John Banks

John Banks was interviewed on Q+A about charter schools. It seems they are on track:

Act Party leader John Banks says there won’t be any changes to legislation around the controversial partnership schools despite opposition parties continuing their objections to elements of the bill such as allowing unqualified teachers.

The Education Amendment Bill, which would establish charter schools, known as partnership schools, was expected to pass in Parliament with the support of National, Act and the Maori Party.

Mr Banks told TVNZ’s Q+A programme today it was not insignificant the Maori Party would want to support the bill.

“Because every second young Maori leaves school after 12 years of schooling without NCEA level 2, no numeracy or literacy.”

He said the Maori Party had not asked for any changes to the bill in exchange for their support of it.  Read more »

Niko Kloeten reckons that Maurice Williamson could bury Len Brown in the mayoral race in October.

There are a number of reasons.

Less baggage:

A number of political figures on the right believe Mr Williamson would have a better chance of success than fellow MP and ACT Party leader John Banks did when he ran for Auckland mayor three years ago and was thumped by 65,000 votes (234,459 to 169,862).

Councillor Dick Quax, who represents the Howick ward which largely overlaps with the Pakuranga electorate, says Mr Williamson has a very good reputation in the area, with one of the largest majorities of any MP (almost 14,000 votes).

He says Mr Williamson doesn’t carry as much “baggage” as Mr Banks in the eyes of voters, particularly those in area outside the old Auckland City Council.

“The reason why John Banks didn’t do very well was for many people the amalgamation of Auckland was seen as a takeover by Auckland City,” he says.

“They saw John Banks as part of that takeover by Auckland City of the rest of the region and when a credible candidate from outside of the area put his hand up a lot of the votes automatically went to Len Brown.

“A lot of voters in Pakuranga and Howick voted for him because he wasn’t John Banks.  That won’t be the case this time.”

Mr Quax says Mr Williamson will also benefit from not being associated with the unitary plan, which many Aucklanders are not happy with.  Read more »

John banks wants to know where the $670 million dollars are going to come from to pay for the Green/Labour Kiwi-Power plan.  The answer is simple.  Russel Norman will be manning the money printing press on Day One and he won’t stop until everything is paid for.

ACT Leader John Banks today called on the Labour and Green parties to ‘please explain’ the $670 black hole in their plan to nationalise the electricity sector.

“These parties claim their plan will reduce household electricity bills by up to $750 million a year. But there is no such thing as a free lunch.  That money must come from somewhere and someone must be worse off,” Mr Banks said.

“The Greens state their policy will only cost the Government (i.e. taxpayers) $80 million a year.  So where is the other $670 million a year coming from?

When costing policy, Greens and Labour have never reached for the calculator.

Last night New Zealand became the 13th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage.

A bill to legalise same-sex marriage has passed into law after its third reading in Parliament tonight, after months of emotional debate, parliamentary submissions, and passionate protests from people on either side of the issue.

New Zealand has become the 13th country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in law.

I am proud to have played my part in the passing of this bill into law. Here are some of the speeches from my friends made last night.

John Banks:

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The Herald Editorial is scathing of David Shearer, but first they have a flick at Banksie:

Act leader John Banks did himself few favours this week by pouncing on David Shearer’s failure to include details of a New York bank account when he declared his financial interests to Parliament, as required under the MPs’ Register of Pecuniary Interests. In calling for the Labour leader to stand down, Mr Banks refocused attention on his own memory lapse over a political donation from Kim Dotcom. Equally, the difference between the two cases was instantly recognisable. Mr Shearer corrected the record off his own bat when he realised his mistake. There was no such candour from Mr Banks.

What rubbish. In politics you give as good as you get and when the person who was poking the borax at you is caught pants down then you hit back hard. Good on Banksie for ignoring the more squeamish Nats who were telling him to shut up. If they weren;t going to call out Shearer’s hypocrisy because they lacked balls then good on Banksie for doing it.  Read more »

John Banks isn’t holding back on David Shearer’s forgotten offshore slush fund:

Labour Leader David Shearer should apply his own ethical standards to himself and stand down, ACT Leader John Banks said today.

“Shearer is on record as saying those who suffer from a memory lapse aren’t fit to hold office,” Mr Banks said.

“But yesterday, Shearer admitted he ‘forgot’ to declare more than $50,000 he has stashed away in an overseas bank account.

“Worse, he didn’t forget once, he forgot four years in a row. Shearer’s hypocrisy is staggering.

“How long has he had this secret bank account? How much is in it? Where exactly did the money come from?  Read more »

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When Kim Dotcom decided to get pissy because he didn’t get the treatment he felt he deserved in prison and unleashed his donations scandal upon the body politic of New Zealand David Shearer had this to say at the conclusion of the police investigation that cleared Banks:

“This is a guy that’s gone to a donor asked for money and in one case received a cheque in his hand and then has turned around and said he can’t remember receiving it.

“Police can’t prove it but everyone in New Zealand knows what’s going on here. John Key knows as well and should stand him down.”

But Mr Shearer said Mr Key would keep Mr Banks on, “and I think that says something about his ethical standards”.

Perhaps Mr Shearer might like to now apply the same standards of ethics that he demands of John Key and John banks and stand himself down. After all John Banks didn’t know the exact details of the donations, didn’t break any laws and the police investigation cleared him.

David Shearer on the other hand has concealed or in his words “forgot” about a bank amount with a lazy $50,000 plus sitting in it, even though he remembered to declare it to the IRD…he “forgot” actually means breached standing orders, and arguably the law in failing to declare for more than 3 years a bank account with more than $50,000 in it.

John Banks couldn’t remember exact details about one of many donations his team received and Shearer thought he should hang. David Shearer meanwhile can;t keep track of his own accounts…how on earth would he manage running the country’s books.

I’ll await David Shearer falling on his own sword. It is the right thing to do, he has demanded it so often of others, perhaps he should honour his own demands for a high ethical standard.

Remember Graham McCready, the serial litigator and tax fraudster under charges of blackmail who decided to mount a private prosecution over John Banks regarding his election spending?

Turns out that McCready was given his beans in court the other day for his nuisance jihad. He withdrew all his litigation against Banks because of the apparently incomprehensible and nonsensical nature of his application (a nullity). Turns out the judge doesn’t like suffering fools gladly.

It may well be that McCready, being a serial litigator, will re-write his private prosecution and have another go. But it’s unlikely that he’ll be received any more warmly by the judge. By then, he may well even be in jail, if convicted for his blackmail charges.

I can’t imagine a sentencing judge will be lenient with an already convicted tax fraudster who engages in petty and incomprehensible nuisance behaviour with the court system.

His neighbours will be delighted for the respite should McCready be sent away. They apparently call him “Satan”