July 2009

Minister accused of breaking privacy law – Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is facing a complaint under the Privacy Act for disclosing the amounts two solo mothers have received in benefits – but last night she remained unrepentant. One of the mothers said she… [NZ Herald Politics]

Paula Bennett has done NZ a huge favour by telling the truth about the beneficiaries sticking their hands out for even more money. She hasn’t made anything up, she hasn’t played Phil Goffs game and released partial information, she has just told the truth about people that chose to put themselves in the public view.

How can telling the truth be bullying? It is fair to assume that any other person Goff puts up in public can expect the same truth to be told, and it will be the truth, not some half baked story of an opposition fantasist seeking another nomination for a WOBH award.

If Paula hadn’t told the truth how long would it have taken someone like Farrar to have calculated the truth about the benefits these Labour poster girls receive?

I reckon Labour has picked the wrong battle yet again. Talkback and chatter around the streets was disbelief at how much beneficiaries actually get compared to people who work as say receptionists and have two children.

Labour will cop a flogging on talkback again today.

Hot in from the tipline is the story that TV3 may be in serious hot water over their journalist being given access to Clayton Weatherston.

Sources have told me that in fact Alison Horwood is a serial liar and has misled Corrections on numerous occasions to gain access to Clayton Weatherston.

She is on record with Corrections as an approved visitor after telling Corrections she was a close friend and never once mentioned the fact that she was a journalist working on a story about Clayton Weatherston. She has visited Clayton Weatherston many times under this pretense. It is a pretense that is likely to get them into seroius trouble.

The same sources tell me that this story is now being taken up with the Head of News at TV3 after investigations have revealed that this appears to have been an orchestrated campaign by TV3 to circumvent Corrections rules.

There may well be serious consequences for TV3. At the very least there are very serious breaches of journalistic ethics. There is more to come on this story for sure.

The Aussies in the form of the ANZ Bank have nicked another Kiwi icon for their own purposes.

The ANZ Bank has set up an endowment fund for young actors called the Rob Guest Endowment Fund. Slight problem, the ANZ has forgotten that the NZ part of ANZ sstands for New Zealand.

An endowment in the arts in the name of Rob Guest has been announced, but it is only open to Australians.

The New Zealand entertainer who died last year, will be commemorated in an annual competition that will take emerging young Australian performers to Broadway. One person will be selected every year and will be given funds and training to kick-start their career.

The fund has being set up by the ANZ Trustees Foundation. The ANZ is one of New Zealand’s so-called “big four” trading banks.

An ANZ spokeswoman says the trust was set up by Australians, in Australia. She says there is no reason why New Zealand could not set one up itself.

Guest died in Melbourne last year after suffering a massive stroke. The 57-year-old had been starring in the musical Wicked.

Bloody Aussie nickers, Rob Guest was a Kiwi before you nicked him and now you dishonour his craft and his heritage by making the endowment available only to Aussie actors.

Perhaps the ANZ should check out their Values page on their website.

Our values are:

• Integrity – ‘Do what is right’
• Collaboration – ‘Work as one’
• Accountability – ‘Own your actions’
• Respect – ‘Value every voice’
• Excellence – ‘Be your best’

Let’s score them. Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, they miss out on every one of them. Might I reccommend to Kiwi customers that they ditch this parochial Aussie Bank.

Labour has blown off both feet yet again and again over the personal circumstances of two beneficiaries they were using for political gain.

They have been whining all day and their lap-blogs are calling for Paula Bennett to resign. Slight problem though, Labour has muffed it again.

You see Paula Bennett sought advice from the Privacy Commissioner‘s website.

8. In making allegations against a Department, an individual has released considerable personal detail to the news media. The Minister wishes to respond to the allegations using those details, but wants to add some further detail in order to answer specific allegations.

