By-election result shocks National Party

The Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election is over, the votes in and counted and a winner declared. Labour won the seat with a huge majority loss, Mana second with a huge increase in votes, The Maori Party came in a disappointing third and the Greens came fourth which was a really good result.

Because of Parekura Horomia’s personal popularity in the Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate, Labour had such a huge majority that it was thought impossible to overcome it in yesterday’s by-election.

Most media predicted that labour would win, but were surprised that Mana produced such a stunning result especially in getting young people to the polling booth. The fact was that the Mana and Maori Party combined would have seen Labour defeated; if the Green vote was included the defeat of Labour would have been even more devastating.

The Maori Party demise was made even deeper when the Prime Minister couldn’t even remember the Maori Party candidate [Na Raihania] and considering that the Maori Party is a key National Party collaborator which the By-election proved damaging because Maori don’t wish to be a part of National.

So while National failed yet again to enter a candidate in a Maori seat, the failure of the Maori Party candidate is yet another nail in the coffin of the Maori Party at next years general election.

Its also a possible key in the defeat of National in 2014, National has and is quickly running out of partners, ACT is in a hole so deep, with its leader awaiting a court judgement that could see him jailed if found guilty, [which the Police Report says he is]. Peter Dunne is completely out of the picture as he battles to convince the country that he didn’t leak key GCSB data to the media.

A Labour-Green-Mana government is looking more and more likely 2014 result. Of course if Winston’s New Zealand First gets past the 5% threshold then it becomes a possible King-Maker. If Mana and labour share the Maori seats then the Mana Movement may replace Winston as the key to the final result. This from the Daily Blog site:

Let us not underestimate the political shock wave Labour’s weak win will create.

The youngest Political Party in Parliament has taken the Labour Party machine on and has decimated their majority.

In 2011, Labour got 60% of the vote, Maori Party 23% and MANA had 14%.

Labour limp home with 40% while MANA jump to 24%.

For an electorate that was supposed to be a cake walk, MANA have robbed Labour of any momentum in the Maori electorates for 2014.

This was always going to be a fight for second place, and the Maori Party being beaten into 3rd position is a major movement in Maori politics.

This poor result can not help Shearer’s leadership chances, Labour’s attempt to parachute in a candidate, his decision to say he wanted to ‘terrorize’ his opponents and his SkyCity corporate box hopping have all contributed to a leadership that has enthused no one.

So all in all a very pleasing result especially from both Mana and the Green party point of view…we can really say that the 2014 election has really started on a high note: Maori are looking for one solid party to represent them and the Maori Party is even now looking at how they can link with Mana to avoid a complete collapse in 2014. The grass root membership of Mana; via the by-election have, and continues to, develop and test its operational strategy for the coming year.

Of course I’m a Mana supporter so I would say that…but its so much easier to say it, because its simply the truth.

Loving private schools

Why does the government love private schools?

Is it because they perform so much better than public schools?

Or is it because a great number of the parents of private school pupils vote National?

Why do they dish out millions to decile ten private schools at the expense of struggling decile one schools?

Is it further proof of their love affair with the rich. This evidence was brought to light by a damming report on inequality regarding help at exam time for pupils suffering from learning difficulties.

The Ministry of Education has launched an investigation into inequities in a system used to determine which pupils with learning difficulties are eligible for special help sitting exams, in a move welcomed by the Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand.

A Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand report analysing the data shows decile-10 private schools were getting as much as five times more funding than their lower-decile counterparts, as applications for help skyrocketed last year.

Now to get help for pupils suffering from dyslexia with their NCEA exams you need to produce a psychological assessment that shows that the pupil would benefit with special help during exams, this could include, taking the exams by using others to record answers, or verbal only exams etc.

But there is a catch, you have to pay for the assessment and that can cost thousands, so parents of pupils at low decile schools for the most part don’t get onto the first step toward getting help via this tax payer subsidy.

Yet a private school like King’s College in Auckland whose charges fee that are well out of reach for most New Zealand parent’s, makes maximum use of the process and gets the vital assistance needed and gets its costs refunded via the government scheme. It fact King’s College is so effective as ripping off the scheme that twenty-five percent of all their pupils sitting NCEA exams used the service whilst sitting exams…this is a stunning percentage. It would imply that they have a huge number of pupils with learning difficulties. Or does it? Or is it that they can afford to manipulate a process simply because they have the money to do so.

