Census: getting personal

Following my concerns the census is collecting personal identification (rather than the data they claim to be interested in) I sent them a tweet querrying the 'statistical purposes' of making people fill out their full name and full date of birth. The first response from @2013Census was that ''It's for admin reasons so we can be sure everyone is counted.'' I thought they would say that, but they shift from a statistical purposes justification to an administratilon excuse that raises more questions. So I ask 'Is the name and DOB keyed in as data?' The reply was to go to the. What happens to your census forms?.





They tell us they digitally scan all the paperforms and destry them afterwards. What they DO NOT say - certainly nowhere I've found - is that they do not record the names and DOBs. They must be scanning everything therefore, and that means everything to identify everyone. The 'just trust us' line and assurances of legislation amounts to a skeletonised fig leaf to protect confidentiality. It isn't enough. If they admit (or at least can understand) they can have no legitimate reason to collect full names and exact DOBs then they should not demand that information. In any event it should not have to be given. The fact is as soon as they have the info it's theirs to do with as they please, it is merely a statutory amendment or regulatory order away from being over-turned. They cannot assure confidentiality, they cannot rule out future misuse. The WW1 conscription boycotters in Waikato who were rounded up because the police used the census info are testament to the fragility of such assurances.

MRP privatisation: re-nationalisation options

The pre-looting has begun. The traitor's bribe - a 'loyalty bonus' in the euphemism of the National government - will be pushed on the surface by an unnecessary million dollar ad campaign and deeply cut with an undercurrent by many more millions in unnecessary brokerage and admin to the middlemen. It's a sordid business. But how to remedy the channelled greed of the Tories?




What would a 'State Owned Enterprises (Return of Assets to Full Public Ownership) Bill' of an incoming left bloc government look like?




It could be HARD: Crown will refund all shareholders only initial investment paid, so no windfall profits. Possibly also a harder clause for foreign shareholders to send a message and to keep a relative NZ preference. Or it could be SOFT: a staged buy up by the NZ Super Fund and other public funds (ACC, EQNZ etc.) to get to 90% public holdings, then consolidate and initiate takeover buyback at this point for remaining shares. This process may take a few years rather than a few months. But going soft means letting the looters carry off superprofits on the float, which doesn't seem like an adequate solution. Soft or hard it would be good to get some indications from the opposition parties about what a re-nationalisation would look like, how funded, timeline, position of shareholders etc.




Looking at the headline again I'm reminded of the irony that it is the National Party that is against nationalisation. Key has said he expects 20 - 30% of the initial share float to be taken up by foreigners. So that's on day 1, in a few years time where will that be? National indeed. And the 'loyalty' bonus not being available to the Iwi they're settling with!? Maori on the one hand; New Zealanders on the other. The Nats enforcement of second class citizenship crosses into every sphere. Maori aren't capable or worthy of the benefits of loyalty - that is the message.

MRP privatisation: it's not looting if we form a queue

When John Key says he is confident that 85'90% of Mighty River Power shares will remain in NZ hands after his government has gotten rid of 49% of it on budget day this year, he is also saying confidently that 10 - 15% will be foreign owned. This statement is more an assurance to foreign investors than domestic. 20 - 30% of the float will end up off-shore according to Key. They could have allocated that to the NZ Superfund to ensure everyone got value, but no - the unnecessary private gouging of public assets by the wealthier classes is National's open agenda. The loyalty bonus being talked of is a looter's dream: if you stick around long enough he'll hold the door open so you can have another go. It is such a simple case of self-interest and the rich getting richer (at the expense of the poor) hopefully most people can see the Torys for what they are... and vote accordingly.

Census anon

Why do they want your full name and DOB for the census? They used to say it was to identify who to contact if there was a problem with the forms or to collect them. Bullshit. Now they say it's so that people can leave their forms in the arcnives for geneologists and family in the future. Bullshit. The reason they seek unnecessary and irrelevant personal information is to data-match, to use the data to find and assess individuals. It was this mis-use described in Michael King's biography on 'Princess' Te Puea Herangi during WW1 Waikato Tainui resisted the conscription and so the NZ government and the NZ Police unlawfully used the census information to track the resisters down. Nothing has really changed. The NZ government and their agencies cannot be trusted with this information. They are opportunistic and prefer to break the law and get a validating order afterwards than to follow the rule of law.




