Monthly Archives: Mar 2015

Our friend the United States

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To millions around the world the United States of America is a vast tapestry of amazing geography overlain by an equally amazing nation, which has managed to cram an incredible amount into its existence. It is a nation that induces fascination for its cultural trends and consumer goods, wins respect for its generosity and kindness of indivual citizens, and yet at the same time can infuriate beyond belief with its conduct on the global stage.

I have been to America three times and will be going again before the end of this year. I love going because the hospitality is beyond brilliant, the people always polite and helpful even in the most testing of times. I love going because there so much to see – amazing geography and ecosystems; amazing cultural and ethnic riches, whether it is the Spanish influence in the west or the French and English influences to the east or the influence of indian tribes whose traditions and folklore are still poorly understood, it is the people who make the nation what it is. Millions of Americans have been to New Zealand and the vast majority of those I have met have been very impressed with our clean environment, responsible government. They find cricket to be an enigma just as we do their football – something not likely to change in the near future.

Despite the at times utterly virulent spectacle that U.S. politics is, few nations can match an America united whether it is by grief or anger such as that which followed 11 September 2001 or horror such as that which followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Despite the relatively small portion of their massive G.D.P. which goes towards aid, Americans are amongst the most generous givers of aid where ever and whenever it is needed – earthquake disasters such as Christchurch in 2011 or the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan; the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 where 230,000 people lost their lives or the Japan earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor failure in 2011 are just a few examples.

New Zealand’s relationship with the U.S. began to grow as the influence of Britain began to decline and we realized that Britain would not be able to help us, then a little nation with little more than a million people, tucked away on two still quite obscure islands in the south Pacific. When Japan bombed the U.S. into World War 2 on 07 December 1941, suddenly the threat of an invasion became very real, especially when Japanese forces took just another 59 days to reach Singapore, via the Malaysian peninsula. So, suddenly the naval battles of the Coral Sea and Midway in May and June 1942, which stopped the Japanese naval advance dead in its tracks became of major importance. 14,000 U.S. Marines landed in New Zealand a few days after the Battle of Midway. Just as other nations in other theatres of the war did, much of the military equipment New Zealand bought during the war came from the United States.

It is not to say that New Zealand has always gotten on brilliantly with the United States. In 1985, following New Zealand’s refusal to allow any more nuclear powered/armed ships into New Zealand waters, diplomatic relations went from being cosy to being frosty. When the French blew up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour on 10 July 1985, the silence emanating from Washington as other nations joined in a chorus of condemnation was deafening. But it was a defining moment in New Zealand history. Over the years the chill slowly began to thaw. Despite opposition from her allies, Labour Party Prime Minister Helen Clark committed the N.Z.S.A.S. to service in Afghanistan. Later on New Zealand army personnel were stationed in Bamiyan Province, where ten eventually died. Nearly thirty years later, although it is unlikely New Zealand will ever be a part of A.N.Z.U.S. again, American politicians generally respect New Zealand’s stance.

I hope that New Zealand’s contribution in the future can be to be a good friend that is ready to help when required, but able to stand up and say “no, that is not alright” when U.S. corporations or politicians too heavily tied to corporate money make demands that they would not make of their own nation. We need America, and regardless of whether die hard Republicans ever admit it, America needs New Zealand too. But neither nation needs the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.

 

 

So so close, yet so so far

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Oh dear New Zealand. So, so close to the holy grail itself and yet so, so far from it – for at least another four years. In a sport where we have more ups and downs than the barometer recording air pressure outside does, we never doubted it would be a hard ride once we got into the finals stage. We smashed the West Indies in a batting blizzard no one could have really foreseen and which even Chris Gayle was probably surprised by. We tripped, got up again, tripped some more and yet still managed to bring down South Africa in a game that most thought was theirs to lose after the Duckworth Lewis system kicked in. No one doubted Australia on their home turf would be the toughest assignment of the lot. No one doubted that the Black Caps would have to play out of their skin to win this, even though that is what they have been doing the entire tournament – raising the bar one game at a time.

You taught us heaps. You taught us to dream. You showed us the real meaning of humility. You taught us all that a professional cricket player should be about – the sport, the fans, having some fun when the papers and the television are filled with so much bad stuff. You will take awhile to get over the agony of losing. The media might well give you heaps, but nothing can detract from the fact that you gave it your absolute all. Nothing can detract from the fact that you managed to get New Zealand cricket into uncharted waters of the best possible kind.

