Ex-Act Party MP Deborah Coddington gives the current leadership of Act a roasting in today’s Herald on Sunday

But Hide never did get angry. His mind went to dark places and he could sulk, but current MP David Garrett, for instance, should have been roasted alive long ago, so his sterilisation remarks remained just ideas in a peculiar mind. Now Garrett has destroyed the Act brand.

Because what 21st-century liberal would vote for a party whose caucus supports a man who makes lewd remarks around the office, justifies that behaviour by saying it was okay in Tonga, then advocates bribery and sterilisation as a means to control child abuse and the population of the underclass?

Does Act stop to think that the 21st-century liberal is both an economic and a social liberal? We want low taxes and small government, but we’re not redneck, pro-smacking, tough-on-crime unforgiving mutants.

Why didn’t someone have the forsight to not select David Garratt? For a first term MP he has managed very easily to destroy half a party.

The other half has been destroyed between Hide’s handling of the Auckland Supershitty Supercity and his own contradiction over spending. And do we even need to mention his partner in crime Roger Douglas.

If Act get knocked out at the next election there could be an interesting change in NZ politics. An extreme right wing party is needed to keep pushing National towards the centre. Act represents everything that the majority of NZ doesn’t want and by reacting to that it keeps National from doing stupid things. Without Act there National could easily go further right and this would not be a good thing.

Reading the SMH this morning I saw an ad from New Zealand Tourism advertising Central Park NZ.

Having never heard of Central Park NZ in my life I clicked on the ad thinking it was perhaps advertising backpackers accommodation at National Park. But alas no it is advertising “At the heart of New Zealand’s North Island lies Central Park where Legends are found, Life is rich and the Land is heart-stoppingly beautiful”

Sorry WTF? There is a Central Park in the middle of the North Island? Since when? The only area’s even close to this that I know of is the Central Plateau and Tongariro National Park.

Doing a google search for Central Park NZ doesn’t help either the top link is the New Zealand Tourism webpage and the second link is to the:

Projects – Central Park Restoration Plan – Wellington – New Zealand
Wellington City Council is planning to restore Brooklyn’s Central Park.

The fourth and fifth links are to (as expected) motels, one in Taumarunui which is in the Central North Island and the second is in Christchurch.

The Central Park NZ website further informs me that “Central Park NZ includes 7 diverse regions. Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Hawke’s Bay, Rotorua, Ruapehu, Lake Taupo and Waitomo.”

Now this is just bizarre. Coromandel is in the Waikato not the Central North Island. I would also hardly call Bay of Plenty or Hawke’s Bay central either, both are east.

So where has all this madness come from? Well this news article seems to spread some light onto the situation:

Central Park NZ – New Zealands Newest Playground

Collectively known as Central Park NZ, seven regional tourism offices have combined forces to promote one of New Zealands most diverse and beautiful regions.

Prompted by Air New Zealand’s addition of affordable flights direct from Sydney to Rotorua, the regions of the central North Island are keen to promote this very special area to the Australian market.

So Air New Zealand is involved in all of this as a marketing ploy?

Quite frankly I am offended. The press release is correct it is a special area. And just as special about the area are the names of the places in the area. “Central Park” could be the name of any park, anywhere in the world. Whereas the traditional and correct names of the places in the area are very distinct and are a part of the identity of the area just as much any other aspect of it. The names have important meaning and background and it is a disgrace that the Tourism Board is ignoring this and attempting to rename the area.

Tongariro National Park is the oldest national park in New Zealand it has been acknowledged by UNESCO as one of the 25 mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Sites. Tongariro is a Maori word is uniquely New Zealand. Why is the Tourism Board not actively promoting this?

What about Ohakune, Whakapapa, Turoa, Turangi, Ngauruhoe, Waikato, Waiouru, Raetihi, Te Kuiti?

Does the Tourism Board not think that Maori words have as important identity to NZ? Or are they so hard for the rest of the world to understand that they must advertise in Simple English?

This is complete bullshit and the entire advertising campaign does more to damage the uniqueness of New Zealand then it does to advertise its diverse culture and history as well as its more modern tourist attractions.

