21st August 2008

As political leaders arrived in Niue this week for the Pacific Island Forum a local MP was heading for Auckland. Terry Coe, Niue’s only independent MP, announced he was boycotting the event because of the financial strain it is imposing. He says, “it’s an all talk outfit that costs a lot of money to run.”......

Transport Minister Annette King has announced the independent group which will review road user charges. Its chair is chartered accountant James Hill, a former member of Transit NZ’s board. The others are Warren Young, a company director who has also held senior positions in the health sector, and transport industry professional Tony Gibson. King said she would set up the group after the truckers demo last month against user charge increases......

Full marks to Russel Norman, who asked the crucial question at the Privileges Committee hearing of a contempt complaint against Winston Peters. Norman probed the decision by Peters’ lawyer Brian Henry to pay a $40,000 court costs Bill incurred by Peters, and it opened up the issue whether this should have been declared, in what form, and whether it should incur gift duty. A virtual can of worms. Nice one, Russel......

Aust betting agency Centrebet which takes bets on who will win the election, and what day the election will be held, could open up another book, this time on when the Govt will actually announce the election day. Some business groups are becoming testy about the uncertainty, saying a lot of planning is on hold awaiting the election outcome......

Is it true the One News-chartered helicopter was initially told to “shove off” (though in more vernacular terms) by an official when it flew over the Two Thumbs mountain range hut where a Ministerial party was sheltering following the death of mountain guide Gottlieb Braun-Elwert? We hear the official relented only after it became clear another helicopter which was supposed to take out the Ministerial party could not fly......

Sir Roger Douglas has been named as number three on ACT’s party list. Will he make it back into Parliament? Current polling for ACT suggests it’s a tough ask......

Kevin Rudd spent half an hour browsing in Unity Books in Auckland on Tuesday before flying to Niue. He’s reported to have bought a couple of history books. Wonder if one of them was Michael Bassett’s “Working with David”?......

The Australian PM was reported to be left red-faced after background papers distributed to Australian hacks ahead of his first official visit to NZ described Helen Clark as a “left-wing control freak.” What we would have liked to have heard is what was said then to (a) whoever wrote the briefing notes, and (b) whoever distributed them. Aust High Commissioner John Dauth apologised to Helen Clark.
 

14th August 2008

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Jim Anderton is visiting Indonesia and Aust this week, meeting Ministers to talk about bilateral issues and illegal logging......

Hamilton barrister Jennifer Binns has been appointed a District Court Judge. She’s specialised in family law since 1985 and will sit in Palmerston North......

Tariana Turia, a veteran campaigner for better services for Maori with diabetes, has been diagnosed with it. The Maori Party co-leader says she was “blown away.”......

National MP Murray McCully has been railing against the Govt’s failure to designate not one terrorist entity under the Suppression of Terrorism Act 2002, in line with UN Security Council resolution 1373. By comparison Aust has cited 88 and Canada over 50. His latest complaint follows a NZ aid grant of $121,500 to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation which, he alleges, has links to the Tamil Tigers (which cannot directly fundraise elsewhere). But apparently the influence of the human rights lobby against designation has been so significant the legal apparatus is moving only slowly through the system......

Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson got into a spot of bother this week when the Beehive website carried a speech under her name saying the Govt was moving to recognise triples. Dyson was adamant she never delivered the speech and, besides, she doesn’t know what “triples” refers to. Thank goodness, no hidden agenda here......

Part of the Beehive was cordoned off on Wednesday when a letter containing a white substance was opened. It was subsequently found to pose no risk to MPs’ health......

The Nats have given up on trying to track down the interloper at the party conference who taped conversations with several senior MPs and then released them to TV3 and Scoop. Security camera footage is too fuzzy to give any lead. Suspicions have fallen on a Victoria University student said to be well wired into politics......

The Nats do not seem too concerned at their opponents salivating over “hidden agendas,” probably because their focus groups show the average punter is more concerned about basic economic issues than political “dirty tricks.”......

Politicians who were highly critical about the US-UK invasion of Iraq seem to be silent about Russia’s onslaught on Georgia. Or did we miss a statement condemning the Russians?......

A new book celebrating 150 years of the Parliamentary Library, written by Parliamentary Historian Dr John Martin is to be published next month......

Phil Goff, Lianne Dalziel and Jim Anderton are attending Closer Economic Relations Ministerial talks in Melbourne. Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor is heading to Fremantle for the inaugural global geo-tourism conference.
 

7th August 2008

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma will visit NZ later this month, part of his first official tour of the Asia-Pacific. The Indian career diplomat succeeded Don McKinnon in April and he’ll meet Clark, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Governor-General Anand Satyanand, Speaker Margaret Wilson and National’s leader John Key. Sharma will be here from August 16 to 19......

Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton has appointed the board of the Fast Forward Fund, the $2bn investment to boost innovation in the food and pastoral sectors. Its chair is Bill Falconer and members are Bill Baylis, Robin Fenwick, Richard Janes, Kevin Marshall, Mike Matthews and Jacqueline Rowarth......

Did political power come into play in an Ontrack decision to get rid of graffiti along Auckland’s southern rail line on its route through Newmarket? The local café set has noted their efforts over past months to have the graffiti painted out came to nothing until a decision was made for the PM to travel the line on the main trunk centennial express from Wellington to Auckland......

Watch for these new diplomatic appointments – Andrea Smith, currently the PM’s Foreign Policy Adviser is going to be appointed ambassador to Turkey. Dell Higgie, currently the counter terrorism ambassador and Director of the Security Policy division at MFAT, is to be appointed UN ambassador to Geneva, and Vangelis Vitalis, presently lead negotiator for ASEAN-AANZFTA, is to be Deputy High Commissioner to Canberra......

NZ’s next Ambassador to China is Mandarin-speaking career diplomat Carl Worker, currently director of the Americas division at MFAT. Worker goes to Beijing next March......

Undisturbed by allegations over his role as Racing Minister, Winston Peters is calling for applications from racing clubs for projects to get money from the Racing Safety Development Fund. The projects should enhance racecourse safety which Peters says is one of the most pressing issues in the industry. This includes the health and safety of riders, spectators, officials and other involved in racing, as well as the health and safety of animals. Peters has also reappointed Warren Bell, Thayne Green and Alistair Southerland to the NZ Racing Board through till 2011......

Some Ministers are getting in what could be their last trips overseas before the election: Rick Barker to Jakarta for a meeting promoting initiatives on disaster risk management, Harry Duynhoven to Bangkok for the second East Asian Summit Energy Ministers’ meeting, Lianne Dalziel to Melbourne for an APEC Ministerial meeting, and Darren Hughes to Cairns for an international conference on child labour and child exploitation......

After Nicky Hager’s exploits detailed in The Hollow Men National’s MPs. have been very cautious in what they put into emails. Now, in the wake of revelations from “secret” tapes at the party conference in Wellington, they are reviving old World War II slogans such as “Loose lips sink ships.”
 

31st July 2008

Talking of Condi, she followed in the tradition of Hillary and Bill Clinton and their Secretary of State Madeleine Albright , by indulging in retail therapy while visiting NZ. She focused on fashion while the others were more wide-ranging. She commanded instant and universal admiration among the politicians she met, even among those who are highly critical of current American policies. Pity George W. didn’t take her advice more frequently......

Here’s a thought. Sir Robert Jones is a noted pugilist while Winston had a reputation as something of a scrapper in his long-past rugby playing days. So, if they come face-to-face over their disagreement over to whom Jones donated the $25,000, what are the odds?......

National has a Chinese MP, Pansy Wong, and now it intends adding a Korean to its benches. It’s giving TV broadcaster Melissa Lee a list-only candidate slot along with the 2005 campaign manager and millionaire Steven Joyce. Leader John Key says Lee is “an outstanding candidate” and he wants the list to bring in people from diverse backgrounds.......

Niue’s recently elected premier Toke Talagi was in Wellington this week for talks with Helen Clark. Talagi says it’s important to maintain a strong relationship with NZ, which makes sense. There are 25,000 Niueans here and 1500 in Niue......

Chile’s Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley is visiting NZ this week, with education as a primary focus of his visit. An arrangement is to be signed allowing scholarship students to study in NZ, funded by Chile’s bicentennial fund for human capital development......

Enmity between Rodney Hide and Winston Peters is likely to deepen, after Rodney lodged a complaint with the Serious Fraud Office seeking an investigation into the activities of Peters and other associated parties......

The Progressive Party says funds from members to fight the election are coming in steadily, but no donations have been received from Sir Robert Jones or Owen Glenn......

Radio NZ’s Board of Governors gets a new look with Christine Grice, a current member and former NZ Law Society president, replacing Brian Corban who has been in the chair for nine years. Former Attorney-General Paul East is a new Governor, along with Yvonne Sharp, who was the defeated Mayor of the Far North District Council. Sharp has picked up a couple of other Govt jobs as some sort of consolation for her defeat......

ANZ economists, using an economic model for predicting Olympic medal tallies, pick NZ will do “slightly better” at Beijing than at Athens, with six medals including three gold. The model also predicts China will take the number one ranking from the US, even if its total medal haul does not surpass the US.

24th July 2008

We don’t need Statistics NZ to tell us the country is in recession. The Kirkcaldies winter sale which began on Monday is usually a real maul. All Black coaches scouting for tight forwards with commitment have been known to check out the sale. Not this year though: there was plenty of daylight between shoppers......

Among the National contenders to contest the New Plymouth electorate at the next election is Jonathon Young, son of a former National Cabinet Minister Venn Young. A church Pastor, he is the brother of NZ Herald political writer Audrey Young......

Questioning whether a one page summary paper of National’s arts and culture intentions could represent a policy did not faze the party’s spokesman Chris Finlayson. National Radio’s Sunday programme on the arts received a prompt response that if there were time for an hour-long dissertation he could, as a former Chairman of the Arts Council, elaborate at length......

National’s John Carter is leading an inter-parliamentary fact finding mission to the Middle East which will report to the next Inter-Parliamentary Union conference. The delegation will talk to Palestinian and Israeli Parliamentarians to hear their views on the peace process. Carter is NZ’s delegate to the IPU......

Trade Minister Phil Goff is in Geneva for the WTO talks and reports “mild optimism” about getting the Doha Round trade liberalisation mission back on track. Detailed talks hadn’t started when he made this assessment......

Dr Chris Eichbaum has been appointed to the Reserve Bank Board, Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced this week. Eichbaum is currently senior lecturer in public policy in the School of Government at Victoria University......

ACT leader Rodney Hide says he wants Sir Roger Douglas in the top three of his party list at the election, but he’s coy about exactly where the former Finance Minister is going to fit in. Hide’s problem is his hard-working and only colleague in Parliament, Heather Roy, wants to be there as well and unless ACT can lift its share of the party vote it’s going to be tough getting more than two MPs back into the House. With its current level of about 1% of the party vote it could be tough getting even two of them back. Hide says party members will decide the rankings.......

MPs are alert for loose lips among NZ First MPs over the party’s hunger for financial largesse when questioned. Winston Peters’ footwork in matters of party funding is legendary. But less admiration is evident for his deputy Peter Brown.......

Increased land purchases by Govt agencies for low cost leasehold housing properties is being tipped by Govt MPs as one of Labour’s pre-election initiatives.
 

17th July 2008

Retiring Maungakiekie MP Mark Gosche is being promoted within Labour Party circles as a potential successor to current Labour Party President Mike Williams. Among those said to be backing the former Minister of Transport is ACC Minister Ruth Dyson......

Associate Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel has been in Edinburgh talking to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill about Scotland’s moves to deal with binge drinking and says she’s picked up some good ideas which could be used here. MacAskill thinks he had some to offer. “Scotland has an unenviable reputation as a hard-drinking nation proud to be able to drink others under the table. For many years this has been a source of pride to many Scots,” he said in a statement after their talks......

Trade Minister Phil Goff left for Geneva this week for critical WTO talks. Goff says the Ministerial-level meeting is “the last realistic chance” of avoiding a breakdown in the Doha Round free trade talks......Even though Trans-Tasman, the Dominion-Post’s astute Vernon Small and Aust betting agency Centrebet all have November 8 as the projected election date, Helen Clark remains coy. When we put this consensus to her this week, she laughed, “Good try.” So we’ll take the absence of a denial as another straw in what is now a powerful wind......

After his busy week in Fiji, his Friday meeting with Solomons Islands PM Dr David Sikua has been postponed so Winston Peters is back to domestic politics with a speech to the oldies at the Mt Eden Gardens Retirement Village, and then his party’s annual convention at the weekend. And he’s not neglecting his other constituency, the racing fraternity, with the Banks Peninsula Harness Racing Club reporting a “coup” in getting Peters to attend a cocktail function. Will he be announcing a new handout for the club from the $9m he extracted from the Govt in the budget?......

We trust readers note this comes as a good-for-your-health, totally Veitch-free issue......

Heather Simpson and her cohorts in the PM’s office have been beavering away at getting minor party support for the Govt’s flagship climate change policy as embodied in the emissions trading scheme legislation. It’s not an easy task because it involves educating politicians on the complexities of what the Govt is trying to do. And it’s a long time since some of those politicians embarked on a learning process......

Meanwhile United Future’s Peter Dunne who opposes the ETS legislation in its present form wants to know just what the Reserve Bank has told the Govt about the impact on inflation and the cost of living the ETS will have......

Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor has the weekend off from shoring up support in his electorate. He’s on the inaugural Air NZ flight to Beijing. Make the most of it, we say to Damien, there might not be many more.

10th July 2008

MPs and adherents of the coalition parties are closely watching the programme of announcements by the Govt of new appointees to public organisations. The reason lies in procedures which dictate no further appointments be made by the Govt to such organisations within three months of an election. The cut off for announcing appointments is believed to be the first week of next month......

Aussie bookmaker Centrebet is picking November 8 as the election date. It’s the favourite at $2.90 followed by November 1 ($3.70) and October 18 ($4.20). The National Party has previously picked October 18, it could make a killing......

Dianne Yates who reluctantly left Parliament as part of Labour’s rejuvenation process has since been appointed by the Govt to four boards, the latest to Food Standards Australia NZ board, where the stipend is $38,440 a year plus expenses......

Is service in Afghanistan more appealing than assignment to troubled south Auckland for the nation’s police officers? A local area commander is slated for a spell in the war-torn Asian country. Watch for the south Auckland “top cop” to get an early promotion in spite of the controversy which surrounds policing in the area......

Parliamentary’s security team were hugely impressed with a demo this week of the Police’s Bomb Disposal squad’s new toy, which as well as blowing up suspicious packages can among other things climb stairs and fire a water cannon. Let’s hope it never has to be used......Underlining how powerful Grey Power has become as a lobby group, Helen Clark was talking to one branch at Pakuranga this week, while NZ First leader Winston Peters was talking to another at Kawerau.......

Peters has little time for the media these days, but the hacks find he is an irresistible attraction. We liked the story about him in the gossip columns following the US Ambassador’s July 4 “do,” where he was discussing, somewhat acerbically, the visit of US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice with former PM Jim Bolger, who is currently Chairman of the NZ-US Business Council. Bolger was being his usual self, and as he was talking, Peters called over a waiter to refresh his drink. When it arrived, Bolger reached for it and marched off. “F****** typical,” said Peters......

Phil Kitchin and his colleagues on the Dominion-Post did some sleuthing to come up with the story of Peters’ pal Tommy Gear being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a job many in NZ First know nothing about. The Parliamentary Service, which has employed Gear since 1998, declined to comment. According to Kitchin, Gear is expected to be questioned by police following an alleged breach of the Electoral Finance Act, relating to banners strung from his property in Maxwells Rd, Tauranga. Still to be clarified is just what service Gear provides. Pity the Official Information Act does not apply to Parliament.
 

3rd July 2008

Aust betting agency Centrebet has figured out the election result. It’s got National at $1.30 with Labour a $3.35 outsider......Trevor Mallard says he’s under instruction never to repeat the krumping performance which made him and Pete Hodgson YouTube stars last year. There was great interest in their totally uncoordinated wild dance movements but when Mallard was asked for a repeat performance at a function this week he declined. He didn’t say who had issued the instruction......

With more money for NZ filmmakers earmarked in the budget Helen Clark is announcing details this week of the screen incentive fund, worth over $14m a year, of which $8.25m is new money, which is aimed at boosting work by domestic film producers......

Known as the Great Helmsman in his time as PM, Jim Bolger seemed in his element at Wellington’s Railway Station, when the current PM named him as new Chairman of KiwiRail. But he got a bit tetchy when Newstalk ZB’s Barry Soper asked him whether taking the job was an endorsement of Labour’s policy in re-nationalising the rail system he had privatised. The current generation of Nats is far from pleased with Bolger. So we wonder, if there is a change of Govt, how long he will last as Chairman......

NZ’s next Ambassador to Brazil will be Mark Trainor, currently Deputy Director of MFAT’s trade negotiations division. He has previously been posted to Manila, Geneva and Tokyo. He replaces Alison Mann who is returning to Wellington......

Martin Matthews, at present CEO at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, is to be the next CEO of the Ministry of Transport. Before his terms at MCH, Matthews worked in the Audit Office from 1979m becoming assistant Auditor-General in 1990......

Perhaps in the wake of the latest email leak National should start using codes for its high priority messages. Or maybe something old-fashioned like handwritten notes......

State Services Minister David Parker says John Ombler has been appointed deputy State Services Commissioner on a temporary basis until March 31 by which time he expects a permanent appointee will be ready to take office......

David Smol, named this week as CEO of the Ministry of Economic Development in succession to Geoff Dangerfield is one of the most significant appointments in the public service in recent years. He is regarded as in the forefront of a “new generation” among the top echelon of public sector bosses. State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble who made the appointment said Smol has a “strong reputation as a trusted, credible and highly competent public servant.”......

Helen Clark is still fending off pesky questions about the election date. The Govt has several important Bills to get through before the House rises. The latest date possible is November 15. We still think the favoured date is October 18.
 

26th June 2008

While speculation gathers pace on which three new posts MFAT will open (they were redacted, on national-interest grounds from the Treasury review of MFAT’s funding boost), Foreign Minister Winston Peters has apparently flagged away Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both, he says, will be covered more comprehensively through an expanded Tehran embassy......

Stephen Jennings, CEO of Moscow-based global investment business Renaissance Group, will give the Business Roundtable’s 14th Sir Ronald Trotter lecture in Wellington on October 7......NZ’s first Small Business Summit will be held at Sky City in Auckland on July 25, bringing together business, policy and professional advisors as well as ministers and MPs. Register on <www.smallbusinesssummit.co.nz>......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced career diplomat Rob Hole will be NZ’s new Consul-General in Melbourne. He’s currently Director of Information and Public Affairs at MFAT......

Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick is in Santiago this week at the International Whaling Commission meeting which is trying to find a way through the pro and anti-whaling deadlock. Chadwick has taken press sec Pip Chapman with her for daily reports on progress......

Ross Robertson was the only MP to put out a statement lamenting politicians’ ranking at the bottom of the Readers’ Digest list of respected professions. Ross reckons they will remain there until Parliament adopts a Code of Ethics. He has proposed such a code in each of the last three Parliaments, and a current application is with Parliament’s standing orders Committee which, he is assured, is giving the proposal “serious consideration.” We wouldn’t bet on it, Ross but then God, as they say, loves a trier......United Future’s Peter Dunne assures us he has no interest in becoming Speaker in the next Parliament. “I have no desire to accept any role in that regard.”......

Richard Mann, currently director of the human resources division at MFAT has been named as the next Ambassador to South Korea. He will also be accredited to North Korea. He replaces Jane Coombs who is returning to Wellington......One thing remains undiminished in NZ politics. It is the hubris of the leader of NZ First. Announcing his return to contest Tauranga at the election, Winston Peters said, “Without experienced leadership this country could face a nightmare within six months.” Does he mean the nightmare will be in the post-election coalition negotiations?

19th June 2008

Wellington barrister David McLay has been appointed the new Chairman of the Rewrite Advisory Panel, taking over from Sir Ivor Richardson.......

Rumours David Parker might pull out of politics after the passage of the ETS legislation are just rumours. Helen Clark herself checked them out, only to find Parker asking for even bigger challenges as a Minister in the next term......

Barbara Bridge, at present deputy director of the Pacific division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been named NZ’s Ambassador to Sweden, following Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ announcement last month NZ would establish an embassy in Stockholm to serve the Nordic region. Previously NZ’s ambassador to the Netherlands (Rachel Fry) had been cross-accredited to Sweden......

Helen Clark’s schedule visiting the country’s significant electorates took her to Tauranga this week. Labour is planning a vigorous campaign there for the party vote......

Following his brush with the law and a reprimand from leader John Key, long time National MP John Carter may now be out of the running to be considered for the position of Speaker, should National win the election. The contenders now might be list MPs Richard Worth and Eric Roy (who is currently an assistant speaker). United Future’s Peter Dunne could also be a possibility......

Conor English (a member of the Dipton dynasty) has been named as the new CEO of Federated Farmers. Another Southlander Don Nicholson is due to succeed Charlie Pedersen as the next president of FF. There’s some irony for English because one of his former bosses in the Beehive, John Luxton, is said to be heading up a new lobby group for dairy farmers.......

Squirming among Labour MPs over the success of Manurewa MP George Hawkins’ Parliamentary politicking on behalf of his constituents mirrors National Party angst prior to the 1999 election. Hawkins’ attacks in Parliament on the health system were a significant factor in undermining the credibility of the Shipley Govt. He claimed a hospital’s failure to treat an ailing and elderly Northland patient with a chequered medical history was symptomatic of National’s administrative incompetence. The Labour Caucus cheered him on. Over the past two weeks Beehive emissaries have sought to harness him to ninth floor initiatives despite the fact earlier in the year they wanted him to step aside from his electorate in favour of candidates with a leadership blessing. The view from Manurewa is local support will ensure he is back in the House next year but a number of his current colleagues will not......

Is the Govt move to buy back rail from Toll Holdings still on track? Announcements on the purchase were tinged with notes a number of minor matters remained to be settled. Investment advisers awaiting confirmation of a “done deal”are pondering whether some of these minor matters are proving more difficult to resolve than anticipated.
 

12th June 2008

After dealing with recalcitrant members of the Commonwealth, onetime Deputy PM and recently retired Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Don McKinnon is reported to be interested in offering his services to NZ dairy farmers, preferably through a seat on the board of giant dairy co-op Fonterra. His diplomatic experiences could be useful......

Most of the Rogernomes were there, including Sir Roger himself, when Michael Bassett’s mighty 500-page tome “Working with David” was launched in Wellington this week. Spotted in the crowd were Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Stan Rodger, David Butcher, Russell Marshall, Ken Shirley, as well as some Nats of the same era, Jim McLay and Ian McLean, not to mention Don Brash. But none of those who also worked with Lange from the present Cabinet such as Helen Clark, Michael Cullen or Phil Goff (he’s overseas, anyway)......

NZ Herald columnist Brian Rudman reviewed the book over a headline “Sour Grapes Make Bitter Whine.” We could have sworn in earlier times the pair were close enough for Bassett to pass on to Rudman material for some of his finer journalistic exploits......

Another chapter in the saga of NZPA’s urgent campaign to cut costs. Staff seeking clarification of what is proposed were told key members of the Board are in Lapland, after attending a newspaper conference elsewhere in Sweden. And what’s happening to CEO Lincoln Gould?......

Still no word from Winston Peters whether he will be contesting Tauranga again. Some sources say he was about to announce his decision at the party’s AGM in the Tauranga electorate when he spoke to it on May 25, but the line was pulled from the text of his speech at the last minute......

Kevin Rudd couldn’t make this week’s leadership forum with NZ Ministers and business leaders. He is in Japan mending fences having missed out Tokyo from his inaugural and much trumpeted visit to Asian leaders......

Kiribati President Anote Tang wasn’t expecting to be peppered with questions about Mary Anne Thompson when he met reporters after holding talks with Helen Clark this week but he handled it with diplomatic ease saying “as far as I understand the issue it is a matter for the NZ Govt to deal with.”......

The Greens are doing their bit to save trees - from the end of this month they’re not issuing any paper press releases. They say “if others follow suit we might save a forest or two.” You’ll need to be on their email list to stay in the loop......

Labour Minister Trevor Mallard is in Geneva and New York this week attending international conferences while Education Minister Chris Carter visits Lima for an APEC Ministerial meeting......

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey’s declaration the capital should be moved to Auckland has been greeted with mirth in Wellington. The Mayor calls his fiefdom Eco-city and pondered whether this might become “Ego-city” if the seat of Govt was to be moved north of the Bombay Hills.
 

5th June 2008

Jim Anderton is leading an 11-member delegation to the UN’s food security conference in Rome this week. The Green’s Sue Kedgley is an official delegation member but she’s paying her own way. No reports of junkets please......

Winston Peters’ long-serving Foreign Affairs private secretary Rob Moore-Jones has been rewarded for service in the trenches and expects to head to Spain as Ambassador shortly. Insiders report the queue of would-be replacements is not exactly long. Patience and a capacity for tobacco is regarded as a desirable, though not essential qualification......

Trevor Mallard is heading to Geneva to attend an ILO gathering in his capacity as Labour minister. He will also visit New York for a UN Aids conference......

The Greens’ Mike Ward has had second thoughts, and has decided to make way for his party’s co-leader Russel Norman to enter Parliament before the election, after Nandor Tanczos leaves, probably around June 17. Is this NZ politics or Disneyland’s?.....Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, who is 63, has indicated this election will be her last. She signalled at the weekend she will step down before the 2011 election. Sue Bradford could be her successor (though Metiria Turei might also be a contender). As one political cynic put it, this would mean the Greens would be led by a neo-Marxist and an ex-Maoist......

Labour’s candidate for the new electorate of Botany, Brendan Sheehan, has withdrawn from the contest in order to support a seriously ill family member. ......

Nick Hurley has been named Consul-general in Brisbane, where Foreign Minister Winston Peters has won budgetary approval to re-open a diplomatic office closed in an earlier cost-cutting drive......

The NZPA is axing seven fulltime jobs as part of a plan to cut costs, reducing staff numbers to 48 so the agency could fund a new computer system. The sole South Island reporter will go, the Parliamentary bureau will be trimmed, sports coverage will be reduced and the finance desk will be cut and the racing service may also go - unless Winston Peters rides to the rescue......

Helen Clark has been massaging the party’s marginal electorates (or some which could become so). The other week she was in Mark Burton’s Taupo, last week she went to Clayton Cosgrove’s Waimakariri and this week she had a busy day scheduled on Damien O’Connor’s West Coast......The Consul-General of Ireland in NZ Rodney Walshe has been appointed to the board of the NZ Antarctic Trust......

Dr Paul Reynolds, Deputy Director-General (policy) at MAF has been named as the next head of the Ministry of the Environment. He fills the vacancy following Hugh Logan’s departure in the aftermath of the Madeleine Setchell affair.......

There’s great expectancy in the capital about the book Michael Bassett is to launch next week “Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet.” Those in the Lange camp might see it more as “Working Against David.”
 

29th May 2008

Appointment of Registered Master Builders’ Federation Chief Executive Pieter Burghout as Chief Executive of the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) marks the start of a new era for the product appraisal and testing agency. Burghout’s advocacy skills are considered within the construction industry to be an essential component of efforts to align product quality and building innovation with changes imposed through the 2004 Building Act......

Forty years on, the Vietnam war still stirs emotions. Helen Clark this week presented a formal Crown apology to NZ Vietnam veterans, as part of a comprehensive package reached on treatment of veterans and their families. The veterans who have campaigned for this recognition were determined the apology would be presented in Parliament, so it would be recorded in Hansard. The waiata they performed was intensely moving. They believe they were shabbily treated on their return from Vietnam, and suffered from the effects of Agent Orange. Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says the people of Vietnam are also owed an apology. Left-wing commentator Chris Trotter says the veterans don’t deserve an apology because they should not have fought in such an unjust war......

Phil Goff may have one eye on Labour’s leadership but this is not distracting him from his trade work, After roadshows on the China FTA in Wellington and Auckland this week, he’s off to South America, Europe, and the USA. Maybe he’ll line up some more candidates for a FTA (don’t expect much out of Washington)......Annette King is also on the international circuit, visiting Germany, Denmark, the UK and Canada, taking in an International Transport Forum, and sundry other portfolio issues. Steve Chadwick has headed to Bonn for a Convention on Biological Diversity......When he addressed his party’s Tauranga Electorate AGM Winston Peters spent a fair bit of time arguing the people of Tauranga had been taken for granted and only NZ First is strong enough after the next election to steer the ship. “We must break through the control of the two old parties and set the course NZ needs to be world leader again.” But did he tell the expectant audience whether he would be standing again in the electorate? Not just yet, sunshine......

Jim Anderton doesn’t often congratulate National, but he was fulsome this week in praising it for “pinching” his party’s idea to reduce medical students’ loans through a bonding scheme. Anderton says it makes sense to encourage people to stay in NZ and work off their debt......The Maori Affairs Select Committee is in Cairns and Canberra this week studying early childhood education in indigenous communities. Dave Hereora, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Pita Sharples, Tau Henare and Georgina te Heuheu made the trip. Hone Harawira, who went walkabout last time he crossed the Tasman with a Select Committee, isn’t a member.
 

22nd May 2008

Reliable sources say the PM has stopped all non-essential Ministerial travel, signalling either concern over votes in the House or preparations for an early election. Ministers whose travel plans for June have been stopped are quite grumpy......

Minor parties have a point to ponder now National has promised a referendum on MMP in 2011. If the Nats need partners post-election to hold a majority, will the small parties go along with a referendum and risk a change which could wipe them out? They could make it a bottom line for the referendum to be scrapped......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new Consul-General to Los Angeles is career diplomat John Mataira. He replaces Rob Taylor who is returning to Wellington......

Trade Minister Phil Goff announced this week Alistair Polson has been re-appointed as special agricultural trade envoy......

Associate Health Minister Damien O’Connor is in Switzerland this week to attend a Commonwealth Health Ministers meeting in Geneva, he’s hosting a meeting for Pacific Health Ministers as well to talk about regional health issues......

In his column From The Left in the Herald on Sunday Matt McCarten took a stick to the SIS for what he alleged was its failure to check the credentials of Mary Anne Thompson, and slammed the service over being too busy, he said, spying on the left. But it’s not the job of the SIS to check academic qualifications (the task in reality of the employer, in this case the SSC), but of vetting candidates for security reasons. Kiribati, where Thompson had been living before she returned to NZ, is not high on anyone’s list as a security or terrorist risk......

There’s been some tension in the Green Party over Nandor Tanzcos’s willingness to create space in Parliament for co-leader Russel Norman before the election. For this to happen, it meant those higher on the party list (Catherine Delahunty at 8 and Mike Ward at 9) would also have to step aside to make room for Norman ranked No 10 at the last election. Delahunty was agreeable but Ward said no. The result: Nandor has decided to stay on in Parliament until the election. And Norman won’t have Parliamentary resources to fly around the country campaigning......

This week one of the most dangerous place in NZ politics was between Phil Goff and a TV camera. The question everyone is asking is was there more than met the eye in all the brouhaha about the now infamous Phil Goff interview on Alt TV? Some say the leaks about the interview before it was screened were aimed at getting the ratings up. But it seems there is more to it than meets the eye. Alt TV producer Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury wrote in a blog: “When I talk to a lot of people about politics there are few who don’t get angry with Helen Clark...If Labour want to win the next election in an electorate that is yearning for change, then you better present (it) with some change...By removing Helen a lot of anger with Labour may dissipate.”
 

15th May 2008

Tim Cossar has been appointed the new CEO of the Tourism Industry Association. He’s currently CEO of Positively Wellington Tourism......

Former Transpower boss Ralph Craven’s $350,000 golden handshake has upset the National Party. MP Gerry Brownlee dredged up numerous statements from Labour when it was in opposition complaining loudly about exit payments under the National Govt. Brownlee says “this is exactly the sort of practice Helen Clark promised would end when she campaigned to put a stop to golden handshakes.”......

Colin MacDonald, currently an IRD deputy Commissioner, has been named as the next CEO of Land Information NZ (Linz), a department responsible for the policy, regulatory and core Govt service delivery functions on NZ land and seabed information. MacDonald who migrated to NZ in 1994 was a senior consultant with KPMG before becoming chief operating officer for ANZ Bank. On moving to the IRD he became a deputy Commissioner in 2001......

Bob Clarkson, admitting he was out of his comfort zone in Parliament, is standing down after just one term. Television channels had a lot of fun out of re-screening his vacuous mis-cues as an MP. But that could not obscure his real achievement: he wiped the smile off the face of the politician whose trademark statement had been he was “happy just to be the member for Tauranga.” We’re betting Winston Peters will be reluctant to go back for another electoral thrashing......

Meanwhile down in Rakaia where maverick Brian Connell decided (with some prompting) he had no future in the National Party, a new candidate has been selected for the electorate re-named Selwyn. Amy Adams, 36, a lawyer, was chosen ahead of Alex McKinnon (a scion of the McKinnon clan). Other National candidates chosen include Hekia Parata in Mana, and Richard Whiteside in Rimutaka, both of whom may need high places on the list to make it into the House......

The Wellington bureaucracy is agog over the Mary Anne Thompson story which gets more bizarre by the minute. Her background includes four years in Kiribati where she won some renown as a singer on the local radio. In the public service she had a stint in Winston Peter’s office when he was Treasurer. After that she had a charmed run up the ladder. Everybody thought she had a doctorate from the London School of Economics. But now there’s more than a scintilla of doubt about it......

Trevor Mallard confesses to surprise the van he uses is regarded as breaching the Electoral Finance Act because it could be considered to be an “advertisement” under the terms of the act. He disagrees with the ruling but says he will comply. The law’s an ass, Trevor…Debra Angus, Clerk-Assistant (Legal Services) has been appointed Deputy Clerk of the House of Representatives, following the appointment of former Deputy Clerk Mary Harris as Clerk.
 

8th May 2008

Trade Minister Phil Goff has been in Bali, talking to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations about negotiations to conclude a free trade agreement between ASEAN countries and NZ and Aust. Goff hopes the deal can be sealed by August this year, with the next round of negotiations scheduled for June in Hanoi......

Helen Clark has confirmed details of her trip to Japan and Korea later this month. The visits have a strong trade focus and she’ll be meeting Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda and Korea’s new President Lee Myung-Bak......One of China’s top TV and cinema tycoons called in at the Beehive this week. Wang Zhongjun created his operation in 1994 and Ministers were keen to talk to him and let him know about film-making opportunities here......Customs Minister Nanaia Mahuta left for Canberra on Tuesday for talks with Aust Ministers about speeding up passenger processing in both countries......

Last year Trans Tasman predicted Ontrack CEO William Peet would become a new Tsar on the political scene. Now we’re asking whether he’ll be the man to lead the Govt’s new rail SOE when it is established. He certainly has the “track” record......In the absence of Winston Peters (on a foreign Minister’s mission) and Peter Brown (on the Speaker’s tour to Eastern Europe), it’s been Doug Woolerton who’s been calling the shots for NZ First. He’s the NZ First representative on the Select Committee hearing submissions on the emissions trading scheme. Almost certainly it was his forceful representations which forced the Govt into its swift back-pedalling this week on the ETS. The question is whether he will throw his weight around just as vigorously on the bio-fuels issue, and maybe on the Govt’s ban on new thermal generation. Winston wouldn’t be able to face his constituency in the Grey Power movement if his party wasn’t crusading to hold down electricity and fuel prices......

Brian Roche, the Govt’s Mr Fixit, put in a hard week negotiating with Toll Holdings over the re-purchase of the rail and ferry business. He’s opted for a change of scenery in the next week or so, taking a trip up the Nile......Helen Clark has long associations with the Rugby League code which is strong in her Mt Albert electorate. So it was not surprising she chose to launch “What a Ride, Mate,” the book of Peter Leitch (aka the Mad Butcher), a Rugby League fanatic if ever there was one......

Shane Jones and Winnie Laban were in Central Otago this week, looking at how the seasonal workers’ scheme is going. Their visit took them, among other places, to Amisfield Winery, whose restaurant is renowned for its cuisine......

Notice the relatively few pre-budget announcements so far? Those who recall the flood of Ministerial “goodies” being unveiled in the run-up to previous budgets have been set wondering just what Michael Cullen is keeping up his sleeve this time. The cynical hacks in the budget lock-up have long since given up on discovering anything new, but this year it could be different.

1st May 2008

High level people in the Labour Party reckon the Maori Party can be brought into alignment with Labour interests post-election. They believe Tariana Turia is vulnerable to a challenge from Hone Harawira because of the latter’s profile-lifting ability. Meanwhile, colleagues say the PM was in an upbeat mood at Caucus. They say she still believes Labour can grab 39% of the party vote at the Election which with small party support will trump the Nats......

No surprise when Iain Rennie’s name emerged as the successor to retiring State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble. Rennie has been Deputy since February last year, after a distinguished career in Treasury and the DPMC. Many had picked him as a future Secretary to Treasury. He is one of the outstanding public servants of his generation, though most of his work previously has been in the policy field. He was recommended unanimously by a panel comprising Jim Bolger, Margaret Bazley, Stan Rodger and David Parker. And Helen Clark added her cachet, saying he would make a “fine Commissioner.”......

Ministers, with an eye on the election later this year, are going hard for photo opportunities. The intrepid Jim Anderton in his role as Fisheries Minister was on hand to be pictured alongside the colossal squid as it was being defrosted at Te Papa this week......

It’s election year all right, why else would three Cabinet Ministers (King, Parker and Hughes) be spending three days on the Chathams this week......

Fast-moving Trade Minister Phil Goff was in Bali this week for the Ministerial meeting on the NZ-Aust-ASEAN FTA. And he will be travelling with the PM to Tokyo for the Japan-NZ Business Council meeting in the week before the budget is presented......

The Labour vocal quartet who performed so dismally on stage at the party’s recent congress are now wearing the sobriquet “the Mello-crones.”.....

Helen Clark described this week’s attack on the Waihopai satellite domes as “senseless vandalism.” The major question arising from the raid though is how did the “vandals” so easily manage to breach security at the base? Former Defence Chief and currently Director of the GCSB Bruce Ferguson was on the spot almost immediately to check out the damage. Luckily the antennae picking up satellite signals are not damaged......

Winston Peters is rounding off his current mission which began at Gallipoli and took in visits to Croatia and Slovenia, with official talks with the Italian Govt. Maybe he wants to pick up a tip or two on how to win re-election in very unlikely circumstances from the PM-elect Silvio Berlusconi. Italian voters returned him for a third time, despite his earlier tawdry performances, to try to restore Italy to economic health from its present state of being the sick man of Europe.

23rd April 2007

Foreign Minister Winston Peters will be the Govt’s representative at the ANZAC Day ceremonies in Gallipoli. He left early this week, and after Gallipoli he’s heading for Ankara to meet Turkish leaders. Then it’s Slovenia for consultations with the European Union presidency, followed by a visit to Croatia. Afterwards Peters is going to Rome for meetings with NZ’s European heads of mission, and London to attend a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. He’ll brief the group on the situation in Fiji......

Before he left Peters made sure he did some party work, announcing the free peak-time bus, rail and ferry travel for pensioners which will be in the budget. He’s after the grey power vote again......

It’s taken Simon Power more than a year to get it – but the Law and Order Select Committee has finally decided to hold an inquiry into the Department of Corrections. The Committee was dead-locked on it with NZ First’s Ron Mark holding the deciding vote. He says he’s satisfied with the way it will be conducted......

Singaporean President, S R Nathan, will make an official visit to NZ from 26 to 30 April. This is President Nathan’s first state visit to NZ. He will be accompanied by his wife, two Ministers, two MPs, and senior officials......

National’s Auckland list MP Clem Simich has advised his Caucus colleagues that he will be retiring at the end of the current Parliamentary term. This follows his failure to achieve an electorate seat to contest at the next election. Under party rules he must contest an electorate position to be eligible for the party list......

According to rumbles around Labour’s backbench party president Mike Williams may not find the party Caucus as forgiving of his loose lips as the PM when it meets next Tuesday. Backbench sources cite the departures from Cabinet of Lianne Dalziel and David Benson-Pope as examples of ordered resignations for what they regard as political crimes no worse than those of the party President......

Surprise is being expressed within Labour ranks at the free rein David Cunliffe is being given by the PM in his handling of the junior doctors’ stop work. Some are speculating what they see as a change from normal ninth floor administration in such politically fraught circumstances may signal the PM wants the young turk from West Auckland exposed at the coal face. If he comes out of it well he’s proved his mettle; if she has to intervene a potential challenger may become damaged goods......

No surprise in the Beehive Auckland local authorities have expressed a range of differing views on how Auckland’s governance might be restructured. Ministers say they’ve regularly had to reconcile conflicting views on major issues over the past eight years. There was also little surprise at Manukau City’s grab for more territory in advocating it should take in both Papakura and Franklin......

The Labour Congress Ministerial barbershop quartet is still the subject of much mirth. Nats reckon a title for the song should have been “Amnesia Blues.” Uncharitable MPs believe five years tuition from Labour favourite Howard Morrison wouldn’t go amiss.

17th April 2008

Also visible, was the Rt. Hon Jonathan Hunt, back in Wellington briefly, after his term in London as High Commissioner. He was telling everyone “he was glad to be back.” Life’s hell in those diplomatic jobs......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has squeezed a big increase in MFAT’s vote out of the Govt. Some of it will go on opening a new diplomatic post in Sweden, NZ’s first in one of the Nordic countries......

One-time Trade Minister Jim Sutton (who was eased out as part of Labour’s rejuvenation process) got the credit he deserved for initiating the negotiations with China for a free trade agreement at a function in the Beehive this week to celebrate the signing of the FTA. Even current Minister Phil Goff (who is not always keen to share the credit for the Govt’s achievements) joined in the applause......

Simon Draper who is currently Director of the office for the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has been named as NZ’s Consul-General in New Caledonia, replacing Eleanor Thomson, who returns to Wellington. Draper will also be accredited to French Polynesia......

Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick is having her first meeting with the Rudd Govt’s Environment Minister Peter Garrett in Melbourne this week. High on the agenda may be a discussion on how the two countries will work together at the International Whaling Commission conference in Chile in June. The Rudd Govt has been particularly belligerent towards Japan over its so-called “whaling for scientific purposes” in the Southern Ocean, but NZ is inclined more toward seeking a diplomatic solution rather than direct confrontation......

The first of the new fleet of Ministerial BMWs are going into service. No wonder Ministers are fighting hard to retain office (and their perks)......

The Parliamentary career of Sir Robert Muldoon’s successor in Tamaki, Clem Simich, appears about to end. The current list MP has not been allocated an electorate to contest for National in this year’s election according to party lists published in the blogosphere. Unless an unlikely special dispensation for preferential list treatment is forthcoming from the party’s board this means that under Nat selection rules Simich is out at the end of the current Parliament. ......

National back benchers are talking about the rejuvenation of Labour Manurewa MP George Hawkins. The former Police Minister enjoyed himself gathering votes wherever he could find them for his Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill to pass through the legislative process. The Local Govt Select Committee advised against it through the Committee’s Labour majority. But in a rare reversal of usual practice the House accepted the measure with amendments. Hawkins’ politicking for his Local Council won him no friends in Labour’s leadership ranks. He’s smiling!

10th April 2008

Tim Lusk, a current director of Meridian Energy, has been named as CEO to succeed Keith Turner who retired last week. Lusk who has wide experience in the electricity sector has more recently been general manager of Telecom’s wholesale services......

Finance Minister Michael Cullen who has been acting PM while Helen Clark has been in Europe and China is due for some R&R. He could get it on Saturday when he is due to address the Hugo Group’s CEO retreat. The venue? The Gibbston Valley vineyard, near Queenstown......

Deputy leader of the Progressives, Matt Robson (remember him?) awards NZ First top marks for political consistency in its latest attacks on Asians. He has sent an open letter to Peter Brown, noting as Brown gets ready for his “well-earned” Speaker’s trip, NZ First’s deputy leader fortunately does not have to travel to any Asian country......

Annette King, regarded as one of Labour’s most effective Ministers, has had a tough time defending the Electoral Finance Act. She had to concede this week a taxpayer-funded Labour booklet declared by the Electoral Commission to be an election advertisement, would be counted against the party’s election spending cap. She had a more rewarding experience on Thursday handing out search and rescue awards at a function attended by several rescuers involved on Wahine Day 1968......

Paul Quinn, a Wellington businessman and onetime captain of the Maori All Blacks, has been chosen as National’s candidate to contest Hutt South against Labour’s Trevor Mallard......

Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Select Committee has it work cut out for the next few weeks - it has to process the China FTA and report it back to Parliament so legislation can be passed to implement it. It isn’t wasting time - submissions opened on Tuesday and close on May 7......

Justice Minister Annette King has announced the membership of the new Criminal Justice Advisory Board, set up to advise the Govt on improvements it thinks the system needs. It’s a response to an Ombudsman’s report which raised problems with public and political confidence in the criminal justice system. Chairman is former Secretary for Justice David Oughton, members are Margaret Eames, Nigel Hampton QC, Judge Margaret Lee, Major Campbell Roberts, Valery Sym and Lynette Stewart......

“Helen Fraser from NZ” was introduced at the Progressive Governance Forum in London last week, swiftly corrected to “Helen Clark, sorry, from NZ” TV One reported. The PM says a Financial Times journalist was doing the honours and managed to avoid a quip about the media always getting it wrong. “He got a little bit flustered - I think he was mortified.”......

The Labour Party conference this weekend could be the platform for future leadership aspirants to show their wares. Competition could be strong among David Cunliffe, Shane Jones and Clayton Cosgrove......