The oddity is that at Otahuhu College right next door to King’s not one pupil received assistance…does this prove that Otahuhu College has no students with learning difficulties?

No, what it shows is that Otahuhu College is a decile 1 school while King’s College is a decile 10 school…and that says it all.

But hey what’s new, this government simply pours millions into private schools, even when their rolls are falling and there are heaps of spaces at local public schools nearby, as is the case of failing Collegiate College in Whanganui and Auckland Boys Grammar where the PM’s son goes…they each received millions after John Key had a cup of tea with the board. I only wish that he would have a cup of tea at the odd decile 1 school and leave them a cheque as he does with Sky City, Warner Brothers, John Banks and many others...

The Vote review TV3

The Vote; Poverty vs. Parenting:

Taking part in a TV3 presentation The Vote on Wednesday night was:

Hannah Tamaki co-founder of the Destiny Church, Bob McCoskrie Director of Family First and Christine Rankin the CEO of the Conservative Party made up the team who agreed with the motion, ‘That Parenting was the problem not poverty for our kids’

On the opposite side were those who saw ‘Poverty rather than parenting as the problem’ they were Dr Russell Wills the Children’s Commissioner, Celia Lashlie a social justice Advocate and Hone Harawira Mana Leader and MP.

Christine Rankin kicked off the debate: She used to be the boss at the Social Welfare Department before she was dumped but her opinions hadn’t changed. According to her money or poverty has little to with the mis-treatment of children. Parents are the blame, she said ‘that while some parents treat their kids like a sack of potatoes others don’t’ when pressed she would not concede that money allows parents to treat the children differently. Dysfunctional families not poverty was the cause according to her.

Bob McCoskrie whose organisation Family First has just had their charitable trust cancelled agreed that all the fault lay with the parents because they often spent all their assistance on booze, gambling and smokes, and that because some families managed to break out of poverty then all should be able to do the same.

Hannah Tamaki of the Destiny Church whose husband is a self styled bishop and who depends on  10% tithes from church members and who hopes to set up a Charter School in Auckland. She took a different approach, she claimed that money is not important and that she knew this because of the way her farther brought her up, by working hard and paying off his debt. She suggested that if a family was cold they should simply wrap up tight in a blanket, sleep together…this coupled with Gods help would see them though any difficulties…

Dr Russell Wills pointed out that he meets hundreds of families that simply can’t live on the get, even working two or three jobs at $13 per hour, and the biggest cost is housing especially private rentals. He accepts that there is poor parenting but pointed out that good parenting is easier when you have ample money coming in.

Celia Lashlie has worked with hundreds of parents both good and bad, some so bad that she wanted to give them a kick up the backside…but for all that she had never met a mother who didn't want her child to have a better life…She didn’t blame nor play the blame game…she simply pointed out that when life gets difficult and when people can't see where the next dollar is coming from then those outcomes damage family relationships. She went on to describe in graphic terms some clear examples of children being mistreated and the effect that has later when they become mothers. She felt that Rankin’s use of the word ‘Dysfunctional’ was simply a middle class excuse for maintaining their bias while actually doing nothing.

Hone Harawira explained clearly what he observes in his electorate where the median income is around $12.000 per year; they sleep in cars, in sheds. The whole country is totally unequal and growing worse by the week. A livable income that covers the cost of housing, power and health care helps lifts families out of poverty and changes the circumstances that lead to family violence.

The debate was well worth watching because it proved clearly the hypocritical attitude that exists now days. A couple of days later while driving to Woodville I heard a guy on National Radio say that, those in poverty can get out of it by ‘hard work’ just like his parents did…yeah right…

Where today can young families get a State Advance loan at 3% like my parents and brothers did, and I got via a return serviceman’s loan at 3% in the early 70’s. The guy on the radio sounded about my age and I felt ashamed for him, his memory was so selective…and proved how things have changed in both a community and social sense. The blame game is well and truly entrenched in 2013.

If you would like to read the TV3 transcript go to:

http://www.3news.co.nz/Transcript-Our-kids---The-problems-not-poverty-its-parenting-Do-you-agree/tabid/1789/articleID/302073/Default.aspx

Dear John sends unwanted emails



John Key and farming fan 



Unwanted Email from John Key:

How is it that the email addresses of people who don’t want or have never asked to receive a PR email from the Prime Minister are getting one?