So, thank you Brendon, Kane, Tim, Trent, Ross, Corey, Luke, Matt, Grant, Adam and Dan. You did us proud. You do us proud and you will continue to do us proud.

Finally. Congratulations must go to the bogey man team of New Zealand. Once again Australia you have shown us what it takes to win a Cricket World Cup Final being played on home turf. The post I wrote a few weeks ago in the aftermath of the Eden Park roller coaster ride was written with the nervous giddiness that comes from pulling of something epic, filled with tension, filled with fear comes to mind, but as Cricket World Cup winners you deserve a bit more than that. And so, after some thought about how to write this post, I decided just this once (and grating against my inner conscience)to post a photo of the Australian team lifting the trophy.

Michael will probably never see this and it pains me as a New Zealand cricket supporter to be posting it, but the final word (or in this case, photo)is for all intents and purposes Australia’s.

Australia Win CWC 2015

Until next time.

National counting the cost of the Northland by-election

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So, Winston Peters won the Northland by-election. Well done.

The man that National said would take Northland backwards, was better believed by Northlanders than their own candidate Mark Osborne. For me the victory of Winston Peters is a slap in the face to National’s muck raking innuendo, telling nonsense in a vain attempt to cover up the fact that in 18 years of National holding Northland, development has been so-so at best.

But Northland is better than so-so. It is one of the poorest parts of New Zealand.

But what about the cost to this Government of a by-election they deserved to lose?

The cost is actually quite substantial. All of a sudden National’s ability to pass laws is considerably restricted as their number of Members of Parliament drops from 60 to 59, meaning more than just the support of A.C.T. Member of Parliament David Seymour is needed to pass laws. Now National need to also have either United Future leader Peter Dunne or a Maori Party Member of Parliament. As both Mr Dunne and the Maori Party M.P.’s are more moderate than National and A.C.T., this could be a problematic point for Prime Minister John Key.

For New Zealand First this is big news. It ends a hoodoo on electoral seat victories dating back to when Simon Bridges beat Winston Peters in the Tauranga seat. It gives them another Member of Parliament should they decide to have one. The most likely candidate might not be from Northland, but has strong tribal ties to the region and visits on a regular basis.

But it also disproves some serious National Party claims about New Zealand First:

1) The National Party claim that Winston hardly spends any time in Northland is unjust. He is from there and goes back on a regular basis. Soon New Zealand First will likely have an electorate office in one of the bigger towns to support constituents.

2) That two-laning ten state highway bridges will somehow be more beneficial to Northland than Winston’s promise to get more trade flowing through the Port of Whangarei; that National’s idea to have more product go by road rather than rail is beneficial for Northland – only a few trucking firms and a smattering of drivers will benefit from that.

So, as National start counting the cost of losing Northland, and New Zealand First celebrate their first Electorate victory in nearly a decade, a much altered Parliamentary land scape could make the third term of this National-led Government very interesting.

Australian values in decline

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It is a horrible thing to say about a country that has been one greatest ally, most ferocious sporting rival and at times almost like family. It is even more horrible to have to say it with the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in 1915 fast approaching, about a nation that as much as we bicker with over sport and occasionally politics, we visit in huge numbers every year and have over 400,000 of our number living there. And yet as horrible as it is to say, it is true that Australian values are in decline under the governance of Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Since Mr Abbott took power in 2013, the governing Liberal-National Coalition has waged an unprecedented war against the vulnerable sections of Australian society, the  environment, human rights and civil liberties. The list of backward steps taken is too long to list here, so I have outlined the major ones below;

  • The flagrant denial of climate change flies in the face of what most of Australia’s closest allies are doing as does the decision to allow more mining in environmentally sensitive locations
  • The human rights abuses on Nauru Island although not proven, need to be taken seriously because many of them involve women and children and basic sanitary needs that a  first world country like Australia should have no problems at all supplying.
  • His decision to close Aboriginal communities because they are reflective of poor choices by Aboriginal people, many of whom would seriously struggle to adjust to modern Australian norms
  • The attempt to deregulate universities, if the New Zealand experience is anything to go by means steadily worsening fees and no significant increase in the quality of the instruction or the degrees that come out

It is not just the policies that are a problem though. Mr Abbott is well known for being gaffe prone, as have the rabble of ministers under his watch. A few examples are:

  • The then Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison declined all attempts by human rights groups to gain access to Nauru to investigate alleged human righs abuses
  • Mr Abbott’s contempt for Parliamentary procedure are only surpassed by the blinding bias that the Speaker of the House shows in favour of Liberal and National M.P.’s, where opposition Members of Parliament have been thrown out over 300 times since she assumed office to just a half dozen or less instances of Liberal M.P.’s being made to leave.
  • Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop told President Obama that he was wrong to say climate change had anything to do with the accelerating Great Barrier Reef decline when a substantial body of research shows otherwise
  • Much as I despise Russian President Vladimir Putin, he did not deserve Tony Abbott’s threat to shirt front him – no good politician would ever do that
  • Minister of Finance Joe Hockey’s constant flip flopping on funding for various policies, his inability to balance the books and erosion of funding for existing projects of a socially beneficial nature have made him something of a laughing stock

I hope that the recent few months would make the Australian government sit up and take notice of the world around them. Sometimes not everything is as it should be.  Perhaps changing policies might back fire with unintended consequences, but in a Senate where the Opposition are handicapped by a Speaker who cares little for the other side of the House, Ministers such as Scott Morrison can get away scot free from questioning – or simply duck and weave like their New Zealand counter parts.

 

New Zealand corrupting itself

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New Zealand’s transparency is something I take great pride in as a New Zealander. To be in the top five most transparent countries, where accountability of elected officials and those in other high positions of responsibility is paramount is no small feat when one considers the contempt for societal norms and those who abide by them that absolute power can induce. So I am sad to read – but not terribly surprised – that the level of corruption in New Zealand is considered to be increasing.

There is a quote about corruption that is as simple as it is true: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

A corrupt official is not only not doing their job, but they are potentially very dangerous. Their moral compass is not working. Whatever it takes to achieve their ends they are prepared to do. If it means betraying colleagues, committing criminal offences and sometimes even endangering lives, it will be done.

New Zealand’s transparency is well recognized. Our Government is one of the most stable and accountable in the world. Election results are for the most part full, fair and final. The Official Information Act, a piece of critical legislation governing the accessibility and use of Government held data enables New Zealanders to access data for research, to see what the Government has stored about them and so forth, with fear of harm. In many countries, doing that could get you arrested and charged with treason, or other activities said to be against the State.

But there are some major problems.

Among them is the absence of protection for whistle blowers, people who see corrupt activity for what it is and try to report it to appropriate authorities. The reluctance of Parliament to pass legislation to protect these people and give them confidence that their complaints will be taken seriously is as damning in some respects as the corruption itself. Another problem is the court procedures for charging and trying in a court of law the person/people/business(es)/organization(s) accused of corruption. Again, the whistle blower needs to be confident enough that they will be able to safely testify if required.

A personal concern of mine is that this Government or future Governments might try to undermine covertly the legislative framework that makes the prosecution of corrupt officials possible. Such changes would be slipped in as several legislative changes have been done in New Zealand disguised by passing at the same time as more contentious legislation, which distracts the public attention.

And if they are successfully prosecuted, what does New Zealand law say about corruption as an offence in terms of elected and judicial officials?

For elected officials such as Ministers of the Crown, a sentence not exceeding 14 years can  be imposed. For judicial officials such as Judges, a sentence not exceeding 7 years can be handed down.

In the last 10 years several Members of Parliament have fallen by the wayside for behaviour contrary to the norms with which New Zealand expects its elected officials to conduct themselves. Labour Member of Parliament Taito Philip Field was jailed for several years for getting an immigrant tiler to do work on his home in return for help with his immigration status. Former Minister of Justice in the current Government, Judith Collins was made to resign  after her husbands company was linked to a dinner between Ms Collins and Chinese Government officials. A.C.T. Member of Parliament Donna Awatere Huata went to jail for fraud involving the misuse of public money.

It is not only misbehaving M.P.’s but a growing contempt for transparency of Parliamentary practices. Since National came to office there has been an unprecedented attack on democracy in New Zealand both outside of Parliament and inside. Outside of Parliament I will deal with in a separate post, but internally by 2010 the National-led Government of Prime Minister John Key had already nearly doubled the number of times that the previous Labour-led Government had used Parliamentary urgency to pass legislation in its nine years. It has ignored public feed back completely on a number of Bills that were sent for public submissions – although all Governments can be accused of this, the number of times set by this Government thus far exceeds previous statistics considerably.

It is perhaps becoming a bit rich of New Zealand to call itself the second most transparent place in the world after all.