Police priorities disgust

Last Sunday morning we woke to find David's car had been broken into, along with five others in the street. This is our third experience of vehicle break-ins/theft/vandalism since we have lived in what is a dead-end street. It's bloody annoying having the car out of commission for a week while glass is ordered in. The local cop came but little can be done, as we have come to expect. Anyway the episode hadn't prompted me to write a blog post until today.

One week later I am running Robert out early to Plimmerton in my car. Along the Esplanade in Petone, which has a 50km speed limit even at the industrial end, a cop is pointing his speed gun thingy at traffic and offending cars were being pulled up and ticketed by another three cops about 100 metres on. I wasn't stopped but my blood started boiling as I considered that 4 cops were being paid to harass citizens out and about on a quiet Sunday morning doing nothing more 'criminal' than going a few kilometres over a speed limit which is already too low.

Now I am a simple person. But it strikes me that these taxpayer-funded agents of the state could be far better utilised patrolling the streets in the small hours of the morning attempting to detect but more importantly, DETER, real criminals. Or are they too afraid to do some real policing?

From the smack-free utopia of Aoteoroa...

(Robert's photo-shopping)

Trotter attacks ACT

Chris Trotter has probably done ACT a favour today by attacking them in his Dominion Post column. His point of objection - ACT's slogan to "turn back the clock", as expressed by ACT's number 5 candidate David Garrett. Trotter insists that to turn back the clock to the low crime, full employment New Zealand of the 50s ACT would need to restore the cradle-to-grave welfare state that it rails against. Let's examine that.

Welfare creates a cycle. Just as the economic cycle exists and seasonal cycles exist. But the cycle is far more protracted than either of these. The 1830s in the Britain saw a peak of the welfare cycle, that is, it was at its most destructive. Reforms were instituted which essentially abolished outdoor relief - cash payments to the unemployed and others unable to make their own living. The choice was work or workhouse.

This was the mood that prevailled as the early settlers left Britain and other European countries of origination. When they arrived in New Zealand they resisted calls for establishing rate-payer funded welfare although provinces funded what was called charitable aid through hospitals. The rightful provider of welfare was considered to be the family.

But as the cycle progressed and advocacy for an old age pension and thereafter more and more benefits won the day, dependency and slowing productivity started to grow. Societies gradually buy into what's on offer. Values are changed as in the transformation from the morals-based non-abused welfare state (up to the 60s) to the entitlement based highly-abused welfare state, where everyone wants a slice because they are owed. And when their slice isn't big enough resentment and a breakdown in cohesion results. Dysfunction and crime grow.

So I contend we are at another destructive peak in the welfare cycle and have been since the early nineties. Which is why we need to pare it back. And soon.

Trotter is mistaken. More welfarism won't improve matters. But I do agree that we cannot turn back the clock either. Values have changed too much. We can however go forward by acknowledging how much conditions for women have improved (the DPB is unnecessary) how private insurance for unemployment tends to build in fewer disincentives (the dole should go) how the best results in helping the poor come from voluntary one-on-one efforts (harness the potential of our active and youthful ageing population). What we don't want is a reintroduction of tariffs, subsidies, and all the other protectionist facets of phoney job creation Trotter moots.

Yes. Being attacked by a luddite like Trotter shouldn't hurt at all.

Inner Strength

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment

If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct her/him,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,















...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog

National's lost opportunity

Katherine Rich delivered her valedictory speech to parliament yesterday after three terms as a National MP.

Rich said her "annus horribilis" was 2005, when her disagreement over Brash's views on welfare led to her sacking as welfare spokeswoman and her temporary demotion from the front bench. "Demotion clearly wasn't a career highlight but it was preferable than trying to explain why I, a well-paid mother with all the supports in the world, intended telling a DPB (domestic purposes benefit) mum to leave her baby in childcare to net less than half the minimum wage," she said.

And in making the issue about herself she lost the battle.

Katherine's circumstances were, in fact, irrelevant.

At a recent Grey Power meeting two women talked to me afterwards. They broached the subject. We agree with the letters you write about the DPB, they said. We were both in favour of the DPB when it was brought in. We thought it would be good for mothers and their children. But it has gone too far. Too many are now choosing it as a lifestyle, they said. And that is not good for their children.

Simply put society cannot have it both ways. Unless the DPB incentives are removed the problem of child poverty - spiritual and material - will persist.

There is no need to punish those already on the DPB. But there is a desperate need to tell those who are not, that lifestyle welfare is no longer an option. We have to turn off the welfare tap as the first and most urgent action.

In Katherine's 2004 welfare paper, Saving the next generation from welfare dependency, she wrote;

National is the only party that can make and implement difficult welfare decisions.

Unfortunately she couldn't. Brash could have but that is now all a tragically lost opportunity.

But I wish her all the best for life post-parliament. I am sure she is relishing the prospect.

Politics sans policy

People I talk with or listen to are heartily sick of politics without policy. There is no sense of enjoyment or participation about the coming election. Most just want to see the back of it. The common complaint is, what about the important stuff? What about the things that matter? I've commented before about the media's role in that dearth.

So last night's debate about ICT policies was a refreshing experience and congratulations to TV7. It almost reinvigorated me. But why aren't we seeing more of this kind of debate? The contest of ideas instead of the interminable he said, she said, he did, she did stuff. A friend said to me yesterday about 90 percent of the New Zealand electorate is dysfunctional when it comes to governance and politics and thought they no longer deserved the time he had been putting in for years trying to spread better ideas.I hope he saw last night's debate. What a great result for ACT, especially after the supercilious, smarmier-than-smarmy-from-Palmie, David Cunliffe said nobody cares about what the leader of a 1 percent party thinks. Clearly they did.

Quote of the night from Nanny National;

Question; "Why should the taxpayer who can't even afford a PC pay for broadband to every home"

Maurice Williamson; "Because that's the way we deliver the new citizen of the future."

Life in New Zealand

Somewhere a teacher works in an extremely high risk industry by night. Her health and her safety are however her business and so is how she chooses to earn an extra buck. By day she takes photographs of kid's lunch boxes and makes phone calls to parents warning them of the dangers of peanut butter sandwiches and fat-saturated chippies. At least that is what the Ministry of Education tells her to do.

When I was a kid I just couldn't get into Alice in Wonderland. Its preposterousness went beyond entertainment. So does this.

A line in the sand

It seems to me that nobody would willingly argue with the Sensible Sentencing Trust's championing of victim's rights. However also given consideration must be potential victims and their rights to be safe.

Drugs are involved in a great deal of crime, whether they create an unquenchable thirst for money to fund habits leading to burglary and dishonesty crimes or they induce behaviour changes that lead to crimes of recklessness and/or violence or they are a mix of both. The traditional western response is to attempt to eradicate drugs, except where a majority also enjoy indulging in them ie alcohol. That attempted eradication is causing more crime than it is preventing.