The question is: to boycott the census entirely, or to boycott the personal parts of the form. I suggest the latter. Yes, it is still giving agencies - and others purchasing the data commercially or accessing it by legislative right - too much info that could lead to possible identification; but not returning a form and not counting altogether will have adverse outcomest through the cumulative effect of undercounting. Mr An On, b.00/00/197- ought to be sufficient.

TV review

My first TV review for the The Daily Blog is posted over there. Massive traffic to the site on Friday's launch date from what I understand. Congratulations to Mr Bradbury and all those involved. I've heard very positive feedback about it from people - mostly about the solid content - not so much about my review... which I am ever hopefully interpreting as opinion-provoking and a critical success... Feminists hating on it in other words; which is fair enough, they are naturally sensitive to the sexism in bad taste jokes about women's sexuality - as the religious are sensitive to bad taste jokes that involve their beliefs. So how lucky was it I had the presence of mind to delete this line: 'Catholics should be most appalled by 7 Sharp as they are opposed to all forms of abortion'. Very. Will have something more cerebral than these ephemeral trivialities next week.

Haere ra, e hoa

My comrade in blogging, Mr Bradbury, is departing for a new venture. He will leave a very large hole in the output of this blog.  I cannot expect to match his prolific and consistent blogging because he is quite simply one of the best exponents of the blog form in this country. Even those on the other side must acknowledge this. He is a blogging super nova in our universe and the combination of stars he has attracted under a new banner will affect the gravitational pull in the blogosphere and I wish him all the best in expanding the horizon (and I'll be supporting this with television reviews).  The popularity - and I hope that proves to be an enduring popularity - of this bog is really due to him.  Giving in to his nagging about running him as a guest blog was the best thing I ever did for Tumeke! After the very difficult episode of my sedition trial and jailing, Mr Bradbury used his media muscle to take a  few dozen hits a day website to the hundreds and thousands when he posted my blogs from prison. His blistering critiques of government and the establishment found an immediate audience and set a pace that has not relented. He stepped up to the mark, over the mark, ate the mark,  passed the mark and all before 6:30am and all in one sentence. We had few disagreements - remarkably few, too few to mention. My comrade will be sorely missed. So what now for Tumeke!? More of something different, but not quite yet. And it will have to be a lot more. But tomorrow is the launch of the The Daily Blog - not the relaunch of Tumeke - and I look forward to what this new place may become as part of our small universe.

So long and thanks for all the fish - TheDailyBlog.co.nz launches 9am tomorrow

This is my final post on Tumeke.

Tomorrow morning at 9am, TheDailyBlog.co.nz launches. I'll be announcing a new blogger joining Chris Trotter, Selwyn Manning, Professor Jane Kelsey, Keith Locke, Sue Bradford, John Minto, David Slack, Morgan Godfery, Gareth Renowden, Coley Tangerina, Phoebe Fletcher, Dr Wayne Hope, Queen of Thorns, Burnt out Teacher, Steve Grey, Aaron Hawkins, Marama Davidson, Tim Selwyn, James Ritchie, Efeso Collins, Lynn Prentice, Frank MacsKasy, Matt McCarten, Wayne Butson, Chris Flatt, Allan Alach, TheDailyBlog Reposts and The Liberal Agenda.

It's been a lot of fun Tumeke.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Water case: Govt can sell

The NZ Supreme Court has just dismissed the Maori Council's appeal on water rights. Key was saying he couldn't rule out going to an election should they not get their way - so this was very important to them. That was the last thing holding back the Nat's privatisation programme, so now it's sale time. Let the looting begin!

