Crystal balls and other delicate bits

I had a comment recently that I ought to try writing a blog about something positive. It’s a tempting thought and God knows I’ve scanned the news sites looking for some really good local positivity. The fact is; although there are some good things going on they don’t offer the same amount of scope for being lampooned  (unless I pick on our local media) or making a valid ethical or political point.

So I decided instead this week to make a positive prediction.

I predict that 2012 will be a very good year for lawyers in New Zealand. Now you might think that a pretty lame prediction considering that by income standards at least, most years are good for lawyers in NZ. But I mean it will be a good year for them because of the number of interesting legal conundrums that will arise, for the most part from the actions of our Government.

It has already opened in fine style with the Electoral Commission finding that the ‘Boogie down with Jianqi’ radio show was in fact an election programme. It would seem the EC possess the ‘nads to stand up to the Government, unlike the BSA, or Justice Winkelmann, or the Ombudsman. Now let’s see if our Police Commissioner is a real man or too scared about his promotion prospects to prosecute.

What makes this one even more interesting is the fact that at present it is Mediaworks that is in the gun and not Jianqi. Surely by taking part he would be responsible as well – in fact the main culprit. Mediaworks (who by some strange coincidence had a Government guarantee of around $45M given to them last year) were simply accessories before during and after the offence. The Prime Muncher was responsible for putting himself on there.

Consider this; If Joe Bloggs asked his neighbour to borrow his truck so he could go and do a ram raid on his local liquor store, then it would be Joe who would have the book thrown at him while his neighbour would be prosecuted for the lesser crime of knowingly providing him with the means to commit the raid. I can’t see why the Radio Jianqi affair should be any different. However I’ve no doubt a bunch of very highly paid counsel will be arguing that out soon.

Speaker and general oddball Backward Smith has bumbled out early with a politically motivated ruling that could also lead to legal action, although I sense there could be a reprieve for him if the PSC disagree with his ruling.

I am reminded of a similarly stupid lapse of judgement by the same Gaylen look-alike a few years ago when he explained that Asians were ideally suited for fruit picking because of their tiny wee hands. It’s a miracle he didn’t wind up with a large Chinese basketballer’s mitt around his scrawny little throat to remind him that people of all races come in all shapes and sizes.

Of course the PSC might agree with Lockwood that it is fine to discriminate against deaf people but not those in wheelchairs or those who want Maori translation. Hopefully they will write that down as I just did to see how ridiculous it is and allow the Greens to get their Mojo working. If not I see tears before bedtime for ol’ Backwards and shouts of glee from some highly paid lawyers.

The legal profession has already done very well out of the Tuhoe raids case and will no doubt continue to do so for some time yet. I really don’t know what was going on in Tuhoe country at the time, but clearly something was. Whether it was illegal or not might be another matter. Unfortunately when somebody as high profile as Tame Iti is involved the issues often become clouded as other agenda from him and his opponents come into play.

It is clear, however that the Police exceeded their powers, which is, let’s face it, not that unusual for them. What makes this a bit different though is their insistence that the ends justified the means. This is what the US Government calls accepting a bit of collateral damage and what Adolph Hitler called the path to the final solution (or something similar). If Government and Police want the law to be respected they need to apply it in an ethical and fair manner. The minute you start cutting corners and skipping over people’s rights you are on a slippery slope. It’s a bit like opening that box of chocolates you know you shouldn’t eat, just to have one, or maybe two, or three won’t really hurt, will they......?

There is one more case that will keep a lot of lawyers very busy and very well rewarded, and that is the Megaupload (of bollox). This is another case that has a very dodgy feel to it.

I don’t know a great deal about Kim DotCom (such a silly name), but from what I can see, his case is going to open quite a few cans of worms and I doubt they’ll all be able to put back into the cans afterwards. The FBI seems to think he’s a cross between Al Capone, Timothy McVeagh and Charlie Manson. Charges include money-laundering (what do you use; I use Earthwise ultra concentrate); racketeering (so he’s a bit noisy) and copyright fraud – but here is where the lawyers will really get busy.