If you don't believe me look at the one case whereby we have de facto legalising of a highly addictive drug - heroin. The methadone programme is accepted not as a great success in weaning people of heroin but as a effective deterrent to crime. This programme, which caters to over 4,000 addicts, sticks out like dog's. It is the one exception to the overriding rationale behind the war on drugs. But it would appear lawmakers refuse to learn anything from it.

Instead we continue to create more crime rather than reduce it by acceptance and accommodation of drug use. Hell's bells. What a wet liberal I will be labelled as. One of those pesky ACT liberals who cause problems for the ACT conservatives.

ACT appears to have linked itself to the SST. I have never seen or heard the Sensible Sentencing Trust back an end to prohibition. And any failure to do so actually condones the creation of more victims. Upping the ante will only worsen crime in New Zealand. Add to that the insane welfare policies NZ pursues (ACT's opposition to which is the main reason I support them) and we are never going to see the kind of safety and security alluded to at their law and order launch yesterday.

Maori Party policy - dreamland

According to the NZ Herald today;

The Maori Party, meanwhile, reiterated its hopes of removing gst on food and scrapping tax on income under $25,000. Speaking on TV One's Agenda programme yesterday, Maori Party MP Hone Harawira dismissed suggestions that those two policies alone would cost $5 billion and said they could be funded by the tax on cigarettes.

I have blogged before about the flight of fantasy that masquerades as Maori Party policy.

The tax on cigarettes, last time I checked, is around $1 billion. A black market already exists. Massively hike up current taxation on cigarettes and tobacco and all that will happen is less tax will be collected. And the gangs will get another gift.

Perhaps Hone could arrange for that to be their Waitangi Tribunal settlement.

Campaigning

Yesterday I represented ACT at the Wellington Wairarapa School Trustees conference in Wellington. Other candidates on the panel were Allan Peachey, National MP and Education spokesperson, Grant Robertson, Wgtn Central Labour Candidate and Vaughan Smith, United Future Wgtn, who is the son of Murray Smith, Hutt South UF Candidate. Something of a breakthrough occurred for me when I was asked to speak for around 5 minutes and had nothing prepared. We were advised earlier it was a question and answer format but the chair, ex Listener writer Dennis Welch changed that.

Having two children in the education system - one in the state and one in the private system - and being a keen advocate for vouchers, made the task fairly easy. When I touched on the subject of secondary schools and lack of choice, namely the not uncommon reluctance to send one's child to Hutt Valley High, I was loudly interrupted by a school trustee from that board. It's a great school, she countered. The bad reports are all a media beat up, she said. I responded that I hadn't said it wasn't but it is TOO BIG. It does not suit every child's needs. That is the crux of the problem. State high schools take no account of children's individuality, needs and strengths.

Which took me into Rodney's championing of the Corelli School for Arts right down to accepting a part in their school production (when was the last time anyone wanted Trevor Mallard in their school play?) and why ACT's voucher policy would see schools like this flourish. As always there was considerable interest in the idea. Some cynicism, some approval but no hostility.

The ERO got a right royal drubbing and I now doubt their ability to provide the kind of vital information parents need. The decile rating system is still controversial with trustees worried about the low expectations decile 1,2 and 3 schools build in teachers. Low achievement was raised which I pointed out (at some length) is not going away while long term welfare dependence continues (which elicited some agreement). The lifting of the school leaving age wasn't sitting easily.

But the significant aspect of the 2 hour event was the leaning to the National MP. The Labour candidate was pushing it uphill. Allan Peachey is of course an expert in education given his background. He tackled the questions personally rather than as a party mouthpiece and was credible and sincere.

The mood for change goes beyond the poll indications.

Teaching twaddle

Check out the following NCEA question. It is apparently a compulsory question from a Geography exam. Sounds more like Gender Studies - twaddle from twats.

Thing is I can't even begin to answer it. Perhaps NotPC can help out. Would seem to be rather more up his alley than mine. Yikes. There's a thought.

Do alleys have genders?

The not-so-good-news about young Maori

Just over two weeks ago Labour were talking up a Ministry of Social Development report that showed the gap between rich and poor is shrinking (what else would you expect when more attention is paid to dividing up the pie than growing it?) Trevor Mallard turned up at a meeting waving a chart from said report and Ruth Dyson waxed lyrical.

This week a further report has been released which contains some good news but plenty of not so good. The media seem to have missed it. Perhaps Simon Collins is away.

The not-so-good news pertains largely to young Maori. According to the report;

The teenage birth rate for Maori fell by 26 percent between 1997 and 2002 before increasing by a similar amount between 2002 and 2007.

Just over half of all women who have children in their teens are Maori.

There has been a slight fall in the proportion of Maori staying on at school to the age of 17.5 years since the early 90s

Truancy rates increased for all ethnic groups between 2004 and 2006. The largest growth occurred for Māori students, with an increase of 17 percent in the percentage of unjustified absences. [The Maori truancy rate is more than 4 times the NZ European rate.]

Young Mäori are also over-represented in youth justice statistics, accounting for almost half of all police apprehensions of 14–16 year olds and over half of all cases proved in the Youth Court involving 14–16 year olds.

Road deaths for Mäori under the age of 25 increased between 2001 and 2005. By comparison with the total population under 25 years, young Mäori are at greater risk of dying from assault, unintentional injury and motor vehicle accidents.

The Maori youth suicide rate which, after falling between the periods 1996–1998 and 1999–2001, increased by nearly as much in the years up to 2003–2005.

Maori secondary school students were almost 4 times more likely to witness adult violence in the home than NZ European.

I do not need to spell out the implications of all the above. There is a group of young Maori who are living under-achieving, unproductive and often unhappy lives. The group out of which most crime emanates is growing.

Parallel Grey Power meetings

While the Prime Minister was speaking to Grey Power yesterday in Lower Hutt, the Hutt South candidates were speaking to Grey Power over the hill in Wainuiomata, including Trevor who (I suspect) had the meeting moved forward half an hour so he could dash off the be with the PM later. Wainui is Trevor's home and he pulls the strings. The format was strange with each candidate getting 3 mins to speak followed by 5 mins of audience questions just to them. I got grilled on climate change, gst and the economy by local Grey Power hierarchy. That's OK. I like criticism. Stirs the blood. The United Future candidate from Rimutaka remarked to me they were particularly hard on me but that I'd handled it well. And the feedback after the show, as I handed out the 20 Point Plans, was encouraging, especially from men who are climate change agnostics and others worried about the economic effects of the ETS.

The hot button issue for this group seemed to be crime, with a number calling for the return of the death penalty. Unfortunately I didn't get chance to get involved in that discussion but Maori Party candidate, Derek Fox, asked the woman calling for it if she would flick the switch and she replied gladly. Then she made a strange remark. Even if we never used it we should bring it back, indicating she thought it would be a successful deterrent. Has she looked at the crime in those US states that still use it? Another man said he didn't think we should be paying to keep people in prison and we should just 'trash' them. Emotive, unreasoning stuff.

