Well, this ought to get entertaining. Winston Peters, whose claims had a great deal to do with the establishment of a select committee inquiry into alleged corruption in allocating scampi quota, allowed himself to be shouted a fish supper by the alleged beneficiary of that corruption while the inquiry was in progress.
Last night's Holmes show confronted Peters with its tip from inside Kermadec, which is co-owned by Peter Simunovich of Simunovich Fisheries, to the effect that Peters - who publicly raised the corruption claims but later distanced Simunovich from them - had taken hospitality in compromising circumstances.
Peters predictably went ballistic, but in the circumstances (he was part of an already fractious select committee inquiry) one would think he really ought to have been wary of even the appearance of a conflict. It didn't help that he and Simunovich gave different accounts of the basis for the freebie.
Now, Winston says he's planning to sue TVNZ, which seems to be signalling that it won't back down. Less than an hour after the Holmes programme ended last night, a press release went out with Bill Ralston's name on it. It said:
Further to the story on ONE News at 6.00pm and HOLMES tonight concerning Winston Peters, TVNZ stands by its reporter and its story. The facts as reported are correct. However, claims by Mr Peters that TVNZ is currently being sued for defamation in connection with an earlier story on the Scampi industry are completely untrue.
Well, Ralston's talked about having a bit of editorial mongrel often enough. It would seem that he now wishes to display it. Game on.
There was follow-up of sorts to the work-for-the-dole story I mentioned earlier this week. Muriel Newman claimed that the Activity in the Community programme, which replaced the National Party's work-for-the-dole scheme, had "largely failed" while the government had ignored the successful work-for-the-dole scheme in Australia:
"Of the 4946 people who began Activity in the Community in the 2001/02 year, 3045 are still unemployed," she said.
"How can a welfare programme be considered successful when more than half - in this case a whopping 61 per cent - of participants are not helped?"
Hang on. Even if you're inclined to accept the independent study, rather than the vastly less flattering one that the Australian government commissioned itself and then tried to bury, the comparison warrants scrutiny.
So the Australian scheme - expensive ($147 million over and above welfare costs) and intrusive, subject to claims of fraud and abuse, distorts the labour market - sees 46% of participants with a real job a year later and is thus a "success". But the New Zealand scheme - voluntary and much cheaper - places 39% and is thus a failure? I wouldn't take that to the bank. Really, the science of statistics needs to take out a protection order against the Act Party.
The two schemes are unequal in other ways. From what I can tell, the New Zealand government counts participants in Activity in the Community as still unemployed, and its guidelines clearly indicate that job-seeking should have precedence over activities in the scheme.
The Australian government, on the other hand, rather dubiously regards the 30,000 people receiving money from Community Development Employment Projects, its indigenous work-for-the-dole scheme, as employed. Nonetheless, the official Australian unemployment rate is 5.6% and ours is 4.4%.
National's work-for-the-dole scheme was ditched after a ministry study found that, far from pushing people into real jobs, it had a "locking in" effect. The evidence presented this week for bringing it back seems quite unconvincing.
Anyway, happier things: In The Mix, after the 6pm news on National Radio tomorrow, Saturday, Richard Wain interviews the Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne. They touch on the other celebrities who have donned furry animal costumes to become part of the Lips' stage show. Including, apparently, Elijah Wood while he was on acid. Freaky, dude.