Stuff reports:

The man who murdered a Christchurch sex worker arrived in New Zealand on a fake passport and was due to be deported.

Sainey Marong, 33, was found guilty of murdering Renee Duckmanton in the High Court at Christchurch on February 23. He strangled her during a dispute after having sex in the back of his car on May 14, 2016. He dumped her body on the side of a rural road the next day and set her on fire. 

Stuff can reveal Marong arrived at Auckland Airport on a flight from Hong Kong using a fake British passport on January 10, 2014. He destroyed the passport at the airport. 

I don’t understand how he was living in NZ?

If he used the passport to get entry into NZ, then surely they could detect it was a fake?

If he destroyed it before the immigration check, then he should not have been allowed in.

Possibly he claimed to be an asylum seeker, but if so why is this not stated?

Stuff reports:

US president Donald Trump’s administration appears unbowed by broad domestic and international criticism of his planned import tariffs on steel and aluminium.

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said on Sunday that the president is not planning on exempting any countries from the stiff duties.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Navarro said: “At this point in time there’s no country exclusions.”

This is bad bad policy. It’s what you would expect from a hard left socialist Government.

The benefits of free trade are well established. Hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty thanks to trade.

Protectionism harms both the country imposing it, and other countries impacted by it. The country imposing tariffs causes its consumers to pay higher prices for goods they want. It also diverts investment into more inefficient industries, rather than having investment go into areas they have a competitive advantage.

It of course also hurts exporters in other countries. It is a lose lose.

It is highly likely the act by Trump breaches WTO rules the US has signed up to. So it weakens international law. It may also leasd to other countries imposing protectionist tariffs in response which could cause a global economic downturn.

Stuff reports:

Former Australia deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has slammed the initial reporting of his relationship with Vikki Campion, saying he was never asked if he was the father of his former staffer’s unborn child and that the issue of paternity is not certain.

In an interview that calls into question a key factor in Joyce losing the second-highest political office in the country, the Nationals MP said the baby boy he and Campion are expecting in April would be raised as “mine” but conceded the identity of the biological father was “a grey area”.

What is the man thinking. So he’s just told the world that his girlfriend was having sex with someone else at the same time as with him. Does he think this will make the story go away?

The pair’s travel does appear to make the paternity uncertain. Joyce was in Europe travelling on official business – accompanied by his then wife Natalie – for 10 days from June 23, 2017. Campion was in North Queensland at the time.

He then commenced a period as acting prime minister upon his return in early July during which he was accompanied by close personal protection body guards. The couple are expecting the birth of a baby son in early April.

Joyce has told friends he and Campion were not “partners” in June-July of 2017, although there was an intimate relationship forming on a “sporadic basis”.

TMI!

Stacey Kirk writes:

Is it a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t, for Simon Bridges?

He’s the first Māori leader of the National Party, and that is no small thing.  …

But Māori is still an incredibly intimidating culture to dive into, as proven by the at-times rabid response of some commentators and opponents in relation to Bridges’ “Māoriness”. 

I say that as a Māori of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi descent. And one, like many in New Zealand, who had a very average Kiwi-European upbringing.

Some people claim you are not Maori if you were not brought up in a Maori household, interacting with the local Marae etc. But that definition disenfranchises almost all urban Maori.

I’m very fair skinned, whereas my sister is very dark. We look alike, it’s just that one of us has mum’s (German/Scottish) colouring and one of us has dad’s (Māori). And no one ever questions her Māori heritage – in fact, it’s assumed. 

I am proud of my Māori heritage but I’m sad to admit, I’ve given up talking about it unless I’m standing next to my sister. I’m a New Zealander.

And of course the two are not mutually exclusive.

Bridges has never tried to trade off his Māori heritage. It’s others who have made it a controversy, though if asked about it he has to provide a response. 

He can earnestly say that he hopes it would inspire more Māori to reach for higher education, higher office, to vote National, or to simply think that whatever it is they want to do, they can achieve it.

Some commentators have effectively already said: “Why would they? Are you even that Māori.” 

