Public Address - Hard News (Home)

What to Do? | Jun 17, 2009 09:42

I'm a little bemused by the sudden outbreak of shock and outrage at the referendum question "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" Haven't we been looking at those words since the Clerk of the House approved them more than two years ago?

I suspect that what has happened is that the manifest unfitness of the question has only become apparent to many people on receipt of the Electoral Commission leaflet, which provides not so much information about the proposition as an advertisement for it.

But with John Key and Phil Goff now declaring that they will not vote, and Act's John Boscawen saying he'll vote, um, Yes (although he possibly just misunderstood the question) -- what's the proper course of action for people who don't want the law on hitting children changed or reverted?

From what I can see, there are three options:

1. Vote "yes", a la yesvote.org.nz (where they're describing Key and Goff's stance as "kicking for touch")

2. Throw the postal ballot in the bin.

3. Spoil the ballot and send it back.

Please note: this is not yet another debate about the law on "smacking". It's a question about how to respond to the referendum question -- and, further, on whether we need to change the rules on the way CIR questions can be constituted.

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The comments for Talking Points Memo's Top 7 Conservative New Media FAILS So Far this Year include a debate about the acceptability of "Fail" as a noun.

I'm all for it. But the thing that strikes me is that the first time I heard "fail" as a noun was from the mouth of my younger son, long before it was the hip thing for grownups to say. Indeed, he once bellowed "Fail is a noun!" while sitting at his computer. Is this where all language starts these days?

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From Tim Kong in yesterday's comments: how to set up your computer as an anonymous proxy for Iranian reform activists on Twitter.

The instructions are for MacOS X, but there's a link to Windows instructons too. It's reasonably straightforward and I'll be doing mine after our TV show is done today. I'm assuming it helps if you have a static IP address.

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And a rather belated heads-up for something on tonight in Auckland:

The Ultravernacular Show, featuring Otis Mace, Gavin Buxton (formerly of the Ponsonby DCs, now of Christchurch) and Dunedin performance poet David Eggleton.

The always irrepressible Otis says he'll premiere his new song, 'Fit Tuck Ridge', and it's an opportunity to catch David during his spell in Auckland as writer-in-residence at the Michael King Writers' Centre in Devonport

It's all on at The Wine Cellar, St Kevin's Arcade, Karangahape Rd, tonight, 8-10.30 pm and it costs $15. They're promising snap, crackle and pop.

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On the Waterfront | Jun 16, 2009 11:25

John Key was a bit slow off the mark with his distraction announcements yesterday, but I can only applaud the government's agreement to purchase Queen's Wharf in partnership with the Auckland Regional Council.

Given that the vendor, Ports of Auckland, is itself owned by the ARC, this is, strictly speaking, a passage of the asset from one set of public hands to another. But if it means that the damned red fence comes down, and the wharf becomes largely a public space both for and following the 2011 World Cup -- rather than a low-value park for imported used cars -- then it's a boon for the city.

According to Simon Wilson's recent Metro story, the area has for some time been earmarked as "party central" anyway, but its passage into public ownership means it can be harnessed for the city's future. I predict now that Queen's Wharf will be very popular if it's done right. (By which I mean, not largely given over to commercial services for rich people.)

In some ways, it's back to the future. Through Auckland's early years, Queen Street terminated in a busy pier -- the main street effectively ran out across the water. Decades of rotten planning and feckless building consents have since blocked off Auckland from its waterfront, but Queen's Wharf is only a little offset from Downtown Square, which is in turn the site of our rather attractive railway station, where the line takes a roundabout bath to Eden Park.

But you know what would have been really cool? A stadium within a stone's throw of the party zone.

Just sayin'.

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We're focused on the Auckland debate in the media in this week's Media7. The panel includes Simon Wilson, author of the pro-Supercity cover story in the current Metro ("Why Rodney Hide has got it right. Really") and Chris Trotter, who delivered a broadside against that story in The Independent.

