Thursday 22 August 2019

Toyota give away forgotten in local body elections in PN. Wheelers Corner 41 23rd August 2019





Thanks to Manawatu Peoples Radio and with the very professional chairperson abilities of Fraser Gregg the MPR station Manager and assisted by the Programme Manager Hugh Dingwall. I attended the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday meetings but missed the Monday meeting: 


our Councillors and two candidates came together for a public chat [Tuesday]...around twenty public attended. All of the Councillors public meetings will be available from midweek next week just go to MPR and you can listen to what the Councillors and candidates had to say...You will not hear the Mayor because didn't even bother to turn up to even one meeting...so much for his community connections...he is tighter to Toyota than he is to PN.
 

“One of the subjects was By-Laws and what is entailed in enforcing them. Naturally we here in PN have had many many discussions around this touchy subject... One past mayor I remember considered bringing the local rugby team members to move those begging to move along out of the shopping area...but that died an early death [thank God]

Now depending how you look at it, beggers are seeking extra income by asking the public for money...if one is in that position where one has very little choice but to beg...they could of course steal... but in my view those who steal to feed themselfves or their family are simply applying a survival behaviour rather than a criminal one...people who steal to live are simply trying to surviving. 



Now for years and years we jailed those who robbed or stole to survive, especial if they were Maori and poor, because our police and general public just love to blame and punish [we inherited this shocking attitude from our British heritage: the individuals concerned are condemned not only for begging but also for being poor...or being Maori and now days if they are begging or even questioning the behaviour of the so-called political elite or the police / so-called Justice system they are blamed rather than us looking together at the failing system and putting in right...

I posed the thought that those candidates who are standing now days, for Mayor or Councillor positions, are in their own way ‘Begging for votes. So the question can rightly be asked would they stand if they were not being paid or rewarded?

So you could say that maybe they are standing to boost their incomes, rather than for the community in which they live. I don’t in any way condemn anyone standing, nor will I assume what each candidates individual motivation is:

But if it was agreed that Councillors would no longer be rewarded how many of our present councillors would remain in the race, approaching this from the financial reward angle makes for some interesting possibilities maybe the motivation for standing needs to be expressed by the candidates.

I recall that we [Cris Teo-Sherrell and myself] [in 2007 or 2008] moved a motion to recommend that salaries be paid on a performance basis, this was because many Councillors appeared to skip heaps of meetings. We were greatly defeated when the vote was taken.And some of that Councillors who voted against are still in council right to this day.

So I would agree that it is vital that we find out why individuals are begging on the streets of our city...making begging a crime is simply totally stupid in my humble opinion.
And takes us right back to the 1840s when the poor working classes of the UK were shipped off shore to places like Australia, Canada and New Zealand to keep the streets of London clear of beggers and unemployed masses. We should never forget that at that time the Brits supported slavery and were busy shipping indigenous people around the world to be sold as slaves.
As one of the candidates [David Lane} pointed out begging should never be considered a crime...and being an ex policeman he must surely see the obvious hypocritical behaviour of the police force these days as are never found guilty of breaking the laws rhey are meant to enforce...the latest act of the police of finding themselves not guilty of breaking the law was when they broke into Nicky Hager's home. And it was after the High Court had ruled that the police broke the Law. But: [But this report from the Daily Blog says it all]

“Surprise, surprise – the police cleared themselves over their illegal raid on Investigative Journalist, Nicky Hager…Police did not intentionally deceive judge in Dirty Politics raid – IPCA
An unlawful police search of journalist Nicky Hager’s home came from officers neglecting their duties rather than intentional misconduct, the police watchdog says.

Officers did not deliberately deceive a judge when they failed to mention that Hager was a journalist while applying for the search warrant, the Independent Police Conduct Authority said in a ruling released this morning.
Instead, the IPCA found the unlawful search of his Wellington home in 2014 was the “result of unwitting neglect of duty” and “did not amount to misconduct by any individual officer”.

Police searched Hager’s home on October 2, 2014, for 10 hours. They were seeking evidence about a hacker who provided information to Hager for his book Dirty Politics, which was published on August 13, 2014. They were acting on a complaint from blogger Cameron Slater, who said his emails had been hacked.
Note the language here, there wasn’t any misconduct in not telling the Judge who signed off on an illegal search warrant against Hager that he was a journalist, oh no, it was a “unwitting neglect of duty”!!!!!
What a load of bullshit! They knew full well that the idiot Judge wouldn’t have signed off on a warrant if they knew Hager was a journalist with the protections that has, they specifically left it off and they have gotten away with it.