This is my short speech;

For ACT this election is primarily about the economy. Say ‘economy’ to some people and their eyes glaze over. They shouldn’t because the economy has a huge effect on all our lives regardless of our age.

Our average income from working in New Zealand is now NZ$450 behind Australia’s. NZ$450 per week.

ACT has a plan to bridge that gap over the next ten years and we have laid it down here. Please read it.

What would bridging that gap mean for you?

For a start Super would go up because Super is indexed to average after-tax earnings. Cutting income tax would also have a similar, more immediate but smaller effect.

Instead of waiting for a slightly bigger slice of the cake that may or may not come your way, the chances of your super income rising are much greater with strong economic growth.

But it isn’t just about the money going into your bank account every week. It’s about far more.

A number, possibly even a majority of you have children and grandchildren now living overseas. That is because NZ is slipping in international competitiveness. Our people leave for better incomes, sometimes as a short-term measure to repay a loan sooner. Many do not return. And that is an enormous emotional cost to their families.

We are also seeing the effects of losing international economic competitiveness in skill shortages in the health area. Most health care is consumed in our older years. By 2050, the portion of the population that is 65 plus, is going to double. If we carry on letting NZ drop down the OECD income ladder – we used to be third and are now 22nd – our ability to care for the aged will get far worse than it is today.

National will win this election, but because they have bought into Labour’s major economic policies, have little hope of achieving the economic growth we so desperately need. If you believe the economy matters you need to give your Party Vote to ACT so more MPs can join Rodney Hide, who is going to win Epsom, in achieving a real change of direction for this country and the people who live in it.

The Maori Party method

Last night a friend and I attended a Maori Party hui in Lower Hutt. The candidate for Te Tai Tonga was launched - a youngish lawyer who has a pleasant way about her but waffles a fair bit - and Derek Fox, Te Ururoa Flavell and Pita Sharples all spoke. Tariana was a no-show but I wasn't disappointed.

The Maori Party is seeking the electorate vote only. That was the first message. Seven candidates in the Maori seats seeking only the electorate vote.

But then that changed as the meeting went on and they began explaining the MMP system quite extensively (including an innovative slide show presentation) and decided they were trying to grow their Party Vote in the general electorates as a basis for future growth. This seeming switch may come about because they speak to two different audiences at once. The handful of Ngati Pakeha present may have been noted.

The Maori Party take a long term view. The past three years has been all about building credibility and they are very proud of having spoken to every bill that has passed (and so they should be), their conduct in the house (and so they should be) and their expanding array of policy positions.

But unlike other political meetings little was talked of policy. Their catchcry is being a voice for Maori, BUT an independent voice. They do not want to be in a formal coalition with either party because they fear being swallowed up and losing their ability to vote for their constituents when their constituents may disagree with the passage of certain legislation. Sharples believes that Key will reach out to them for support if he wants to form more than a one-term government. Much scorn (good naturedly) was heaped upon the Maori Labour MPs but certainly supporting Labour was not ruled out either. (Winston is now smiling at them but he is smiling too late.)

So the method is very much emotion-based. The tribal identification is subsumed by the new tribe - the Maori Party. The Flags, the Identity, the Family, the Celebration. The vibe is a good one. There is humour aplenty. They are a young party despite having older MPs (Pita can't wait for someone younger to come along and replace him) and brimming with enthusiasm.

It would be very easy to be seduced by the newest political gang, especially when one sympathises with their big issue - trying to hold on to their property rights (which goes beyond just the seabed and foreshore legislation). But I do not see separatism as good for New Zealand. Factionalism of the fighting-over-resources kind is anathema, it is a divisive and destructive feature of socialism. Although the mood was very upbeat the overriding message is still one of Maori difference and Maori need and from what I could discern the really tough issues never got a look in.

Let's talk about trust

Clark says this election is about 'trust'.

What about trusting the people?

Never before has a government demonstrated less trust in people to run their own affairs.

If it's about trust, Labour must be the last choice.

Gang ban - the wrong road to go down

We do not need a ban on gangs.

A good deal of what gangs do is illegal (thanks, in the main, to drug prohibition).

The police cannot control their criminal activities so their best response is to ban presently legal and overt activities - freedom of movement and association.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor wants Australian banning legislation copied here,

"We don't like coming second to Australia in anything, but if there was a Bledisloe Cup for anti-gang laws, they would clean up," Mr O'Connor said.

Gangs will always exist. They are a facet of the human impulse to group for mutual advantage. Prohibition provides some of them with a more than lucrative means of support (welfare provides them with a less than lucrative means). If we want rid of the resulting criminal gangs then we have to destroy their revenue source on both counts.

Ask yourself, are gangs selling home-brewed wine and beer? Why not?

No stone unturned

The volunteers who deliver election material frequently ask about which letterboxes they should put material in. I put it in all letterboxes. Took the boy and the dog and we covered Lowry Bay yesterday. Even got a bit sunburned. Beautiful day.

Fostering

I know the caregivers in one of the foster homes this young man lived in and they are very good people. Apparently they have stood by him and supported him during the trial.

I don't much care what happens to this young murderer. The caregivers would be appalled to hear me say that no doubt. But comes a point when forgiveness is no longer an option. Maybe they still haven't and won't ever reach it.

What I do care about is how hurt and betrayed they must be feeling. Helping people with hard backgrounds involves a huge amount of trust and you convince yourself - you have to - that it is warranted and flows both ways.

With the vocation they have, the only way you keep at it is to accept, you win some, you lose some. What cost the loss though.

Child death claims don't stack up

Here we go again with the claim that it is somehow the fault of Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson that children die through maltreatment;

Kerre Woodham writes;

He [Mike Doolan] says international experience shows that economic conditions are closely associated with levels of child abuse, and any group that suffers more from social and economic changes are found to be over represented in child abuse and other antisocial statistics.

The effects of the economic reforms of the 1990s can be seen in the higher rate of child killings during that decade. The lower death rate between 2000 and 2005 can be partially attributed to low unemployment levels and much greater prosperity, he says.

The problem with this theory is that journalists conveniently ignore statistics prior to the 90s.



Do the 1990s stand out particularly?

The rate of deaths does not anyway have a hard and fast correlation to the amount of abuse. And trying to measure abuse is even more troublesome. Definitions, awareness of, willingness to report, child justice approaches, have all changed. It would for example appear there was little Maori child abuse pre the 60s (statistically speaking). That is because Pakeha society largely ignored Maori society. Maori ex-nuptial rates of birth (which have a strong association with child abuse) were not even included in general statistics until the 1960s.

Here's another thought. The medical fraternity is progressively more able to save life. How many more children are invalided through maltreatment who would previously have died? The child death figures are very small and consequently very volatile. I would be reluctant to use them to illustrate any theory, as unsatisfactory as I find that.