Who made available to the National party’s PM’s public relations team their personal email addresses?

Another question is the taxpayer paying for this unwanted advertising by a political party?

In this age of huge government IT failure to respect confidential information and data are departments such as the IRD handing over info to a political party email addresses at the request of the Prime Ministers Department?

The reader who sent me a copy of the PM’s unwanted email informed me that this was yet:

“Another letter to my daughter from the Prime Minister; She gets tax credits through Working for Families, and so must be on the mailing list”.

I have removed his name because I wouldn’t want to have the GCSB or the SIS to investigate once they get their new ‘Spy on anyone’ powers. It’s bad enough that the US can spy on any one of us and that the PM won’t confirm or deny that they are already doing so.

So is the PM using IRD data information illegally and are the IRD breaking the law?

The following are a few comments from that unwanted and public funded email; I have not forwarded the complete so-called newsletter because it’s so full of PR spin and crap: Anything in bold and underlined is my additions, spelling and grammar is unchanged.

From: John Key <MediaReleases@National.org.nz>

To:

Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013, 17:05

Subject: Key Notes: supporting rural communities

Having trouble reading this newsletter? Click here to view it online.

14 June 2013

In this issue:

Fieldays at Mystery Creek

A growing economy

Our Primary Growth Partnership (PGP)

Lifting achievement in education

New Zealand's primary industries have been in the spotlight this week, with the annual Fieldays taking place at Mystery Creek near Hamilton.  I'm enjoying talking to farmers, exhibitors, and members of the public at the event today.

National's economic plan has real benefits for the primary sector. When we cut the company tax rate to 28 cents in the dollar in 2010, we knew this would make life easier for New Zealand businesses, including farmers. And it has.

We're seeing some great results.  Last year, our economy grew 3 per cent, which is higher than most developed countries. 

Through the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP), Government and industry have come together to work on a range of [Subsidised] projects to boost productivity in the farming, forestry, and fisheries sectors. 

After three years, PGP has invested $658 million in 13 projects.  We expect the benefit to our economy from these projects will be more than $7 billion from 2025.

Access to healthcare is important for parents, especially parents with young children.   We've fully funded PlunketLine, meaning help and advice is just a phone call away for even the most isolated families. 

And we've implemented voluntary bonding schemes to incentivise more doctors, nurses, midwives, and other health professionals to choose to work in a rural community.

Lifting achievement in education

Making sure every New Zealand child from any community and any background gets the skills they need to succeed is one of the most important things we can do for New Zealand's future.

This week Hekia Parata released the latest National Standards results.  These show solid improvement in the level of achievement against standards set in reading, writing, and maths which is good to see.

When we introduced National Standards to primary and intermediate schools, it wasn't without controversy, but we stuck to our guns. 

I'm proud we did, because too many of New Zealand's children were being sent off to high school lacking the most basic skills.

From my diary
This weekend I'm travelling to Christchurch to watch the second match between the All Blacks and France.  Next week, Parliament is in recess, so I'll be out and about across New Zealand.

Regards,
John Key Prime Minister

Well at least he never signed it Dear John Key…but the question still remains from whom did the National party get the email addresses from? If it was the IRD they need a kick in the bum

Tony Ryall replaces Peter Dunne



Super Hospital Spy Tony Ryall gets top secret role. 



Tony Ryall MP for the Bay of Plenty has just been added to the Governments top security committee. He was nominated to this Committee by John Key after he dumped Peter Dunne as a Minister outside of Cabinet. John Key told the parliament that Peter Dunne could not remain on that committee because he was no longer a cabinet minister, that was a lie…you don’t have to be a cabinet minister to be on that committee and to prove the point David Shearer and Russel Norman are members of that committee along with believe it or not John Banks.

This committee is the only official oversight to the all powerful GCSB and SIS arms of government. The rules lay down that any member of parliament can be on that committee…but John Key picked Tony Ryall without discussion of the committee members. Key of course chairs the committee. There was no need in legal terms to dump Peter Dunne…unless of cause John Keys mis-trusts him.