These lying ex-policemen will do anything, say anything and plead ignorance at anything to hide their abuse of power, and when you try to hold them to account, they attempt to rig the Court process so it can all be heard behind closed doors.
The IPCA are former cops investigating cops and they are as trustworthy as a fox in a hen house.

If only the media spent as much time on the cops clearing themselves of illegally raiding an Investigative Journalist doing real journalism as they are on Celebrity Treasure Island and a stupid Australian talkback host saying mean things to the Prime Minister
What a sickening, duplicitous outcome.
There is no justice on these shallow Islands. TDB ends here:

Wednesday 21st August Councillor / Candidate meeting, was held at 11am. 4 sitting Councillors attended along with four Councillor candidates and 2 Mayoral candidates fronted up. And the subject was housing:
Judging by the general comments it was obvious that the Councillors in the end agreed that the subject of housing was important and urgent, and while sitting Councillor Vaughan Dennison could not resist trying to lay blame on the present government [at least in part] for the housing crisis, this was to be expected after he has always been a big time Nat supporter. Regardless the others up front felt that the blame lay elsewhere.

It was amazing that I received an email from a Wheelers Corner reader on the subject of house building from days long ago: And I will share it with you for it proves that basic housing can be constructed at an affordable price...what is needed is the desire and ability to create the climate for action. Here is the email:


Ex Fletcher's builder Peter Grove.
Peter,

I notice TDB is making a lot of noise over the current housing crisis. Chris Fafoi looks to be in the sights of a number of guns.I had a long association with State Housing from 1949 to around 1955. I Was employed by Fletcher Residential Construction over that period, The section in which I worked was that which produced the Frames and roofs of houses to be built as a result of contracts let by the department responsible for the creation of state houses
When a new contract was let it would be accompanied by a huge sheaf of plans for all the houses in the contract. It was our job to sort out all the timber required, which in my earlier years with the company, saw me unloading timber from railway wagons on a siding next to the Framing Mill, stacking it and eventually turning it into 4×2's for the framing gangs.
The boss at the time was the guy who set out all the frames for the houses to be built.
 

They were set out in the order of the sheaf of plans and eventually sent to the framing benches. My job beside ripping to size the 45x2 timber included putting it through another machine which cut the timber into stud lengths which was stacked and trucked away to the framing gangs.
They were heads down all day knocking together the frames. As each frame was completed it was craned away onto the growing pile of frames to be eventually trucked away to the construction site where another team had been employed setting out the foundations, boxing and pouring concrete, setting out and putting in place the piles and bearers for the eventual floor joists, in readiness for the erection of the frames.

The boss beside setting out the frames, would set out the rafters on a single length of timber on which the common rafter came first and all the subordinate rafters from the hip rafters to the walls were also set out. When this was done it was sent to the guy with a cross-cut saw who would set the saw to the appropriate angles and bevels as required to produce the finished rafters, which in turn would be delivered along with the hip and valley rafters to the site for later assembly.
Fletcher's, in those early days claimed they could produce house frames
cheaper than any one could buy the timber for!'s It's my bet those plans will have been archived somewhere and could have been reused as the basis of further new state Houses. They were simple, plain, buildings which housed many thousands of people. Kiwi Build appears to have been a request to builders to build houses, to no particular specification, who chose to produce various master pieces, costing the earth, as we are seeing.

Some where in the report was a comment about renting to own. That seems to me to be ideal and had it been in place during the 1930's and 40's all state house tenants would have become the eventual owners of the properties they were living in.
The drawback with many of those earlier homes was that they were built from ordinary building Rimu which with the passage of time became a Borer's breakfast. Any later alterations would see studs once wall-boards had been removed, when struck with a hammer would disintegrate in a cloud of borer dust! The advent of treated Radiata Pine has revolutionised house building and rot and borer are now things of the distant past for house-building. Apart for a brief flirtation with untreated Radiata Pine which introduced new sets of problems, brought about by wet behind the ears politician, who had absolutely no idea of what the eventual outcomes would reveal!