Also, Hamish Keith, who has established a typically forthright blog as a home for his ideas -- he favours a unitary authority, but with a different configuration to the plan offered by the government -- and Rod Oram.

In the second part of the show, we'll be marking the 25th anniversary of the 1984 snap election, which permanently changed the direction of the country. The panel for that is Marilyn Waring (yes!), Richard Long and Richard Harman.

But here's the thing: because of a longstanding booking at The Classic, tomorrow's recording will be very early: 2pm. So we'd need you there by 1.30pm and have you out before 3pm. The bar will be open, should your nerves need steadying.

If you'd like to come, click Reply and email me.

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Tze Ming Mok is doing an amazing job of co-ordinating and passing on news on behalf of the young democracy and reform activists in Iran.

It's all happening via Twitter. But there are two problems there. One is that the regime (in addition to beating and shooting people in the streets) is blocking Twitter wherever it can. The young activists inside the country need a steady flow of secure proxy addresses for them to use over the next few days. If you have any secure proxies for the job, email me and I'll pass them on.

The other problem is an impending maintenance shutdown of Twitter's network by NTT. This would be bad. The suggestion is that you email noc@ntt.net to get their attention on this.

If you want to follow Tze Ming, she's @tzemingdynasty and the tags are #iranelection and #nomaintenance .

Update: Twitter has just announced a shift of the maintenance window -- but to a WORSE time. But it appears that Twitter staff appreciate the importance of a delay:

@al3x: Yes, we are communicating the importance of keeping the service running to our hosting provider. We'll see what we can do.

The emailing might have done its job now. Perhaps time to stop emailing the NOC.

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Also, if you missed it in the comments yesterday, friends of Chris Knox have set up a blog to keep everyone updated on his condition. You can also leave a message for Chris there.

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Ups and Downs | Jun 15, 2009 10:00

I'll always remember Saturday's Mt Albert by-election -- but not for the result. It was an unexpected introduction to the democratic process for our older son, Jimmy, who turned 18 at the beginning of the year. We discussed his options with him, but his vote was his own choice, as an adult.

We walked to Pt Chevalier primary school early in the afternoon. In the hall there, things seemed to be ticking over well enough, although the Labour scrutineers were clearly more chipper than the ones with the blue rosettes.

Jimmy got his ballot, took it into the booth, emerged and dropped it in the ballot box. "First vote," I observed to the woman minding the box. Jimmy punched the air. And the room erupted in applause. That was so good.

"I felt like I was famous!" said Jim as we walked out.

You are to us, pal.

Now, I'd have linked to The Standard's Ralston vs Ralston post, but they appear to have forgotten to pay their domain name fees, so here goes my version …

In an April 26 column, headed Colour change for Clark's seat, Ralston declared:

… come the byelection on June 13, Labour could face real humiliation. It could lose the seat or, at least, have that more than 10,000-vote lead slashed to a few hundred or less.

Yesterday, Ralston was of a different mind:

Yet how is Labour winning one of its safest seats suddenly a marvellous achievement? It will take heart from the win but I am not sure if it has learned anything from the crushing defeat of eight months ago.

April Ralston was pretty keen on National's likely candidate.

It's worth also noting that National is likely to put up a relatively high-profile candidate in Melissa Lee.

Mt Albert is a culturally diverse electorate and her ethnicity should not harm her. She is also a trained media professional, which should be of great advantage because byelections are almost presidential contests, with the candidates getting much more media exposure than they would normally get in a general election.

Bollocks to that, says June Ralston:

Last year Melissa Lee was a "star" candidate, fast-tracked through the list with little scrutiny by the party. As a list candidate she had never developed the bare-knuckle skills required on the hustings for someone contesting an electorate seat … Lee was the wrong person, in the wrong place, at entirely the wrong time.

The fact is, there was a potential calamity for Labour in the by-election, and a greatly reduced majority or even a loss was not out of the question at the start of the campaign. A strong, old-fashioned electorate campaign and a series of missteps by the other side eventually meant that was not the case. Revising history now is just silly.