Apropos of Winston Peters’ criticisms of the FTA with China, is it true Trade Minister Phil Goff described to NZ businessmen on the delegation to Beijing those criticisms as “bullshit”?...

How about Peters’ declaration that he follows the official Govt line on foreign policy, but does not have to do so on trade policy? Helen Clark is on record as saying multilateral trade policy will continue to be a key focus of our foreign policy.

3rd April 2008

OnTrack Chief Executive William Peet is finding Auckland’s “westies” do not readily acquiesce to Wellington decisions affecting their patch. Peet has been asked by National MP Paula Bennett to explain why an overhead pedestrian bridge built across Auckland’s western line has to be what many locals consider an architectural blot on the Waitakere landscape......

NZ has been given a lesson in realpolitik by the new Rudd Govt in Canberra. First, no Minister bothered to attend NZ’s 25th anniversary celebration of the CER treaty. While this came as a surprise in Auckland, it didn’t shock veteran Canberra watchers. Kevin Rudd’s Trade Minister, former trade unionist Simon Crean, is no friend of NZ. A Minister (Employment, Science) in the Keating Labor Govt and an ex-President of the ACTU, he is a long-standing critic of NZ’s IR reforms of the 1980s. Then Rudd launched Aust’s new foreign policy, based on three poles: the relationship with the US, multilateral policy (via the UN) and “the region” – but no mention of NZ. The decision to run for the UN Security Council comes despite a prior agreement deferring to Canada and NZ and was conveyed to Winston Peters by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.......

The Auckland Transport Plan for 2006-16 sets out the intention to build a tunnel under the city’s central business district to provide a rail loop from Britomart Station connecting with the central and southern lines. However, it didn’t stop Auckland City from moving to confirm approval for Westfield Developments to proceed with a 40-storey office tower with five levels of underground parking in the area of the tunnel. Auckland City, transport agencies and Westfield are expected to have “discussions” in coming weeks to determine whether the two projects can be made compatible......

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon stepped down on Tuesday after eight years in the position, praised by Helen Clark for doing “a tremendous job.” ......

Labour’s new MP Su’a William Sio was sworn in on Tuesday, replacing Dianne Yates who has resigned. ......

Keith Turner, rated perhaps the most successful of all the bosses since state-owned enterprises were created, has retired from Meridian Energy. He plans a month cruising on his 7-metre boat in Fiordland. Meridian’s legal counsel James Hay will be interim CEO until Turner’s successor is recruited......

Alan Thompson, Secretary of Transport since May 2006, has resigned to return to Aust where he will take up the post of Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services in Canberra......

Rebecca Kitteridge has been appointed Secretary of Cabinet, and Clerk of the Executive Council, succeeding Diane Morcom who is leaving the post this month.....

Winston Peters has been defending his party over its disbursement to charities of the $158,000 the Auditor-General asserted had been illegally spent at the last election He says he won’t respond “to the goading of media unlovelies.” But then went on to say “perhaps it is time to review the rules governing overseas ownership of the NZ media.” What could he mean?

19th March 2008

Speculation Helen Clark might aim for the post of Director-General of the International Labour Office is way off. The current incumbent Juan Somavia stands down in December. But the campaign to get support for the nomination would have had to begun long before now. And since Somavia is from the southern hemisphere, the next D-G would probably come from the north......

Cabinet Minister Jim Anderton takes an Easter break to lead a trade mission to India, Helen Clark describes it as “significant”......

Responding to the news Sir Roger Douglas is back in action with the ACT Party which hopes he’s going to be in Cabinet after the election, Helen Clark says “it’s a trip down memory lane, and the memories aren’t edifying.” She did have something good to say about ACT. “At least they stand for and believe in something, which the National Party appears not to at the moment - except power.”......

Douglas must have struck a nerve when he suggested at 70 he was not too old to return to politics. He cited Jim Anderton as being a similar age. This provoked Anderton into challenging Sir Roger to debate his “dinosaur policies.” Jim says “I had assumed the successes of the last eight years, such as record low unemployment and the longest run of continuous economic growth in decades, conclusively proved your ideas didn’t work, and mine do.” Good on you, Jim, we didn’t realise you had done it all on your own. So if the economy goes bad, whose fault will it be?......

National’s Gerry Brownlee thinks it’s hilarious the Govt has announced a two-year study to find out whether public sector productivity can be measured. Britain and other countries already measure it, says Brownlee, but in NZ there has to be a two-year project to find out whether it’s possible......

Labour’s Dianne Yates, one of the “rejuvenation” casualties, has resigned effective March 31. She’s being replaced by the next candidate on the party list, Su’a William Sio, expected to be sworn in on April 1......

Iain Rennie is the bookies’ short-priced favourite to step into the shoes of State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble when he retires. Rennie has proved himself as Deputy Commissioner, and his odds shortened when other potential candidates such as Simon Murdoch, and Brian Roche made it clear they weren’t interested......

Green Party Sue Kedgely, selected as her party’s candidate in Wellington Central, notes this is the highest polling Green electorate in NZ, and says it hopes to get 20% party vote this election. If the capital is to become carbon neutral, Kedgley believes Wellington needs a strong Green voice. Maybe she can get all those public servants to switch to bicycles?......

Jonathan Underhill has left Bloombergs in Wellington, after 13 years with the business news agency, many of them as head of the Wellington bureau......

Helen Clark, when she moved in Parliament a motion expressing “deep concern” about China’s actions in Tibet, could not have expected the torrent of abuse heaped on her soon-to-be-hosts in Beijing by not only Keith Locke of the Greens, but by Dr Pita Sharples (the Maori Party), and Judy Turner (United Future). In reply, she regretted the “intemperate” language, and went out of her way to praise Rodney Hide’s advocacy of broadening contacts with China, through trade and sport, as a means of moving China towards a free society.
 

13th March 2008

Stewart Milne, Executive Director of the Board of Airline Representatives of NZ, is stepping down after 10 years on the job representing local and international airlines in NZ. Before his appointment, he was a highly respected senior manager in the Ministry of Transport in its “glory days” as a super-Ministry with responsibilities for most aspects of road, shipping and aviation......

Attorney-General Michael Cullen has appointed Edwin Wylie QC as a High Court Judge, sitting in Auckland, and Michael Bevan Smith as Crown Solicitor at Whangarei.......

The Business Roundtable has appointed Nick Calavrias as a new vice-chair. He joins current vice-chairs Bill Day and Bill Gallagher and chairman Rob McLeod......

Liz Grant has ended her time as third-ranked Cabinet Minister Jim Anderton’s press secretary, she’s replaced by Cathie Bell who was with Jim Sutton before he left Parliament......

The furore over the Speaker’s Tour kept the airwaves of radio talkback-land buzzing this week. Any junket by a minister or MP evokes more than a degree of cynicism, more particularly if it involves members who have signalled they are leaving Parliament. Big question though over the selection of maverick National MP Brian Connell (who is excluded from the Caucus). Was he chosen by National to ensure he’s on his best behaviour up to the election?......

Marian Hobbs, who’s just been elevated to be assistant Speaker, is on the tour. She was reported as saying she didn’t know much of what the tour was about, but thought it might be “about MMP.”......

New High Commissioner to the UK Derek Leask will be winging his way to London next week. He hopes to be on hand when Helen Clark goes calling on Gordon Brown in Downing Street. So what is happening to the outgoing HC, the Right Hon Jonathan Hunt ONZM? We’d say watch this space, except the space is not big enough......

Dr Richard Grant, back from his term as High Commissioner in Singapore, is taking up the post of Executive Director of the Asia 2000 Foundation......

MPs don’t always get their own way - National’s list member Jackie Blue wanted her party’s nomination to stand in Auckland Central at this year’s election and she had some powerful front bench backers. But it went to Nikki Kaye, who will take on Labour’s Judith Tizard. She held the seat with a 3884 majority over Pansy Wong in 2005. Kaye, 28, is a born and raised Aucklander with a background in business and public policy. She’s promising a “high profile, grassroots campaign.” Wong wants the nomination for the new Botany seat this time......

Dianne Yates is the next Labour list MP to exit Parliament......

The Ministry of Health is due to publish its report on Hawke’s Bay District Health Board on Monday. Cynics say the release, just before Easter, is timed because the public’s attention will be diverted by the forthcoming holiday break. What’s the betting it raps most of those involved for being “unwise”? …

The Govt is lifting the rate of NZ superannuation to $439.80 for a married couple, making them $700 a year better off, Senior Citizens Minister Ruth Dyson says. Better off? Who’s Ruth kidding? After taking into account increases in petrol, electricity, milk and food, only a Cabinet minister drawing superannuation could possibly be better off.

6th March 2008

The Govt is opening a Beachheads programme in China to help NZ companies who are looking for trade opportunities. Chairman of the new Beachheads board is David Mahon, who has 25 years experience in China. Beachheads programmes already operate in the UK, USA, the Middle East, South East Asia, India and Japan......

A high profile former Parliamentarian says Clark won’t be deposed, but Phil Goff will fall into the trap of being like Talboys versus Muldoon - being in the wrong place at the wrong time - and the succession will go to one of the young Turks - David Cunliffe or Shane Jones......

Louisa Wall took her seat in Parliament this week, replacing Labour’s Ann Hartley. Wearing a splendid korowai (cloak) of her maternal grandmother, Ms Wall, young, Maori and lesbian, has degrees in social policy and social work. Besides, she has been a member both of the Silver Ferns and the Black Ferns. In her maiden speech she paid tribute to her late father who, she said, had worked hard to improve the lot of his children. He had the letters PhD, standing for post-hole digger, inscribed on his tombstone......

Pick what’s wrong with the following : A report this week indicates Dover Samuels when he leaves Parliament shortly is joining the brain drain to Aust. Samuels himself denies he will be contributing to the brain drain. “I’ve got no brains.” He plans to live in Aust for six months of each year to run a diving and fishing charter business with his son......

Todd McClay, a son of former National MP Roger McClay, has thrown his hat in the ring for the National nomination for Rotorua, where the party thinks it has a good chance against sitting Labour Minister Steve Chadwick......Environment Minister Trevor Mallard says Dr Rajendra Pachauri (UN Inter-Govtal Panel on Climate Change Nobel Laureate), President Anote Tong of Kiribati, and Achim Steiner (UN Environment programme director) will be coming to NZ to celebrate World Environment Day on June 5, the first time NZ has hosted the UN Environment Programme event since its establishment in 1972......

Trade Minister Phil Goff had talks in Wellington with United Arab Emirates Trade Minister, Sheik Lubna. Wonder if they talked about the unsuccessful Dubai effort last year to bid for Auckland Airport, which the Govt sniffed at......

Ministers on the move this week included Pete Hodgson, who was visiting Frankfurt, Berlin, and Hanover for an information, communications and technology expo, and an NZTE tourism event; Lianne Dalziel was representing the PM at “Women Stabilising an Insecure World Conference” in Brussels and was also talking with the UK Foods Standards Agency, and Harry Duynhoven was attending an International Renewable Energy Conference in Washington......

Farmers in drought-affected Northern Southland should expect a downpour this weekend. Jim Anderton is visiting. An earlier visit to the drought-affected Waikato brought rain soon afterwards.

28th February 2008

The Chair and Deputy Chair of the new Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal have been appointed - Judge Dale Clarkson (Chair) and David Mackenzie (Deputy). Practitioner and lay members will be appointed in coming months and the new regime is due to start on July 1......

When Wellington administrators come up against Auckland westies, life can be difficult for those caught in the middle, as Ontrack found earlier this month. Contractors who started work at Ontrack’s request on structural change to the historic and community restored Swanson rail station found locals who disagreed with the work plan stoning them on the job. Quipped one Auckland official: “The RMA and consent procedures have meaning out here.”......

Even though Parliament wasn’t sitting, Helen Clark and her Ministers had a hectic week. After Cabinet on Monday, Clark was in Christchurch Tuesday for an Arts, Culture and Heritage Forum, with 6 other Ministers, Canberra Wednesday for the trans-Tasman leader’s meeting, Timaru Thursday for a community forum with four other Ministers, Hamilton Friday for a speech, and then Waitakere Sunday for a children’s day event......

Other Ministers were also flitting back and forth across the Tasman - Judith Tizard for the annual meeting of Cultural Ministers in Canberra, and Harry Duynhoven to address the Australasian Railway Association Summit in Melbourne......

The NZ Herald reported this week Sir Roger Douglas and the ACT party had kissed and made up after years of criticism by the party’s founder about the direction the party was taking. Given ACT’s poll ratings it will need all the help it can get......

Helen Clark will be doing a lot of travelling in April. She has engagements in Britain for the Hillary memorial service at Windsor, several events in Europe, and the China FTA signing ceremony in Beijing from April 6 to 9. Her staff are working on the travel details now......

Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton was quick to spot the error in National MP Phil Heatley’s latest complaint about ballooning staff numbers in the Ministry which he says have grown by a whopping 272% from 327 to 452. “I recommend a bit of remedial maths,” says Anderton......

Labour MP Mark Gosche, once regarded as a “comer” in the Clark Govt, but stepped down from the ministry when his wife became seriously ill, has decided not to contest Maungakiekie again, but will go on the list. That suggests he doesn’t contemplate re-entering the Ministry......

Greens’ co-leader Russel Norman’s eagerness to get into Parliament any time soon is being frustrated as a result of Nandor Tanzcos’s determination to see his Waste Minimisation Bill through to the statute book.

21st February 2008

Did those ministers who spent some of their holidays in the Mendoza wine-producing region in Argentina go there as a tour party?.....

Need a Plumber? Dial 00 61. National’s Lockwood Smith got the message across with the headline on his press statement which cited statistics showing hundreds more tradesmen are leaving NZ than are coming in.....

The PPTA was lively as well with its “cosmically irrelevant” description of the Education Select Committee’s report on the school system. The inquiry took two years and the teachers union says all the report did is tell them to do what they’re already doing......

NZ will host a Pacific Island Forum Foreign Ministers conference next month to discuss Fiji. Helen Clark says it’s going to be an opportunity to tell its interim Govt to keep its word on holding elections by March next year......

The Governor of Afghanistan’s Bamyan province, Habibi Sarabi, will be in Wellington on Sunday for a short visit. She’s coming to thank NZ for the Defence Force reconstruction team in Bamyan......

Now he’s back, the blogosphere has been busy recalling some of Dail Jones’ more startling statements in Parliament. Sample: The Civil Union Bill was passed to make Helen Clark, “and the coteries of homosexuals who surround her happy.” Just the man, then, to negotiate on behalf of NZ First with Clark’s chief of staff, Heather Simpson?.....

Derek Fox, who is seeking the Maori Party nomination to stand in Ikaroa-Rawhiti against Parekura Horomia, got an unexpected mention in dispatches in Labour’s weekly caucus meeting. Someone drew attention to Atareta Poananga (who is also seeking the Maori Party nomination in the electorate) disclosing she had dumped Fox, who had been her partner for 12 years. Her action is reported to have come as a surprise to Jaewynn McKay, who has been Fox’s partner for, it is understood, seven years......

PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Brian Roche has been appointed a trustee of Development West Coast......

State-owned Meridian Energy has begun the search for a successor to CEO Keith Turner, who last year announced his intention to resign in March. Board members last Wednesday interviewed several candidates, as part of the process of compiling a short list. Speculation in the capital is the board might be looking for a high-profile candidate from abroad. Leading internal candidates could include Kenneth Smales, as well as Chris Jones, the people and performance director......

The Govt has appointed Jon Mayson, former Ports of Tauranga CEO, as Chairman of the board of NZ Trade & Enterprise, the Crown entity responsible for facilitating the country’s trade, industry and regional development. Mayson replaces Phil Lough who has led the board since NZTE’s inception in 2003. Current board member Craig Ellison has been re-appointed for a further year.
 

14th February 2008

One of NZ’s more colourful diplomats, Auckland-born Basil Bolt has died aged 84. In the 1970s, he served as NZ ambassador to Indonesia, the former Federal Republic of Germany capital at Bonn and The Hague. A stylish dresser and perfectionist, he once accompanied PM Sir Robert Muldoon on a visit to a German coal mine in an immaculate white suit. He also served as NZ’s representative at the UN post in Vienna where he remained, on retirement, as honorary Consul-General......

The Greens Metiria Turei is so determined to succeed with her fitness fad she issued a press statement about it - seven triathlons and a half marathon before the end of the summer. “My primary goal is not to drown during the swim section” says the slimming down MP......

IRD Deputy Commissioner Robin Oliver has been appointed to the UN’s Committee of Experts on International Tax Matters. It meets once a year to review and update tax conventions......

Centrebet says punters are starting to take an interest in the election and one has laid out $5000 on National at $1.47. Biggest Labour backer so far is a Christchurch punter who put $3000 on the Govt winning a fourth term at $2.60......

Stephen Franks has moved to front runner for Wellington Central candidate selection. Chris Finlayson is tipped to switch from Mana to Rongotai. Meanwhile Labour stalwarts are opening files containing criticisms of the Nats by one-time National candidate Hekia Parata in the event she achieves her aspiration to stand for Mana in place of Finlayson......

It’s been the worst kept secret round Parliament for the last six months: NZ First MP Brian Donnelly is to be NZ’s High Commissioner in the Cook Islands. And didn’t it provoke an outburst from NZ First leader (and Foreign Minister) Winston Peters, when journalists had the temerity to suggest it was just another one of those baubles of office? Of course Donnelly’s exit from Parliament is neatly timed to allow NZ First president Dail Jones back into the House. Jones has been there twice already, first for National and again for NZ First. Jones as number 10 on the party list wouldn’t have made it unless those above him Jim Peters and Susan Baragwanath hadn’t gracefully stood aside. Watch for a Govt appointment for Ms Baragwanath......

NZ First’s Ron Mark wasn’t too happy reading about Jones’ resurrection first in a newspaper. What’s going on, he asked in the party Caucus. He probably wasn’t aware Winston and Dail have been buddies from way back when they were National backbenchers, and keen snooker partners during dull Parliamentary debates......

The boy from Awanui (otherwise known as Shane Jones) captured more than a few headlines post-Waitangi Day. And there was an extended profile/interview in the NZ Herald. What could all this mean? Does Jones see himself in a leadership role sometime in the future? “They think you’re flashing it about in order to take over, which is what Shane Jones does not do.” Yes, but isn’t it a sure sign of leadership pretensions when a politician starts talking of himself in the third person?......

Winston Peters, who is off to South Africa and Zambia, had some fun at the expense of his old Tauranga foe Bob Clarkson in Parliament this week, taunting him as the man who claimed he could fix leaky homes for $20,000 each, and then being a property speculator after buying two farms for $24m. Clarkson sat red-faced as Peters urged him to say whether he would be standing again.
 

7th February 2008

Finance Minister Michael Cullen has hired business journalist Chris Ritchie as a press secretary. He joins Jason Knauf to make up a key duo in the Beehive......

The Labour Caucus entertained the parliamentary press gallery to dinner this week at Premier House. It also celebrated the 63rd birthday of Michael Cullen and as someone handed a knife for the birthday cake to be cut, the PM was heard saying sotto voce: “Never give a knife to a deputy.”......

Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton has been in a confab with farming leaders over the developing drought crisis. No sign of the sprightly Jim doing a rain dance, though. Earlier in the week he had talks with the German State Secretary of Agriculture Dr Gert Lindeman.....

Those who write off NZ First’s chances of crossing the 5% threshold at the next election forget how successful Winston Peters has been as a Minister. In some quarters, he’s rated as the best foreign minister since Brian Talboys. More significantly he’s rated as the best racing minister ever, and will get huge support from the 30,000 people who work in that industry. His latest achievement is the award of $368,000 for racecourse safety and facility improvements, with another $$630,000 available in a second round......

The Greens were this week fast off the mark, shouting the odds against first of all the Goff declaration on the potential enlargement of the P4 trade agreement to include the US, and then on Cullen’s coup with the Ngati Porou establishing its relationship with the foreshore and seabed on the East Coast. Hard to imagine how, given the ferocity of the language used by co-leader Russel Norman and Metiria Turei in their respective statements on these important issues, they could be members of a Labour-led coalition post-election….…

Pollsters UMR Insight’s net favourability ratings for the party  leaders at the start, and end, of 2007 are illuminating: Helen Clark went from +26% to +15%, John Key from +15% to +42%, Winston Peters from -17% to +3%, Peter Dunne from -4% to -8%, Jeanette Fitzsimons from -15% to -1%, Tariana Turia -19% to -25%, Rodney Hide from +1% to +4%, and Pita Sharples from +2% to +1%......

Helen Clark showed up as something of a pied-piper at the opening of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority’s northern bus way last weekend. For 1.7kms she walked a section of the new bus-only road followed by a “walking school bus” of local children. In slacks, flat shoes and an “outback” sun hat the PM looked the part. This was in contrast to Auckland fashionistas losing high heels in small gaps between planks on a new Ontrack station walk way servicing a temporary Newmarket rail station. Wellington commuters would wear “flats.”......

Consul-General in Los Angeles, Rob Taylor, is returning slightly early from his post in March to take up a position as Private Secretary to the Governor-General. His organisational skills will be of benefit to the Governor-General in view of the major revamp for Govt House in Wellington.
 

31st January 2008

Foreign Minister Winston Peters is spending three days in Antarctica this week. He’s at Scott Base getting a first hand look at the research going on there and will visit the site of the Erebus crash. It’s a pity penguins don’t vote......

A major NZ scientific voyage to the Antarctic got a send-off from the PM this week. Twenty-six scientists are on board the Tangaroa for its 8-week voyage. The scientists will explore a variety of life forms at the sea-surface to the sea-bed and will film the seabed at depth of 4000m, in areas not previously explored. The voyage is said be a “big challenge” in terms of logistics and human endurance......

Helen Clark says she isn’t going to sign the condolence book for former Indonesian ruler Suharto who died on Sunday. Clark told reporters he left a mixed legacy but his human rights record was “appalling.”......

Meanwhile Clark has been awarded the UN Environment Programme “Champions of the Earth” prize, in recognition of the Govt’s promotion of sustainability initiatives. The UNEP says NZ’s three major policy initiatives (the emissions trading scheme, the energy strategy, and the energy efficiency and conservation strategy) “are blazing new trails for sustainability.” Clark says further sustainability initiatives are planned this year. NZ will also host World Environment Day on June 5......

New judges of the Maori Land Court are Craig Coxhead and Stephen Robert Clark. Authorities say this continues the precedent of the Court drawing its judges from former alumni of the Waikato University Law School......

Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton heads to Aust this week for his first meeting with the new Aust Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tony Burke. Given the long-running dispute over apple imports into Aust, it might be diplomatic of our Jim to offer his Aussie colleagues a carton of new season apples (providing he can get it past Sydney Airport’s vigilant sniffer dogs)......

David Benson-Pope, out of favour with Labour’s hierarchy, still seems determined to win the party nomination for St Kilda, despite being challenged by a candidate strongly backed by the unions' Don Pryde, and activist Clare Curran. The showdown is scheduled for Saturday. Benson-Pope says he hasn’t stopped doing his job and “there’s no embarrassment about subjecting yourself to public scrutiny.” Wonder if he’ll get a good luck message from the PM?......

Police Minister Annette King found herself at odds this week with freshman Manukau City Councillor Daniel Newman over her views on the attitudes of people in Manurewa toward law and order. Newman told media he could not accept the Ministerial view Manurewa people are among the worst in the country for policing. He says the majority are good law abiding citizens, then added they have been among the most loyal of Labour constituencies at the last election. It was Newman who late last year as a Community Board member wrote to Police Commissioner Howard Broad calling for a curb on the number of gaming machines and liquor outlets in the suburb.

24th January 2008

Retiring Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon has been making farewell calls. When he finally exits the London job, he plans to retire to a home on the shores of the Manukau. He can probably count on a gong from Buck House, even though NZ has discarded knightly honours. The Queen can admit him to the Royal Victorian Order. And then what lies ahead? Perhaps Govt House if the Nats win this year......

Nandor Tanczos has gallantly decided to give up his seat in Parliament, some say to pave the way for co-leader Russel Norman to get a seat in the House (and the profile, and the perks) before the election. But if the Tanczos’ gesture is to be successful in that objective, others ahead of Norman on the party list have to step aside. Are they willing to do so? It seems one at least is dragging his feet......

Noted on a humid Wednesday on Lambton Quay: a relaxed, and tieless, RBNZ Governor Alan Bollard. No worries, then, about interest rates......

Eschewing Orewa, John Key is expected to make his state-of-the-nation speech to the party faithful in Ellerslie next Wednesday. The Orewa Rotarians this year will have to make do with Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton. The Progressive Party leader who celebrated his 70th birthday on January 21 and is the country’s oldest sitting MP has the distinction of having represented more parties in Parliament than any other MP (four at last count - Labour, New Labour, the Alliance and Progressive)......

Determined not to let Key steal all the headlines this year, as he did last year with his “underclass” speech, Helen Clark is due to deliver her own first major speech of the year next Thursday the day after John Key......

Winston Peters is playing it close to his chest (doesn’t he always?) whether he will go back to Tauranga to try to regain from National’s Bob Clarkson the seat he held for so long. Clarkson hasn’t shown much aptitude for Parliament, and there’s been talk National has lined up a promising substitute. But Clarkson would probably relish a re-match with Peters, and the chance of giving him another drubbing. The question is whether, as some have darkly hinted, Labour might put up a not-very-convincing fight (or candidate) so Peters could get a better run at Clarkson......

Planning for the State Funeral of Sir Edmund Hillary re-emphasised the cultural gulf between Wellington and Auckland. Officials in Wellington found the number of local authorities in the Auckland region too numerous to all be represented. They decided non-Aucklander Basil Morrison, President of Local Government New Zealand, should be the representative of local authorities. Political level intervention was needed to redress the position......

Summer has seen political developments in the Epsom electorate. Richard Worth has been selected as National’s candidate for ’08. Rodney Hide has drawn gossip column mention for the company he’s met at the Remuera Squash Club. The issue for autumn, winter and spring will be the timing, or not, of a John Key message of support for the party’s Epsom candidate. Will Labour back Worth as it did in ’05?

13th December 2007

Communications Minister David Cunliffe has appointed two people to head organisations which are his pet projects, as he works to develop the ICT digital sector. Doug Martin, a director of consultancy firm MartinJenkins, will lead the ICT industry representative body which will be an advocate for development and Tony van Horik, MD of Advanced Technology Solutions, will be in charge of the roll-out of community-based broadband network initiatives......

Climate Change Minister David Parker has announced an Australasian conference on climate change will be held in Auckland next year. Political and business leaders will gather at the Sky City venue in August 2008......

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is expected to visit NZ in February for talks with the Govt......

Alerted late in the Aust election campaign Kevin Rudd would seek an early meeting if he won, Helen Clark got the call last week soon after the new Aust PM was sworn in, he wanted to set it up before he went to the Bali conference on climate change. So Clark dropped her plans to spend the weekend on Cabinet paperwork, and flew to Brisbane for what both sides agreed was a “highly productive” meeting......

Chris Hipkiss is the new Labour candidate for the Rimutaka seat, replacing Paul Swain. Brendon Burns has won the Labour nomination for Christchurch Central, replacing Tim Barnett. Earlier, Grant Robertson succeeded in gaining the nomination for Wellington Central, replacing Marian Hobbs. What have all three in common? They have worked in the PM’s Office in the Beehive......

Burns has an even longer association with Parliament. He worked for more than a decade in the Parliamentary press gallery for the Christchurch Press, before becoming editor of the Marlborough Express. He twice stood unsuccessfully for Labour in the Kaikoura electorate......

Basil Morrison, president of the Local Govt Association, has been elected Chairman of the Commonwealth Local Govt Forum......

Brendan Boyle, at present CEO of Land Information NZ has been appointed to be Secretary for Internal Affairs. State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble says Boyle has proven experience as a public service CEO and in his new role will be required to gain and maintain the confidence of six Ministers, and lead around 1300 staff in 17 locations in NZ and in two offshore locations......

Geoff Thorn, General Manager of the Commerce Commission, has been named as General Manager of the Parliamentary Service, filling the vacancy left by Joel George who left on August 31. Before joining the Commerce Commission, Thorn was manager of the special investigations branch, Royal NZ Military Police......

Rick Osborne who was in charge of Govt relations at Air NZ, has left to set up his own business......

The NZ Pacific Business Council is hosting the 2008 Pacific Trade Expo at the Waitakere Trusts Stadium in Auckland on the 5th and 6th of March 2008. The Expo aims to achieve market growth for both New Zealand and Pacific Island businesses.

6th December 2007

New Health Minister David “I run the show” Cunliffe has acknowledged he has a profile problem. Cunliffe went to Auckland Hospital’s accident and emergency department with a broken bone in his foot at the weekend - and they didn’t know who he was. Cunliffe reported he received excellent treatment anyway......

A three-way race appears to be developing for the National nomination for Wellington Central. Likely nominees include a former candidate in Hekia Parata, former ACT MP Stephen Franks and a Rugby Union stalwart and businessman Paul Quinn. Smart money suggests Quinn may well be favoured as a fresh face on the national political scene......

North Shore’s new Mayor Andrew Williams did himself no diplomatic favours with regional colleagues when he failed to turn up to a confidential briefing in his own Council offices on favoured alternatives for a new Waitemata Harbour crossing. Visitors from Auckland local bodies and senior Wellington bureaucrats were stunned at the no show......

A new blue ribbon east Auckland electorate of Botany Downs would appear on the surface to be a natural for National’s list MP Pansy Wong in view of its high Chinese population. But party comment suggests Wong is no certainty. She faces tough competition for the nomination from at least three well known local Nats......

Marc Alexander was one of the more vigorous newcomers for United Future in 2002, though he lasted only one term. Now he is seeking to make a comeback to Parliament, this time in National colours, standing against Jim Anderton in Wigram. Always an optimist, he thinks he can unseat Anderton, who he points out will be 70 in January......

The Electricity Commission’s annual report shows the Deputy Chairman Peter Harris was paid $174,000 in the year, well ahead of what he earned when he was an economic adviser in the office of the Finance Minister, or before as a trade union economist. The Commission’s report says he had an increased workload after Roy Hemmingway departed last year......

NZ’s next High Commissioner to India will be career diplomat Rupert Holborow who is currently co-director of the Asia division at MFAT, and NZ’s senior official for APEC. He will be accredited also to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. He replaces Graeme Waters, who returns to Wellington......

Two hundred prominent NZers paid tribute to Roger Douglas on his 70th birthday in Parliament’s Banquet Hall. The function was organised by his old mate and one-time henchman Richard Prebble......

Sucky spelln rools, ok? queried MP Richard Worth after learning the NZ Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board advised examination candidates: “…writing standards and spelling do not have an impact on the marking by markers who have a minimum of 25 years of experience in the industry.” “Literacy,” Worth wrote, “should be a cornerstone of education policy. Sadly, it appears to be a millstone.”......

Trevor Mallard, already in the Court dock over his alleged assault on Tau Henare, suffered further humiliation on fresh revelations on his role in besmirching former MoE contractor, Erin Leigh. And CEO Hugh Logan was also in the dogbox again, over the same incident.
 

29th November 2007

Opposition Leader John Key called in to the Press Gallery to distribute his new DVD, a 13-minute political spiel paid for by National, not the taxpayer. But it didn’t stop some of the Gallery giving it a hard time. As the NZ Herald’s John Armstrong wrote. “Hold the popcorn. Citizen Kane this isn’t. It’s Citizen Keyin - a 13-minute epic saturated with more artificial sweetener than ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘ET’ combined and which manages to make National’s leader look about as deep as one of ‘The Stepford Wives’.”......

Shane Jones has taken the advice of Annette King to smarten up his appearance now he is a Minister, and shaved off his beard. The move had its upside, it made him look more youthful; and its downside, it took away some of the gravitas he likes to project......

New Statistics Minister, Darren Hughes, also confesses to listening closely to Annette King, who, he says, has been a mentor since she was the MP for the electorate he now holds......

A member of the public lodged an Official Information request with the Ministry of the Environment on the work of Labour Party activist Clare Curran, now the subject of an SSC inquiry. MoE head, Hugh Logan, dropped the request like a hot scone, suggesting the “information to which your request relates is connected more closely to the functions of the Minister.” So how political was her work? And just who employed Curran?......

Former NZ Foreign Minister, Don McKinnon, hangs up his gloves after eight years as Commonwealth Secretary-General on March 31 when India’s High Commissioner to Britain, Kamalesh Sharma, takes over. Meanwhile, at the weekend CHOGM in Kampala, the Queen praised McKinnon’s leadership saying he brought “energy and passion to the stewardship of the Commonwealth” through the first years of a new century......

While Gordon Brown, George Bush, Indonesia’s Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono spoke with Aust’s new PM, Kevin Rudd, on the night of his victory, Helen Clark had to leave a message on his cellphone. Perhaps this is what she was doing when she upset the Queen by texting during Her Majesty’s speech at CHOGM.....

Senior US Foreign Service official John Herbst paid a quiet visit to Wellington this week for a series of high-level MFAT meetings. Herbst, who holds the rank of Ambassador, is co-ordinator of the US Office of Reconstruction and Stabilisation. ......

Wellington QC Robert Dobson has been appointed a High Court Judge. Dobson, a former Bar Association President, will sit in the capital......

NZ has been elected to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. The watchdog for democracy and good governance has two hot issues on its agenda - unrest in Pakistan and problems in Fiji.

22nd November 2007

National’s John Key was cooling off at Scott Base while National’s outrage at the reported back Electoral Finance Bill was running hot this week. Key left on Tuesday for a four-day Antarctic trip, along with Climate Change Minister David Parker and NGO representatives......

Bryan Gould will succeed Dame Margaret Bazley as chair of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology board. Gould was a UK MP for 14 years before coming home as vice-chancellor of Waikato University, a post he held until he retired in 2004. The foundation runs a $450m a year fund......

Grant Robertson has been chosen by the Labour Party to contest Wellington Central in next year’s election. The former adviser to Helen Clark should win the seat given the heavy public service vote in the electorate and National’s talk about slimming down the capital’s bloated bureaucracy. Incumbent is Marian Hobbs with a 6180 majority, she’s standing down......

Notable in the tender notices put out this week by the Government was one circulated on behalf of the Accident Compensation Commission. It sought expressions of interest for the supply of a “Wellbeing Card for Employees.”.....

Former Clerk of the House of Representatives, David McGee, was this week sworn in as the third Ombudsman. Meanwhile the chief Ombudsman, John Belgrave, is reported to have suffered a recurrence of the illness for which he was first treated last year......

Future NZ held its first conference last weekend. Gordon Copeland and Larry Baldock are planning more such events round the country to lift the party’s profile. They were excited 130 delegates turned up at Tauranga......

Polly Schaverien has been appointed to the Board of Meridian Energy (fees, $40,000) a year. Her CV includes a term as senior adviser in the Ministerial office of Trevor Mallard, who is Minister of SOEs. She also sits on the Boards of The Correspondence School, (appointed apparently while Mallard was Education Minister) and of the Met Service......

There’s good gravy in being onside with the Labour Govt. Clare Curran, who got a contract with the MoE (yes, the Ministry that sacked Madeleine Setchell, partner of Chief Press Secretary Kevin Taylor in the Opposition Leader’s office) on the recommendation of Climate Change Minister David Parker was paid $29,400 for a 9-week contract. Curran is the Otago-Southland representative on the Labour Party council, and has her hat in the ring for St Kilda, currently held by David Benson-Pope......

Annette King, one of the most popular personalities in the current Parliament, has one of the toughest assignments in her political career in defending the Electoral Finance Bill. In doing so this week she acquired a new sobriquet, courtesy of columnist Jane Clifton, who described her “flapping and berating like Hyacinth Bucket on the warpath over a broken flower pot.”.....

Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira was the guest this week on Al-Jazeera TV in its Kuala Lumpur studio on a programme which covered Maori land rights and police handling of the so-called terror arrests last month. It was an all-expenses paid trip for Hone......

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed career diplomat Derek Leask will succeed Jonathan Hunt as High Commissioner in London, as first reported in Trans Tasman on September 27.

15th November 2007

Newstalk ZB’s effervescent Barry Soper was spun out of the media team accompanying Winston Peters to North Korea, the first official visit by a NZ minister to the hermit kingdom. Barry was told they had spun a coin in Peters’ office on his application to be on the tour. Given Barry has had run-ins with Peters on two of his previous missions (in Washington notably, and also in South Korea), they probably used a double-headed penny. The chosen hacks for the tour are Fran Mold from TVNZ, Julian Robins from Radio NZ and Anthony Hubbard from the Sunday Star-Times. Reports suggest Peters won’t get to meet and greet the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, but will have to be content with the number two Kim Young-Nam and the Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chan. On top of the agenda will be North Korea’s nuclear programme. It is unlikely the NZers will get to see any of the country’s gulags.......

Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor didn’t do well in the reshuffle but he’s scored a trip to London and Japan. In London he’s going to the UN World Travel Organisation Ministers meeting and in Tokyo he’ll speak at a Japan-NZ Business Council meeting......

Former Marlborough Express editor Brendon Burns wants Labour’s nomination for the safe Christchurch Central seat. Burns has stood twice for Labour in Kaikoura and failed to take the seat from National. After leaving the Express he headed a communications outfit in the Beehive which became known as the Burns Unit......

National’s John Key is heading off to the ice next week, on his first visit to the Antarctic. Travelling courtesy of Antarctica NZ and a US Air Force C-17, he will be visiting Scott Base, the Dry Valley and the Andrill deep drilling site Energy Minister David Parker will also be on the same flight south......

Paul Hargreaves has been reappointed as Chairman of Antarctica NZ, and will continue in the role until July next year. Living Earth director Rob Fenwick, a climate change and sustainable development consultant has been appointed to the Board for a three-year term. Antarctica NZ is a Crown entity, which manages NZ’s national programme in the southern continent. Other board members are Jo Breeze, a former CEO of Worldwide Fund for Nature NZ, retired Defence Secretary Graham Fortune, BNZ Chairman Kerry McDonald, Janice Molloy, a marine conservationist, and John Montgomery who holds the chair in marine science at Auckland University......

Wayne McNee, Pharmac’s CEO, has been named as the next CEO of the Ministry of Fisheries. He replaces Dr John Glaister who has returned to Aust......

Jim Anderton rubbishes speculation he might re-join the Labour Party he left the best part of 20 years ago. The speculation arose from talks Progressive Party president, Matt Robson, had with Labour Party president, Mike Williams. Apparently they were discussing strategies for election year. You get the impression Robson thinks the country needs him back in Parliament and it would be a good idea for Labour to help him back in......

National MPs are going to sell their artwork on TradeMe to raise funds for the party, it’s thought to be the first art auction organised by a political party. John Key has sketched the Beehive and says it’s genuine. The auction will run to November 18.

8th November 2007

The Green’s Meteria Turei left for Papua New Guinea on Tuesday to take part in a training workshop for the country’s MPs. She’s there till the 11th and says she’s going to look into reports villagers are being forced off traditional lands to let in big corporate mining and logging companies. It might not find favour with her hosts......

A treaty was signed this week allowing NZ to hold some of its oil reserves in Japan. the Govt is setting up stores of 100,000 tonnes so it can meet its international emergency reserve obligations, deals have already been made with Aust and the UK because there isn’t enough capacity at home......

The Greens marked the second anniversary of Rod Donald’s death on Tuesday with a gathering at the kowhai tree they planted in Parliament’s grounds......

The Dominion Post referred editorially this week to “cardigan-wearing” public servants when referring to Treasury advice to the Govt over recent years tax cuts were affordable. But this is not a business professional’s view of today’s civil service. Style, strut and sophisticated coffee makers are more common than cardigans and tea trolleys......

The National Party is not having much success with appointments to its Chief Executive Post. Chris Simpson, the current incumbent, follows Greg Sheehan in resigning after several months on the job. Simpson, a former member of the Nats’ Parliamentary Research Unit, says he is leaving for family reasons and moving to Auckland in search of new opportunities. Simpson was recruited from outside the party while Sheehan, who followed business executive Stephen Joyce into the post following the last election, was an internal promotion. President Judy Kirk is likely to face some hard questions as the Nat Board seeks to recruit a new CEO to oversee the party’s organisation in the lead-up to next year’s election......

Uruguay’s President Dr Tabare Vasquez, accompanied by four Cabinet Ministers, and a business delegation, will be visiting NZ next week It is the first time a Uruguyan president has paid a bi-lateral visit to this country. He will have talks with the PM and with Cabinet, and will also visit Lincoln University......

Labour list MP Charles Chauvel, who made it to the top in the legal profession, is not finding it so easy in politics. When he failed to win a post in Cabinet ahead of candidates he apparently thought were less talented, he is said to have thrown a tantrum. It could have damaged his chances for future promotion, as well as for winning the nomination for Wellington Central, ahead of Grant Henderson, at one time a senior adviser in the PM’s office......

Bloggers had a lot of fun over the incident outside the Labour Party conference where Len Richards, partner of Jill Ovens, Northern Secretary of the Service and Food Workers Union, appeared to bludgeon a protester with a megaphone. Richards claimed “I didn’t hit anybody.” But in the blogosphere, they were saying “the megaphone did.” Another added “the megaphone hits the protester, he doesn’t go down, are pinkos thick?”......

The smart money is going on union top gun Don Pryde to knock over David Benson-Pope for the Dunedin South nomination. Labour’s NZ Council, its ruling body, doesn’t interfere with local electorate business but when the EPMU threw its weight behind Pryde, its President, the conclusion around Parliament was some gentle persuasion had been applied.

1st November 2007

Former National Cabinet Minister Roger Sowry will join Wellington-based Govt relations firm Saunders Unsworth as a consultant early next year. Sowry, currently chief executive of Arthritis NZ, was an MP from 1990 to 2005 when he retired from politics. Positions included Chief Whip, Leader of the House and several senior portfolios including Social Services......

Uruguay’s President Tabare Vazquez will visit NZ in mid-November, his first trip here, accompanied by Ministerial and trade delegations......

Auckland barrister Gus Andree Wiltens has been appointed a District Court Judge. He’s been assistant director of prosecutions at the SFO since 1997......

Trade Minister Phil Goff leaves at the weekend for the US and Canada, heading a trade mission to Vancouver, Edmonton and Seattle......

The warmth of relations between Ireland and NZ was toasted vigorously this week at the state lunch for the president of Ireland, Mary McAleese. It helped the wines being served included a Te Mata Coleraine of the 2000 vintage, which some connoisseurs rate among the top wines ever made in this country......

The American health model is anathema to NZ socialists, but Health Minister Pete Hodgson has been in San Francisco talking to health providers and academics and has also attended the 10th Annual Commonwealth Fund symposium on health care in Washington......

A new security control room, complete with video management system of 108 cameras providing coverage of Parliament Buildings’ approaches and entrances, has been opened by the Speaker. The $2.75m project is state-of-the-art, allowing simultaneous live viewing and playback of recorded events. Pity it had not been operating when Trevor Mallard biffed Tau Henare......

As Trans-Tasman indicated last week, with David Benson-Pope slow to take the hint he is no longer wanted on future Labour Party voyages, another candidate has emerged, with the heavyweight support of the engineers’ union, for the Dunedin South nomination.......

Wayne Brown takes over from David Gascoigne as Chairman of national grid operator Transpower. He’s been Deputy Chairman since August 2006, in addition to chairing state-owned Kordia Group......

Labour MP Tim Barnett’s announcement he is not seeking re-election in Christchurch Central came as no surprise to us here at Trans-Tasman. We predicted his forthcoming exit from Parliament in this column in our May 31 issue.

25th October 2007

Former NZ diplomat Jan Beagle has been appointed Deputy Director-General of the United Nations office in Geneva. A 30-year UN veteran, she is currently Assistant Secretary-General for human resources at the UN in New York. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says she will strengthen the overall management capacity and coordination among the organisations of the Secretariat in Geneva.....

Winston Peters has just returned from a European trip which took him to the Netherlands, Sweden and France. In Paris at the weekend he gave a speech inside the giant rugby ball set up to promote NZ at the Rugby world cup. It wasn’t the triumphant event planners had anticipated but the Foreign Minister assured his audience there was more to NZ than just rugby “although after our unexpected exit you may just have to take my word for that.”......

Former high profile public servant Christine Rankin is unlikely to settle as a long-term member of the Auckland Regional Council. Local political figures expect her to use the position to boost her prospects for an eventual run at the North Shore Mayoralty......

Several Ministers were on the move this week, both in and out of Parliament. Steve Maharey, who last week announced he was moving out (but not until next year) was in the US to profile NZ’s sustainability science. Dover Samuels who has also announced he is going was in Broome in Western Aust for a tourist conference. Mark Burton, yet to announce his intentions, was in Aust for the launch of an offshore patrol vessel. And David Parker, who is staying put in Parliament (and may be looking for a significant promotion in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle), was in Bogor Indonesia, for a UN pre-meeting ahead of the Bali conference in December on post-Kyoto Protocol negotiations......

It’s not all beer and skittles in Parliament. Sometimes back-benchers have to front up for some serious brain work as for example last week when NZ First’s ex-schoolteacher Brian Donnelly presided over a quiz sponsored by the Lion Foundation to raise funds for charity. A team calling themselves Socialist Slayers (Paula Bennett, Eric Roy, Mark Blumsky and Katrina Shanks) were losing to their opponents Left Right Out (David Parker, David Benson-Pope plus some staff ring-ins) for 6 rounds but squeaked home 101 to 97......

David “Tennis Ball” Benson-Pope appears to have solid support in his electorate to run again in 2008. But he is not getting much encouragement from the Labour party hierarchy. It’s said to be lining up a candidate of its own......

