My Right

Labour president not aware of 'pay back' advice to Tamihere

Suspended cabinet minister John Tamihere has been advised by senior Labour figures to pay back a portion of the $195,000 payment he received from the Waipareira Trust as a way of salvaging his career. Sources said most of the payment was for bonuses or consulting work but a sum – thought to be about $50,000 – was an ex gratia payment which could be characterised as a golden handshake.
(Later)
Mr Tamihere's defenders have argued that the payments Labour campaigned against in 1999 were paid to executives who were being levered off the public payroll, but Mr Tamihere's payment was for a job well done.

SUSAN
That sort of success. Now how is he personally taking this because he's looked, I mean he's a scrapper like you but he's looked wounded hasn’t he, and how is he and how are his family?

CLAYTON
Oh to be honest you know you get kicked in the guts so many times and John always you know like all of us you want to respond, you've gotta look people in the eye, but when a process like an inquiry's put in place normally it's the victim that has to say hang on I've gotta grit my teeth because I have to you know adhere to the process, but it is – I'll tell you the roughest thing, and Mr Hide I'm sure will be proud of this, you know when his wife who's a tough individual, you go to the grocer's shop with the kiddies and you know she sees another front page with another spurious allegation and she breaks down and the little ones look at her and say hey Mum why are they doing this to Dad, you know that is tough, that is tough and I'm sure Mr Hide is proud of himself with that.

SUSAN
It seems at the moment if we can talk about John Tamahere the man that he inspires this great loyalty from someone like you who's sitting there, you’re almost – you’re holding the faith, it's almost a religious faith you’re holding for this guy. On the other hand there are those who really want to chop him down. What is it about the character or the makeup of this guy that inspires such passion?

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists is calling on the Government to bring forward the December 1 enforcement date of a health sector code of good faith under new industrial law, requiring striking unions to provide life-preserving patient services.

"Urgent Government action is required if the catastrophic national six-day strike is not to be a complete disaster for patients," executive director Ian Powell said as Parliament was due last night to pass the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill through its final reading.

A spokesman for Health Minister Annette King said her policy stood of not commenting on industrial issues.

8. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Police: Do the police despatch taxis in response to 111 calls; if so, in what circumstances?

Finally, some advice that was passed down from a wise old fellow to his son in England early last century: "Son," he said, "never trust a man who waxes his moustache, orders soup at lunch, hunts south of the Thames, and, dinner dress aside, wears a bow tie."

In the absence of hard evidence not to, it's advice I intend to follow.

"Question: Why was the insurance on Tamihere's urban assault vehicle $2252? Does it mean the trust (taxpayer) has to pay for several previous dic convictions plus probably all his whanau are under 25 with well-endorsed licences (if any).

Quote: "Someone has to pay for my mortgage and family". I know the feeling but unfortunately most of us have to find the money ourselves."

Disclosure of the content of the corporation's training manuals is potentially embarrassing for the Government, which has been trying to dispel suggestions it is pandering to Maori since National Party leader Don Brash accused it of entrenching Maori privilege.

Included in the manuals – prepared by Switch Trainers and Consultants – are a series of statements about what Maori might reasonably have expected when the Treaty was signed in 1840. They include the assertion that:

# There would be limited British settlement areas where British law would apply; and

# The bulk of the country would still belong to the tribes, which would rule themselves as they wished, with some Pakeha settlers there by agreement and observing Maori law.

But what Maori got, the manuals state, was:

# An imposed Pakeha government making laws for all without reference either to the Treaty or to Maori needs.

# The deliberate undermining and destruction of Maori authority and social systems.

# Wars of conquest launched against them by governments.

Asked on Wednesday if he agreed that Maori expected to retain control when they signed the Treaty, Mr Maharey said that was a "little different" from his understanding. But he told Parliament yesterday the assertion was "a fact".

Treasury are probably engaging in the biggest smoke and mirrors exercise we have seen from them since 1990. But to give their shenanigans the benefit of the doubt the driving force behind these manoeuvres as back then could be from above for political reasons.
There is almost $5b available by traditional surplus measures used in New Zealand for decades to use for both increased spending and tax cuts. The question then is when will we tax payers get some of our money back or does the government plan a major expansion down the track of the economic activities of the state?

