GOFF LEADS LABOUR ON INTERNATIONAL STAGE

Roy Morgan Poll

• National 57.5% (+6.0%)
• Labour 28.0% (-5.5%)
• Green 6.5% (-1.0%)
• ACT 1.5% (-0.5%)
• Maori 2.5% (nc)
• United Future 1.0% (+1.0%)
• Progressive 0.0% (-0.5%)
• NZ First 2.0% (-0.5%)

The Nats are up and Labour is down. But far be it be said, that this is a reflection on pallid leadership by Goff. Au contraire. Our sources say that Goff and Maryan Streets support in the USA have been invaluable in cementing trade and diplomatic ties. So while the Labour Party support may be withering on the vine at home, Labour supporters should be lauding Goff and Street for playing so nicely with the Nats for the good of our exporters and indeed the nation.

In fact Goffs selfless support for National means, that on the world stage at least , in everything but name - we have a Grand Coalition.

GOOD ONYA GRANT

We have been particularly unimpressed with Chris Carters little disaster tourism stint in Tsunami ravaged Samoa.

However we are impressed by his collegue and Foreign Affairs expert Grant Robertson. He has blogged on Samoa, in a sensitive and personal way and he has linked to the NZAID site so people can find information or a an organisation they want to support.. Sensible stuff, unlike the glory seeking Carter.

Grant will make an excellent Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister, if of course Labour ever gets to warm the Government benches again....

THE WINNER OF THE BEST SELF PROMOTION AWARD GOES TO........

NZTE - New Zealand Trade and Industry. The gloaty government agency is widely regarded around the Wellington public sector traps as the department of puffery. They spend heaps on crap , less on measuring it and look real flash poncing around in the name of increasing trade opportunities. Now it hasn't all been bad - there have been a few good initiatives. However they have generally been held in contempt by the doing departments, for nearly a decade.

And it was expected that this government would look at folding some of their functions into MFAT.
So it no surprise that we see that NZTE boss Tim Gibson resign today... we wonder if this slightly earlier departure than expected had something to do with the fact that the NZTE New Zealand International Business Awards last night were not flash. Apparently the night was plagued by technical glitches and was as one insider said - not a good look for the department famous for creating good looks.

So with the departure of Gibson will the Government seize the opportunity to make NZTE the MiniMe of MFAT?

NATS LOOK AFTER THOSE WHO CANT

In the past few weeks Murray McCully has taken a few hits for trying to bring some accountability to NZAID and refocus it into economic development. Today McCully announced a big fat donation to fund the Fred Hollows Foundation one of the great charities started by Kiwi Doctor Fred Hollows. Just goes to show that the Tories really do help poor people in the best possible way despite all the spin by Labour.

New Zealand is contributing $5.6 million to a trans-Tasman project that will improve eye health, and treat blindness in the Pacific, Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced today.“It is estimated that there 80,000 blind people and a further 250,000 with impaired vision in the Pacific,” Mr McCully said.

“Up to 75 percent of blindness is preventable, and the economic and social impact of poor eye health in our region will continue to grow if not addressed.“The government’s funding will allow the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand, over the next three years, to train and equip at least 45 eye nurses and eight eye doctors throughout the Pacific and in Timor-Leste.

“After training, each new eye doctor will be able to perform at least 200 cataract operations and see over 1000 new patients a year in their own country.

“The Foundation – which has an excellent reputation for the quality of its work in treating eyesight problems in developing nations – will also establish a regional surgical and training facility in Suva; initiate a new diabetes eye program, and establish locally-run eye testing and glasses supply services throughout the Pacific,” Mr McCully said.

The Australian government is contributing $11.2 million to this project.

The government’s aid and development agency, NZAID, has supported the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand to train eye health professionals, including doctors, ophthalmologists and nurses since 2002.

Brings a tear to BB's eyes.

SHEARER THE GREAT I AM?

