Local Bodies

One important thing that appears to be lacking in most budget commentaries, is real analysis or critique of the Government's overall vision or economic strategy. After almost nine years of controlling the purse strings, one would think that something would stand out as a planned outcome that had been well-articulated since 2008. Most commentators have just focused on the surface features of Steven Joyce's first effort; who gets what and the short-term political consequences. This approach just feeds the lolly scramble mentality and treats the budget as a moment in time rather than part of a bigger story. The bigger story in this case is that this National Government has never delivered  on the economic strategies it has promoted over its three terms in power. In 2008 it was mining and oil, to replicate the Australian economy of the time (never original thinkers); in 2011 it was the $11 billion motorway investment or the Roads of National Significance (RONS) that would r...

Donald Trump should not be underestimated. I am not referring to his intellect (which is over-rated ), but the damage he may do to the US and the World. It takes a small intellect and a huge ego to believe that major decisions can be made without advice and using gut feelings (that he calls "being a smart person" ) and Fox News as a guide. While the United States Constitution provides checks and balances to presidential power , it appears that Trump's ignorance and arrogance is allowing him to override convention and law and do things many thought would not be possible. It is probable that much damage will be done before the long process of impeachment finally stops him. Trump clearly  admires totalitarian and authoritarian leaders  around the world and has openly stated his admiration for Putin, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, Turkish  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan  and he even said that he "would be honoured" ...

The National Party had a glorious win against all odds in 2014. Despite Dirty Politics ,  and the exposure of their dubious underbelly, they ran a smart campaign. The image of National's rowing eight pulling ahead of a disorganised tub full of opposition parties (paddling furiously in different directions) was powerful. The advertisement was backed with the driving beat of some very familiar contemporary music. It is ironic that the flash video actually represents the reality of National's governance (mostly smoke and mirrors): the rowers are all on steroids, the boat's maintenance has been underfunded and we all know about the lack of  due diligence in obtaining the outsourced music  ( pretty legal isn't good enough). National's economy is on steroids, the regular injections of property investments, farm fertiliser and immigrants may artificially lift performance, but the side-effects are becoming obvious and a physical collapse is looming . This is not a...

Fantails  (piwakawaka) are reasonably common in my Invercargill garden and our bush backed Catlins' retreat. In our usual brief encounters they flutter around me, chirping a quick greeting, but something quite different occurred recently that was a little disturbing. Although I have planted more trees than I have felled, and enjoy being surrounded by native plants, some growth becomes problematic and pruning becomes a necessity. A large non-native strawberry tree  had grown substantially over the years on our Invercargill property and was hanging over our greenhouse, blocking early morning sun, and dropped copious amounts of berries in Autumn. I finally removed some large branches with a pruning saw which brought more light into the garden, allowing the natives underneath to thrive and also provided some useful firewood. While sawing through the branches and piling them up for further processing, a fantail appeared. Rather than a quick hello it flitted around me, often ...

Few planets support life and the Earth is actually a unique and fragile entity that took over  4.5 billion years  to reach its current form. The ecosystems that support life and determine the health and sustainability of our world are dependent on complex inter-relationships. One small change to the balance of these relationships can have catastrophic consequences. Modern humans have existed for 200,000 years and the last 200 have seen global industrialisation and massively growing consumption and competition for the world's natural resources. It took 700 years for the human population to grow from 370 million to 1.5 billion, but less than 100 years to explode to 7.5 billion. We are living on a finite planet with an exploding population of human animals who are increasingly demanding a greater share of the remaining resources. Our activity and consumption has caused much of our forests to disappear , 1.3 million square kilometres since 1990 (or an area larger than So...

Prime Minister Bill English majored in English Literature and this background has taught him the importance of caring for books. Under his stewardship as Treasurer, and now Prime Minister, the Government's books having never been in better shape . Bill has instructed and guided all Ministers about the proper care of their books and much effort and staffing has been put into dusting and polishing their books and making sure they are neatly arranged. While there has been much demand on the Government and its Ministers to open their books and be a little more generous in their use, strong discipline has been needed to ensure that the books remain firmly on the shelves. Open books and dog-eared pages are an anathema to Bill and when his footsteps are heard around the beehive corridors there is a flurry of activity as books are hurriedly closed and shelved. This focus on book-keeping has meant necessary sacrifices have had to be made: Police numbers have been kept at a minimum ...

The Green Party's list ranking is an ordeal for both candidates and members, having to rank such a talented group (especially when many are friends), isn't easy. For a party that promotes cooperation and consensus decision making, the process is one of the few within the party that has to be competitive and one where secret ballots are used for voting. There are also some guidelines applied to ensure that the list reflects the diversity in our society to provide the broadest representation and have connections to a variety of cultures and demographics: For every ten candidates at least one should be Maori and at least one should be under 35 years; for every five candidates at least two should be male and at least two should be female, at least one should be from the South Island and at least two from the North Island. The initial list (created by the delegates and candidates who attended the Greens' Candidate Conference in February) has just been released and the fin...