Peter Dunne

Peter Dunne has failed to understand the simplicity of Jami-lee Ross’ bill restoring the status quo before the Employment Relation Act 2000.

He said he would not be backing National MP Jami-Lee Ross’s bill allowing employers to hire contract workers when their employees go on strike.

Mr Dunne said it was a step too far and he thought the right to strike was an important part of industrial law.

“I think this is really the Ports of Auckland Bill, frankly. And while I understand the motivation behind it, I think it’s too big of a sledgehammer to deal with this specific issue.

“I think that there will be people who will misuse it, and I think that’s detrimental.”  Read more »

Rodney Hide discusses the Green taliban’s lack of recent focus on global warming, now that they have all realised they have been rumbled.

[T]he shift on global warming with the Greens is significant. We are safe in concluding that they no longer regard global warming as the greatest threat to the planet. It would, I think, merit a mention in a leader’s annual speech to the Greens if it were. A fast-approaching environmental armageddon would be top of mind, not the constitutionality of parliamentary legislation, and not Peter Dunne’s emails.

So, hallelujah. The polar bears can continue to float about on their ice floes, millions of environmental refugees won’t wash up on our shores, malaria won’t be making an unwanted appearance in New Zealand any time soon, our beachfront properties are safe and there is no need to feel guilty driving past that bus stop.

It was always going to end with a whimper, not a bang. The scare was so big, so dominating, so accepted, that it could not be sustained. Unless, of course, it was true. It’s now not possible to maintain the huff and puff that the media and politics need to keep the headlines running.  Read more »

Jami-Lee Ross’ bill, the Employment Relations (Continuity of Labour) Amendment Bill has been drawn from the ballot.

The purpose of the bill is:

to repeal section 97 of the Employment Relations Act 2000. Section 97 prevents the use of volunteers, contractors, or other casual employees by an employer during a strike or lockout.

Damn good stuff. Section 97 is a pernicious part of the Employment Relations Act 2000 which allows for unions to shut down business while they strike. Ports of Auckland got pinged for this and fined $40,000 when the Maritime Union attempted to cripple the port. Rock Gas is also facing the same penalties for putting on replacement drivers in order for gas supplies to continue.  Read more »

Chris Trotter writes about the Green/Labour SNAFU…it is clear he is as perplexed as me as to why they are attacking a leaker when the opposition lives off of leaks.

WHAT A CURIOUS INVERSION of the conventional political playbook. A conservative prime minister defending the rights of the news media. The same Green Party that barred media representatives from just about every session of its annual general meeting championing a journalist damsel in distress. The leader of a populist party which owes its very existence to the successful exploitation of leaks exposing scandals, demanding the head of a political rival for (allegedly) leaking information and exposing a scandal. And, not to be outdone, a Labour Party hell-bent on making public the private communications between a journalist and her source.

If there’s a common principle linking these actions, then it’s extremely well hidden!  Read more »

Denis Welch blogs at Opposable Thumb about the sad and pathetic Winston Peters:

There’s something desperately sad about watching Winston Peters trying to milk a scandal about Peter Dunne. It’s a familiar routine for Peters, one he could do in his sleep: expose something irregular or embarrassing on the basis of a leak, spin it out over several weeks, harrumph self-righteously, strut the public stage, keep us all agog wondering what he’ll come up with next. And, in its heyday, what a routine it was! The Maori Affairs loans scandal, the winebox affair—these were legitimate issues of public concern, exposed by Peters, even if he made rather too much a meal of them. But the days are long gone when he seized on something really meaningful, and it’s a sign of how impregnable the National government has been to his usual tricks that all the old shark can do now is sink his increasingly blunt teeth into a fellow minor party. Shark bites minnow: this is news?   Read more »

David Shearer confirms he was in SkyCity corp.box after ABs test at Eden Park on Sat for “5 to 10 minutes” to say hello. No drinks or hospo.

— Hamish Rutherford (@oneforthedr) June 12, 2013

So, when David Shearer was slagging off SkyCity yesterday in parliament he didn’t feel just a little bit guilty of such sanctimonious hypocrisy?

John Key needs Peter Dunne to pass the Skycity deal—that sleazy deal—because all he needs is one vote, and that is coming from Peter Dunne.  Read more »

The Labour Party is flat broke, and has been since “Fat Tony” stopped shaking down people for funds.

Mike Williams, affectionately known as “Fat Tony”

Under Andrew Little donations to the party just about dried up entirely, and Moira Coatesworth hasn’t done anything to fill up the coffers.  Read more »

Watching Labour completely stuff up the snap debate yesterday I was reminded of a scene from “In the Thick of It”….where Malcolm Tucker is facing an inquiry about leaks…

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Having realised that he doesn’t want other MPs or the police rummaging around in his personal emails, Russel Norman’s done a complete about-face on the Peter Dunne saga.

Now, he appears to believe that Mr Dunne’s done nothing wrong and should be left alone.

Yet on Friday he was  demanding that the Police seize the emails between Dunne and former News of the World reporter Andrea Vance.

Perhaps over the weekend Rusty realised the contradiction between his position and the constant whining about internet privacy.

Or perhaps, he realised his position on Dunne was the complete opposite to the one he took over the secret recording of John Key and John Banks.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman has called on Prime Minister John Key to withdraw his police complaint over the “teapot tapes” in order to stop police “raids on the media”.  Read more »

Russel Norman has posted this message on Facebook…it represents a sudden change of attitude, I wonder what brought that on.

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