Now we all realise that Peter Dunne through his contact with Fairfax reporter Andrea Vance and the many emails that passed between them and Peter Dunne’s refusal to reveal what was in some of those emails led to him being sacked as a minister. But at the same time Peter Dunne had stated that he did not leak the report that clearly showed that the GCSB carried out illegal spying on NZ residents and citizens which the Prime Minister was made look a bit of a fool especially to US Security agencies that he admires so much and of cause to New Zealanders. His brain fades over the various stages in this on-going saga of capricious stuff-ups is now well recorded.

What this means is that yet another lie is being told in this saga of lies…key is sacking Peter Dunne because he no longer trusts him…but the key is, does Key know who did leak the report…answer maybe yes or maybe no…you decide, is it in fact some other minister who he wants to protect, that I would suggest is a real question that needs answering.

Regardless of the doubt that remains Key appointed Tony Ryall and I consider that he picked Tony Ryall because of his ability to understand the workings of parliament’s most secret committee. You see Tony Ryall has had a lot of practice at undercover work. You see Tony Ryall is very much a micro manager and some years ago he dressed in a long black coat, wore a baseball cap, dark shades and a false moustache and slunk around various Emergency hospital treatment centres spying on the staff working in those centres, all the HBO’s were his target, as he recorded their efforts and then reported them in to their bosses…

He has always been a ‘target’ sort of a person which makes him an ideal person to deal with the SIS and GCSB because they deal in targets. Targets like you and I.  

And now there is a new element, the US whistle blower Edward Snowden has tossed a massive spanner in the works and put international spooks on the spot. His brave choice must have been huge in that he immediately put his life at risk…the US doesn’t treat whistle blowers kindly as history proves; they lock them up without trial and in some cases actually murder them.

This 29 year-old analyst just gave up his whole life -- his girlfriend, his job, and his home -- to blow the whistle on the US government's shocking PRISM program -- which has been reading and recording our emails, Skype messages, Facebook posts and phone calls for years.

When Bradley Manning passed this kind of data to Wikileaks, the US threw him naked into solitary confinement in conditions that the UN called "cruel, inhumane and degrading".

The authorities and press are deciding right now how to handle this scandal. If millions of us stand with Edward in the next 48 hours, it will send a powerful statement that he should be treated like the brave whistleblower that he is, and it should be PRISM, and not Edward, that the US cracks down on: 

Organisation for Treaty Alarmists Inc.

New Zealand Centre for Political Research

Have you heard of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research? Their address is a PO Box number in Whangarei.

What about the Independent Constitutional Review? Their address too is a PO Box number in Whangarei…funny that.

Now who are the leading players in both these organisations [If we can call them that]?

They are not a mixed bunch, they are all white and mainly imports.

Dr Muriel Newman

NZCPR Founder and Director

Muriel Newman established the public policy think tank, the New Zealand Centre for Political Research, in 2005 after nine years as a Member of Parliament. Her background is in business - as the Assistant General Manager of Michael Hill Jeweler - and education. She is a former Chamber of Commerce President and currently serves as a director of a children’s trust.

Frank Newman

NZCPR Associate Director

Frank Newman is the author of numerous books on investment matters and the creator of the NZ Investment Game, which is available from www.investmentgame.co.nz. Frank lectures part-time in property at Massey University and is a director of Smart Business Centre Accounting.

David Round

NZCPR Research Associate

David Round teaches law at the University of Canterbury and is author of "Truth or Treaty”, “Commonsense Questions about the Treaty of Waitangi".

Dr Ron Smith

NZCPR Research Associate

Dr Ron Smith is Co-Director of International Relations and Security Studies at Waikato University.  He has a particular interest in nuclear policy and, more generally, in energy and security issues. Tertiary qualifications in both Chemistry and Philosophy also underpin an interest in the interface between science and society.

Mike Butler

NZCPR Research Associate

Mike Butler is a property investor and manager. He is the author of "The First Colonist -- The life and times of Samuel Deighton 1821-1900", a former contract writer for the New World Encyclopedia, and he was the chief sub-editor of the Hawke’s Bay Herald-Tribune between 1986 and 1999. 

Katrina Jensen

NZCPR Administrator

Katrina Jensen has a background in Human Resources and Administration, most recently working for a Wellington-based IT company.  She is currently at home with a young son, and works part-time for the NZCPR.