Or Bridges could say ‘look, I’ve never grown up on or near a marae so I’m not going to be pushing it’. 

To which those same pundits would respond: “You’re not proud of your heritage, you’re just pulling the ladder up behind you.” 

Yep, either way some condemn him.

Hobson’s Pledge reports:

Petitions in both Palmerston North and Kaikoura were validated on Wednesday, which means that all five districts where councils have voted to establish Maori wards will have a vote in May on whether or not those should proceed.

Campaigners in Palmerston North presented 3776 signatures by the 5pm February 21 deadline when 2727 were required, while those in Kaikoura presented 373 signatures when 300 were required.

Petitions in Manawatu, Western Bay of Plenty, and Whakatane had been validated a week earlier.

Manawatu required 1004 signatures and delivered 1600, Western Bay of Plenty required 1708 and delivered 4051, while Whakatane required 1161 and delivered 1800.

Radio New Zealand wrongly credited Hobson’s Pledge with gathering enough support to force votes in five districts.

Had the reporter asked a few more questions, he would have found out that groups were collecting signatures in Western Bay of Plenty, Whakatane, and Manawatu before we helped put out a flyer in all districts.

I’m pleased to see votes occurring.

The motivations of those who want separate Maori wards are noble. They want better representation on Councils of Maori. But I think separate race based seats is a bad idea, and much prefer other solutions.

MMP has shown you can achieve high levels of Maori representation without needing Maori seats.

Radio NZ reports:

In questions to the Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran, National MP Melissa Lee asked whether RNZ, as a publicly owned broadcaster, would be acting independently “if a ministerial staffer was featured as an independent commentator”.

Ms Lee was referring to an episode of ‘The Panel’ that aired on 12 February featuring Tracey Bridges, who is co-founder and former New Zealand managing partner at SenateSHJ, a public relations company.

She asked the minister about Ms Bridges being on the programme, “discussing government policy, if it wasn’t made clear that they were a political staffer in a ministerial office”.

Tracey Bridges wasn’t just a ministerial staffer but in fact a prime ministerial contract staffer at the time she went on The Panel. She was described as working for Senate SHJ when she had in fact left there.

RNZ National programme manager David Allan said his staff had talked to Ms Bridges today and she confirmed she worked as an independent contractor for a number of organisations, including Ministerial Services.

“It is a concern that Tracey appeared on The Panel without declaring this to us or to listeners,” Mr Allan said.

“It is a timely reminder for RNZ that we need to be fully transparent about any potential conflicts of interest.

“We are reviewing our processes around The Panel to make this sure this doesn’t happen again.”

I don’t think the fault lies with Radio NZ.  If you are working in the Prime Minister’s office, then of course you should declare that to a media organisation you are doing commentary for.

Stats NZ reports:

New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 24 percent in the past 25 years, but grew more slowly than the economy in general, Stats NZ said today.

This is overall good news because it means we are producing less greenhouse gas emissions per unit of economic output.

Basically there are two ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One is to reduce the intensity of emissions per unit of economic output. The other is to reduce economic output.

Far too many of the solutions for greenhouse gas emissions would just result in shrinking our economy (and incomes and jobs). For example reducing the dairy herd by a third would have a huge impact on exports, incomes and jobs.

So the challenge is to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions in the economy. And let’s look at how that has gone in the last 25 years.

• 1990 – 1000 (start point)
• 1999 – 843

So the intensity decreased 15.7% under the 4th National Government.

• 1999 – 843
• 2008 – 695

A 17.6% reduction in intensity under the 5th Labour Government

• 2008 – 695
• 2015 – 577

A 17.0% reduction intensity in the first seven years of the 5th National Government. It will be interesting once we get 2016 and 2017 data as if the trend continues the overall intensity reduction will be greater than under Labour. The average drop per year under the last Government was 2.4% while Labour was 1.9%.

Stuff reports:

Turkey’s president has come under fire after telling a tearful young girl in military uniform the country would honour her if she became a martyr.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited the girl on stage on Saturday (Sunday NZT) during a televised meeting for his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party.