Exactly five weeks ago in the September 27 issue, Trans-Tasman predicted Trevor Mallard may be targeted by National MPs. “Trevor Mallard who has recently suffered a marital break-up, may come to regret his taunts across the floor of the House about alleged marital infidelities of former National leader Don Brash. Opposition MPs are said to be reluctant to retaliate in kind, but the solidarity may evaporate if Trev starts needling, as he is wont to do, any Opposition MP on his feet.” It has been a surprise, firstly, it took so long to happen and, secondly, it resulted in handbags at 20 paces.
 

18th October 2007

Helen Clark must have been a bit peeved when Fiji’s coup leader Frank Bainimarama was given a rousing welcome at the Pacific Island Forum meeting in Tonga this week. She previously predicted he would be treated “a bit like a leper” if he showed up. Clark, whose arrival at the opening ceremony wasn’t announced, says she didn’t witness Bainimarama’s entry. Aust’s Alex Downer had a quip ready for the occasion, telling reporters they obviously hadn’t seen his own appearance. “They cheered lustily,” said Downer......

CEOs of Govt Departments usually fill their glossy annual reports with glowing tributes to themselves and their staff but Parole Board Chairman David Carruthers broke the tradition this year. Not that he had much choice after the Graeme Burton disaster, which he acknowledged was the cause of national outrage. It was a hard year, said Carruthers, but Board members had supported each other well......

Most parties talk about cutting red tape but the Greens this week went the other way - Sue Kedgley called on the Govt to regulate sunbeds with a legally enforceable standard and a ban on people under 18 using them. “Children as young as 15 are being exposed to very strong ultra-violet rays,” says Kedgley who claims sunbeds can cause serious skin problems. Health Minister Pete Hodgson says he has “no current plans” to meet her demands......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters chose to head off the Northern Hemisphere rather than go to the Pacific Forum, despite his argument he has been re-orienting the country’s foreign aid more to the Pacific. Maybe he thought his itinerary would land him in Paris at the time of the All Blacks picking up the William Webb Ellis trophy......

Now the local body elections are out of the way, Aucklanders will be looking for an early announcement of the personnel for the previously announced Royal Commission on Local Body Governance. But the Govt may be doing a re-think on who it will appoint to the commission......

Despite being immersed in Pacific matters in Tonga, PM Helen Clark did not neglect issuing a statement congratulating Lloyd Jones for being a finalist in the prestigious Man Booker literary award. Expect some mention in the New Year honours list (though unfortunately a knighthood to match that of his property magnate brother is no longer available)......

Environmentalist Joel Cayford was the loser in this week’s accord over the Chairmanship of the 13 member ARC Council. His attempt to dump Mike Lee and side with the centre right failed. He was spurned as “treacherous” by Labour, Greens and C&R alike. Labour-leaning Mike Lee won the leadership 7-6. As a result, Cayford lost his Transport Committee Chairmanship.
 

11th October 2007

Journalists are queuing up to join Foreign Minister Winston Peters on his projected mission to North Korea, the first by any NZ Minister to the benighted country, despite the high costs involved, perhaps $1000 a day. They are eager to witness the meeting of the Great Leader and someone who occasionally gives the impression he is a NZ version......

Rakaia MP Brian Connell has thrown in the towel and will not seek to contest the next election. He parted company with the National Caucus last year, but he leaves with “the best wishes” of Opposition leader John Key......

National frontbencher Judith Collins whose Clevedon electorate underwent major boundary changes at the hands of the Representation Commission was expected to contest the new Botany electorate, but instead is seeking the nomination for the redrawn Papakura seat, where the projected National majority is much less than the 13000 Collins gained in Clevedon in 2005. Collins’s decision could leave Botany open to a vigorous contest for the National nomination, but there are reports National would like to see list MP Pansy Wong stand there. Wong who stood in Auckland Central at the last election might have strong rapport with the growing Asian population in the region and reinforce National’s credentials as the party of choice for ethnic minorities......

Last week the PM was rubbing shoulders with Britain’s Gordon Brown and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, next week it will be Pacific leaders in Tonga. But Clark rejects speculation she will have a bilateral with Fiji’s coup leader Frank Bainimarama. “Out of the question,” she says. The Pacific spirit is clearly going to be absent from this gathering......

Christine Bogle, currently deputy director of Aust division in MFAT, has been named as next High Commissioner to Tonga, replacing Michael McBryde......

Career diplomat Penelope Ridings has been appointed the next Ambassador to Poland. She takes up the appointment next May and will also be accredited to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania......

Another diplomat, Martin Harvey, has been named as the next High Commissioner to Singapore. He takes up the post in January......

Energy Minister David Parker has appointed four new members to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority - Penelope Hulse, Toni Owen, Andrew Pearce and Gregory Sise. Parker says they bring business, finance, transport and housing skills to the authority......

Associate Finance Minister Clayton Cosgrove left on Sunday for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Conference in Guyana. On the way he’s visiting New York and Washington for meetings with US Govt representatives and IMF officials......

Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard was quick to point out, through the Prime Minister’s Office, he has paid some attention to foreign debt, after Trans-Tasman’s Economic Debate suggested it wasn’t something the Govt was concerned about. Mallard provided links to some of his speeches on the subject. Glad to see he can lift himself away from the rugby long enough to keep his “eye on the ball.”
 

4th October 2007

Tauranga MP Bob “The Builder” Clarkson is pondering his political future and says he expects to decide by Christmas whether he’ll stand again in 2008. Clarkson feels Parliament is better off with “bookworm types” and anyway he’s 68 and feels he’s a bit old for the place. But it’s conditional on whether Winston Peters stands again in Tauranga because he’d like to have a second go at giving him a good thrashing. He’s going to have to wait a lot longer than Christmas to find out - Peters is likely to keep everyone guessing up to nomination day......

Justice Minister Mark Burton has appointed Val Sim to the Law Commission, which brings it up to the maximum six members permitted under its statute. Sim has a 27-year track record as a barrister and senior advisor in the Justice Department, she currently heads the Human Rights Team at Crown Law......

Career diplomat Phillip Gibson has been put in charge of NZ’s showcase at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. It’s the biggest yet and Helen Clark says a prime site has been secured......

Labour MP Tim Barnett says civil unions reached the 1000 mark at the weekend, with only one in five between a man and a woman. The gay MP championed the Bill Parliament passed amid uproar in May 2005......

Helen Clark will have barely touched down in NZ next week, after getting back from Europe (and the Rugby World Cup quarter final in Cardiff) than she will be packing her tropical kit for the Pacific Forum in Tonga, and Niue......

Foreign Affairs CEO Simon Murdoch stoically had to take the heat when the Govt claimed it hadn’t been informed about Air NZ’s charter flights to Iraq (though most Wellington insiders did not believe the fault, if any, lay with MFAT). In view of this, it might seem somewhat ironic the same Govt is asking him to serve on beyond the end of his term. He is likely to stay on until after the next election......

Climate Change Minister David Parker last week named 31 business and sector leaders to advise the Govt on details of its climate change policy. But not one scientist was among them. Not even from among the agricultural science sub-set. Yet the most urgent element of the climate change policy is how to cut methane emissions from the dairy herd......

NZ First leader Winston Peters is determined to lift his profile. Not surprising given his party’s dismal poll ratings. He appeared alongside Matthew Ridge in TVNZ’s rather tired show A Game of Two Halves opposing National’s John Key, Marc Ellis et al on Monday night, is due to front up on the same channel’s Agenda programme this week, and also hit out at Helen Clark’s criticism of the parliamentary Rugby team. And he also mounted his old soap-box to condemn National’s policy for partially privatising state assets. “Over my dead body,” he shouted. Isn’t it tempting the political fates, Winston?......

With MFAT deputy secretary Derek Leask lined up to be the next HC in London, another senior trade specialist is expected to succeed him. One option would be Crawford Falconer, but he is fully engaged in Geneva trying to secure the breakthrough which could bring the Doha WTO Round to a conclusion. So it is likely the Ministry will turn to Wade Armstrong, whose most recent diplomatic post was as Ambassador in Brussels.....

Jeremy Seed who has left the office of Defence and Trade Minister Phil Goff has been replaced as Press Secretary by Richard Trow, who transferred from Damien O’Connor’s office.

27th September 2007

Jim Anderton will be acting PM from Saturday through to Thursday while Helen Clark and deputy Michael Cullen are overseas. Clark leaves Sept 28 for Belgium, France and the UK. High level talks in the three countries are scheduled, she’ll attend Passchendaele commemorations and be at the All Blacks World Cup quarterfinal in Cardiff on October 4. As reported by TT last week, Cullen left at the weekend for China, the UK and India......

Peter Dunne is in Canada this week studying income-splitting tax proposals there. He’s due to release a discussion paper on it early next year......

While in New York, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon is hosting a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group which is monitoring events in Fiji and Pakistan. McKinnon’s successor will be chosen at the Commonwealth heads of Govt meeting in Kampala, Uganda, in late November. Front runners include Kamalesh Sharma, India’s High Commissioner to the UK while Malta has nominated its Foreign Minister Dr Michael Frendo......

State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble has announced the appointment of Grant Liddell as CEO and director of the Serious Fraud Office (whose work is soon to be taken over by the Police). Prebble says Liddell will be a capable leader to provide support and direction through the transition. “He will provide good leadership in interdepartmental work which will be critical at this time.” Liddell has been with the Crown Law Office since 1996 and is currently acting deputy Solicitor-General......

The team of MPs on the Speaker’s tour to Germany, The Netherlands and Norway, Jo Goodhew and Kate Wilkinson (National), Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori Party) and Maryan Street (Labour), won’t have much free time. In Berlin they will visit the German Parliament’s two chambers, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, and meet with the head of the Parliamentary Services to discuss the electoral system (on which NZ’s system is modelled) and voting, the deputy Speaker of the Bundestag, and the Mayor of Berlin. In Holland, briefings on the Dutch political system are scheduled and there will be talks with individual Dutch MPs. In Norway, a constitutional briefing and tour of the Norwegian Parliament will precede a number of meetings with ministers and officials. Speaker Wilson says NZ and Norway share common perspectives and positions on many international issues......

Trevor Mallard who has recently suffered a marital break-up, may come to regret his taunts across the floor of the House about alleged marital infidelities of former National leader Don Brash. Opposition MPs are said to be reluctant to retaliate in kind, but the solidarity may evaporate if Trev starts needling, as he is wont to do, any Opposition MP on his feet......

The Parliamentary Rugby team’s jaunt to France, as Trans-Tasman indicated last week, incurred the displeasure of the Beehive’s ninth floor. Eyebrows were raised at the degree of sponsorship. It raised ethical issues about MPs accepting such favours. Now the matter is being referred to the Speaker for consideration. And not just in her capacity as patron of the team.

20th September 2007

The Deputy Prime Minister doesn’t often take extended overseas trips but he’s off on Saturday to China, the UK and India. Michael Cullen’s two week mission is to “highlight economic opportunities and foster research links.” He’s lined up meetings with senior Govt Ministers and officials in those countries including Britain’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and the Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King ......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters isn’t being left out. He left this week for Spain and Portugal for talks with his counterparts in those countries and with the European Union. Portugal currently holds the presidency......

National’s Otago MP Jacqui Dean is the latest victim of the old dihydrogen monoxide trick. Prompted by a constituent, she wrote to Jim Anderton, the Minister in charge of drugs policy, wanting to know his views on this dangerous substance and should it be banned. “I’m not doing anything - it’s water,” replied Anderton, who couldn’t resist raising it in the House. The Green’s Sue Kedgley was caught the same way in 2001, which shows failing to engage the brain is a cross-party thing......

The Speaker Margaret Wilson in the forthcoming parliamentary recess will be leading a group of MPs on a tour to Germany, The Netherlands and Norway......

Clerk of the House David McGee is said to be the leading candidate to fill a vacancy among the country’s Ombudsmen. His appointment is expected to be announced once the Speaker has secured all-party agreement. Deputy Clerk Mary Harris is tipped to succeed McGee......

Chris Harrington who has had a long career with TVNZ has joined David Cunliffe’s office as press secretary......

As a footnote to Damien O’Connor’s difficulties after taking suspended prison officer Jim Morgan with him in the Parliamentary Rugby team to visit France, The Independent this week published a story with the headline “Nice Perks If You Can Get Them” which contained some juicy details of the tour, including sponsorship from Air NZ, Lion Nathan, Visa, McDonald’s, AMP, and Adidas. The tour was organised from O’Connor’s office where Marie Morgan the Senior Private Secretary (and Morgan’s wife), travelled with the team. Among those on the tour was Horowhenua businessman John Cribb, whose partner Kara works in Parekura Horomia’s office, and travelled with the team. Sponsorship for the tour was arranged by Sky TV’s director of communications Tony O’Brien. Sean Rota, one-time executive assistant to former Speaker Jonathan Hunt served as an intermediary with sponsor Adidas. In Paris the team (including co-manager, O’Connor’s brother Gerard), was based at the Mercure Hotel, and besides winning the inter-Parliamentary cup, attended several receptions. Other MPs on the tour included Murray McCully, Mark Blumsky, and Shane Jones while MPs travelling with their partners included Pita Paraone (with Elva Paraone), John Carter (with Leoni Winch) Colin King (with Laressa King) and Chris Tremain (with Angela Tremain). The Parliamentary Rugby team’s recent performance has incurred the wrath of the Beehive’s ninth floor. Details of the sponsorship will have added to the displeasure.
 

13th September 2007

ACT’s Heather Roy says guests at the launch of an international company’s NZ branch were “left openly bemused” after being addressed by Foreign Minister Winston Peters. Roy says in her newsletter “to a room full of largely foreign nationals he opened with a quote from Star Wars...appeared to fold up his prepared speech, made negative remarks about foreign investment and concluded with ‘May the Force be with you.’ Maybe it was the full moon.”......

Helen Clark is obviously well aware of the Departmental problems Damien O’Connor has had to deal with. “I think continuing as Minister of Corrections is the punishment, not the other way around” she quipped to those asking about his future......

The Green’s Keith Locke has figures showing Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has met just four times since the last election - a total two hours and 38 minutes. He says “it must be the least active security committee in the world outside of dictatorships.” He wants much closer scrutiny of the SIS and GCSB......

The SIS meantime is sprucing up its image with a revamped website. Its Minister Helen Clark, says the aim is to improve communication with the public. Find out all about it at <www.nzsis.govt.nz>......

If the Doha global trade round fails, who do we blame? National’s John Key has the answer. Speaking to the US/NZ business and trade summit this week, he noted three NZers have played central roles in the current Doha Round – Mike Moore, the former WTO Director-General; Tim Groser, the former Chair of Agricultural Negotiations and now a National List MP – and Groser’s successor, Crawford Falconer. “So you know who to blame if the Doha Round doesn’t work – it must be a NZer.” While the APEC summit pledged support for the Doha global trade round, it was a case of preaching largely to the converted as some of the key players, notably South Africa, India and Brazil, not being APEC members, were absent......

National’s Parliamentary Rugby team cheerleader Murray McCully was uncharacteristically slow to sniff out the O’Connor political blue. He confessed to not knowing his fellow team member and Corrections Department officer at the centre of O’Connor’s problem was under suspension.

6th September 2007

Christopher Blake has been appointed the new Secretary of Labour, replacing James Buwalda who resigned in May this year. Blake is currently CEO of the Department of Internal Affairs, which leaves a vacancy there. State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble says the process to find someone for that job will start immediately......

District Court Judge Marcus Robinson has been appointed a temporary Associate Judge of the High Court, he’ll sit in Auckland......

Atomic energy expert and WMD searcher Hans Blix had a neat one-liner in his speech at a function in Parliament: “Diplomats think twice before saying nothing, which is better than not thinking at all and saying something stupid.” Seems he’s had some problems with politicians in the past......

Helen Clark says she isn’t worried about dropping 18 places in the latest Forbes Magazine rating of the world’s most powerful women. She’s down from 20 last year to 38. She says, “Women in very big international organisations tend to rate more highly than Prime Ministers of little countries.They seem to have found more of them this time.”......

Veteran MP and Nat foreign affairs spokesman Murray McCully describes himself as an “international athlete.” This self-description was included in advice to readers of his weekly newsletter that it won’t be distributed before his return from France as part of the team contesting the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup. Parliamentary wags quipped they hoped he’d managed sufficient local training to fit him for the French sporting stage......

The All Blacks aren’t sure whether the presence of Economics Minister Trevor Mallard in Marseilles to support them and promote NZ’s trade interests, is good news or bad. The last time he turned up to promote NZ teams abroad was in Valencia where the NZ team was pipped on the post in the finals. Mallard is going on to Canada for talks before heading to New York where he will represent the Govt at UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s global climate change summit ahead of the UN General Assembly......

National MP Tim Groser’s former MFAT colleagues are chortling away at Mike Moore’s latest round in his fire-fight with Labour and Jim Anderton. Criticising Anderton for policy flip-flops including global trade, Moore, also takes a swipe at Groser, whose “modesty will be his downfall. He should remind people it was he who first climbed Everest, split the atom, produced Lord of the Rings, and invented rugby.”

30th August 2007

Peter Dunne has proved he’s got his finger on the peoples’ pulse, saying “many voters already think all politicians are a waste of space.” He was lamenting the personality politics which have been going on in Parliament as Labour attacks John Key - Dunne thinks this will simply confirm what many voters already think......
 

23rd Augut 2007

Labour thinks National’s leader John Key is a media freak. Jill Pettis told Parliament “We’re running a sweep on how often he looks up at the press gallery when he makes a speech. He’s going to need a chiropractor before long.”......

“It’s based on science alright - political science.” Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton reckons he’s seen through the Aussie ban on NZ apples......

After saying Aust Ministers would be better off staying out of NZ politics, Helen Clark had to field a tricky question at her post-Cabinet press conference: What did she think about Kevin Rudd’s visit to a New York strip club? “I have my own personal views about it, as a woman,” she said after just a brief hesitation. “I won’t comment except to say I don’t consider it appropriate quote entertainment unquote.”......

The Green’s Sue Bradford had to admit it was a fortunate coincidence when she launched the Buy Kiwi Made campaign this week just as an inquiry was announced into formaldehyde in Chinese garments. “Buy Kiwi Made, be on the safe side,” she quickly improvised......

A hot topic this week has been why defence minister Phil Goff reacted with such strong language to the carriage by Air NZ of Aust troops to the Middle East. A consensus view is the Minister is burnishing his leadership credentials with the left of the Labour Party, some of whom cast an eye in his direction over news items reporting Steve Maharey is interested in a Vice-Chancellor’s position at Massey University......

Officials on the ninth floor of the Beehive are bracing for a flood of papers with the four-letter-word Iraq in them marked for the attention of the Prime Minister. Ministries and Departments are well known to be assiduous in meeting the PM’s expressed desires. Now she says she wants to see all communications pertaining to the war-torn state, public sector comment is she’ll get them by the bucketful.....

Trouble in New Plymouth for the Nats at a time when prospects of unseating Labour incumbent Harry Duynhoven have rarely looked brighter. Factional infighting has broken out between the party’s old guard and feisty activists from the northern electorate town of Waitara. A Duynhoven Nat predecessor and one term MP John Armstrong has reportedly resigned his membership. Epithets are flying between members of the two groups. Central North Island Regional Chairwoman Jo Stuart went to the city mid-week to act as peacemaker......

Auckland’s frequently denigrated transport planners scored a plus this week. Red roses, chocolates and a bottle of French champagne were handed out to passengers on the Auckland Regional Transport Authority’s Northern Express bus service linking the North Shore to Auckland city. The millionth passenger on the two-year-old service got the champagne. The ARTA celebrated this milestone being reached three months earlier than predicted.......

Burgeoning communications sections within Govt agencies are taking their skills into the private sector. Offers of promotional activities at no charge in support of sector events and activities backed by ministries and departments as a matter of policy are now commonplace in the capital. The ITC sector has been a major beneficiary......

The “Brown Bros” of Auckland radio waves, John Tamihere and Willie Jackson are both taking to the Mayoralty election stump in Waitakere and Manukau respectively this year.

16th August 2007

Attorney-General Michael Cullen has announced the appointment of two new High Court judges - Peter Woodhouse QC and Ailsa Duffy QC......

There’s a party next week for one of the Beehive’s top staffers. Michael Cullen is losing his Press Secretary Mike Jaspers. The Finance Minister is expected to be looking for a duo to replace him, with Govt Communications officer Jason Knauf tipped as one of them......

Spotted on TradeMe this week: “Now available to the highest bidder. Comes with a $67bn budget and control over our armed forces, police, health, education and welfare systems, international policy and much more. The Electoral Finance Bill does nothing to stop you bidding anonymously, or through a secret trust, so get in.” The website soon took down the Coalition for Open Govt’s offer to sell - it expects ads to be real......

Spot the difference: United Future is now UnitedFuture. It’s part of a “revitalisation” process ahead of next year’s election, says leader Peter Dunne. It’s got a new logo as well, looks like a purple cup with a blob of avocado in it......

The Govt isn’t far off announcing terms of reference and membership of two big inquiries, the panel to deal with political party funding and the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the best way to run Auckland. Helen Clark says lists of names are being considered......

Animated discussion centres on the prospect next year’s election will be something of a public verdict on MMP. It becomes more intense as public opinion polls continue to reflect the possibility National may be able to govern without a coalition partner. Labour acolytes speak bitterly of the adverse spin-off to Labour from public reaction to Sue Bradford’s anti-smacking legislation. They consider it to have been forced on Labour by coalition arrangements. Patience with the restrictions imposed on potential legislative initiatives by the need to forge consensus among coalition partners is wearing thin......

There is doubt in the Parliamentary lobbies local Govt will get the benefit of a petrol tax to pay for major regional projects such as Auckland’s electrification of its commuter rail network. NZ First and United Future are against imposition of the tax. Without their support Labour will find mustering a majority extremely difficult in the face of National opposition......

Auckland Regional Council Chairman Mike Lee has a spring in his step as local authority election day looms. He’s heading a fresh political ticket - Regional People. Initial sign ups to stand for the ARC are veteran Nuclear Free NZ campaigner Maire Leadbetter, commercial lawyer Shale Chambers, a member of the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust, and Dr Ian Scott, a member of the Auckland DHB. Lee says a culture change is needed at the ARC. “We will bring back the ethic of public service.”

9th August 2009

John Key and his deputy Bill English, the targets of Labour-inspired rumours about how much they don’t have in common, have started telling jokes about each other to show they’re really good mates. This tactic was launched at National’s conference last weekend. Key: I got a haircut, and he says to me I should have got a hair transplant instead. English: I said to him “you didn’t take my advice” and he says “mate, that’s why I’m doing so well.” Okay, we didn’t say they were GOOD jokes.....

National’s David Carter has put his name forward for the new Selwyn electorate which swallowed up Rakaia, which seems sure to end the political career of Brian Connell who holds the Rakaia seat and is still suspended from caucus. Connell says he won’t bother making a bid unless his colleagues welcome him back in the next few weeks - which seems unlikely......

Gary Taylor, a long-term political associate of Helen Clark, is a fresh figure being touted as a member of the Royal Commission into Auckland governance. Taylor has a long history of involvement in Auckland local Govt, has environmental advocacy credentials and is currently a Board member of regional infrastructure bodies......

Even though they are faced with a Royal Commission to work through governance issues Auckland local authorities continue to bicker between themselves. This week Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey told the Auckland Regional Council its moves to restrict filming in parts of west Auckland were “just crazy.” ARC Chairman Mike Lee says he felt “snubbed” after not being given what he considered to be adequate notice of an Auckland City proposal to place light rail in downtown Auckland. City Mayor Dick Hubbard rejected a claim his council was taking a “me first” approach to waterfront development......

Trevor Mallard and David Parker, the two Ministers who have the statutory duty for assessing Dubai Aerospace Enterprise’s bid for control of Auckland Airport, spent some time outside the Govt Caucus, presumably while the rest of Caucus was briefed on the issue. Earlier in the week, Helen Clark said any views which other Ministers might wish to express about the proposal, had to be done out of earshot of Mallard and Parker, in case their decision became subject to legal challenge. But Trade Minister Phil Goff had effectively shot down the bid at the weekend......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters may be getting allergic to missions abroad. He apparently picked up an infection in Manila and returned to NZ at the weekend, only to be confined to his Auckland home for the first three days of the week. He was due to hold an important session with the ASEAN Secretary-General on Thursday. On an earlier visit to Malaysia, Peters suffered a debilitating insect attack.

2nd August 2007

Is there a prospect of NZ having a Courts versus the media showdown over police wishing to interview a Sunday Star-Times journalist in connection with the three-year-old Don Brash e-mail leaks affairs? The newspaper said police had asked to speak to one of its journalists about the case but editor Cate Brett says it is “not appropriate” to assist police in their inquiries on this matter......

Some people never change - like Sir Roger Douglas. He says Govt spending is now $20bn a year higher than it was in 2000 and if this was applied to tax cuts, nearly all income tax could be abolished. As for the country, well it’s heading for third-world status and the system of Govt is fatally flawed......

Trade Minister Phil Goff is attending the Pacific Islands Forum Trade Minister’s meeting in Vanuatu on this week, pushing for action on a regional trade agreement......

Finance Minister Michael Cullen is in Coolum for an APEC Ministerial meeting, returning August 4......

Onetime Alliance Party deputy leader Sandra Lee who served a term as a Minister in the first Clark-led coalition has done rather well out of Govt appointments since she left Parliament. She was High Commissioner in Niue from 2003 to 2005, and has now been appointed to the Board of Te Papa, along with Professor Ngatata Love. They fill vacancies left by retiring members Mark Solomon and Josie Karanga......

Oscar Kightley has been appointed to the Creative NZ council, replacing Peter Brunt who has served two terms. Helen Clark says Kightley will bring valuable skills and insight of Pacific creative communities to the council......

Were those National MPs grandstanding over the cancellation of the so-called Select Committee “junket” to Melbourne? It did seem the itinerary became a bit light, after the Canberra leg of the visit was taken out. And do MPs need to fly business class on flights across the Tasman?......

Old enmities die hard. Progressive Party Deputy Leader Matt Robson could not resist plucking a quote out of Hansard from the days when Winston Peters was Treasurer in the Bolger-Shipley Govt. Noting Peters’ outburst over the bid by Dubai interests for Auckland airport, Robson recalled Peters saying in his 1998 budget speech “where non-strategic interests are concerned, NZers must make a choice. We have low-returning funds locked up in businesses like airports and coal mines…

Accordingly we are negotiating with other local Govt shareholders to divest the Crown’s ownership interest in Auckland international airport.”......

Talking of our Foreign Minister, he’s been in Manila for the post-Asean dialogue, after a visit to South Korea. He is also attending an East Asian Summit meeting ahead of November’s summit in Singapore. In Manila, he says he accepted an invitation to visit North Korea at some later date.

26th July 2007

Former ACT MP Ken Shirley’s appointment as CEO of the Researched Medicines Industry Association brought a strange response from Winston Peters, who says “Ken Shirley has very little standing within Parliamentary circles and will be thoroughly tested should he seek to engage with politicians on anyone’s behalf.” Peters is urging the Association to reconsider the appointment. Could this be an obscure joke? No one could see the funny side......

While Helen Clark was away in Indonesia, Acting PM Michael Cullen took questions on her behalf in Parliament. It got tricky when he was asked “does she have confidence in the Minister of Finance?” Well, yes she does......

The Greens’ Keith Locke offered an interesting sidelight in Tuesday’s snap debate on the Madeleine Setchell affair. Locke noted the political adviser in David Benson-Pope’s office, Steve Hurring, the man who made the phone call to the head of the MoE Hugh Logan inquiring about the status of Setchell (without apparently telling Benson-Pope) is in a relationship with Helen Kelly, the incoming president of the Council of Trade Unions. Hurring is a former Vice-President of the Labour Party - but this doesn’t mean, if you believe the political spin, his call to Logan, which effectively led to the sacking of Setchell from her new job in the MoE represented “political interference.” Presumably he was just inquiring about Setchell’s well-being?......

Politicians led by Speaker Margaret Wilson, journalists, and public servants filled St Andrews-on-the Terrace for a memorial service to Fraser Folster, who worked in Parliament Buildings over a period of 25 years, first in the Press Gallery, then as a press secretary to various Ministers, and finally on the radio Today in Parliament programme. Folster who died aged 54 had the political scoop of the century, but wasn’t able to take advantage of it. When he was in hospital in 1989 recovering from cancer, David Lange told him in confidence he was going to resign as Prime Minister the following day......

After 11 years on the board of the NZ Symphony Orchestra, Joe Pope is retiring. His place will be taken by Peter Diessl, who is currently vice-chair of the Chamber Music NZ board, and has wide experience in finance, investment, international diplomacy and music management......

Helen Clark is unlikely to attend a UN conference on climate change in New York on September 24 just before the General Assembly convenes. With visits scheduled to the APEC summit early in September and to Europe in late September, there was no way she could fit the New York meeting into her diary. She is also taking part in the 100th anniversary of Dominion Day in Wellington on September 26, as well as a century of publication of Wellington’s “Dominion” newspaper, now “The Dominion-Post.”

19th July 2007

Helen Clark was in Kuala Lumpur this week and reported a breakthrough in problems which had been holding up FTA negotiations with Malaysia. She says officials will start discussing free trade in services, which had been “a red line issue” for Malaysia in the past......

National’s John Key got some bad news on the first night of his recent family holiday in Hawaii - his house in Parnell was burgled......

Labour’s Caucus meeting on Tuesday morning was even shorter than usual. Members left after little more than an hour. Perhaps it was because Helen Clark was away in Malaysia, and nobody wanted to take a decision without her?......

Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard was due to attend both the netball test against Aust on Wednesday and the rugby test on Saturday, wearing of course his Sports Minister hat......

Dover Samuels, who last week celebrated his 68th birthday, is being included among those Labour MPs due to take part in the party’s rejuvenation process, though he has yet to confirm it. Meanwhile he is leading a Maori tourism delegation to Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, and Guangzhou......

The long-run saga of Auckland’s governance was on the Beehive agenda this week, with a meeting involving Local Govt Minister Mark Burton and Auckland Mayoral Forum chairman John Robertson and officials. Helen Clark is reported to have been calling for more effective progress on the issue......

There’s been a bit of an exodus from the ranks of Ministerial press secretarial in the Beehive. Those close to the action say it’s because of the state of the polls, or the inevitability of change at the next election (in any case, press secretaries get four months salary if they are displaced at an election). Mark Burton’s press secretary Kallon Basham is going overseas, Chris Carter’s Nick Maling, who has been in the job for 5 years, is going to Housing NZ as senior media adviser and David McLoughlin has left David Cunliffe’s office......

James Caygill who has an impeccable political pedigree has left the office of the Prime Minister to return to a job in Christchurch. Some within the Labour Party are hoping he has the kind of political ambition which took his father into top ranks of Govt in the Lange and Palmer administrations......

Keen interest is being taken in Parliamentary circles in what political influence, if any, was exerted from the Beehive in the termination of employment as communications manager in the Ministry of the Environment of the partner of John Key’s chief press secretary, Kevin Taylor......

The Prime Minister would be well advised not to pontificate on the morality of Kiwis who decide to holiday in Fiji. For some of the thousands of Kiwis who enjoyed this experience during the recent school holidays the only sign of disruption was indignation and mirth over her rather inopportune outburst.

12th July 2007

Jim Anderton left on Monday for the US and Mexico to meet political and agriculture industry leaders, returning July 22......

Clayton Cosgrove is in Palau for the Pacific Island Forum’s economic Ministers meeting, returning July 14......

Helen Clark is making an official visit to Malaysia and Indonesia next week. The timing of the visit is around the 50th anniversary of NZ’s diplomatic relationship with Malaysia, which began in the year of Malaysia’s independence in 1957. She is travelling to Indonesia despite Aust’s warning of a heightened security risk......

Jane Alison Farish, a Christchurch barrister and solicitor with extensive experience in the criminal jurisdiction in the District Court, High Court and Court of Appeal, has been appointed a District Court judge. Since September 1992 she has been a Crown Prosecutor with Raymond Donnelly and Co, and was admitted to partnership in 2000......

Speaker Margaret Wilson had a welcome break from Parliament’s routine during the recess, representing NZ at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s 38th Australian and Pacific regional presiding officers’ and clerks’ conference in Rarotonga......

National’s John Key has also been enjoying sunnier climes. He’s taken a few days R&R in Hawaii. His next big gig is likely to be the National Party conference in Auckland early next month, which party stalwarts say will be “quite different” from last year’s. It could be the stage where some of the older hands might get the message “not wanted on voyage,” as Key makes a pitch to the women’s vote by bringing some of the promising women members of his crew to the forefront......

Peter O’Hara’s departure from his role in the Fairfax Group in NZ took journalists by surprise. Apparently his job is being split in two and he decided to “move on.” He has been one of the most popular figures in the industry......

Who’s claiming parenthood for the idea of siting a pavilion in the shape of a Rugby ball in front of the Eiffel Tower during the final stages of the Rugby World Cup? It’s an example of NZ’s “new thinking,” says Helen Clark. But how will it look if we don’t win the Cup?......

Hone Harawira’s blast at Aust’s John Howard (“he’s a racist bastard”) was the kind of comment which damages the Maori Party’s image as moderate and constructive, even if a lot of Australians agree with it. For Howard of course his initiative in the Northern Territory was not only long overdue, it actually strengthened his poll ratings. What Harawira missed was the Northern Territory’s failure to deal with the plight of the Aborignal people actually brought the Federal intervention. The fracas has resulted in an apology being made to Howard by Ngapuhi leader David Rankin, who says Harawira disgraced Maoridom, and gave the impression Ngapuhi is condoning child abuse and armed uprising. Rankin says “Hone’s comments are a disgrace and his efforts should be aimed at problems in Northland - in his own electorate - instead of overseas.”

5th July 2007

Lone ranger Nat MP Brian Connell seemed unfazed when he got into political hot water with his former leader Don Brash. Now, according to pre-publicity for a Plumbing World conference at San Francisco in September, he is looking forward to making new friends when he attends the event. Connell will be there on behalf of Peter Cocks Ltd, manufacturers of domestic hot water cylinders......

Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor is looking forward to a million Aussies a year visiting NZ, and says it won’t be long now because in the 12 months to April there were 913,276. They won’t all come at the same time......

Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen has announced Jim Donovan has been appointed interim Chairman of the Tertiary Education Commission until a permanent appointment is made. Donovan is a member of the Commission......

Latest Minister to join the flight of the godwits is Lianne Dalziel who is to visit the US later in the month. Under her Commerce portfolio, she will visit Washington DC and New York. While in New York, she will call at the UN for discussions on continuing the struggle to eliminate discrimination against women.......

Rodney Hide has written a soon-to-be-published book “My Year of Living Dangerously.” Apparently it tells how in signing up for Dancing with the Stars his life was transformed. The old perk-buster is gone. Now he’s in touch with a kinder, softer Rodney, found new allies in surprising places, and most critically stopped thinking and acting like a fat man. The book puts his Parliamentary colleagues, past and present under the spotlight, and shares his secrets for health and fitness. But is this what the voters of Epsom thought they were getting when they put a tick alongside his name in 2005?......

The National team of John Key, Murray McCully and Tim Groser which went to Washington last week had a warm welcome at the Pentagon, and didn’t have to suffer the usual lecture about NZ’s anti-nuclear policy. This may have been because Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence James Clad was at law school at Auckland University with National’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Murray McCully......

Wellington insiders are speculating why the Govt has been so coy about announcing the appointment of retiring CTU president Ross Wilson as Chairman of ACC. The post has been vacant since David Collins was appointed Solicitor General last year. Could it be the Govt fears a backlash from employers who could think the odds will be stacked against them by such a politically loaded jobs-for-the-boys appointment?......

The Govt has also been slow to confirm David Caygill’s appointment as the next Electricity Commissioner, succeeding Roy Hemmingway who left last year complaining of political interference. But the Caygill announcement has been “parked” while he serves as Labour’s nominee on the Representation Commission drawing up new electoral boundaries......

A lot of credit for securing recognition of Corporal Willy Apiata’s act of bravery under fire in Afghanistan goes to former CDS Air Vice-Marshall Bruce Ferguson, who doggedly pursued the award for several years......

The US Independence Day celebration in Wellington hosted by Ambassador McCormick brought a huge and enthusiastic crowd out to the Massey University auditorium in Buckle Street. The crowd was hard to shift given the fine wines and food served.
 

28th June 2007

Opposition MPs were intrigued by the sight of a table in Bellamys where many of the Labour MPs said to have been lined up as the victims of the so-called rejuvenation process were seated. Then Helen Clark accompanied by Mark Gosche joined the table. As Parekura Horomia wandered in and looked as if he was heading to the table, the Nat’s Gerry Brownlee called out to him. “Don’t go there, it’s the table of death.” Parekura looked suitably confused......

The Govt has been assured by all state-owned enterprises none of them are using paid informants to spy on those opposed to their actions......

National MPs have taken to taunting Labour women MPs with the phrase “get back on your broomstick,” particularly persistent interjectors, like Jill Pettis. This week it was Judith Tizard who got the treatment from Northcote MP. Jonathan Coleman. Tizard demanded an apology but Deputy Speaker Ann Hartley refused to order Coleman to say sorry, saying it was a “robust” debate. But then he did when Tizard said she “deeply, deeply” resented the sexist language......

Helene Ambler, who has been a member of the Newstalk ZB team in the Press Gallery for several years, is joining the press staff of the National Party in Parliament......

Sports Minister Trevor Mallard is back in Valencia, doing his thing for Team NZ in the America’s Cup final. Mallard also visited during the Louis Vuitton series before joining Helen Clark on a trade mission to Aust......

European Union Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner had a busy week in Wellington, meeting senior Ministers and having dinner with Helen Clark......

Rising stars, Labour’s Shane Jones and National’s Chris Finlayson are off overseas this week, and will be visiting Israel, at an interesting time in Middle East history......

Besides Trevor Mallard escaping the capital’s wintry weather, Lianne Dalziel has been in Cairns for Apec Women in Business conference......

The Govt will be represented by the right people at Te Papa’s Matariki gala dinner: Parekura Horomia, Judith Tizard, and Mahara Okeroa......

Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Dr Meldi Safari had talks with Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton......

Finance Minister Michael Cullen has announced Hugh Fletcher had been reappointed to Board of the Reserve Bank. Fletcher will serve a further five year term as a non-executive director. The term expires in June 2012. Fletcher is currently Chair of the board of directors of IAG NZ and a board director of Fletcher Building. He also has a number of other private and voluntary sector board appointments......

National Party scuttlebutt is there’s unlikely to be any change in the party’s Board of Directors at this year’s annual conference early in August. Nominations are due to close and there are no signs of challenge to President Judy Kirk or four Board members up for re-election......

After months of speculation, Telecom has finally confirmed who will replace outgoing CEO Theresa Gattung at the top of the company. He is Dr Paul Reynolds, head of UK telco BT Wholesale. Reynolds will succeed Gattung, who leaves Telecom on Friday after twelve years at the company

21st June 2007

Patience wasn’t a virtue when the Dalai Lama was half an hour late for his appointment with politicians in Parliament on Tuesday. Irritable reporters staking out the corridors urged each other to be calm and seek inner tranquillity. When he did arrive National’s John Key agreed to photos but Winston Peters’ office refused to even tell media when the NZ First leader’s meeting with the Dalai Lama was taking place - and the entire floor was closed......

Parliament appointed a new Abortion Supervisory Committee but not until two attempts to change the Govt’s proposed membership had been voted down. Prof Jane Holloway is its Chairman and members are Dr Rosemary Fenwicke and Patricia Allan......

Ministers have welcomed the establishment of a new group to promote NZ’s international business growth. The International Business Forum is sponsored by leading companies and sector organisations. Trade Minister Phil Goff and Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel have promised full support ......

David Noble, currently the Legal Director/Chief Legal Adviser in the Department of Education and Skills in London, has been appointed as Chief Parliamentary Counsel and Compiler of Statutes. Helen Clark says Noble is a very experienced lawyer and manager of legal staff. He has worked in the Civil Service in the UK for 20 years after being called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1981. Until Noble takes up the position in October, Ian Jamieson will be appointed as Chief Parliamentary Counsel from July 1, when the incumbent George Tanner QC retires......

There’s no love lost between ACT leader Rodney Hide and NZ First leader Winston Peters, even though, some would say, they have matching egos. When Hide accused the Govt of an “election lie” in Parliament, Peters took a point of order to mock Hide offending against the code of conduct adopted by ACT (and other parties) last week. Hide responded saying he was perfectly within the rules by talking of an election lie. “Maybe Mr Peters is getting to an age where he’s struggling to follow (what’s going on).”......

Meanwhile a code of conduct for public servants was launched in Parliament on Wednesday. It covers 120 agencies and 100,000 employees. The standards of integrity and conduct cover four areas: fairness, impartiality, responsibility and trustworthiness...... Maori MP Hone Harawira upstaged United Future’s Peter Dunne, awaiting the Dalai Lama’s arrival at Parliament on Tuesday. Harawira had just been for a run, and discovering from journalists what was going on, stood besides Dunne, and then as the Dalai Lama arrived, burst into a Maori welcome, greeting the funky monk with a hongi. The Dalai Lama responded by clasping Harawira’s hand and leading him up the steps, much to the chagrin of Dunne, who followed behind......

Victoria University old boy Alan Eggers who trousered $A70m when he sold his shares in the company he founded Summit Resources to fellow-uranium explorer and miner Paladin Resources is giving $1m to the Antarctic Research Centre for research into global warming. Eggers, now living in Perth, was a member of the university’s 1975 Antarctic expedition......

Mental Health Commissioner Mary O’Hagan has resigned, effective from July 27. Appointed in 2000, she will return to her consultancy......

Peter Dunne gave that dead horse, a capital gains tax, a rare old flogging in Parliament. And he thinks knee-jerk reactions to taming inflation will hi-jack the whole process. Surprising he didn’t manage a reference to Alan Bollard’s use of a pea-shooter in the money markets.

14th June 2007

Spotted in Apia’s Presbyterian Church for a 90 minute service on Sunday last week was Taito Phillip Field with wife Maxine and his family. Pacific Island travellers say the independent MP is working Samoan networks really hard in both Auckland and Samoa......

Rodney Hide says he’s a changed man. Others are taking a wait and see attitude. Hide and his bench-mate Heather Roy have signed up to a new code of conduct for MPs drafted by minor parties and Parliament’s bad boy says if he can do it, anyone can. NZ First MP Peter Brown has his doubts saying “we don’t need the likes of Rodney Hide preaching virtue to us. He’s been sent out the House umpteen times and he’s laying down the law? His behaviour has been absolutely disgraceful.” No way, says Hide. “I think I have demonstrated anyone can change and change for the better.”......

Arts and Culture Minister Helen Clark has appointed Alastair Carruthers as the new Chairman of Creative New Zealand. Carruthers, CEO of top law firm Chapman Tripp, originally trained as a classical musician and is currently Chairman of Creative NZ’s Arts Board......

Attorney General Michael Cullen has appointed Timaru lawyer Jocelyn Munro a District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant......

Adrian Simcock has been appointed official secretary at Govt House, replacing Andrew Renton-Green who is retiring. Simcock worked in MFAT for many years, serving as High Commissioner in India, Samoa, and Fiji, and the Cook Islands......

Long-time refugee Ahmed Zaoui gets his day in (closed) court in Auckland beginning on July 9. If the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Paul Neazor confirms he is a security risk, the tough decision whether to deport him will be over to Cabinet......

Helen Clark has accepted an invitation from Fifa President Sepp Blatter to become honorary President of next year’s inaugural under-17 Women’s Football World Cup in NZ. Clark says she had no hesitation backing a sport “clearly on the move.”......

There didn’t seem to be the same enthusiasm for a meeting with the Dalai Lama, who is paying a visit to Wellington. Apparently “the PM is considering her diary for next week.” But Foreign Minister Winston Peters is to have a session with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader......

Anton Oliver seemed a bit confused when he opposed Meridian Energy’s Project Hayes wind farm in submissions he presented in Alexandra this week. In a radio interview, he at first said he was not himself opposing the wind turbines for their visual impact, but later said the main objection was “visual.” And it seemed he didn’t have much idea about the proposed capacity of the wind farm as distinct from the energy it will generate......

Jim Anderton is being hailed as a rainmaker after his visit to drought-stricken Hawkes Bay and the East Coast. Rain fell solidly there this week. So Jim’s heading back there to see how things are going. Expect more pluviality.
 

7th June 2007

Cabinet Ministers are on the move this month, with Phil Goff in East Timor visiting the troops, Annette King in Britain, Belgium, Spain and Singapore for transport and police meetings, Pete Hodgson at an APEC Health Ministers meeting in Sydney and Ruth Dyson visiting Switzerland for an ILO conference. Chris Carter has just returned from the International Whaling Commission meeting in Alaska......

Labour’s junior whip Darren Hughes has had better weekends - drafted in at the last minute to present a Labour presence at the Green’s annual talk-fest in Nelson to counter National’s Nick Smith, he had to make an early exit to deal with his burgled Kapiti home......

Jeff Langley, currently deputy director of the South and South-east Asia Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been appointed to the post of High Commissioner in Vanuatu. He is to replace Paul Willis in August......

Commonwealth Bank chief Ralph Norris has named one of his up-and-coming lieutenants Ross McEwan as head of retail banking. Australian reports suggest it is a “whirlwind promotion” for McEwan who moved to the Commonwealth’s HQ in Sydney just 6 months ago, after a 4-year spell with the bank’s NZ subsidiary, ASB. 49 year old McEwan is also well known in Wellington where he was CEO of AXA for several years......