David Shearers CV is very impressive - he has fed a lot of poor people. Not like some VSA person though who does it for nothing, no - he is paid well for feeding a lot of poor people. And his CV is pervaded by a tone of self rightousness and pride. He did stuff - he did it all - he lead everything... We know that politicians need big egos and his CV has a fair stench of ego about it.

And what we want to know is what was his role in the restructuring of NZ Aid in 2002? Labour was so shocked at how lacking in accountability it had become in 2007 that it refocussed it again

And now Murray McCully has announced a serious refocus to ensure poor people do get fed and that we know how the money is being spent.

So is Mr Shearer as good as he is cracked up to be ?

More questions than answers.
David Shearer CV

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Law & Government Business & Law new zealand politics phil goff

LUNCHTIME BITES

We had a nice sojourn at Dockside today. Not lunch, just an afternoon fizz, Allan Scott Blanc de Blanc. At the next table was a venerable gent who was in town to support his wife who had flown in for an interview for one of the top Govt jobs. She will have to get on with the Mccullievellian one.

We were please to see that one of the silent partners in Dockside was doing a very long lunch in the loudest lime green shirt we have seen for some time.

We gazed out at two buildings that despite the bite of the recession have sold for princely sums. The Maritime Towers fetched a reputed $62mil and the BP towers sold for a piffling $26mil.

And just when we thought we had seen the last of the layabouts of the last regime, we hear that Mahara Okeroa is doing a bit of graft for the Office of Treaty Settlements.

BLOGS GET AROUND FIJI MEDIA BLACKOUT

We believe that Frank Bainimarama is going about doing the right thing the wrong way. He wants changes to the Constitution to give equal status to the Indians who populate his country. However coups and military dictatorships aren't the right way to do things and we definitely don't agree with media blackouts.

The least Bainimarama could do is stay staunch and proud and loud. Hiding behind censorship does his credibility no good at all.

Now whatever side you believe in - it behoves all good people to support the few who can get the news out from Fiji. And with the media black out now in full swing it is the blogs who will keep up abreast of what is happening there.

Here are some. While we don't necessarily agree with what they are saying we will do all we can to give them a voice. Most of the Blogs below link to many others.

RAW FIJI NEWS

TALKING FIJI

DSCOMBOBULATED BUBU

INTELLIGENSYIA

AFGHANS A BUNCH OF SOFT COCKS

This is amazing we have got all precious about the marriage mores of Afghans - and we are sorry but we have an alternate view. Under the statute required by the Afghans women are " obliged to fulfil the sexual desires of her husband."

Well yes - we agree - that's one of the reasons that women and men do the marriage thing - but we also think that Afghans women are getting a raw deal because under this law "a wife is obliged to fulfil the sexual desires of her husband". It also states that a husband should spend one night in every four with his wife, have sexual contact with her at least once every four months and that a woman has to wear make-up if her husband demands it.

So you see we reckon that obviously the Afghans are a bunch of soft cocks.

If Afghan women are pissed off about this law it is probably because it means they will get less nooky than they would like.

Seriously - these guys want us to believe that they are the big swinging dick masculine shoot at shit types but they can only guarantee to get it up once every four months and then only if their wives wear make up? Lordy we wouldn't stand for that . And it is hardly exploitation of women. They are at best getting exploited once every four months.

That's probably a hell of a lot better deal than most women in the Western World get.

The fact that marriage is a contract and implicit in that is the requirement to have sex with your spouse seems to be overlooked here.

While we understand that the Afghan law looks to be oppressive, we think that its not.
It gives women far more freedom than you think. And shows that Afghan men are not all that sure of their sexual prowess.

So John Key is going to have a yarn to Hamid Kharzai. Kharzai reckons that the translation might be a bit off.
Anyway for what it is worth , we think that there are much more important things for our Government to concern itself with.

HOOTON ON GROWN UPS

We wish that the NBR would put Hooton's column on line - even if it was after midday - its always a bloody good read - short and to the point but erudite laced with irony and lashings of subtlety and we are having lunch with him next week at one of Auckland's finest dining establishments.