Seriously Awesome Short Film from Godzone

Hat Tips: @vodafonenz and Get Frank

Earlier today Thomas Beagle on Twitter posted “Kind of weird to think about water sloshing around the planet.” This made me stop and think for a second not just how weird it is, but also how powerful it is.

The 8.8 magnitude earthquake which struck on Saturday was big enough to issue a Tsunami Warning for all these countries:

CHILE / PERU / ECUADOR / COLOMBIA / ANTARCTICA / PANAMA / COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA / PITCAIRN / HONDURAS / EL SALVADOR / GUATEMALA / FR. POLYNESIA / MEXICO / COOK ISLANDS / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / NIUE / NEW ZEALAND / TONGA / AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / JARVIS IS. / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / FIJI / AUSTRALIA / HAWAII / PALMYRA IS. / TUVALU / VANUATU / HOWLAND-BAKER / NEW CALEDONIA / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / MIDWAY IS. / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / CHUUK / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / INDONESIA / N. MARIANAS / GUAM / YAP / BELAU / JAPAN / PHILIPPINES / CHINESE TAIPEI

In the case of Auckland, New Zealand it is about 10,000km from the epicentre of the earthquake. Not only is it amazing that water can travel so far over such a big distance and have a massive effect* on a country so far away, it is also impressive the speed at which the wave travels. New Zealand has felt the effects of the wave 12 – 15 hours after the earthquake, to put that in comparison the flight time from Chile to New Zealand is 13 hours on an Airbus A340. The Tsunami wave is travelling at around the same speed as a jetliner. That is a very scary thought.

The Tsunami may not be a tree but the age old philosophical question of “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?” is answered very much yes with the way in which the entire world responses to the threat of a Tsunami.

—

*Massive Effect – I don’t take this to mean widespread distruction, I take this to mean Tidal Surge Chart showing a water movement of 1m+, Widespread Civil Defense warnings, Evacuations of people from low lying costal areas, cancellations of events and warnings for people to stay off beaches, pretty much anything that impacts the daily lives of many thousands of individuals.

I have now been living in Sydney for four weeks. Already I am being told that I have lost the sharp edge off my kiwi accent, but that still does not stop at least one daily occurrence where I either can’t understand something simple someone is telling me or vice-versa.

To aide my fellow kiwi’s when they grow wings and come over here too I have been collecting a list of my most interesting and funny situations where kiwi slang/words have been greeted with blank confused stares.

• Blobbing / To Blob Out – This one even has its own entry in Wikitionary, To relax idly and mindlessly.
• Dairy – In Australia known as a Convenience Store.
• Flat (or Student Flat) – In Australia Flat refers to a type of house in particular a granny flat.
• Flatting – This word does not exist in Australia. The closest word with the same meaning would be shared housing. Somehow that doesn’t have the same ring to it as it’s kiwi counterpart. (Also I get the feeling that the whole right of passage going flatting coming of age type situation is different here.)
• Hori – I had a very hard time explain this one. Wikipedia explains it as used for something that is unattractive or shoddy
• I speak good England! – Not really kiwi slang as such, but more when someone says something with either terrible spelling or grammar.
• P – Pure Methamphetamine. In Australia known as just crystal meth.
• Paper – University term for the equivalent of a school subject, in Australia known as a course. Where paper in Australia refers to a research paper.
• Refill pad – This is a British English word, but here is known as a lecture pad or loose lead ruled pad.
• Sweet As – no worries.
• Toying / To Toy With – Messing with, teasing, playing games with.
• Tramping – Hiking or Bush Walking

I have also noticed some interesting differences in styles and behaviour. The three key areas would be:

• Clothing – Take note, black tshirts and jeans are not everyday wear. Shorts are very much in – mostly because it is too hot to get away with jeans all year round.
• Hug/Hugging – It is common to greet and say goodbye to friends in a social setting with a quick hug in New Zealand. I did this to a friend over here and they took three steps back not sure how to react. Looking into the background of this more it seems that this cultural difference stems from a combination of New Zealand’s large Pacific population and Eastern Europeans who both commonly greet with a hug and a kiss to the cheek (although the kissing has never been NZ culture to my knowledge).
• Sunglasses – Almost everyone in New Zealand will wear them whenever they are outside, not as common here.

