You can’t fix what is not broken – no need to change university councils

Written By: Guest post
Date published: - 23 comments

Dr Sandra Grey from the Tertiary Education Union has a look at Stephen Joyce’s proposals to changing the governance of tertiary education institutions. She suggests that he has a look at what happened in the changes to the polytechs in 2009. And also points out that his proposals don’t follow what is known about good governance for universities.

But it has been apparent to readers here that Joyce prefers to be a fiddler rather than being effective..

Contraception debate

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 96 comments

The Government is planning to offer free long-term contraception for beneficiaries and their daughters.  At one level its a sensible idea.  But it comes with too much baggage attached.  The Nats have already made such a mess of it that they can’t make this proposal with any credibility.

NRT: Strapping the chicken on prison privatisation

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 5 comments

Despite keeping prisoners in prison too long and an escape, Serco’s private management of Auckland Remand has been judged a success by the Government because it has met all the standards set for it. Sounds reasonable. Until you look a layer deeper and discover that the standards Serco has to meet are much worse than what Corrections already achieves.

Cutting holes in the safety net

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 11 comments

The Nats’ welfare cuts will cost $500m over 4 years. Supposedly save a billion. Net saving: $125m a year. 1% of benefit costs. 1/8th of the cost of extra beneficiaries under National. Won’t really save even that little. No jobs. Unemployment rising. National’s problem is it tries to save costs of the welfare safety net by cutting holes in the net. The real solution is to stop people falling in. Best welfare policy is a jobs policy.

Parcelled up and ready to sell

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 20 comments

The Nats say they won’t sell more than 49% of our energy companies and AirNZ. As if that’s a good thing. As if it doesn’t carve a $100m per year hole in the budget. But, it turns out its worse than that. The Greens have discovered that every power station in the country is a wholly-owned subsidiary. After privatisation there will be nothing to stop them being flogged off one by one.

Still no law suit from Collins

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 16 comments

For all her bluster, Judith Collins still hasn’t sued Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little for supposedly defaming her by saying she was behind the leak of the Boag email identifying Bronwyn Pullar as the leaker of 6,500 ACC clients’ details. I’m not sure how you can argue its defamatory for a minister to be accused of leaking private information when Paula Bennett did it.

Does NZ have $400 million+ to burn?

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 36 comments

The Environmental Protection Agency, bastard child of Nick Smith chaired by National crony Kerry Prendergast, has given draft approval to Transmission Gully. This billion dollar project returns 60 cents of benefits for every dollar spent. Worse than a night on the pokies. And that’s NZTA’s estimate assuming traffic growth that isn’t happening, and not accounting for $5 a litre petrol.

The fateful tea party – a footnote

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 61 comments

So much of what shapes the current political landscape traces its roots back to the fateful tea party. But at the personal level, there was some welcome news for cameraman Bradley Ambrose recently.

House Price Inflation

Written By: Guest post
Date published: - 59 comments

Land prices rising much faster than wages. Shares, derivatives, hedge funds or other financial instruments are designed so that banks can gamble with our money. Win or lose they always get a cut. Loss comes out of our pensions and other savings. Or, if they really stuff it up, taxpayers are expected to borrow more from them to pay for it. Banks following their own self interest and are compounding economies to oblivion. The “invisible hand” has failed..

Resignationwatch: constraints

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 61 comments

Banks is deadmeat. It’s just a matter of time before Key gives him the boot. Politically, he must. He has grounds, even on the limited ‘ethics while a minister’ test he has created. We’re now just waiting for something sufficiently new that Key can use it as justification for an about face. Then comes the question of a by-election. And that’s where it gets tricky for Key.

Give the future a vote

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 93 comments

How to we improve the consideration of long term issues in the political process? How do we build in incentives to take these issues seriously?

Resignationwatch: questions for Key

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 42 comments

Does he believe Banks’ on the Dotcom donation? What corroborating evidence has he sought to confirm Banks statement? Why is he applying a legal test to behaviour before Banks was a minister but ethical standards only after? Why did he apply ethical standards to Pansy Wong’s behaviour before she was a minister but not to Banks? Was it unethical for Banks to lie to the media and fake memory lose while a minister?

Open mike 05/05/2012

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 60 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]

Another MMP rort?

