Monthly Archives: Dec 2017

New Zealand in the year 2017

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It has been a year of cyclones, an epic political roller coaster ride, continued outstanding success for our sportsmen and women topped off by warnings about environmental degradation, megathrust earthquakes and mental health. Right from the start one could tell this was going to be a turbulent year. In that respect we have not bee disappointed. So, what happened in 2017 and who were the story makers?

Of natural disasters, after a very shaky end to 2016, New Zealanders were looking forward to a much quieter 2017. In terms of seismic activity we got that, but in terms of floods, cyclones and winter storms this year has been anything but quiet. From the weather bomb that crossed the country in January to Cyclones Cook and Donna in April and May, to the floods in Christchurch in July and the swing back to drought like conditions in the last couple of months, 2017 has just about had it all in meteorological events.

But it is perhaps the politics of 2017 that will make the year memorable. When was the last time in an M.M.P. environment did an Opposition party go from being dead in the water just seven weeks before a fourth term election to credible election contenders? When was the last time one party had so much s(w)ay over the electorate? Without doubt the award for biggest meteoric rise must go to Jacinda Ardern whose Xmas letter – if she writes one – probably went like this: “In March I became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party; in August I became Leader of the Labour Party/Leader of the Opposition; in October I became Prime Minister of New Zealand. How did yours go?”.

But spare a thought – horrible as this might be to some of you – for former Prime Minister Bill English who on election night must have thought “National’s got a fourth term. WOOOHOOO!!!!!” Little did he know how the special votes would pan out and would have gotten as big a surprise – albeit for entirely different reasons to me – when New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters went with Labour. It will be a rocky few years in Parliament as the minority Government tries to see off an Opposition with huge resources.

And there were the sportspeople of New Zealand. The All Blacks might have had an indifferent year despite the win/loss ratio suggesting strongly otherwise, but rugby league hosted its world cup in New Zealand with some potentially huge upsets in the offing – Lebanon vs Tonga; Tonga vs England (a shame about the crowd behaviour following the matches). Top performances from Lisa Carrington (kayak), Sophie Pascoe (pool) and

Domestically there was a wealth of stories for the media to feast on. Concerns elevated by the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016 and continued post-Christchurch earthquake awareness led to scientists warning about the possibility of a huge (magnitude 8.5+) megathrust earthquake in the future. Which was followed by commentary about scare mongering and justifying their salaries.

Other stories included warnings about our exploding electronic waste problem and the complete lack of planning around managing thousands of tons of toxic waste going into landfills. Despite the warnings, it is clear that many people do not understand what e-waste is and why discarding electronics without removing the copper wiring, lead and so forth is not only foolish but environmentally irresponsible.

Another story to New Zealand is an ongoing epidemic of dairy robberies, mainly caused by high tobacco prices or drug fuelled addicts looking for ways to fund their next hit. Nary a week passes without a violent robbery somewhere and the absence of political rhetoric around this during the election was deafening.

And as the Earth takes a final twirl in 2017, despite all that has happened in New Zealand, two modest size islands southeast of Australia look pretty damn good in a world that at times seems to have gone completely mad.

Happy New Year.

The international year in review: 2017

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Even before 2017 started many people had a good idea of who would be the major story maker this year. Even before Donald John Trump became President of the United States, all of the signs were that there would be a rocky transition from the administration of President Barak Hussein Obama and an even more turbulent first year – and Mr Trump did not disappoint. Below are just a few of the highlights of Mr Trump’s first year in office:

  • The federal indictment led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller
  • Withdrawing from the Paris Accord
  • Ratcheting up the drum beat of war against North Korea to deafening levels
  • The wa(r)ll  against illegal immigrants and the anti-Muslim profiling
  • Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, the massive backlash and U.S. counter response

Perhaps the saddest story of the year goes to the desecration of our natural ecosystem and the declaration by scientists that the world has officially entered a mass extinction phase where biodiversity is being killed off far faster than it can undo the damage. Whilst this extinction has been underway for some time, it faces the dubious prospect of being the first that can be demonstrably linked to humankind’s insatiable appetite for resources, the pollution caused by developing those resources – not just the holes in the ground from open cast mining, but also the rivers polluted to the extent nothing lives in them any more, the dumping of toxins in the environment and the carbonization of the oceans.