NZ Herald:
--
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal by the New Zealand Maori Council to block the Mighty River Power partial privatisation.
The full court of five Supreme Court judges was unanimous in its findings.
The decision lets the government proceed with the sale of up to 49 per cent of Mighty River Power.
The Maori Council bypassed the Court of Appeal and took its case directly to the Supreme Court after losing in the High Court in December last year.
It argued that the sale of Mighty River Power and other power companies before issues around what ownership rights Maori may have over freshwater and geothermal resources was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi.
[...]
Lawyers for the Crown had hoped the decision would be delivered last Monday to allow the sale of up to 49 per cent of Mighty River to go ahead according to the Government's "preferred timetable''.
--
No breach of the Treaty? Or are they breaches that the court thinks can be remedied without stopping the legislation? Haven't read the judgment at this point obviously (announced in last half hour), but this is a question [see below]. This is a blow to Maori (and the nation as a whole) because of the precedent for other asset sales - like Solid Energy etc - and a blow for Maori specifically because of the low value the courts put on Maori interests as compared to everyone elses and the willingness to prejudicially dispose of things before they are settled is condoning an act of bad faith on the part of the government.

Stuff:
--
The Maori Council sought to delay the sale of shares in Mighty River Power until issues over water rights were resolved.


In today’s ruling, heard before a packed courtroom, Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias said the court was unanimous on all issues.

She said the sale of a stake in Mighty River Power would not be in breach of Tainui Waikato settlement.
--

From the Supreme Court Decisions press release:
--
There were five questions argued on the appeal:


1. Is the proposed sale of shares in Mighty River Power able to be  judicially reviewed for breach of the principles of the Treaty?

2. Is Cabinet’s decision to bring into effect the legislation making Mighty River Power a mixed ownership model company able to be judicially reviewed by the High Court for inconsistency with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi?
3. Was the consultation undertaken by the Crown with Maori following a recommendation of the Waitangi Tribunal adequate to comply with the Treaty principles?

4. Is the proposed sale of shares in Mighty River Power in breach of s 64 of the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Act 2010 (which requires engagement with Waikato-Tainui where the Crown, a Crown entity, a state enterprise, or a mixed ownership model company disposes of an interest in the Waikato River)?

5. Is the proposed sale of shares in Mighty River Power inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty?

The Court is unanimous on all questions on the appeal, its reasons being expressed in a single opinion.
[...]
Overturning the High Court on this point, the Supreme Court has held that the proposed sale of the shares is reviewable by the courts for consistency with the principles of the Treaty.
[...]
The Court has held the consultation which followed the Waitangi Tribunal’s urgent Freshwater Report was not shown to be inadequate. It has held that there was no breach of s 64 of the Waikato River Settlement Act (which requires notification to Waikato-Tainui before disposal of interests in the Waikato River) because Mighty River Power was not disposing of its water permits or other interests in the River.
[...]
The Court has accepted that the sale will provide some impediment to reparation for Treaty claims in relation to the waters subject to water permits held by Mighty River Power.
Whether the impediment is material was treated by the Court as requiring contextual assessment. Factors of significance in that assessment were:

* Crown acknowledgement that Maori have interests and rights in relation to particular waters;

* reviews currently underway which are addressing recognition of Maori interests and rights in legislation concerned with regulating use of water (including Government policy development through the Fresh Start for Fresh Water initiative and the Freshwater inquiry being undertaken by the Waitangi Tribunal);

* specific acknowledgments and assurances given in the course of the litigation by Ministers that Maori claims to water will not be prejudiced by the sale and that the Crown will not be deterred from making Treaty reparation by the change in ownership;

* the change in the legislative and social landscape since the SOE case in 1987 which now includes acknowledgment of and provision for Maori authority in relation to waters in the Resource Management Act and legislation settling historic claims (in particular the settlement relating to the Waikato River, of direct relevance to the waters used by Mighty River Power);

* the views of the Waitangi Tribunal in its urgent interim report in the Freshwater inquiry, including its recognition that the shares could only ever be a “proxy” for the waters in which interests and rights are claimed;

* the protection of land preserved under the memorialisation system which is carried over from the State-Owned Enterprises Act into the mixed ownership model legislation;

* the reality of the generating infrastructure and its importance for the country;

* the capacity retained by the Crown to provide remedies.

In this context, the Supreme Court has concluded that the partial privatisation of Mighty River Power will not impair to a material extent the Crown’s ability to remedy any Treaty breach in respect of Maori interests in water.
--

So it comes down to trust the government!? The government can probably fix it all up (the Treaty settlements etc.) somehow else so just go ahead anyway - that seems to be what they are saying. This is very pro-government and not very reassuring for Maori. The finding that the government's consultation was not inadequate is a typical double-negative legal cop out.

