The Emperor has no clothes...

http://news.msn.co.nz/video.aspx?videoid=7d19bf98-52ee-4ffd-9796-372e797b65f6

Water on the brain, JK...

English: Tariana and Pita at the Maori Party Launch 2005.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - JUNE 14: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae and United States Ambassador to New Zealand David Huebner carry roses to lay on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial on June 14, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. John Key welcomed US marines to Wellington today to mark the 70th anniversary of Amercan World War II forces arrival to New Zealand in 1942. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

The water must be getting to John Key's brain - that's the water we all own and some pee in. He thinks he's been in power for nearly six years, not the nearly four.

The arrogant disregard for opposition parties, the critical media and the important sectors of NZ society, is even worse than that during the 1990's - the Bolgers, Shipleys and the Mother of all budgets of Ruth Richardson.

The Maori Party is so politically  naive and lacking in any nous. They will be lucky to have one member in parliament after the next elections. Both have their Super Goldcards and should be bussing around enjoying the sights.

Water rights will be discussed after the privatisation of energy companies. Is that right? They may get one company sold if they are lucky. Who would buy shares in such a suspect market? I wouldn't, but I'm already a shareholder in these public assets.

Now Johny comes marching home again Banks has a court case coming up soon. We don't know the outcome, but if found guilty he will be out of Parliament. A by-election will then be necessary, and who knows what the voters there will do. They may even return another Greens candidate!

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• Maori Party, PM agree on further talks on water

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Injured Housing NZ tenant fighting eviction...

 

A Housing New Zealand tenant, who lost her job due to an injury, says she is fighting to stay in her home after the agency served her with an eviction notice.
The Service and Food Workers Union says Gina Templeton had to stop working for Spotless Cleaning services at Wellington Hospital in May, when she hurt her shoulder.
The union says no decision has been made on whether to approve Ms Templeton's ACC claim, so she's had no income and has missed four rent payments worth a total of $1300.
The union says Housing New Zealand took her to a disputes tribunal last week where she asked to pay the overdue rent in weekly instalments, but this was rejected.
It says Ms Templeton has been given 24 hours' notice from Thursday afternoon to vacate her Strathmore home.
The union says Ms Templeton has nowhere else to go and has a family to care for, including an orphaned grandchild.
Housing NZ must be stopped. Their job is to house those Kiwis who need housing or to assist them to find alternative housing. They are not a Real Estate Agency.

Acknowledgements: © 2012, Radio New Zealand

Latest poll sees National on the slide...

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The latest Roy Morgan poll has National continuing to fall,
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National down, opposition up in new poll...

A new political poll suggests the result of an election held now would be too close to call.
The governing National Party was at 45.5 per cent support in a Roy Morgan Poll taken between June 25 and July 8, down 2 per cent on the last poll taken between June 8 and 24.
The only other parties above the 5 per cent threshold were Labour, up 0.5 per cent to 32.5 per cent, and the Greens, up 1 per cent to 13 per cent.
This put the combined total of Labour and the Greens at 45.5 per cent, the same as National, making it a tight race to decide who had the keys to the Beehive.
NZ First was up 0.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent, the Maori Party was at 1 per cent (down 0.5 per cent), while ACT, United Future and Mana were all unchanged at 0.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Roy Morgan confidence rating was unchanged at 117.5, while 51.5 per cent of New Zealanders saying the country was heading in the right direction compared to 34 per cent saying it was heading in the wrong direction.
Economic issues (52 per cent) were regarded as the most important problem facing the country, well ahead of social issues (19 per cent), Government and public policy issues (12 per cent) and environmental issues (6 per cent).
The telephone poll surveyed 1026 people.

Kim Dotcom claims extradition hearing delay "dirty tactics"...

'Dirty delay tactics from US' over extradition hearing - Dotcom

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's extradition hearing has been put off until next year.
The German national was arrested after police swooped on his home in January and stands accused of breaching copyright laws costing owners more than US$500 million.
Dotcom is fighting extradition from New Zealand to face the charges in the United States.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/dirty-delay-tactics-us-over-extradition-hearing-dotcom-4962565?ref=rss

Dotcom residence police raids illegal ...

Federal Bureau of Investigation Police (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A red faced and highly embarrassed NZ police force after the High Court decision into the now invalid Dotcom police raid results. Should never take the FBI or an other foreign police force evidence at face value. Who knows, Dotcom may have grounds to sue the NZ police for millions - ultimately the NZ Government and taxpayers. Has such a similar thing happened before? In the Ureweras perhaps?

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• Peters says MPs should apologise to Urewera Four

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• Police mysteriously lose video of Megaupload raid

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• FBI takes Kim Dotcom's data without courts consent or knowledge

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• AP Interview: Wozniak, Dotcom slam US piracy case

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• FBI took copies of evidence without consent - Dotcom

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Kiwirail being prepared for privatisation...

KiwiRail is to be restructured

KiwiRail is to be restructured with its land holdings shifted to another entity, resulting in a write-down of some $6.7 billion.

It has gained Government approval to pour its rail and ferry operating assets into a new KiwiRail state-owned enterprise while crown land used for railways will be held by NZ Railways Corp.

This will result in the commercial arm of KiwiRail carrying assets of between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion, down from about $7.8 billion currently, chairman John Spencer said in a statement.

The proposal was first flagged at the KiwiRail's annual meeting in November.

"This is a much more realistic valuation of the company's assets, which will greatly assist KiwiRail in meeting its commercial objectives and provide more discipline in driving improved performance," Mr Spencer said.

The changes mean the carrying value of KiwiRail's assets reflect "the revenue they generate".

Railways Corp has revaluation reserves of about $5 billion, "which would be written off first as a result of a writedown in the assets' value," KiwiRail said.

"Any writedown in excess of $5 billion would affect NZRC's bottom line."

The writedown in the value of KiwiRail's assets would be taken this financial year ending June 30, with the final amount to be determined after independent valuations.

The composition of the new boards of KiwiRail and NZRC haven't yet been decided though they are likely to include "a majority of common directors".

In February, KiwiRail said full-year earnings were expected to be in the range of $105 million to $115 million, though that was before any writedown.

NZN

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/67b-writedown-for-KiwiRail/tabid/421/articleID/259291/Default.aspx#ixzz1yyjmqllO