Written By: Mike Smith
Date published: - 44 comments

The media are doing a good job investigating John Banks’ donation history.  The Police are presumably also doing theirs, and it seems clear that the matter must end up in Court and the issue of who is telling the truth will be decided by a judge. Some in the media have dismissed the question of any threat to National’s majority. Short-term maybe, long-term I’m not so sure.

Nice work

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 15 comments

Number of additional jobs per year needed to match population growth: 25,000 * Jobs promised by National last Budget to be added in March 2012 year: 36,000 * Actual number of jobs added: 20,000 * Additional unemployed: 5,000 * Change in number of fulltime jobs: -6,000 * Change in number of parttime jobs: 25,000 * Growth in underemployment: 4,000 * Broken promises: 1 really big one

Talley’s cracking

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 36 comments

It is a fundamental injustice of our society that one family, which already has more than it can ever need, can hold 1,300 families, who have very little, to ransom just to make a little more cash. But the union makes us working people strong. By standing together, the workers are beating Talley’s in the AFFCO lockout. Talley’s cracked. Wants half them back. The workers have said ‘all of us or none of us’.

Resignationwatch: too many questions

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 156 comments

Why did Banks lie about a discount hotel room where Dotcom was staying, then say he bargained it himself? Who made $15K of radio ad donations to his campaign? What did Nats on Banks’ ‘mentor group’ and ACT leaders know about the anonymised donations? How much info did Banks get from Williamson on Dotcom’s OIO application? Why has Key still not spoken to Banks to ask any of these question?

1000 more jobless each week

Written By: Bunji
Date published: - 28 comments

The unemployment rate has jumped to 6.7%, as National delivered only 20,000 of the 36,000 jobs promised last budget. Last quarter there were 12,000 more jobless.

Where’s our recovery John?  Have you sold that off too?

Slippery does a flip-flop

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 28 comments

Slippery old Key said on Monday and Tuesday that he had to apply a legal test to whether John Banks should stay on as a minister. The Cabinet manual demands the highest ethical standards. Now, Key’s flip-flopped: ethics are required – but only after one becomes a minister. Which would be worrying if true. Pansy Wong won’t be the only one to note Key’s standards a slipping.

$5 a litre petrol, here we come

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 94 comments

Last week, the IMF warned that oil prices will double over and above inflation in the next decade. The Greens crunched the numbers and say that means we’ll be paying $5 a litre for petrol in 2022. If it wasn’t clear before, it is now. A handful of white elephant highways is a poor use of $14 billion, especially when petrol is only getting more expensive.

National’s big win

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 86 comments

Such was the magnitude of the Nat’s “big win” in 2011 that Key has to wake up every morning and do the numbers. His government hangs by a rotten thread. That rotten thread is John Banks.

Resignationwatch: Oopsie

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 121 comments

ACT Party President Chris Simmons – who opposed the Brash coup that lead to John Banks being ACT’s sole MP – ‘accidentally’ dropped Banks right in it on Radio New Zealand’s Checkpoint. He said “[Banks] made the suggestion to Dotcom” to split his donation into two $25,000 pieces and implied the purpose was to have a number of identically-sized donations he could claim were anonymous.

Ask no questions?

Written By: Mike Smith
Date published: - 4 comments

There’s the facts, the questions and the legal opinions. Today in Parliament John Key stuck to his lack of interest in detailed questions, and adherence to Banks’ reliance on  legal opinions. He even alleged that the Labour Opposition agreed with these opinions. Not likely. The Police need to ask all the relevant questions that have so far not been answered by Banks or asked by Key, then their veracity and reliability should be established by a judge.

Education for the elite under National

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 49 comments

National’s going to cut access to the student allowance and up the repayment rate on student loans. Basically a hike on your graduate tax. These measures won’t save much themselves. But they’ll make higher education unaffordable for many. Fewer people will get qualifications. That’s how they’ll save costs: by blocking higher education for the poor, leading to a less skilled population. Loving this brighter future.

Inter-generational theft

Written By: Jimmy Reid
Date published: - 49 comments

Baby boomers strike again. In 1989, University fees for domestic students in New Zealand were  less than $300. Moreover, for many students, 90% of that […]