Why are the NZ Police recruiting Christ's soldiers to battle demons?

When the above advert starting appearing on TV and stenciled onto public walls around the central city, I kept insisting to any friend within ear shot that I thought the Cop was praying and that weird creature was a demon. Everyone told me I was being crazy, 'why would the Police be so overtly religious' was the come back from my ever incredulous friends, 'You are reading too much into it', I was told. 'You really need to get a hobby', others added.

They all owe me free coffee for a month.

Posted up 4 days ago is an eye opening account of a Christian Police Officer deciding to preach to a young woman who claimed to see demons. The Officer jaw-droppingly advises the woman that the only thing that can help her with her demonic foes was God...

That’s when Lio got straight to the point. ‘When she told me those things, I simply said to her, “To be honest, the only person that can help you right now is God,” ’ explains the Tongan-born officer. ‘The reason I said that was because I’ve come to understand that with God all things are possible and that only God can help people in certain situations. With this woman thinking about committing suicide, I felt this was definitely one of those situations.’

Realising Lio was genuinely trying to help, the young woman opened up further, telling him more things that were happening to her at the time, including how she saw demons crawling on her bedroom walls nearly every night. She added that she had tried to read her Bible to combat these attacking demons, but that she would wake up in the morning and find her Bible in the toilet, without having the slightest idea of how it got there.

After hearing that, Lio took the initiative. ‘Just knowing the power of prayer, I grabbed her hand and started praying,’ he explains. ‘My prayer was simple, I just asked God to set her free from all the things that she was going through, like the demons, and that in the power of

Jesus’ name that the devil leave her alone. As we were praying, I could feel her body tense up as I think she was really scared at the time, so I’m really thankful that the power of God turned up and set her free.’

Shortly after their prayer, the young woman was cleared to go home by the hospital’s mental health department.

...this is a NZ Police Officer evangelizing to a distressed women who clearly has issues. Where the hell do they get off doing this and where the hell does the NZ Police force get off spending taxpayer money to enlist Christ's soldiers into a spiritual war with the Devil?

How does one measure a spiritual war against the Devil? What are the KPIs? Can you imagine the Police Commissioners report to the Police Minister?

"Burglaries are down 23%, drug offenses are up 7% and we've banished 14 demons from this dimension".

Let's be clear. If Jesus existed, I like what he had to say. I don't have a problem with God (if he exists) it's some of his Christian followers I can't stand.

If the NZ Police want to recruit more Christians because they perceive they might water down the alpha-male basher cops, that's fine, but be up front and recruit, don't lead them to believe that they are being recruited to fight the Prince of Darkness and all his pointy headed, cloven footed followers.

Now if you believe in God, or satan, or whatever, that's great. It is your right to believe whatever you want to believe and it is your right to express that how you like, but this guy is a cop, in a very powerful position over a very vulnerable woman, and the Police are actively recruiting other like minded demon slayers.

This is very far out of the mandate of a secular Government Department.

This is the latest example of the Police getting it staggeringly wrong with their recruitment drives. When we plot the last couple of attempts, it's a voyage of fucktardness.

There have been the petty examples. The 'Get better work stories' series where bored retail staff played out fantasy cop scenarios. I wondered aloud if the 20 something kid tired of working at Bond & Bond was really who you wanted to arm and send out on the streets.

Then there was the advert where another bored dickhead working at a car park repaints all the car parking lines to be smaller so that none of the car doors could open up. Effectively the Police were wanting to recruit arseholes.

Let's not forget their astoundingly sexist recruitment adverts in 2011 where Police claimed that they were like cougars in that they liked 'em young, too. You would think after the shock and horror revelations of the sado-masochistic pack rape culture exposed in the Louise Nicholas case that the last thing the NZ Police would ever do again is ever mention sex.

So the NZ Police are either trying to recruit arseholes, sexist pigs or Christian ghostbusters.

There is no excuse for using a Christian Police Officers deeply concerning evangelism while in uniform with a vulnerable woman in a psyche ward to recruit other like minded foot soldiers of the lamb.