Owners of copyright are entitled to full protection against theft of their works, but the Feds are trying to make him and his company liable for the actions of third parties over which they will have limited control. It is a bit like trying to make a record store owner liable for the actions of somebody who buys a CD from their store and takes it home and makes a load of copies which he then sells to others. The store owner can’t possibly know the guy is going to do this and is engaged in a perfectly legitimate and honourable trade selling CDs in the first place. I can’t see how the Megaupload thing differs in that respect. However I’ve no doubt a coach load of lawyers will make enough money out of arguing it to put a deposit down on a small Greek island. I hear they might be going for quite reasonable prices soon along with quite a lot of other European real estate. But the lawyers will need to act fast to beat the bankers to it.     

Making indicatives of ourselves

Okay it’s started and we are about to be bombarded with promises of things that will never be, by people who can make them safe in the knowledge they will probably never be elected. Things will get really heated with the usual name-calling reaching fever pitch and the current incumbents throwing out lollies to the huddled masses while claiming credit for every positive thing that has occurred in NZ in the last three years and shifting blame for every negative one to the opposition.

The more observant of you will have already noticed a number of ‘windfalls’ coming the way of various communities and Government Departments. Here are just a few from the last two months:

·         Health Minister Tony Ryall announces Whakatane Hospital has a new six-station satellite renal unit– September

·         Transport minister Steven Joyce says $55M Welcome Bay underpass could begin within the next three years- September

·         The Bay of Plenty is getting 12 new police recruits. - October

·         Education Minister Anne Tolley announces four Tauranga schools have ultra-fast broadband as part of the government’s rollout.– October

·         Environment Minister Nick Smith announces $15.2 million to clean up Te Aroha’s Tui Mine – October

·         Health Minister Tony Ryall announces $10 million into the health and justice system to combat drug and alcohol abuse – October

In addition to these sorts of ‘conveniently timed’ announcements there has been a welter of ‘good news’ stories. Many of these have appeared in papers and on news sites that make no attempt to question any of the apparent inconsistencies in them.

For example we learned earlier this month that crime in the Bay of Plenty and wider New Zealand had dropped and that within those figures murders had dropped. Sexual assaults and child abuse had increased but Western BOP Area Commander Mike Clement was allowed to explain that rise away by blaming it on increased reporting. He was not asked if the drop in other offences might have been down to decreased reporting. After all, many people can’t be bothered reporting smaller thefts and less serious assaults because it takes so long to get a police response and then the courts simply let the offenders off, rather like the local press did with Mike Clement.

In the midst of all this is a sneaky referendum about the voting system. I say sneaky because we will be asked two questions at the same time; do we want MMP to continue and which of the other four systems we would choose IF New Zealand decides to change. There are many things about this referendum that concern me. First it is now only four weeks until the election and there has been a zero information campaign to explain to the general public what the various other options entail. Then we will be asked to second guess the result of question 1 and choose another system ‘in case’ the majority vote MMP out. You can, however simply vote in the first part and ignore the second, and it would be interesting if everybody did that.

However what worries me more is that if more than 50 percent of us choose to keep MMP there will be a review to recommend changes to it. But it appears our input will not be required at that stage as we are obviously not smart enough to look at such things that parliament has previously decided including the thresholds to be eligible for a share of list seats, whether voters should can change the order of candidates on a party list and whether candidates can continue to have a bob each way and stand in both an electorate and on the party list. The Electoral Commission will have that job and it’s a fair bet they will give the Government of the day whatever they want. Although their brief does not include considering the size of Parliament, which is what many people are upset about, and they won’t consider the issue of Maori representation, they will be able to consider any other aspects of MMP they choose to.

If more than 50 percent of us choose to chuck MMP out, there will be another referendum in 2014 (this time a two-horse race) to run MMP off against whatever most people chose as the preferred option in part two of the poll this year.

But probably the most alarming thing about all these referenda is they are merely indicative referenda. Government does not have to take any notice of them if they so choose. It is merely an indicative referendum.

Wanna play democracy anyone?

Only if I can win!