There was more ropey writing in the Herald on Sunday. In a confused mess of a feature story, Anna Rushworth and Jonathan Milne declared:

The Mt Albert by-election, you see, was a masquerade. Much was not what it seemed.

And then:

Just as Mt Albert is not a mountain deserving of the name, neither was this an election deserving of that name.

And, again, in case you missed it:

This was no more a real election than Mt Albert is a real mountain.

For goodness sake, it was a high-profile by-election in which the morale of one party and the momentum of another were at stake. The Green Party took a big punt by standing a co-leader. John Boscawen clearly fancied his chances of a good showing, especially as Melissa Lee stumbled. And there would actually have been a small Parliamentary advantage for National in a Lee win -- it could then have passed laws with only an abstention from Act.

I think John Armstrong was a bit more on the mark today:

Labour's crushing victory in Mt Albert is not quite as glorious as the party is claiming. But it is not far from it. National's drubbing is about as bad as things get.

Saturday night's massacre underlined one law of byelections but broke another. The first law is not to make mistakes. David Shearer may not have set the world on fire. But his campaign was solid. His main opponent got burned by just about everything she touched. The byelection was a triumph of the soporific over the catastrophic …

As a minimum, however, the byelection is another item on a lengthening list of recent events which include the Christine Rankin appointment, the Richard Worth scandal and the Auckland Super City proposal and which have been marked by sloppy political management.

That was again apparent on Saturday night with the party leadership missing in action, leaving Lee struggling on her own until the bitter end.

I think the morale-enhancing quality of the win for Labour is of much more significance than the blow to National, which can still happily point to healthy polls at a national level.

Bolder readers may enjoy the orgy of dummy-spitting (not, I hasten to add, from the host, who is more realistic about these things) on the relevant Kiwiblog thread. Redbaiter, as you might expect, takes the cake:

Dead?? Dunno, but the brains of Mount Albert voters give every indication of being in that state.

What a disgrace. Almost a whole electorate of bludgers, no hopers, tax thieves and other assorted socialist losers voting for a parachute candidate because he had a red rosette and because the Labour voting mainstream media scum gave him a free ride.

Democracy— pffft..

Not until we are rid of Labour's mainstream media cronies.

Poor wee poppet.

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The past few days have also been anxious ones for the family and friends of Chris Knox. I found out he'd had a stroke a couple of hours before The Orcon Great Blend (which was a tremendous evening) and, like many other people, have been shocked and worried for Chris and his family.

It's not my place to release news but I do feel bound to say that I understand things are a bit more hopeful than was suggested in the Sunday Star Times' front-page story, which quoted unnamed "friends". I accept that Chris is a prominent cultural figure and worthy of news, but that story was irresponsible. The fact is that they probably won't know what they're dealing with for another two or three days yet. It is certain that there's a long, difficult recovery ahead, but Chris is surrounded by people who love him and will help him there.

There was a happy time at the weekend too. My best friend Andrew Moore turned 40 in style. He'd been practising for weeks with a once-only band (rejoicing in the truly awful name Suicide Wednesday), and, with the assistance of his friends Marty and Mark, and the one-man guitar orchestra who is Matthew Heine, he nailed it.

Here, for posterity, is the actual set list:

That's 'Victoria' by The Kinks via The Fall, not the Exponents song, although Jordan Luck did leap onto the stage for 'Surrender' by Cheap Trick.

"This one's for fuckin' Knoxy!" shouted Andy before they launched into 'Rolling Moon'. And the whole damn bar gave voice to 'Anarchy in the UK' and 'Born to Run'. Later on, what was effectively the Bird Next Roys played. It was wonderful. It was a testament to the importance of the friends-who-are-your-family and to the redemptive power of rock 'n' roll. Thanks Andy. It was indeed Just What We Needed.