Ooops we digress. Anyway we went out an bought a copy of NBR and got some hamsters to type it out again -

When Murray McCully was Housing Minister, tenants in Wainuiomata reported that paint fumes were making their homes unliveable. The complaints kept coming but Housing New Zealand kept denying them.

Eventually, Mr McCully had had enough. Without telling anyone, he had a government limo drive him to Wainuiomata to visit the main complainant. The fumes were overwhelming. Mr McCully sorted the problem and everyone was happy, except Housing New Zealand. He appears to be taking the same common-sense approach to his job as Foreign Minister.

Adolescence

Prior to 1984, New Zealand had a toddler foreign policy, dependent on the UK and the US. Our approach since has scarcely been more sophisticated, being based on the ludicrous notions of “independence” and “New Zealand leadership”.

In truth, there can be no such thing as an “independent” foreign policy. Foreign policy, especially for small states, is about interdependence: assessing one’s own interests and those of others, seeing where they align, and working together to achieve them, even when this requires the odd principle to be compromised.

A foreign policy that was truly independent would be entirely ineffectual.

“New Zealand leadership” is even more preposterous. The theory was that if New Zealand became nuclear-free, even at the cost of our security guarantee, other countries would be sufficiently impressed to follow. Later, the idea came to cover everything from trade liberalisation to climate change to goody-two-shoes foreign aid. Other than ironically securing Helen Clark a job at the UN (how “independent” does it make us to slavishly follow that corrupt body?) it has failed utterly.

No country awaits New Zealand leadership. The US and USSR didn’t abandon their nuclear arsenals; the EU hasn’t opened its market; no one will follow New Zealand in destroying their economy with an all-sectors, all-gases emissions trading scheme; and everyone else understands that states don’t give charity, they pursue their interests with cash.

A strategy of “independence and “leadership”, divorced from the interests of friends and allies, does not even work for great powers, with the only recent example of someone arguing otherwise, other than Ms Clark, being George W Bush.

To believe that one can be truly independent from others, and that one’s own recklessness will impress them, is to be the one thing more annoying than a toddler. It is to be an adolescent.

Adulthood

The unlikely figure of one-time larrikin Mr McCully has emerged to lead us into adulthood.

His speech this week to the NZ/US Council was firmly founded on New Zealand’s interests. “New Zealand”, “NZ” or “we” meaning New Zealand appeared 78 times. “United States”, “US”, “America” or “you” meaning the US appeared 40 times.

The content was about working with the Americans to fight protectionism to prevent a Great Depression; the benefits to New Zealand of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan; opportunities for American and New Zealand scientists to work together to combat climate change and the importance to New Zealand and the US of a stable South Pacific. It gave no ground on the nuclear issue. It included nothing Labour Leader Phil Goff could disagree with, emphasising that Mr McCully, as Foreign Minister, speaks for both main parties, consistent with the ideal of a bipartisan foreign policy.

But Mr McCully’s speech was not arrogant. It was common sense. Everything he said was based on facts gleaned from his conversations with his counterparts rather than lectures he plans to deliver to them. It included no highfalutin rhetoric about New Zealand’s importance to the rest of the world. “Leadership” was used once, in the context of the need for American leadership if trade liberalisation is to be progressed in the Pacific. And finally, after so many years, the nonsense about “independent” and “independence” appeared not at all.

We agree with Hooton on the issue of the UN - it is a very very corrupt organisation and we think it was a masterstoke by the current administration to back Clark into the post. They win if she lessens the corruption and they win if she falls flat on her face.A classic Dark Arts manouvre - very House of Cards.

WE LIKE BEN THOMAS

He is a journo to watch - he is always considered, he writes very well and he breaks the odd story or two. It wont be long before he is head hunted from the NBR. And despite the fact he has a lot of face to wash, one of the younger prawns reckons he is cute.

Here is his latest column

Its an insightful piece on the fallout impact of Consulgate for Helen Clark.