But hey we are all imports of some sort, unless we happen to be Maori and while there are those crazy enough to believe that a bunch of Celtic explorers arrived here before the Maori but that rather strange view is not readily accepted by anyone. Somehow the group above mustered up some cash and brought a half page in the Sunday Times, [Sunday June 9^th 2013] now I know the Sunday Newspapers are all in decline so they would have been happy to receive the ad.

The big spenders are really worried about the creation of a ‘Race-based Constitution’ it’s got the so-called political Research Centre, operating out of a PO Box in a spin. The headline in the ad proclaims,

‘New Zealand, are we about to be crippled…permanently”.

It then goes on to state that the dirty deal is being hatched between the evil National Party and the Treaty [Waitangi] loving Maori Party. The goal of the evil Nat’s and their support parties and especially the Maori Party is to takeover the country for the sole benefit of Maori and particularly the Maori elite. Any Maori academic is elitist in their view.



David Round. 



Let’s look at who is spreading this alarmist rubbish, firstly David Round, well if you’d heard him talk on the National Radio when he spoke with Jim Mora you’d have quickly realised that his views are strange and white racist both in tone and content. While there is nothing wrong with that, for NZ has its fair share of anti-Maori racists and no doubt will continue to do so for some years yet. It would seem that David Round has jumped onto the Anti-Treaty band wagon, by producing a welter of garbage about treaty issues, which are picked up by those of a like alarmist mind?  

You may perhaps have seen, reasonably early on Waitangi Day, a debate on the Marae programme on Television One, about whether the Treaty of Waitangi is holding New Zealand back. It was recorded in Auckland a couple of days earlier, and involved four speakers ~ Stephen Franks and Tim Wikiriwhi for the motion, and Hana O’Regan and Matthew Hooton against. There was a hand-picked studio audience, reflecting a rich diversity of points of view ~ on the whole, given television’s limitations as a medium of information and debate, it was a good start in considering a vital issue where political correctness usually does not allow any debate at all. I must add, though, that I do not think that the eventual vote of the studio audience (only 35% believing that the Treaty is holding New Zealand back, and 65% believing that it does not) reflects the attitude of the country at large.

Now who wrote those words…David Round, yes, the very same David Round of the ‘NZ Centre for Political Research’? I watched the same TV programme and the audience didn’t seem to have been made by huge numbers of Maori, but I don’t doubt that if ‘Treaty Alarmist David Round was present then some of his supporters would have been present as well…they follow him around like sheep to the slaughter.

Now Dr Muriel Newman, as you may be aware was an ACT party list MP who like Stephen Franks another ACT list MP both cuddled up to the National Party back in those heady days for the ACT party, when they actually had some MP’s in parliament through the kindness of the Nat’s bequeathing them an electorate seat, you know those wonderful caring community minded chaps like Roger Douglas. Yet they failed to do a deal with National over, for example Maori electorate seats. They were not there as ACT list MP’s for that reason, they were there to make money not friends.

Most political parties realise that the Treaty of Waitangi was and still is a treaty between two competing groups, Maori, now represented by the Waitangi Tribunal and other Maori structures, and the Crown, represented by the Government. In fact it would not be incorrect to suggest that the signing of the treaty was in modern political terms the first step in creating a new nation. Most political parties have agreed that the Maori seats should remain until Maori no longer desire them. That is not race based politics, that’s simply common sense with a touch of humanness, simply because of the election process. If Maori go on the Maori roll they cannot vote on the general role, they only get one vote as do we all. The other clear indicator is that as Maori elect to go on the general role the number of Maori seats will decline accordingly and automatically, what could be fairer than that?

What Muriel Newman and her bunch of treaty alarmists fail to explain is if, the Waitangi Tribunal is destroyed, what will replace it? And this brings us to the real reason that drives this bunch of treaty alarmists…it is money! The one driver that bred the ACT party, the party name says it all, the ‘Association of Concerned Taxpayers’ and in the end has all but destroyed it, John Banks was given a seat by National over a cup of tea and is awaiting conviction or otherwise for breaking the law and telling fibs on official documents not once but twice..  

The sub group, the Independent Constitutional Review Panel [Treaty alarmists] has been established by a group of New Zealanders The members of the Independent Constitutional Review Panel are.

