrastructure spending, while actual figures from treasury show that the sales would come at a longterm financial loss. It's simply cheaper to pay the interest on the debt to service new capital expenditure than it is to lose the revenue streams from our SOE's.


The deluded fool John Roughan won an Asshole Award for arguing that the founding document of New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi, should simply be ignored, echoing the bad faith shown by National during asset sales negotiations. More recently Roughan tried to dismiss the massive privacy breach at ACC, arguing that the victims of sexual abuse and violent crimes weren't identified in the leaked information when they were. The old hack is clearly a lying fool! As long as people like Roughan get away with making up whatever bullshit they like to fit their own decrepit belief systems, we will continue to get manipulative articles in the NZ Herald that are written with all the skill of your average drunkard.


Other nominations for Asshole of the Year include:

Guy Hallwright
Jian Yang
Michael Christian & Mel Greig
Michael Laws
John Hansen
Paul Mackay
Phil Heatley
Kate Wilkinson
Bob Jones
John Tamihere
Ray Sharp
Tony Gibson
Richard Pearson
Vladimir Putin
Robert Bales
Mary Beth Sharp
Cathy Odgers

Runner-up:

Hekia Parata has been an unmitigated disaster as Minister of Education. From failing to read and understand Ministerial briefings to signing off on the Novopay disaster to flip flops that would make the best gymnast jealous, Parata has displayed an unprecedented level of incompetence and a gross lack of care in looking after our children's education.

After a lackluster propaganda campaign on increasing class sizes, only the most ideologically blinded Nact supporter believed that reducing the amount of teachers per student would equate to better learning outcomes. That's why Parata won an Asshole of the Week Award, for developing policy that was so clearly detrimental. Just like closing and merging schools in Christchurch, National's changes to teacher student ratios was a badly researched, poorly thought out and a terribly executed policy that threatened to kick our world class education system in the guts.

As the Minister of Education, the buck stops with Hekia Parata... She should be made to resign.

Second runner-up:

John Banks is a disingenuous bumbling right wing bigot that has no place within our halls of power. After intentionally trying to hide the $15,000 donation from SkyCity and the $50,000 donations from Kim Dotcom, Banks was unbelievably allowed to keep his position because of a Prime Minister who's equally if not more inept than the slimy Act party leader.

John Banks seems to have a knack at getting away with his dodgy dealings... In 2007 Banks along with former National Party leader Don Brash escaped prosecution for misleading investors in their Huljich Wealth Management fraud. That lack of accountability has clearly emboldened the conman to be even more dishonest.

Politicians need to be held to account when they're caught selling themselves to the highest bidder and the days of anonymous donations should be over. Businesses must not be allowed to purchase New Zealand's decision making process because of a few corrupt politicians... And clearly John Banks deserved his Asshole of the Week Award for displaying such a low standard of ethical behaviour.

Any Prime Minister with an ounce of credibility wouldn't have confidence in John Banks, and the fact that John Key allows such a moron to reside in his government speaks volumes.

Which brings us to the winner of this years Asshole Award, John Key.

The Prime Minister really did outdo himself this year, giving us lots and lots of reasons to think he's a complete asshole... From comments about David Beckham's intelligence, gay red shirts, eating maggots, the GCSB cover up, ignoring child poverty and failing to ensure Ministerial accountability, just to mention a few of his more overtly disgraceful acts. However the main reason Key has won is because he's entirely remorseless when caught out acting like the contemptible fool he is.

The smiling assassins juvenile attitude obviously makes him unsuitable to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand and his childish comments to provoke a spectacle on Waitangi day were in my opinion particularly despicable! Key's verbal diarrhea in the house of representatives and his ability to provide a veritable shit storm of disinformation knows no bounds. The antithesis of good leadership is clearly the frontrunner by a country mile and therefore John Key is Asshole of the Year for 2012. Hurrah!