Would this be an item for Ripley’s “Believe It or Not?” Mercury Energy’s industry-leading service was recognised last September when the team won the highly coveted Customer Relationship Management award, for best customer service in the energy retail industry, the third year Mercury won the award. Wonder if it will be entering again this year?......

Ex-Gore boy Doug Heffernan probably wished he was back in his old home town at the Golden Guitar festival last week. Instead he was having to face a different kind of music as head of SOE Mighty River Power in the wake of the furore over a contractor cutting off electricity to the home of a South Auckland family, where Folole Muliaga subsequently died. Whether the PR disaster will cost him his $870,000-a-year job is unclear......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has been in Tonga this week, ahead of that country hosting this year’s Pacific Islands Forum. Peters says the forum is a big undertaking for Tonga and there are a number of pressing regional issues for consideration. Tonga’s social and economic recovery was also on the agenda for Peters’ talks with Tongan leaders......

Tanya Harris is the Reserve Bank’s new chief information officer, replacing Yogesh Anand who is going to the Bank of International Settlements as head of information technology services.
 

31st May 2007

Christchurch Central MP Tim Barnett has told colleagues in the Labour Party he is contemplating retirement at the next election to seek fresh challenges. Is an overseas posting beckoning?......

Why Is NZ First’s Ron Mark upgrading his security? His Christchurch office has recently been fitted with a sophisticated electronic lock, with remote release mechanism. It has already been repaired several times......

Helen Clark will lead a business mission to Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales next month. Clark and Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard, with representatives from small and medium-sized companies, will be looking for new export opportunities in the state capitals. The trip runs from June 11 to 15......

Tuesday’s NZ Herald had a surprise for Peter Dunne - a comprehensive report of a speech he gave “last night” which was actually being delivered that night. UF Press Secretary Ted Sheehan distributed it on Monday under a Tuesday night embargo......

Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker has announced the reappointment of five members to the Gambling Commission - Chief Commissioner Peter Wing-Ho and Commissioners Mary Lythe, Kenneth Ford, Paul Stanley and Graeme Reeves...... Alan Bollard, reappointed this week as Reserve Bank Governor, lists tapestry weaving as one of his leisure activities. Probably it’s more relaxing than, say, politics. Unlike his predecessor, he’s shown no interest in politics as his next career move......

Long-serving Labour MPs will be looking sideways at each other after President Mike Williams told the Agenda programme he expects up to 10 MPs from his party to be standing down at the next election. Only Marian Hobbs has confirmed she is planning a life outside politics. So who else will be falling on the pointy end of the sword? Let’s see: would they include Dianne Yates, Jill Pettis, Russell Fairbrother, Dover Samuels, George Hawkins and Paul Swain? That’s six. What about the other four? Maybe Rick Barker and Mark Burton, possibly Mark Gosche, or Martin Gallagher......

What to do with all those endangered snails rescued from their West Coast homes at a cost of millions by Solid Energy? Apparently they are breeding, well, like rabbits. Perhaps a bucket of them could be delivered to each member of the protest group which fought for their preservation......

Michael Cullen admitted this week he didn’t vote for it, but MMP is here to stay. “The number of groups I have to work with seems to grow every week. I don’t like it, I did not vote for it, but we have to make it work, and we do.” National’s Deputy Leader Bill English in essence agreed. It would be difficult for a National Govt to use the MMP system voters wanted to take power only to get rid of it once it had served its purpose. He, too voted against MMP, and campaigned against it.

24th May 2007

Rodney Hide likes his new Winston joke so much he shared it with Parliament during the budget debate. The Foreign Minister was invited onto Dancing with the Stars and accepted, but he laid down an unacceptable condition - he would dance alone, sharing the spotlight with no one. Peters didn’t bother responding and then went to China......

Kiwi blokes have an unusual champion in Parliament - United future’s Judy Turner who took the Govt to task this week for ignoring their problems. She says “this Govt is so blinkered by its socialist-feminist ideology that it either hasn’t noticed or doesn’t care about the myriad of issues challenging New Zealand blokes. It’s high time we recognised the inherent injustice of having a Ministry of Women’s Affairs that solely looks at issues from a female perspective at the exclusion of issues that challenge men.” Turner says the system is “sexist whatever way you look at it.” The socialist-feminist administration hasn’t made its views known on the issue so far......

 Geoff Bascand, at present deputy Govt statistician, has been appointed CEO for Statistics NZ. He will take over from Dallas Welch who is acting CEO since Brian Pink resigned in March......

John Key entered what other National politicians would have regarded as the lion’s den, when he addressed 800 delegates at a Plunket conference. He recounted his own experiences with Plunket, and left to standing ovation......

The Govt has undertaken a formal exchange of letters with Gordon Copeland, who left United Future last week, ensuring it has his support on issues of confidence and supply. So the Govt holds on to the 61 votes it needs in Parliament......

Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard has secured the appointment of two top Asian businessmen to chair Beachheads Advisory Boards in South East Asia and India. Chuan Seng Lee, an engineering graduate from Auckland University, and now chairman of Beca Asia Holdings, will head the South East Asia Board, and Pradip Madhavji, who was chairman of Thomas Cook’s Indian subsidiary for 25 years, the India Advisory Board......

Don Brash has discovered there’s life after politics. Besides becoming a director of ANZ National Bank, he’s on the international circuit, advising the central bank in Cambodia......

Radio NZ, which has to wear the sobriquet Sounds Like Helen around Parliament, got $5.1m in the budget to maintain its core services, but the Maori Television Service got $20.1m and Iwi Maori Radio $4m. No wonder some Maori stars working in the industry are on the way to millionaire status......

As reported in  Trans-Tasman last week, police moved this week to lay 14 bribery charges against Mangere MP  Taito Phillip Field following an eight-month investigation into allegations he offered  immigration assistance to overstayers in return  for  cheap labour and other favours. Field has indicated  he will  fight the charges. He  remains in Parliament as an independent  MP after  quitting Labour. Given the prospect the case  could drag on into election  year, the Labour Party is reported to be relieved it cut Field off.

17th May 2007

Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel has reappointed Joanna Perry and Annabel Cotton as members of the Securities Commission. Perry will serve a third term of one year and Cotton a second term of five years......

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis is making a two-day visit, arriving Sunday. He will meet Helen Clark and Cabinet Ministers......

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has confirmed the appointment of Ian Kennedy as NZ’s Ambassador to Japan, replacing John McArthur, now a deputy secretary in MFAT. Trans-Tasman as long ago as March 22 said Kennedy was being nominated for Tokyo. He is a fluent Japanese speaker......

After claiming credit for some budget successes by NZ First and working through his legislation for a Super Gold Card for senior citizens, Peters himself heads off to Beijing for bilateral talks with Chinese Ministers......

What has Police Commissioner Howard Broad got in common with Bill Clinton? One didn’t watch and the other didn’t inhale......

Speaker Margaret Wilson called this week for the Official Information Act to be applied to Parliament. Two previous attempts to remove Parliament’s exemption got nowhere, as MPs insisted on privacy, widely seen as protecting themselves from media prying into their perks. But Wilson believes it would greatly improve parliamentary administration if MPs faced the discipline of the OIA provisions......

Attorney-General Michael Cullen has announced the appointment of 12 new Queen’s Counsel. They are John Marshall, Bruce Corkill, Matthew Casey, Stephen Mills, Stephen Kos, Robert Lithgow, Deborah Hollings, Christopher Gudsell, Nicholas Till, Susan Hughes, Campbell McLachlan, and Karen Clark......

The suspense for Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field may soon be over. Sources in Wellington are convinced the police after their 8-month investigation into the affairs of the onetime Labour MP may have concluded there are grounds to lay charges. These could hinge on statements made earlier in the Ingram inquiry, and would relate to attempts to pervert the course of justice, along with corruption......

The Greens were horrified when they discovered what the Parliamentary Service had done about their broken dishwasher - replaced it with an Australian appliance with a poor energy efficiency rating. This cut across two of the Greens most cherished policies, buying NZ made products and saving energy. Nandor Tanczos complained “Parliament has to show some leadership on this stuff.”......

Dr Ralph Craven, CEO of Transpower, is stepping down in April next year, after deciding not to renew his contract. He’s been in the job since 2003......

How’s this for Christianity? Gordon Copeland was quizzed last week by his leader about whether he was thinking of leaving to form a new party. Copeland denied it.

10th May 2007

Clark-Muldoon comparisons are creeping into informal and professional business gatherings when veterans of both Prime Ministerial eras assemble. Motivation for the chatter is reaction to pop icon Neil Finn who dared question the realities of Prime Ministerial support of arts and culture. Both PM’s share(d) a trait of ensuring critics are whacked hard. Businessmen often significantly dependent on Govt actions by way of policy and regulation are frequently said to be stifled from a fear criticism of Govt policy will hinder progress of their enterprise. Advice not to “put your head over the political parapet” is becoming commonplace......

National MP Murray McCully keeps tracking former Labour PM Sir Geoffrey Palmer, now President of the Law Commission. Recalling how the Commission is traditionally chaired by High Court judges who stand aloof from politics since its mission is to provide impartial advice to the government of the day,  he notes with “surprise and distress” the Electoral Commission’s recent lists of donors to political parties includes Sir Geoffrey’s donation of $10,935 to Labour. McCully says on his President’s salary of $180,000 plus Parliamentary super and retired PM’s  allowance, he can afford it, “but that’s not the point.”......

Last month it was the ‘F’ word which got Steve Maharey into trouble in the debating chamber, this week it was the ‘G’ word. Calling Katherine Rich a girl wasn’t a good idea. Rich complained it was “derogatory and patronising” – a tad precious however seeing she called Maharey a ‘guy’ a few minutes earlier. If he’d said gal, she wouldn’t have been able to gripe......

Housing Minister Chris Carter left for Vancouver this week, looking for inspiration as he seeks to make houses more affordable, something Canada seems to be on the way to achieving......

John Key has taken to wearing a hideous multi-coloured striped tie in Parliament. Speculation is he’s trying to show he’ll get along with any of the minor parties he might need after the next election......

The State Services Commission has called Graham Fortune out of retirement to act as CEO of the Department of Labour while the search for a replacement for Dr James Buwalda continues. After a distinguished career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fortune had an extended term as Secretary of Defence......

How quickly can public fury, so visible last week in the march on Parliament against the Bradford anti-smacking Bill, die away. Hardly a whisper on the issue this week. But one critic of John Key’s manoeuvres pictured him as Neville Chamberlain returning from Munich in 1938 and proclaiming “Peace in our Time.” ......

Several foreign leaders in the next few weeks are coming to NZ including the Greek PM, Konstandinos Karamanlis, the president of the Philippines Gloria Arroyo, and the Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda. NZ is hosting two international dialogues on building understanding across cultures and faiths......

Helen Clark is opening the new Otago prison near Milton. It is expected to be the biggest employer in the district, bringing new prosperity to the town once famous for its woollen mill which ran 24 hours a day during the war years......

Labour’s Maori MPs who have been worrying about the inroads of the Maori Party couldn’t believe their luck this week when Tariana Turia went on about those nice people in the gangs. Middle-class Maori voters are just as unhappy about Black Power, the Mongrel Mob et al as Pakeha.

3rd May 2007

The Govt was pleased with the response to its announcement of three extra weeks of daylight saving but thought reports about “three more weeks of sunshine” might raise expectations a tad too high. There was a hasty explanation it couldn’t guarantee the weather......

Fast moving Foreign Minister Winston Peters, after attending Anzac Day ceremonies in Gallipoli last week, is in Rome  where he is having “wide ranging talk” with  Italian Govt Ministers. Then it is on to Berlin.......

Next Minister out on the trail is David Parker. Wearing his Minister in Charge of Climate Change Issues, he is off to New York to attend a UN session on sustainable development to gauge latest thinking on climate-related issues. The UN’s Security Council recently debated the issue while Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has appointed three special representatives to advise on climate change issues......

 Visions of a “Grand Coalition” were conjured up when Helen Clark and John Key stood on the same platform this week, to announce a compromise amendment to the Bradford child discipline Bill. If the parties can agree on such a divisive issue, why can’t they do similar stuff on monetary policy, climate change or whatever?......

Though he was still recovering from surgery to treat trigeminal neuralgia (a painful nerve condition), former PM Jim Bolger told a conference organised by the Stout Research Conference to look at the Bolger years “pray every day you never get it.” But worse was to come for one member of the audience, who suffered a heart attack as Richard Griffin, one time press secretary to Bolger, was speaking. In the interval before the ambulance arrived one of Parliament’s security guards successfully resuscitated the victim. As one of Griffin’s former colleagues muttered “it gave a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘boring us to death.”......

When we have a Ministry for the Environment, do we really need a Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment? The office costs $2.92m a year.......

Noticed Parliament has been a bit quieter this week? Labour’s Trevor Mallard has been away, in Tokyo for the Asian Development Bank meeting. He’s going on to Boston and Montreal for other international conferences......

Will Taito Phillip Field be the only MP voting against the amendment drawn up by the PM on the Bradford child discipline Bill? At least one voter was so impressed with the Clark initiative to resolve the anti-smacking debate he (or she) sent a bouquet jointly to the PM, John Key and Sue Bradford......

Watch for a rapid flow of pre-budget statements on higher spending on health projects. That’s because Health Minister Pete Hodgson will be away at the World Health Organisation meeting in Geneva, around the time the budget is being delivered.
 

26th April 2007

The appointment of David Caygill as Chairman of the Electricity Commission is reported to be “imminent.” Well-connected sources in Wellington say Caygill, currently a member of the Commerce Commission, is seen as an ideal choice to succeed Roy Hemmingway who returned to the US last year blaming “political interference” for his demise. Caygill was one of the original Rogernomes in the first Lange Cabinet, subsequently Minister of Finance, and then deputy leader of the Labour Party before he left politics. The electricity industry is expected to welcome his appointment to the controversial post......

Big changes at Rugby HQ, as Steve Tew moves up to succeed Chris Moller. Therese Walsh, Chief Financial Officer, and Nigel Cass are moving over to the separate company Rugby 2011 formed to run the Rugby World Cup in NZ, under Martin Snedden who came from being CEO of NZ Cricket......

NZ First MP Pita Paraone ventured where few dare to tread this week when he said Maori did not live up to their claim to be “guardians of the sea.” Paraone issued figures showing 28% of people apprehended for fisheries poaching and/or black marketing are Maori. He’s previously revealed a third were Asian, which doesn’t leave much room for others......

Insiders suggest the Govt is in pre-election mode. The word in the Beehive is Ministers should make no major initiatives unless they will appeal to Labour voters and should refrain from moves which may prove unpopular among swing voters......

Ministers have joined the flight of the godwits to the northern hemisphere in the parliamentary recess. Jim Anderton is in Korea and Japan, Annette King in China, and Phil Goff in India and Afghanistan. Winston Peters flew even further, to Turkey, Italy, Germany and Indonesia. Michael Cullen got only as far as Sydney, along with Lianne Dalziel......

Dr Colin Tukuitonga has been appointed CEO of the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs in place of Fuimaono Leslie McCarthy who is retiring. Dr Tukuitonga is a registered medical practitioner and is currently Associate Professor of Public Health at Auckland University. Earlier he was Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Health......

Even though the Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly is being held in Bali from April 29 to May 4, membership of the NZ delegation did not appear to attract any of Parliament’s younger MPs. Instead John Carter (National), Dr Ashraf Choudhary (Labour) and Jeanette Fitzsimons (Green Party) will represent this country......

Award-winning journalist Jenni McManus has left the paper she founded with the late Warren Berryman, the Independent, to join the Sunday-Star Times.

19th April 2007

Where is former PM Sir Geoffrey Palmer, when he’s needed, asks National MP Murray McCully. McCully says in the past Palmer would have been “frothing at the mouth” over proposed changes to election funding rules (which would still allow unions to donate funds but circumscribe the ability of others). McCully says “on the topic on which he made his name as an academic, and as the Labour Party rides roughshod over a Parliamentary process he used to champion, Sir Geoffrey has been strangely quiet.” One reason could be Palmer has been as far away as possible, in New York, on urgent Whaling Commission business......

John Key gets a capital accolade tonight – an unveiling of the John Key puppet to be placed in the Molesworth St political watering hole, The Backbencher, along with likenesses of former Prime Ministers and prominent political figures......

Persistent veteran Auckland water issues campaigner Penny Bright has stirred reaction with a lobby effort to have a Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry into Auckland water pricing. Doughty Wellington lawyer Mai Chen has been in action on behalf of the Auckland city retail water company to counter the demands of the activist. Controversy over varying price mark ups among water retailers in the region is at the heart of the issue......

Helen Clark has returned from Portugal and Spain, in Valencia a lack of wind robbed her of the chance to actually race on NZ’s America’s Cup yacht but she says she had a nice day all the same......

The Govt has re-appointed John Wells as Chairman of Sport and Recreation NZ for an additional 15-month period while Tina Karaitiana has been appointed to the Board.......

Exporters will be able to get help from the Govt to train for the internationally recognised Diploma of International Trade, an Export Year 2007 initiative announced by Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard. Govt funding of $156,000 will cover half the course costs for eight students......

Labour’s shin-kicker Trevor Mallard temporarily diverted his attention this week from the Nats to target Lower Hutt Mayor David Ogden, slating his performance and giving a boost to his Wainuiomata mate Ken Laban who is standing for the Hutt mayoralty. Asking whether it is appropriate for an MP to wade into a mayoralty race, the Dom-Post quoted Mallard as saying “you don’t get neutered ... just because you get elected to Parliament.”......

Maverick Nat MP Brian Connell is still on the outer with his party Caucus. But has he got the support of his electorate to stand again?......

Justice Minister Mark Burton, after fronting for the Govt on the ill-fated move to bring in direct state funding of political parties, is being referred to in Opposition circles as the “garden gnome.”

4 April 2007

Disabilities issues Minister Ruth Dyson cut an impressive figure as one of the lead speakers in Friday’s special session at the UN General Assembly in New York where she signed the UN Convention on the rights of the disabled. This is the first major human rights UN convention in the 21st century and NZ played a central role in its preparation. She says NZers can be proud of the country’s leadership in negotiating the convention......

Ombudsman Mel Smith, a former Secretary for Justice, has been put in charge of the review into the criminal justice system. The Govt says numerous changes over the years might mean different components aren’t working together as well as they should. It’s the result of the uproar over the way Graeme Burton’s parole was handled, and other recent Corrections Department scandals......

Education Minister Steve Maharey opens the International Confederation of Principals Conference in Auckland on Monday. It’s packed with top line academics from around the world. Helen Clark speaks to them on Thursday...... The new Advertising Standards Authority Chairman is Mark Champion, CEO of the Communications Agencies Association of NZ. He replaces Bruce Wallace, Executive Director of the Television Broadcasters’ Council, who stands down after a two year term. ......

MPs are under pressure from historians, authors and genealogists to abandon the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill which restricts access to the births, deaths and marriages records. Auckland-based author Graeme Hunt says “if passed the legislation would make the job of competent historians writing about 20th Century NZ difficult, if not impossible.” The literary set grumble eliminating the register as a source of historic material will make it much simpler for anecdotal material and folk lore to pass into assumed fact – a prospect likely to be loved or loathed by political promoters of the Bill. Messages of opposition to the measure have begun flowing to MPs on all sides of the House......

Wellington insiders consider the position eventually taken by NZ First on the anti-smacking legislation will indicate how serious Winston Peters is about pursuing his Parliamentary career. Many speculate a vote against the Bill will mean he aims to be in the bear pit for a further term but a vote for it will indicate contemplation of an overseas posting before the end of the current Parliament......

Deep background politicking within the Labour Party is focused on inheritance of Marian Hobb’s Wellington Central electorate when she leaves for England at the end of the Parliamentary term. Among suggested contenders are list MP Charles Chauvel, former MFAT staff member and business development executive Phillip Lewin and one-time ninth-floor Beehive staffer Grant Robertson, now an executive with the University of Otago. Tipsters say Robertson, who is a trustee of the Aids foundation, currently “has the numbers.” When taking up the appointment he said “as a gay man I have, as much as anyone can claim, a good understanding of a key community affected by HIV.”

29 March 2007

“Sex, gambling and booze.” Helen Clark tells reporters which issues get conscience votes in Parliament - and she doesn’t think smacking is one of them. National has accused her of ordering her MPs to support Sue Bradford’s Bill on smacking when they should have been allowed conscience votes......

Parliament’s Speaker Margaret Wilson is to meet Police Commissioner Howard Broad after Chinese journo Nick Wang was wrongly ordered out of an event attended by Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan. A DPS officer gave Wang his marching orders on instructions from a Chinese Embassy official who didn’t want him there. Wilson wasn’t impressed and wants protocols in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again......

ACC Minister Ruth Dyson gets a trip to New York this weekend to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons......

Annette King will be in Adelaide on Friday to speak at an APEC transport Ministers meeting and Pete Hodgson will be in Melbourne on the same day for the Australian Health Ministers Conference.......

So George W Bush is both a “smart” and “clever” man, according to Helen Clark. So where does this leave those Labour Party supporters who think Bush is a dumb Texan?......

There’s a new phrase in the Opposition lexicon. It’s a “Mahareyism,” which translated means a Panglossian version for example of NCEA, or of the 20 hours’ “free” pre-school education at child centres......

Which Labour MP is worried most about being identified as a supporter of the Sue Bradford Bill? It could be Darren Hughes defending a majority of only 382 in Otaki or Steve Chadwick sitting on a 662 majority in Rotorua?......

And who is cutting the sorriest figure in Parliament defending his departmental blunders? David Cunliffe held the title for long enough defending the Immigration Service in the Taito Phillip Field affair. Now it’s a toss-up between Damien O’Connor, continually in the dock over the Corrections Department, or Pete Hodgson, who was in the gun for meekly accepting Health Department advice there was no conflict of interest in the Auckland lab-testing contract fiasco......

John Key was the most popular politician with press gallery hacks this week. He put on a social hour on Tuesday night, with 120 dozen Bluff oysters available for consumption, according to well-placed observers......

A former press secretary to Helen Clark has been named as head of media relations by Telecom. He is Mark Watts who was with Clark from 1996 to 2002, before going into public relations. He joined Westpac last September.

22 March 2007

How much is $20bn if you stacked it up? ACT’s Rodney Hide worked it out and told his party’s South Island Conference if $100 bills were stacked in a pile it would be 20km high. A million dollars, by contrast, would be only one metre high. He was making the point about how much Govt spending has increased since 2000......

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Trade Minister Phil Goff left this week on a Latin American tour to boost diplomatic and trade links. Goff is in Mexico while Peters takes in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina......  

NZ has ratified the UN Convention Against Torture following enactment of the Crimes of Torture Amendment Act......

Attorney General Michael Cullen has appointed Christchurch lawyer Paul Rene Kellar a District Court Judge......

Christchurch Central’s Tim Barnett has flagged away standing for the mayoralty in the Garden City. He says he couldn’t do the job as well as being an MP and chief whip for Labour in the House.......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has named career diplomat Peter Kennedy as NZ’s next ambassador to the EU and Belgium, succeeding Wade Armstrong who is returning to NZ. Kennedy, who was the PM’s Foreign Affairs adviser from 1990 to 1993, will also be accredited to Luxembourg and the EU’s two newest member states, Romania and Bulgaria......

MFAT is holding on to trade specialist Mark Sinclair because his expertise is required as several trade negotiations move towards a climax. Ian Kennedy as Trans-Tasman speculated (March 8) is being nominated as John McArthur’s successor as Ambassador to Japan......

MFAT’s communications chief Brad Tattersfield is leaving the Ministry to become a consultant in the private sector.......

Helen Clark got to stay at the President’s guest house Blair House in Washington. It’s a privilege few NZ leaders have had on visits to Washington. Most have stayed either at the NZ Embassy residence on Observatory Circle (which is next to the vice-president’s residence) or at an hotel......

Opposition leader John Key is taking the advice of his closest advisers to lift his profile round the country. On Monday he was in Auckland, Tuesday Wellington, Wednesday Dunedin, Thursday Christchurch, and back to Auckland on Friday for six engagements. Saturday is relatively clear, except for a dinner with Singapore’s former PM, Lee Kuan Yew......

It was a big day for Te Papa and Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton on Tuesday when a frozen squid, thought to weigh 450kg, was presented to the museum Only problem for the researchers was how to defrost the squid without destroying the tissues. For once, Jim didn’t seem to have a solution.
 

15 March 2007

The Treasury has always given the media the Crown accounts under embargo on Wednesdays, exactly half an hour ahead of public release - until this week when the document arrived on Tuesday with a Thursday embargo. A swift email followed to put the matter right. It should have been Wednesday and would the media please respect the embargo. What will they do with the budget, the media wondered......

All the blustery weather we put up with isn’t such a bad thing, says Energy Minister David Parker who has taken to describing NZ as “the Saudi Arabia of wind.” He’s very keen on wind power......

“Are your nuts still tight, Mr English?” asked Michael Cullen in Parliament. He was talking about monetary policy and thinks the Nats are loosening theirs......

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe, who has been pummelled for weeks in the House over the Taito Phillip Field affair, is recovering from the bruising with a trip to Beijing and Hanover in Germany. In the former he opened a Te Papa-curated exhibition “NZ, New Thinking,” and in the latter he is attending a NZ pavilion at an IT trade show......

Meanwhile Foreign Minister Winston Peters, still disguising a limp, is off to Port Vila in Vanuatu for a Pacific Forum Foreign Ministers’ meeting. He had a busy schedule on Wednesday, attending the NZ/Niue joint consultative group meeting, receiving introductory calls from new ambassadors from Indonesia and Iran respectively, and meeting a Mongolian Parliamentary delegation......

Journalists accompanying the PM on her visit to the White House next week are excited they will get to meet President George Bush for the first time. But at the joint press conference, they will be limited to just two questions. Wonder who will get in first?......

Right-wing blogger David Farrar is intrigued by the row over the Chairmanship of the Labour Party Princes St branch in Auckland. Apparently the row involves allegations of violence, threats of defamation, and formal complaints to the Party’s Council. Farrar says the row involves incumbent David Do, challenger Alex Foulkes and Meg Bates (who works for Helen Clark). So will Helen sort it out? Will the NZ Council expel anyone?......

National’s former leader Dr Don Brash is reported to have turned down an opportunity to appear on TVNZ’s Dancing With The Stars. He is said to have done so only after protracted discussions with his wife. Maybe he was flattered someone still rated him among the stars......

Labour strategists might have hoped Taito Phillip Field would go quietly. Certainly his Electorate Committee which earlier appeared to be backing him has now turned its attention to finding a replacement. But Taito Phillip upset Annette King this week saying he wouldn’t vote for her prized legislation on a joint therapeutic goods agency with Aust. This may eventually scupper the legislation.
 

8 March 2007

Helen Clark has announced Prince Andrew will visit Wellington, Wairarapa, Rotorua and Auckland during his March 14-21 visit......

Activating one of his lesser-known portfolios, Science and Technology Minister Steve Maharey has been in Berlin where he signed a science co-operation agreement with the German Govt......

Reserve Bank Chairman Arthur Grimes has been reappointed as a Non-Executive Director after completing a five-year term on the Board......

National leader John Key is setting a cracking pace with a packed itinerary of visits from Canterbury to Auckland during recess week - and he’s been roped in by MP Wayne Mapp as special guest at a fundraising Takapuna cocktail party ($50 per person, no door sales)......

NZ’s next ambassador to Tokyo is expected to be veteran MFAT staffer Mark Sinclair, who currently heads the Ministry’s trade negotiations division in Wellington. A fluent Japanese-speaker (considered essential in the post these days), Sinclair has had more than 20 years’ service with postings in Europe and the Pacific. In the event his trade skills keep him in Wellington during the current round of trade negotiations (Doha, Gulf Cooperation Council, China and possibly the US), a likely contender would be Ian Kennedy, currently Deputy High Commissioner in Canberra and another skilled Japanese speaker, whose wife is Japanese. John McArthur, who held the post till recently, has been appointed Deputy Secretary replacing John McKinnon, now Secretary of Defence......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters is still moving very gingerly, weeks after he had an operation to correct an old rugby injury to his knee. Peters, who prides himself on his stamina, insists his workload has not been affected, and he heads off on March 16 to a Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Vanuatu, which will be followed by a mission to South America......

Speaker Margaret Wilson has been in Aust as guest of the Australian Parliament to observe the delivery of Parliamentary services and look at accountability structures......

Telecommunications Commissioner Douglas Webb who was due to end his term on March 11 has agreed to continue in his role until July. Apparently the candidate the Govt has its eye on to succeed Webb will not be available until then......

National’s leader John Key whose poll ratings are still climbing will be looking to cement his credentials as Prime Minister-in-waiting when he travels to the US in June. He will also be picking up some tips from Tory leader David Cameron on another trip later in the year to the UK. The journey may also embrace a visit or two to such shrines as Cardiff Arms Park, should the All Blacks World Cup campaign be progressing favourably.

1 March 2007

Alexander Downer is a true diplomat. The Aust Foreign Minister turned up for a meeting with Helen Clark on Monday with a bunch of flowers because it was her 57th birthday......

Labour’s Caucus had a cake for her on Tuesday, but it was her only celebration. “Too busy,” the PM told reporters.......

National leader John Key’s unusual move to set up a think tank to advise him on foreign affairs provoked an amused and unconcerned response from Helen Clark, who obviously doesn’t hold National’s Foreign Affairs spokesman in high regard. She quipped “anything is better than relying on Murray McCully.”......

Labour Dept CEO Dr James Buwalda has resigned, saying he wants to move on to “new challenges.” Buwalda has held public service CEO posts, first at the Ministry of Research, Science & Technology and then at Labour, for 11 years. His term of appointment was not due to expire until July next year. Paying tribute to him, State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble said he had to manage a number of complex issues, “often in the glare of the media spotlight.”........

Dover Samuels has one of the more agreeable tasks for Ministers this week, in his role as Associate Tourism Minister. The NZ Maori Tourism Council is marking the Chinese New Year by fostering relationships between Maori tourism and the Chinese Embassy with a function on Kapiti Island with the Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yuanyuan and members of the Chinese–NZ Business Council......

The Labour Party, after suspending Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field, is making sure voters in its south Auckland constituencies are not neglected. Helen Clark will be at the Otara fleamarket this weekend in company with Manukau East MP Ross Robertson......

Education and Science Minister Steve Maharey may have been relieved to get out of the country this week (he’s on a science mission to Germany). He was under heavy fire last week in Parliament over the Govt scheme to provide 20 hours a week care for pre-schoolers, which has many parents in an uproar, having discovered the “free” care will not be so free after all......

Those who have discerned an almost familial likeness between Labour’s founding father Michael Joseph Savage and Finance Minister Michael Cullen may have their conviction reinforced by newly discovered film footage of Savage, which the NZ Film Archive screened this week......

MFAT staffers have been distressed with the news highly respected deputy secretary Alan Williams is facing major surgery......

Minister for Disability Issues Ruth Dyson is due to go to New York later this month to sign a UN convention on the disabled.

22 February 2007

NZ Herald’s deputy political editor Ruth Berry has jumped the fence, she’s going to be Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia’s new Press Secretary......

Aust Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is due in the capital this weekend for the regular trans-Tasman contact, he’ll be meeting Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Helen Clark......

Two new list MPs took their seats this week, Labour’s Lesley Soper replacing Georgina Beyer and National’s Katrina Shanks taking the slot vacated by Don Brash. Shanks says she’s lucky second time around - she won a seat in 2005 but lost it when specials were counted......

Rumblings are again surfacing around the future of the Nats Lower North Island Chair Patricia Morrison. Regional MP’s and party activists reflecting on the sea of red Parliamentary representation in the capital are contemplating time for a change. They are looking to the ranks of former MPs for a replacement......

Is former Wellington Mayor Mark Blumsky planning a back flip from MP to Mayor again? He has apparently been assessing prospects of a successful run against a field including current Mayor Kerry Prendergast. Potential backers of former PM Mike Moore for a run at the Auckland Mayoralty have been told he won’t enter the race. The economics apparently don’t stack up against returns he can achieve in international consultancy......

Finnish President Tarja Halonen found she had much in common with Helen Clark this week. And she had obviously had some prior advice about Clark’s outdoor pursuits. She presented Clark with a pair of telescopic walking poles ideal for alpine cross country expeditions......

It’s all go-go for Trevor Mallard these days. Fresh from getting Cabinet to agree to the cut-price Eden Park revamp for the World Cup, he is off to Los Angeles to host a party boosting NZ as a cut-price venue for the making of cinematic epics......

Following Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field’s decision to give Labour his proxy vote, though he is no longer a member of the Labour Caucus, the Govt can exercise his vote, despite the PM describing him as “immoral and unethical.” Pardon us for asking, how we should describe his vote? Field ended his 5-month exile from Parliament on Wednesday, after being intensively interviewed by police over the previous two days.......

Defence Minister Phil Goff takes his job seriously. He was due to complete a parachute jump from a Hercules as part of his visit to Whenuapai airbase. The event, his spin-doctors said, was to offer a rare opportunity to witness defence personnel undergoing parachute ground training and making military parachute jumps.......

NZ’s next ambassador to Saudi Arabia is to be Dr Trevor Matheson, who takes up the posting in May.

15th February 2007

Helen Clark refused to comment on John Howard’s spat with US presidential hopeful Barack Obama at her news conference on Monday, but she might offer some bilateral commiseration when she meets the Aust PM on Friday. After all, she had some problems of her own once with her comment about how there might not have been an Iraq war if Al Gore had been elected......

Labour’s Caucus farewelled Georgina Beyer on Tuesday. The transsexual MP says she has some acting roles lined up and might have a go at the Wellington Mayoralty, but won’t make up her mind till mid year. Beyer told reporters her valedictory speech to Parliament won’t be as dull as the last one heard in the House (from retiring National leader Don Brash). It will of course be a startlingly short speech if Beyer enumerates her Parliamentary achievements. Still she will have a place in history as NZ’s first (known) transsexual MP......

Finland’s Tarja Halonen visits next week, the first trip here by a Finnish President......

Immigration and Communications Minister David Cunliffe is showing courage beyond the call of duty when he speaks this week to the Business Roundtable. The NZBR has been heavily critical of the Govt’s regulatory policies, which Cunliffe has spearheaded in the telecommunications field. Cunliffe told Trans-Tasman he’s happy to be invited and is looking forward to lunch/ dinner at millionaire Alan Gibbs’ farm in North Auckland......

Having acquired a bit of French polish after a sojourn in Paris John Pagani, (who in an earlier life worked as Press Secretary for Jim Anderton when he was leader of the Alliance and subsequently Deputy PM) is now writing speeches for Michael Cullen......

Reports Richard Griffin, onetime Press Secretary to Jim Bolger, former Radio NZ political editor, and more recently TVNZ’s eyes and ears in the capital, will team up with Ian Fraser, CEO of TVNZ until supplanted last year, and possibly with Sue Wood to form a new public relations consultancy seem to have some substance. Griffin is not disclosing his hand until after an overseas holiday......

Affable Labour Party President Mike Williams faced some fast bowling as he was about to enter the Labour Caucus meeting this week, after he had attended the LRC meeting in Taito Phillip Field’s electorate on Monday night. But all his stonewall defence disclosed is just what a big liability Field has become for Labour......

Auckland’s Labour Councillor Richard Northey managed to unite the building industry and Building Issues Minister Clayton Cosgrove in condemnation of claims the cost of building a small house in Auckland is 85% higher than in Aust cities. Cosgrove says the city’s report on which Northey based his claim is flawed and the NZ Building Industry Federation agreed. “Any discrepancy between Aust and NZ costs has probably more to do with the relative size of the two economies – 4m people compared with 20m.”
 

8th February 2007

Former Green Party Media Manager Allen Walley has resurfaced in Parliament as social Development Minister David Benson-Pope’s temporary Press Secretary. At the latest count there were nine Press Sec positions being filled by temps or other Ministerial staff members......

Attorney General Michael Cullen has appointed Whangarei lawyer Noel Cocurullo a District Court Judge......

National says golden handshakes are looking likely at TVNZ and to make sure who gets the blame broadcasting spokesman Jonathan Coleman dug out two pages of quotes from Helen Clark - 13 times she firmly stated her opposition to handouts......

Helen Clark is due to host Aust’s John Howard next week in Wellington for the annual Prime Ministerial bilateral. They’ll have a lot to talk about, the troubles in the Pacific, what to do about Frank Bainimarama, climate change, Japanese whaling in the Antarctic, not to mention what to do about pesky upstart Opposition leaders (though Howard faces a challenge from Aust Labour’s Kevin Rudd, while Clark’s problem is the millionaire John Key peddling poverty theories)......

Clark may be reluctant to rub in the disastrous (as NZ sees it) Aust participation in the Iraq war, but the two premiers will have to discuss the situation in Afghanistan (not much better). And there is a whole slew of trade issues to review, not least in imparting a bit of grunt towards the evolution of a single economic market......

While he is in Wellington, Howard is expected to open the recently refurbished Aust High Commission in Hobson Street. But it is unlikely he will find time to attend one of the Chapple-Hadlee cricket one-dayers......

Labour’s Caucus met for the first time this year on Wednesday afternoon at Premier House, off Tinakori Road. It was one of the capital’s warmer days, and several MPs looked as if they needed a cold shower as they arrived up the hill. Most Ministers arrived by Ministerial limo, without so much as a nod to climate change. But Finance Minister Michael Cullen chose to walk, to show, as he said, “some of us are real working class.” Meanwhile the Labour Caucus has  re-elected  Michael  Cullen  as  Deputy  Leader,  thus  quashing  speculation   he  might  retire   at  the next election. Helen Clark was  also  re- elected unopposed as Leader  in  the  traditional  Labour Caucus  election of Leader and  Deputy Leader......

Former Labour MP Helen Duncan, who left Parliament in 2005 after being diagnosed with cancer, has died. Ms Duncan, a former teacher, and PPTA President was prominent in education circles. She was a list MP and entered Parliament in 1998.
 

1st February 2007

Former RNZ political reporter Kathryn Street has been appointed Helen Clark’s Chief Press Secretary. Street held the number two position in Clark’s trio of spin doctors and replaces David Lewis who resigned for personal reasons. Gordon Jon Thompson has moved up to second slot and Juli Clausen, who has been press sec to several Ministers, moves in at number three......

The Govt has turned to Pat Snedden, Chairman of Housing NZ, to chair a new Committee to review adverse events in hospitals. Snedden is regarded as “a safe pair of hands” by senior Ministers......

The Clark Govt has always been assiduous in courting ethnic minorities and the team will be busy this week in the field, with Helen Clark attending a Chinese New Year function, (it’s the Year of the Pig), Ethnic Affairs Minister Chris Carter representing the Govt at a Nepal Day celebration, and Associate Minister for Pacific Island Affairs Winnie Laban opening the Aitutaki National Aotearoa Society conference in Hastings. Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia wins the prize however: he’s attending a Waitangi Day celebration on the Gold Coast in Queensland......

On her way to Ratana Pa, Helen Clark is reported to have stopped to have a cappuccino (or was it a long black) at Sanson. Nothing unusual about this: the Manawatu township, close to Ohakea airbase, is well equipped with a range of cafes and coffee houses. But respected Maori leader Ngatata Love was also on hand, and he wasn’t there to talk about the pending visit to Ratana. The word is Ngatata and some of his colleagues are worried the Govt is not performing as it said it would on treaty settlements, particularly the one covering claims by Wellington-based Maori......

Mention the name of Taito Phillip Field in the Beehive, and the air crackles as if lightning has struck. But however much Labour would like a high voltage charge of electricity to remove the Mangere MP, it has to go along with the judicial cliche a person is innocent until proven guilty. It’s an awful political dilemma: if Field is charged, the case could drag on through till the election. If he’s not charged, what’s Labour going to do with him? Helen Clark was a bit terse talking about Field’s position this week. She says he should be working with police to finish their inquiry, and suggests he will be unlikely to stand for Labour again......

There was a certain degree of schadenfreude among some TVNZ staff over the departure of Bill Ralston as Head of News, on the basis of the old aphorism he who lives by the sword dies by it. Ralston was supposed to halt the slide in TVNZ’s audience. Instead it accelerated......

Shane Jones, who vowed to give up his $70,000 post as Chairman of the Maori Fisheries Commission when he became an MP in 2005, is said to be finally on the point of departure from the Commission in March.

25th January 2007

Back from her trip to the Antarctic with Sir Edmund Hillary, and her holiday in Europe, Helen Clark looked on top of her form at her first press conference in the Beehive for the year. Deputy PM Michael Cullen seemed to be taking things a bit easier: his first public engagement this year is to speak at the NZ Wine Industry’s International Syrah symposium at Flaxmere in Hawke’s Bay this weekend......

Kathryn Street, currently Helen Clark’s number two Press Secretary, is expected to get the top job following the resignation of chief spin doctor David Lewis. He left the high-pressure position because of changed family circumstances......

Health Minister Pete Hodgson has lost one of his Press Secretaries with the departure of Jason Knauf who has been replaced by former NZ Herald journalist Anne Beston...... National’s new Police spokesman Chester Borrows will soon be crossing swords in the debating chamber with Police Minister Annette King, but it won’t be the first time they’ve met – he’s her cousin......

John Evans, an expert in actuary studies has been appointed to the Board of Guardians of NZ Superannuation. The Board sets investment policy for Michael Cullen’s Super Fund. Evans will be based in Sydney, where he is MD of PGE (Australia) Pty, an actuarial company specialising in investment......

Speaker Margaret Wilson, who is leading NZ’s delegation to next week’s Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum in Moscow, says a highlight will be a meeting with Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin. Other parliamentarians will be hoping she doesn’t pick up any Putin ideas on how to dispose of malcontents. Other members of the NZ delegation include Tim Barnett (Labour), Brian Donnelly (NZ First) Lindsay Tisch and David Bennett (National). NZ will be playing host to the Forum in Auckland next year. Wilson says “it’s huge honour” for NZ to host such a prestigious gathering, and her team is determined to ensure their contributions help build a harmonious and dynamic Asia Pacific......

Not among the big Labour delegation at Ratana this week was Te Tai Tonga MP Mahara Okeroa. He was in Japan leading the NZ delegation for the opening of Mauri Ora: Treasures from the Museum of NZ at the Tokyo National Museum. Okeroa was also attending a NZ wine growers function and a screening of The World’s Fastest Indian at Sony Pictures HQ at Tsukiji. Is this junket for Okeroa a signal out of the Beehive ninth floor his time in Parliament is coming up for review?.....

Trade Minister Phil Goff may have set some kind of record for the number of world capitals he visited last year. If so, he is starting 2007 as if he is determined to break that record. On his current mission he is touching base in London, Oslo, Brussels, Berlin and Geneva.

14th December 2006

Michael Cullen borrowed an Aussie advert for the headline on his press statement criticising new National leader John Key and his deputy Bill English for what he says is a poor showing in Parliament. “Where the bloody hell are ya?” he asked......

Electricity Commission Deputy Chairman Peter Harris has been appointed an associate member of the Commerce Commission. Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel says the cross appointment will ensure there is a “consistent approach to regulatory oversight of Transpower and the electricity lines business.”......

Rodney Hide sees an opportunity for his ACT party now National is under John Key’s leadership. He says “they’re cuddling up to Labour policies” and ACT will seize support from right-wing Nats unhappy about it......

Former Cabinet Minister and Wellington Central MP Marian Hobbs is off on an “OE” when the current Parliamentary term expires. In her customary individualistic style the extrovert MP announced her intentions in the magazine of a Wellington real estate company edited by former National Rongotai candidate Nicola Young. Hobbs plans to teach History, English and Social Studies in Britain. “I’ll be doing my Overseas Experience at 60. That’s hugely exciting.” She says she’s lost 25kg since leaving Cabinet and has “got her life back” with more time for friends and leisure activities......

The East Asia summit which Helen Clark was to attend this week was called off because the new event centre in Cebu wasn’t ready and the marquee in which the conference was to be held was at risk, not because of conference hot air but from the prospect of a typhoon......

Winston Peters didn’t hesitate to gatecrash a protest on Parliament steps over the Govt’s plan to link NZ to Aust in a new measure controlling drugs, medicines and herbal remedies. The heckling he got from the protestors probably ensured NZ First will back the Bill, even though when it was first mooted the party opposed the legislation......

In his valedictory speech Don Brash wasn’t sure whether he should thank members of the Press Gallery, but he respected “most members of the Gallery, and have developed a lasting friendship with several.” Most members reciprocate the feeling, but still puzzle over the Brash political persona, so likeable on one level, but so prone to gaffes on another......  

The old Bob Semple defence “I’m responsible, but not to blame” was resurrected by the Govt this week as it defended Corrections Minister Damien O’Connor in the face of the report into the death of 17-year-old Liam Ashley while in the custody of the department. CEO of Corrections Barry Matthews offered his resignation to the Minister but it was declined. And Cabinet threw its weight behind O’Connor and insisted he would ensure the “systemic” failure which led to the death would not recur.
 

7th December 2006

The Govt was pleased to announce eight MPs from Britain’s House Of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee are visiting on a fact finding tour. They want to find out how NZ has achieved its low unemployment and high workforce participation rates......

More good news – NZ rates third behind Finland and Denmark in the least corrupt countries list of 101 surveyed by the inaugural Gallup Worldwide Corruption Index. Aust is 9th, Lithuania dead last...... The World Bank reports NZ ranks 10th out of 175 economies for ease in paying taxes. Finance Minister Cullen made sure the media knew all about it......

Three new members have been appointed the Alcohol Advisory Council – Peter Glensor, Alick Shaw and Robyn Northey.......

Anne Tolley was confirmed this week as National’s first ever female Chief Whip. The East Coast MP is ranked 16th in Caucus and is in John Key’s shadow cabinet......