By releasing a large amount of personal information to the media, the individual is taking the risk that unfavourable publicity could result. If the Minister releases only information which is relevant to the issues raised by the individual, that person may not be able to claim that any particular harm was caused by the Minister’s disclosure rather than by the individual’s own disclosure. If the individual is not harmed, there would not be an interference with the individual’s privacy under section 66 of the Privacy Act.

She sought advice and then followed it, making a mockery of Labour’s attempts to use beneficiaries to bash Bennett.

People thinking of approaching Labour MPs for advice should be very wary that they will mis-represent their situation for political gain and end up hurting the very people they were trying to help.

Labour are having their asses handed to them almost daily with their tragic attempts of smear and fear.

One wonders though why people who are having issues would even bother taking them to the Labour Party.

Neelam Choudary was pimped out by Phil Goff to score points against Richard Worth without disclosing her Labour affiliations, Bruce Burgess’ story was obfuscated by Labour lackies going to the media and now these two silly women hid details about their financial position.

Our welfare system is meant to be a safety net but sadly this case simply exposes the fact that many see it as a trampoline.

Teetering Christmas hamper company Chrisco is again in the news and for all the wrong reasons.

This blog highlighted the mendacity Chrisco advertising campaigns and now their major competitor seems to have noticed as well. Once again Chrisco make the news for all the wrong reasons.

A “serious balls-up” by Christmas hamper company Chrisco needs to be investigated by the Government, a rival hamper company says.

Hampsta New Zealand Ltd has asked the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to investigate after Chrisco Hampers claimed money deposited by their customers went to an AAA rated bank.

The money however, was deposited in a bank with a AA rating – a less secure rating.

Consumer Institute chief executive Sue Chetwin said that action breached the Fair Trading Act.

“They are misleading customers.”

A Commerce Commission spokeswoman confirmed today that the commission had an open investigation into Chrisco under the Fair Trading Act.

The ComCom needs to look seriously into the business practices of this company. They have ben caught lying, what else are they lying about?

Are they even solvent after all the highly suspicious corporate restructuring that has gone on in the background and the fire sale of  Richard Bradley’s killer mansion?

Bizarrely Chrisco, despite using this claim of AAA rating for at least 16 years thinks they can just simply apologise fro duping their customers eyar in year out and this case simply highlights the lack of appropriate regulation in this area where hundres of millions of dollars of customers funds are at risk. Worse those customers are some of the poorest in the nation and think they have been “saving” with a AAA backed organisation whent eh reality is the products are over-priced and the comnpany has lied.

This blog has highlighted the terrible slaughter and injuries that have been inflicted upon the nation with Silly First Name Syndrome. Another case of Silly First name Syndrome has hit the headlines.

A student admitted the manslaughter of an elderly man in a road rage incident when he appeared in the High Court at Auckland today.

Bio O’Brien, 27, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 78-year-old Jasmatbhai Patel in April.

Van driver Mr Patel was attacked by O’Brien after what police called a “minor crash” with O’Brien’s BMW outside Unitec in Carrington Road, Mt Albert.

Mr Patel was admitted to Auckland Hospital but died the following day.

It is sad that the slaughter continues.

Conor Roberts, the Council funded Labour lickspittle employed to push Len Brown’s barrow for the Super City, has got his work cut out for him if the start of this week is an indication of how out of touch Len Brown is with his own community.

LOCAL elected members are “furious” with Manukau City councillors who have refused to listen to their recommendations for the naming of the new $2.2 million athletics track and pavilion at Lloyd Elsmore Park.

Len Brown and some other councillors vetoed the board reccomendation on the naming of a local athletics stadium in order to push their own agenda and thus have jeopardised funding for the stadium in the process. As one councillor points out it’s ironic that councillors “have overturned a unanimous, well-researched decision” of a community board, while advocating greater powers for future local boards in the future super-city local government structure for the Auckland region.

Len Brown then followed up that egregious insult to the people of Pakuranga by refusing to return calls from the NZ Herald about his cities prominence in the violent crime statisitics, preferring instead to take the ostrich approach and stick his head in the sand.