David Round Independent Constitutional Review Panel Chairman Law Lecturer, Canterbury University; NZCPR Associate

Associate Professor Elizabeth Rata, Deputy Head of, School of Critical Studies in Education, Auckland University.

Professor Martin Devlin (ONZM) Professor Emeritus, Massey University 

Professor James Allan Garrick Professor of Law, University of Queensland

Mike Butler NZCPR Associate Mike Butler is a property investor and manager.

NZCPR Founder and Director: Muriel Newman.

In their alarmist ad in the Sunday Times none of their names appear but they do make a plea for donations and they are not cheap, $50.00, $100, $500 or a $1000 would be nice. This propergander driven bunch of mostly unknown and failed ACT party members have linked to a few so-called academics who like each others alarmist views. They have every right to join together and create alarmist fairy tales, but by the same token you have the right to ignore their extremist views of race relations in NZ.

Peter Dunne, Andrea Vance, part company.

GO PETER DUNNE:

Peter Dunne, Minister to all Prime Ministers, all Governments, regardless of principle or policy, has resigned as a Minister [of Revenue]. His email inter-connections to past Manawatu Standard reporter Andrea Vance have brought about his down fall.

John Key quickly forgot his kind words about Peter in Parliament where he declared Peter one of his most trusted Ministers…and accepted his resignation like a bullet…between the eyes of poor trusty Peter Dunne, man of all seasons and parties.

What a week, firstly his party United Future died a quick death when it couldn’t muster the required 500 members, even with the Speaker of House saving Peter’s skin by making an amazing ruling that Peter could remain the leader of a party that had ceased to exist by law! All during that debacle Key was saying what a wonderful and trustworthy young chap Peter was. So dependable and honest…but alas it was hurting National so he had to go: Key really dislikes losers…first Aaron Gilmore and now ever trusted Peter Dunne, Gilmore got the chop because he represented the arrogance of National and Dunne got the chop because he was caught out embarrassing John Key over the GCSB covert spying affair.

Dunne fell on his sword while Andrea Vance dances on the head of a pin whilst Fairfax Media declares that it won’t reveal her information source…Come on…she sent 41 emails to Peter Dunne and he sent 42 to her as a reporter at the Dom-Post…

We should praise Peter Dunne if he did in fact blow the whistle on John Keys relationship with both the hiring of a best mate for the top job at the GCSB and his memory fades of the proven illegal behaviour of the GCSB’s treatment of Kim Dotcom and 86 other New Zealanders.

Here is Peter Dunne’s self styled confession…   

Statement By Hon Peter Dunne MP

Friday, 7 June 2013, 4:08 pm

Press Release: United New Zealand 

Statement By Hon Peter Dunne MP

“I am extremely concerned and upset by the Henry Report’s findings regarding the unauthorised release of the Kitteridge Report in so far as they relate to me.

“While I did not leak the report, and challenge Fairfax to confirm that, some of my actions after I received an advance copy of the report were extremely unwise and lacked the judgement reasonably expected of a Minister in such circumstances.

“I accept full responsibility for that.

“The sole reason why I did not disclose the full content of my emails was because of my strong belief that citizens, be they constituents, members of the public or journalists, ought to be able to communicate with their elected representatives in confidence if they wish, and we tamper with that right at our collective peril.

“However, be all that as it may, I acknowledge that I have not lived up to the high professional standards I have always set myself as a Minister.

“I have therefore concluded that I cannot continue to function effectively in these circumstances, given the lapses of judgement I have shown.

“The honourable course for me to follow now is to offer my resignation as a Minister.

“I do so with a very heavy heart and a great deal of reluctance, but acknowledge there is no credible alternative.

“The UnitedFuture Party’s confidence and supply agreement with the National-led Government is not affected by my decision, and we will continue to honour that agreement in letter and spirit as we have done for the last four and a half years.

“The last few days have been especially difficult for my wife and family, whose support throughout I acknowledge with huge gratitude; for my staff, whose careers will be affected, for my friends, and colleagues in the UnitedFuture Party.

“My focus from now will be on representing my Ōhariu constituents and rebuilding my party, UnitedFuture.

“I will take a couple of questions now, but will not be making any further comment after this press conference.