Patricia McConnell, a barrister based in Rotorua, has been named as Chief Adjudicator of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service. Building Minister Clayton Cosgrove says she has an established reputation as a manager of adjudication services through her role as principal tenancy adjudicator with the Tenancy Tribunal. Under legislation currently before Parliament, it is proposed the Chief Adjudicator become the Chair of a new Weathertight Homes Tribunal, with enhanced investigative powers. Some say she will need the wisdom of Solomon......

Neil Walter, former Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has been nominated as Chairman-designate of NZ on Air, succeeding Don Hunn. Walter currently chairs ERMA. Rhonda Kite who was Maori Business Woman of the Year in 2001-02 has been appointed a member of the NZ on Air Board......

Grant Johnston, a Treasury secondment on Don Brash’s staff, has moved over to be an adviser to John Key. Johnston is partner to The Listener’s deputy editor Joanne Black........

Mel Smith, who previously served as an additional Ombudsman for 3 and a half years until June 2003 has been appointed an additional Ombudsman for 6 months. The need for an extra Ombudsman has arisen because of the high workload of the office......

Former TVNZ political editor Mark Sainsbury played a patient game, and is at last likely to grab the chair at Close Up, after Susan Wood’s health scare persuaded her she had other things to do. Sainsbury’s all-round ability puts him ahead in the field.

30th November 2006

Serious politicians don’t have wild parties. Helen Clark, her Deputy Michael Cullen and Trade Minister Phil Goff made do with a cup of tea and a chocolate cake when the celebrated the 25th anniversary of their election to Parliament on Tuesday. Cullen offered journalists the best line “the main difference then of course was the PM was short, fat and ugly.”......

South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun will meet Helen Clark when he visits NZ from December 7-10. Roh is also visiting Indonesia and Aust......

Deputy PM Michael Cullen isn’t letting National’s new leader John Key get a free ride in the media limelight. He says Key’s widely reported landmark speech on Tuesday was a “shallow collection of platitudes.” Helen Clark has so far avoided the subject, but she does have other things to do, like fixing Fiji......

In politics as in showbiz, timing is the essence. It was never Don Brash’s strong suit. Earlier in the month he was interviewed by the conservative weekly The Spectator. In its Nov 18 issue, the day after Brash’s fall, political writer Allister Heath found him “endearingly wonkish,” a cross between Clark Kent and Josiah Bartlett of the The West Wing, and more robust than new Tory leader David Cameron on tax cuts, welfare and the environment. News of John Key and Brash’s various problems had reached London, so, asked if he planned staying on as leader. “The Clark Kent of kiwi politics turned to me and smiled gently. ‘That is my intention,’ he told me, and I for one believe him,” wrote Heath......

Some National MPs were nervous after the leadership transition and what is being called as the “gracious” gesture of Gerry Brownlee in making way for Bill English to be deputy. They were worried the deals they thought they had made in throwing their support to John Key could be unstitched. Will Richard Worth get a more significant shadow portfolio? Can Wayne Mapp get a front bench seat? How will Lockwood Smith fare? Is Maurice Williamson, no friend of Bill English, about to take a tumble?......

While Winston Peters was basking in his statesman role this week in bringing the warring Fijian bosses together in Wellington, inside NZ First there seemed to be a head of steam building up over the role of deputy leader Peter Brown, who, according to the Independent Financial Review, is opposed to the Govt’s offshore Investment Tax Bill, and wants to vote against it. This could breach NZ First’s support pact with Labour.

23rd November 2006

Parliament has appointed former Cabinet Minister David Caygill and Roger Sowry to the Representation Commission, which sets electorate boundaries. Caygill will represent the Govt, and Sowry National and all the small parties – much against their wishes. They’ve been complaining since 1996 they should have their own representatives......

Sports Minister Trevor Mallard has been appointed Oceania representative on the World Anti-Doping Agency, taking over from Aust Senator Rod Kemp......

National MP Nicky Wagner chose a bad time to table a leaked Govt document in Parliament on Tuesday, just as her leader was telling reporters how the use of leaked emails was reprehensible. Wagner had got hold of an old report criticising the Govt’s waste management strategy, which no one cared about, but it gave Labour MPs the chance to howl with laughter and Michael Cullen wanted to know whether anyone had been sifting through landfills for missing emails.......

Iain Rennie, currently a deputy secretary in the Treasury, is to become deputy State Services Commissioner, in place of Tony Hartevelt. Helen Clark says he will have a lead role in ensuring the 3 central agencies (SSC, the Treasury and DPMC) work more closely together on improving the performance of Govt agencies......

Michael Cullen had clearly been polishing this witticism for a day or two: “as (Rodney) Hide becomes less brash, (Don) Brash becomes more hide.” He delivered his bon mot to reporters who had been quizzing him about the famous emails on his way into the Labour Caucus......

“Transformation” is often on the lips of Ministers. But ACT leader Rodney Hide is the politician who seems to have taken it to heart. He has taken up harbour swimming, though he had to be fished out of Auckland Harbour at the weekend. And he was back dancing, this time with Georgina Beyer, at the Qantas TV awards in what was described as a “special dance extravaganza with contestants from two of the hottest dance shows of the year.”.......

Strange those Don Brash emails Winston Peters claimed at various times he would be releasing, should so suddenly be destroyed in his office while he was abroad......

Don Brash’s handling of the leaky email saga drew derisive comment in the capital. “He’s had a banker’s approach to it – a case of compound interest, compound error,” was one cafe quip. Mystery continues to surround the issue of why National did not initially refer the filching of emails to the police. Nat insiders ponder whether personal relationships are getting in the way of good political practice. Perceptions  the leader has “something to hide” worries them.

16th November 2006

NZ long-ago abandoned the title “Minister” for senior-ranking diplomats after Cabinet Ministers felt their territory was being compromised. Not so China. Defence Minister Phil Goff, visiting his counterparts in Beijing, noted the new Secretary of Defence, John McKinnon ranked as “the Executive Vice Minister in China.” As a former Ambassador and a fluent Mandarin speaker, McKinnon would certainly ensure a higher level understanding of China and its links with NZ, says Goff......

Txt spk juz nt up2standard!. United Future’s news release got its message across. The Party doesn’t want text language used in schools......

Gerry Brownlee told Parliament he’d take on Parekura Horomia one of the other heavyweights in the House, over 100 metres anytime, after the pair got into a row over who was running and hiding......

The Govt’s front bench was looking a bit bare this week with Helen Clark in London, and others also on trips. Phil Goff was in China and Vietnam, Trevor Mallard in Canada, Mark Burton in the UK, David Parker in Kenya and Damien O’Connor was in China......

Don Brash made a flying visit to London for the unveiling of NZ’s War Memorial, but was careful to be back in time for Tuesday’s Caucus meeting amid speculation John Key might try to oust him. Of course nothing happened......

‘Read my lips Trevor.’ Helen Clark is believed to have sought an absolute assurance from the Rugby World Cup Minister Trevor Mallard Stadium NZ can be completed in time for the tournament, if Auckland chooses it ahead of Eden Park. Hence Mallard’s comment he’s sure to be fired if it isn’t......

As the UK Govt of Tony Blair shares the travails of George Bush over the war in Iraq, Helen Clark could have been pardoned for wearing an “I-told-you-so” look, as she met Blair, Gordon Brown and Margaret Beckett in London. Usually reliable London sources says there’s no doubt they listened carefully to what she said. The London media paid her respectful attention, too. In Paris Clark presented President Chirac with an All Black jersey with a poppy on a sleeve. But, given the Tricolours face another drubbing this weekend, it may not soften the French Govt’s hard-line attitude to NZ farm exports......

Paul Dibble’s 16-piece evocation which forms the NZ war memorial at Hyde Park corner in London has drawn universal acclaim. May be he should be asked to do a similar job for the Auckland waterfront?

9th November 2006

People who live in glass-houses shouldn’t put up posters. Labour hit back at National’s Paintergate, Corngate, Doonegate, Speedgate, Plesgegate, Departure Gate billboard with one carrying five pictures of Don Brash over the captions Comb-Over, Take-Over, Leg-Over, Push-Over, All-Over.......

Trade Minister Phil Goff left on Monday heading the largest trade delegation ever to represent NZ, heading for China, Vietnam and Aust on Air NZ’s inaugural Auckland to Shanghai direct flight. With Goff are 120 business people, trade and tourism officials, local Govt leaders and journalists on a mission......

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will visit later this month. Helen Clark attended her inauguration as Chile’s first woman leader in March. The FTA with Chile came into force on Wednesday this week......

Ambassador to the EU Wade Armstrong will be accredited to Bulgaria and Romania when those countries join the EU in January......

ACT’s Rodney Hide this week accused Labour of cancelling MPs leave so they couldn’t attend public meetings organised by the Society of Chartered Accountants on the Govt’s Regulatory responsibility Bill. He says “they’re running scared...won’t even debate red tape.” Labour’s Chief Whip Tim Barnett was amused “what meetings? We’re short on numbers for Select Committees, that’s all.”......

Aust High Commissioner John Dauth attracted a strong contingent of MPs to the High Commission’s traditional Melbourne Cup function at Shed 5 in the capital, along with a couple of former PMs, in Jim Bolger and Sir Geoffrey Palmer. And the Japanese quinella in the cup didn’t diminish the ANZAC harmony......

Watch out for an announcement by NZ First leader Winston Peters on the party’s manifesto pledge to work for the introduction of a “Gold Card” for senior citizens. It is expected he will be talking about it this weekend. Peters believes he will have secured its introduction to come into effect by a target date of September next year......

Don Brash looks less like a professor and more like a politician. This because he’s just had a successful operation for a cataract and is no longer wearing spectacles. He says his vision is vastly improved. Wonder if he will spot the coup before it comes?......

So who’s advising Trevor Mallard about the proposed stadium in Auckland? Some say he is doing it all on his own, but others think he’s relying on Neville Harris from the MED for the detailed work.

2nd November 2006

Ernst & Young got a slap from Revenue Minister Peter Dunne this week. In a statement, Dunne stated the accountancy firm’s first news release on the proposed method of taxing income from overseas investments contained “serious errors” which were unhelpful in assisting the national debate......

Education Secretary Howard Fancy is leaving the post he has held for 10 years. Cabinet Ministers paid tribute to the “huge contribution” he made......

Helen Clark has confirmed she will lead the 320 strong contingent at the unveiling of the NZ Memorial in London on Armistice Day. The NZ contingent will also include other MPs, as well as NZDF personnel under Lieut-General Jerry Mateparae. NZ singers Dave Dobbyn and Hayley Westenra will perform. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will be there as well......

“Close the gate before the algae bolts” is the muddled metaphor heading a press statement by the Green’s Metiria Turei demanding the immediate closure of the didymo-contaminated Rangitikei River......

Helen Clark told a Wellington audience this week the country had been “incredibly lucky” to have had Richard Woods as director of the SIS for the last 7 years. Woods was NZ’s Ambassador in Paris when he was appointed to head the spooks by former PM Jenny Shipley. Now in retirement mode, Woods says his job had changed enormously, with Sept 11. The Govt is expected to avail itself of Woods’ services in another capacity, though Woods himself is looking forward this week to docking his lambs on his Martinborough lifestyle block......

Peter Hamilton, currently NZ’s Ambassador in Germany, is expected to return from Berlin soon to take up a Deputy Secretary slot at MFAT, filling the vacancy left by John Larkindale who has gone to Canberra as High Commissioner.......

The order paper for Parliament when it resumes next week looks pretty thin, raising questions over whether the House will run through to December 14, or adjourn earlier......

The National Party erected two billboards this week, “proudly paid for by supporters of the National party with their own money.” The billboards feature photos of Helen Clark, beginning with Painter-Gate, Corngate, Doonegate, Speedgate, Pledge-Gate, and ending with “Departure Gate.” They are on SH 20 in Auckland and Main North Road in Christchurch. A third was turned down by Wellington Airport, leading Bill English to claim the Airport is worried about incurring the wrath of a “tiring and vindictive” Govt.

26th October 2006

Labour president Mike Williams, shrugging off TV One’s poll showing it is 13 points behind National, told reporters the party is in good shape and a man had come up to him in the street and thrust $20 into his hand. “It only happened once” added Williams who put $5,000 into the election spending payback kitty......

NZ’s next High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea is Niels Holm, currently deputy director of the Pacific Division at MFAT. He has previously served as Ambassador to Iran and was NZ’s first Ambassador to Afghanistan. He takes up his appointment in January, replacing Laurie Markes......

Planners for Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker’s current tour obviously think travel broadens the mind. He started off visiting Hawaii for a call on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, then went to Budapest for the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution (and who could dispute Rick is the man for the job there? After this he moved on to Paris for a summit on Veterans’ issues (he is Minister for Veterans’ Affairs). Then he travels to Washington to meet the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs. Finally at the end of this strenuous schedule he goes to New Orleans (not for any R&R) but to talk with the Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office......

Labour says it’s pleased with the response so far to its appeal for funds to replay its election bill. But it wasn’t so happy with trade union affiliates who said “no way” to the appeal......

A flurry of speculation arose this week over John Key’s decision to cancel a trip to the US. Some said it was because a coup bid was in the wind. But Key says he cancelled the visit, which was to be tacked on to the end of his recent trip to the UK, because it coincided with the Columbus Day holiday......

Dame Margaret Bazley has been appointed Registrar of Pecuniary Interests of MPs. She takes over from Anand Satyanand who has been appointed Governor General......

The National Party has appointed Chris Simpson as its new General Manager......

Trevor Mallard’s grand plan for a new stadium to be built on Auckland’s waterfront in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2011 appears to be running into the customary Auckland cussedness over new projects. Critics say it would cost anything up to $1bn, and would take every available construction worker to complete it in time for the World Cup......

Trade Minister Phil Goff will be pushing for FTA with Korea in Seoul in a presentation to members of the Korean National Assembly this week.
 

19th October 2006

Three key figures are missing from Parliament this week: National’s John Carter, Labour’s Lynne Pillay and Green’s Nandor Tanczos. They are all in Geneva, attending the 107-years-old, 140-member Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly. This is no junket. They are hard at work. Speaker Margaret Wilson says they are taking part in the world wide Parliamentary debate working for “peace and cooperation and for representative democracy.” ......

At least the election of South Korea’s Ban Ki-Moon has put a stop to endless speculation on whether Helen Clark would become the next UN Secretary-General......

Talking of appointments, National’s Murray McCully and freshman backbencher John Hayes have been in Fiji as part of National’s Pacific consultations. McCully swears they did not lodge an application on behalf of Winston Peters to succeed Aust’s Greg Urwin as the next head of the Pacific Is Forum......

Career diplomat David Payton is Tokelau’s new Administrator. He heads for the atolls in November for initial discussions......

Air Vice Marshall David Bamfield’s appointment as Vice Chief of the Defence Force has been extended for a further 12 months from February 2007. Meanwhile the SSC has confirmed Trans-Tasman’s report John McKinnon is to be the next Secretary of Defence......  

Amid the verbal heat and wrangling in Parliament’s debate over the election spending legislation a sidelight was denial of National Party attempts to have MPs who will be paying back money declare a pecuniary interest in the measure......

United Future has to repay $71,867 for mis-spent election expenses. Leader Peter Dunne says this puts “massive” financial pressure on the three UF MPs. Some relief then after a couple of decent sized cheques arrived from well-wishers already......

NZ First’s Winston Peters, revived by the adulation of delegates at the party conference last weekend is reported to be in hospital this week for knee surgery......

Assistant Speaker Ann Hartley had difficulty in controlling an unruly House as it debated the validating legislation on election spending. In the end she had to be rescued by Leader of the House Michael Cullen. She might well have needed a cup of tea when she was relieved in the chair by deputy Speaker Ross Robertson.......

South Africa’s Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka is visiting NZ this week. Helen Clark says this is the first visit from South Africa at this senior level since former president Nelson Mandela came in 1995......

United Future’s Peter Dunne is launching a petition this week to extend daylight saving. He points out NZ has 24 weeks of daylight saving (and 28 weeks without it): Tasmania has 26 weeks and Europe 31 weeks. Dunne thinks we should have at least 3 more weeks.

12th October 2006

It had to happen. After Winston Peters was laid low by an insect bite in Malaysia, National MPs have found a way to annoy the Foreign Minister – call him Spiderman. Their taunts briefly turned the debating chamber into a shambles on Tuesday, upsetting the super hero’s disclosure Condoleeza Rice had called him about North Korea’s nuke test......

Brian Connell wasn’t showing any signs of his Caucus isolation when Parliament came back from its three-week recess. The maverick MP walked to his usual seat and had a few friendly words for colleagues along the way. Chief whip Lindsay Tische says it’s OK, the only sanction is he can’t attend Caucus meetings......

Company Director Rick Bettle has been appointed Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority, replacing Roy Tannock who resigned in September, a day after John Jones quit as Director......

Electoral Commission Chief Helena Catt is lead speaker at a Wellington seminar on October 20 – the subject – the funding of political parties. One of her topics is ‘lessons from recent elections.’ Nice timing Helena......

ACT’s Rodney Hide threw a dinner party at the Tamaki Yacht Club this week to celebrate his 10th anniversary as an MP, but it wasn’t too flash – cash bar available declared the media advisory. Meanwhile Hide is preparing for a cross-harbour swim, and says he was quite nervous when he got into water where he couldn’t put his feet down and found there was no black line on the bottom to keep him on course. He says navigation will be a problem......

Swiss Health Minister Pascal Couchepin arrived this week for talks with Pete Hodgson. Couchepin is interested in the Govt’s anti-obesity campaign......

It’s the tenth anniversary of the first MMP election. Not surprisingly, celebrations are subdued ......

Could the McKinnon dynasty re-establish itself on NZ’s front (defence) line? Speculation is John McKinnnon, currently a deputy secretary in MFAT, could be the next Secretary of Defence replacing Graham Fortune who has retired. McKinnon has impeccable credentials, a son of the late Major-General Walter McKinnon (who was Chief of the General Staff) and a brother of Don McKinnon, a former Deputy PM, and currently Secretary General of the Commonwealth. He also has been head of the External Assessments Bureau and served as Ambassador to China......

Good news out of Treasury. After introducing a recycling scheme, it has reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill by 80% each year.

5th October 2006

The 99 MP Party has been struck off the Electoral Commission’s register after it failed to provide evidence of 500 members. The party contested the last election and gained 601 votes – 0.03%. With a Parliamentary Committee having killed a Bill to cut the number of MPs to 99, the campaign looks like a fizzer......

Chris De Boer has been appointed the new Chairman of the Venture Investment Fund, taking over from John Grant, who’s retiring......

Maori broadcaster Ani Waaka has been re-appointed to the Film and Literature Board of Review......

Crime stats released this week had MPs reaching for their calculators. Among the numbers they crunched – Simon Power’s 140 offences a day, and Heather Roy’s one reported crime every 73 seconds......

The Christian Heritage Party closed down this week, citing a “legacy of negative perceptions” created by the conviction of former leader Graham Capill, who is serving nine years for sexually violating three young girls......

Helen Clark says NZ has not committed to supporting any candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as Secretary General of the UN (a job some said she might be interested in), but with a consensus building around South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon, NZ would be likely to support him. “I’ve met him several times, he’s very distinguished”......

Few politicians have been so demonised as Opposition Leader Don Brash. For many months he found it difficult to get a headline. Now he is seldom out of them. In the past week or two he has been attacked as “corrosive and cancerous, malignant” and “evil.” Brash turns the other cheek “in some ways I am flattered. They must think I am a useful asset since they are trying to destroy my image in any way they can.”......

National had a bit of laugh when NZ First leader Winston Peters abused the Opposition Leader for his view there were few full-blooded Maori left. They only had to turn to NZ First’s website to find speeches by Peters on the same theme......

Helen Clark has invited Papua New Guinea’s Sir Michael Somare to NZ before the Pacific Forum convenes in Fiji later this month.....

The Independent Financial Review’s Tim Donoghue who cracked the story on the National Caucus row leading to the suspension of Rakaia MP Brian Connell had to beat off a covey of eager young reporters who kept asking him about his sources. It seems only the more seasoned journalists regard sources (or at least sources of this quality) as sacrosanct.
 

28th September 2006

Winston Peters went to Washington, with the NZ media in trail, and ends up in fire-fights with reporters that dominate the headlines and bulletins. He travelled to New York last week for the UN General Assembly, minus reporters other than local stringers and chats on the mobile back home – and secures wide coverage (the envy of other Ministers) that focuses on the business of his trip. A lesson here somewhere?......

Helen Clark will be the voice of God in an Auckland school’s production of Badjelly The Witch next week. We’re told she’ll stick to the script, and can only wonder at what she might like to say......

Treasury Chief Advisor Prof Bob Buckle has been chosen as the new Chairman of APEC’s Economic Committee. The appointment is for two years and the award-winning economist says his main aim is to promote high-quality policy dialogue......

Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel has re-appointed Alastair Lawrence, Colin Giffney and David Quigg to the Takeovers Panel. Lawrence’s term is for two years, the other two for five......

After being a star of celebrity dancing, ACT’s Rodney Hide is another publicity kick. He’s volunteered to be a pin-up boy on a charity calendar produced by Auckland Cat Rescue. He is one of 13 calendar volunteers. He is currently in Britain and borrowed an Aquada (the amphibious vehicle invented by entrepreneur Alan Gibbs) to drive from London to Stonehenge. Hide reports he was not greatly impressed (with Stonehenge). Cynics wonder whether he was more interested in the Aquada, given his commitment to a forthcoming ocean swim......

David Parker says it’s difficult enough being a politician without private eyes trying to dig dirt. “Extremely creepy” was his reaction to disclosures he had been spied on by the Exclusive Brethren. At least the investigator was discreet. Parker didn’t notice anyone following him.......

Left-wing commentator Chris Trotter, writing this week in the Independent Financial Review, urges Helen Clark should heed the lesson of the battle of Stalingrad in fighting what is shaping up to the greatest battle of her political career and retreat before it is too late on the pledge card issue. He sees Clark in the same position as the German General Von Paulus: “Only a brief period remains before all avenues of escape are closed to her Govt and the trap long prepared by her enemies (not all of whom are in the National Party) is sprung.”

21st September 2006

ACT’s entire Caucus, Rodney Hide and Heather Roy, are heading for Europe in the recess on a fact-finding mission. They will visit Britain, Germany and Ireland to meet politicians from small parties. Hide says what they learn will help “reinvent” ACT. And to make sure no one accuses them of wasting taxpayer money, they’re paying for it themselves......

ACT leader Rodney Hide says he just nosed ahead in his Smart car of Alex Sweeney on his Vespa in his race at Alexandra Park last Friday night. He reports they raised “some dough” for the Starship heart unit......

Helen Morgan-Banda has been recruited from the Lotteries Commission to run a communications unit (as distinct from the press office) in the PM’s Office.......

After the recent problems it has had with the Govt, Telecom is said to be recruiting a new face to liaise with the Beehive. Malcolm Alexander, with a considerable background within the Wellington bureaucracy, and currently with Genesis Energy, is said to be a front-runner.......

Richard Long, onetime Chief of Staff to Opposition Leader Don Brash, headlined his column in the Dominion-Post “Honest Don is beginning to look more like Mr Magoo.” But how many of his readers under 60 would know who Mr Magoo was? Meanwhile he has done his former boss a real dis-service - it’s reported the nickname is already starting to stick around Parliament.......

Searches on National’s website increased more than 1000% at the height of publicity over Don Brash’s private life, according to monitoring company Hitwise. Visitors were not looking for policy, with searches clearly angling for more details of the alleged infidelities of the party leader......

Did Trevor Mallard have his tongue firmly in his cheek when he said he would do his bit to improve standards in Parliament after a “discussion” with Helen Clark?......  

Tamaki MP Alan Peachey is recovering from surgery, but is looking forward to returning to Parliament. He says he wants to thank hospital staff who had provided fantastic support in dealing with a situation which “came as a complete bolt out of the blue.”......

PM Helen Clark has condemned the military coup in Thailand. She is calling for an immediate restoration of democracy. Clark says she is “deeply disturbed” by the reporting out of Thailand. NZers should consider delaying planned travel to Thailand, until the situation is clear.
 

14th September 2006

It wasn’t only Trevor Mallard the PM felt like zapping with a Taser this week. Pete Hodgson was a likely alternative after saying Labour isn’t going to pay back the pledge card money regardless of what the Auditor General says in his final report. Hodgson it seems, was way ahead of the game and the Govt hadn’t wanted to make its position clear ahead of the report’s release. The official line is still “we are waiting for the report.”......

Sue Kedgely’s latest attempt in Parliament to persuade Michael Cullen to save the Overlander with a subsidy didn’t move him. He says the passenger rate has improved, but only because it’s going to close. “This could lead to what one might call an Irish solution - continuing to announce the closure of the route every so often in order to increase patronage. Sooner or later people will wake up to the con job.”......

Foreign Minister Winston Peters is leaving on Monday for the UN’s General Assembly’s session in New York and then to Europe for his six monthly consultations. Helen Clark says she hasn’t talked with him about his health but knows he has every intention of catching the plane.......

Eagle eyed promoters of political figures noted this week a Wellington “her business network” invitation for its 19 September meeting featured Mark Blumsky as guest speaker. Biographical notes covered his business background and his holding of the capital Mayoralty from 1995 to 1991 but no mention he is a National list MP......

What next for ACT leader Rodney Hide? With some questioning whether he’s still got his political mojo after competing in Dancing with the Stars on TVNZ, now he’s learning to swim. There’s talk of him competing in a five oceans contest. More immediately he is due to show up at the Auckland Trots on Friday night to race his Smart car against Auckland identity Alex Sweny on a Vespa......

Interviews of those short listed for Secretary for Defence took place last week. But it may be a couple of months before an announcement made. Security checks might take this long if it’s an outside appointment......

Political blogs are carrying a satirical variation of the “Mastercard-Priceless” adverts, ending with the punch line “there are some things money can buy, but when you don’t have it, use the taxpayer’s.” They also featured a new court defence “Yes, Your Honour, I did kill Miss Muggins. However I also killed someone in 1999 and 2002, and so it would be unfair to hold me accountable, because I thought it was OK .Plus the law was confusing, and in my own mind I did nothing wrong.”

7th September 2006

Nuns wear habitats, we live in the commuter age, Phillip Field’s title is tartar and people fanoogle their tax returns – Bob Clarkson lives in a slightly different world to the rest of us......

The NZ Herald’s report Labour is considering ‘paying back’ the $446,000 it spent on its pledge card by underspending in its next two leader’s fund budgets raised eyebrows around Parliament. Doesn’t it mean saving taxpayer’s money by not using it for the right purposes, to compensate for having used it for the wrong ones? Michael Cullen says it isn’t a “feasible option.”......

Former Defence Force Chief Air Marshall Bruce Ferguson is to head the Govt Communications Security Bureau, replacing Warren Tucker on November 1......

Attorney General Michael Cullen will bring a Bill to Parliament later this year raising the retirement age for judges from 68 to 70. He says people expect to live and work longer these days......

Netherlands Prince of Orange and Princess Maxima will visit NZ from October 31 to November 4. NZ took its name from the southern Dutch province of Zeeland......

Political blogs have been highly critical of the Labour Party over its pledge card funding. Even leftist Russell Brown says the party should cut to the chase and pay the money back. Coincidentally with the return to NZ of Winston Peters after recuperating in Rarotonga from his mystery illness contracted after an insect bit him in Kuala Lumpur, one blog carried the line “the spider has just been released from the Betty Ford clinic.”......

With the retirement of Secretary of Defence Graham Fortune, the State Services Commission is due to name his successor. Speculation has been deputy secretary Chris Seed who like Fortune was a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade before moving to Defence will step up......

John Goulter, former managing director of Auckland Airport Ltd has been appointed sole member of the Appropriations Review Committee to look at funding entitlements for Parliamentary purposes and the amount of money appropriated by Parliament for administrative and support services to the House and members.......

Eight bids have been short-listed in a public tender process to televise Parliament. Speaker Wilson says bids were assessed by a selection panel to compile the short list. She says televising of all debates would significantly increase the public’s access to what was going on in the debating chamber.

31st August 2006

While Winston Peters is recuperating in the Cook Islands from the viral infection he suffered in Kuala Lumpur, Michael Cullen has been acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, though as before any major issues are kicked upstairs to the PM. Whether Peters will be back on deck to represent NZ at the UN General Assembly later this month in New York is uncertain. The PM says she has not given any serious consideration to attending the General Assembly, even though she has an invite to a session of former President Bill Clinton’s Foundation for Global Initiatives to be held in New York at that time. High-level political representation at last year’s General Assembly wasn’t possible because it coincided with the general election here.....

Secretary of Defence Graham Fortune retires this week after a lengthy career in the public service. He joined the Dept of External Affairs in 1964. After a series of postings and appointment as a Deputy Secretary, he became High Commissioner in Canberra before taking over Defence in 1999. The State Services Commission is expected to announce his successor within the next month......

Rodney Hide, still on his weight loss campaign after Dancing With the Stars, might look about half the man he used to be, but he hasn’t lost any of his boundless energy. The new look ACT leader, having lost his rate capping Bill vote, is turning to Grey Power and is backing its petition against hardship suffered by old people facing big rate rises. Hide must figure there are votes for the taking after NZ First said after all the effort it put in Grey Power hadn’t been much use at election time......

Labour Minister Ruth Dyson is in Seoul for an ILO Conference and to meet like-minded Korean Ministers. She’s had talks with Gender Equality Minister Jang Ha-Jin......

United Future leader Peter Dunne is heading across the Tasman in pursuit of his pet project, a national medicines strategy. Developing it is part of UF’s support agreement with the Govt and the reason Dunne was made an Associate Health Minister. It’s about providing the best medicines without blowing the health budget and Dunne will meet Aust officials and Ministers he says are grappling with the same dilemma......

Contrasting approaches to controversy this week from Nat Parliamentarians. Tauranga MP Bob Clarkson asserted public support for his assertion that Muslims who wear burqas because of deeply held religious beliefs should go “back to Islam or Iraq.” But the Nat’s gay MP Chris Finlayson who initially said he agreed with everything Clarkson had said, then went silent. Lambton Quay strollers noted Finlayson’s prominence some weeks earlier in promoting a liberal wing of the National Party.

24th August 2006

King who? Journalists tasked with writing quick biographies of the successor to Maori monarch Dame Te Ata encountered serious problems. Running a Tuheitia Paki name check through computer archives didn’t work. “He isn’t in the database was the shocked realisation.”......

What was Finance Minister Michael Cullen really signalling when, during a lively Parliamentary debate on pre-election spending, he said NZ First leader Winston Peters would release more potentially damaging emails about National-Exclusive Brethren links “in a few weeks?”  Word around the Beehive is Peters has had to take more time off to recover from the consequences of his unknown beast bite in Kuala Lumpur and the situation might be rather more serious than at first thought......

When Helen Clark criticised Wallaby Lote Tuquiri’s spear tackle on All Black captain Richie McCaw at the Bledisloe Cup, she was only following prime ministerial precedent. Think back to the  famous underarm incident at the MCG in Feb 1981. PM Rob Muldoon waded in with “the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket ...  I consider it appropriate that the Aust team were wearing yellow.” Aust PM Malcom Fraser – no friend of Muldoon – joined in and called it “contrary to the traditions of the game.”  So PM Clark is in good company......

Auckland Regional Council Chair Mike Lee is a regular on Auckland Issues Minister Judith Tizard’s appointments’ schedule. Rodney Hide was told by the ARC under an official information request Lee meets with Tizard on a more or less monthly basis and they cover a wide range of issues. Lee is adamant he hasn’t discussed expanding territorial authority metropolitan urban limits with her in exchange for support of a takeover of bulk water distributor Watercare by ARC. The ARC told Hide, however, Lee did inform the Minister of his Council’s desire to own the company......

The Maori Queen’s tangi threw Parliament’s agenda and PM Clark’s diary way off track. Monday’s Cabinet meeting was shifted to Tuesday and House business lost a day as MPs paid a two hour tribute. National took it in its stride, although opposition MPs were already annoyed by a Parliamentary calendar which sees more recesses than usual. Nats say the Govt has done it to make sure there’s plenty of breathing space to re-group over issues like Taito Phillip Field and election spending. However, the schedule was decided at the end of last year.
 

17th August 2006

New Governor General Anand Satyanand will be sworn in on August 23 and the ceremony will recognise his Indo-Fijian ethnicity. PM Clark says Indian community representatives will conduct a brief welcoming ceremony before the Maori welcome on the steps of parliament......

Michael Cullen took a stick to the NZ Herald this week saying the paper “seems to have swallowed the National Party line” that the Auditor-General’s report on election spending relates only to the three months before the last election. “Like national, the Herald would have you believe this issue is black and white.” But he says “it is far more complicated.” He considers the AG’s concerns affect all spending since 1989......

On the day the Govt was announcing its new sentencing policy, dreamt up by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Tim Selwyn (the man jailed for sedition, and an assault on Helen Clark’s electorate office) was informing readers of his blog about prison security in the institution he is currently getting acquainted with. He claims it has more cell-phones than an Auckland high school and more cannabis than a Northland one......

The Independent Financial Review says Commerce Commission head honcho Paula Rebstock has “blown her chance” of being reappointed Chairman when her term expires in December. It says by signalling the CC’s intention to seize control of Vector, Rebstock was “giving the Govt the finger.” But Rebstock is highly regarded in Govt circles. While the IFR thinks the most obvious successor for Rebstock is Deputy Chairman David Caygill, observers note Caygill takes no part in the Commission’s deliberations on electricity industry matters, since he is a director of listed company Infratil, which is a shareholder in TrustPower......

National leader Don Brash brushes off talk of a new party advertising campaign, based on a trial run in a Taupo paper with the theme “Don has proved he has the guts to do what’s right for our country.” He says any such campaign would have to be signed off by the board of the National Party and the Board hasn’t done anything of the kind. But it has hired John Ansell on a part-time basis. He’s the man who dreamed up National’s inconic billboards before the last election......

Controversy over whether the Green’s Buy NZ Made campaign should include items manufactured in other countries has prompted NZ First to offer a takeover. Deputy leader Peter Brown says “while we have become used to parties pillaging our policies, we do expect they will do justice to them and get it right. Clearly the Greens can’t hack fronting it and should hand it to a party which can.” The Greens are dithering over whether goods designed by NZers and produced overseas should be included. It wasn’t what Rod Donald wanted when he proposed it.
 

10th August 2006

Helen Clark’s spin doctors noted the very poor attendance at her photo-op with Afghanistan’s visiting Human Rights Commissioner Sima Samar on Monday, compared with an impressive turn-out when Foreign Minister Winston Peters met with the same woman on Tuesday, his first appearance after being struck down by a mystery illness. One helpful comment came from a gallery reporter “maybe they should take her to Malaysia to get bitten on the bum”- for the record though Peters says he was bitten on his lower leg......

Trade Minister Phil Goff has organised a seminar on doing business with China where expert speakers will discuss the best way to go about it. It’s being held in Auckland on August 18. To register email <inez.mccaughan@parliament.govt.nz>......

Freezing, cold shouldered hacks gave up waiting outside Premier House for a chat with the PM during Labour’s all-day Caucus on Tuesday, text messaging her Press Secretary to say they’d gone back to Parliament. The PM later emerged, found no one there, and went back inside. Turns out the Press Secretary had left her cell-phone at home.......

The NZ Herald’s poll of CEOs to find out how they rate the effectiveness of political leaders must have been galling for ACT’s Rodney Hide. No one could be further from the Greens in policy terms than Hide, but he shared bottom spot with Jeanette Fitzsimons on identical ratings: excellent 2%, good 14% and indifferent 84%......

State-owned enterprise Asure NZ has appointed acting CEO Kelvan Smith as chief executive. Smith a former meat inspector and MBA graduate, has been running the company since May......

Labour’s closest ally the Progressive Party has some advice on the Taito Phillip Field affair. Deputy leader Matt Robson (no longer of course in Parliament) says “NZLP Council should boot Phil Field out the door ... For the life of me I can’t understand why the ruling council of the Labour Party doesn’t nullify the membership of one Phil Field, MP for Mangere.” Maybe Robson thinks he could fill Field’s seat in Parliament......

Anyone notice it is nearly 30 years since Colin Moyle had to vacate Mangere under something of a cloud?......

Dr Morgan Williams is retiring after two 5-year terms as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. The position is to be advertised next week, but Dr Williams has agreed to stay on until after the celebrations early next year to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the office. Dr Williams has made some outstanding contributions to the big environmental debates. For example his 2000 report on “Setting Course For A Sustainable Future” prompted the Oceans Policy process. In 1999 the office published “Cities And Their People.” In 2004 “Growing For Good” focussed on intensification of farming. Then there have been his reports on energy including the latest “Electricity, Energy And The Environment” released last month.
 

3rd August 2006

The private hospital Winston Peters has been in is very private. It refers calls about patients to a Public Relations outfit. But whatever’s wrong with Peters can’t be too serious. Reporting on his condition, Helen Clark told reporters he thought he’d been bitten by something, adding “there weren’t any journalists in the vicinity.”......

An irony has been noted in National’s loud complaints about the cost of the Air Force’s new helicopters. Haven’t they been complaining for years about inadequate defence spending and comparing us unfavourably with Aust?......

Jim Anderton had a neat response to Gerry Brownlee’s complaint a methamphetamine pamphlet looked like a Progressive Party promotion – he pointed out Tony Ryall asked for copies of it......

National’s media office prepares a detailed daily internal briefing paper about what the papers, radio and agencies are saying. Everyone knows because Tuesday’s edition was e-mailed to all Press Gallery offices, quickly followed by another message –“Jason Eade would like to recall the message. National Party morning media brief.”......

Health Minister Pete Hodgson has re-appointed Dr Peter Moller to the Medical Council Board, a decision described by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists as “an arrogant display of giving the fingers to the profession.” The ASMS and other health professional groups wanted Waiheke Island GP Barnett Bond. The MOH is now considering enlarging the Board from 10 to 11 members......

Sarah Dennis, an experienced French-speaking diplomat, is to take up the post of Ambassador to France in place of Adrian Macey who on his return to Wellington has been appointed to the new post of Climate Commissioner. Macey will be responsible for handling international negotiations on climate change. ......

A reshuffle of responsibilities among the Foreign Affairs’ team of Deputy Secretaries is likely following the posting of John Larkindale as High Commissioner in Canberra. Beehive sources say as NZ extends its search for new trade deals, Derek Leask with long experience in this field could take a key role......

In his maiden speech Labour’s newest MP Charles Chauvel covered an impressive range of issues. He called for closer trans-Tasman relations, and said it was time to explore a “Pacific Union” with NZ and Aust at its core. He reminded MPs NZ has been built on immigration and “we should not fear it.” Chauvel has top-drawer credentials, but will he be content to serve a long apprenticeship as Labour’s other high-flier Shane Jones is doing?

27th July 2006

Helen Clark called a brief halt to her news conference on Monday as half the hacks and TV crews shuffled off to hear what Winston had to say about the Washington fiasco. He’d scheduled his news conference so it almost coincided with hers. To those who remained the PM noted “I suppose they’re going to something more exciting.”......

Tauranga MP Bob Clarkson hasn’t had much to say for himself since ousting Winston Peters at the election but he did come up with a worthy press statement this week. Bob the Builder had figured out a state highway weed-eater and its three attendant safety vehicles costs taxpayers $600 an hour to operate. Plus GST. He promised a National Govt would put a stop to such madness......

Tim Groser won’t be able to show off his fine command of languages in Parliament. During a debate on art and other protected objects he revealed  he’s been told if he “ever speaks French in the debating chamber I’ll be expelled from the National Party.”......  

After the bitter spat between Foreign Minister Winston Peters and senior journalists on his Washington mission, (which continued unabated on their return to NZ), the PM sought to pour oil on troubled waters, suggesting Peters would take a press adviser on future trips abroad. But Peters rejected the idea out of hand. It seems he prefers to travel with his chief of staff Graham Harding, who earlier in his career worked for the Police Association. What expertise Harding brings to the Foreign Affairs field is unclear. The NZ Herald reported this week there is considerable frustration within NZ First about Peters’ reliance on Harding. It added several party sources have indicated since Harding became Peters’ primary adviser more than a year ago relations with the press had declined markedly......

Peters may have convinced himself he had emerged triumphant from his clash with the press but obviously Helen Clark didn’t think so. She invited Peters’ main antagonist Barry Soper of Newstalk ZB up to the ninth floor for a chat, seeking his views on how to smooth over the ruffled feelings of the journos, not to mention the wounded vanity of any others......

Meanwhile Winston Peters left for ASEAN talks in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, this time with no reporters in tow......

NZ’s next High Commissioner to Kiribati will be career diplomat Craig Rickett, replacing John Goodman in November.....

Jim Sutton bowed out of Parliament with a valedictory speech noting Annette King “who is a sister to me,” Sonja Davies “who shamed me into ironing my own shirts,” and Bill Dillon who helped organise a party starting in the press gallery lounge and ending at 6am in the Beehive pool.

20th July 2006

Press gallery relations between TV1 and TV3 reached a new low this week after Duncan Garner’s latest scoop. Garner got his hands on TV1s latest opinion poll, to be broadcast on Sunday, and announced the results on Saturday. Guyon Espiner has severed diplomatic relations......

The Herald on Sunday is looking for a political editor again. Patrick Crewsdon has moved to the Dominion Post. The paper won’t have the services of former ACT MP Deborah Coddington for much longer either. Her feature writing talents might not have been sufficiently appreciated......

Paramount Chief Tumu te Heuheu’s appointment as chairman of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee won wide support in Parliament......

The US State Dept’s protocol division got the titles right when Winston Peters joined the titans of international diplomacy with his appointment with US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice this week. Her schedule for the day included a meeting at 1.45pm with Belgium’s Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht along with the 3.15pm meeting with Peters.  De Gucht was described as “His Excellency” while Peters’ was “Rt Honourable” reflecting his Privy Council membership.......

A lesson for those who want to topple entrenched political leaders from across the Tasman: the bitter row between John Howard and his would-be successor Peter Costello has left Costello as damaged goods, according to polls (see story above). One report blames the havoc wrought on Costello on some wet-behind-the-ears Liberal MPs heavily into the Cult of Suck......

One of the most senior bureaucrats in the education system, Karen Sewell, has been named to succeed Howard Fancy as Secretary for Education. Sewell has been CEO of the Education Review Office and also served as Acting CEO of the NZQA, demonstrating (as the State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble put it) “the ability to step into an organisation in crisis and take firm control.”......

National MP Tim Groser has been appointed to a key role in the WTO to chair a panel charged with resolving the dispute between aircraft manufacturing giants Boeing and Airbus. National leader Don Brash says it is a tribute to Groser he has been chosen for adjudicating on what is described as the biggest dispute in the history of the WTO......

Labour list MP Maryan Street will be attending the ASEAN inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus Conference on Burma and Democracies in Transition being held in Kuala Lumpur this weekend. She says she has been interested in Burma’s progress towards democracy (not that there has been much sign of it lately) since her days as Labour Party President.
 

13th July 2006

When the Minister of Overseas Trade is as enthusiastic a traveller as Phil Goff, what’s the point of having a roving Trade Ambassador in the form of Jim Sutton? This is the question being asked along Lambton Quay and among exporters and primary producers. Sutton might have been a good Trade Minister but out of office and shorn of Ministerial trappings, he is likely to be as useful as ... well......

National’s fingerprints are all over weekend reports Foreign Minister Winston Peters might succeed Australian Greg Urwin as head of the Pacific Forum, according to well-placed Parliamentary sources. Peters is National’s Parliamentary nemesis, according to these sources, and what better way to unsettle him than to place stories suggesting he will defect Parliament to take on a plum Pacific job. Urwin was the first appointee from outside the region to take up the job. Old Pacific hands are withholding judgment on how effective he has been – but agree the forum would be unlikely to take another “metropolitan” in his place......

Aspiring Finance Minister Trevor Mallard has an elephant-like memory. Don’t ask for a Heineken beer from his Ministerial office fridge. The Minister’s views on the brand when NZ lost the Rugby World Cup co-hosting rights were pungent. No bottles of the brew grace his office refrigerator......

Jim Sutton’s retirement wasn’t meant to happen while the PM was away this week, but it leaked after Conservation Minister Chris Carter introduced his successor Charles Chauvel as “Labour’s next gay MP” at a party birthday bash at the weekend. “Carter blabbed” officials explained......

Ken Stevens has been appointed the Business Champion for Export Year 07. He’s the founder, owner and executive chairman of Auckland company Glidepath, a world leader in airport baggage handling and sorting systems......

New Civil Defence Chief John Hamilton got a welcome from National’s John Carter. But it was one of those back-handed welcomes one gets from a politician on the Opposition benches. “Civil Defence needs a new broom. I look forward to working with John Hamilton to ensure the organisation’s huge problems are fixed before it’s too late and disaster strikes.”......

Mystery deepens around the activities of Minister for Auckland Issues, Judith Tizard. Asked by Nat Auckland Issues spokesman Richard Worth under official disclosure legislation for “all reports and advice notes she has sent to Cabinet colleagues and officials seeking additional funding for Auckland projects over the past 12 months?” She responded there were no such written reports or advice notes. Down Lambton Quay strollers are asking whether there might have been any in the past 24 months, the past 36 months...the past six years?
 

6th July 2006

Chen Palmer are throwing a big party on August 22 to mark Sir Geoffery’s move to become president of the Law Commission......

The US embassy took the unusual step of releasing advance copies of Ambassador William McCormick’s Independence Day speech. Helen Clark’s office did the same thing as she attended the celebrations for the first time since becoming PM. Things must be looking up......