Perhaps Aaron Bhatnagar is right when he says;

Maybe Mayor Brown was too busy reading the rather dodgy UMR poll result, but I would have thought the people of Manukau deserve a voice on the issue of violent crime in their city.

Yes, Len Brown and Conor Roberts both have been caught pimping a spurious poll as a story about how popular Len Brown supposedly and at the same time were missing ain action on the appalling “killing fields” that they preside over.

Greg Newbold though is going to cop a flogging for saying what most of us know already but aren’t allowed to say;

Manukau Mayor Len Brown did not return requests for comment, but the Government has promised 300 new officers for the district by the end of next year.

Criminologist Greg Newbold said the high crime rate in areas like Counties Manukau and Bay of Plenty was due to the make-up of the community. “There are lots of Maori living in those areas. Maori are associated with violent crime,” he said.

They all blame alcohol but ignore the dramatic impact of methamphetamine.

I see some fool got hisself shot in the gut for the incredibly stupid act of trying to carve up a cop with a meat cleaver. Only an idiot goes to a gun fight with a meat cleaver and when there fails to do as instructed by the person weilding the Glock. It was only ever going to end in hut.

He is lucky to be alive after being gut shot with a Glock.

This could possibly be another case where the harm done would have been significantly reduced by having a Taser on hand. Yes Tasers, the weapons that the Greens don’t want the cops to have.

That essentially means that the Greens favour gut shots from Glocks over the Taser.

Key rules out SAS training Afghan troops – Prime Minister John Key has snubbed the United States military over what the SAS will do in Afghanistan, saying he does not want them fighting alongside the troubled country’s fledgling army because it is too dangerous. American… [NZ Herald Politics]

As predicted Labour has started whinging about the possibility of John Key sending troops to Afghanistan and in particular the SAS.

Of course they forget that Helen Clark sent them twice and that our most recent VC was won in Afghanistan by a SAS trooper. In fact Helen Clark shamelessly used Corporal Willie Apiata’s VC to promote herself in election year.

And of course lets not forget that Phil Goff enjoyed getting photographed with troops in Afghanistan in 2007.

Their hypocrisy stinks, but we have come to expect no less from Labour under Phil Goff and previously under Helen Clark.

I say send the SAS. They are our best soldiers, it is what they signed up for and they are good at what they do which is killing the enemy.

A new psycho anti-privatisation loser brigade (Grassroots Action Group or GAG) are selling photos of various landmarks around Auckland in a stunt to protest their concerns over the supercity. It also appears to be aligned with unwanted Labour candidate Phil “the Fool” Twyford and his stupid notyourstosell.co.nz website. Once again Twyford’s stunts have backfired in a spectacular fashion. This campaign is just such a spectacularl FAIL! it isn’t funny. Putting up photo of parks and libraries and state highways is just silly, pathetic scaremongering.

The fools have listed a whole heap of money losing assets that would be of little interest to the private sector, or are things which palpably wouldn’t ever be sold off. Even better somethings aren’t even owned by any council and they even listed privately owned property! They really are Notyourstosell….nor are they anyone elses as they are owned privately already.

For example – the Auckland Harbour Bridge. As the saying goes, if you’re that gullible, I’ve got a bridge I could sell you. Besides which, it’s not owned by the councils but by the NZTA as it is a state highway.

The old Auckland Customs Building is also listed. The anti-privatisation hate-everything bumblefucks have chosen a building owned by a private owner! Council sold the Customs Building under a special heritage deed around 12 years ago, and the land itself is apparently owned by DOC.

The New Lynn Library – hardly a crown jewel for overseas investors given libraries don’t make money.

North Shore stadium – could anyone point out to me a stadium in Auckland or indeed the rest of the world that makes large amounts of money?

The Telstra Clear Events Centre in Manukau is owned by a Trust that even sued the Manukau City Council.

All in all, GAG and Phil Twyford have excelled themselves in aiming their weapons at their own feet. Good luck losers. Enjoy walking on your stumps.