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.

Protest to save the last 55 Maui's dolphins

More information here: Bridges target of dolphin protest

This is worth blogging about

As you may have heard, Simon Bridges, the Minister of Energy and Resources has decided to allow oil exploration and drilling in the habitat of the critically endangered Maui's dolphin.

Here's the media release from 3 News:

The Maui's dolphin is the world's rarest. It is estimated there are only 55 left.

"I think primarily once you go from exploration right through to production, you're not jeopardising the wildlife," says Minister of Energy and Resources Mr Bridges.

Simon Bridges is obviously living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks that seismic testing, oil drilling and potential oil spills will have no impact on a species like the Maui's dolphin.

But what's perhaps worse than this unbelievably bad decision is that the current government has tried to keep it a secret:

In April, the Government signed off a block offer – the biggest area ever of sea and land for oil and gas exploration.

Now official documents obtained by the Green Party reveal the Department of Conservation pointed out that this is the home of the Maui's dolphin, known as the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary.

The area the Government has opened up for potential drilling overlaps 3000 square kilometres into the sanctuary, including large areas off the Taranaki coast.

So without the Green party locating this information the government would have been happy to keep the public in the dark about their planned extinction of the iconic Maui's dolphin.

Although popoto's decline in numbers appears to mainly be the result of set-net fishing in the area, something that the government has also declined to do anything substantial about, in the interview the woefully inept Minister makes an extraordinary admission:

"There has been petroleum exploration in that area for a long period of time," says Mr Bridges. "I think it's about achieving a balance."

Clearly there's no balance between industry and the environment because dolphin numbers have continued to decline. That travesty appears to be the result of petroleum exploration in their habitat and not just unsustainable fishing practices.

In fact there is a growing body of evidence that shows seismic testing for instance has an adverse effect on such species. Even the US Navy now acknowledges that seismic testing kills whales and dolphins.

Of course the idiotic decision has resulted in a large amount of justified criticism. However it's also resulted in a number of calls for the Minister's head. That's not really a solution, as another oil industry puppet will simply take his place.

Instead, the best thing people can do is make MP's like Simon Bridges politically extinct at the next election.

Intermittent transimission

You may have realised The Jackal has stopped blogging. There are very specific reasons for this, including, but not limited to a lack of change from those in power.

You see, The Jackal wasn't about sound bites or superfluous hits; The Jackal website was about trying to change the overall system for the better. However, and I realise now, that I have utterly failed to make very much difference at all. This is because of an archaic and out-dated system that refuses to change, no-mater the evidence.

Unfortunately the various articles I have written have made very little difference at all to the status quo. To be more specific; my articles have not managed to change the minds of those who are in charge because they are stuck in their old ways.

These people in charge, although I struggle to call them people at all, have been determinably working against the people's best interests for a very very long time. Sadly they have been actively destroying our wages, our ability to buy houses, our ability to sustain ourselves, our ability to enjoy the environment and ultimately our ability to pursue the Kiwi dream. They have also been actively destroying our ability to choose our own destiny.

But none of that really matters now. That's because there has recently been new scientific consensus concerning climate change. Basically what these scientists are saying is that mankind has destroyed the Earth, to the extent that life will no longer be viable on this planet. Sorry to break that "news" to you. Earth will join our known cosmos of planets that are devoid of life.

You see, Earth is a unique and delicate entity…whether you believe in god, science or evolution, there is no current technology that can detect any other planet that can sustain life like our planet Earth. Therefore we as human beings (so-called sentient beings) have the ultimate responsibility to preserve and sustain all types of life, and unfortunately we are totally failing!

In New Zealand, the mindset of those who are in charge is that they cannot be responsible because they are just a small part of the problem. In other words, the right wings mindset is complete defeatism. That is the mindset that would have lost the first and second world war.

Although our standard of living has declined along with our financial security, Aotearoa's international standing, the thing that get's our defunct officials in the door, actually accounts for something. Despite the government’s ignorance of history, our international standing because of our previous endeavours actually matters.

As an argument against the right wing propaganda that they cannot do anything about climate change: New Zealand is in fact a catalyst for the rest of the world. When New Zealand stood up against nuclear testing, other countries listened. We are the inventors that every other nation takes granted of. There is in fact nothing us Kiwis cannot achieve if we want to, and unfortunately, along with the rest of humanity, we have chosen to not save ourselves.

It's a pity our current so-called leaders don't listen to what the public wants. New Zealand has unfortunately joined in a consensus of denial that will inevitably result in mankind’s demise.