Banks gracious, humbled in defeat

It was a gracious, controlled concession speech: "I have spoken with Mr Hubbard and given him my congratulations." The people had spoken and he respected that, etcetera.

Banks nearly lost his public composure only twice. Thanking supporters, his voice wobbled as it alighted on wife Amanda's name. A minute later, another wobble arrived and threatened to stay.

"All my adult life," he said, "I have had an overwhelming commitment to civic duty," his voice slowed and faltered, "and ... in a small way," he struggled to get the words out ,"to balance the family ledger."

It was a fleeting moment of vulnerability from a man not given to emotional revelation. The "family ledger" is the legacy of Banks' parents Archibald and Kitty, back-street abortionists who were both jailed when he was 18.

Dr Muriel Newman: Would the Minister have disestablished the Community Employment Group if there had not been any adverse publicity?

Hon STEVE MAHAREY: No, I definitely would not have, because this Government works through those kinds of debates in a very cool and calm fashion to decide what it will do. What we have found on numerous occasions, as the member will know, is that the accusations that were made about, for example, the Pink Kit home-birthing kit for women, the Mâori Women’s Welfare League, and the Porangahau marae committee all proved to be utterly, utterly baseless. We do not react to that sort of criticism; we base our changes on evidence.

Overwhelmingly, the committee accepted that New Zealand Vietnam veterans were exposed to a very toxic environment," committee chairwoman Steve Chadwick said.

"That's our key recommendation for the Government to consider."

However, the committee stopped short of recommending compensation or an apology, saying most veterans who made submissions simply wanted acknowledgement.

Today's report would be considered by the Government, and it was up to the Government to decide if it wanted to apologise, Ms Chadwick said.

Side-effects Laboratory studies made in 1969 established a link between Agent Orange and birth defects, and two years later the use of chemical defoliants was stopped. But it was too late. By then some 5 million acres of forest had defoliated, half of which remains unrestored today. Dioxin accumulated from repeated spraying entered the ecosystem of Vietnam, while tens of thousand of troops on both sides had been exposed to the chemical. Not least, Vietnamese birth defects are now double those of neighboring countries. Scientific surveys, continue to uncover side-effects, the latest (1996) documenting the high proportion of children with spina bifida born to Vietnam veterans.

Other spinoffs of Agent Orange include nerve and urological disorders, skin diseases, and soft-tissue cancers. In 1984 a $240 million settlement was made to Agent Orange victims in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada (excluding South Korea, the second-largest foreign contingent), but many are still fearful of long-term reproduction in their children."

"But Maharey has been cooking up something much bigger. The working title is the "single benefit" and it should clear the Cabinet in December after some more work by officials to ensure no beneficiary is left worse off at the changeover and to quantify the national cost-benefit.

There are, Maharey says, 10 "base benefits" (among them unemployment, sickness, disability, DPBs and widows) and 36 "add-ons" designed to meet special needs and difficulties. These grew up during the 1980s and 1990s when the focus was tightened on to individual need.

Fine-tuning needs-based payment is a rational approach. But it has led to frontline welfare staff spending around 70 per cent of their time untangling the web of benefit entitlements for those in need. The complexity has also spawned an "advocacy industry" designed to help beneficiaries to get from bamboozled staff what the law says they are entitled to."

Attention – it's Mr Radical

He spent two of "the most intense years" of his life at Shirley Boys' High School before transferring to Hagley at the beginning of 2003.

"I would get picked on every day, separated from the class, yelled at, beaten up, pushed over. All because I was different.

The man who killed interior designer David McNee claims he will expose four other "high-profile" men who paid him for sex.


Phillip Layton Edwards is serving a nine-year sentence for the manslaughter of Mr McNee last year.

Since he was moved from Mt Eden prison to Auckland Prison at Paremoremo last week, Edwards, 24, has tried to send letters to four Auckland men asking for money.

He allegedly told the men he would tell the media that they paid him for sex.

If true, that could raise further questions about the so-called "homosexual panic" defence that some commentators allege saved Edwards from a murder conviction.

Edwards' lawyer Roy Wade argued at the trial that Edwards was guilty of manslaughter because he never intended to kill Mr McNee.

The defence said Edwards was paid to perform a sex act upon himself and that he was provoked when Mr McNee violated their "no touching" agreement.