Kim Jong Un and Mr Trump have one thing in common. Both LOVE the limelight. They seem to love doing things perceived by the rest of the world to be crazy, reckless or dangerous. Both also have bizarre hair and a few too many pounds. In a competition that looks like two boys waving with their privates on a world stage, how much further can Kim Jong Un and Mr Trump take their rhetoric before one or the other does something they – and ultimately the world – end up regretting?

Techno threat of the year must go to the Wanna Cry ransomware attack in May. This highly damaging event caused massive disruption across the world by infecting computers with infected software that would freeze access to computer files, and then, if a ransom was not paid within a certain time, start making them disappear. North Korea is suspected of having been behind it, but this is not yet proven.

Robot of the year award would have to go to British Prime Minister Theresa May for her completely detached response to the Grenfell tower fire. This, aside from being an unintended arsenal for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the campaign trail after Mrs May called a snap election, gave rise to the term “Maybot”. In the background concerns about how the Brexit negotiations are going continue to rumble like a distant thunderstorm.

And yet, there were some compelling good news stories among all of the doom and gloom. Far too often, these slide under the radar of a media that seems bent on doom and gloom. So, here are a few highlights:

  • After a year long campaign caused by a tortured political process, Australia said yes to same sex marriage – this came  in the same year Mr Trump tried to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military.
  • Zimbabwean dictator Robert Gabriel Mugabe was ousted by his own party from office after 37 years, to be replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa. The world is waiting to see if the billions of dollars suspected to have been taken by Mr Mugabe and his Government officials will be returned.
  • Saudi Arabia became the very last country in the world to permit women to drive.

Disaster of the year award in any other case probably would have gone to Hurricane Irma for its sheer size and the damage that it caused. However Hurricane Maria, which followed a few days later and devastated Puerto Rico upstages it  in a year where hurricanes with girls names were more catastrophic than those with boys names.

To those of you not in New Zealand, enjoy what is left of 2017 and I will see you in 2018.

A note about Christmas

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So here we are again, on the home straight to Christmas Day. The shop tills are jingling – which must be music to the ears of management in retail. The roads are clogged with people heading to their holiday destinations or home to see family and have some chill down time catching up with relatives, meeting the new cousin, niece, nephew and so on.

For some people though, there is no rest over Christmas. Stop and think of the police officer on Christmas Day who would rather be at home with family, instead of having to make our streets safe because a few lunatics mean we cannot do it ourselves. Stop and think of the firefighter, especially if they are in a rural brigade where the god awful monotone of the fire siren is holidayus interruptus, who might have suddenly have to put on their gear and go to a motor crash or attend a scrub fire. Stop and think of the St. John ambulance crew who might be on their way to check on an elderly person whose medical alarm went off. They have family and lives too.

Think also of the City Mission and so forth who put on Christmas Day lunches for those unable to have a proper feed themselves. For them and the many that this selfless act brings immeasurable relief and no doubt some joy to, money can help pay the costs, but it cannot buy the happiness that all of these people will feel.

Those of you with connections to the New Zealand Defence Force might be aware of someone who is serving overseas at the moment. They might be in Iraq or Afghanistan or on the Sinai Peninsula. Wherever they are, spare a thought for them being on service overseas on a day when New Zealand will for the most part come to a stop.

And then there are fellows like me who work because our employers are in industries that do not shut, even on Christmas Day – the rental car industry, the service stations, and so forth – even though the amount of work their employees might do on Monday will be relatively minor. In local Government there will be people working on Christmas Day monitoring Civil Defence in case an earthquake triggers a tsunami (not necessarily in New Zealand), or co-ordinating public transport movements (Christchurch buses for example run until 1800 hours on Christmas Day).

Oh, and, if you have survived reading this…. it would be rude not to say Merry Christmas.

New Zealand U.N. vote NOT anti-American

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As the furore over the American decision to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel grows, the United Nations Security Council has voted against the U.S. move 14-1. And the United Nations General Assembly voted 128 to 9 with Canada and Australia abstaining

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been very clear on the issue.

Contrary to the popular belief of Fox viewers, the international vote against the United States moving its capital to Jerusalem is not an expression of anti-Americanism. In the context of New Zealand, it is no more so than the 1985 resolution condemning France for the Rainbow Warrior bombing is anti-French. Both were the result of their respective Governments making poor choices on the international stage that the world saw as non compatible with it’s understanding of international law. Many French were horrified by what their country had done and so too are many Americans horrified at what it is doing in the Middle East today, and that has to be recognized.