Those early houses were all built to a standard set of specifications and produced many thousands of good sturdy homes which served their eventual occupants well. Their major drawback in these present times was that ceiling , underfloor and in wall insulation were unheard of in those far off days and by today's standards they are quite inferior. I notice in the Hutt Valley large swathes of these older houses have been demolished and after quite a lengthy time plans are afoot to utilise the empty land for the production of new homes. It is to be hoped prices are easonable. A radio announcement earlier today was offering newly built homes for $995,000. We must be living in some sort of Dreamer's holiday!

Thanks for that Peter Grove, we old timers can offer a way forward that has been proven successful in the past...when will we ever learn.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/397156/phil-twyford-poor-quality-planning-is-stopping-our-cities-from-growing
Click on the above reference to see what the Government is doing to kick start local gocernment into the 21st century in regard to building in their communities.

I attended a couple more so-called public [Thursday and Friday] meetings organised by the Community Services Council [no relation to the PNCC].
2.
The PNCC decided this election not to support public meetings so the candidates could meet with the public. This is a massive step backward but not unexpected when one considers the absolute negative response by locals to the free gift from rate-payers to Toyota Motor Company [the 3rd largest car maker in the world] of $400.000 dollars...during the discussion on Thursday at 5pm, not one sitting Councillor stood up and said that they supported what the council did. But they spent a lot of time attempting to justify their so-called support for the various gatherings held annually in PN and organised by other community groups.

The usual long term councillors did their normal thing and stated simply what [I believe] they thought the public would want to hear. The master-mind behind the Toyota gift stuff up was the Mayor Grant Smith who failed to appear at any of the CSC run meetings, 

I wonder why? This is what the MS had to say about the gift to Toyota...it makes for shocking reading. I would suggest that it just might make voting for Grant Smith for Mayor a very dangerous and risky thing to do! Especially if you care about community relationships.

"Yet, it only came to light this week thanks to an Official Information Act request from the NZ Taxpayers' Union.
This is clearly not acceptable.
Given the effusive praise of Toyota from the council official, and what they say is true, surely the council would want to shout from the rooftops about its contribution?
At the very least, details about the grant should have been made public at the time and, ideally, discussed in a public forum so ratepayers can form their own views on its merits.

Toyota didn't want to talk about the issue, referring us to the council for comment. As a private company, that's its right.
But the council is a public body and should be transparent in its dealings, especially when a significant amount of ratepayer money goes to a business that made a $21.9 million profit in the past financial year.
We need to know if Toyota asked for the money, what it was for specifically and who was involved in the decision-making.
We've asked the council this week why nothing was made public at the time – and by this we don't mean as some accounting footnote – and what information about the grant is in the public domain now.
Despite repeated attempts, the council hasn't told us.
At first, it didn't answer our question about where ratepayers can find out about the grant. It's also told us mayor Grant Smith is away this week so nobody can give an answer.
We look forward to hearing what Smith has to say, but the information vacuum suggests there is nothing easily accessible in any public document about the payment. And we were asking a simple question, not for comment.
It's tempting to conclude the council was happy with leaving the public in the dark.

Its spokesman praised Toyota's "ongoing commitment" to Palmerston North. We're sure the council is equally as committed to ratepayers, but it's a shame it neglected to be transparent. Jimmy Ellingham is a Stuff news director in Manawatū.
Stuff

https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/109856811/no-excuse-for-city-councils-secret-grant-to-toyota-nz



Notice all the old grey haired gentlemen present at the give-away for $400.000 of rate payers hard earned money.




 

Friday 16 August 2019

Death Penalty to be sped up...more innocent people will die.Green Challenge for Mayoral spot. Wheelers Corner 40 17th August 2019


Renee Dingwell, Teanau Tuiono and Brent Barrett add a touch of Green.
Local News Headlines...
1. Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith is standing again...but this time the Greens are putting forward a candidate to oppose Smiths do nothing attitude and that person is Teanau Tuiono.
Education consultant and international environmental activist Teanau Tuiono has announced he is running for the Palmerston North City Council mayoralty as a Green Party candidate.
Speaking from the steps of the city chambers as he handed in his nomination papers, alongside Green Party City Council candidates Brent Barrett and Renee Dingwall, Tuiono says, “Our city needs a strong community voice for people and the environment at the head of the council table.

