Posts by nzlemming
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to John Armstrong,
PS I haven’t posted for a while, so maybe I should clarify: not that John Armstrong. I really should get around to amending my handle one of these days..
I think the difference in tone was pretty obvious :-)
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
I thought he changed over to the National Party when the campaign started with Joyce at the helm but had his Beehive pass after, when he should have forfeited it. Until then Ede was in the PM’s office, which is why it is said that we ,the taxpayer paid his wages. I figured the National Party paid him after he went to ground.
Yeah, that is what everyone thought at the time he disappeared, but there’s this thing called the “Prime Minister’s Fund”. Selwyn Manning covered this early on (near the bottom). I have seen confirmation that Ede worked in the Prime Minister’s Office, and that he had a Parliamentary pass even after he left the office to work on the campaign. I have never seen confirmation that he was employed by Ministerial Services.
The difference between ParlSer and MinServ is vast, constitutionally speaking as the former is part of the House of Representatives and not beholden to the Government of the Day and the latter is part of the Government of the Day. Also, Ministerial advisors who are not drawn from respective Ministries are not regarded as public servants.
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to tussock,
So, you’ve got Nicky Hager asking people to read the book, because he needs sales for rent money rather than people just talking at it.
Ah, no, Nicky owns his own house (built it himself) and is mortgage free. He has other paying gigs. This book has been unexpectedly successful for him (based on sales of his other books) and he has said so (I think in Russell's interview). If he wrote books to "pay the rent", he'd write a hell of a lot more books and wouldn't spend nearly as much time on the research, but that's not how he works.
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
The whole bloody lot need to address it at least. The Ombudsman seems interested finally, but yes scrutiny in the Public Service , FMA, SFO, etc
The Ombudsman's Office is in no way at fault. They are completely under-resourced. I've had a lot of dealings with them over the last 5 years fighting the Kapiti Expressway and I have complete respect and sympathy for those that work there. Their legislation makes it difficult to act proactively (and that would be impossible anyway) as they are the last resort if a department has not dealt fairly with an inquiry.
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Katharine Moody,
If he was employed by Parliamentary Services, then is the Speaker is ultimately responsible for his conduct? This issue of Parliamentary Services staff not understanding which branch of government they work for, Parliament or the executive, was made very apparent during the Kitteridge report leak.
If he was employed on the government dime, it would have been by Ministerial Services rather than Parliamentary Services, which is part of DIA. There is some doubt as to who actually was paying his wages.
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Require all government departments to proactively publish all OIA’able material on their websites and have the Ombudsman police them to make sure they really are putting all such material up?
Would also save millions on processing OIA requests. The problem we are at now, with government agencies, is that the public thinks they're hiding something even when they are not. They've taken "perception is reality" as a prescription, not a diagnosis.
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Sara Bee,
Off topic. Just spotted Stuart Nash, Josie Paganism lunching together.
What a superb typo!
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Kumara Republic,
One of the better things from his newly-approved journo status is that he’ll have to declare his sources by name, not ‘a party insider’ or a ‘reliable informant’.
No, as a "journalist", he is entitled to protect confidentiality if he can show it's in the public interest. The judge further ruled, in Slater/Blomfield, that protection of sources in this matter was not in the public interest, and ordered disclosure in this matter only
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Andrew Geddis,
After all, weeks – literally weeks – of Dirty Politics coverage didn’t move the polls at all.
Because "the media" (with damn few exceptions) didn't cover Dirty Politics as much as National's dismissal of Dirty Politics.
-
OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Russell Brown,
then suggests that it might be trouble for Ana Samways at the Herald because she tweeted Williams and Graham to advise that “no one can take you assholes seriously”.
I have new-found respect for Ana Samways.