Long-serving diplomat Neil Walter, who became administrator to the Tokelaus after serving as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is standing down from his Pacific job. He took the islands to the brink of independence this year, only to face defeat by a handful of voters who lived away from the islands. Walter’s – and NZ’s administration of the Tokelaus has won praise from the Decolonisation Committee at the UN, traditionally a hard bunch to please for a coloniser however reluctant, like NZ. Another referendum is expected next year. Walter is due to be replaced by David Paton, nearing the end of his appointment as Ambassador at the Hague......

Pamela Jean Andrews has been appointed a Judge of the High Court. She became a partner in Kensington Swan in 1988. Justice Andrews also worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in their External Aid Division......

Old Labour hands are lining up to support one or other of the main aspirants to succeed Michael Cullen as Finance Minister. Sir Roger Douglas (in the NZ Herald) says he can’t see a logical successor “although I would have hoped (Phil) Goff could, possibly.” Mike Moore (in the Christchurch Press) says it will be hard to stop Cullen’s deputy, Trevor Mallard, smart, despite his Bruce Willis impersonations. As for Goff, Moore says he’s playing it safe, and risks becoming Al Gore, worthy but too safe, a bit like Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow. With testimonials like these, Cullen probably feels quite safe......

National’s Lockwood Smith raised some interesting questions this week about the Ingram report into allegations leveled against Labour’s Taito Philip Field (a report which has reached the Solicitor-General). Was the report being held up until after Labour’s anniversary celebrations? Had any senior Labour Party officials seen it? Smith estimates the report may have cost (so far) $250,000. He reckons delays in publishing the report are fuelling speculation of tensions within Labour over the findings and the likely political outcome in South Auckland. But, then, Lockie might be just shooting in the dark.

29th June 2006

Ministers have been racking up the travel points, again. Lianne Dalziel is in Tokyo, Phil Goff is in Geneva, Chris Carter is back from Leeds, Michael Cullen is heading off to Honiara for the Forum Economic Ministers meeting, Damien O’Connor flitted across to Adelaide for a day, and Winston Peters is in Europe. He was greeted by President Chirac when he arrived for the France-Oceania summit, but it seems, even with his nose for the big event, he’ll miss out on the World Cup final in Berlin. But it won’t be all hard talk, business and politics for Peters. He is to take part in the 90th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of the Somme on Saturday. The NZ Division spent 23 days in the lines during the battle when it lost 1,560 killed and 5,440 wounded. The division landed in France in May 1916 after the Gallipoli campaign......

Notice how the House this week has run more smoothly, particularly during Question Time? Doesn’t take long to work out Winston Peters is on his travels again, and the Nats have a breather from his black humour, and constant points of order......

Rodney Hide, looking around for a needy cause, decided to donate his Dancing With The Stars appearance money to the Remuera Racquets Club. The ACT leader took some ribbing in Parliament over the dropped partner episode and is somewhat tetchy with the media these days. He won’t disclose how much TVNZ paid him, but says it was less then the $40,000 Norm Hewitt got......

Beehive wags are chuckling it was not long after the Prime Minister’s “Rasputin,” Heather Simpson, visited Auckland to discuss Queen City infrastructure issues with local politicians and officials the lights went out......

With July 1 looming, the Govt’s good news machine is in top gear. Labour Minister Ruth Dyson, for example, was “celebrating” the introduction of paid parental leave for self-employed by meeting two self-employed women who will now be eligible to receive 14 weeks’ paid leave......

Labour Minister Ruth Dyson won plaudits for commitment when braving a southerly gale and rain at an outdoors photo-shoot for the Construction Industry Council. She endured the elements for 10 minutes while sitting at a desk against a backdrop of cranes on the Wellington Hospital Building site. The industry was launching its nation-wide health and safety strategy for building sites. “They breed them tough in Canterbury,” quipped a construction worker. “At least there’s no fog.”

22nd June 2006

The appointment of diplomat Kate Lackey as the next High Commissioner to Canada has ended the long running gravy train of ex-MPs heading to Ottawa.....

A more difficult diplomatic assignment faces the new ambassador to North Korea, Jane Coombs. Seoul-based Coombs presents her credentials in Pyongyang this week.....

Associate Finance Minister Trevor Mallard admitted he’d like to be Minister of Finance “when that will be, you know, next term, term after that, I mean Michael’s in his early 60’s...I’m trying to do the understudy role.”.....

The SSC is looking for a successor to Graham Fortune who is retiring later this year as Secretary of Defence. The name of Leith Comer, CEO of Te Puni Kokiri, and a former Army man himself, has been bandied about on Lambton Quay as a likely candidate.....

Nats leader Don Brash shouted his front-bench colleagues dinner this week. Nice touch he took them to the Boulcott Street Bistro, noted as one of Wellington’s more salubrious eateries. The bonhomie generated seemed to confirm Don is there for the long haul......

Winston Peters is lining up appointments for his long-awaited visit to Washington next month. Top of the list is US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.....

Rick Barker is reviving memories of his ill-fated predecessor George Hawkins as Civil Defence Minister. Not only was he slow to respond to the calamity in South Canterbury, to put alongside his earlier gaffe over CD’s silence on a potential tsunami threat to Gisborne, but in Parliament he misquoted an old aphorism “it’s true to say those who don’t learn the lessons of history are duty-bound to repeat them.” As his opponents fell about laughing, Barker looked bewildered. And when his colleague Ross Robertson tried to help him out by asking what he could do to help Kiwis prepare for getting through a disaster, Opposition MPs beat him to the answer: “Resign” they shouted at the Minister.....

National backbencher Craig Foss raised eyebrows in the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee when he was cross-examining Revenue Minister Peter Dunne and IRD officials on tax issues, and used his own personal tax statement as the text for his questions. Why couldn’t he get answers when he tried to get in touch with the IRD?.....

Labour backbencher Shane Jones gets flak from his old mate Hone Harawira: “When are you going to curtsy before you patsy.”
 

15th June 2006

National MP Murray McCully reckons the Govt can’t like Canada very much since it posted ex Trade Union Secretary and former MP Graham Kelly to the post of High Commissioner. Noting the Canadians must wonder what NZ actually thinks of their country by sending a succession of former MPs, he predicts Kelly’s successor will be a career diplomat since none of the six Labour MPs he lists as due for retirement has picked up the job. It is likely to be Kate Lackey, currently High Commissioner in Aust. McCully says former Trade Minister Jim Sutton certainly turned down the job......

The Govt will be rolling out the welcome mat for Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong who is arriving in NZ this weekend for an official 5-day visit. He will have a session with the full Cabinet and be hosted to an official Parliamentary lunch. Helen Clark noted the visit will be an opportunity to focus on the economic relationship between Singapore and NZ. Singapore is NZ’s eighth largest bilateral trading partner in the year to December 2005.......

The new svelte, but relatively subdued, Rodney Hide returned to his day job in Parliament this week after what he describes as the “biggest experience of my life.” He showed no bitterness over the judges of the Dancing with the Stars show, who appeared to have reached a collective decision to eliminate Rodney and his partner. On the upside, Rodney probably had got the maximum exposure possible without any collateral political damage, which might have occurred if he had got through by wiping out one or other of the other couples left......

Big question in Parliament this week: Will Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton side with the farmers and vote against micro-chipping of farm dogs?......

Green MP Keith Locke seemed a bit half-hearted in his attack on the Govt for deporting Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali. He said he would be a bit annoyed if Ali had been kicked out “on circumstantial evidence.” So was it just a coincidence Ali flatted in the US with the terrorist who flew a plane into the Pentagon?......

And a second after-thought about the deportation of Ali: what fighter aircraft would the Govt scramble if a terrorist threatened to fly a plane into a high-rise NZ building, say Auckland’s SkyTower, or Wellington’s Beehive?......

IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo has been running the rule over the NZ economy. Hopefully he likes what he sees.

8th June 2006

Taito Phillip Field seems to think the press gallery has a hotline to heaven. “Only God knows the future, go and ask him” Field quipped to reporters as he again dodged questions about whether he would stay with Labour......

James Funnell has been appointed senior Press Secretary to Foreign Minister Winston Peters, as Trans Tasman said he would, but one of his first statements for his new boss didn’t exactly grab headlines – Peters Opens Craft Centre In Vanuatu......

New Greens co-leader Russel Norman admits he was born across the Tasman, but he says it wasn’t a bad swap – “Australia got Bjelke-Petersen, you got me.”......

New found back-bench freedom for Wellington Central MP and former Cabinet Minister Marian Hobbs to speak her mind on behalf of constituents has shown up in the capital. Feisty public advocacy in favour of a Govt grant to the Karori Wildlife Centre set tongues wagging. Labour insiders say her linking with former Mayor and Nat list MP Mark Blumsky to berate the Govt for its failure to come up with an expected grant for the centre provoked considerable angst on the ninth floor of the Beehive. A problem for the PM is a growing number in her caucus with no prospects, or wish, for political advancement who are less inclined to bow their heads......

Winston Peters is racking up the mileage as Foreign Affairs Minister. He was in Vanuatu and the Cook Islands this week. Nice, too, for Revenue Minister Peter Dunne, missing the bleak weather in the capital, with a week in the tropics. Also part of the delegation to Vanuatu and the Cook Islands was Associate Pacific Affairs Minister Winnie Laban. No word whether they are taking a side trip to Dili......

A deputy secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, John Larkindale, has been named as the next High Commissioner to Australia. He will take up the appointment later this year, replacing Kate Lackey......

The aging edifice which houses the Governor-General needs extensive work, and the budget provided $800,000 for specialist assessments of structural and refurbishing priorities......

TVNZ’s coverage of the troubles in East Timor was underwhelming, until deputy political editor Fran Mold arrived on the scene and quickly put some informative pieces to camera......

Phil Goff is still putting in plenty of air miles. In recent weeks the Defence and Trade Minister has touched down in Paris for WTO talks, London for a meeting with British Defence Secretary Des Browne, Ho Chi Minh City for an APEC Ministerial meeting and Singapore for defence talks, then on to Dili to meet East Timor’s troubled leaders and NZ troops.
 

1st June 2006

Trevor Mallard wasn’t satisfied with Gerry Brownlee’s “I withdraw and apologise” after an interjection in the debating chamber last week which was definitely unparliamentary. Mallard demanded “I want one for both words – lying and turd.” Brownlee obliged......

Trade Minister Phil Goff is in Ho Chi Minh City this week for a meeting of APEC Ministers who want to get WTO trade liberalisation talks back on track. Goff returns to NZ on June 6 after a visit to Singapore for a defence conference......

There’s nothing like a Parliamentary recess to set the Ministerial godwits flying. Annette King has been in Europe, where she attended the Chelsea flower show among other highlights, leaving Deputy PM Michael Cullen minding her transport portfolio. New Health Minister Pete Hodgson hits New York this week to attend a special session at the UN General Assembly on HIV/Aids......

A recent late night confession by Bill English to a retired veteran National Party figure that he retained a “burning desire” to return to leadership of his party set tongues wagging in Lambton Quay. Word from the Nat Caucus is he should keep his ambition on “simmer.”......

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia, under attack for his failure to bid for money for Te Puni Kokiri in this year’s Budget, found an unlikely ally in the NZ Herald. It editorialised Horomia should be held up by a prudent Govt as a Minister to be emulated. Three cheers, it said, for Horomia’s “priority this year to reprioritize our budget.” ......

Finance Minister Michael Cullen was less than enthused by some of the media coverage of this year’s budget and gave TVNZ’s Guyon Espiner an earful on the subject. Wonder if the cameraman caught some of Dr Cullen’s more colourful phrases for the record?......

Rosslyn Noonan has been appointed to a second 5-year term as Chief Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission. Before she joined the commission Noonan held the position of Trade Union and Human Rights Co-Ordinator with Education International and was based in Brussels for 4 years. Justice Minister Mark Burton says during her time the Commission has strengthened its ability as an advocate for human rights and he has “every confidence” she will further the cause of human rights in what is often a highly charged environment.
 

25th May 2006

Connoisseurs of drinking water were given the views of veteran water quality consultant to the Ministry of Health Michael Taylor on radio last weekend. He advised consumers to flush a cupful of water from their taps after water had been sitting in pipes overnight. This is to avoid drinking any minute lead particles which may have accumulated from old fittings. Presenter: “With this sort of news around, it’s enough to encourage a person to buy shares in bottled water companies isn’t it?” Taylor: “You might be out of the frying pan into the fire because most of the work that’s been done on bottled water shows a higher risk of disease from bottled water than there is from tap water.” Presenter: “Maybe that’s the stuff with hops and brewers’s yeast in it.” Taylor: “Let’s face it, the risk is so small...”......

High Court Judge Ellen France has been appointed a Judge on the Court of Appeal......

Sue Kedgley’s brandishing of a box of Coco Pops with a free CD inside it at a Health Select Committee hearing on obesity irked Food and Grocery Council exec Brenda Cuttress. She told the Green’s tireless campaigner against junk food advertising “it’s all good food – you’re treating it as if it’s poison.” Kedgely maintains it’s an example of bad food being pushed on children......

Is there something in Parliament’s water? Labour’s ranks have been thinned by ill-health. First Tim Barnett was admitted to hospital for appendicitis, then pneumonia; he was followed by Paul Swain, who also went down with pneumonia; and this week Harry Duynhoven was admitted to New Plymouth hospital with chest pains......

Trevor Mallard, whose electorate encompasses Wainuiomata, home of such Hurricanes stalwarts as Tana Umaga and Piri Weepu, sported the Hurricanes colours in the House this week in a show of a local patriotism. But some Press Gallery reporters thought his bright yellow shirt made him look as if he was suffering fruit burn......

Michael Cullen at his post-budget drinks party sought to dispel speculation last week’s budget would be his last. As he dashed off to a Labour Party dinner, he told guests “See you again next year, same place, same time.”......

Former Radio NZ political editor Al Morrison is a front-runner to succeed Hugh Logan as head of the Dept of Conservation. He’s minding the shop after Logan moved to Environment in succession to Barry Carbon.......

Talking of Ministerial jaunts, Annette King got to accompany the Queen on her visit to the NZ exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show this week......

The hunt is on for a new Secretary of Education, replacing Howard Fancy who retires in October, and a new head of the SIS. Richard Woods leaves in October.
 

18th May 2006

Has Aust PM John Howard been elevated to NZ status in US eyes? This is the question intriguing Washington diplomats after US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice toasted him as a “very very good friend” at a lunch in Washington DC this week. Her predecessor Colin Powell, it will be recalled, used the very, very same salutation to Helen Clark some years back. On the other hand, Howard scored a rare black tie dinner with President George W Bush at the White House......

NZ’s High Commissioner to Canada, former Labour MP Graham Kelly, has invoked Stalin to characterise to Canadians New Zealand’s social policy of the 1990s. Quoted in a Canadian publication “Perspective” under a heading “View from down under, Lessons from the New Zealand Experience,” he describes the period as a revolution. “When Stalin sold the wheat crop to industrialise, six million people starved. It was about that scale in New Zealand.” Kelly tells his Canadian audience there were many more millionaires in NZ at the end of the period but the average NZer did not benefit. “We were promised a lot of gain, but instead we got a lot of pain.” Kelly is reported to have said it was hard to keep track of what was going on since public television was made into a trading department which was forced to make a profit......

David Parker got most of his jobs back, but not his Press Secretary. Gordon Jon Thompson was sent to help out in the PM’s office, while Parker was in limbo, and now she’s decided to keep him. Thompson is replacing number three Press Secretary Ruth Larsen, who’s going overseas......

Rodney Hide’s been putting out “vote for me” fliers, and it’s not about keeping his seat. The ACT leader wants to win Dancing with the Stars, or at least survive for a while. Will Party members back him, or might they think he’s out of step with their interests. Meanwhile Hide brought his dancing shoes to Parliament this week, booking the 20th floor of Bowen House for the kind of extended practice he needs if he is to survive the next round......  

Australia’s Attorney General Philip Ruddock has been in Wellington this week for talks with Govt Ministers. As Minister in charge of Australia’s spooks (ASIO) he discussed counter-terrorism measures with Helen Clark (who’s in charge of NZ’s SIS). He also met Attorney General Michael Cullen and Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel......

Alan Thompson, CEO of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, has been named as the next Secretary for Transport. An Australian, he has had 30 years’ experience in public sector agencies, and he will bring to Wellington a thorough understanding of Auckland’s transport problems.
 

11th May 2006

Winston Peters has not only taken Phil Goff’s job, now he’s taken his Press Secretary as well. We hear the long-serving James Funnell is switching Ministers. Must have been an offer he couldn’t refuse...... Also understood to be joining the Peters team as a senior Foreign Affairs Advisor is Rob Moore-Jones, who returns to Wellington this month from Manila where he’s been ambassador since 2004. His replacement is MFAT Diplomat David Pine......

Art aficionados noted its chairman, Dr Roderick Deane, received no thanks from the PM for public service on his retirement after six years as Chairman of the Te Papa Board. A media release from Helen Clark as Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, announced four new chairs of Cultural and Heritage Boards. It said Clark paid tribute to the outgoing Chair of the Creative NZ Council, Peter Biggs. But simply John Judge, CEO Ernst & Young NZ, would replace Deane at Te Papa......

 Echoes of TV’s Sir Humphrey may be pertinent to the Beehive’s Telecom leak inquiry. In one episode of the political comedy a suggestion from Sir Humphrey of an inquiry into a Govt snafu was dismissed by Prime Minister Jim Hacker because it might find guilt at high levels of his Govt. Sir Humphrey was ready with an answer along the following lines: No, no Minister, the record shows inquiries never find out anything and if they do it is always a low level person......

Sam McIvor, currently product manager with Meat and Wool NZ, is to become the new CEO for the NZ Pork Industry Board, replacing Angus Davidson, who is returning to Aust......

The State Services Commission is having a hard job finding a replacement for Education Secretary Howard Fancy. With Terence Arnold leaving his post as Solicitor-General to become a Court of Appeal judge, there is speculation along Lambton Quay, Secretary of Justice Belinda Clark might be shoulder-tapped for the post......

When will alterations to the Beehive annexe be completed? Originally scheduled to be finished in late January, the date for completion has been pushed out month by month to June. Don’t ask what they will finally cost......

The Govt has appointed four new members to the board of economic development agency NZ Trade & Enterprise: Peter Maire, Jane Hunter, Alan Isaac and Lorraine Witten. The 4 new members will be joining Phil Lough (chair), Craig Ellison and Peter Menzies......

Is it robbing Paddy to pay Peters? What is Winston up to as Minister of Racing hustling the Irish for investment in the NZ bloodstock industry, while at the same time apparently discouraging the US from doing the same thing.

4th May 2006

Dame Silvia Cartright should learn next month whether she gets her post-Governor General part time job. She has been short-listed by the UN for a slot as one of the international judges to try war crimes offenders in Cambodia. The UN made its selection and sent it to the Cambodian Govt. In turn, Phnom Penh is due to confirm appointments during June. Legal insiders say it is “almost certain” she will take one of the international slots......

He might have lost his beloved Foreign Affairs portfolio, but it didn’t stop Defence Minister Phil Goff striding telegenically through the smoking ruins of Honiara’s China town, warning China and Taiwan to desist from “cheque book” diplomacy in the Solomon Islands.  The real Minister for Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, meantime, was on the other side of the world, wrapping up a European swing in London. Earlier he had consultations with the EU in Vienna, current holder of the European Presidency, and visited parts of eastern Europe. According to PM Helen Clark, Peters will visit when the situation has settled somewhat ......

Hamilton lawyer Lex de Jong has been appointed a Family Court Judge, sitting in Auckland......

Three MPs head to Kenya this week for an inter-Parliamentary Union conference on promoting democracy. National’s John Carter heads the delgation. Joining him are Russell Fairbrother (Lab) and Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori Party)......

TVNZ and politicians haven’t been getting along too well recently and Craig Boyce’s description of MPs as “bastards” didn’t help. But Steve Maharey is the supreme optimist. He says the network is about to enter a “golden era.” Others aren’t so sure......

Wags around Parliament pondering the choice of Annette King ahead of David Parker for the issues ridden Transport portfolio are chortling that it may have been because Don Brash does not bully women ......

National’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Murray McCully has noted how when Winston Peters was appointed as Foreign Minister, he  identified the restoration of good relations with the US as his most urgent priority, McCully says Peters does seem to have had some difficulty finding a direct route to Washington. Peters has traveled to England (twice) Malaysia, Fiji, Samoa, Niue, Austria, Malta, Korea and Ireland, and last week visited Moscow, St Petrsburg and Kiev. “There are only 190 countries in the world and by a process of elimination I have every confidence Peters will eventually get to Washington.” ......

Hugh Logan, currently the Conservation Department’s director-general, has been named as CEO of the Ministry for the Environment, replacing Barry Carbon, who has returned to Australia. Logan earlier did a stint as director of the Antarctic Division.

27th April 2006

Heather Roy is to be in the army for six weeks, and Rodney Hide is learning to trip the light fantastic. This means the entire ACT Caucus is under training and MPs are wondering how effective it’s going to be when Parliament’s new session starts on Tuesday......

Defence Minister Phil Goff left for Honiara Thursday, and is due back on Saturday, aiming to meet political movers and shakers in the Solomons and lecture them on democracy and the rule of law......

An announcement on the appointment of Colonel Andrew Renton-Green as the next official secretary at Government House is due shortly. He retired from the army in 1993 and has since lectured at Victoria University and most recently chaired the advisory committee that oversaw the building of the tomb of the unknown warrior and the serviced of committal at the National War Memorial in Wellington. For decades until the late 1970s, official secretaries, then known as comptrollers of the household, came from the ranks of the military. He will succeed Tia Barrett who has returned to MFAT......

Ministers and Opposition MPs were on their best behaviour during last week’s Washington DC think tank sessions. Whether by consent or otherwise, both sides took the high ground of national-interest, say observers. Don Brash still resents Defence Minister Phil Goff’s disclosure of comments before the last election when National (some say it was actually Lockwood Smith) said the anti nuke law would be “gone by lunch time.” ......

One time Nat President Michelle Boag has been involved in the hiring of new staff for the office of National leader Don Brash. Wellington Nats divisional chair Patricia Morrison looks likely to retain her position in the absence of challengers. Lawyer and MP Chris Finlayson is tipped to be replaced as divisional policy chair by Nat activist Martin Connolly. In Auckland former deputy-chair Allistair Bell appears in a tight race with South Auckland’s Roger Burrill for the divisional chairmanship to be decided next weekend......

Excited Lambton Quay chatter suggests an early assault by The Independent on the position of the National Business Review in financial magazine readership. Talk is of an upmarket glossy due out within the next six weeks......

Gerry Brownlee apparently had a quiet Easter. All he could find to complain about this week was an interactive computer display at Te Papa which gives the user the option of joining the Labour Party and demands the PM as Minister of Arts should front up and explain how propaganda such as this going into the display.

13th April 2006

“Clearly no one is listening up there” – PM Clark reaches a conclusion after claiming the Nats have been praying for economic recession and a drought

...... After the adverse reaction to his comments on NZ’s poor medal haul at the Commonwealth Games, Trevor Mallard was quick out of the blocks to re-ingratiate himself with NZ swimmers at the world short course champs in China. “I am exceptionally proud of our swimmers’ efforts: they have performed superbly... It tops off a fabulous three weeks for our swim team.”

...... They used to call it the flight of the godwits: flocks of Parliamentarians heading abroad. Speaker Margaret Wilson takes one flock (Moana Mackey, Judy Turner, Colin King and Paula Bennett) to Brussels and Turkey, and will head the NZ delegation at the Anzac commemoration. Another flock goes to Washington for the NZ-US Business Council forum: Phil Goff and David Cunliffe from the Govt, Murray McCully and Tim Groser for National. Don Brash will also be there as part of a wider tour taking in New York, London and Beijing

...... Word from the world-of-the-never-satisfied: Child Poverty Action, a lobby group involved in child welfare, is complaining the “Working for Families” package will widen the income gap between working families and beneficiaries. They are saying in effect it is a bad thing if a parent is working in a job and will earn more money than if he or she is just on a benefit

...... And word from the world-of-who-would-have-believed-it: Helen Clark showering praise on Winston Peters, “I think he has really enjoyed the job. He’s put the hours in and made a serious commitment.” Now what was it she said about Peters back in 1996 when he joined Jim Bolger in coalition?

...... Courtesy of the nation’s science community the Prime Minister now has a rare range of items she might consider useful in her administrative duties. They were gifts from Crown Research Institutes during a recent meeting. Among them were a radio transmitting device from Landcare fitted as a collar on endangered species to track their movements; an electronic device from AgResearch is used for border bio-security detection of unwanted species; and a transmitter used by NIWA to track marine fish. She also got to taste a sample of HortResearch’s new red fleshed apple.
 

6th April 2006

Maori Party supporters drove down to Parliament on Tuesday to call on voters to switch from the general to the Maori roll. Pita Sharples explained “it’s a ka-hoi.”

...... Under the heading “Queer Eye for the Brash Guy” GayNZ.com reports Garreth Spillane, head of the AIDS Foundation fundraising and marketing, is leaving his post for a new job in the office of National leader Don Brash. “Essentially I take responsibility for the external events attended by the leader,” says Spillane. He describes his resignation from the Foundation as a career move, based partly on salary consideration and on simply needing a change. Spillane’s move means the Nat’s now have two gays in profile positions: Shadow Attorney-General (SHAG) Chris Finlayson, and Spillane

...... Diplomat Jennifer MacMillan has been appointed NZ’s next Permanent Representative to the UN in Vienna, replacing Barbara Bridge. MacMillan takes up the post in August when Bridge returns to Wellington

...... When does a laugh become an interjection? Gerry Brownlee has been puzzling over this in Parliament this week. He had to apologise when he laughed as Winston Peters was asking a supplementary question, designed to embarrass National. But having apologised at the request of the Speaker, he used a point of order to ask what it was he was apologising for. Can a declaration of war between Peters and Brownlie be far behind?

...... New Police Commissioner Howard Broad and Deputy Commissioner (operations) Rob Pope were in the same wing at the Police Training School as National MP Chester Borrows. The Wanganui MP expressed his enthusiasm for their new appointments this week. So does National think the bias leader Don Brash accused Police HQ of displaying over Labour’s election over-spending and other misdemeanours of Labour Ministers will be eradicated under the new regime?

...... Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton was celebrating a headline in that well-known socialist organ The Dominion-Post this week “Farmers Back Anderton, Despite Microchip Plan.” Anderton doesn’t think he has a single farmer in his Wigram stronghold so was pretty chuffed with FedFarmers expressing their confidence in him

...... Winston Peters celebrates his 61st birthday next Tuesday. Michael Cullen will be 61 next month. Both have claims to be Father of the House. Cullen was elected in 1981 and has served continuously. Peters entered Parliament in 1979 but was out between 1981 and 1984. So will either or both fight the next election? Watch this space.

30th March 2006

Winston Peters has become National’s chief tormentor in Parliament but this week the Nats’ Gerry Brownlee showed the biter can be bitten. In Question Time, as the Opposition was embarrassing Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton on the micro-chipping of dogs, Peters tried to come to Anderton’s rescue with a supplementary question ruled out by the Speaker. Brownlee, on a point of order, said he thought it was appropriate for the House to grant leave to Peters to ask his question “since we are on dogs, to get a question from the poodle.” Peters was outraged, and demanded a withdrawal and apology. Brownlee did so, but with an air of being the victor......

On the issue of the Department of Corrections flying prisoners round the country because of a shortage of cells, the question being pondered on Lambton Quay is: can individual prisoners demand the airpoints......

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao will be following in the footsteps of Britain’s Tony Blair when he comes to NZ next week. He is going first to Canberra where he is expected to sign a deal to buy uranium from Australia. In NZ he might get a rev-up to conclude a free trade agreement......

Opposition Leader Don Brash, returning from his first-ever visit to the Cook Islands, says he found it a “very useful” experience. He plans to go to Samoa and other South Pacific countries. Meanwhile he is planning his first major overseas mission since the election, going to Washington, New York, London and Beijing. In Washington he will be addressing the NZ-US Business Council Partnership Forum......

The Govt is sending two Ministers to the NZ-US Business Council Forum in Washington from April 20 to 22, but not the Foreign Minister Winston Peters. The two going are Phil Goff, Minister of Trade, and David Cunliffe, Minister of Immigration......

United Future hardly batted an eyelid when Outdoor Recreation NZ said it was ending its affiliation agreement with the party. Peter Dunne says the agreement was only intended to last up until the time of the 2005 election. ORNZ’s departure may have been accelerated once Marc Alexander (a former UF MP who aspired to be its deputy leader, but failed to get there) became ORNZ’s media spokesman.

23rd March 2006

Winston Peters may not have made much of a splash on the international stage as Foreign Minister, in fact the NZ Herald in an editorial this week described him as “Our Man On The Sidelines.” The newspaper argues he is only a functioning supernumerary while NZ’s real foreign affairs are pursued by activist diplomats Helen Clark and Phil Goff. However Peters’ determination to improve NZ relations with its neighbours in the Pacific has sharpened political awareness of the region and produced a response from National. Leader Don Brash in company with his Foreign Affairs Spokesmen Murray McCully and John Hayes are heading off for a two-day visit to the Cook Islands. They plan a similar visit to Samoa shortly, and Brash says he is interested in visiting other Pacific nations......

Right wing blogs have been suggesting this week a prosecution against Labour for its election mis-spending on the so-called credit card pledges would have spoilt the chances of candidates to be the next Police Commissioner.......

The same blogs were also wondering if Radical Youth Joseph Minto is any relation to onetime street protest leader John Minto......

Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson has announced Commodore Jack Steer, ONZM, RNZN will be the new Commander of the Headquarters Joint Forces New Zealand, and will be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral. Commodore Steer will take up his new post on May 1, replacing Major General Lou Gardiner, who has been appointed as Chief of Army. Air Marshal Ferguson also announced the appointment of Captain Tony Parr, MVO, RNZN, as Deputy Chief of Navy, to be promoted to the rank of Commodore. Colonel Phil Gibbons has been appointed Land Component Commander, and will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier......

NZ can’t be too far off the international radar screen, the PM says: it hosted a brief visit this week from US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, next week the UK’s Tony Blair, and the week after China’s Premier Wen Jinbao......

The process for appointing the next Governor General is well advanced, with formal agreement from the Queen being sought. Former Ombudsman and Judge Anand Satyanand is expected to move from his Kelburn residence to the big house near Wellington’s Basin Reserve in August......

PM Helen Clark might have been criticised by the Commonwealth Games chief Ron Walker for not supporting in person the NZ team at the Games but she intended to find some relaxation at the Royal NZ ballet of The Wedding in Wellington.

16th March 2006

PM Helen Clark was among what diplomats call “interesting company” when she joined other world leaders in Santiago at the weekend for the swearing-in of Chile’s first woman president, one-time political prisoner Michelle Bachelet. Left-leaning Govts are sweeping the region. Some 30 leaders from Latin American, Africa and Caribbean were present along with US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.......

Nanaia Mahuta raised a laugh in parliament when she explained she didn’t have a difference of opinion with others about micro-chipping dogs. She says “we support one law for all dogs.”......

Rodney Hide was right when he said he suspected Labour Party members were behind the complaints laid against other parties over their election campaigns, which are now being investigated. Labour President Mike Williams this week said he had “no hesitation” in crying foul. “If we’re going to be tried for something we think was OK, then everyone else should be as well.” All parties except the Maori Party and the Progressives have now been caught in the net......

The joys of travelling with the PM: Staff accompanying her to Chile are still awaiting their baggage after it missed their connecting flight. Last word is it reached Japan, via Canada......

Notice how the television channels have cut back on reporting PM’s travels abroad? Neither channel sent reporters or cameramen on her recent missions to South Africa, Chile and the Philippines. All part of the cost-cutting which has seen TVNZ planning to recall Charlotte Glennie from her Hong Kong base because of the $300,000 annual cost of maintaining an Asian office......

Award-winning Sunday Star-Times political editor Helen Bain is leaving the press gallery to become communication advisor to the NZ Forest & Bird Society. Bain served a term as press secretary to former Labour MP John Tamihere when he was a Minister (and wrote a best-selling biography of him) .......

Journalists are queuing for the opportunity to interview Tony Blair when he lobs in to Auckland on March 28. But the chances of talking one-to-one with Blair are remote, unless they get aboard the super-yacht which will give Blair a real City-of-the-Sails experience......

National’s Judith Collins became the target of Labour’s attacks in Parliament in the Wednesday debate, but gave more than she got in returning the Labour’s serves from Lianne Dalziel and Ruth Dyson.....

Why weren’t Helen Clark and Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard swapping winners at the Auckland Cup last Wednesday?

9th March 2006

Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson ends an unhappy spell as Chief of Defence Force in early May. At least in the eyes of his peers. Reports are emerging of a recent dinner of retired RNZAF officers of air rank where Ferguson was a guest. Apparently one of the most senior retired officers present rose and delivered a swingeing attack on him for “failing to defend the air force,” suggesting he and some of his colleagues should have fallen on their swords. At issue was the demise of the air combat wing. Some of those present say it was the most bitter critique they had heard in years. Apparently Ferguson robustly defended his corner with few supporters......

Our informant notes few of those present seem to accept under our Parliamentary system, officers obey orders or else. Ferguson would argue he did his best to defend the RNZAF, as well as the Army and Navy, through hard times where the need was to maintain morale and efficiency. Defence Minister Phil Goff says Ferguson inspired the vision of “three services, one force.”......

Meanwhile the question on Lambton Quay is what kind of Govt job offers will come in Ferguson’s way. In his period as Defence Force Chief he apparently succeeded in subduing interservice rivalries in the military. Those skills could fit him for any number of jobs......

The Govt has lined up a potential successor to Dame Silvia Cartwright who is finishing her extended term as Governor-General. It’s in the process of securing approval of the appointment from other parties in Parliament. An announcement is expected soon......

New defence boss Jerry Mateparae melds the traditions of the Maori warrior and the British Army to produce “great leadership,” according to Defence Minister Phil Goff. Mateparae has had a distinguished army career but his appointment is the result of a recruitment process managed by the State Services Commission, which means in his job interviews Mateparae easily beat off the competition......

Phil Goff, wearing his Trade Minister’s hat, is off this week to Berlin to attend Cebit, a high-tech trade fair, and then goes on to the UAE and Saudi Arabia......

Richard Worth, who was defeated in the Epsom seat at the election by ACT’s Rodney Hide, launched an attack on Hide this week, which leader Don Brash later described as “unhelpful and unfortunate.” Apparently the Worth onslaught came at a time when the National Caucus thought it was making some progress in working with ACT, a party which having won a constituency seat, is unlikely to go away any time soon, and could eventually become a coalition partner for National.

2nd March 2006

Brook Barrington who has been Helen Clark’s eyes and ears on foreign policy is to be NZ’s ambassador in Thailand. Dr Barrington who joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1990 and has served in Canberra and Brussels follows other diplomats (Alan Williams and Peter Rider) in going to Bangkok after a stint as foreign policy advisor in the PM’s Dept......

Press gallery journalists can be a lively lot, and reports indicate the farewell at Wellington bar to TVNZ’s Kris Faafoi (leaving for London on a bit of OE) got particularly lively late in the evening, and even turned quite vigorous, with the leading protagonists said to be the normally mild-mannered TV3 political editor Stephen Parker and TVNZ’s Mark Torley. Others joined the discussion, and two police cars arrived on the scene. Parker was on leave this week, and it could not be confirmed he was still carrying a memento by way of a black eye......

Suddenly, all the talk of an imminent takeover of National’s leadership by rising star John Key has faded. Is that because the Beehive spin machine has become preoccupied with trying to find something nice to say about David Benson-Pope, or does it follow a reality check at National’s 3-day Caucus at Taupo before Parliament opened?

...... Ministerial press secretaries are moving up the ladder. A new arrival Hazel Dobbie is a “Communications Executive,” serving the redoubtable Judith Tizard in her various roles......

If you thought last year’s budget was boring, don’t expect too much this year. Finance Minister Cullen says restraint is the watchword and he’s bored with it already. He says “it’s filled with totally boring stuff and there isn’t an awful lot to divvy up between all my various eager and anxious Ministers.” He’ll deliver the budget on May 18......

When Don Brash asked Helen Clark in Parliament this week whether she had confidence in her Ministers, he thought the only one who mattered would be David Benson Pope. The Greens had other ideas, and used the question to ask her about everything from transport to climate change......

ACT leader Rodney Hide who is still waiting to hear whether he will be accepted for the next series of TVNZ’s “Come Dancing” suffered the indignity this week of a banana skin being thrown at him. When faced down by Hide, the student culprit denied any responsibility.

23rd February 2006

The Dominion Post isn’t PM Clark’s favourite paper right now. After she jumped the gun by announcing an upcoming meeting with US General John Abizaid 24 hours ahead of schedule, Chief Press Secretary David Lewis asked the media to hold off publishing because of US “sensitivities.” Most agreed, but the Dom Post put it on Page 2 under the headline “Oops – PM Tells Press Of Secret Visitor.”......

PM Helen Clark this month becomes the second longest serving leader of the Labour Party, displacing Walter Nash and just behind the legendary Harry Holland......

While Winston Peters has made improving relations with the US his primary goal as Foreign Minister, it appears he has turned down an invitation for an early meeting at the White House, and may not even attend a significant Washington seminar sponsored by the US-NZ Business Council in April. The invitation to the White House was to attend one of President Bush’s prayer breakfasts. But reports in Wellington indicate after Peters’s office ran the invitation past the Beehive’s ninth floor the invitation was turned down......

While in Britain Tony Blair is going ahead with plans for a national ID card, and Aust’s Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock is reported to be supporting the introduction of a national ID card, the Clark Govt is adamant it has no such plans......

Speaker Margaret Wilson has been struggling to stamp her authority on the new Parliament, in the face of accusations of bias from the National Opposition, still smarting at how the Speaker requested silence for the PM’s opening speech but allowed the Labour benches to barrack Don Brash almost continuously. When she insisted she was going to enforce standing orders to the letter, the first person to be in her line of fire was Don Brash.......

The contest to replace Rod Donald as one of the co-leaders of the Greens is warming up, with former Green MP Mike Ward throwing his hat in the ring. MP Nandor Tanzcos has yet to declare his intentions, but is thought to be ready to nominate. And party stalwart Russel Norman is also likely to be a candidate.

16th February 2006

Lambton Quay strollers are pondering involvement by Fairfax Australian publicists in the company’s handling of NZ reactions to publication of the controversial Muslim cartoons in The Press and Dominion-Post. Word on the Quay is the involvement of these advisers was “extensive” following local political and Muslim expressions of views

......Don Brash got a much improved 6 out of 10 for his performance on Parliament’s opening day, but he didn’t have much competition. Labour backbenchers tried hard not to nod off during Helen Clark’s speech. Rodney Hide claims Shane Jones slept through the entire 45 minute address only waking up for the obligatory standing ovation at the end.  Brash has learned to look angry, and took it to Labour with another attack over its pledge card campaign spending. The issue isn’t going to go away and will continue to embarrass the Govt for a while yet

......Foreign Minister Winston Peters has acquired a new title, according to Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, he is Parliament’s resident court jester. Certainly his speech in the opening debate this week was by far the most sparkling contribution, though, as Fitzsimons rather acerbically commented, it was light on content. Peters’ best lines, according to the Chinese calendar, 2006 is the Year of the Dog, but for the National Party, and its leader, this is going to be the year of the lame duck. And “they’re all up against the dry stone, sharpening knives. I know the feeling. I was there once in the National Party. Of course, I never had the ego or the arrogance.”

......Was that our Man in London seen treading the corridors of Parliament this week? Yes, it was. Apparently he’s back in the capital for “consultations” and, possibly, a spot of leave

...... Finance Minister Michael Cullen was rueful this week about prospects for getting more coal fired energy. “We found a very good coal field but unfortunately its got a bloody great bunch of snails sitting on top of it” he told the finance and expenditure select committee

......Few politicians have enjoyed such a flattering portrait as National’s finance spokesman John Key received in the latest issue of North and South. The magazine gushes in its opening stanza “you’d be scouring through NZ political history to find an individual with the full leadership package: intellect, charm, compassion, vision, international experience and a successful private sector track record. But there’s a rising star in the opposition ranks. Virginia Larson finds out why everyone’s talking about National’s John Key.”

9th February 2006

Is Finance Minister Michael Cullen overworked? The question is increasingly being asked along Lambton Quay in view of the Minister’s ongoing extreme testiness with questioners of his Treasury stewardship. Budget pressures and the PM’s reliance on him as “Mr Fix it” are cited as reasons why officials are becoming concerned about his health. They see his workload becoming even more complex as the task of settling intra-Minister disputes over budget funding levels intensifies

......Winston Peters still hasn’t been able to find a Press Secretary. Gallery reporters approached are said to have demanded huge salaries and golden parachutes way beyond the ability of Ministerial Services to pay. Journalists think the position doesn’t offer much in the way of job security. Meantime NZ First’s Chief of Staff Graham Harding seems to be filling in and accompanied the Foreign Minister to Fiji

......Meanwhile Helen Clark was rather curt with Press Gallery hacks when they questioned her what the Foreign Minister was doing this week in Fiji. She said she did not closely vet the programmes of Ministers when they go overseas

......Jane Diplock has been re-appointed chair of NZ Securities Commission for a second 5-year term through to 2011......The State Services Commission is busy hunting for new chief executives to head up the Transport, Health and Environment Ministries. The Govt is also due to name a new Police Commissioner, with speculation the country could have its first female Commissioner

......TVNZ’s board   may have stripped  Ian  Fraser  of  his remaining duties, as  reported   in the NZ  Herald,  because of  comments he made to a parliamentary   select  committee  about his resignation.  But  it hasn’t  been all bad  news   on the job  front  in  the  Fraser  household.  His wife  Suzanne  Snively,  a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers,  has  landed  a  consultancy with a Dubai  Govt agency

......David McLoughlin has joined the office of Immigration Minister David Cunliffe as press secretary. McLoughlin who made his name as a press gallery journalist with the NZ Herald more than 20  years ago, has  recently been on the staff of the Dominion-Post.

.....Helen Clark will be travelling light on her  journey to South Africa,  after  her  bilateral  in Canberra with John Howard. Simon Murdoch, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and Maarten Wevers  CEO of the  DPMC, accompanied  her as far as Canberra  but on the remainder of the  journey to and from Pretoria she had only Heather Simpson, Chief of Staff, and press secretary  Kathryn Street  with her.

2nd February 2006

After PM Clark meets John  Howard in Canberra she flies to South Africa to attend the annual Progressive Governance Summit. The long flight will give her a chance to ponder a replacement for Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright. Some say a member of an ethnic minority is being considered. Winston Peters won’t like it (even though he’s not part of the Govt)

......Is this year’s Wellington Summer Shakespeare trying to tell us something with its selection of “The Taming of the Shrew?”  the play has a few telling lines about baubles which our Foreign Affairs Minister may well reflect on: “It is a paltry cap, a custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie,” and “that cap of yours does not become you; off with that bauble, and throw it under foot.”

......Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright has put a lot of noses out of joint by deciding to hold the traditional Waitangi Day garden party in Auckland. She thought it’s appropriate this year “to celebrate Waitangi Day in NZ’s largest city.”

.......Helen Clark says UK’s Tony Blair is keen to visit NZ and may stopover if his schedule allows him to get to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March. He would be only the third serving British PM to visit NZ, after John Major in 1995, and Harold Macmillan in 1958

......Don Brash was less than enthused by John Armstrong writing in the NZ Herald his Orewa speech this year “lacked oomph.” Brash says he was addressing a Rotary audience, and normally Rotary eschews “political” speeches

......For rookie Minister Clayton Cosgrove it was his first big moment under the lights, launching the Census 2006 advertising campaign calling on all Kiwis to fill in their census forms. But National’s Wayne Mapp had earlier rained on the Cosgrove parade, criticising the Statistics Dept for unilaterally deciding NZ should not have two official languages but we should also become bilingual. The Statistics Dept had printed 600,000 forms in Maori and 4,500,000 in English. As Mapp plaintively put it “when did we have the debate on whether NZ should become bilingual?”

.....Radio NZ in seeking a replacement for Linda Clark seems to have learned something from its own experience (and perhaps that of TVNZ) and is offering the job on a 3-year fixed term. No problem at the end of the term if a new voice is required. The job is said to pay around $140,000 a year.
 

26th January 2006

Deputy PM Michael Cullen has a new Press Secretary. Mike Jaspers has replaced the long-serving Patricia Herbert who has moved to the private sector. Herbert was widely respected in the press gallery and beyond for her professionalism and calmness under pressure

......Speaker Margaret Wilson has recruited long-term telco spokeswoman Rosemary Hart as Communications Manager. Hart was the public face and voice in the ongoing campaign by Telecom’s competitors to lessen its stranglehold on the industry

......Aust’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has confirmed Canberra’s next High Commissioner to Wellington will be career diplomat John Dauth. He takes up his post next month after 4 years in New York as Aust’s UN Ambassador. Colleagues describe him as urbane, polished and deeply interested in the relationship over many years. He succeeds Dr Allan Hawke

......Helen Clark’s former Chief Press Secretary Mike Munro has launched his company Munro Church Communications. He’s moving into an area dominated by Saunders/Unsworth in Govt/business relations. Trans Tasman understands the firm has hooked some big clients. Munro has been replaced by David Lewis, a long serving Press Secretary and speech writer. Others in Clark’s team are Katherine Street and Ruth Larsen.