(2003 was an aberration - according to Family First statistics, deaths have averaged about 7 per year over the past five years. They are not routinely published by the police.)

Only 140 years to wait

There is good news on the economic front.

According to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research;

The trans-Tasman income gap will disappear 140 years from now, if the economies of New Zealand and Australia continue to grow at the same average rates for the period 2000-2007.

Ummm. 2148.

On the other hand New Zealand could choose ACT's 20 Point Plan and aim to beat Australia by 2020.....

I know which I prefer.

Key "booed and jeered" by self-delusionists

Yesterday John Key addressed a conference hosted by Every Child Counts, a left-leaning, pro-Labour bunch which Barnardo's Murray Edridge, also present, described as "partisan". Hostile might have been a better descriptor.

Key was apparently booed and jeered for talking about boot camps to address youth offending.

Minister for Social Development, Ruth Dyson, was more warmly received. She responded,

The current youth justice system worked well and "in a way that respects our youth, keeps them out of the adult justice system". She said New Zealand risked losing its comparatively low youth offending level if it changed the approach.

So things are pretty hunky dory down under.

Consider then the following;

2007. Youth Court judge Andrew Becroft

Despite the successful use of diversion since reforms in 1989, its use had fallen markedly in the past two years, Judge Becroft said.

About 38 per cent of all police apprehensions of youth offenders now resulted in diversion, compared to 55 per cent two years ago.

In the same period, those that led to prosecutions in the Youth Court had risen from 17 per cent to 29 per cent.

One reason for that was a rise in violent offending among young people over the same period - but it was not the only factor, he said.

2007. From the Ministry of Social Development;

While there was growth in the young person population, overall offending rates remained static over the same period. In fact, when considered on a per 10,000 of population basis, the ratio of apprehensions to population decreased by over 11%.

However, there were significant increases in violent offending. Apprehensions for violent offending rose by 36.4% over the previous 8 years and charges for violent offending increased by 57.6% between 2000 and 2005. This suggests it is the ferocity, not the frequency of offending which is changing.

2008. Kim Workman National Director of Prison Fellowship and new appointment to the Families Commission;

Yes, there has been a recent rise in the rate of apprehensions for violent offending, particularly serious violent offending. But that increase applies to every age cohort of the population – apart from 10 – 13 year olds.

It is violent offending that society worries about most. Violent youth offending is accelerating.

It sickens me that Ruth Dyson swans about the place talking in self-congratulatory terms about her government and their international standing in respect of crime. It is bull shit. And those people who sit there lapping it up because it affirms their own wonky world view and their modus operandi of denial are just as bad.

Heaven help us if we get another three years of these self-delusionists holding sway.

There's just no pleasing some folk

Complaints in private prisons in Victoria, Australia, have risen dramatically. Why?

He [the ombudsman] pointed to private prisons, noting 400% and 100% increases in complaints respectively about Port Phillip prison (rising to 443) and Fulham prison (129) since the 2006 annual report. While rising complaint figures are partly explained by the installation of phones for inmates, Mr Taylor described the increases as "disproportionately high".

I wonder if anyone rang to complain that they had been given phones?

The way to reduce the level of complaints is obvious. Take away the phones.

Nasty nosey-Parker narks

How does a story like this get into the newspapers? In fact, I am not going to repeat it. Suffice to say some individuals personify the worst aspects of this meddling government. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

The other 'bombshell'

Ever wondered what a cross between Julia Roberts and Rachael Hunter might look like? Wonder no more.

And what relevance could my observation possibly have? None at all. But Ms Ede is a rather pleasant distraction from the text .... and adds a touch of class to Mr Glenn's cortege. Gorgeous Georgie appeared to be enjoying the show.

Families Commission - you're fired!

The Dominion Post came late today. After 5.40am which is when I go to the gate looking for it. So I missed the news that John Key has promised to get rid of the Families Commission.

THANK YOU JOHN

This was ACT policy in 2005 and National have now seen sense and are joining in.

All the Families Commission does is turn out questionable, superfluous, research. I blogged about some of it here.

Looks like Rajen Prasad did something sensible for once and the new head, Jan Pryor, made the right call in keeping her feet in two camps.

Now will Key commit to killing off Kiro's commission?

Update; Oh no. He's retracting it already. For Gods sake, get some balls.

Telethon supports wrong charity

The telethon is back. TV3 is going to host a 24 hour telethon next year. The 'Big Night In' seeks to raise $2 million for the charity that supports New Zealand children living in poverty, KidsCan.

Call me churlish but I believe this is the wrong charity. Children living in poverty in New Zealand is too political. There is a big question mark over why children are going without food, shoes and raincoats in what is a generous and pervasive welfare state. And whether someone other than their parents providing these things actually improves the situation or just breeds more dependency and irresponsibility. As a volunteer I am happy to give my time working in homes trying to sort these problems but I am not going to support throwing more money at them.

It is enormously disappointing that a charity like Cancer Kids or Variety - for sick and disabled children - is going to miss out. In fact some of the donations going to the telethon will mean donations do not go to other more deserving charities.

A vote for Labour...

... is a vote for Sue Bradford.

Sole Maori identity has protective factors

Identifying solely as Maori has protective factors for mental health.

More from the Christchurch Health and Development Study;

Results: Those with sole Māori identity had rates of disorder that were 1.28-fold higher than those of non- Māori; those of Māori/other identity had rates of disorder that were 1.57-fold higher than non- Māori. Regression analyses suggested that the elevated rates of mental disorder among Māori were largely explained by their higher exposure to socio-economic disadvantage and childhood adversity. But even after adjustment, being of sole Māori identity was a protective factor that reduced rates of mental disorder among Māori. Conclusions: Risk and protective factors associated with the mental health of young Māori involve an interplay between levels of exposure to social disadvantage/childhood adversity and cultural identity, with secure cultural identity being a factor that may mitigate the effects of exposure to adversity.

So what should the policy response be to this? Blame colonisation, and then what? Call for more wealth redistribution to avoid socioeconomic disadvantage? Call for more cultural emphasis through various institutions? The discouragement of Maori intermarrying or recognising their Pakeha heritage? Seriously, what do we do with this knowledge?

And even more recently released;

CONCLUSIONS: Maori ethnic identification was associated with increased risks of cannabis use and dependence. The higher rate of cannabis use by Maori could be largely attributed to a combination of socioeconomic factors and greater exposure to environmental factors known to influence risk of cannabis use. The higher rates of cannabis use by Maori made a small contribution to higher rates of early school leaving, crime, and unemployment among Maori.

Tell us something we didn't know. Confirming-type research but very useful for those needing proof of assertions. Maori are more likely to be potheads. Pakeha more likely to be pissheads (notwithstanding Maori indulge in episodic hazardous drinking).