There are also two good Wikipedia posts on New Zealand English and New Zealand Words.

Stolen from the Herald

And on the matter of the flag debate I give it until Saturday for the issue to die off for another year.

Look what I found amongst my aussie coinage.

So I wonder if when the Reserve Bank of NZ downsized and replaced the NZ coinage a few years back that they shipped all the similar sized coins over to aussie. :-p

Students’ Associations appear to be up in arms about New Zealand universities kicking out students who perform poorly.

From the Stuff.co.nz article:

Financially stressed universities have revealed they will significantly increase the number of students who are shown the door, saying they only want “motivated students”.

The university has introduced a policy in which any student whose grade point average is less than 1.5, or who has not passed half or more of their courses will have their progress automatically reviewed. Grade point averages are ranked up to nine.

Student associations were concerned that toughening up admission requirements went against New Zealanders’ sense of fairness and their sentiment that people should be given a “fair go”.

Students are already given a fair go. They are given a fair go through doing well in the exams before getting into university or in their first semester. If they do not take their fair go to do well in their exams through study then they should be shown the door. If they are not then the education system in New Zealand becomes nothing more than people paying for the piece of paper they get after three years and not earning it through hard work. This cheapens the quality, value and prestige of the institute so good on them for taking a tough stance.

There is a big problem with attitude amongst students at New Zealand universities many students have the attitude that C’s get degrees. At the moment that is true. But it shouldn’t be. Passing with a GPA of 1.5 is hardly passing – it is the equivalent of 4 C- and 4 C grades. A pass yes. Success no. At a minimum to get into post-graduate study you need a GPA of 6.0 (B+ average). To pass a degree you should have to maintain an average of 3.0 (C+) throughout your study. This would allow you to do bad on those papers you are naturally not good at, but at the same time provide enough of a challenge for you to work hard at those that you are good at.

Everyone should be given a chance to get into university and do their best. But university is not for everyone and once you have been given your fair go and have not succeeded you should give up your space for the next person – this is a fair system.

The Herald has an article summarising New Zealand’s year of ‘weird weather’: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10617504

We basked through the warmest winter in 150 years and shivered through the coldest spring in decades – all during a year of weird weather.

Globally, this year was the fifth warmest in the past 130 years, and capped off New Zealand’s hottest decade on record.

But that would have been little comfort to those stuck in record snowstorms during the coldest October in six decades.

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said three months stood out as the “weirdest weather”. A chilly May was countered by an unseasonably warm August, before temperatures plunged to record lows in October.

McDavitt said the icy spring weather was caused by troughs stalled over New Zealand because of large anticyclones over Australia – coating Sydney with dust storms while Kiwis shivered in late snowfalls.

The hottest temperature was 38C, recorded in Culverden in Canterbury on February 8.

At the moment all the Climate Change Deniers are carrying on about the massive snow falls as being proof that the world is not warming. However the point is not about a few isolated snow storms (yes the top of the USA and Europe are isolated in the size of the world), they completely missing the point claiming this. While the overall temperture of the world may be increasing becuase of this it will unsettle the weather patterns around the world and we are clearly seeing the affects of this in NZ. Instead of Winter being cold and Summer being hot we are getting dramatically changing weather patterns throughout the seasons and the year. Take a look at Winter this year – May and June coldest in decades – we even had ice and -4c in northern Albany! And then the traditional coldest month of August was warmest on recored. And lets not even start on October.

It is simple. The world’s climate is changing and I find it hard to believe that all this changes in the weather patterns are anything but caused by humans and their direct actions.

Not very good news reading the paper this morning.

Taleban ambush targeted newly arrived NZ troops

New Zealand troops were fortunate not to be killed in a Taleban ambush deliberately set up to unsettle them just days after their arrival in Afghanistan.

The insurgents hit the patrol convoy with rocket-propelled grenades before firing bullets into their windscreens as they reversed up a one-lane road in the mountainous Bamiyan province.