.....National’s Chief of Staff Wayne Eagleson has made his first moves to create a media team for Don Brash capable of taking on the 9th floor. He’s recruited NZ Herald political reporter Kevin Taylor who joins Jason Ede as a senior Press Secretary

......Recent and upcoming farewells in Parliament include Jim Sutton’s highly rated Press Secretary Cathie Bell, who is going to the Ministry of Economic Development, Jim Anderton’s Joy Gribben, who’s going to Save The Children and the Green’s Mark Servian.

.....No sign David Benson-Pope’s unfortunate spin doctor Pete Coleman is about to depart after being reprimanded for bungling the handling of a police inquiry into the tennis ball incident

......Joining the influx of new Press Secretaries is Ria Keenan formerly a media communications specialist at the Ministry of Health, who joins Minister of Labour and ACC Ruth Dyson’s office. Another imminent move is Radio New Zealand’s Robyn Cubie, who makes the jump from tourism reporter to Press Secretary for Building and Housing Minister Clayton Cosgrove

......Winston Peters spoke to the heads of Asian diplomatic missions in Wellington on Tuesday, and subsequently released the text of his speech. If the Asian diplomats had expected some insights into Peters’ own thinking they must have been disappointed. The text read not like a Peters’ speech but one prepared by MFAT

......Malcolm McGoun has been named the next High Commissioner to South Africa. He replaces Warren Searell, who is returning to Wellington.

..... Trevor Mallard has a new cabinet responsibility: Minister for the Rugby World Cup. Helen Clark, said there is going to be a very close relationship between the govt and the NZ Rugby Union. It seems a long time ago since the NZRFU invented the phrase “keep politics out of sport.”  

15th December 2005

Press secretary Pete Coleman appears as if he survived “disciplinary action” for leaking, on instruction by his minister David Benson-Pope, favourable, but doctored, excerpts from the police report into the tennis-ball incident. Coleman took the heat for deceiving the “Herald On Sunday,” which printed the excerpts. Coleman probably had Hobson’s choice

......The State Services Commission is looking for a replacement for Police Commissioner Rob Robinson, and also for the Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Steve Long who retires in March next year

......Bob Clarkson could have an uneasy Xmas awaiting the outcome of the hearing into his election expenses, though National Party sources are confident the court will find he was within the stipulated limit

......The Herald’s loss is MFAT’s gain. Highly rated senior reporter Helen Tunnah has left the paper to become the Ministry’s new media advisor, replacing Emma Reilly

......The Press Gallery thinks she would make a good Press Secretary for Winston Peters who badly needs one. Tunnah isn’t commenting. MFAT spokesman Brad Tattersfield who was seconded to Peters seems to have drifted back to headquarters

......The Parliamentary Press Gallery Xmas Party at Parliament’s Grand Hall delivered some insights. National’s Simon Power has obviously read his edition of ‘Roll Call.’ When asked how he was, he cheekily replied “oh about four and a half out of ten.”

.......Former Wellington City Councillor Sue Piper, and former Timaru Mayor Wynne Raymond have recently been appointed as members of the Local Government Commission

......There may be a saviour on the horizon for Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard in his campaign to hose down property prices, especially in coastal areas. It comes by way of a Tsunami coastal hazards report due to be released by the Govt next week. Beehive sources suggest an alternative title for the document could be “where not to go for your summer holiday!”

........Visa issuing activities of the Indian High Commission in Wellington are a centre of unwanted attention. The local Indian community is apparently upset at a lack of consistency in processing. Allegations historic ethnic rivalries lie behind claimed problems have come to the notice of Kiwi MPs.

8th December 2005

This time her trip is not being paid for by the NZ taxpayer – rather the United Nations and there is no official business. Gov-Gen Dame Sylvia Cartwright is in New York this week for a job interview at the UN. She is one of 12 nominees suggested by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to sit as international judges in a chamber with three Cambodian judges to trial ageing leaders of the Khmer Regime accused of killing hundred of thousands during the 1970s. Auckland district court judge Fred McElrea is also on the list

......While Dame Sylvia’s trips have attracted attention, largely because of costs, they are at the behest of the Govt. They were prompted by PM Helen Clark as a way of showing the flag in locations that might not warrant a PM’s visit. This might seem odd given the GG’s status but unlike the Queen, whom she represents, the GG acts on the advice of Ministers. So she cannot initiate business

.......Conspiracists at Parliament believe there is a sub text at play. Since the GG’s role is constitutionally limited, surely this is anachronistic and it’s time the role was replaced by a “working” head of state, in other words a president

......Foreign Minister Winston Peters is back in town for a few days and was on hand for the official lunch for Turkey’s PM Recep Erdogan in Parliament’s Grand Hall on Monday, though curiously he was not at the top table, nor was he invited to Premier House in the evening where Helen Clark, along with Phil Goff and Trevor Mallard, hosted the Turkish leader and his delegation. Peters had to be content to make small talk with the new US Ambassador Bill McCormick, who sensibly, but not diplomatically, had to hurry off before the official speeches began

.......Talking of the official lunch, the Turkish leader (who travels with his personal doctor and dietitian) was not content to be served up the Horopito Dusted Grilled Lamb Cutlet, the main item on the menu which had been presumably signed off in advance, but demanded fish, much to the consternation of the head waiter. So the staff had to scurry around and find some terakihi for Mr Erdogan

......Parliament’s big guns were in action this week. Both Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Foreign Minister Winston Peters were lined up as Opposition targets, but they both turned defence into attack. Peters repelled Opposition fire over differences between himself and the PM and the state of the relationship between the US and NZ, saying he would make no promises he would have the issue sorted out “by lunchtime.” Cullen took a slash at his two sternest critics, urging Bill English to “take the sheepskins out of his ears” and suggested the problems of Te Wananga O Aotearoa originated long before “Dr (Nick) Smith started taking his pills.”

1st December 2005

A former National Party Parliamentary staffer must be wishing he hadn’t described Katherine Rich as “yummy mummy” and Judith Collins as “Darth Vader in pearls” on his blog – he’s been fired. Where’s their sense of humour? Seems reasonably accurate

......Shenagh Gleisner has been appointed acting boss of Child Youth and Family after the controversial departure of Paula Tyler. Gleisner, currently CEO of the Women’s Affairs Ministry, will hold the job until a permanent replacement is found......The ability of the ninth floor of the Beehive to “swallow dead rats” is becoming legendary in Lambton Quay. The latest tale adding to legend involves Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton and National’s Associate Foreign Affairs spokesman Tim Groser, former NZ Envoy to the World Trade Organisation. PM Clark declared when Groser opted to join the Nats while still in diplomatic service: “Mr Groser no longer enjoys the trust and confidence of the Govt.” Jim Sutton said he felt a “strong sense of betrayal.” Now the Govt will take MP Groser to Hong Kong as an adviser for WTO trade talks later this month

......Dame Sylvia Cartwright’s short listing for a seat on the tribunal to try Cambodia’s Pol Pot era cronies and crimes was meant to be under wraps for a variety of reasons, not all gubernatorial. Until, that is, the UN, under whose aegis the body will sit, blew it by putting it up on its website. Dame Sylvia, whose term as GG ends next year, is due to visit New York shortly for an interview

......An early decision is due from Foreign Minister Winston Peters when he returns from his bauble-free first major offshore expedition (to APEC, the Commonwealth annual talkfest, a call in Brussels for the annual NZ/EU consultations and a side trip to Edinburgh on diplomatic business) on who will be NZ’s next ambassador in Washington DC

......Word on Lambton Quay is Roy Ferguson, a well-respected career diplomat who has spent much of his professional life specializing in US affairs, is MFAT’s candidate. He would follow MFAT’s pocket battleship John Wood who has had the unusual experience of having two terms in Washington (separated by Jim Bolger) – but the bad luck of not being able to persuade the Bush Administration to sign a free trade deal with NZ

.........Opposition MPs are still smarting at the get-out-of-jail-free card handed by the police to David Benson-Pope. He avoided an onslaught over tennis ball bullying claims by lunching with comedian John Cleese, prompting Opposition claims he was running scared

......More bad news for Labour? The QC looking at the affairs of Taito Philip Field should report shortly.

24th November 2005

Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ accusations the NZ Herald committed “treason” over its reportage of his visit to the APEC summit have had political historians searching the files. When was such an accusation last leveled in NZ? Not easy. Harsh sentiments were thrown about during the anti Springbok tour campaigns and the Vietnam war. Further back, the 1951 waterfront strike generated tough commentary. Likewise the ferocious anti conscription debate of the First World War. So far, no trace has emerged of its use by a Foreign Minister, with all the seniority conferred by the portfolio. Others yes

......NZ First MPs are finding the absence of their leader isn’t all bad. They’re getting opportunities to raise their profiles in parliament. They didn’t say too much about this before, but everyone knew Winston grabbed the best of everything so he could grandstand, while his colleagues, who had often done the work, took back seats

......Phil Goff engaged in a bit of personal damage control in Parliament this week after likening the Winston Peters arrangement to living with a mother in law. He says “I’ve got to put it on the record I was intensely fond of my mother in law.” But he explained building a granny flat eased “tensions” when the late Lucy Moriarty was in residence

......PM Helen Clark told her Monday press conference this week she found it “incredibly exciting” to be part of the NZ team in Dublin bidding for the Rugby World Cup hosting rights. APEC, with other world leaders, was a bit of an anti-climax. Press Gallery hacks were left wondering whether Clark, after that excitement, may want to re-visit it in 2011

......November 27 marks the sixth anniversary of Labour’s election win in 1999. That may pass without any official ceremony. But the Party may be saving its resources for a big bash next year when it celebrates the 90th anniversary of its founding

......Guyon Espiner has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new political editor

......TVNZ is shortly to announce its replacement(s) for Judy Bailey. Odds-on favourite is Simon Dallow, possibly in association with Bernardine Oliver-Kerby. New  MP  and  Chairman of  Finance  Expenditure  Select Committee  chairman  Shane  Jones  will make  his  mark  early with  the  probe into TVNZ. The Committee is calling Susan Wood and Paul Holmes to give evidence along with Chairman Craig Boyce, and  news boss Bill  Ralston. If  they decline to appear, they could be subpoenaed.

17th November 2005

PM Helen Clark’s chances of helping the NZ Rugby Union win hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup may have been frustrated by the Aussies. Her Qantas flight out of Auckland had to turn back four hours out on Tuesday night because of a mechanical fault. Her re-scheduled itinerary aims to get her to Dublin an hour or two before the IRB presentation, if the flights are on time

.......Is it true Finance Minister Michael Cullen sent the blue-covered briefing paper back to Treasury when he first read it?  You can understand how his brow furrowed when his trusted advisers came up with a scenario on tax cuts which might have been written by John Key himself

......Winston and the Six Poodles has replaced Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the Nats list of youthful political stories. The reason: When legislation NZ First opposed during the last Parliament was put forward for consideration, or not, by the new Parliament, NZ First supported its retention for future deliberations

......Career diplomat Don MacKay has been appointed NZ’s next permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, replacing Tim Caughey, who’s returning to Wellington

......Former NZPA business editor and senior business writer at both the New Zealand Herald and the Dominion Post Pam Graham is to be Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel’s new press secretary. Graham is a highly respected business journalist and is something of a catch for Dalziel

......New US Ambassador, Bill McCormick, is already creating waves in Wellington’s diplomatic circles with his down-to-earth manner, and easy quips, even though he seemed oblivious of the history of the Anzus Treaty. The NZ Herald says McCormick described the once-important pact as the “Anzoo” Treaty. He called it a “relic of the Cold War.” McCormick is new to diplomacy. He owns a chain of 56 seafood businesses in the US. The Dominion-Post felt obliged to deliver a homily to the new ambassador: saying it is a sure bet McCormick will realise soon the Treaty is called Anzus, not Anzoo. “What is less certain he will realise his brusque approach is not the way to repair the rifts the dispute over the Treaty opened in the relationship between the US and NZ.”

 ......Best wishes to National MP John Carter, recovering after an operation for bowel cancer in Wellington’s Wakefield Hospital

......Surprising TVNZ hasn’t called in the capital’s Mr Fixit (Brian Roche) to advise on the repair job needed in the wake of Ian Fraser’s decision to walk out into the sunset. Maybe the Board has already decided on a replacement?

10th November 2005

Nat leader Don Brash continues to flirt with political danger by over explaining his views on policy and events. When he outlined his post-spat dialogue with renegade MP Brian Connell he gave such detail the Rakaia MP felt able to take further issue with him. A reaction the issue had been dealt and his position was known to Connell might have saved Brash the subsequent hassle. A common view in the capital is Brash’s devotion to “banker’s detail” remains one of his most significant political weaknesses

......Connell grovelled to retain his place in the Caucus. But what did his apology amount to? In a press statement he said he “deeply regretted” the way his comments in a local paper about his leader had been interpreted. So did this mean he was saying sorry not so much for what he said but for people believing he was anything other than a loyal disciple of Don Brash? No wonder he is still on probation

......Former ACT MP Muriel Newman retains the title of political activist. Running her own blog site she’s attracted interest on the Hill through advocacy of a charter for local Govt

......Career diplomat Ruth Nuttall will be NZ’s first ambassador to Timor-Leste. She has previously served in Jakarta, The Hague, Canberra and most recently as Deputy Head of Mission in Beijing

......There’s going to be some tedious passages in Parliament, if the Maori Party MPs insist on delivering all their speeches in Te Reo, which have to be translated. Perhaps it will hasten the introduction of an immediate translation service. But at what cost?

......Hone Harawira brought his fearsome mum Titewhai to Parliament for his swearing-in. She sat in the public gallery, looking, as Jane Clifton put it, like the bad fairy at the christening

......The capital’s legal fraternity worries much amending legislation needed to correct deficiencies in current law may be subject to delay by the make-up of Parliament and wrangling in select committees. They foresee most problems arising with routine but complex legislation that offers scope for political grandstanding, especially by minor parties jostling for media time and space

......Mark Sainsbury who stands in for Susan Wood at Close-up at 7 is giving up his day job as political editor at TVNZ’s One News at the end of the year. The corporation is advertising for a new political editor. His deputy Guyon Espiner looks to be the front-runner to succeed Sainsbury.

3rd November 2005

Early on Defence, Trade and Overseas Aid Minister Phil Goff’s agenda is the appointment of the next Chief of Defence Force, to succeed Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson. Under revised procedures, the State Services Commission now recommends a CDF to the Govt. Insiders say Ferguson might be extended should he wish. If he doesn’t, a leading contender is Major General Jerry Mateparae, currently Chief of the Army. He’s one of the NZDF’s most enigmatic figures, and a charismatic leader

.......Here’s a pointer to how the new Cabinet arrangements are being run. Winston Peters’ travel to the APEC Foreign Ministers’ meetings in South Korea, the APEC summit on Nov 18-19, the Commonwealth Heads of Govt Conference, and consultations with the EU, was announced by PM Helen Clark. He won’t be on his own, except until the last. Clark will be at APEC accompanied by Phil Goff and Jim Sutton. The PM will be at CHOGM so it won’t be until he reaches the EU that Peters will be able to fly solo

......Meanwhile Peters has appointed Brad Tattersfield as his Press Secretary. A former Gallery journalist, he has been MFAT’s senior spokesman for several years. He was once Press Secretary to Jim Bolger in the previous National Govt

......Resigning TVNZ CEO Ian Fraser is no stranger to the cross currents of politics swirling about enterprises of the state. Beehive veterans recalled this week his sallies into executive responsibilities with NZ promotional exhibitions in Brisbane and Spain. These Expos too became subject to political discussion over budget issues. Board member Phillip Melchior is no stranger to debate embracing editorial independence and management requirements.

 ......The appointment of Transpower’s Wayne Eagleson to replace retiring Richard Long as Don Brash’s Chief-of-Staff brought cheers in Nat ranks. Eagleson, a former private secretary to Jim Bolger, is well versed in the ways of Parliament. He was campaign director for National’s successful 1993 election campaign

......Wags figure Jim Anderton should have been a dispensing chemist. They note as Minister of Regional Development he often dispensed funds for new projects in provincial areas. This week as Agriculture Minister he dispensed funds for flood relief to East Coast farmers.

27th October 2005

Career Diplomat Lucy Duncan has been appointed NZ’s next ambassador to Argentina, replacing Carl Worker. Duncan takes up the appointment in January

......Winston Peters liked calling Peter Dunne the Govt’s lap dog in the last Parliament, now Rodney Hide has refined the insult. The ACT leader says Winston is the Govt’s castrated poodle

......It wasn’t only National MPs who were disappointed by the election result. Some frontbenchers are said to have sought staff for Beehive suites they aren’t going to occupy

......As they continue to inhabit the Opposition side of the House, the performances of Katherine Rich and Judith Collins will be watched with interest. One of them could become deputy leader when the expected change takes place sometime in the next 18 months and John Key replaces Don Brash

......When a Caucus is cut from nine to two, workloads change. ACT’s Heather Roy is now, amongst other things, her Party’s national security spokeswoman. Roy says “we thought of dividing them A-M and N-Z but Rodney got first pick.”

......The Ministry of the Environment says in its annual report it has moved from “possible the most invisible building in Wellington’s Central Business District” to premises closer to Parliament. It didn’t say where it had moved, and no-one can remember

......Media speculation this week associating two potential high fliers in the Nats 2005 MP intake, Shadow Attorney-General Chris Finlayson and Overseas Trade specialist Tim Grosser, with moves to curb the influence of party strategist Murray McCully raised eyebrows. First term MPs are not normally associated with backroom intrigues, especially before even seating arrangements in Parliament have been settled

......Labour Department boss James Buwalda was given the sobriquet “Dr Bewildered” in Parliament when forced to confront a range of administrative snafus when he took on the position. His Ministry of Education counterpart Howard Fancy earlier this year had to endure Parliamentary jibes over foul ups in the education system. Both had reason to smile this week. The State Services Commission disclosed lifts of $60,000 and $50,000 respectively in their annual salaries. The Remuneration Authority, which sets MPs salaries, is scheduled to start a review next week. There are few doubts in the capital MPs too will be smiling at the precedent set by the senior public servant salary hikes.

20th October 2005

You could tell by the width of Winston’s grin and the set on Helen’s mouth they had pulled off the deal of the century. Well it’s only 2005. In truth, political watchers around Wellington’s restaurants this week say neither had anywhere else to go. Look at it this way. Winston Peters is in the senescence of his political career. Without him, NZ First is a dead duck. It can’t walk away from him. So what better way to finish it than with a cherished Cabinet post, especially Foreign Affairs, for which most pollies would give both arms and at least one leg

......For Helen Clark, it was the only way to go. Had she done a deal to take the Greens aboard, the country would have risen in uproar, especially the business community. She retains tight control, will call the shots, and earn Labour’s elusive 4th parliamentary term the hard way. She buries putative challenger Phil Goff with onerous domestic portfolios atop demanding (in terms of travel and intellectual horsepower) trade negotiations. Goff will ginger up Labour’s attack at home and restore the fire to the bellies of some of the more tired front bench Ministers

......Jim Sutton didn’t bow out of Cabinet reckoning without a fight. He lobbied hard for the numbers and failed, avoiding a vote by not standing for re-election. Perhaps there’s a diplomatic appointment ahead. His retirement would clear the way for the next on Labour’s list to climb aboard the Parliamentary express

......An absolute realist, Clark would appreciate this is likely to be her last term as PM. She has promoted her younger turks and brought fresh blood into Cabinet and neutralised Peter Dunne’s United Future which, like NZ First, would disappear once Dunne retired or lost his seat

......Consecutive press conferences can cause problems. PM Clark told reporters Winston Peters asked for the Foreign Affairs portfolio. A few minutes later he was denying he sought the job

......New Cabinet Ministers are looking for press secretaries, so far there haven’t been any takers from Parliament’s media crew

......National is somewhat bemused by the claim it would also have offered Peters the foreign affairs job. The closest the party even got to talking about a job for Peters was a Don Brash joke they would make Peters Governor-General. “He could make Government House a smoking zone.” National feels free to go all out against Peters because it doesn’t expect to deal with him again.

13th October 2005

Talk about revolving doors. NZ’s ambassador to Indonesia, Chris Elder, is the latest senior diplomat to shift sideways into another embassy rather than returning home. Only a month ago, Phil Gibson, recently our man in Tokyo, and currently NZ commissioner at the Aichi expo, found himself heading to Jakarta rather than back to Lambton Quay. Gibson, who is something of an Asian specialist in many respects, might have expected another post in the region. Elder was expected to return. Now, however, he is reported to be heading to Moscow shortly

......Another ex politician closely watching the polls from afar was Simon Upton a former Minister in the last National Govt, now nearing the end of a stint with the OECD in Paris. Ever anxious to share his talents with NZ, he cultivated close contacts with Helen Clark’s Labour Govt. Along with his day job at the OECD, he publishes an erudite on-line occasional column on a wide range of topics, from life in Paris to Treaty issues back home. Despite the challenges of life in the French capital, he might have seen himself as NZ’s next Ambassador had Don Brash won the Govt benches.  With Clark back at the helm, the prospect now seems distant with the job likely to go to a French-speaking career diplomat

......When is a Minister not a Minister? The answer is – it’s hard to tell. The question has been swirling around the capital ever since three Ministers from the last Govt – Marian Hobbs, Paul Swain and George Hawkins signaled they would not seek Cabinet ranking this time. Not so. It seems that at least Hobbs wants to keep her beloved Disarmament and Overseas Development Aid portfolios – but standing outside Cabinet. This is another one of those tricky convolutions invented to keep all factions of political parties happy under MMP. Ministers outside enjoy all the trappings, including overseas travel (especially in Hobbs’ case) but none of the onerous chores associated with being seated around the table on the 10th floor

......PM Clark’s number two press secretary Kathryn Street is tipped to take over from chief spin doctor Mike Munro when he leaves at the end of the year

......The Greens have been spotted eyeing up ACT’s suite of offices in Bowen House. ACT’s two person Caucus isn’t going to get nearly as much space as it had when there were nine and its premises are much more luxurious than the Greens have been used to.
 

6th October 2005

Many NZers offshore watched the election results through the Elections NZ website, but none so keenly as our High Commissioner to London, Rt Hon Jonathon Hunt, and our man in Ottawa, the Hon Graham Kelly. Both were keenly aware a change of Govt would see them home “before lunch time.” Neither has been popular with the Opposition, notably Kelly whose heavy handed humour at a Select Committee hearing in the Canadian Parliament caused more than a ripple of discomfort back home. National was said to be mulling over dispatching former speaker and MP for Marlborough, Doug Kidd for one of the positions. Kelly is expected to see out his term. While the MFAT preference would be to place a professional diplomat in the post the incoming Govt is expected to reward one of its long serving MPs with the post

.....Winston Peters camera shy? Hard to believe but have you seen a TV shot of him since the election? The former MP for Tauranga has gone to extreme lengths to avoid the media during post-election negotiations. The Press Gallery isn’t sure whether he’s just doing his mystery man trick or is still intensely annoyed with the campaign coverage, which he blames for all his misfortunes

......Three Cabinet Ministers and Judy Bailey all out the door in one day and without excessive pushing, it seems. Beehive insiders speculate Helen Clark couldn’t have wished for more

......A Maori Party advisory says all requests for interviews with co-leaders Tariana Turia or Pita Sharples must go through the media unit. It doesn’t say who or where the media unit is......

In hot demand after recent general elections have been profiles of new MPs compiled by the principals of lobby group Saunders Unsworth. In the latest edition, rookie MP Shane Jones gets three-pages. The authors say Jones is a deep thinker, not troubled by self-doubt and many accuse him of having a rampant ego but all agree on his mental agility; “has the X factor.” In his spare time Jones is a successful property developer, owning properties in Northland worth several million dollars

......Former National Cabinet John Falloon who died this week was one of those MPs who had as many friends on the other side of the House as on his own. So it was not surprising one of the first to pay a fulsome tribute to Falloon was a successor in the Agriculture portfolio, Jim Sutton, who described him as an “honourable man whose love of the land was central to the unselfish conservative values which characterised him.”

29th September 2005
The good, the bad and the ugly showed up in speculation surrounding formation of the new Govt. Snippets included ACT’s Rodney Hide prospectively being challengeable on his spending levels in the Epsom race (who would make the challenge? to what budget – electorate or nation-wide - do you allocate the costs of an international call centre?); lawyer Paul Henry on standby to mount a court challenge to spending by National’s Bob Clarkson in Tauranga; Phil Goff as a candidate to replace Jim Sutton in Overseas Trade and suggestions a number of Indian voters had no problems with proxy voting in Auckland because it’s customary practice at their home areas in India

......NZer Jan Beagle has been appointed UN Assistant Secretary General For Human Resource Management. Auckland born Beagle has worked at the UN for 25 years, the first five in NZ’s permanent office

......National Party general manager Steven Joyce is leaving the job after two years, saying he has got other priorities at present. He was married last January, “and we want to have a family.” The election result had, for him, a high and a low - the high was nearly doubling the National vote, and the low was the “not quite.”

...... Deutsche Bank economist Ulf Schoefisch is to leave on October 5, after an 8-year stint with the NZ arm of the bank. Earlier he worked as an economist at the Reserve Bank in Wellington. His commentaries have been highly regarded in the business community

......The first victim of Labour’s apparent move away from “PC” legislation could be Georgina Beyer’s Private Member’s Bill, the Human Rights (Gender Identity) Bill. Reports indicate the Labour Party caucus at its premier House meeting last week told Beyer she could not expect its support for the Bill

......All may not be sweetness and light inside the (much diminished) United Future caucus. According to ex-MP Marc Alexander, the party promoted “Christianity over competence” and it has an “identity crisis.” Or was Marc just expressing sour grapes at missing out, being at number 4 on the list, in a return to Parliament?

......Richard Prebble may be first cab off the rank as one of this year’s ex-MPs to publish a book, though not yet his memoirs. This one, with a draft title “Out of the Red,” will tell NZers how the state-owned enterprises he created out of Govt trading Depts became business successes.

22nd September 2005

Foreign Minister Phil Goff has made it clear he expects to play a much greater role at home in a new Govt. This suggests he is anticipating dropping Foreign Affairs and moving to one of the key domestic portfolios. Health is thought to be one strong prospect. This suggests a straight exchange with Annette King who is ready for a change while remaining a key Clark confidante. Much depends on what role Peter Dunne’s United Future plays. If he elects to support a new Clark Govt, he would demand a cabinet seat and his polished chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence Select Committee would have prepared him. Beehive watchers say he would need to make one major concession - drop his role as Taiwan’s cheerleader at Parliament

.......Lawyer Eduardo Gustale has been appointed NZ’s honorary consul in Paraguay’s capital Asuncion

.......Jeanette Fitzsimons has put Peter Dunne in his place after a spat over whether United Future would support a Labour/Green coalition. She says “Peter’s got more bottom lines than seats in Parliament.”

.......Helen Clark threw a party for her 9th floor staff on Tuesday after Winston Peters assured her his MPs would support the Govt she’s putting together. She must have been feeling good about it, because a Prime Ministerial shout isn’t routine in the Beehive

.......Nat President Judy Kirk has support to hold the office for as long as she wants following the revival in the party’s fortunes. She gains much credit from among veteran Nats for ending the divisions within the party that arose during the Boag term in the office. General Manager Steven Joyce has turned down attempts to have him sign on for a further term. Under-study Greg Sheehan is tipped to take over the post

.......If Labour succeeds in forming a Govt, Helen Clark will have a busy schedule abroad in October through to December, with the Pacific Islands forum to be held this year in Papua New Guinea, the APEC summit in Pusan in South Korea, the Commonwealth Heads of Govt meeting in Malta, and the East Asian Summit in Malaysia

.......George Hawkins, who hardly distinguished himself as Police Minister, and is widely tipped to lose his Cabinet ranking, nevertheless scored a 8800 majority, not much less than in 2002

.......Will Jim Sutton who was soundly thrashed in Aoraki, with his personal vote lower than the party vote in the electorate, lose his place in Cabinet? Maybe he could be next in line for an overseas post

.......Labour will be pondering how it can keep Winston Peters sweet. How about putting him in charge of the Govt’s campaign in support of the NZ Rugby Union’s bid to host the next Rugby World Cup. It could take him to Dublin for a month or two.

15th September 2005

Michael Cullen, with his reputation for fiscal rectitude already hanging by a thread, coughed up another blue with his student loan costing. Treasury, forced to reveal their calculations, produced figures very close to those of market economists who were earlier rubbished by Govt Ministers. Full marks to the Chief Ombudsman who insisted the Treasury papers be released “as soon as possible and no later than 5pm today (Wednesday)”

......Winston Peters described Peter Dunne as a “lap dog who has turned into a lap dancer” after the United Future leader’s stage-managed photo-op having coffee with Don Brash in Auckland. Dunne made his move after a poll showing National with a big lead over Labour – and hasn’t taken up Helen Clark’s offer of a get together. Two days later another poll had Labour in front by a wide margin. Clark quipped “Peter seems to be showing his hand a bit early.”

....United Future’s Taranaki-King Country candidate doesn’t take part in debates, won’t talk to the media and refuses to explain why she’s standing. Anne Copeland’s spokesman is her United Future MP husband Gordon. Very strange

.....Those who compile and distribute the weekly Ministerial media diary have a sense of humour. This week they noted this would be final Ministerial diary of this Govt

.....And the most significant event of the week appeared to be Trevor Mallard launching the Funeral Directors Association book “Last Words.”

.....Was Winston Peters implying he had already lost his seat in Tauranga, when he claimed his opponent Bob Clarkson would have to forfeit the election because he had ignored the law on candidates’ expenses and “grossly overspent” the limit?

.....United Future’s Peter Dunne, perhaps buoyed by the latest poll showing his party rising 1% to 3%, says the time has come for the PM to cut the Greens loose, since the Greens have become the major obstacle to Clark getting a third term

.....One of the most striking statements from the whole election campaign came from Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples who says NZ has gone “benefit-mad.” In June 26% of all Maori people aged 18 to 64 were on benefits compared with just under 9% for non-Maori. Dr Sharples says benefits keep people alive but did not give them any quality of life. National Party MP Judith Collins says she was “heartened” by Sharples’ comments and looks forward talking to Maori Party MPs about welfare reforms if National wins the election.

8th September 2005

Phillip Gibson has been appointed as the new Ambassador to Jakarta replacing Chris Elder. Gibson, previously Ambassador in Japan, has more recently served as director-general of the NZ pavilion at Expo in Aiichi. Jane Coombs is to be NZ’s next ambassador to South Korea, replacing David Taylor, who is returning to Wellington

........The Nats have spent the last three years deriding Peter Dunne as Labour’s poodle: this week one Nat was heard to murmur that “of course, the poodle is a very responsible dog, full of common sense…”

......When is a political smear ok, and when is it not? Maybe we need an independent arbitrator on “dirty tricks” during an election campaign Labour and the Greens felt the pamphlets issued apparently by members of the Exclusive Brethren were an unfair “smear” but thought it was ok to allege, without proof, National was behind the pamphlets

......It seems a long time ago since Mike Moore was director-general of the WTO, trying to get the Doha Round under way. Now his successor, former Thai PM Supachai Panitchpakdi, has been replaced by Pascal Lamy, the former European Union trade commissioner, and still there is no end in sight for the Doha Round

......It appeared to go unnoticed in the news media, but PM Helen Clark actually wrote to President Bush offering NZ’s sympathy and any assistance NZ could give in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The Govt dispatched John Titmus, an Auckland-based Emergency Management Advisor, to join a four-member UN Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC) team which is operating from a disaster response base in Washington

......Did those leaked emails which embarrassed National come off the hard-drive of Don Brash’s laptop, when he recently upgraded it? Whether computer forensic experts can crack this one remains to be seen

...... With almost 20,000 votes now cast in the Muffin Break Bean Poll, the two major parties are neck and neck. Labour is on 33.3%, a tiny lead over National which is on 33%. The Greens are 3rd with 12.2% while NZ First is 4th with 10.6%. In 2002, more than 65,000 people voted in the Poll which closely mirrored the results on election night.

1st September 2005

Extremely hard political ball, sour grapes or just plain mean spirited? This was the question being asked in Parliamentary corridors this week after a decision by Defence Minister Mark Burton. He ordered National’s Richard Worth be “disinvited” from an annual “old boys” dinner at HMNZS Ngapona at Auckland’s Devonport Naval Base last week. Worth, a former naval officer and commander of the Naval Volunteer Reserve, had attended in past years all but one of 35 of these functions at the naval base. He was informed of the Minister’s decision two days before this year’s function. Perhaps Worth’s disclosures of bloopers involving the purchase of a multi-role vessel for the navy scuttled the prospect of his attendance

........Speaker Margaret Wilson is tearing herself away from the rigours of the election campaign next week to travel to New York where the international organisation of presiding officers of Parliaments is holding its annual gathering. A demanding programme has been organised for the assemblage of speakers, but they will find the city more than a little preoccupied with the arrival of nearly 180 heads of state attending the UN summit

........Commerce Minister Pete Hodgson has appointed Chartered Engineer Vivian Kloosterman to the Standards Council

........Relations between the Greens and United Future have deteriorated further after two UF press releases this week headlined Help Us Slay The Green Monster and NZ Can’t Afford Caveman Economics

........National had investigators looking at the leak of emails containing advice to Don Brash from the Business Roundtable and senior ACT figures. Not that it was expecting to turn up the culprit. But presumably it wants to staunch the flow of any further damaging material. Of course the timing of the release suggested it had been carefully orchestrated

 ........Some of the best shots in the election campaign are being fired by the minor parties. We particularly liked the crack of the Greens’ Rod Donald at NZ First this week: “Pick a horse, Winston,” he said. Given Winston had been talking a while ago of a “three-horse-race” Rod was rubbing in the salt

........Some relief the $15,000 allocated by the Electoral Commission for broadcast election advertising to parties like the National Front, Patriot Party, Republic Aotearoa NZ Party, Beneficiaries Party and NZ Equal Values Party was not paid out, since they did not register and nominate party lists. The money was redistributed, though both Labour and National did not get any more.

25th August 2005

The cheerleading group of Nats that ruffled Labour feathers at TV-One’s first “Leaders Debate” were assembled by the Nats regional chair Scott Simpson. Labour President Mike Williams' post-debate humour was apparently not improved when Simpson and his mates cranked up a streetside chorus of  “Thank you very much for your high taxation” as he left TVNZ’s studios

....... Auckland historian and political analyst Barry Gustavson recently compared Helen Clark with previous Prime Ministers. His verdict: To be compared with Holyoake. The choice was certain to be controversial. Others familiar with both leaders suggest Muldoon would have been a more apt figure. Holyoake was not a 24-hour politician, as was Muldoon and is Clark. Nor was Holyoake as eagerly combative in one-on-one situations

....... Matt Robson thinks United Future should expand its name now it’s affiliated with the Outdoor Recreation party. Robson suggests United Future Outdoors, making it the UFO Party. United doesn’t seem interested. Meanwhile UF’s leader Peter Dunne set a campaign record with his hour-long speech at the party’s launch last weekend. Off the record media comments ranged from “extremely detailed policy analysis” to “stunningly boring.”

.......“I am the humble servant of the people of Tauranga.” – Winston Peters ducks a question on what he wants to be in a coalition Govt. “We’re thinking Minister of Women’s Affairs.” – Michael Cullen answers it

.......Jim Anderton’s Progressive Party is proposing to cut the corporate rate of tax from 33% to 30%. So are the tax cuts put forward by other parties OK then for the Progressives? No way. Thundered Jim Anderton: “As I read through National’s massive overseas-debt-financed tax cuts for the rich policy, my blood began to boil.” Another press statement from the Progressives said “Tax cuts hit poor families hardest.” Clearly the boiling blood had upset the Progressives’ metabolism

........Donna Awatere Huata got a lot of left-handed tributes from her former colleagues after she was convicted of fraud this week. Richard Prebble described her as “massively talented” and a “good liar,” and Deborah Coddington thought she was “a fallen angel” Question: Will Donna get special leave from prison to go to the hairdresser?

18th August 2005

US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will visit NZ next week meeting PM Helen Clark and Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton. Talks will focus on exports to the US and WTO trade liberalisation negotiations. Johanns is the highest ranked US official to visit since the 1999 APEC Summit in Auckland

.........Don McKay who recently completed a term as NZ’s Permanent Representative at the UN in New York is expected to move to Geneva to replace Tim Caughley as Ambassador

.........Readers of David Lange’s autobiography may have been astonished at the invective with which he described some of his erstwhile colleagues: the mild-mannered former Foreign Minister Russell Marshall was “shallow, shabby, endlessly self-seeking,” Helen Clark was a “survivor who never bought into a fight,” Michael Bassett was “always venomous.” Not surprisingly Michael Bassett took a different line from most of Lange’s obituarists: “His autobiography’s denunciation of everyone in sight does him little justice. How did Lange manage to front so successfully a Govt he subsequently disowned? Why did he come to loathe his closest supporters? How did a virtual teetotaler end up in Alcoholics Anonymous? Greatness followed by personal collapse add a poignant quality to an otherwise fascinating career.”

.........Bassett, in another column took a swipe at another of his former colleagues: referring to Phil Goff’s attack on Lockwood Smith for asking American senators whether they might help educate NZers about nuclear ships, Bassett said Goff’s speech would have done justice to Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy “and I was ashamed to recall he was a former student and trustworthy colleague.”

.........Finance Minister Michael Cullen, who was giving an address in Wellington this week, was introduced to his audience (by Colin James) as an “anchor,” a “lynchpin,” and “glue” - quite flattering, Cullen said, “a veritable walking marine hardware shop.”

.........PM Helen Clark missed a short meeting of Cabinet on Monday. She was still recovering from what her aides described as a “stomach bug.” She kept appointments later in the day

.........Renowned conservationist Kevin Smith died suddenly last night while cycling in Wellington with his daughter Rachel. He served for the past 6 years as a senior advisor to Conservation Minister Chris Carter, and previous Minister Sandra Lee.
 

11th August

Rodney Hide needs all the exposure he can get and was pleased to snare a solo spot on Prime TV - but he just can’t win. The slot was for Holmes on Wednesday. The show was canned on Monday. ACT, rather wistfully, says in its weekly newsletter about the forthcoming TV leaders’ debate “We think it could be Rodney who drives the worm up.” It says it’s “high noon” for Rodney, so won’t it be too hot for the worm to start rising?

.......TV3 probably expected some political flak when it excluded Peter Dunne and Jim Anderton : what it did not expect was to be taken to court by Dunne and Anderton who argue the channel should act in a “fair and reasonable” manner

.......The Govt is to release the pre-election economic and fiscal update next Thursday: will Michael Cullen stick to his mantra “we’ve spent the lot” or will there be a lot more dosh tucked away for one or two more big spend-ups like the student loan interest pledge? We shall see

.......The Labour Govt, in full election mode, was showering money right, left and centre this week: more for universities, more for science, more for roads. And there are still five weeks to go!

.......The troops at Radio NZ are on the march against the state-run broadcasting outfit’s measly pay offer. Word on the streets is that staff on the Fairfax-owned Sunday Star-Times are feeling equally mutinous about the pay offer they received, even more stingy, they believe, than state radio’s

.......TVNZ’s head of news Bill Ralston couldn’t resist a small jig on the grave, as Prime cut the Holmes show from air. But as Jane Clifton wrote in the Dom-Post the nightly Holmes was hitting its straps as a really good blast of current affairs and zeitgeist-lite appointment viewing - and a nice excuse to bail out of the banal TV One and TV3 news bulletins early

.......A 60 page draft welfare code for care of dogs released this week seemed unlikely to rescue the Govt’s reputation for over the top bossiness. Builders and brickies beware, along with farmers. The code calls for all dogs on the back of trucks to be either “secured” or enclosed in a crate. It says dog bowls must be cleaned weekly. A 45 page document has been drafted to deal with cats.

4th August 2005

Richard Prebble may have been Parliament’s longest serving MP when he made his valedictory speech in Parliament last week. But it cut little ice with the Labour Party’s political hierarchy. None turned out for his post speech function in the ACT caucus room despite his verbal invitation in the House to all MPs. Of the valedictories delivered to Parliament this week, perhaps the saddest was that of Invercargill MP Mark Peck, who said he reached rock bottom in January this year when he considered taking his own life. Peck during his term in Parliament became addicted to alcohol and gambling

.........National’s Dr Lynda Scott was unable to deliver her valedictory because of illness. She is suffering from Bell’s palsy

.........They might have been known as the “brat pack” in their early years in Parliament, but Roger Sowry, Bill English, Nick Smith, and Tony Ryall, all part of the biggest ever single intake of MPs in 1990, are now all middle-aged. Sowry (46) is the first to leave Parliament, and as he told the House in his valedictory: “Anyone would count themselves privileged, lucky and honoured to have been able to work with those three colleagues”

.........United Future leader Peter Dunne was livid this week over TV3’s decision to exclude his party from its televised political leaders’ debate next week. Not surprising he was so angry, given his party in a sense owed its life to the TV “worm” at the last election

.........More red faces have surfaced in the defence forces. Trans Tasman understands a review of maintenance contracts for the Boeing 757 transports has disclosed there is no provision in arrangements with the prime contractor for engine changes. The discovery apparently followed a compressor stall on take-off at Whenuapai last week

......... Moves are underway to form a Chapter of the World Green Council in NZ. They represent a response by architectural, property and building interests to the Govt’s policy to promote “sustainable building.” Emphasis is on environmental sensitivities including energy and water conservation. An objective is establishment of the Chapter by mid-next year. Development, or adoption, of a rating system for “sustainable” commercial and industrial buildings is high on the agenda.

28th July 2005

Education Minister Trevor Mallard’s extraordinary assertion National’s election policies were being written in Washington drew a quick fire one-liner from the Nat’s shadow Attorney-General Richard Worth: “Mallard gives ducks a bad name”

......... Expect Labour’s Police Minister George Hawkins to be back in the next Parliament. The controversies which have swirled around the portfolio have not damaged his local appeal as MP for Manurewa since 1990. He has a strong reputation among constituents for making sure their concerns are well represented to Government. But this year Hawkins won’t have one member of his usual campaign team, former speaker Jonathon Hunt, to shoehorn into the Fiat Bambina he has used when profiling his candidacy

.......... The election date coincides with a major international occasion which could have been expected to attract close attention from senior Govt figures, including the PM. It is a high level forum at the UN on reform of the world body. Scheduled dates for the gathering are Sept 14 to 16. Heads of government and foreign ministers are expected to make it a star studded affair. But the polling date now set by the Cabinet makes attendance by the PM out of the question

........... Trevor Mallard would have got a yellow card if he had been on the Rugby field, after rucking the National party on its links with Washington and its so-called dependency on wealthy American backers. Instead he got a chill from the Beehive’s ninth floor, not so much because the attack on Brash backfired but because it undermined Labour’s more subtle campaign to impugn the National leader’s credibility and trustworthiness

........... Only Winston Peters could have the nerve to recall what Muldoon said about Robert Mugabe or suggest other politicians opposed the cricket tour to Zimbabwe yet welcomed sporting contacts with countries governed by people as despotic as Mugabe

...........Getting beaten up was hardly part of Mark Blumsky’s plan to become an MP, but the former Mayor of Wellington may have worked up a sympathy vote, even though the early Sunday morning incident looked less than tidy

..........Parliament allowed new member Richard Prebble 30 minutes for his maiden speech in 1976, but now 30 years after he was elected, he gets only 10 minutes for a valedictory. Surely someone will move an extension of time?

21st July 2005

Are there signs of panic in the Beehive as the gap between Labour and National in political polls points to a change of Govt? Well, yes and no. The politicians are maintaining their sang-froid but some of the officials and press secretaries who have nailed their colours firmly to the mast are looking decidedly nervy

.......Notice how Labour is putting its nuclear-free policy on its pledge card. It's the first time Labour has thought it worth including on the card. Probably its focus groups have been telling party bosses it's a vote-winner

.......United Future MPs Bernie Ogilvy and Paul Adams turned the other cheek when the party demoted them to 9 and 10 on the list, below newcomers Paul Check and Janet Tuck. They might have consoled themselves anyone lower than 3 on the list has only a bolter's show of getting into Parliament, given the party's current polling

.......Newspapers seem confused about the so-called "celebrities" caught up in a drug bust in Auckland. The NZ Herald called them "sports stars" while the Dom-Post saw them as "TV Stars" - though some commentators would say they were stars in neither field, in fact fairly ordinary both on the playing field .... and on the small screen

.......New QC's named this week (and possibly the last before the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill makes it to the statute book replacing silks with "senior counsel") include Tomas Kennedy-Grant, Helen Aikman, David Jones, and Professor John Burrows

.......PM Helen Clark met her old friend, Ricardo Lagos, President of Chile, at Auckland Airport as he was passing through NZ in transit from Australia on his way home. It was a photo op for media, but seeing it was at 11.55pm on Friday night, not too many cameramen were on hand for the shoot

.......Brendan Burns, manager of the Govt communications unit in the Beehive, is away campaigning for Labour in the Kaikoura electorate which he contested unsuccessfully at the last election. If poll trends are correct he could miss out on a return to Parliament in either capacity

.......NZ First's Winston Peters caught the Press Gallery's attention with a release headed: "Keep Sex Out of Politics." He was responding to Labour's youth wing which has been handing out condoms which say "Be safe with Labour," and "Don't get screwed by National." Peters reckons it's a serious insult to the intelligence of young NZers.
 

14th July 2005

The NZ Govt hasn't made a call on who it will back as the next director-general of the "rich man's club", the OECD. Bit surprising, really, when NZ already has a highly qualified candidate working at the Paris-based organization in former National Minister Simon Upton. But since the outgoing D-G is a Canadian, it is probably the turn of a European to get the job

........The minor parties cannot resist taking pot shots at each other: see, for example, the Progressives' Matt Robson saying (about United Future): "A big issue for the secular faction appears to be a proposal to introduce chemical castration for fallen Christians, although it isn't immediately clear if this is some kind of internal leadership bid."