We need to take the impacts and causes of climate change seriously, and do the work now to plan for our future. Unlike some coastal communities our city is under-prepared for the challenges and changes to come.“

“As Mayor I will stand up to tackle the climate crisis, putting a local plan in place so the climate changes expected in the next 10, 20, 30 years are prepared for, and the consultation and conversations get underway now.

Together with Brent Barrett and Renee Dingwall, I will stand up for a more open and inclusive democracy within our city council - we need a values-led approach to our decision making, and to shine the light onto all council decisions, including those to support arms-trading events from city-run venues.

“I will stand up for Māori representation ensuring that the voices of tangata whenua are heard at the governance table acknowledging the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
It’s time for change to tackle the immediate challenges we have socially and environmentally and I encourage people of all parties and none to stand with me."

Supporting Tuiono, local Green Party Councillor Brent Barrett says, “Teanau is a familiar face on the streets of Palmerston North and is known as a passionate community organiser with strong connections with many of our diverse communities that call Palmerston North home. 
He is recognised internationally and at home as a serious advocate for environmental change, and expects to run a well-supported grassroots campaign.

Short bio:

Tuiono lives within the city boundaries in Pohongina. He works as an education consultant and was the most recent ‘Activist in Residence at CARE: The Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation at Massey University.

He has extensive experience working at the United Nations particularly at the intersection of indigenous rights and the environment. He was based in Paris for a number of years working at UNESCO and worked for the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change during the Paris Climate Treaty negotiations. 

Earlier this year he was invited to speak at the High-Level event on Culture and Sustainable Development by the President of the UN General Assembly in New York.

He stood for the Green Party in the 2017 General Election in South Auckland and was a high ranked list candidate.

Teanau is married with four children.

The following is the MS item in Saturdays paper... https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/115045944/greens-put-climate-change-at-centre-of-mayoral-contest

2. Killing the guilty and the innocent is now US policy once again:


It has been reported that Donald Trump [Frumpf] keeps a book about Adolf Hitler in his bedside cabinet, and he studies it nightly so we can expect little else but Hitler like behaviour from copy-cat dictator Trump::

While the rest of the progressive and humane free world has removed the death penalty, the good old USA wants to make America Great Again by reintroducing it...under the big tough President Donald Trump, the man who ran away and hid behind his mothers apron strings to avoid his military service [a real hero is our dear Donald]. 
Even Adolf H fought for his country in the First WW. and then murdered millions of Jews, but Time magazine thought he was just great...just as wee Donald does too...

Read the item below and learn just how many innocent people have been convicted under the death penalty and were then found to be innocent decades later...click on 'read more' below to learn just how bad this extremely racist law has been for citizens of the US [and others] when tried by the US legal or military system.

It certainly appears that hundreds of innocent prisioners have been killed in error...and Trump and his henchmen want to speed up that killing...the man is an absolute idiot.

"On July 25, in a surprise announcement, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said that the federal government would be resuming executions, with five scheduled in the coming months. This overturns an effective moratorium on the federal death penalty that has lasted over 16 years. “Punishment must be swift,” Barr said. This from Democracy Now:

Just a week later, President Donald Trump exploited the mass killings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, by demanding not an assault weapons ban, but that capital punishment “be delivered quickly, decisively and without years of needless delay.” Needless delay? Since 1973, over 160 wrongfully convicted people have been freed from death row.
In fact, the death penalty is rapidly losing favour in the United States. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have banned executions, while four more states have formal moratoriums in place. Around the world, 106 countries have outlawed ... Read More →

3. Is Trump the president of Israel?


JERUSALEM — Under intense pressure from President Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Thursday barred two members of the United States Congress from entering Israel for an official visit, reversing a previous decision to admit two of the president’s most outspoken critics.

But on Friday, Israel said that one of the congresswomen, Representative Rashida Tlaib, could enter on humanitarian grounds so that she could see her 90-year-old grandmother, after she promised to “not promote boycotts” during her stay.

By enlisting a foreign power to take action against two American citizens, let alone elected members of Congress, Mr. Trump crossed a line that other presidents have not, in effect exporting his partisan battles beyond the country’s borders. And he demonstrated the lengths that he will go to to target his domestic opponents, in this case two of the congresswomen of colour he has sought to make the face of the Democratic Party heading into his re-election campaign.

