Regular readers will know I have little time for Gerry Brownlee.
But today, as National re-grouped after the clusterf**k that is now being dubbed the Nick Smith affair, Brownlee gave us all an insight into Parliamentary conflicts of interest.
So it turns out, Labour’s main attack dog on the earthquake recovery, is involved in a nasty dispute with the insurance company and the Government.
Conflicts anyone?
Rather than advocate for two new cathedrals he wants one:
At the centre of the Christchurch CBD sits a wrecked Anglican cathedral and a Bishop with a $50 million to $100 million shortfall in rebuilding money. Down the road, her Catholic cousin in God faces the same crisis. A munted Basilica and guesstimated rebuilding costs of up to $100 million.
To a heathen outsider, the solution seems blindingly obvious. Pool their insurance payouts and build something splendiferously modern – and earthquake-proof – that they can share, without beggaring themselves and their dwindling band of future generations by trying to recreate the old.
Brian the problem is that Anglicans and Catholics are a bit like those who want a publicly funded theatre and and those who want a publicly funded death metal venue. Both serve the same function, just slightly different interpretations on entertainment that from the outisde is the same, and with some minor negotiation around the exact placement of the mosh pit.
The Maritime Union has, as predicted, lost another legal battle. The Maritime Union seems to be struggling with the concept that it is no longer legally able to shut down the ports of a whole country in 1950s style workplace terror attacks. Secondary strikes, sympathy strikes and general strikes are all illegal. This si now the third time they have tried it on, and the third time they have been told to work.
Lyttelton Port has been granted an injunction forcing unionised staff to work on ”blacked” ship Lisa Schulte.
About 150 members of Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) have been called off picket lines, which they had manned since midday following the Employment Court ruling.
The dispute began on Tuesday, when union officials indicated Christchurch members would refuse to work the Lisa Schulte because it had been worked on by non-union staff at Auckland.
MUNZ Lyttelton organiser Les Wells said the action was to show solidarity with Auckland union members.
This morning, Ports of Auckland announced it was making 292 wharfies redundant and forcing them to reapply for their jobs. It would contract out work on its container wharves.
Manning the picket line before the injunction was imposed, MUNZ member Mike Will said: “This is not just about us, but workers all across the country.”
Earlier today port chief executive Peter Davie said the action was a secondary strike, which was illegal.
Despite this Davie said Lyttelton staff were ”really great to work with”.
“This isn’t our fight,” he said.
“We don’t have a fight with our staff. Our staff have been really great to work with.”
What is really disgusting about the action at Lyttelton, apart from being illegal, is that there were may supplies for the rebuild of Christchurch aboard the ship. One of my commenters noted this:
I have a container on the Lisa Schulte. We urgently need the shipment for urgent Canterbury rebuild work. If it is held up by illegal strike action, I will be encouraging my shipping company to take action against the illegal strikers for damages.
Haven’t the people of Christchurch suffered enough without the added depredations being visited on them by an uncaring Maritime Union?
It is disgusting that the Maritime Union will hold up re-build intiatives in Chrsitchurch in order to prove a point in Auckland. Luckily our courts are upholding the rule of law.
The Maritime Union and their nasty mates from America who are advising them need to be told to sling their hooks and leave the people of Christchurch alone.
He might like walking goats but he is just being silly threatening like this:
Keown said last week the cathedral would be demolished “over my dead body”.
“I would be in there chaining myself to the building to stop that and I know lots of other volunteers would come in to do that,” he said.
What are the chances that a benevolent god would cause an earthquake to demolish the remains of the Cathedral and iron out a few mindless protestors at the same time?
The NewstalkZB Huddle wityh Larry Williams and David Farrar talking about Christchurch, Kim Dotcom and Matt McCarten:
I’m on NewstalkZb with Larry Williams and some socialist commentator called Farrar at 5:40pm.
Topics are:
Christchurch, Kit Dotcom and Matt McCarten…so far.
I will post the audio tomorrow morning.
This image was taken of Christchurch immediately after the earthquake which killed 185 people one year ago today:
One year ago today this photo was taken of Jane Taylor who was severely injured in the earthquake.
Jane Taylor was managing a women’s clothing store in downtown Christchurch a year ago when the earthquake struck. She was dug from the rubble within minutes with horrific injuries — her vertebrae were crushed, her skull was fractured and her pelvis smashed.
Like Taylor, many survivors of the Feb. 22 earthquake continue to feel the emotional and physical pain from the tragedy that left 185 people dead in New Zealand’s worst natural disaster in 80 years. Yet they are also rediscovering what it means to be part of a family and a community, and life is settling into familiar rhythms.
Taylor was in the hospital for three months, at first in an induced coma. But the 54-year-old says that in the months since, she has found strength from those around her, and has never considered leaving Christchurch.
“It’s our place of love,” she told The Associated Press. Of the fellow survivors she’s gotten to know, “each of us is inspired every day by each other.”
Tv3 really takes the cake for this headline….I mean really…it’s news that there are bones in a cemetery?
via the tipline from a Christchurch reader who is expressing some frustration:
When you do your stories on Christchurch make sure you compare our plight with those people in Japan who suffered through the tsunami.
Meanwhile in Christchurch we are worried about the payrise of a nobody and that people whose house is being removed which they sold didn’t get told so they can go wave goodbye . You can bet with progress like shown in that link they didn’t worry about letters to previous owners.
The damage to Japan was maginitudes worse, they had a nuclear meltdown and it was a month later than CHCH – WTF are they doing down here.
It makes you wonder if Bob has gone to Asia on a trip to find out how to get the place sorted…then again he could just be on a big junket.