Smith's housing mirage

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

The number of homeowners in New Zealand continues to fall, with fewer than half of all Kiwis owning their own property, new Census figures show.

In 2013, 49.8 per cent of people aged 15 years and over owned or partly owned the home they lived in, compared with 53.2 per cent in 2006, according to census results released by Statistics New Zealand today.

"The decline in home ownership occurred across all age groups, from those in their 20s to those in their 70s, with the largest falls for those in their 30s and 40s," said Gareth Meech, Census 2013 general manager.

It's no surprise really that home ownership rates are in decline under this defunct National government. In fact this trend is likely to worsen because of stagnant growth in wages, projected interest rate rises and speculators pricing many New Zealanders out of the market. It's also likely to worsen because of National's idiotic policy, government intervention making housing more difficult to attain for your average Kiwi family.

Interestingly, even in light of the 2013 census data, the government is continuing to delude itself about the extent of the problem. This is especially true of the current Minister of Housing, Nick Smith, who last week tried to mislead the House of Representatives with his answer to a patsy question:

Tim Macindoe: In what regions has there been an improvement in housing affordability under this National-led Government?

Nick Smith: The data from the independent Roost Home Loan Affordability Report make for interesting reading. In Northland, housing affordability under this Government has improved by 49 percent. In the Waikato, where the member comes from, housing affordability under this Government has improved by 39 percent. In the Hawke’s Bay, housing affordability has improved by 42 percent. In the Manawatū, it has improved by 49 percent. In Nelson and Marlborough, my home community, it has improved by 37 percent. In Otago and Southland, it has improved under this Government by 37 percent. The message is very clear—

If housing affordability is improving in all these areas, then why are home ownership levels declining under his watch?  The answer is that Nick Smith is a bold faced liar who relies on flawed data to promote his particular brand of dogma.

In fact this isn't the only lie about the state of our housing market from Smith that he's been caught out on recently, and it likely won't be the last.

In not being held to account for their various untruths, National Minister's like Nick Smith are turning parliament into a farce! Unfortunately our halls of power have become a corrupted place full of self-serving egotists who clearly don't deserve to be in power. Let's hope after the next general election they won't be.

The face of corruption

As a hard working New Zealander, I find it unacceptable that my tax dollars are being spent on Judith Collins' promotion of her and her husband's private business interests.

In my opinion, taxpayers shouldn't be facilitating government officials to feather their own nests...especially when so many Kiwi families are currently having to make cut backs because of incompetent governance based on out-dated thinking.

Yesterday, Radio NZ reported:

On Wednesday Ms Collins revealed for the first time that when in China last year she had dinner with the owner of a company of which her husband is a director. 

She had already been accused of breaching Cabinet rules by visiting the Shanghai office of the company, Oravida, and praising its milk products.

Collin's was in fact publicly promoting the company, promotion that Oravida subsequently thought was worth a considerable donation to the National Party.

In doing so, she hasn't just created a perception of corruption in the publics mind; she has confirmed that she is corrupt and therefore should be sacked immediately! Any competent Prime Minister would act accordingly, and in the least rescind Judith Collins' warrant.

If that wasn't bad enough, National's media lackey's still seem determined to give the so-called Justice Minister a hospital pass, spinning the story to make John Key appear to be in charge of the situation even when he was caught blatantly lying about the details of the debacle.

As much as that is a distasteful example of National MP's lying and abusing their positions of power, it's unfortunately not an isolated incident.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

A wealthy Auckland businessman was given New Zealand citizenship against official advice after a Government minister lobbied the colleague who made the decision. 

Maurice Williamson, the Minister of Building and Construction, and Prime Minister John Key then opened the first stage of a $70 million construction project launched by the Chinese-born developer after he became a citizen. 

The following year, one of his companies made a $22,000 donation to the National Party.

Clearly anything is for sale under this current right wing government, even New Zealand citizenship.

The solution here is to remove the Ministers powers to overrule an official decision to decline or approve citizenships. When it’s so apparent that elected officials cannot be trusted, because they are easily corrupted with bribes, then removing their ability to act improperly in the first place seems appropriate.

Again, this isn't an isolated case of corruption being reported on this week.

On Monday, Campbell Live highlighted some previously unheard audio recordings which documented the lead up to the Pike River mining disaster. It is evident from those recordings and other information that a complete lack of proper managerial oversight at the mine caused 29 men to lose their lives.

Despite such a huge loss of life, charges against former CEO of the company Peter Whittall, who is clearly a responsible party, were dropped after he offered $3.41 million in blood money with the understanding that he would be acquitted of all charges.

If these aren't three serious cases of corruption at the highest levels of power, I don't know what is.