[Israel Says Rashida Tlaib Can Visit to See Her Grandmother]

In initially blocking the visits of the two Democratic congresswomen — Representatives Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — who are both Muslim, Mr. Netanyahu cited their support for boycotting Israel, acceding to the wishes of the American president, who declared on Twitter shortly before Israel’s announcement that letting them in would “show great weakness.”












Friday 9 August 2019

ANZ Australian owned bank rips off NZ wheelers Corner 39 10th August 2019


Old habits die hard: Behaviour learned over many years often repeats itself, as this latest case of the ANZ board chairpersons behaviour proves: 

This report [from Stuff] shows clearly that old habits die hard. 

Especially when they concern past normal behaviour of John Key [Now Sir John believe or not]. 

Spending other peoples money is Oh so easy when you hold positions of power...of course every day Joe blogs like you and I are rarely in a position to do such favours for our business mates.
 

So here is the latest story of greed Vs need, by the Australian owned New Zealand Bank [NZ Branch] here in good old Kiwi land...giving its mates great deals...well until they were caught out by the banking watchdog!!! This from Stuff who now and then then reports on some really important stuff concerning the hanky-panky of millionaires rigging the books and such like.

"Employee morale is at a low ebb at ANZ NZ following the departure of the bank’s CEO, David Hisco, and the disclosure by Stuff of the lavish benefits he enjoyed during his tenure.
Through a recent staff survey, ANZ found that “overall trust” in senior leadership at the bank has fallen to 49 per cent. And only 60 per cent of bank employees said they feel able to raise issues and concerns within ANZ “without fear of negative consequences”.
 

That measure fell from 86 per cent before Hisco’s departure.
 

Staff satisfaction also dropped to 69 per cent from 83 per cent, while 71 per cent of employees said they would recommend the bank as a place to work to friends and family, down from 87 per cent previously.
 

READ MORE:
* ANZ needs a new broom for a boss, not a continuation from the dark days of banking
* Did fear of reprisal stop ANZ acting on whistleblower tip?
* How did ANZ lose money on a house in the hottest housing market in memory?
 

ANZ distributed the results of the “My Voice” survey to staff by email last week; a source within the bank shared them with Stuff, but requested anonymity fearing reprisal. ANZ has warned staff against speaking to the press.
 

ANZ spokesman Stefan Herrick said the company held the survey following Hisco’s departure in order to “find out the mood of people after the leadership change”. He called the results “disappointing but not surprising considering what’s happened”.
 

Note:
David Hisco's "non monetary benefits," averaged $441,116 a year, for a total of $3.35 million across his eight full financial years in ANZ New Zealand's top job. 



David Hisco [left] wife Deborah Walsh [middle]

In the internal email to all ANZ NZ staff, acting CEO Antonia Watson also called the results disappointing, and asked employees to be open with their concerns.
In June, the bank announced Hisco’s departure; chairman Sir John Key said Hisco had misrepresented tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of personal bills as business expenses, including wine cellaring and chauffeur-driven cars.
In making the announcement with acting CEO Antonia Watson at his side (Hisco was already off work on medical leave), Key said Hisco’s actions fell short of the standard of integrity required by the bank.
But subsequent revelations by Stuff quickly revealed that Key and Watson had given only a very partial accounting of the benefits Hisco enjoyed as ANZ NZ’s top banker.


A company owned by ANZ NZ purchased this $7.5m St Heliers home for former chief executive David Hisco. It then sold the house to his wife at a huge loss.
For example, in 2017, the bank sold Hisco’s wife, Deborah Walsh, the six bedroom Auckland mansion Hisco had previously rented from ANZ and expensed as a benefit of employment.

The sale price was close to $4 million less than the home’s rateable value, and it was not disclosed to shareholders and regulators as a related party transaction.
ANZ had also spent more than $500,000 renovating the home in 2015 and 2016, and it footed more than $100,000 annually in maintenance costs.
 

Acting CEO Antonia Watson has refused to answer questions about the sale, though she knew the details. In 2017, she was a director of Arawata Assets, ANZ’s wholly owned real estate holding company which sold 269 St. Heliers Bay Road to Walsh.

Sir John Key, pictured with acting ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson. Key didn't mention that Hisco's business expense account, reported by the bank as "non monetary benefits" topped A$464,577 in 2018.
The source who leaked the survey results said employees see ANZ executives as hypocritical. “They knew what was going on with Hisco even as they were enforcing integrity for everyone else,” the source said.
 