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Chaos in Kingsland | Jun 11, 2009 12:11

"Did TVNZ just give money to a political candidate"? asked Keith Ng. And indeed, that was the case. Melissa Lee won part of a quiz and Wallace Chapman, the host of Back Benches, handed her a $60 prize. No one seemed too bothered. It was that sort of evening.

We'd wrapped our show, had a quick dinner and gone up to Kingsland for the Back Benches Mt Albert special at the Neighbourhood bar. Turned out, dinner wasn't quick enough and there was a queue outside the place. No one, said the security guys, was going in unless someone came out. And at 9pm, no one was coming out.

Simon Pound and I had with us Jackson James Wood, editor of Salient -- and an actual candidate in the Mt Albert by-election. He wasn't getting in either.

"It's an affront to democracy," I observed to the bar owner, who turned up at the gate, but he was unmoved.

Eventually, in one of the great acts of political sacrifice of our times, one of Jackson's supporters came out so the candidate could enter.

That left Simon and I. Damian Christie, Mark Sainsbury and a series of TVNZ managers came to the gate to try and get us in. We explained that we were required as part of our actual jobs to be there. People we didn't even know took up our cause with the staff. I had to laugh. Eventually, Paul Fairless, our Client Liaison Manager charmed us in.

Inside was a lot of fun: everyone who was anyone and all that. There were MPs (Jonathan Coleman, David Parker and Roger Douglas among them), broadcasters (Sainbury, Garner, Espiner), political handlers galore, piles of bloggers and a lot of fairly excitable members of the public. Steve Barnes of this very parish got vox-popped by Damian.

The respective party jeer squads packed the main room, but there were giant TVs set around the place (rain would have been a disaster) and I eventually found a spot in front of a screen with a sideways view of the panel itself.

A friend who watched it reckoned that it was too noisy to hear anything, but I grasped most of it. On the question of what personal qualities would make the respective candidates the right MP for Mt Albert, David Shearer did much better than I thought he would (finally, he trades on the worked-in-a-war-zone angle), Russel Norman (Oddly, given his generally good political ear) spouted some stuff that had little to do with the electorate, John Boscawen lapsed into angry robot mode and Lee's reply was a surreal string of random phrases.

But they all had their moments. Boscawen and Norman's Supercity set-to was funny (if referendums are so great, why not have one for the Supercity?), Judy Turner, not for the first time, seemed to have a good grasp of the issues (I'd far rather have her in Parliament than Peter Dunne, frankly), and Melissa Lee gradually settled for showing that she had a sense of humour and was not actually a bitch from Hell. (Although why anyone thought she'd be a good electorate candidate is a mystery.)

It was chaos at times, but energetic chaos, and it seemed a fitting end to this particular electorate campaign. Also, the Auckland crowd was way groovier than the Wellington one.

Afterwards, Dakta Green from the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party walked through the crowd handing out free joints. There's nothing like old-fashioned campaigning, is there?

I'll say it again, Auckland's on a bit of a roll.

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Our show was, as you might expect, a quieter affair, but I think we brought out some very interesting stuff on the Bain case -- and in particular on the issue of the two pieces of suppressed evidence. Most of the major media organisations are contesting the suppression and the memoradum that came down yesterday from the court put the onus on the Bain defence team to argue why the evidence should not be published now that the trial is over. It seems likely that the orders could be lifted in the coming week. The impact of that will be, thought our panellist, Martin van Beynen of The Press, "as big as the verdict".

So that's 9.10pm tonight, TVNZ7

And here is the internet catch-up of Backbenches.

And finally: ever wish that Gordon Campbell was editing a magazine? Well, within the constraints of time and money, that's what he's doing with Werewolf, a web magazine published every full moon. It's bloody good.

PS: For those of you coming to the Great Blend tonight, here are the details. I strongly advise you to arrive early and stay late. Now, must finish that quiz …

PPS: Best Trade Me notice evah. And from Waterview!

PPPS: A relevant Supreme Court judgement in Bain has just been released. There's more about this in the discussion for this post.

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