Posts by Graeme Edgeler
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I/S - I can see that there might be some issues that would take longer with osrting out water and waste-water providers:
Some Auckland councils provide water and wastewater services direct to customers, some do so through council controlled organisations and one provides these services under a franchise agreement with a private operator.
Maybe they have to work out how they're going to break the news that they're nationalising (well, regionalising) that private operator...
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We don't need any further consultation, because the Royal Commission has already done that.
The legislation's not even going to Select Committee? That's pretty bad.
since the power of existing councils will be constrained during the transition period, I doubt they would be permitted by Wellington to reintroduce some democracy into their plan.
They seem to think it will work for Maori wards, but I tend to agree. Someone should start the petition for the STV vote, however. Just cos it would be fun :-)
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I've got a harder question:
Who owns the universities?The Government believes it does. The Universities disagree.
Following the merger of VUW and the Wellington College of Education, the annual accounts of VUW received a qualified audit. The University looked at the additional property etc. it had received and recorded this as an additional asset it had received (maybe an injection of capital).
The Auditor (perhaps Audit NZ?) said that as it was a transfer from one part of the Government to another there was no change in the asset position. The University would not back down, and thus got a black mark in its audit...
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Isn't being an MP a disqualifier from holding such offices?
This section of the Electoral Act is as close as you get:
55 How vacancies created
(1) The seat of any member of Parliament shall become vacant—
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(e) if he or she becomes a public servant ...
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Moving on, don't you think Clark and Cullen would have been ripped to shreds if they'd been as far off-message with each other as Key and English are with respect to economic recovery?
In 1999/2000, or after starting a fourth term?
Had, in some parallel world, Sarah Palin entered the office of vice-president, things would have been mighty entertaining about now.
First there's another, albeit minor, ethics investigation. The knives are out in the state Republican Party.
Ted Steven certainly got massively screwed over. I'm not generally one to say this, but I hope someone gets prison time over that.
Also, Sarah Palin's ethics invesigation, news, I suppose. Sarah Palin's family is not news, but gossip.
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If she wouldn't recognise him, why should he recognise her :-)
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A fascinating NY Times article about how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been using "message placement" to spread their messages on H.I.V. prevention, surgical safety and the spread of infectious diseases, along with other public health initiatives.
Hat-tip: TV Tattle
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BTW, any wagers on David Garrett being this term's Bob Clarkson?
As asked in another thread ... What is it about Bob Clarkson that makes you think he should be and David Garrett belong in the same category?
Bob found out early on that Parliament really wasn't the place for him, he had a colourful vernacular, but in short he was a good honest kiwi bloke (but one who was a teetotaller). He had political disagreements with others in the House, but had a good relationship with Nándor Tánczos etc. etc.
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It's a somewhat theoretical argument, given that they're both supranational bodies that accredit ambassadors, but I think most would consider the UN to be of much greater international import than the WTO.
Undoubtedly, but we're not comparing the UN with the WTO, we're comparing the UNDP with the WTO.
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Re the Highest Office - wouldn't Moore have that as DG of the WTO?
Seriously, Mike Moore was job sharing that position. Which I'm sure applies a 0.5 multiplier to his 'highest' rating.
That's a little inaccurate. The usual term is a think four years. Moore got a three-year term, and was followed by Supachai Panitchpakdi who also got a three-year term.
How are we measuring "higher"?
Yeah. Where does President of the UN General Assembly fit on the list? Or President of the UN Security Council? Leslie Munro held both those positions.
And looking somewhat outside the UN - how about Judge of the International Court of Justice?