 .......John Tamihere was willing to go a round or two in the boxing ring in the Fight for Life event, providing he could go up against his journalist foe Duncan Garner, the TV3 reporter who broke the story which cost the Labour MP his Cabinet post. That could have set an unfortunate precedent for press gallery hacks, but luckily Garner's boss quashed the idea

.......Labour liked to label Don Brash's policy "adjustments" as flip-flops. Now Michael Cullen has given the metaphor a twist: "another pooper scooper moment from Brash."

........Since the Budget Ministers have been defending the rise in Govt spending. One early example cited was the huge boost received by the Child Youth and Family Department. Ministers stopped citing the Dept about four weeks ago however: presumably around the same time they were told of the abuse by a caregiver who both the Dept and the Minister had been warned about

......Keith de Ridder of Paraparaumu has been named a District Court Judge and will sit in Whangarei. He has been a partner in the Levin firm of Cullinane Steel since 1987

.......Will this be Mike Munro's last campaign as chief press secretary to PM Helen Clark? Usually reliable sources say the affable Munro has indicated after two terms in charge of the Govt's highly successful spin machine he is vacating his Beehive HQ at the end of the election campaign

........Winston Peters never lets journalists forget his Churchillian aspirations ("We will fight them on the beaches", etc), but he can't also help himself clowning about, as he did at his press conference this week announcing NZ First would launch its campaign on July 31. Just as reporters ran out of serious questions, a flunkey brought in 2 cell phones, on which Winston ostensibly talked first with Don Brash, and then with Helen Clark, asking them who they would form a coalition with after the election.

7th July 2005

Under estimate at your risk the political power inherent in Kiwi appreciation of sausage sizzles. The prospect street side sizzles could be banned in the interest of food hygiene requirements has gone down like a lead balloon among voters. MP's stumping the country during the current Parliamentary recess have found the PM not the Ministry of Health is blamed for uncertainty over the future of these common fund raisers. A similarity is raised with the historic downfall of China's Gang of Four in the post-Mao era of the late 1970's. The "Gang" restricted public performances of much loved Chinese opera. Within months they lost their political positions. "Too bossy" was the Chinese popular verdict

......... Why has Minister for Spam (and former actuary) David Cunliffe been saying privately in Auckland he expects an expanded finance role after the election? Wishful thinking? Or does he know something? And does he mean in the public or private sector?

........ NZ First leader Winston Peters says rumours Wanganui's outspoken Mayor Michael Laws (and a former aide of Peters) is standing for his party are "utterly false." What a relief

......... ACT says its polling shows there's widespread support for a middle income tax cut and support for lowering the tax rate. But what does ACT's polling tell it about its own future?

........ You know an election is approaching when Ministers are out and about at weekends, and start visiting distant parts of the country. Health Minister Annette King was in the Chatham Islands this week

......... Jane Clifton (who last week became a life member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, along with John Armstrong of the NZ Herald, Richard Griffin, long-time political editor of Radio NZ, and Govt relations man in Wellington for TVNZ) is launching her new book "Political Animals" next week. Those who have had a preview say it is one of the funniest books written about Parliamentary life

......... Outgoing US Ambassador Charles Swindells whose parting shots this week created a political stir in the capital has been one of the most popular members of the diplomatic corps in Wellington

......... So did those political parties who thought they could get a free hit at the expense of the Black Caps score with the voters? They didn't seem to like the parallel drawn by some journalists it's ok to court China for a FTA, but not to play cricket with Zimbabwe

......... Following the pending departure of Air NZ boss Ralph Norris for Sydney to head up the Commonwealth Bank, NZ is losing another top executive with Powerco's Steve Boulton crossing the Tasman to join Babcock and Brown.
 

30th June 2005

3 o’clock NZT on a Sunday afternoon may be a convenient time for a Govt media briefing in Auckland on an Israeli apology for illegal activities by its spooks. It seems less convenient to Israeli media in Tel Aviv when equated with 5am Sunday Israeli time. Israel is currently 10 hours behind NZT

........ After talking up tax cuts for months, National is trying to stop anyone except itself mentioning the issue. Fearing its still secret policy will deliver far less then the public expects, paranoid spin doctors now berate the media for reporting Michael Cullen’s taunts about $30 a week for everyone – which he knows is outrageous and unaffordable

......... The Outdoor Recreation Party must be feeling a bit miffed. After winning 1.28% of the party vote at the last election, it joined United Future to boost its chances of getting into Parliament. Monday’s NZ Herald Digipoll puts United Future at 1.3%. And this includes UF, the Christians and Outdoor Rec. However it’s better than the Progressives. Jim Anderton’s Party registered 0.2%. How low can you go without ceasing to exist? Jim will hold Wigram, but Matt Robson is an endangered species

.......... United Future celebrated 10 years as a political party this week with a function in the Grand Hall. There were only one or two pollies from other parties present to hear leader Peter Dunne talk of the party’s success “in moderating the excesses” of the big parties

......... The Australian ambassador to the UN John d’Auth is expected to become the next High Commissioner to NZ to succeed Dr Allan Hawke, who returns to Canberra at the end of the year to become Chancellor of the Australian National University

......... Green MP Mike Ward should get some sort of prize for his press statement this week: “Fence-sitting on nappies not good enough.” He was complaining the Ministry of the Environment is falling short of its responsibilities by failing to encourage the use of the least environmentally damaging nappy

........ NZ’s next Consul-General in Hong Kong will be Julian Ludbrook, who has been most recently director of the Ministry’s legal division. He replaces Frank Wilson who is returning to Wellington

....... Attorney-General Michael Cullen has appointed Auckland QC Raynor John Asher as a Judge of the High Court, and Auckland Barrister Anna Johns as a District Court Judge.

23rd June, 2005

Joanne Morris, Dr Monty Soutar, Gloria Herbert and Joseph Northover have been reappointed to the Waitangi Tribunal for further 3 year terms........ The things which pop out at Select Committee ­ quizzed about morale in ACC's call centres, outgoing CEO Garry Wilson told MPs of events such as some managers dressing up as bunny rabbits at Easter. One MP commented that at 8am "its too early in the morning for that sort of mental image." Wilson told MPs "one of the managers dressed up as a fa'afafine which may been been going a little far." ......Helen Clark this week created a new precedent as the first PM to be ejected from Parliament during question time. Speaker Margaret Wilson cracked the whip when Clark interjected while Nick Smith was putting a question. Then to show she hadn't committed the ultimate solecism, Wilson ejected Don Brash for committing a similar offence later in question time. Questions: Is she applying the rules too strictly? And is she becoming too governessy in running a debating chamber supposedly noted for its robust exchanges?......Is Michael Cullen joining NZ's doomsayers? He has begun two of his recent speeches quoting George Santayana's famous warning: "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Surely he doesn't think National can win the election?.......Prince William, as well as watching a couple of the All Black v Lions tests, and conducting two wreath-laying ceremonies at the National War Memorial in Wellington and the Cenotaph in Auckland, is to spend some time privately, enjoying, as the PM put it, the outdoor pursuits for which NZ is well-known......Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui went another round in the courts, with both sides claiming victory. But taxpayers are asking: are we paying for this starring judicial role?.......ACT scored a hit with its billboards which mimic National's, but National wasn't unhappy, saying anything which drew attention to National's campaign was 'good.'......Well-known left-leaning political commentator Chris Trotter got stuck into Leftie Matt Robson this week for his Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction Bill saying it was not just an echo of our wowser-plagued past, but a constitutional outrage, threatening to strip 118,000 young NZers of their legal rights.
 

16th June 2005

From the "let's-blow-our-own trumpet" file: Ralph Norris' move from Air NZ to head up Australia's Commonwealth Bank would have come as no surprise to readers of Trans Tasman whose website carried the story on May 2. Trans Tasman was also ahead of the field in carrying the "inappropriate" comments NZ's High Commissioner to Canada, Graham Kelly, made to a Committee of the Canadian Parliament. National MP Murray McCully lost no time in repeating the Kelly comments in his weekly newsletter, and suggested to his readers "All we need to do now is to elect a nice National Govt" so Kelly (along with Jonathan Hunt, another political appointee) would be quickly recalled

.... But would National itself break away from the tradition of political appointments to key diplomatic posts? Muzza could be in line for one himself, if he were so inclined. ACT had a sly dig at National in its weekly newsletter, reporting a staffer from Chris Carter's office rang National to congratulate the party on selecting its first openly gay candidate. After a long pause (according to the newsletter): "I don't think it is that open." The reference is to Wellington barrister and solicitor Chris Finalyson, 27th on National's list. Finlayson says he and all those who know him are relaxed about his sexuality

...We like the look of Marc Alexander's latest book "From a Grass Hut to the Beehive" which the former chef and now United Future MP describes as a "politically incorrect cookbook." The author says he would like the recipes to be widely used, shared and enjoyed. Parts of the book may not be reprinted without permission of the author who, he adds, is amenable to bribes of spirits, fine wine and robust ales

.... The Progressive Party's Matt Robson is always good for a political insight or two. His latest is "we haven't had a Labour Govt since 1990" and it took "our Progressive Coalition" to step in and mop-up the mess of what had become of Air NZ. Tell that to Michael Cullen, Matt

..... New Zealand's least diplomatic diplomat, Graham Kelly, has been forced to abandon plans to return home this weekend. He had planned to attend the funeral of Labour stalwart Sonja Davies but decided against it because of the embarrassment he may cause to Labour colleagues and the possibility his appearance at the funeral might cause a media circus and overshadow the solemnity of the occasion.
 

9th June 2005

So David Benson-Pope is back in Cabinet, after his recent suspension, having been cleared of any privilege breach by the Speaker. He has been reinstated to his Fisheries and Associate Environment portfolios, but not to being Associate Education Minister. That's awaiting the outcome of the police investigation into claims of bullying while he was a teacher at Bayfield High School in Dunedin. According to a raft of e-mails and letters from former pupils he was a "wonderful" teacher. No doubt he will be returned with a bigger than ever majority, come the next election

.......The Parliamentary Press Gallery is still reeling from the revelation last week Michael Cullen really doesn't like them

.........Notice how the minnow parties are attacking each other? Apart from the Greens Rod Donald attacking Winston Peters, the week was notable for the Progressives' Matt Robson giving United Future's Peter Dunne a serve. Robson felt it was no surprise almost every ACT and Green Parliamentarian would vote against his bill raising the drinking age back up to 20 ­ " but I find it incredible the leader of a party which says it cares about families is out there with the Greens and ACT on this public health and public order issue."

........ACT in its weekly newsletter had a neat crack at Winston Peters, too. It predicts, just as voting for Winston didn't change the Govt in 1996, it won't in 2005 either

.....Helen Clark and her Ministers might be overly willing to dump on their officials when the political heat goes on. But spare a thought for the Egyptian public service........ "A bunch of kids led by this... godless two-bit traitor... godless scum...traitors, godless dope heads" was how the country's Aviation Minister recently described people who work for his department

.........Barrister Helen Aikman has been appointed a member of the Law Commission, replacing Richard Clarke QC, who recently resigned

.......Press Gallery journalists are wondering how much the Herald On Sunday is paying ACT MP Deborah Coddington to be a feature writer after the election ­ she is believed to have negotiated with rival Fairfax before taking the job. And how long will she keep to her brief of 'social issues' before turning her hand to politics?

2nd June 2005

..Press statement from Winston Peters: "China is simply using NZ as a political pawn to gain entry into the World Trade Organisation." Jim Sutton's statement in response: "China has been a member of the World Trade Organisation for almost 4 years."

.........Sean Rota, who has served as Private Secretary to several Speakers of the House, has resigned and is due to leave on June 17. A popular figure round Parliament, his departure has caused surprise in Parliamentary circles

........As the election approaches, Ministers seem as keen to get in as much overseas travel as possible before the campaign begins: besides the PM in China and Japan, this week has seen Phil Goff in the US and Canada, Jim Anderton also in Canada, Jim Sutton in Korea and China, Mark Burton in Singapore and going on to Japan and Korea, and Ruth Dyson heading for Geneva. George Hawkins was in Brisbane for a Police Ministers' conference, and Paul Swain was there for a Corrective Services Ministers' conference, while Rick Barker was also said to be attending a Corrective Services Ministers' conference, this one apparently in Adelaide. Last, and possibly in terms of distance travelled, Damien O'Connor was attending a meeting of South-West Pacific Agriculture Ministers in the Cook Islands, a meeting which due to the weighty matters being discussed took Damien away from June 1 to 5

........National is launching a major billboard campaign which it hopes will become as much talking points for punters as the Tui, or Speights billboards. One half will be coloured red, the other blue. The one with an education theme will pose the question: "what's best for your kids?" and the answer on red is "excuses" and on the blue "exams." Another one will be Iwi (on the red) and Kiwi (on the blue). For health it will be Pen-pushers (on the red) and Patients (on the blue)

.........The country's biggest newspaper, the NZ Herald, didn't think the full National Party party list was news on Monday, but thought it was sufficiently newsworthy to publish in its Tuesday edition. Wonder what changed its mind?

.......You can tell an election is approaching: the parties are becoming increasing virulent in attacking each other, and this is not limited to the major parties. This week United Future got stuck into NZ First describing its leader's anti Chinese tirade as "ignorant."

26th May 2005

Should Tim Groser make it into Parliament, observers are wondering whether he might generate new links with NZ’s rapidly diversifying multicultural society. While NZ ambassador to Indonesia, Groser embraced the Muslim faith when he married a local woman. Whether he still professes the faith remains unclear. Some clues are provided in an extraordinary 4-page statement he issued this week. This cites various international experts, Cabinet Ministers and journals praising his skills. “Voila,” he declares at the end, “that should do. I will now do a thousand Hail Marys for having put this skite file together. But all for a good cause.” He was one of MFAT’s more colourful diplomats who made the classic transformation from radical student leader through the public service to the conservative end of the spectrum

....... Up close and personal is what PM Clark’s post cabinet news conferences are these days. Reporters are crammed into the Labour caucus room while the Beehive theatrette is refurbished. This explains why it looks so different on TV

..... National is to name its list rankings on Sunday, with new candidate Tim Groser likely to get a top 10 place. Don Brash heads the list with Gerry Brownlee as number 2, while National’s only Maori MP Georgina te Heu Heu will also get a top 10 place. Other current MPs will be listed as they are ranked in the House. Party insiders are downplaying speculation on other “big names” coming through at the last minute

...... United Future has lined up 46 candidates already, not bad for a small party, and is due to put out its list rankings probably in July

....... The Green Party, which opposes the proposed China FTA thinks PM Clark should serve Tibetan tea to Wu Bangguo, China’s No 2 leader,and talk to him about human rights abuses in China when they meet in Wellington this week.

......Newspaper industry executives were stunned by Aust newspaper group John Fairfax’s appointment of professional director Joan Withers to be NZ division CEO. It’ll be a tough job keeping up the group’s profits if the economy slows: there’s not much cost-cutting left to be done

..... Helen Clark and Michael Cullen didn’t seem too pleased with President of the Labour Party Mike Williams who fed pre-Budget speculation about tax cuts. Williams’ comments about a “deep dark secret” in the Budget hyped up expectations. They could return to haunt him.

19th May, 2005

 The ‘Australian’ newspaper is closing its NZ office, but correspondent Claire Harvey isn’t going home. In her farewell to Press Gallery colleagues she said, “I love Kiwis so much I can’t bear to leave you. I’m off to join the NZ Herald in Auckland.”

.... Oh dear....“I have had a couple of wonderful experiences where students have said something to me subsequently and you realise that something you have said or done has had a powerful effect on them.” David-Benson-Pope, quoted in the February issue of the PPTA magazine....

.... Labour MPs were not their normal talkative selves as they arrived for their weekly caucus this week. They were grim-faced and monosyllabic, in the wake of their colleague David Benson-Pope standing down from his portfolios. Benson-Pope himself did not appear. And the caucus meeting lasted barely an hour. Some of the MPs were later sighted holding mini-caucuses down on Lambton Quay
.
....... But showing no sign of standing down is Trevor Mallard. Disputing Trans-Tasman’s report last week on Bill English not demanding his resignation because the Mallard “brand” is becoming a liability for the Govt, Trevor says English has been calling for him to resign at least once a month, and sometimes more frequently, this year and most of last. But Trevor is not at all distressed.

......Telling intervention in the House – Labour’s Clayton Cosgrove twice referred to ACT leader Rodney Hide as a ’“swamp dweller” - and no ACT member objected.  In the end Labour’s Trevor Mallard objected. Who’s more offside with his own party – Cosgrove or Hide?

......... John Tamihere in his column in The Dominion Post has a new target: the “predominantly female journalists” who have infiltrated the 4th Estate. He asks his readers: when have you ever seen a journalist declare their conflict of interest in pushing a certain storyline? “For example, if a politician has strong views on male issues, how many times are these very difficult and serious issues denied or denigrated by predominantly female journalists who immediately attack the messenger?”

.......... Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf is due to visit NZ next month, the first ever bilateral visit by a leader of Pakistan. Though Pakistan was re-admitted to the Commonwealth a year ago in the expectation it would continue to move down the path of democracy, critics say it has shown little enthusiasm for free and open elections under Musharraf. PM Clark says NZ will continue to encourage Pakistan “to take all necessary steps “to strengthen its democratic processes and institutions.”

12th May, 2005

Roger Sowry has found a life after politics. The former National Party Deputy Leader has been appointed CEO of Arthritis NZ. Sowry announced last year he was quitting at the election

......... Career diplomat Caroline Forsyth will be MFAT’s new Deputy Secretary, replacing Rosemary Banks, who’s going to the UN as our next permanent representative

........... Wellington PR Vanessa Rawson is to become National Leader Don Brash’s principal Private Secretary. Rawson was a senior National Press Secretary under former leader Bill English

......... PM Helen Clark was surprised to read in The Press this week she accompanied visiting Vietnamese PM Phan Van Kai on a tour of Lincoln University. She was in Auckland at the time

...... Congratulating Tony Blair on his re-election, when Blair phoned her on Saturday night, Helen Clark said she hoped he would find time in his 3rd term to visit NZ. The telephone conversation left her with the impression he won’t be leaving 10 Downing any time soon. To the cheeky journalist who asked whether, as with Tony Blair in the UK, she might not see out a third term, Clark was firm: “I am going into the election with the intention of serving the full term.”

........And on the subject of elections, the Clark Govt has always been aiming for a poll in Sept. Now the word is the Govt has its eyes set firmly on Sept 17. This is despite continuing speculation Labour would like to go early, say in July. Apart from the fact it would not wish to be campaigning during school holidays (or in the middle of a Rugby tour), a decision to go earlier than Sept would hand Opposition parties ammunition the economy is going downhill faster than the Govt is willing to admit

......... In another journalist-makes-good story (or should it be journalist crosses over to the other side), Rae Lamb has been named Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner, with special responsibility for complaints resolution

......... Sundry politicians joined a crowd of several hundred in Parliament Grounds on Tuesday to listen to Steriogram performing ‘live at the ‘hive.’ Others no doubt didn’t move from their offices, but still heard the band, given it was audible almost a kilometre distant. National’s Katherine Rich dismissed it as a “Labour Party propaganda exercise” promoted by Judith Tizard as a “crass attempt” to politicise NZ Music Month.

5th May 2005

Foreign Minister Phil Goff says NZ’s next High Commissioner to the Cook Islands will be John Bryan. He takes up his post in August. Bryan is currently the head of the MFAT’s property and capital management division. He has previously served in Niue, Apia, Suva, Singapore, New York and Bonn

...........Justice John McGrath is to become a Judge of the Supreme Court on the retirement later this year of Justice Sir Kenneth Keith. He has been on the Court of Appeal since July 2000, and before that was Solicitor-General. Attorney General Michael Cullen has also announced the appointment of Justice J.B. Robertson as a Judge of the Court of Appeal

........So now it’s talkback for John Tamihere. Can a tilt at a Mayoralty somewhere be far off? With Tamihere’s’ westie roots, Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey must be feeling a bit worried

.......... Why was the normally ebullient Paul Swain (Swainey to the Tamihere faction) looking like a deflated balloon this week? Even though he had been let down by his Department, (and like most modern Ministers he was quick to blame the officials), the reason why his colleagues were looking sideways at him was the political naivety he displayed allowing himself to be sucked so deeply into the trap laid for him by Winston Peters

......... Speaking of deflated balloons, our man in London has decided, after picking up signals from the Beehive, not to apply for a British pension. The Rt. Hon. Jonathan Hunt ONZM will have to struggle along on his salary (between $125,700 and $162,700), his Parliamentary pension ($77,000) and his tax-free allowances. A question of making each pound go further?

..... No Parliamentarian seems ready to challenge Georgina Beyer as the resident dance queen. Perhaps it’s because of Georgina’s confession she has exercised muscles she never knew existed?.

......The Press Gallery has lost its battle to regain its old accommodation on the second floor of Parliament Buildings, a home it occupied for the best part of a century, even though all but the Labour Party pledged their support for the move. Speaker Margaret Wilson says the move would cost $1.5m

......... Meanwhile the other “off the record” talk is having repercussions in Wellington. PM Clark delivered a clear and not-very-veiled threat to the Press Gallery over the Peter Doone affair, saying if journalists are going to reveal such things it will have a “chilling effect.” But the threat gives fuel to those who believe the problem is relations are too warm in the first place

.......Office of Climate Change PR woman Lisa-Marie Richan is off to NZ Trade and Enterprise for a new role as director of strategic relationships.

28th April 2005

When in doubt, call the doctor. Once again Deputy PM Michael Cullen has raced into rescue the Govt from a sticky and deepening hole. He’s asked the Solicitor General to consider whether there are grounds to apply to the High Court for a new inquest into the death of beekeeper Kenneth Richards on the property of Keith and Margaret Berryman in 1994. This long-running case threatens the Govt on the eve of the general election as Opposition MPs pick up on what they see as a case of injustice. The case has been in the High Court this week where the NZ Defence Force has been trying to recover an Army report into the collapse of the bridge which killed Richards. The Defence Force argues the report was essentially a fact-finding exercise and could not be used in a court of law. There’s a parallel in accident investigations where investigators’ inquiries, often on a confidential basis, cannot be used in prosecutions.

...... The Berryman affair has cast NZDF and its legal advisers in a poor light, in terms of public perception. It is still smarting from the roasting given Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson and Waiouru camp commandant Col Kevin Burnett by Chief Judge Tom Goddard in the Employment Court. He said their sending letters to two witnesses in an employment case was particularly serious since it threatened a disciplinary investigation into their loyalty. One of the witnesses was Chaplain Julian Wagg

...... The Herald On Sunday’s new editor Shayne Currie is looking for a new political editor. Jonathan Milne, head-hunted from the Star Times, is heading overseas after a brief stint. Also soon to be missing is Leah Haines, snaffled from the Dom Posts’ political desk, on maternity leave

...... Cyberspace Govt has been set on its heels by the revelations of objectionable and possibly pornographic material on police computers. State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble issued a reminder to the public service on the need to use emails for business only. Finance Minister Michael Cullen says it makes the police case for more resources rather more difficult to digest. ACT says it is not surprised. It complained to Parliamentary Services about the “bombardment of highly objectionable emails” received in its Parliamentary office at the rate of 1000 per week. If there were really only 330 police computers with naughty emails on them, the police were far more successful in dealing with the problem than Parliamentary Services until recently.
 

21st April 2005

The schemozzle in the Families Commission which saw its CEO Claire Austin depart after less than 5 months hardly gives United Future much to crow about. UF had made the creation of the Families Commission a condition of its agreement to support Labour on matters of confidence and supply in Parliament. Austin apparently left with a golden handshake (the amount undisclosed), and speculation is she didn’t see eye to eye with some of the Labour-leaning Commissioners on where the Commission should be heading

......... Former NZ First MP Tau Henare who stood for National at the last election is reported to be due for a high list placing when the National Party’s Ranking Committee makes a final decision. Down south, prominent legal eagle Judith Ablett-Kerr is also said to be in line for a high list place

.........New Speaker Margaret Wilson had been in the chair just over a month, when she took off with a clutch of Parliamentarians on a tour to Canada, the US and Mexico. Others in the delegation include Nanaia Mahuta (Labour), Ron Mark (NZ First), Gerry Eckhoff (ACT), and David Carter (National)

.........Does Green co-leader Rod Donald really think NZ children are treated as “political footballs,” as he said this week when calling for an end to child poverty by 2010? Or is this the reason the Crusaders are one of the top teams in the Super 12?

........Marie McNicholas from the online news service Newsroom is the new Chairperson of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, succeeding Mark Sainsbury. Stephen Parker of TV3 is the Deputy Chairperson, succeeding Audrey Young, of the NZ Herald

......Along with the Closer Economic Partnership agreement signed with Thailand this week, Ministers from the two countries signed a working holiday scheme for 100 young people from each country to live and work in the other for 12 months. This will lead eventually to the expansion of business and trade opportunities. Could this raise the standard of lap-dancing in both countries?

....... With the Greens polling at or just under the 5% threshold, party list rankings are likely to cause some tension in the Green caucus. Due out shortly, the list could see some reshuffle in rankings as they were at the last election. Though Ian Ewen-Street is not standing again, and Mike Ward moves up to number 8, the chances of Mike getting back seem a bit tenuous at this stage. There is speculation Nandor Tanczos could drop down a place or two, putting him at risk. The list compilers will have a hard task ranking Sue Bradford, Keith Locke, Sue Kedgely and Metiria Turei. There seems to be little room for any bright new faces in the top ten, a disappointed for some of the activists looking for a ride on to the parliamentary gravy train.

14th April 2005

The board of the NZ-US Council has appointed Jim Burns as its new executive director. Jim who has recently returned to NZ after 8 years working at senior level for companies in the UK, Japan, and most recently Atlanta Georgia, served for many years as an adviser to Jim Bolger as Minister of Labour, and then PM. The NZ-US Council is the main organization representing the business sector as part of NZ’s initiative to secure a FTA with the US and is committed to fostering a robust, mutually beneficial relationship with the US

...... How else should a political leader entering the ranks of senior citizens mark his 60th birthday? Winston Peters chose to celebrate by addressing Grey Power’s annual conference

......... Trevor Mallard is taking his Sport and Recreation portfolio seriously: he has competed in the Karapoti Classic, the Coromandel to Colville, and the St Arnaud to Hanmer mountain biking rides over the past month (the last a distance of 106km in under 6 hours). This should equip him for the tiring assignment looming, when he travels on Friday to India, the Middle East, the UK, and the US, first on an education mission, then representing NZ at the IMF/World Bank conference in Washington, attending the Anzac celebrations in London, and returning to NZ on April 30

...... Newspapers make a great thing out being Newspaper of the Year in the annual media awards sponsored by Qantas. But the Sunday Star-Times may have to enter its “scoop” on the SIS “spying” on Maori into the fiction-writing competition after Justice Paul Neazor, rather kindly, agreed with SIS director Richard Wood’s description of the allegations as “a work of fiction.”

..... Rodney Hide is losing his press secretary Cameron Brewer after just 6 months in the job

........ United Future’s Gordon Copeland complained he was “jostled” by a TV cameraman as he picked his way through the media scrum waiting for John Tamihere, or some of his colleagues, in the corridor to the House on Wednesday. Funny, individual politicians never seem to complain when the cameras are waiting for them

........ Has Solicitor-General Terence Arnold done his time and now ready for the next step, which many of his predecessors have taken, on to the Court of Appeal bench?

........ While PM Helen Clark was last week trying to warm up relationships with Indonesia’s visiting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Green’s Keith Locke was in West Papua supporting the cause of West Papuan independence from the Jakarta regime. He returned with a request from Papuan leaders NZ should champion their cause at the Pacific Islands Forum and the UN.

7th April 2005

Long-serving dairy industry stalwart John Kennedy-Good has been appointed executive director of the Dairy Companies Association of NZ. Kennedy-Good, a lawyer, was prominent in the old Dairy Board and handled much of the internal legal work for the board and during its transition to Fonterra. He is an expert in international trading and legal issues.

....... Winston Peters thinks the “real joke” of the Taimhere interview in Investigate is how Lianne Dalziel was told to go away for telling lies while Tamihere is being told to go away for telling the truth

......... It was not just politicians who got the rough end of Tamihere’s tongue in the Investigate interview. Journalists are “utterly and totally useless. And sycophantic. You know, and I know, there’s no investigative journalism done in that bloody gallery. In an information age, we’ve got more ignorant people out there than there’s ever been.”

..... Have Govt Ministers been in office so long they think taxpayer money is theirs to scatter around? Michael Cullen at the first birthday celebration of the Maori Television Service referred to how he played the part of “the rich old uncle” in the development of the service. And then Trevor Mallard distributing largesse to some of the 550 sportspeople who are, he says, struggling to balance their sporting and academic lives spoke of the awards as the “Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarships.”

....... Matt Robson may have second thoughts about a line in one of his recent newsletters “Mr Tamihere Owed an Apology.”

......... Lesley Soper, took her place in Parliament this week, as the next off Labour’s list replacing Jonathan Hunt. Soper, perhaps conscious she will be in Parliament only a short time (her place on the list for the next election does not guarantee her another term), wore a highly colourful garment from Vietnam to identify her on the distant Govt backbench

....... Sackcloth and ashes may be the appropriate dress for John Tamihere when he appears at Labour’s caucus room next Tuesday. He is expected to display a “high level of contrition.” Tamihere apparently insists he didn’t know he was being taped. He doesn’t recall seeing a tape recorder, only something he thought was a cellphone. Those who have worked with him concede he is technologically challenged

..... Attorney-General Michael Cullen has made his first appointments to the bench, naming John McDonald of Rotorua and Tony Zohrab of Wellington as District Court Judges. McDonald will sit in Whangarei and Zohrab in Nelson.
 

24th March 2005

....After throwing his toys out of the cot over his lowly list ranking, George Hawkins issued a press statement saying he’s “happy” to stand as the Labour candidate in Manurewa where he received 15,821 votes at the last election, a majority of 12,548 over his nearest rival. So why he did he put his name forward for the list in the first place? George’s petulance could see him out of calculations for Cabinet if Labour wins again. As one (very high) Beehive source put it, there is little room for sentimentality in caucus when it comes to balloting for Cabinet places. And with Dame Silvia Cartwright keen on a diplomatic post, George could miss out there, as well

...... Is it true Shane Jones is sacrificing potential income of around $800,000 a year (which he might have been entitled to as boss of Aotearoa Fisheries) to become a backbencher? If so, talk of being fast-tracked into Cabinet gains some credibility. Perhaps he’s on a promise from “Aunty Helen”, as Shane refers to the PM

...... The Govt has put a lot of weight on the Regional Development Conference in Napier this week. Even the PM is addressing it. Maybe it’s because Labour’s coalition partner, Jim Anderton’s Progressives, are pinning their faith on his regional strategy to lift the profile of the minority partner for the election campaign. Otherwise voters might be saying “Why isn’t he on Labour’s list?”

...... Invercargill MP Mark Peck, who at one time was spoken of as a future Cabinet Minister displayed considerable stoicism this week when the judge pronounced “You are now a convicted drunk-driver.” Some of his colleagues might have felt a twinge of the old “There but for the grace of God.”

...... The acres of space given by print media to the advent of Campbell Live on TV3 might have implied the reincarnation of a Walter Cronkite or a David Frost. No such luck.

......What a brouhaha there was over cameras in the House. After only hours in the job as Speaker, Margaret Wilson found herself manning the barricades as press barons and TV moguls thundered at the gates about “press freedom.” So Helen Clark spiked all the rubbish by saying the Govt would defer funding of the new system, which would have excluded news cameras from the chamber, until 2006. She said there were many other ways of spending the money (she might have said “better ways”). Was there any truth in the rumour the TV networks which were so upset at the exclusion of news cameras were bidding to operate the state-funded ($6.2m) system, presumably to make a dollar or two in the process.
 

17th March 2005

..... National Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee offered a way to enhance links with Norway when he spoke at the State lunch for visiting PM Kjell Bondevik. He asked if the Norwegian cricket team would like to undertake a tour, saying he was sure they’d be competitive. Kjell didn’t seem to catch on immediately, but the Kiwis did

.......PM Helen Clark was deeply impressed by Norwegian PM Kjell Bondevik’s initiatives in peace negotiations, conflict resolution and interfaith conferences, and suggests NZ could host an Asian-Pacific interfaith peace conference.

 .......... The next PM to visit will be Malaysia’s Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmed Badawi. This could revive the old entente cordiale between the two countries which evaporated during the reign of Mahathir Mohammed. He is due, along with a slew of senior Cabinet ministers, in NZ on March 30.

.....John Tamihere was very subdued in interviews, after the SFO this week announced it had found there was no evidence against him. Clearly he had been instructed to button up. Even though he claimed he had been cleared of the allegations, which the SFO examined, the PM does not see him returning to Cabinet before the election (and possibly not afterwards). The question still hanging is what evidence will be presented in court against two associates of Tamihere who are to be charged

...... It wasn’t a waste of taxpayer money, after all, for Chris Carter to go to the Commonwealth Local Govt Forum in Aberdeen. He reports NZ beat off competition from two other short-listed countries, Mozambique and Uganda, to host the next biennial conference in Auckland in 2007. It will bring “hundreds of Ministers, Mayors, and leaders from all over the world” to Auckland for a week

.......The Govt has made available $3.212m in broadcast election advertising funds. Is it any wonder 23 parties (8 of them not yet registered) want a seat on the gravy train?...... Wishful thinking? New Speaker Margaret Wilson, bearing an increasing resemblance to Television’s Judge Judy, calmed an uproarious question time warning MPs interrupting Act leader Rodney Hide the “The member will give his question in silence.” When the irrepressible Hide suggested it would be hard to ask his question silently, Wilson”s eyes rolled skyward and she was heard to murmur “Well we live in hope.”

.......John Key to the Annual Super-annuation Summit –“whenever I go along to the National Party’s Management Committee and say I’m doing a speech on superannuation they all go a sort of pasty colour.”
 

10th March 2005

First his LAVs were in trouble, now it is his LOVs – shorthand for light operational vehicles – so no wonder Defence Minister Mark Burton wears a worried look around Parliament. He lost his cherished Speaker’s role to former Attorney General Margaret Wilson, so he has to stay and defend Defence. The LOV contract involves the Army buying 321 Pinzgauer for $93m to replace its elderly Landrover fleet. So far around 90 have been delivered and some are grounded after gearbox problems were detected. Supplier Automotive Technik says one batch had faulty gearbox installation and repairs are being done under warranty

....... Lawyer Gerard van Boheemen, whose departure from the pre-eminent capital legal firm Chen & Palmer we reported recently, is returning to his roots and will rejoin the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade shortly in a senior legal/diplomatic post

...... Now that the Govt wants NZ to be an “ownership society,” National has appointed Nick Smith as its shadow Minister for building and construction. Smith has a PhD in civil engineering and a background in the construction industry. Leader Don Brash said Smith would concentrate on providing relief from red tape and the “ballooning” bureaucracy. He says the new Building Act, which comes into force in April, will drive up home ownership costs

........ Normally ebullient John Tamihere is keeping his counsel at Parliament while investigations continue into his personal arrangements and the Waipareira Trust, of which he was CEO before entering Parliament. Word around the lobbies is he is likely to be cleared of personal transgressions although the Trust may not come off so lightly. He’s been advised to lie low until all the results are out

........ On his visit to Govt House this week Prince Charles picked out NewstalkZB’s political editor, the irrepressible Barry Soper, who professes to be a republican, as the first Kiwi he wanted to chat to at the reception. Maybe he had heard of Soper from his mother, who on a previous occasion had talked with the much travelled hack

.......... Ministers are seizing the opportunity for some OE before the Govt gears up for the election: George Hawkins heads for London for a “summit” for Ministers of Veterans’ Affairs, Chris Carter to Edinburgh for a Commonwealth Local Govt conference, and David Benson-Pope to Paris and Rome on fisheries business – while Michael Cullen, on a more heavyweight mission to Aust, has been promoting NZ as an investment destination.

3rd March 2005

Rosemary Banks has been named NZ’s next Permanent Representative to the UN in New York. The posting caps an outstanding career in NZ’s diplomatic service. Banks is currently Deputy Secretary at MFAT and will be the first career woman diplomat to be NZ’s ambassador at the UN. Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff says the UN remains a cornerstone of NZ’s foreign policy and Ms Banks has the foreign policy and management skills to represent NZ at this critical time for the UN. The Banks’ appointment raises speculation on potential successors for NZ’s current ambassador to the US, John Wood, who is expected to complete his second term there next year. Because of the sensitivity of relations between Wellington and Washington, another serving diplomat would be the logical choice, but several aspirants in the political and business worlds are said to be keenly interested

....... Brian Roche, a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has become the troubleshooter-in-chief for whatever Govt is in power. He was in the PM’s advisory group in the last years of the Lange-Palmer Govt, then served Jim Bolger, and later was chief negotiator on the Ngai Tahu Treaty of Waitangi settlement. He has been CEO of Housing NZ, and of the Crown Company monitoring unit. More recently he was involved in initiating Negotiated Greenhouse Agreements (NGAs) with big companies. Now he has the hot seat as Crown Observer on Te Wananga O Aotearoa

....... It was a good news/bad news week for Labour’s Lianne Dalziel. She was promoted from the backbench wilderness to which she was consigned after committing the sin of “misleading” the public (and the PM) to be a Parliamentary Private Secretary, a non executive position which carries no extra pay – at the same time she was being sued for $3m by an Auckland lawyer who acted for a Sri Lankan teenager in the dispute over which Dalziel lost her immigration portfolio. Dalziel will be a PPS to Steve Maharey and Chris Carter, while Napier MP Russell Fairbrother becomes a PPS to Attorney-general Michael Cullen. Both clearly are in line for promotion if Labour is re-elected in September

..........New candidates standing for United Future include Graham Reeves, who was a one-term MP for National from 1990 to 1993. Will Reeves as party president be ranked ahead of some of the eight sitting MPs, who have all been re-nominated, on UF’s party list?

24th February 2005

Phil Goff is getting more stamps in his passport, winging his way to Europe, China, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India

......... Politics is not always grief for George Hawkins. Part of the fun of being a member of the Labour-Progressive coalition is handing out taxpayer money. This week he got to present a $1.5m cheque to the Thames Coromandel District Council for its flood management plan on the Thames coast

......... Phil James, the Aussie who as head of NGC Holdings did an excellent job before it was taken over by Auckland-based Vector, is returning to Aust to work for AGL. James played a prominent role in persuading the Govt to accept a co-regulatory system for the gas industry

.......Next week it will be 20 years since the NZ dollar was liberated, and the Reserve Bank is marking the anniversary of the event, calling in participants, past and present, in the development of the NZ foreign exchange market. The celebration comes as the floating dollar reaches new highs against the greenback

........ National’s Gerry Brownlee generated a few laughs at the official lunch for Aust’s John Howard, particularly with the line thanking Howard in advance for accepting NZ umpire Billy Bowden (yes, the man who helped the Australians to their win against the Blacks Caps at Wellington’s Caketin) as an honorary Australian citizen

........ NZ Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson has been re-appointed for a 2nd term. He is currently chairing two major Aust health reviews, one on how overseas-trained surgeons are assessed, and other on governance arrangements for safety and quality in healthcare

......... The biography of Don Brash by Auckland author (and National candidate for Maungakiekie) Paul Goldsmith is due out on Monday

........ Some footnotes to the row over whether John Farnham should sing at Gallipoli on Anzac Day in letters to Aust papers: “NZ PM Helen Clark has never heard of John Farnham: some people are just born lucky” and “If the Kiwis want to vastly improve their lamentable recent performances at the Olympics they could perhaps push for the future admission of a new sport: Humbug.”

........ Dr David Walker has replaced Charles Finny, now in the private sector, as MFAT’s lead negotiator in the FTA negotiations with China

...... Bill English’s eldest offspring, in his 6th form year, sat the NCEA scholarship exam, and landed a scholarship. A chip off the old block?

17th February 2005

Goran Persson, the first Swedish PM to visit NZ, and PM Helen Clark have clearly formed a mutual admiration society. He talked of the many similarities between the policies of his Govt with those in NZ. And Helen Clark saw the visit as “historic”, and says the two explored opportunities for “taking our relationship forward.”

........ Bill English hasn’t looked so happy for months. The man we named ‘the comeback kid’ last week got further accolades this week from NZ Herald’s John Armstrong who opined the political resurrection of the former party leader is now complete. Well, almost: Bill himself would probably think there is another step to go. But, as Armstrong pointed out, English has already won the political battle over the foul-up in the NCEA scholarship results and he may yet do the seemingly impossible: make education a sexy election issue

....... The Greens have appointed Russel Norman, previously a researcher in the Greens’ Parliamentary office, as campaign manager. Russel has a Ph.D in politics from Macquarie University in Sydney and has lived in NZ for 8 years

........ The Govt is appointing its third offshore education counsellor, to be located in Brussels, in order to help build links with European educators and policy leaders. Some insiders say the Govt may need an education counsellor here for shell-shocked Ministers explaining away the NCEA scholarship debacle

.........Winston Peters can’t wait for the day his Private Member’s Bill deleting the so-called “principles” of the Treaty of Waitangi from all legislation comes up for debate. He says the “principles” were inserted by the 4th Labour Govt, not at the request of Maori, but by paternalistic and interfering Ministers, and having inserted them Parliament never defined them. But what’s the betting the Govt finds a way to prevent the Bill coming up for debate this session

...... The Govt appointee to the board of Te Wananga O Aotearoa Graeme McNally whose leaked email about the “culture of extravagance” triggered a political outcry this week is the same Graeme McNally who is a member of the board of NZQA. He is a former Dean of the faculty of commerce at Canterbury University and a partner at Deloittes

..... Not a good week for junior Govt Minister David Cunliffe. First his wife is quoted in one business weekly saying the government’s RMA changes will treble costs; then the other business weekly calls him a “rising National MP.” To cap it off, he then gets thrown out of the House for yawning ostentatiously at question time.
 

10th February 2005

Back in the capital this week is NZ’s ambassador to Washington DC, John Wood for briefing and consultations. Ministers are keen to hear his perspectives on the second Bush administration and the prospects for NZ/US relations. Of particular attention is Bush’s budget submission to Congress where, in the interests of fiscal stringency, he has proposed major cuts to farm subsidies. Whether these survive the budget process is another issue, but they have already been hailed by the EU and the Australians, as a major step forward as the WTO struggles to revive the Doha trade round.

........ Some notable anniversaries for politicians this month: Michael Cullen turned 60 on Saturday, Helen Clark will be 55 on February 26, Richard Prebble was 57 on Monday.

....... Ousted Auckland Mayor John Banks is apparently keen to return to the wider political stage. National is reported to have been cool so ACT is being courted. And the rumour mill has been putting it about some Nats want Jenny Shipley to make a comeback, an idea producing the shudders in the party’s inner circles.

......... United Future leader Peter Dunne has been elected chair of Parliament’s Constitution Select Committee (whose members include Labour, the Greens ACT and UF but not National and NZ First). So is a party commanding 2.8% support in latest opinion polls going to have the biggest say in NZ’s constitution?

........Don Brash may have lost a friend in Katherine Rich last week but by the weekend he seemed to have gained a couple of new ones, Brian Tamaki of the Destiny Church, and Tame Iti from Tuhoe (though PM Helen Clark labelled it the ‘photo opportunity from Hell’).

....... Who was it who said a week can be a long time in politics? Don Brash is re-writing that to be “ A day can be a long time etc”. Now the mild-mannered son of the Presbyterian manse, with his habit of machine-gunning his front-benchers (Katherine Rich, Simon Power, Georgina Te Heu Heu), has acquired a new patronymic: The Don.

....... Invercargill MP Mark Peck who bared his soul (and his addiction to alcohol) last week is one of those politicians who never mastered the Parliamentary environment, even though at one time he was spoken of as Cabinet material. But he hardly deserved the comment of an Aucklander who noting how Peck thanked his lucky stars he didn’t kill himself, said he had omitted to mention how lucky he was not to have killed someone else –“Is this because he’s an alcoholic or a politician?

.... Lindsay Perigo, Prime TV’s political correspondent, has been found space for a new office and studio – next to the Govt caucus room. But Lindsay’s no mouthpiece for the Clark Govt..

3rd February 2005

Property owner Sir Robert Jones is assembling a galaxy of VIP guests to a farewell dinner for the departing Speaker Jonathan Hunt on Feb 28. A number of notables have re-arranged their diaries to attend the dinner hosted by the some-time leader of the NZ Party. Meanwhile, PM Helen Clark has defended the award of the Order of NZ and says reports he suggested installation of a lift in the London residence were “pernicious rumours.”

..... The PM was in a jolly mood when she presented the Wellington Cup to the winning owners on Saturday. She had backed the winner Zabeat. Other politicians including Deputy PM Michael Cullen and Opposition Leader Don Brash were on hand pressing the flesh at one of the biggest crowds in recent years at Trentham.

..... The Govt, in extending the term of Dame Silvia Cartwright as Governor-General, says it would not be appropriate to choose a successor, with an election pending. Dame Silvia’s term was due to expire in April next year and is now extended until August 2006.

........ While Parliament was buzzing on Tuesday morning with speculation Katherine Rich was about to lose her frontbench role as National’s welfare spokeswoman, the MP in question was out for a stroll in the capital listening on her iPod to “good Dunedin music.”

..... Lindsay Perigo shook his colleagues in the Press Gallery exchanging his casual gear for a fashionable new suit, ready for his debut on Prime alongside the effervescent Paul Holmes

...... There’s speculation in journalistic circles Suzanne Chetwin is moving on from editing the new Heral