Anti-Americanism in my view is an act openly contemptuous of America as nation or Americans as a people. It is stated in a way that is deliberately intended to degrade and have a strain of hatred in it. Anti-American rhetoric is what you hear from the Ayatollahs of Iran or the propaganda of such organizations as al-Qaida. I do not see such ugliness emanating from New Zealand or the United Nations General Assembly.

Nor is the vote anti-Israeli. The world has never recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Contrary to the belief of the Prime Minister of Israel, the world has long recognized  that the issue of Jerusalem can only be resolved by negotiations in the broader two state context. Further contrary to his belief, this is not an anti-Israeli vote. The idea that it is, is insulting and inflammatory. Many Israeli’s are quite horrified by the Government of their country and the systematic way in which it is slowly but deliberately taking Palestinian lands and eradicating any evidence of Palestine. They know about the deliberate annexation by stealth using the establishment of new villages to stake a claim to Palestinian land. They know about the demolition of orchards depriving Palestinians of one of only a few sources of income. I assume then they also know that the street names in Palestinian territories are changing as they come under Israeli control. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows full well what his country is doing and even endorses it – he just will not admit it because it would be an own goal and a point blank admission that Palestinians are telling the truth.

I have stated before my position on Israel. What needs to be said is that this requires international co-operation. In return for Israel withdrawing from the lands seized in1967 and 1973, Russia must tell Iran to stop supporting Hezbollah, HAMAS and other militants. Palestine must give recognition to Israel’s 1967 borders and cease all militant activity, disarm them and disband the militant wings of these and other organizations.

Neither side is perfect and both have done things that they should not have. But there are other historic players who need to be acknowledged. Britain and France took over swathes of the Middle East in 1916-17. As part of the British mandate a Jewish state was established as a result of the Balfour Declaration. The Arab interpretation of the Declaration was that an Arab state would also be established. None was and when one looks at the causes of anti-Israeli sentiment today among Arab nation’s, this is is most likely a major reason for such ‘ll feeling.

Government tightening up on multinational tax dodgers

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New legislation, which is intended to tighten the accountability standard for multinational companies, was introduced to Parliament last week. This follows moves in Australia to tighten the tax rules for multinationals operating there.

The move comes as Facebook announces that it will book its New Zealand advertising sales in New Zealand rather than Ireland where it has its international base. Other large multinationals such as Google and Microsoft have not indicated whether they would follow suit.

For years there has been concerns about how much tax large multinationals are paying in New Zealand, how honest their accountants are and whether the required level of transparency around them is appropriate. Some companies have been accused of paying no tax at all in New Zealand in particular financial years. Apple for example admitted in April 2017 to paying no tax in New Zealand for a decade, despite making sales of N.Z.$4.2 billion over that period.

Similarly with Facebook, questions arise as to how much Facebook should be really paying in New Zealand, following revelations that its stated revenue in New Zealand was $1.2 million for 2014. These get more interesting when a Wellington cafe showed reporters its bill, which recorded it as having spent $100,000 on advertising or slightly less than 10% of all profit Facebook New Zealand claimed. A

Failure to pay tax on the scale that Apple has, should result in a fine equivalent to the unpaid tax, plus a fine of say N.Z.$5 million for every year it failed to pay tax. In the case of Apple, this could be construed as willful tax dodging at its finest.

How many major surgeries in hospitals could be paid for if Apple, Facebook and other multinationals had paid its full tax bill in full and on time? How much Government debt could have been paid off, or how many new police officers could that have paid for?

Facebook and Apple, like other multinationals will have overseas subsidiaries whom they will try to reroute profits that they do not wish to be subject to the taxman. These will have links to known tax havens such as those in the Cayman Islands.

Each year I spend a few hundred dollars on advertising for my blog on Facebook. I am just one of scores of New Zealanders who would be using Facebook’s advertising services. I suspect that the amount spent by New Zealand businesses promoting themselves and their products on Facebook are significantly more than what Facebook is admitting to.

Dodgy accounting? Or plain dishonesty.

I’ll let you judge.