The girl appeared to be sobbing as she walked towards the podium. Erdogan kissed her on both cheeks and indicated a Turkish flag in her pocket.

Turkey used to be a great country. It had support for joining the EU. Was a very valuable member of NATO and a shining example of how you can have a secular Government in a Muslim majority state.

Now they have a President who sounds like he is training up kids to be suicide bombers. Sure he didn’t exactly say that but no head of government should be encouraging six year olds to become martyrs.

Stuff reports:

The Government has scrapped a scholarship scheme designed by National and ACT in 2009 to support disadvantaged teenagers into private high schools, a decision which National has dubbed “a disgrace”.

National and ACT combined in 2009 to introduce the Aspire scholarships in 2009, which cost more than $4 million a year. The new Government announced on Tuesday it was canning the scholarships, and would be redirecting that money into boosting education in state and state-integrated schools.

So mean and petty. $4 million a year is a drop in the bucket but made a huge difference to those kids who got the scholarships.

Erick Wright, now 22, received one of the scholarships in 2011, and was disappointed to hear the scheme was ending.

“I’m now a filmmaker living in Vancouver, doing freelance animation and producing short films, and I don’t think there’s any way that could be happening if I didn’t stumble upon this scholarship. The Aspire scholarship was absolutely one of the best things to happen to lil’ kid Erick,” he said.

As a 15-year-old from Opotiki in the Bay of Plenty, which Wright described as “an impoverished area”, winning the scholarship and attending St Peter’s School in Cambridge meant he didn’t end up “perpetuating the cycle”.

Sorry Erick. Labour would rather have you on welfare.

“I got out. With Aspire I was given enough momentum to break through that barrier of ‘small town kid living in a small town’. I went to a homestay in a different town, specifically to attend my new private school. I got to experience living in a functioning family, in a nice house. I got to experience a good school, a good extra-curriculum system. I learnt to play instruments, I lived in a healthier town. All of that contributed to my success,” he said.

“I have no idea what happens to parallel universe Erick, where everything is the same except for the absence of the Aspire scholarship. Who can honestly know? The only thing I do know for certain is that this universe’s Erick is in a good, happy place, specifically because of Aspire.”

Just remember this story when the PM goes on about how she wants every child happy and out of poverty. She’s removing scholarships that made a huge difference to kids like Erick.

“The Aspire scholarship funded up to 250 individual students up to $16,500 per year, whereas average per-student funding in the state system is under $8000 per year.”

Redirecting the money spent on the scheme was the best way to “ensure education works for all children”, Salesa said.

“Our goal is to make every school an excellent school so that every child gets the opportunity to succeed.”

Oh that’s just bullshit. You will never have every school an excellent school. If there was some magic way to do so, it would have been found decades ago.

National Party education spokesperson Nikki Kaye said it was “a very sad day for many young people”.

“The Government has pulled the rug out from them by getting rid of these scholarships,” she said.

“When you look at the lives that have been changed from these scholarships, it’s huge. We have to ask: Why are they doing this?

“The common thread is hell-bent ideology. The Government puts ideology ahead of giving really positive opportunities to vulnerable people.”

Kaye said the scholarship scheme was a “relatively small investment” for the Government, yet created phenomenal opportunities for disadvantaged students.

“They’ve [the Government] just pent $2.8 billion – some of which is going to fund very wealthy, young and old, people to have a year’s free tertiary education – and a problem that is helping some vulnerable, disadvantaged Māori and Pasifika students is being slashed.

Yep they have billions to spend on helping university students who will become the wealthiest people in society (on average they earn $1.6 million more if they have a degree) but can $4 million that is targeted towards the most needy.

Such a kind caring Government.

Stuff has an article looking at the backgrounds of Jacinda Ardern and Simon Bridges and where they are similar and not. I thought I’d do a table for easy comparison.

The Herald reports:

New Zealand courts are going to be given more clout to make Parliament rethink some laws under changes agreed by Cabinet.

If the courts declare a law to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act 1990, Parliament will be required to reviewed that particular law. …

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the changes will not change the ultimate sovereignty of Parliament because it would not be forced to change laws.

