The Podcast

Last night host Max Whitehead interviewed ACT Board Member Stephen Berry about local body elections. Stephen ran the Guide to Auckland Local Elections and we got him on to explain ‘what the hell just happened.’ He came through with a cogent set of observations. You can watch this episode online here. Alternatively, it can be downloaded on all the usual platforms via Podcasts NZ, who kindly help us make the Podcast each week.

Are We Safe Yet?

The Government is spending millions buying 'back' a small portion of the firearms it banned in April. In theory the cost paid by licensed firearm owners then (and from the current legislation) is worth it for safety. Of course it’s all a lie. The announcement of Armed Offender’s Squads roaming the streets to look for gun crime tells us we are no safer.

How Does That Add Up?

How could this be? As gun geek Mike Loder has uncovered from Official Information Act requests to the Police, 99 per cent of gun crime is committed by unlicensed people. They didn’t follow the old laws and won’t follow the new ones. Treasury said they didn’t think the money spent on the buyback would make us safer. Perhaps they read Loder’s blog?

Another Ban

Some people think vaping is a bit naf. It is also saving former smokers' lives. Now the Government wants to apply the tobacco rules to vaping. The net effect would be to make smoking more attractive in comparison, even though vaping is 95 per cent less harmful. If you think a Government policy to put smoking on a level playing field is nuts, please sign Beth Houlbrooke's petition to parliament. It's another ACT campaign for freedom.

TV3 Sale: Why TVNZ Must Pay a Dividend

For sale: One TV company, great dancing show, variable news coverage, major competitor is Government owned and pays no dividend. So long as the return on equity for TVNZ is zero, its competitors must meet the market.  If Mediaworks can’t pay a dividend, it is worth nothing. The Government has ruined the market for TV, don’t blame Mediaworks for trying to get out.

Why You Should Care

There is lots of skepticism about the media in New Zealand. Having a state monopoly on televised news could make it much worse. We all need competition. We all need a level playing field for media in New Zealand. If you doubt that just ask yourself: in what sort of countries does the Government engineer to run private media out of business?

Viva La Revolución

Mediaworks is a grandchild of the 80’s economic revolution. Its parents, TV3 and Radioworks, emerged out of Broadcasting Minister Richard Prebble’s reforms. Shows such as the Ralston Group and Nightline as well as a second 6pm news show were a media revolution. Before that, we had to rely on The Truth and some kids broadcasting from a fishing boat for excitement. However we are seeing the end of the TV3 era. Technological change is a challenge, but it’s the Government that’s pushing us back to a media monoculture.

Unemployment Down, Benefits Up

Over the last two years, Sole Parent Support (DPB) has been steady. Supported Living (invalids benefit) has stayed steady. Jobseeker Support (unemployment benefit) has gone up a per cent. Unemployment has gone down a per cent. We are not statisticians. If anyone can explain how this is possible, please let us know.

What We Do Know

Employers are facing horrendous labour shortages. People complain when Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway lets people in. Those people cannot be employers. Whatever the statistics say, employers just cannot get the people they need to grow. Wherever we go, employers say people are the biggest constraint on growth. Ultimately the problem is a skills mismatch caused by a hopeless state monopoly on education, but we will ride that ACT hobby horse another day.

Gareth Morgan is Wrong (for now)

If Gareth Morgan was right, the robots would be taking over and we’d need his Universal Basic Income by now. Two years on, our biggest problem is productivity. In other words, robots are not doing enough to satisfy our needs and we are as short of labour as ever. Being an electorate MP in 2019 mostly involves helping very angry employers who face suffocating labour shortages. Leave room for the future to be different though.

Mutually Assured Destruction

Winston Peters knows that details of his Superannuation ‘overpayment’ didn’t get from the Ministry of Social Development’s database to the media by magic. Somebody has publicized his dishonesty and/or incompetence on purpose. Now he is trying to sue the person who did it, but does he know who that was? If he does know (and can prove it in court on November 4th), they are toast.

Unlikely

If those involved are even vaguely competent, they will have left no tracks. Allegedly New Zealand First offered to drop charges if the National Party dumped Paula Bennett. National refused, so they must be confident they’re not culpable. That leaves someone deep in the bureaucracy.

Journalists Never Reveal Their Sources

One the best protections the leaker had was Section 68 of the Evidence Act. Any journalist subpoenaed can simply stand up and say ‘sorry, I promised the source I wouldn’t reveal my source.’ A Judge could override this provision, but journalists dream of going to jail to protect their sources. For a few months of free accommodation, their reputation and career would be made. They'll never talk.

Checkmate for Peters?

Peters will have republicized his own scandal again, for nothing. Superannuitants know the rules, they know MSD enforce the rules like terriers, and so they follow them. For Peters, it is the worst kind of political scandal: wrongdoing by him that his support base understands intuitively. Is he really that past it?

Perhaps Not...

Veteran journalist Barry Soper is going to testify. Soper didn’t break the story. He appears to think a line’s been crossed, leaking Government data for political purposes. He may know who was shopping it. Normally a journalist wouldn’t reveal the source of their story. But it wasn't Soper's story. He appears to think the source is the story. Politics in Full Sentences is normally about policy more than politics, but the Peters leak could shape the 2020 election as much as Peters thinks it was supposed to shape the 2017 one.

Where ACT’s Money Comes From

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