What about a radical policy response like, prohibition has failed to reduce the use of cannabis, particularly among Maori. Therefore the prohibition policy is forthwith abandoned.

But I am overlooking that policies not working is no criteria for abandoning them. Not in this country anyway. Carrying on doing what we have always done is easier than changing.

Murray "We'll keep them honest" Smith

If there is one thing I can't stand it's lying. On the campaign trail around the Hutt one of my fellow candidates is United Future's Murray Smith. Now Murray has been telling audiences he is number three on their list. That is an electable position and he has probably reasoned it would boost his credibility.

The list has just been announced and he is at number six. Almost certainly (on current polling) unelectable. Giving Murray the benefit of the doubt I then assumed that he had been talking about his list placing in 2005. But no. He was six then also.

The real irony is the strategy he has been pushing;

The media largely controls the outcome

Deborah Coddington's column reflects her disgust with the current political climate for which I share a smidgen of sympathy. But it is futile to heap more blame on those who would expose and avenge wrong-doings than those who commit them. There is one sentence I want to comment on;

MPs refuse to campaign on important policies, such as health and education, and instead scramble for power on the backs of negative, frenzied attacks.

Having been a politician Deborah would know how difficult it is to get the media to report policy or attend meetings at which they are discussed (although local papers are better than majors at covering candidates) and yet the media is going to have more input into election outcomes than policy. They are controlling the information. Thus smart politicians keep them onside. Winston's continual aggravation of journalists shows a man who refuses to accept this reality and one whose ego will eventually be his downfall.

Egos abound in politics.For the good and for the bad. A lack of one can make it difficult to project and inspire confidence. Too much and the individual loses sight of what it is their party wants to achieve and what the chances are of achieving it.

Deborah finished by saying that for the first time she is feeling apolitical. Can I suggest Deborah that all of the time and energy you put into education policy will be lost if you don't take a deep breath, go into the booth and tick ACT.

Forget the personality stuff and like me, think about what would be an enormous step forward in education choice and the transferral of power from the state to the individual. If National needs ACT after the election the voucher policy has every chance of being a bottom line.

The Press on ACT and Rodney Hide

Can't find much wrong with this. Rodney's luck has changed. Not because he is getting a fair ride from the media. But because, with a pack of them in tow, he dared to put up an umbrella in Wellington and got away with it!





(Left click on image to read)

"Nats target school zoning"

Target it for what though? Abolition? A major revamp?

Neither. The answer is "tweaking".

[Anne Tolley] said zoning "certainly won't go altogether" under National, but "I think there is some tweaking we can do".

Archetypal Nat policy. To 'tweak'. Remove the 't' to reveal what their policies really are.

Old dreams die hard

In the United States, as soon as a man has acquired some education and pecuniary resources, he either endeavors to get rich by commerce or industry, or he buys land in the bush and turns pioneer. All that he asks of the state is, not to be disturbed in his toil, and to be secure of his earnings.

— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America [1835]

The truth about Helen and the ETS

The truth about Helen and the ETS

Supermarkets check on cheating customers

Wellington supermarket managers are personally door-knocking customers suspected of cheating controversial zoning rules.

Managers say they are accepting fewer customers who live outside their entitlement-to-shop zone, spurring determined customers to trick their way into preferred supermarkets.

Thirty seven Wellington supermarkets were set down to hold ballots for out-of-entitlement-to-shop zone applicants yesterday but the press understands that few, if any, of the supermarkets held ballots because no shopping spaces were available.

"There are people who are absolutely hell-bent on getting around the system," Petone Countdown manager, Joe Blogger said.

"They are basically deceitful."

During the last month, Blogger said he had taken to stopping at the homes of customers to check they were living in the entitlement-to-shop zone, as their applications claimed.

"We're at the point where we're having customers ring us saying did you realise so-and-so who says they are living in the entitlement-to-shop zone is not in the zone. That's starting to happen a bit, it's that jealousness or that sense of fear."

A customer was removed from Petone Countdown last year when it was found that she had forged documents to get into the supermarket.

Some customers temporarily moved to an "address of convenience"or claimed they were about to move into the area, Blogger said.

"We get them to sign an affidavit through their lawyer to say they are living in the house, that it's not just an investment house, "he said.

Silverstream Pack'n'Save acting manager, Jim Journo said the traditional competitive streak over supermarket reputations was moving into convenience stores and dairies.

"We have real estate agents here talk about the Silverstream zone,they might lumber that in with the Trentham zone,"he said.

Silvertream Pak'n'Save will hold a ballot for out-of-entitlement-to-shop applicants on Monday.

Journo did not want to reveal exactly how many out-of-entitlement-to-shop zone applicants were in the ballot, but he agreed scores of would-be customers would be disappointed.

Journo said they had not got to the point of door-knocking suspected cheats, but he knew it was happening.

"We've had people trying to up the system living with Auntie and all sort of nonsense."

A Tawa dairy manager Paul Penner said they usually had two ballots a year but but very few customers from outside the Tawa entitlement-to-shop zone were admitted.

"For us it is just at small shoppers level. We just don't have the places available, really," Penner said.

He said out-of-entitlement-to-shop zone customers tricking their way into dairies was "most definitely" a problem.

"In fact I think it is getting more challenging for dairies, "he said, "Yes, we are getting tougher and tougher on addresses to make sure they are right."

He had not experienced forged documents but said there were customers who stayed with a relative or took a rental address for a very short time,

"Once you've approved the customer than that's it. The onus is on the dairy to prove they have used an address of convenience to gain entry and, crikey, it's not very nice stuff to be going down that road.

Penner said his personal checks on customers were "as diplomatic as possible."

"You might send out a bill and it pops back and you think, whoops, hang on a minute. Or there is a change of phone number and you think, hang on, what's happened here."

(Read further)

What Helen should do to Winston

There's a great line in this Radio New Zealand Morning Report interview with Rodney Hide.

Australia - Dob in a child support dodger

My comment below;

Net tightens on child support evaders

The Child Support Agency and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship have boosted efforts to crack down on overseas travel of separated parents who are avoiding their child support responsibilities.

The Minister for Human Services, Senator Joe Ludwig, said today that the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies strengthened the CSA’s Departure Prohibition Order (DPO) program.

‘The CSA, with the support of DIAC, has the power to issue international travel bans if a parent persistently fails to meet child support obligations,’ Senator Ludwig said.

‘When a DPO is issued, the affected parent cannot leave Australia until they make satisfactory arrangements to pay their child support debt.’

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said the agreement allows CSA to gain access to DIAC’s movement database to identify the overseas travel patterns of parents who have significant child support debts.

‘This new access complements the data-matching arrangements between the two agencies which have been in place for some time now,’ Senator Evans said.

‘It’s pleasing to be able to further assist the CSA with this important program, as the end result is making sure child support payments get to the children who need them.’

Currently the CSA has 1103 DPOs in place across Australia.