I support this change. It leaves final decisions with Parliament, but it allows Courts to clearly state if a law is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act.

I’d go slightly further and require Parliament to actively reaffirm a law found to be inconsistent. This is basically what they have in Canada where the Supreme Court can strike down laws as inconsistent with their Charter, but Parliament can use the notwithstanding clause to over-ride this. As there is a political cost in doing so, it is rarely done.

Newshub reports:

The Government’s flagship policy to deliver low-cost homes to first time buyers could be a fail on the affordability front, according to its own ministry officials.

Documents released to Newshub Nation under the Official Information Act reveal KiwiBuild apartments and houses to be priced up to $600,000 in Auckland could still be well out of reach of their target market.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) briefing paper ‘Implementing KiwiBuild’ is dated last November and went to both Housing Minister Phil Twyford and the Minister for Building and Construction.

It identifies price as one of the top risk factors for Labour’s so-called affordable housing strategy.

“Indicative modelling suggests there may be insufficient first home buyers willing and able to purchase a 100,000 KiwiBuild houses at the price points that are outlined in your manifesto.”

The Ministry documents estimate that a first home buyer household would need to be earning $114,000 a year in order to purchase a $500,000 KiwiBuild house. That’s compared, it says, to a median household income of $90,000.

So these will be homes for above average earners.

Mr Twyford estimated a buy-in household income of almost half that.

“You are probably going to have a household income I would guess $60,000 plus to buy a Kiwibuild property straight up,” he told Newshub Nation.

Only out by half!

Asked how many rental households in Auckland would meet the $144,000 income threshold, the Minister said: “I’d have to get advice on that… I just don’t know.”

But advice that went to the Housing Minister in November contained that information.

The MBIE papers released to Newshub Nation say an analysis of the Auckland housing market in 2015 suggested only 25,000 private rental households in paid employment in the city made enough to buy a $500,000 house.

So Labour may spend billions of dollars building houses that only current home owners can afford to buy, rather than first time buyers.

The Herald reports:

The victim of a “sucker punch” has spoken of the life-changing impact the assault had on his life and how the actions of a National MP may have saved his life – and helped bring his attacker to justice.

That National MP – Northland’s Matt King – has now put a proposed law into the ballot to change the judicial approach to such devastating attacks.

Derek Tanner, 38, was enjoying a rare night out at a Far North vineyard when he was punched from behind with no warning.

King saw the attack happen, acted instantly to administer first aid and then prepared to give evidence as a key prosecution witness in the trial.

Jaydin Locke defiantly pleaded not guilty – a stance he changed just as the trial was about to begin last Thursday. At the last minute, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of wounding with reckless disregard.

King, who was the sober driver, was there with his wife Sarah and friends and happened to be looking in Tanner’s direction when the attack happened.

Stuff reports:

Former US president Barack Obama is to visit New Zealand for the first time next month.

Obama will speak to about 1000 invited guests at an event run by the NZ-US Council in Auckland on March 22.

NZ-US Council spokesman Leon Grice said Obama would spend about three days in the country, before going on to Sydney.

Obama will be the first former US President to visit in decades. Clinton visited as President in 1999 and LBJ in 1966. But not sure any former Presidents have visited.

From Hansard:

Melissa Lee: Does she stand by her answer to written question No. 19129 (2017) in regard to meeting with board members or staff of TVNZ or RNZ since 1 December?

Hon CLARE CURRAN: Yes.

Melissa Lee: How can she stand by that answer when she failed to mention her breakfast meeting with RNZ head of content Carol Hirschfeld on 2 December?

Hon CLARE CURRAN: I have a range of discussions, informal or otherwise, with many people in a range of portfolio areas.

Melissa Lee: If they did have breakfast together, as the Minister’s office has confirmed, and discussed a range of issues about the future of media in New Zealand, why did she not include this extremely relevant meeting in her answer to written question No. 19129 (2017)?

It is very unwise for the Minister of Broadcasting to have breakfast with the head of news for Radio New Zealand – especially as the Minister is proposing to give Radio New Zealand millions more in funding.