“For my family’s sake, I request that our privacy be respected at this difficult time.”

"New Zealand politics needs to be more corrupt"

Simon Lusk, is a strange sort of ultra rightwing paid political campaign manager, who will manage your campaign to enter Parliament for the right amount of cash, but he only deals with Right or far Right candidates. He is known to have very close connections to Cameron Slater a far right blogger and son of a past president of the National Party and now editor of that well know right wing low selling Truth Weekly rag.

When interviewed [TV3], John Key admitted meeting with Simon Lusk http://simonlusk.co.nz/  a half a dozen times over last seven years. Now we all know that if John K says 6 it was most likely 25 or more based on his past performances.

Earlier Key stated publicly [TV3], ‘that if he was to rate Simon Lusk as a important political factor, on a 1 to 10 scale [one being tops] he’d rate him an eleven minus’, that means we can safely consider him a good friend of John’s…I think the PM was really worried about the backroom  far right take-over of the National Party inner sanctum which is made up of many list MP’s. Finlayson, Goldsmith, Groser, Joyce and Parata, and if these non electorate MP’s use Lusk’s services a split could occur. It is also suggested that Collins, Judith sees herself as a far right future leader and if any Minister was far right it is Judith [crusher] Collins

It has been reported [RNZ] that Lusk organised the election campaign for a smiling, Upston, Louise, [pictured] Lotu-Iiga, Peseta Sam and Ross, Jami-Lee for around ten thousand dollars each it was also reported that he will offer ongoing advice for individuals at around one thousand dollars per month and that some National MP's have picked up this deal..

On Face Television the host of Citizen-A [Martyn Bradbury] asked Matthew Hooton about Aaron Gilmore’s demise and eventual resignation from Parliament. Hooton revealed some disturbing information. Here is a transcript of that section of the programme:

MB: “Matthew – Was political mercenary Simon Lusk involved in talking Aaron down and did Cameron Slater [truth editor] help that along with the leaks?”

HOOTON: “Yes and the other player in it was a guy called Jordan Williams who works with Stephen Franks”.

The above was quickly followed up by the following from No Right Turn, one of the top political bloggers in NZ and I quote:

Shorter Simon Lusk

"New Zealand politics needs to be more corrupt"

That's the message of a leaked strategy paper [PDF] from National Party advisor Simon Lusk. The core of his strategy is to triple the amount of money National spends each electoral cycle, in an effort to nakedly buy elections. In order to get that money he suggests National "provid[e] or obtai[n] board appointments to a small number of individuals" - essentially selling public office and/or using corrupt influence networks for financial gain. Finally, he suggests that National "not offer former Ministers jobs" and "Blackball Current MPs" to stop them from "trading on their time as MPs to build a lucrative business career" in order to ensure compliance with donors (in other words, to offer such a post-political career as a direct inducement for actions taken as an MP - something which skirts very close to outright bribery).

This is an explicitly American model of politics, designed to entrench the power of a plutocracy. And it is inherently corrupt. Fortunately, it does not sit well with New Zealand ideals of how our political system is supposed to work - and now it has been exposed, National's actions are going to face a lot more scrutiny.

(Meanwhile, Lusk also proposes "Taking over the Public Service" by "Work[ing] with public servants to create a pool of fiscal conservative bureaucrats who will work with politicians to implement policy". Jokes about Treasury aside, this would overturn a century of public service neutrality and professionalism. But given his expressed contempt for democracy and integrity, is it any surprise Lusk has contempt for that as well?)

Is Simon Lusk trying to start up a New Zealand copy of the Ultra right wing Tea Party bunch of nutters run by Sarah Palin and a half dozen US billionaires who believe that the rich should pay no tax and making war is a legal business and should be run at a profit and that death doesn’t matter so long as it happens to some one else. Come to think of it, sounds a bit like Steven Joyce…or Steven Franks…or John Banks…  

Since the ACT party broke ranks with National and grabbed rejected far right Labour Party drop outs like Prebble and Douglas who joined with dumped National Party leader Brash and law breaking John Banks plus other strange bed-fellows like Franks the National Party led by multi millionaire Key seem bound for an early grave. They seem to have lost their direction. Maybe Key buying the leadership wasn't the way to go: Bill English must be smiling all the way to the bank.