Senator Ludwig said the message to separated parents who owe child support was clear.

‘If you want to travel overseas then you need to sort out your overdue child support payments,’ Senator Ludwig said.

‘During 2007-08, the CSA issued 924 DPOs and as a result collected about $5.7 million in outstanding child support.’

Senator Ludwig called on people who knew of upcoming travel plans of child support defaulters to contact the CSA through the Australian Government Services Fraud Tip-off Line, 13 15 24 so a DPO could be considered.

‘The CSA needs to know the likely date of travel and the city and means of departure so that the process can go more smoothly and children can receive the money they need,’ he said.

If the state insists on replacing fathers with welfare then it will continue to create a huge problem of liable parents who rightly or wrongly don't want to or won't pay. It created this problem in Australia with the Parenting Payment and in NZ with the DPB. Sometimes good men get screwed literally and then figuratively. Get rid of the single parent benefit and the bulk of the problem would disappear as women recalculated where their best interests lay. If there was no DPB I would wholeheartedly support the courts using every measure they could to extract support. But not as matters stand. This is a policy for a conservative, authoritarian party. It's not a good policy for a liberal party. But that's just my opinion.

False rape complaints

The business of false rape complaints bothers me. Here is another New Zealand case that has pretty much gone unpunished.

Judge Oke Blaikie said wasting police time and undermining legitimate rape prosecutions was a serious offence.

"People have been sent to prison for doing what you did."

He convicted Little of making a false statement to police, sentencing her to 9 months' supervision for substance abuse.

It would appear there are no statistics about the incidence of false rape claims - surprise, surprise. I have blogged before however about the rising incidence of dishonesty crimes and I suspect they are contained therein.

But some stats out of the US show that the incidence may be reasonably high. Wendy McElroy uncovered a report containing this statement;

"Every year since 1989, in about 25 percent of the sexual assault cases referred to the FBI where results could be obtained, the primary suspect has been excluded by forensic DNA testing. Specifically, FBI officials report that out of roughly 10,000 sexual assault cases since 1989, about 2,000 tests have been inconclusive, about 2,000 tests have excluded the primary suspect, and about 6,000 have "matched" or included the primary suspect.....these percentages have remained constant for 7 years, and the National Institute of Justice's informal survey of private laboratories reveals a strikingly similar 26 percent exclusion rate."

The original report is here.

Something else occurs to me. This incidence is broadly in line with the rate of DNA paternity testing that reveals a man is not the father of a child.

Of course if there are cash rewards for lying or, as the young Dannevirke beneficiary found out, attention without negative consequences, females will continue to behave in ways which can have devastating consequences for men. I suppose radical "all men are rapists" feminists would consider this is collective moral payback ignoring the individual price paid by innocent people.

Meeting tonight

A very keen ACT member has organised a public meeting (with a focus on truckers) tonight at 7pm at the community room at Naenae's Olympic pool. A member of the trucking fraternity will speak, myself and Rodney Hide. I know there are some local readers of this blog. You are most welcome to attend. This will probably be the last chance to hear Rodney in the Hutt South before the election.

Bad move

(From today's Dominion Post)

Hamilton Polling

Electorate polls often provide an indication of what is happening at a national level. The Waikato Times has polled both Hamilton electorates and the results are here.

In the West the polling is reflecting the very close result of 2005 when the Labour candidate won by a mere 800 votes, but with a swing to National. But there is a large chunk of undecided. Almost one quarter in fact (which is close to what I am finding in Hutt South.)



But in the East the incumbent National MP, David Bennet, is looking at a landslide with his majority well up on 2005 when he received 50 percent of the electorate vote. The National Party vote is also substantial at 49 per cent compared to Labour's 25 per cent.



So these local polls are telling us the same as the national polls. There is going to be a change of government and National may be able to govern alone.

This is interesting but unsurprising;

The economy is more important to men as a deciding issue (10 per cent) than women (five per cent).

Health and education are more important to women (six per cent and seven per cent respectively) than men (two per cent and three per cent).

Health and education standards are a facet of the economy. The economy comes first. How does one get that through to people??

Campaigning

Trevor Mallard opened at the business breakfast I attended at the Wainuiomata RSA this morning. He made hay with the just-released MSD social report which shows improvement in a number of indicators. Fortunately I followed (there was only Labour, National and ACT present!) and was quickly able to reel off a list of trends which are going in the wrong direction - violent crime, truancy and violence in schools, teenage birthrate, STDs, receipt of sickness and invalid benefits, substance and alcohol abuse. The thrust of my speech covered National morphing into Labour and depriving the electorate of a clear choice, the 20 Point Plan, why special privilege for one business hurts the next, why we wouldn't want, in a month of Sundays, the government running supermarkets and nationalising plumbers yet accept that they run schools and hospitals. Surely food and running water are as important as education and hip operations? It strikes me, as I watch faces, that many people have never thought at this level.

The audience seemed mainly concerned about social problems, crime and political correctness. When asked what we could do about the list of negative trends I described, I was right where I wanted to be and received the first spontaneous round of applause from the audience when talking about the consequences of 'paying babies to have babies'. It's an issue that touches a nerve and one I am deeply concerned about.

Paul Quinn has a limited repertoire and no firm philosophy. But he has the polls (and PM) on his side. At some point the meetings always degenerate into who is telling the truth? Trevor or Paul?

Trevor is very secure in his electorate. He knows the local issues and should, after so many terms. But he concluded by asking them to re-elect him because, indicating the National candidate, "He will be in on the list anyway." Quinn is at 48. Mallard knows the anti-labour vote is so strong he is prepared to ask for just the electorate vote.

I asked for the Party Vote so ACT would have more MPs in parliament giving National direction and spine. More MPs that were prepared to call a spade a spade and not keep sweeping problems under the carpet. More MPs who are not happy with just the status quo. More MPs pushing for real change.

Phoenetics?

My mum is a retired teacher. She just rang me to tell me to write down the following letters;

P I S S I F U C B L U

This is how one of the local primary children spelled 'Pacific Blue' in a story related on paper. Spelling what they hear. Obviously some words are more aurally familiar than others.

Rodney on entrepreneurship and more

Staying on the subject of Rodney Hide I have only just come across this interview. For ACT candidates especially, have a listen. None of us wants to appear lacking at public meetings and attempt to cram in a fair bit of policy around this time. If you are anything like me the grey cells start running out. Listening instead of reading is sometimes a more efficient use of what is left.

This is a great interview about entrepreneurship, tax, the economy, role of government and ACT's short and long term goals. Finding it is fortuitous for me as I have a business breakfast to address tomorrow. I feel more confident knowing my own response to matters such as business indulging in special pleading (at the expense of other businesses without their hands out) is echoed here (far more ably I hasten to add:-)) We need to clone Rodney but by the time the state had grudgingly given us permission we would doubtless have exhausted our money, energy and enthusiasm.