The staffer said that both Felicity Evans, former general manager of human resources and Watson, then head of retail and business banking, were enthusiastic enforcers of ANZ’s “culture of integrity,” and took a strict line with middle managers on such breaches as company credit card use for personal spending.

Evans left the bank in 2018; she was a director of Arawata in 2017 when the St Heliers house was sold.
Annis O’Brien was also a director of Arawata in 2017 and remains on the bank’s executive team.
 

Antonia Watson is understood to be in the running for the permanent CEO position. ANZ said it expects to announce Hisco’s replacement in late September or October.

Australian-based ANZ has the largest share of the lending market in New Zealand. Following recent events, the New Zealand regulator, the Reserve Bank, requested it commission two independent reviews of its operations.

ANZ has confirmed that one of those reviews will consider how the bank conducted the sale of 269 St Heliers Bay Rd. It has not undertaken to make the results public or to share them with staff.

The second review will consider separate issues surrounding ANZ’s “persistent failure” to properly calculate how much capital it is required to keep on hand to mitigate against risks taken in its lending. To read the item in full go to:j

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/114825579/anz-nz-employees-trust-in-senior-leadership-tested-after-hisco-scandal


To finish up this subject here are some words from the: 350 Aotearoa team:
 

"On the surface, ANZ claims to be environmentally responsible and committed to climate action. But behind closed doors, it’s propping up the industry most responsible for climate breakdown.

With so many scandals remunerating among customers and officials, Sir John Key has promoted the bank’s values, vying for the people’s trust: He said;

“[David Hisco’s] departure demonstrates that when people do not do the right thing we hold them to account no matter their status or position in the organisation. This culture of strong values is one I, and the ANZ New Zealand board believe is important.”

Well John, we’re here to hold ANZ to account. It’s clear a bank that has created an architecture of deceit and denial around its association with the fossil fuel industry cannot be trusted.
Peter, you and I both value a safe and just planet to live on, a clean energy future, and investment in the livelihoods of future generations and those most affected by climate breakdown. ANZs facade of empty climate policies to cover up its alliance with the fossil fuel industry is not something to be proud of.
I’ll call out ANZ’s greenwash and share the video online.
Ngā mihi nui,
Claudia, on behalf of the 350 Aotearoa team.
P.S. If you’re not on Facebook, watch and share the video on YouTube here.


Saturday 3 August 2019

Wheelers Corner 38 4th August 2019 Rigging elections is now normal behaviour.

Yeah Right says ANZ bank chairperson.

The National Party has for years misused the MMP system by selling off a seat to a now useless ACT party...so far it has cost hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to keep ACTs one vote in parliament. But as a tactic it has failed in real terms. Especially since the ACT party can not muster more than 1 percent.

Strangely the Labour party, who has willingly rushed to  accept as its structure, the corupt and smelly dregs of NZ liberalism for reasons best known only to itself, but yet still seems happy to condemn the Nats for their twisted behaviour, while at the same time they realise only too fully that if NZ First and the Green don't reach 5% then Labour could well be a one term government...unless they adapt and organise to ensure the greatest chance of victory in 2020. Its so obvious that even the thickest follower of the NZ political scene accepts this fact.

The Daily Blog has laid out the path toward victory in the reference below:

https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/08/03/so-in-the-face-of-national-on-45-how-do-labour-greens-nz-first-win-2020-election/

After reading that, you don't have to be a political whiz kid to realise that Labour, the Greens and NZ First need to look carefully at what electorate seats could lead to both NZ First and The Greens being represented in Parliament. The National Party has never hesitated in buying the Act Party off...and even Peter Dunne...of United Future fame.

TDB suggests the seats of 'North-land and Wellington Central', would do the trick...and I'm inclined to agree... 

Here is what TDB actually said [just a reminder] and I quote:

"How do we ensure a second term for this Labour, NZ First and Green Party Government?
To beat a behemoth like National requires using MMP to the letter of the law.
Labour have got to gift two electorates, one to NZ First and one to the Greens.
As an insurance policy against NZ First and the Greens slipping below 5%, Labour needs to cut a deal for them while clearly signalling before the election that they intend to jointly seek a second term.
Labour stands down Willow-Jean Prime in Northland to allow Winston/Shane to run uncontested to guarantee a NZ First win. Prime gets a high list position as compensation and NZ First gain an electorate. In the 2017 election the combined total of Labour + NZ First candidate vote was 6000 more than the National candidate so this is actually very doable.
In Wellington Central Labour needs to stand aside to give James Shaw the electorate so that the Greens have a guaranteed electorate. Again, the combined Labour + Green candidate vote in 2017 was 16 000 votes higher than the National candidate.
To date, the Left have hated the idea of using MMP the way the Right use it. That’s because the Right like to win while the Left likes to loose and whinge about how unfair it is that they lost.
 