The Taleban then mounted a further attack before the New Zealanders were bailed out by two American Apache helicopter gunships.

It should be noted at this point that these are not our SAS troops. These are our normal army troops. Most people do not realise that we have troops in Afghanistan but we do, they have been there for a number of years now.

Meanwhile the editoral discusses how the whole situation is becoming another Vietnam, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10606904

According to United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the decision by presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah not to participate in next weekend’s runoff election is not “unprecedented” and will not affect the legitimacy of the vote. David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, says most polls show Dr Abdullah would have lost anyway, “so we are going to deal with the government that is there”. Both statements represent a flight from the reality of the US being consigned to work for the next five years with a discredited, corrupt and unpopular Kabul administration. In one step, Afghanistan has begun to look much more like Vietnam.

The runoff may still be held in an attempt to manufacture a veneer of credibility for Mr Karzai’s second term. But by any yardstick a poll with just one candidate is a farce, and will be recognised as such worldwide. And that creates still bigger problems for Mr Obama as he ponders a request from General Stanley McChrystal to send an extra 40,000 troops to Afghanistan to combat an increasingly assertive Taleban. The President has insisted that such support would be provided only to a government whose legitimacy and democratic mandate was unquestioned. This condition is now unlikely to be met.

He knows parallels with the unpopular Vietnam War, during which the US propped up several illegitimate regimes, are being made increasingly. A repeat of that experience is unthinkable. A unity government in Kabul may not work and is certainly not the ideal solution in the long term. But it is now essential to deliver some legitimacy to the struggle against the Taleban.

The United States has not won a war since WWII, Iraq and Afghanistan look destined to become two more versions of Vietnam. The question now is how does the US pull out of both countries in a manner that does not have them descend into civil war, at the same time not letting terrorists rule the roost, and trying to keep some stability in the middle east? It is a hard task that I don’t think anyone has the solution to.

Bernard Hickey has a column in the herald this morning calling for changes to New Zealand’s financial system. (http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/show-me-money/2009/11/1/steps-ease-squeeze/?c_id=3) This is not the first time he has called for changes, (I think it is the third), but is anyone actually listening?

The changes suggested are:

1 Introduce a capital gains tax to ensure the property-owning classes think twice before making losses to reduce their tax bills, comfortable they can make it back with tax-free capital gains.

John Key saying he would resign if this happened was probably a very dumb political move in the long run. All it is doing is allowing the rich to get richer through a giant hole in our tax system. We need to fix that hole now.

2 Introduce a land tax to broaden the tax system to include those who made $300 billion of tax-free capital gains from 2002 to 2007. Those without property face the biggest tax burden in the years to come. Without some change to tax the rich, the perceived unfairness will drive away our youngest and most productive generations.

Same as point 1 really, we need tax on land and property.

3 Introduce a single, flat tax rate at 25 per cent for the income, corporate and trust rate. Set a high tax-free income threshold to ensure the poorest taxpayers retain plenty.

The current progressive tax system is simply unfair and does nothing to encourage people to get ahead in life. A single tax system would be fair and balanced to all.

4 Shut down Working for Families and the Student Loan scheme to remove the ruinous marginal tax rates and debts that are building up.

Getting rid of WFF makes sense. The student loan scheme on the other hand is a whole lot harder. You either have to make the courses free (like they used to be pre 1990) or have someone else lend the money at interest. The current system works because anyone can qualify and it allows anyone the chance to get ahead.

5 Increase GST to 16.6 per cent to help rebalance the economy away from consumption and towards saving. Ensure the poorest who spend most of their income are compensated using extra revenue from the capital gains and land taxes.

As painful as this sounds it makes sense and we need to do it in time.

6 Reduce government spending growth over the next decade to return core government spending from the current 36 per cent of GDP to the 29 per cent that it was in 2004.

Yes. But what do you cut?

7 Intervene in local district and city councils to consolidate duplication, reduce their combined size, reduce their rates growth and focus them on freeing land for home building.

Home building can lead to problems in the long run. We can’t just turn all our land to houses we need the land for production and other industries.