Hat tip Angel Investment

What has a man to do?

Politics has got to be the most unrewarding, butt-kicking, unmanageable business there is. If it wasn't for Rodney Hide, newspaper editors around the country wouldn't have their lucrative front page stories. Talk-back hosts would be scraping the barrel for another topic to ignite the passions. And John Key would still be sitting on the spiked MMP fence that has become almost as unpopular as the Berlin Wall, thanks to a certain show pony's odious shenanigans.

But today, as the Winston debacle winds up to full force, the man responsible hardly rates a mention. Not on the front pages and not in the editorials.

Johnny come-very-lately steals the show by almost, just about, very nearly, ruling Peters out of participating in a National cabinet. (Note that is not government and not necessarily the Peters' Party). It's a decision about as bold and decisive as another he made yesterday earning him the headline, Key slams bill - but has backed it for now.

What has a man got to do to earn the deserved credit he so badly needs to then translate into voting support? There is little Hide hasn't tried.

Now he has delivered the headlines that make the shiny Key shine even more. And has, to boot, to publicly praise the man who is really standing in the way of his party's advancement.

The electorate is as fickle as finance companies and as dense as dirty dishwater. Even yesterday people were still saying Winston has done more good than harm, Winston looks after us. Winston looks after himself. Period.

Will Peters ever get what he deserves? If there was any real justice in this world he would. And so would Hide.

Mark to stand in Rimutaka

Just heard on radio - Ron Mark is standing in Rimutaka.

That explains why he has been turning up at the same meetings I've been at.

Could he win it? He has a following and Paul Swain is retiring. Who is the Labour candidate? A young Chris Hipkins. Won't touch Mark's mana.

Winston's bacon could be saved yet again. Damn. Surely not.

Campaigning

Last week COSS (Hutt Council of Social Services) held a candidate meeting. The coverage of meetings is always interesting. Editor of the Hutt News, Simon Edwards, does a great job of distilling screeds of matter into a flowing and highly readable piece. Right from the outset our comments were addressed to pre-notified questions. I never actually used the word "hammock" and stressed that ACT would support funding for the volunteer sector but at the same time look to reduce welfare spending. But otherwise what he has reported is a fair representation. I did get impatient with some of the worthies in the audience. They put a question about dealing with the growing number of people suffering from dementia and I talked about funding medicines and about how we might look to increase the workforce in that and other aged care services. Of course my suggestion was too radical and eyes were being rolled and tut-tutting noises made. Hence I earned the sub-heading 'told off'.



Still spare a thought for the National candidate, Paul Quinn who was reported as seeming "to struggle for answers to some pre-notified questions".

"While it may be good politics for National to save most of its policy announcements until closer to the election, it's not a good look on the hustings right now for him to have to keep saying 'more on that later'."

I must tell you about Robert, my son, who is highly intuitive if a little off the mark sometimes. He spotted the photo below upside down on the bench. "Oh Mum, you look like a real leftie," he said. "That's because you are looking at the Green candidate I replied." "Oh yeah."

Douglas "talks up" flat tax

Roger Douglas was covered by TV One news last night at a candidates meeting in Auckland "talking up" flat tax. ACT's promise is for a flat rate of 15%.

One of the things that instantly impressed me about Roger was his dismissal of personality politics. He wanted candidates "on message" on the campaign trail.

You know as a candidate that the media will cover one, maybe two of the points you make. The Hutt News has covered two local meetings so far and on both occasions ACT has been reported as primarily pushing for economic growth, having a plan to lift incomes by $500 and why that is so important.

Now it looks like I'll be able to start pushing flat tax as well.

Confirming a right to live off others

The Australian government plans to stop welfare payments to those families whose children are truant. This has caused an angry protest from various groups.

The very same situation could apply here in the near future.

What a bind we find ourselves in. The benefit bind. Of course if there weren't benefits in the first place these secondary issues couldn't vex us.

But as the state-funded benefit system does exist the public will be asked to decide what it is for. Is it a paternalistic operation based on reciprocity - the state will support you with conditions and obligations - or is it a system captured by 'clients' calling the shots; who see their 'entitlement' to live off the efforts of others as all-abiding. Because at the moment it leans to the latter.

Irritatingly I cannot find a clear-cut preference for either. There is no right for one person to make a claim on another's property unless the other agrees. Once, most New Zealanders understood and accepted this. About granting a right to monetary support by others Robert Stout, Premier during the 1880s said; ‘I consider that to be a most dangerous principle for any State to confirm’. How right he was.

But at present a majority will say it is a good idea to make beneficiaries send their children to school, get them immunised, pack them healthy lunches, etc and in doing so concede a right to be supported. That still leaves others questioning why they are even in need of support? Why is one citizen being forced to fund another's choices?

So when governments start laying down conditions of receipt in respect to bringing up children I am very wary. Conservatives will embrace the idea and abandon the bigger debate. Left liberals will oppose it saying, what debate?

If, however, welfare was provided through either private insurance or charitable organisations the problem of incentivising bad living is minimised. Or, and I see this as the best (most saleable) option in the short term, benefits to working-age able people become short-term assistance only, the problem is also much smaller.

Protestor packs up knitting

Poor Mrs Allardice. After being called names and threatened by post, she has decided she won't be sitting outside the new Dannevirke brothel knitting and recording the names of visiting clients.

What Mrs Allardice had promised to do was interfere in the lives of other people.

Now it looks as though someone is promising her the same. I won't condone such an action but it is rich in irony.

Live by the sword etc.

Freedom of information curtailed

This is bizarre. An Auckland judge has ruled that news websites cannot publish the names of two accused murderers but tv, radio and print newspapers can.

The judge must believe there are people who could misuse information that have access to the internet but who do not necessarily listen to tv or radio or read newspapers.

People can always get information if they have the time, inclination and energy. And if they know where to look. Some people will google names through idle curiosity, others with malicious intent. People with malicious intentions, those who may threaten family members for instance, are probably motivated enough to put in some effort.

What next? Banning newspapers? How does he propose preventing blogs from publishing the names?

Incomes of immigrants and their offspring

Here are a couple more graphs/tables from a report into the experiences of immigrants to New Zealand. The first shows that of those individuals holding a Bachelor's Degree or higher, Scots earn the most and Koreans the least. The difference is significant at nearly $40,000. Some of the reasons suggested for the low median incomes for Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea are that their female labour market participation rate is lower (more stay-at-home mums?) self-employment and living off assets.



The next table shows however that full-time employed Chinese New Zealand-born have the highest median incomes. All of the NZ-born ethnicities are earning considerably more than their overseas-born counterparts. That is good news in as much as children are doing better than their parents. All of the NZ-born ethnicities are earning more than Maori. Not such good news for Maori.

Zoning - "Notoriously controversial"

Will some smart ACT candidate pick this up and make a noise with the voucher policy?