There's no way you can trust the NZ mainstream media to note how out of line the cops are here, so I've sent this link to Richard Dawkins on Twitter in the hope that he can embarrass our Government into dumping the NZ Police's war on Satan.

It seems the NZ Police believe that possession is 9/10ths of the law.


FACEBOOK TWITTER

So documents prove Hobbit was never going offshore - who is going to apologize to the Union movement first?

Well, well, well. What do we have here then...

A later email between Ms Blackwood and Mr Brownlee showed that New Line Cinema did not plan to film The Hobbit in a different country, despite its concerns about the labour dispute.

Government warned in October 2010 that the films could be moved offshore if the dispute was not resolved.

As Tumeke has always argued, this was a manufactured crisis.

Threatening to leave was always a negotiating tactic. Once the great deal maker John Key had invested so much political treasure by blaming the Unions, he had no choice but to give Warner Bros everything they bloody wanted because the stakes he had created meant Key had to agree to any corporate welfare they demanded.

So much for the great deal maker. He got painted into a convention center by a one-armed bandit. I wouldn't trust Key to negotiate

You just know in their private jet back to Hollywood those Warner Bros executives laughingly referred to us as Shire Folk. We got played like chumps.

Remember how the Union protest march with 20 000 taking to the streets to protest harsh new employment law was totally eclipsed by the manufactured crisis at the hobbit march?

When will the mainstream apologise to NZ?

You would need to go back to the 1951 lockout to see that level of anti-union hysteria. Remember Helen Kelly and Robyn Malcolm faced death threats over this?

Remember that? Death threats.

But there's no admission from the right wing of NZ that their feral hatred of Unions is to blame, oh no. Any criticism of the Hobbit is shouted down by National as 'hobbit hating'?

Let's get this straight shall we? I'm not a 'Hobbit denier'. I don't 'hate hobbits' Mr Key - I hate cronyism, corporate welfare and anti-union hysteria.

This whole sorry smelly mess where we re-wrote our labour laws for a foreign corporation and the ease with which so many NZers were manipulated into becoming a lynch mob should really kick some kiwis up the bum for their unquestioning consumption of mainstream media spin.

Stupid hobbitses.

We should be 100% Muddled Earth.


FACEBOOK TWITTER

Auckland Fringe Festival Review: Velcro City

Auckland Fringe Festival Review: Velcro City
Guest review: The Liberal Agenda

Oh man, if you’ve not been along to anything at The Fringe yet, I highly recommend it. There are some real gems of creativity out there. Velcro City is one.

It’s the story of a city somewhere in New Zealand, and it’s colourful residents. The plot itself is not going to win awards but I also highly doubt its trying too. It’s more a vehicle for having fun with the characters. And that’s totally ok. That said- Kimbra (from Hamilton) does end up in a flaming lavender field and then singing a loop-loop cover of Rubicon’s Bruce. Which is equal parts bizarre and hilarious.

What makes Velcro City unique is the velcro. Or the hooks and hoops as those in the know call it. Eli Matthewson & Hamish Parkinson don onesies and headbands with velcro strips and use cardboard cutouts decorated with crayolas to represent the residents of the town.

There’s the lesbian couple that makes horrific coffee but end up saving the day, the teen in love, the old man upset that the lavender fields are keeping his Mavey asleep, the Mayor, the young National Party-esq Mayoral candidate (who wants to introduce “fresherality- which is freshness and originality”) and many others.

Eli and Hamish are funny men and it clearly comes naturally- when the hair fell off the velcro headband of one of the lesbians her partners quipped ‘I told you to stop using that shampoo’. It’s also infectious when you see people enjoying what they’re doing so much.

The pace does lull in parts and it’s not laugh-out-loud funny the whole way through (not necessarily a problem if you’re not expecting that). But it is thoroughly enjoyable. It was great to see story telling stripped back to the essentials. There is actually no need for anything more than cutouts and crayolas. As always, restrictions beget creativity. The need to represent a bus driver in his bus means a bus-mask complete with opening doors.

Velcro City is a good time, especially if you’re after something you won’t see everyday. Which after all, is what The Fringe is all about.

FACEBOOK TWITTER