The Minister should only meet the Chair and/or the Chief Executive. To directly interface with someone who has editorial control of news reporting is unwise. As far as I know no previous Minister has met with news editors, except with CEs present.

Also meetings to discuss portfolio issues should be with staff present, so a record is kept of what is said. A private meeting between a Minister and a news director is unwise – especially one owned by the state and one the Minister is promising lots more money for.

Melissa Lee: Thank you, Mr Speaker. If she did have breakfast together, as the Minister’s office has confirmed, and has discussed a range of issues about the future of New Zealand media, why did she not include this extremely relevant meeting in her answer to written question No. 19129?

Hon CLARE CURRAN: Because I didn’t perceive it as an official meeting.

So the Minister for Open Government is now saying that she doesn’t have to include meetings if she deems then unofficial. Way to go for transparency.

Hon Chris Hipkins: Mr Speaker, I draw your attention—I’m sure you’re aware of it, because I think you were involved in it—to a lengthy series of points of order during the last Parliament about the former Prime Minister John Key and the various hats that he wore and what were deemed to be official engagements and what were not deemed to be official engagements. And I think the precedent was very clearly established by the previous Government.

Hon Gerry Brownlee: The point, Mr. Speaker, is that if a Minister—in this case, the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media—has a meeting with someone who is an employee of Radio New Zealand, are we expected to believe that there was no discussion at all about matters that fall within portfolio responsibilities? I think that would be a huge stretch. 

If they had been discussing the weather then it would not be a meeting relating to her role as Minister. But her own office confirmed they discussed issues around the future of NZ media, so it clearly was in her role as Minister.

Mr SPEAKER: Well, I really don’t think this is that complicated for members who have looked at the issue of ministerial responsibility carefully. Clearly, members can be involved as a Minister at a breakfast, which is not a meeting with a specific person, because quite often there is a large group of people at a general breakfast and someone else could be there, and there could be discussion. That is not a meeting with an individual, as far as I’m concerned.

As I understand it, it was not a group breakfast, but just the two of them.

Stuff reports:

NZ First deputy leader Ron Mark has been rolled by his caucus colleague Fletcher Tabuteau.

Tabuteau, 43, has been with the party since the beginning and his Tauranga businessman uncle, Tom Gear, is a very close friend of party leader Winston Peters.

​”After careful consideration, the caucus today supported Fletcher Tabuteau to take over the role, and I congratulate him on this appointment as deputy leader,” Peters said.

Ron Mark rolled Tracey Martin not that long ago and now he has been rolled by Winston’s protege Fletcher Tabuteau. The caucus must not be a happy place. Three of the eight MPs have been Deputy Leader and Shane Jones of course is lining himself up for the top spot also.

It is rare for a party to roll a leader or deputy leader when in Government – and especially so just months after you go into Government. This suggests things must be very toxic.

It is no surprise that KB readers are different to the NP caucus. The very unscientific survey of readers saw first preferences being:

1. Judith Collins 58.8%
2. Amy Adams 17.7%
3. Steven Joyce 11.0%
4. Simon Bridges 9.5%
5. Mark Mitchell 5.5%

What is interesting is the second preferences of those who chose an MP as their first preference.

Those who ranked Adams 1st were most likely to choose Simon Bridges 2nd, and then Steven Joyce.

Those who ranked Bridges 1st were most likely to choose Amy Adams 2nd, and then Judith Collins.

Those who ranked Collins 1st were most likely to choose Steven Joyce 2nd, and then Mark Mitchell.

Those who ranked Joyce 1st were most likely to choose Judith Collins 2nd, and then Amy Adams.

Those who ranked Mitchell 1st were most likely to choose Judith Collins 2nd, and then Amy Adams.

The 12th Leader of the New Zealand National Party is Simon Bridges. Paula Bennett had been returned as Deputy Leader.

Simon is the first Māori Leader of a major political party and Simon and Paula are, I think, the only Māori Leader and Deputy team of any political party (except Māori Party obviously and the Winston cult). Congrats to them both.