Dog morality

Dogs learn morals from owners

Dogs have morals??

Dogs can be taught cause and effect. Some seem better equipped to remember what pulling washing off the line results in. And it isn't a treat. But do they lie about thinking whether pulling the washing off the line is a good or bad thing to do?

Yet we do overlay a capacity to be moral on animals. Right from infancy we allow children to be comforted by animal soft toys that are their friends and protectors. But we expect at some point that the child realises the effect is actually in their head. Nevertheless the child has learnt some empathy. They will pass that on to a pet and their friends.

So assuming animals have morality is a construct that serves us well. Usually. What about those bad bastards that want to teach bad bastardness to their dogs?

When I was looking to replace my last dog, about 5 weeks ago, I spent some time at the SPCA. In the late 70s I did a brief stint there as a volunteer. (Very brief - I couldn't handle sacks of dead puppies.)

The SPCA has now become the CYFS of the dog world. Many of the dogs are being held while owners are prosecuted. Many have been terribly maltreated. Their cage doors exhibit various instructions about whether the animal can be put in the yard with other animals or which other animals in particular. Whether it is an animal that is suited to be homed with children. So many now have the physical aspect of the broad skull which I guess comes from interbreeding with Bull terriers, Mastiffs, Staffies etc. (I took one such dog home once and had a 5 month nightmare. She wasn't violent - just completely chaotic and increasingly powerful.)

But the SPCA seems to be possessed of a rigid ideology that all animals are salvageable. It reminds me of the CYFS ideology that all babies are best with their biological mother. The failure of either dogma can be tragic.

I left the SPCA last time saddened. I saw too many animals that looked like a risk. Perhaps persevered with longer than they should have been. And the environment isn't exactly the Hilton for Hounds.

Believing animals have morality seems a little screwy to me. It suits us to believe in such when the truth is such a faith can turn around and bite us.

'Girl' is gradually learning my right from wrong. And she is giving us all a lot of pleasure with her antics and exuberance. But I wouldn't fall into the trap of believing she can intellectualise. She's just a dog. Albeit it a very lovable one.

Thank you

Can I say a big thank you to each of you for the supportive comments made over the past few days. It's more than a mere platitude when I say it means a lot to me.

On "Face-Off " today

On NewstalkZB today after 11 discussing, among other things, the election. This is around the sixth show I've participated in. Initially I was petrified. But now I really enjoy them. Going into the studio the first time my expectations were framed around the National Radio experience which is a disembodying one, led from one rabbit-warren space to another with minimum communication. The staff at NewstalkZB by way of contrast are very friendly, the studio has widows which lookout over Taranaki street and you get to take a breather during the ad breaks. The superiority of the market yet again!

Explanation

There is discussion around the blogs about ACT's list announcement today. No, I am not the mystery number 5 person. I don't play games.

I was offered 14 and turned it down. This is why;

In 2005 I was ranked 9. This was a strong placing given ACT had nine MPs with two retiring. It was a vote of confidence in my abilities and suitability to be ACT MP.

This year, with only two MPs, I was offered a rank of 14. Something has changed and it isn't my performance or philosophy. I've continued to build a profile as a welfare commentator, securing regular interviews and a regular spot on a well-rating Wellington radio show. I've supported ACT positions at select committee level and continued to increase my knowledge of parliamentary process.

In the Hutt South electorate our steady fund-raising has continued to build one of the strongest electorate campaign funds. Whenever asked to deliver material or represent ACT I have obliged. Our electorate support has remained healthy as evidenced by my Petone Working Men's Club launch in July which sold out. I have the continuing endorsement of two high profile New Zealanders - Sir Bob Jones and Michael Bassett.

More could be said but I return to my main point. Whatever ACT wants has changed. What that is, is no longer clear to me, so I wouldn't accept a place on the list.

This is pretty much the guts of what I told Rodney in an e-mail by way of explanation.

The truth does not always out

Nobody has a right to be published. That's why blogs are so powerful. Because they can carry information to many people when other media decline to. After National's welfare policy release, a number of pieces of information were bandied about by journalists and academics that were just wrong. I rebutted some claims made by academic researcher, Christine Todd, like most single parents on welfare are Pakeha, here.

On Monday Dominion Post writer Linley Boniface was citing the researcher's 'illuminating article'. I duly sent the letter below pointing out the problem with Boniface's assertions and already it has been rejected. The rejection isn't unusual but the speed of it is. Generally the Dominion Post sits on a letter for 2-3 weeks before rejecting it.

Now I have no problem with the expression of opinion obviously. But at what point is there a responsibility for the media to ensure that the 'facts' used to support an argument are robust? The answer is of course, at no point. Hence we have a public being manipulated (intentionally or unintentionally) by media to draw ill-informed conclusions (and make ill-informed voting decisions should it be election year.)




Dear Editor

Linley Boniface uses 'facts' to back her defence of single parents saying less than 4,000 of those parents with children aged over six have been on the DPB for more than 10 years. Actually, nobody knows how long people are staying on DPB. The Ministry only records continuous spells and many cycle on and off it. Academic, Bob Gregory, discovered Australian single parents were spending an average total time of twelve years reliant on welfare.

A single parent on the DPB gets $263.78 she writes. This ignores family support and accommodation supplement. The average weekly income is over $400 per week.

Finally Ms Boniface believes that expecting single parents to work is "devaluing parenthood", which is "sickening ...given New Zealand's appalling level of child abuse." Yet the incidence of child neglect and abuse is higher amongst beneficiary families. 1990s research showed children in DPB homes were four times more likely to be the subject of a notification to Child, Youth and Family. Child abuse has long been associated with (not exclusively of course) ex-nuptial births to very young Maori mothers.

Life-style welfare is contributing to the growth in social problems. It is not improving the life prospects of children.

Losing our religion

This is from a report just released by MSD about the diversity of the New Zealand community and experience of new immigrants. The drop in Christian identifiers roughly equals the rise in having 'no religion'

One of the reasons more people are recorded as having no religion is the increase in the Asian population.



The drop in Christianity is quite rapid. It isn't being transmitted intergenerationally. I have always talked to my children about living by a philosophy akin to Christianity. Treat others as you would have them treat you and tolerance. To me these values are derived from reason. Not religion.

I was christened a Methodist and went to church and Sunday School as a child (and remain convinced Sunday School existed for parents to have some nookie though I have no evidence). But my generation was a questioning one. Religious belief seemed fraught with problems to me so I just stopped bothering. Neither of my children are christened. That was a deliberate decision because I am offended by the idea that children are born into sin. What balderdash. David has taken them to church on occasion but neither have found the experience so instructive and pleasurable that they desperately want to repeat it. Interestingly though my 9 year-old has recently been talking about believing in God but "just not God the Creator". So perhaps she will take after her father.

Religion in our house is as it should be anywhere. A matter of personal faith, and respect for such, rather than a source of division. Shared values are far more important.