KEY WANTS PUBLIC SERVICE TO WORK SMARTER = NZ INC

Key today unveiled a strategy which will give us a sharper focus on international tourism and trade

"I will ensure that all our international agencies, be they Tourism New Zealand, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, all work more closely together, effectively as the external arm of "NZ Inc'.

"I will be seeking a strong cross-agency focus on marketing New Zealand in all the major markets we operate in.
"A National Government will also work to maximise the brand benefit New Zealand can draw from hosting Rugby World Cup 2011. We will work with the organisers to ensure the success of the event as a fantastic opportunity to showcase New Zealand.

"The gloss has been coming off our tourism numbers in recent times as the world economy enters a recession. We are going to have to work a lot smarter, all of us, to keep the numbers up, and more importantly to maximise the economic return New Zealand gets from tourism and trade.

Nice .... finally a vision.

IS WINSTON LOSING HIS MARBLES?

We have been trying to have a Winston free zone for a few days but this is deeply disturbing .

Winston's interview on RNZ is a grave cause for concern, it isn't coherent. One of the prawns used to work in a rest home and reckons that his ramblings are akin to stage 1 dementia.

Maybe he would like to submit to a medical test to verify if indeed he is compos mentis

Or at least a breathalyser.

I see Flying scampi - and maybe another inquiry

Queen Bee at Wellington Hive has the real low down on the Vegas scandal and she points to the need for another investigation..

Here are some pertinent issues the Queen Bee raises.


By now many of you will have read the interesting story in the Herald on Sunday by Stephen Cook. You will know that The Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs travelled to Las Vegas from Berlin for private purposes.

Winston Peters says that the costs of travel to and accommodation in Las Vegas was paid by himself (note not "refunded") and that he "reimbursed" his acquaintance who had furnished the tickets the fight.

Good point QB - Winston never seems to pay for anything himself. People who want ( and get) something from Winston seem to do all the paying - BB


The cost of a Berlin - Las Vegas - Singapore add on to a trip is going to be expensive, particularly if you were not travelling economy. Likewise accommodation, food, and the costs of tickets to a title fight will be expensive also. We are talking many thousands of dollars here. And we are assuming normal conventions apply to this travel, that if private travel is undertaken as part of an official trip, that the whole trip be done on an economy class basis. Was this the case in this instance?Rodney Hide is right to be asking for evidence. Because if it is true that this boxing match was arranged and paid for by George Calvert, it would be further evidence of those with racing interests (in this case harness racing) having leverage over the Minister of Racing at a time when Government was considering a proposal to increase funding for that industry.

Yes Queen Bee is right again - Winston seems to be on the receiving end of the largesse of people he can and does win concessions for.

(Treasury was opposing this proposal forcefully).

This is well known in Wellington - remember both Labour and National opposed the concessions Winston gave the racing industry - what does that say???!!!

We know that Winston Peters' office has been fielding enquiries from the media on this matter for well over a week. This is ample time to produce receipts, from the travel agent or airline that arranged this travel, from the hotels and restaurants at which Winston ate and slept, and from Mr Calvert, for the reimbursement of the tickets. We are frankly surprised that Winston would not have provided this evidence, as this would have made the matter disappear. No one is ever going to take Winston's word on anything ever again given his track record of lies that has been exposed this year.

Yip again Winston could shut this down quickly but producing the evidence to back up his assertions but he doesnt.. Why ? because he cant!

Well done Rodney Hide for taking this issue up. Frankly, unless this issue is cleared up by tomorrow, we think it worthy of an investigation by the Auditor General.All overseas travel by Ministers has to be approved by the Prime Minister. She should release the submission on this trip also.

No doubt this will show that Winston was open about the huge diversion to Las Vegas at all times, and that the fact he had paid in advance for the extra costs involved will be clearly set out.

Haha - I will see scampi fly before that happens!!!!

This submission is recoverable under the OIA.Finally, it will be important for Winston Peters to demonstrate that he paid for all costs himself, and that no party or trust money was used for his private benefit.


More flying scampi .......

So all in all the Herald story has just prised the lid of another pandoras box for Winston

I can hear the Furies cackling from here .