Matt McCarten shaped the 2017 Labour strategy by eliminating National’s two coalition partners so that NZ First was likely to negotiate with Labour + Greens. In 2020, National’s only strategy to victory is pushing Greens and NZ First under 5%.
 
By cementing into place this Government with electorate deals, National’s strategy fails because even if Greens and NZ First both slide under 5%, with guaranteed electorates they still get representation sub 5% and can add to Labour to gain the Parliamentary majority.
 
The broad Left need to work together and use MMP to defeat National or this could be a one term Government". quote ends.

In the US they just cancel out the black vote by rigging the electoral system and taking gifts from the corporations and by appointing judges that will carryout the POTUS illegal election wishes. To make illegal legal, the POTUS just appoints his best mates as judges, so far Trump has appointed some of the most racist and twisted people possible as SC judges.

Here in NZ the National Party destroyed the Maori Vote so that route is now closed off for them, the ACT party appears to have slid back into the dark swampland of never-never-land. 

If Labour and its partners reach some sort of arrangement then the National Party will have little hope of ever becoming the government...So perhaps the Greens conference will come to grips with the reality of our political scene, and perhaps NZ First will plan for a future without Winston... 

James shaw a greens co-leader opened the 2019 AGM meeting held in freezing Dunedin over the weekend...his leading selling point was the greens leading edge out of all the political parties regarding the implentimation of at least some proactive behaviour regarding climate change and all that goes with it. 

https://www.facebook.com/nzgreenparty/photos/a.489359751371/10156120585061372/?type=1&theater 

Without any doubt the greens have introduced some back bone to the Labour Party and even the NZ First Party regarding this vital issue. Our young people have reconised as the most important issue of the day. And are taking action to get their so-called elders to recognise the importance of doing some thing NOW. The National Party seems more concerned about the price of cars...in fact when one looks carefully at what National did in the last nine years in office...the reality is that they did nothing. Labour until it changed its leader also did noth in real terms...but once they realised that they could not become the government without the support of the Greens firstly and the NZ First party secondly they offered a sort of change that could satisfy the Greens. Well the facts are now clear...its only by keeping the Nats and their policy of greed before need out of government.

New Zealand can not take the risk of letting the Nats crawl back into power and thereby put what good steps we have taken over the past year and a half. National will only discuss their wallets...nothing else matters to them...look back at every thing the Key Government did. Did it help our health services, education goals, mental health services, and so on. God help us but the Nats think Donald Trump has a brain...and hey whats a war or two these days.

The younger generation is showing us the way to combat years and years of neglect and massive greed in regard to ensuring our survival and the survival of our children and grand children.  A future that can be free from war, free from greed and offer hope rather that the racism pushed by the US and China as they try to out tax each other, Both China and the US hate the concept of free elections...China makes sure people cant vote, while the US makes sure only Republican votes count.

We here need to work within the rules of our political system to ensure that we achieve the result that leads to our long term goals of creating a society based in equality and fairness, one in which the wealthy pay their fair share in income tax and capital gains tax. And most importantly we have to pay a living wage. 

Simon Bridges the non builder of various bridges up north...sits on 6% equal with "China's" best friend Judith Collins who is also on 6%...

Ardern is on 41% 

but the Nats are still polling 46 % and could accidently become the Government [God help us] again!

So come on Labour do the right thing...and shut the door on them.

Lastly:
If you have time read this about the US Republican plan to make sure people's votes don't count...its absolutely shocking no matter how you look at it...make america great again by allowing their votes to count...now that would be a worthy goal...It is a long read but its a most valuable insight into the manipulation of peoples voting rights...you can actually lose your voting rights by getting a parking ticket...America invented the term: Rigged election.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/02/17-million-americans-purged-voter-rolls-between-2016-and-2018-analysis-finds?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=AO&utm_campaign=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_content=email&utm_source=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email