8 Increase the Reserve Bank’s prudential liquidity target for banks so they are forced to raise more funds locally and rely less on cheap foreign funds. This will continue to reduce their profit margins, increase deposit rates, encourage local savings and reduce New Zealand’s vulnerability to market freezes.

Yup. Focus on New Zealand first.

9 Increase the amount of capital that banks must put aside when lending against land and property to discourage the heavy lending to property investors that powered the 2002-2007 property boom.

Again a great idea, but why would the banks do this when they make money from people doing this too?

10 Raise the retirement age progressively to account for longer life spans and reduce the pension progressively to 62 per cent of the average wage from the current 66 per cent.

I read yesteday that the pension age was introduced at 65 around 1900 when life expectancy was only 62, now we live 20 years longer, and the age needs to go up, otherwise we cannot afford it.

Check out this video of the water rushing out of the marina at Tutukaka in Northland.

Nothing serious may have happened, but that is scary.

Can you imagine the near orgasmic state of the civil defence leaders as their pagers or cell phones went off this morning.

All over the east coast of NZ bearded men in walk shorts and long socks would have leapt to attention full of self importance, their partners would have asked them if they had time for breakfast, “no, we have an emergency” would have been the well practised reply.

Thermos’s would have been hurriedly filled, cut sandwiches would have been cobbled together and high visibility vests and hard hats donned as they walked briskly (no sense in placing ones self in danger by running) to their Lada’s.

The drive to civil defence headquarters would have been made at just over the speed limit (102km per hour), headlights would have been blazing, the radio’s would be tuned to national radio looking for updates, and thoughts of “I live for this” would fill their heads, as they arrived at headquarters they would again walk briskly up the stairs before grabbing hold of their favourite clipboard.

One can almost see the disappointment on their faces when the news came in that the approaching tidal wave was only 1 meter in height.

Posted by Big Bruv at Kiwiblog (http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/09/tsunami_warning.html#comment-613162)

The herald reports that it is likely that the current taskforce on getting NZ economy back up to speed with the Australian economy will recommend replacing the Kiwi Dollar with the Aussie.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10598348

The Government’s transtasman taskforce is to investigate scrapping the Kiwi dollar and adopting an Aussie one.

Don Brash, chairman of the 2025 Taskforce and former governor of the Reserve Bank, confirmed he would report back in November on whether a common currency would help raise New Zealand living standards to Australian levels.

Brash said New Zealand would be more likely to cancel the Kiwi currency, replacing it with cash stamped “Reserve Bank of Australia”.

The notes would probably retain images like those of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Apirana Ngata, so they would look Kiwi – apart from that vital difference in the fine print.

A major benefit would be a fall in interest rates to Australian levels, making business more productive. But economic authorities would be concerned this cheap money would spark a property boom. Currency union would mean New Zealand could no longer adjust interest rates to control booms.

The sooner we do it the better. And while we are at it can we just hurry up and become another state of Australia, and make both countries (or the one) a completely independent republic at the same time. Or are my dreams just too good to possibly come true?

The herald reports today that DIY injuries are killing nearly 600 people a year in New Zealand: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10595342

That is nearly twice the road death toll, so I expect from next week to see an aggressive anti-DIY ad campaign on TV, the banning of all commercials for Mitre 10, Placemakers and Bunnings, and the introduction of a compulsory safety harness when hammering a nail into the wall.

While the tone of the article is serious and the message is clear people need to take better care when doing work, there is a humorous subtext to the article:

DIY handymen are costing hundreds of millions of dollars in medical bills by putting up wobbly scaffolds, touching live wires and shooting themselves in the hands and feet with nail guns.

The kitchen is the most dangerous room in the house in most parts of the country.

ACC will be targeting home handymen – among others – during safety week, which starts on Monday.

Lynn Theron, a doctor in Auckland City Hospital’s emergency department, said the most common household injury she had seen was people chopping their own fingers off while cooking. Burns were also another common injury in the kitchen.

Right I thought the home handyman lived in the shed down the back garden. Not the kitchen!

So the lesson of the story is it bad to stay at home cooking, doing so means you are doing DIY and that is evil. Go out and buy some take-out food tonight – it may just save your life.