Keep your eyes on his hands

For someone whose name can mean to sharpen a knife, the loose cannon that is CURRENTLY the member for Te Tai Tokerau is not very sharp.

He doesn’t seem to have any sense of self-awareness or perspective. His latest hysterical outburst is to suggest we have a Maori (read Harawira) Parliament. He has some fluffy idea that all the Maori MPs should work together for the good of Maori rather than following the edicts of their respective parties. Hmm, there’s a great idea, and perhaps all the Pakeha members could also turn their backs on their parties and form a Pakeha Parliament working exclusively for the good of Pakeha?

Somehow I don’t think (S)Hone(k)y would approve of that one. I suspect that such a suggestion would be greeted by accusations of racism.

Ever wondered why people seem to think this phenomenon can only operate in one direction? The trouble is; many of us make this concept even more deeply embedded in the national psyche by talking of ‘reverse racism’ which is semantically incorrect if you think about it. To reverse racism is to be an integrationist, which is actually the complete opposite of a racist. So I plead to all my Pakeha colleagues to drop such nonsense terms in favour of the accurate one, which is racism. After all if you look up the definition of racism you will find it described as a bigoted attitude towards other races and a belief that one’s own race is superior to others. The definition as with the trait is not linked in any way to people of any particular skin colour or background.

But to return to my original point; the member (and I’ve often referred to him as an utter member – though not in exactly those words) for Te Tai Tokerau. Actually I don’t believe he is the member for TTT anymore. The stupid rules devised by pollies to look after their own sorry arses say that he is (for now), but I believe anybody elected to an electorate seat on a party ticket loses their mandate as soon as they quit their party. He says he is going to win the seat again in the ridiculous and wasteful bye-election he has insisted upon calling, but it is obvious that even he realises this is extremely unlikely. His latest behaviour following a poll conducted by Maori Television’s Native Affairs programme shows very clearly that he knows his time is up. The poll showed Labour’s candidate almost completely closing the gap on him, but HH isn’t remotely fazed. His explanation is that his supporters don’t have landlines and therefore weren’t polled. I’m not surprised he is so sure about this; most of his supporters come from his dysfunctional whanau and most of them are the sorts that would use cheap mobile phones along with a never-ending batch of nicked SIM cards.

But I saw signs of something much more worrying in HH’s responses to that poll which makes me more than usually concerned about the upcoming bye-election. I do hope the electoral commission people keep a very close eye on how that event unfolds because the way Harawira is talking I can see a very real possibility that dodgy electoral practices are inevitable. He is already tossing about veiled threats towards those in his former party, which, though vague in nature, quite possibly carry with them the promise of something more. He has also spoken quite strongly about “the need to ensure his supporters cast their votes”. Not an offensive turn of phrase on its own, and a wise political sentiment.... were it delivered by somebody else that doesn’t have a history of violence and intimidation, both personally and among his aforementioned dysfunctional whanau. However when such a statement is made by a Harawira, the electoral commission would do well to scrutinise every single aspect of this bye-election to ensure that people are not ‘transported’ to the polls and coerced into voting for the incumbent member. They would do well to check the rolls very closely to weed out any duplicate voting or any other sort of ruse that might push his numbers up.

You can’t trust pollies at the best of time; they often lie to protect their interests and frequently stoop to dirty tricks to get their own way. In a funny sort of way HH is actually less of a problem than some of the others because he is such a loud-mouthed buffoon, that he gives fair warning of what he is. Some of the quieter ones are probably even more of a danger - although somehow I can’t see someone like Phil Goff (and he’s off) having the balls to pull some of the stunts this guy does.

I’ve left the best bit until last. Shonky Hone(k)y delivered his stunning vision to a rapt audience of his supporters in.... wait for it.... (New York? Auckland? Or even Whangarei?) ....all wrong. He delivered it in the gigantic political centre and metropolis of Panguru! For those who haven’t been there, Panguru (pop 300) is a delightful place, just a five minute ferry ride across the Hokianga Harbour from Rawene. Good to see Hone really knows how to pull a crowd!